David Edmondson here is one of
our speakers, also musically inclined. Not like me. So we're going to
ask him to sing for us this time. I appreciate the opportunity.
Walter asked me before we started, he said, when we looked at Darwin,
he said, have you asked him yet? I hope you can hear me okay.
It's one of my favorite songs. I hope I can do it justice for
you. Oh Lord, my God, when I in lonesome
wonder, consider all. The world's my hands have made. I see the stars. I hear the rolling
thunder. Thy power throughout. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. ? How great Thou art ? And when
I think ? When God, His Son, my Spirit ? Sent Him to die can take it in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take ? Away my sin ? ? Then sings my soul ? ? My Savior
God to Thee ? ? How great Thou art ? How great Thou art. Then change my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee. How great Thou art. How brave thou art when Christ
shall come. Wish that the battle is over
and take me home. shall fit my heart. When I shall bow in humble adoration
and bear proclaim, my God, Oh Oh How great Thou art! How great Thou art! As I said before, we're highly
privileged to have these men here with us during these few
days. I hope you'll make every effort
to come and hear them. And maybe invite a few friends
to come and hear them. Be a good time for bring some folks who've never
heard this gospel and hear it preached. You won't hear it preached
any clearer than what you're gonna hear in these next couple
days. Our first speaker tonight is
Brother Frank Tate from Hurricane Road Grace Church in Ashland,
Kentucky. He lives in a little town where
I grew up. He said, do you know anything
about Russell, Kentucky? I said, I know about Candy Holler. Just right across the hill. Brought
many a load of hay under that little overpass, or underpass,
or whatever you want to call it. And used to stay with my
sister right at the foot of the old bridge that come into Russell. We walked up there and looked
at the house. The bridge is no longer there. But we're glad
to have you tonight, Brother Frank. You come preach for us. Well, let me, at first, express
my thanks to Brother David. Can you think of a better song
to hear before you preach the gospel before you get ready to
listen to it. To remind us of our insignificance
and our desperate need of the Lord. Thank you. And I'd like
to thank this congregation. If you would, be turning your
Bibles to Psalm 102. I want to express my thanksgiving
to you for hosting this conference and inviting me. It's a great
Great honor. Brother Darwin said, since he
invited me to preach here, I've been looking forward to this
weekend like a kid looking forward to Christmas. And it's finally
here. I'm very excited. My title this
evening is what I'm confident will be the theme of this weekend. Each one of these men, I'm sure,
will touch on this subject throughout their messages this weekend,
why and how Christ suffered. Why and how Christ suffered.
And it's been my prayer that the Lord enable me to preach
this message in such a way that if, as of yet, the Lord has not
revealed himself to you in mercy and in grace, that you have not
yet trusted our Lord Jesus Christ. that as you hear how and why
he suffered, that the spirit will be pleased to show you he's
the Savior that you'll need, that you need and that you'll
trust him. And I hope to preach this message in such a way that
to you who have believed on Christ our Savior, that you'll hear
of him one more time and your heart will be comforted and assured
and you'll be strengthened and you'll trust him even more than
ever before. You'll find your hope and joy and peace in him. Some months ago, on a Sunday
afternoon, my wife and I were eating dinner, and as is often
the case on a Sunday, I was kind of quiet, and she asked me, what
you thinking? And I said, I'm hoping. that the Lord used that message
I preached this morning to make someone come to Christ, and she
said, someone did. I did again. That's what I hope
for you. That's what I hope for you. Now,
the title of this psalm says that it is the prayer of the
afflicted when he is overwhelmed. And I know when we read this
psalm, you have to see it first as our Savior speaking from the
cross. This psalm was penned roughly
1,000 years before the Lord Jesus ever came incarnate, went to
the cross. A thousand years before he came, these words were written,
his words upon the cross. And I like to point that out
because that says to me that God's purpose of redemption through
our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. This is no plan B. Salvation
in Christ is no plan B. Now, this is God's eternal purpose
of redemption for his people. And pretty much everyone everywhere,
certainly in this country, knows that Jesus of Nazareth died on
a cross about 2,000 years ago. Everybody knows that. What I
want us tonight to know is why Christ suffered, and how Christ
suffered, and what is it that he accomplished in his death.
Now first, why Christ suffered. Verse one, Psalm 102. Hear my
prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy
face from me in the day when I'm in trouble. Incline thine
ear unto me in the day when I call. Answer me speedily. Now, even
when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin and he was suffering
the unspeakable wrath of his father, he never quit trusting
his father. Even as he suffered, he prayed
to his father. Now I'm sure that everything
our Lord said is not, from the cross, is not recorded. The Apostle
John said if everything he said throughout his earthly ministry
was recorded, the books couldn't contain them. I'm sure that's
true of the cross as well. But I do know several things
that the Savior said from the cross. And these statements tell
us a whole lot about why Christ suffered. He cried, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. Christ
the Savior died bearing the sin of his people so that his people
could be forgiven. God's elect are forgiven because
of the blood that Christ shed and his sacrifice for them. His
blood blotted out their sin, enables the Holy Father to forgive
them their sin. That's why Christ suffered. Then
he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now the
Savior knew, he knew why the father forsook him. He cried
this so that you and I would know the father had forsaken
him. The father had forsaken his son
because his son had been made sin for his people. He had to
be made sin for his people to take that sin away from his people. He took it away from them. And
brother Pauly took it into his own body upon a tree. You see,
sin, Christ being made sin, that's the only way the Father could
have forsaken His Son. He wouldn't have forsook Him
for any other reason. And here's the comfort for God's people.
If Christ the Savior was forsaken for your sin, God the Father
will never, no never, no never leave thee nor forsake thee,
ever. Then the Savior cried, I thirst,
this evening, preparing for this message. I've been thirsty, my
mouth's been dry. That's not what the Savior was
talking about. He wasn't talking about a physical
thirst. He was talking about hungering
and thirsting after righteousness. Remember when he said, blessed
are the people who hunger and thirst after righteousness? David,
the psalmist, also talked about thirsting. He thirsted for the
presence of the Lord. He said, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee. Oh, his soul
panted after his God. That's how the Savior was thirsting.
He thirsted after righteousness because he'd been made sin. He
thirsted after the presence of his Father because his Father
had forsaken him. for the sin of his people. Now
here's the believer's comfort. Here's why the Savior suffered.
Since the Savior suffered as a substitute of his people, he
could give this blessed promise to his people. Blessed are they,
not cursed, not under a trial, not put in a difficult circumstance,
blessed are they, which hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be They shall be filled because Christ was
made thirsty for them. They'll be filled with Christ,
so they'll never thirst again. Then to his mother, he said,
woman, behold thy son. And to the apostle John, he said,
behold thy mother. He told John, now you take Mary
into your home as your mother, and you take care of her, you
provide for her. The Savior died fulfilling the
law, that the oldest son was to take care of his parents.
He provided for his mother, didn't he? But you know, he was doing
a whole lot more, a whole lot more than providing for Mary.
The Savior died providing every need of his people. He died providing
them cleansing from their sin. He died providing them forgiveness
in his blood. He died giving them righteousness
in his obedience. He died giving them life in his
death. Whatever it is God's people need
is provided by Christ at the cross. Then to the thief the
Savior said, Verily I say unto thee, today, today shalt thou
be with me in paradise. What a statement. You know, Adam's
sin closed the way to God, didn't it? Adam's sin made God thrust
Adam out of the garden, put an angel with a flaming sword turning
every which way to keep Adam from coming back. Adam was thrust
out. You and I were thrust out of
God's presence in Adam. Christ died. Here's why Christ
died. To open the way to God for his
people. To make it wide open. And here's
the comfort for God's people. No amount of sin, no sin is so
great that the blood of Christ can't wash it white as snow. You know, self-righteousness
is so ingrained in our flesh, we tend to think of that dying
thief as the worst, don't we? That's what we think. I want
to tell you something. That thief doesn't have anything
on you and me. He didn't have one thing on you
and me. Matter of fact, our sin is worse. Our sin, your sin,
my sin, sitting right here today is worse than that thief on the
cross. Yes, that thief on the cross, he robbed and he killed
people. Justice was served when they
put him to death. But our sin is more vile than that. Because
our sin is against greater light. You and I, I'm, making a guess
here, that about everybody here has heard the gospel once, at
least. You and I, by hearing the gospel
and refusing, refusing, it's not that we can't, we refuse
to believe on the name of the Son of God that we might be saved
is far, far worse than that thief upon the cross. Now here's why
Christ died. The death of Christ is so effectual. Salvation in Christ is so certain
that for the believer to be absent from the body is to be immediately
in the presence of God in paradise. I can't even begin to start to
comprehend the glory of that statement, to be in the presence
of Christ himself, to awaken glory to his smiling face. Well
done, my good and faithful servant. Then the Savior cried, it is
finished. Now, not only was his suffering
finished, But brethren, redemption was finished. Completely, fully
accomplished. The eternal will and purpose
of God concerning the salvation of his people is finished. Salvation has been purchased
for God's elect. The price has been paid. God's
people have been bought, lock, stock, and barrel. It is finished. I wish we'd get that through
our head. It's finished. Then that means there's nothing
left for you or me to do to make it complete. It's finished. Christ finished it all. There's
nothing that we need to do to make it effectual to us. It is
finished. Salvation's complete. Now you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You quit. I use this illustration
a lot. I don't think I've used it here,
so I'm going to use it again. You parents, remember when your children are
little, and they're pouncing all around. They're wanting to
do this. They're wanting to do that. And you just quit. Just quit. Just quit. Just be still. Just quit. Every
time this thought comes up in our heart, I've got to do this.
I've got to do this. I've got to do this. God will
just bless me more if I do this. Just quit. Just quit. And rest. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Mike, it's finished. It's finished. It's complete. Then our Savior
cried, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. You know,
no man could take the Savior's life from him. He had to lay
it down, lay it down. And he laid down his life when
there was no more wrath left to endure. because all the sin
of his people had been put away. So the Savior's last act of obedience
was to obey the law's demand, death for sin, and he laid down
his life. He laid it down to complete the
salvation of his people. He laid it down in victory. There's
going to come a day this clay pot is going to die, and it's
going to die in defeat. Christ died in victory. He laid
it down. He laid it down. He laid down
his life in complete faith and complete trust in his Father. He trusted, he knew the Father
would accept him, would accept his sacrifice because the sin
that had been laid upon him was gone. Here's why Christ died. Here's why you believe him. I'm
telling you, you believe in me. Here's why. Here's why Christ
died. The father will just as gladly accept everyone in Christ
as he did his own darling son. Now you trust him. And you think,
me? You don't know what I've done.
You don't know what I think. You don't know. Oh, quit, quit. You trust Christ. You trust him
now. Trust him and him alone. The
father will just as gladly accept everyone in him. That's why Christ
died. Why did Christ die? He died to
satisfy the father. See, something's got to be done.
Christ didn't die as an offering to you and me now. Something's
got to be done with the father. Something he's angry with, something's
gotta be done. He's the one that's been sinned
against. Now something's gotta be done. Christ died to satisfy
the Father so that the Father could be both just and justifier. Christ died to accomplish the
eternal salvation of his people so that when we see him lifted
up, and that's what is gonna happen this weekend, these messages
are gonna lift up Christ crucified. When with the eyes of faith we
see Him lifted up, we'll be drawn to Him. Nobody's gonna have to
beg you to come to Christ. Nobody's gonna have to beg you
to do anything. If you see Him lifted up with the eyes of faith,
you'll be drawn to Him and you'll come. And you know what you're
gonna find when you do? You're gonna find forgiveness
of your sin. You're gonna find righteousness. You're gonna find
life. You're gonna find peace and joy
in Him. That's why Christ suffered. All
right, number two, how did Christ suffer? Well, number one, he
suffered as the burnt offering. Look at verse three in our text.
He says, for my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are
burned as in hearth. Now, this phrase, consumed like
smoke, refers to the burnt offering. In the Old Testament, you know
that all those different offerings, they're the burnt offering. The
burnt offering, all of it was offered to God. with the exception
of the ashes. The burnt offering is a picture
of how Christ suffered fully, completely, both body and soul,
to accomplish the redemption of his people. We're all very
familiar with the suffering, the physical sufferings of Christ. They're unimaginable, but we're
familiar with them. His soul suffering, That's another
matter. Look here at verse four. Here's
his soul suffering. He said, my heart is smitten. Not my body, my heart is smitten
and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. Now
the soul suffering of Christ is far, far worse than his bodily
suffering. His visage, his appearance was
marred more than any other man. No one suffered as much as the
Lord Jesus Christ. And his soul suffering was even
worse than that. The father, the father himself,
plunged the sword of justice into the very heart of his own
son. Christ the son suffered and died
knowing he was getting exactly what he deserved from his father.
The fire of God's wrath burned in his heart and in his soul
so that the Savior says he's consumed. Now here's the believer's
comfort. Christ suffered all, all of God's
wrath for the sin of his people, all of it. Now you know what
that means? It means there's no wrath left
for God's people to suffer because Christ suffered it all. And all
that's left from the Father for his elect is mercy, peace, grace,
and love, because all of his wrath was poured out upon our
substitute. Now, all of the burnt offering
was offered to the Lord. Now, like I said, that picture's
both the body and soul suffering of the Savior. We saw his soul
suffering. Verse five, here's his bodily
suffering. He said, by reason of the voice of my groaning,
My bones cleaved to my skin. This is talking about how the
Savior's body was stretched out upon the cross. Just the longer
he hung there, the more he was stretched out, so you could see
all of his bones just sticking through his skin. He hung there
naked. He didn't have a little loincloth
on now, he was naked. Nothing was hidden from view. And might I go back just one
moment to his soul suffering. Him, Christ, suffering naked,
physically naked upon the cross. That's just giving us a glimpse
at how he suffered naked before his father. Made sin and nothing
to hide it. And before his body was stretched
to its limits in such pain, before that happened, he'd been beaten
by a bunch of professional soldiers with their fists, tied his hands
behind his back and just beating. They took a cat of nine tails
and just lacerated his back. They grabbed hold of his beard
and plucked it out by the fistfuls. He had been beaten so badly,
he was physically unable to carry his cross. They had to get another
man to carry it for him. And after all of that, when they
got to the place of his crucifixion, they laid that cross down, laid
him down on top of it, and they drove nails about the size of
railroad spikes through his hands and through his feet. picked
up that hunk of wood and dropped it down in a hole prepared for
him. And he just, oh, can you imagine how his body wracked
with pain? Oh. And then, as he suffered, they
offered him vinegar. I read that was supposed to dull
the pain, and he wouldn't taste of it. He wouldn't hear of lessening
the pain. He was going to suffer every
drop of it. Why? Why? Because Christ suffered
everything, body and soul, that his people deserved. Now here's
the comfort. Here's the comfort for God's
people. Here's the reason for the unbeliever to believe on
Christ. There's no suffering left for God's elect. He suffered
it all. All right, second, how did Christ
suffer? He suffered alone, verse six. I'm like a pelican of the
wilderness. I'm like an owl of the desert.
I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Now you notice
how these animals that David uses as examples, they're considered
to be lonely, sad animals, aren't they? That's our Lord. All of his disciples deserted
him. Even Peter swore, Lord, I'll die with you. Peter ran
like a scared little girl, didn't he? And the Lord knew that would
happen. It must happen. He told his disciples
it was gonna happen. But you know, it's still hurting.
But it's a good thing. It's a good thing that everyone
deserted our Lord. Because brethren, if redemption's
gonna be accomplished, the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna have to
do it by himself. He's gonna have to do it all
alone. If a man lays his finger to anything concerning this sacrifice,
we'll defile it and it won't save anybody. So the Savior willingly
suffered alone because he alone can save. His obedience alone
can make his people righteous. If you're thinking you're keeping
the law to make God happy with you, quit, quit, quit. His obedience alone makes God's
people righteous, makes a sinner righteous. His blood alone can
atone for sin. It's important that Christ suffer
alone because he's the only one who can save. Then it's just
as important that you and I trust Christ and Christ alone for all
of our salvation. Salvation is not Christ plus
our good doctrine. Salvation is not Christ plus
our good morality, our good behavior. Salvation is not Christ plus
our baptism. Salvation is not Christ plus
our faith. Salvation is not Christ plus
anything, fill in the blank. Salvation is Christ alone. Now you trust him and him alone. And you know what you'll find?
You'll find salvation for your soul. Third, how did Christ suffer? He suffered at the hands of men,
verse eight. Mine enemies reproach me all the day, and they that
are mad against me are sworn against me. Now this shows us
just what man thinks of God. Man hates God. That's just it
in a sentence. Man hates God. The torture and
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ shows you just how much
man truly hates God. And you might think, oh wait
a minute, I don't hate God. I love God. I love Jesus. No, you don't
either. No, you don't. Not unless God's
done a work of grace in your heart. Not unless he's given
you a new heart, you don't. Because by nature, the heart
that we've been given by nature, oh, it loves God, little g. It loves the God of our imagination.
It loves this Jesus that we've made up, this Jesus who just,
you know, loves everybody, wants to, don't get me started. But that's not the God of the
Bible, no. Man by nature hates the God of
the Bible. Man by nature hates God so much,
we lie on him. We spit in his face. Now I know
people can't physically spit in his face anymore. His bodily
presence is not here anymore, isn't he? But men lie on him
all the time, standing behind podiums just like this and buildings
much like this, lie on him all the time, spit in his face all
the time when they refuse to preach and refuse to believe
that God clearly proclaimed in this word, clearly. They take
his body and beat it to a pulp more than they'd beat any other
man. By nature, we want God off the
throne so much. We nailed him to a cross with
this accusation written over top of it. He says he's the king
of the Jews. That's the issue. Is he sovereign over me or not? That's the issue. And we say,
look at him now. Nailed to the tree. Look at him
now. I don't have to fear him now, do I? I don't have to bow
to him now. I don't have to beg him for anything
now, do I? The Savior was crucified and he was mocked. made fun of
in his office as king. You know why? Because man hates
the Christ who rules over them. Man, by nature, hates the Christ
who gives salvation to whom he will and passes by whom he will,
and whichever he chooses is right in both cases. Man's hatred caused
the Savior real suffering. body and emotional. He talks
about the reproaches of his enemy. Their mocking and their ridicule
hurt our Savior just like it would hurt you and me. And this is one of the innumerable
instances where I'm so glad God's not like me. The Savior could
have come down from the cross just to show them who he was,
just to show them he had power over them. He could have done
it, couldn't he? Thank God he didn't do it. He
endured their hatred. He endured their mocking because
the Savior must suffer everything that he suffered. He couldn't
have taken one thing away. He had to suffer everything he
suffered to save his people from their sin. All right, fourthly,
how did Christ suffer? He suffered justice at the hand
of his Father. Verse nine, he says, for I've
eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping. because
of thine indignation and thy wrath, for thou hast lifted me
up and cast me down. Now here is the real reason for
Christ's suffering. It was his father's wrath. He
says it is his father's indignation because of his father's wrath
against sin that he suffered. The hatred of the Jews and the
Romans, that's nothing compared to the father's wrath against
sin. You know, our Lord, he could have wiped out those Jews and
Romans, just a word. He could have wiped them out
and been done with them, no problem at all. But God's wrath against
sin can't be handled that easily. It cannot be ignored. God's wrath
against sin can only be satisfied with death for sin. Either yours
and mine or our substitute, one or the other. And when the father
made his son sin for his people, he wasn't playing games. Now
what does it mean that Christ was made sin? Well, we can't
fully know. I do know this, Christ was not
made a sinner. Scripture says he was made sin
itself. When the father looked at his
son at Calvary, all he saw was sin. And he poured out all of
his wrath against that sin upon his son. And he kept pouring
it on. And he kept pouring it on. And
he kept pouring it on. And he kept pouring it on. Until
all that sin had been paid for by the perfect blood of the Savior. And the father's wrath only stopped
when the reason for his wrath was gone. Sin was gone. When sin was put away by the
sacrifice of the Savior, the Father's wrath stopped. There
was nothing left to fuel it. Normally, the fire consumed the
sacrifice, didn't it? This is the only time the sacrifice
consumed the fire. The fire stopped because the
sin fueling it was gone. Now you trust Christ. You trust
him. There's no wrath. There's no
fury left in the Father. for anyone for whom Christ died. You trust him. In fifth, how
did Christ suffer? He suffered unto death. Verse
11, he says, my days are like a shadow that declineth, and
I am withered like grass. Now the Lord Jesus had to actually
die. This can't be playing games,
this can't just be something that looks like something else.
He had to actually die. In scripture, I find this very
interesting. Scripture describes the days of our lives as a shadow,
doesn't it? At Calvary, the Savior, the eternal
Son of God, described His life the same way, as a shadow, something
that must end. He's speaking as our substitute.
He's identifying with His people. Scripture also describes our
flesh as grass. At Calvary, the Savior described
His life the same way, as grass. Something that flourishes and
then has to end. He's speaking as our substitute.
I mean, I just, this is amazing to me. The Savior, the Son of
God was cut down as easily as grass when you mow your lawn
in the summer. Identifying with you and me,
his people. Yet, he still had to lay his
life down. He had to lay it down. And when
justice had been satisfied, and sin had been paid for, The Lord
Jesus Christ laid down his life and gave up the ghost in his
last act of obedience. Now you trust him and you'll
never die. All right, sixthly, lastly, how
did Christ suffer? You cannot preach the gospel
without, now don't miss this point here. You can't preach
the gospel without preaching this. How did Christ suffer?
Successfully. The Savior died. But because
of his perfect offering, he didn't stay dead. Verse 12, but thou,
O Lord, shalt endure forever in thy remembrance unto all generations. Christ died, and he rose from
the dead three days later as the evidence. His sacrifice justified
all of his people. The death, the burial, and the
resurrection of Christ gives eternal life to all of his people,
people from all generations. You know why Christ hadn't returned
yet? You know why God hadn't just wrapped this thing up yet?
Sometimes I just wonder why he hasn't. I often wish he would,
and then I often wonder, why's he put up with this? Want to
tell you why? There's a generation to come.
There's a generation to come. God help us be faithful to preach
Christ to them. The result of Christ's suffering
is mercy. It's mercy for everyone. for
whom he died, for all of God's elect. Verse 13, he says, thou
shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her. Yea, the set time is come. Brother, God's gonna have mercy
on his elect because Christ removed every reason that the father
would be angry. And the Father, all he has left for his people
is love and mercy and grace. And there's no doubt they will
have that mercy. God's going to give it to them
in what the psalmist says is a set time. Darwin has not left
up a chance, has he? Oh, there's a set time. God has
a set time from all of eternity that he's going to reveal himself
to his people. And I tell you how he's gonna
do it. It's through the preaching of Christ. How and why he suffered,
that's the gospel that God uses to save sinners. And how I pray
that tonight would be the set time. The set time of God's mercy
for you and for me. All right.