Alright, let's turn to Matthew
chapter 27. When they were come unto the
place called Galgotha, that is to say, a place of the skull. Now try to get a visual image
of this. These were criminals unwanted
by society altogether beyond any kind of help. They took them
out there and crucified them. Threw them to the side and threw
a little dirt on top of them and that was it. And as the weather
came and the winds and the rain and so on, it began to reveal
those bones and skulls and places. And that's how it got its name.
It was called the Place of a Skull. And they gave him vinegar to
drink mingled with gall. That gall is very, very bitter. And it's the same as myrrh, which
the name myrrh means bitter. And when he had tasted thereof,
he would not drink. And they crucified him and 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. And sitting down,
they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation
written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then were there
two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another
on the left. And they that passed by reviled
him, wagging their heads. and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple, and buildest it in three days, save Thyself, if
Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise
also the chief priest, mocking him with the scribes and the
elders, said he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he
be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross,
And we will believe him. He trusted in God. Let him deliver
him now, if you'll have him. For he said, I am the Son of
God. The thieves also which were crucified
with him cast the same in his teeth." There are three things that ought
to fill our hearts with awe and amazement. when we read these
accounts of our Lord's death on the cross. The first thing
that ought to strike us with utter awe and amazement is who
it is that's dying on this cross. This is God come into the flesh. Have you ever paused to think
about who Jesus Christ is? Here's the accusation. These
men could not believe it. They would not have it. But they
sat down there on the ground. A lot of hours were passing by. They didn't want to miss a second
of watching Him in torment die on that cross. And they sat down
and they looked at Him. And they accused Him. They said,
Thou sayest that you were the Son of God. If you are, come
down from the cross and we'll believe you. This is Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, dying on this cross. Paul wrote of Him and said, He
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon
Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful
man. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross." This is God come into the flesh, Jehovah's
faithful servant. This is the God-man. This is
He alone of which it can be said, He is good. You remember that
rich young ruler that came to him and said, good master? And
he stopped him right there and he said, why callest thou me
good? There's none good but God. If I'm not God, I'm not good. This is He alone of which it
can be said He is righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous. Who is this man, Jesus of Nazareth? Well, the second thing that ought
to fill our hearts, we ought to first of all just look in
awe at who it is that's dying on this cross. Well, that's amazing
who this is. That the God of glory, the judge,
the creator of the world is now in the form of a man dying on
the cross. That alone ought to just strike
us with awe and amazement. And then the second thing that
ought to fill our hearts with awe and wonder is knowing for
whom he was suffering this awful death. He died, Paul said, for
the ungodly. These very folks who were gathered
around that cross sitting on the ground reviling Him and mocking
Him and watching Him die on that cross at Pentecost, some of them
the Lord saved. He died for the ungodly. Well, who are the ungodly? That
is those folks before whose eyes there is no fear of God. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise having no
hope and without God in the world. The ungodly. Who are the ungodly? The ungodly are those who live
and think and act and are by nature contrary to God. Totally, they're ungodly. They are those who change the
glory of God into images made like unto man and birds and four-footed
beasts and creeping things. Those who did not want to retain
God in their knowledge. That's the ungodly. The ungodly
are those who are bound in chains of darkness and held under the
curse of God and shall continue on as children of wrath. And as a child of wrath, if God
does not intervene, this one who is the highest has stooped
to become the lowest. Paul said, the reason God saved
me is because I'm the chief of sinners. And he chose me to make
an example out of me to show you how far God stooped to save
sinners. He who is the highest stooped
to become the lowest. We sing a hymn occasionally written
by old Charles Wesley. Here's how it goes. He said,
And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me who caused His thing? For me who Him to death
pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that
Thou, my God, should die for me." Do you find His death for the
ungodly to be amazing? I find it absolutely amazing. I don't think any man can believe
that. I know he can't, apart from a revelation of the Holy
Spirit. He can't believe that. And the third thing that ought
to fill our hearts with amazement and wonder is why He suffered.
He died under the wrath of God for sin. Isaiah said, the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of his soul. I have never met
or read or heard any man who could explain what that really
is. I have read a lot on it. But I do know this, Proverbs
17, verse 15 says, He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth
the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord. And
yet, is this not exactly what men are saying about both Christ
and His elect, that God condemned the just and justified the condemned? Isn't that what they're saying?
There's only one way for guilty sinners to be made righteous,
righteousness before God to be made righteous, and that is for
Christ to be made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And I cannot and will not attempt
to explain it, but I know that when Christ suffered and died
on the cross, He truly and actually appeared there for me and as
me. He appeared before God. When
God poured out His wrath upon Him and exacted what the law
and the holy justice of God demanded, it was upon His elect. We died. Isn't that what the Gospel proclaims
all through the book of Romans, all through the book of Colossians? He tells us, I think it's in
Colossians 3, the very first birth. He said, you are dead.
You are dead. Well, when did we die? We died
in Him. We died in Him. You are dead
and your life is hid with God in Christ. I've heard and read all the arguments
about imputation and impartation, and none of these things fully
explain what took place on the cross. What I do know is that
by an eternal union of grace, God put us in Christ and made
us one with Him so that we stood in Him before the holy bar of
God, justified by His righteousness and condemned by our own sins. Christ died bearing our sins
and His own body on the tree. He was the sin bearer, the substitute. And when He died, we died. When
He rose, we rose. When He sat down, we sat down. If you read Ephesians chapter
2, isn't that exactly what it tells you? You hath He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins? Where in time past you
walked according to the course of this world? According to the
Prince of the Power of the Air, that Spirit who now worketh in
the children of disobedience, He goes on and tells us, But
He said, God, but God, who is rich in mercy, and for that great
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses
and sins, hath quickened us to gather with Christ. By grace
ye are saved, and raised us up together with Him, and made us
sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. Let me give
you three more things to think about. Three acts of God's absolute
sovereignty. We're talking about the crucifixion
of Christ now. The first act of God's absolute
sovereignty is in the fulfillment of the Scriptures. In Isaiah
46, verses 9 and 10, we're told to remember the former things
of old. For He said, I am God, and there
is none else. I am God, and there is none like
Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all My pleasure. Everything that is taking place
in the death of Christ is foretold by God and foretold by God's
prophets centuries before it ever came to pass. Standing around
that cross, a Roman soldier came, and they were break the legs
of those who weren't dead yet on the tree and rush that dying. And they came to Christ and He
was already dead. So they didn't break His legs. And this Roman soldier just decided
to take a spear and thrust it in His side. And when he did it, he fulfilled
one of the prophecies of David And one of the prophecies of
Zechariah, they shall look on him whom they have pierced. And David said in Psalm 34, 20,
not a bone of him shall be broken. They gave him vinegar and gall
to drink. Psalm 69, 21 says, they gave
me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst gave me vinegar
to drink. They parted his garments and
cast lots for his raiment. Psalm 22, 18. They parted my
garments among them and cast lots for my vesture. They put him on a cross between
two thieves. And they said that he did that
because Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 53, 12 said he was numbered
with the transgressors. In John chapter 19, verse 28,
it says, and after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished that the scriptures might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. I thirst. God displays such an
act of undeniable sovereignty in fulfilling the word of God
concerning the death of Christ that it seemed almost as if the
men who took place that day in his death were reading the scriptures
and then going to do what they did. Everything exactly as it
was foretold. And then the second act of God's
absolute sovereignty displayed on the cross of Calvary was God's
sovereign intervention concerning one of the thieves being crucified
with Him. Isn't it strange how both thieves
railed on Him for a while and then all of a sudden one stopped?
One stopped. and begin to repent, what is
it that causes a man who is just like every other man, who lives
and thinks and acts like everybody else, to suddenly change what
he is doing and come to Christ? What is it? There is only one
answer, God's sovereign, distinguishing grace. That is the only answer
there is. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? It is certainly not you. By grace
are you saved through faith. And all men and women are the
same. We're all the same. I know we read things and watch
things on the news and listen to things that happen. And we're
just totally disgusted with them. And we ought to be. We ought
to be disgusted with them. They're vile things that men
are doing in our age and vile things that men have done in
the past. We ought to be disgusted with them. But my friend, we're
just like them. Just exactly like them. The only
difference is God's distinguishing grace. God restrains some men
from being as evil as they could be. Otherwise, you'd be just
like Charles Manson. Sure you would. You'd be just
like Judas. You'd be plotting right now how to sell out the
Lord. We're all the same. God may in His sovereign providence
take away the opportunity for one to do what he would, and
therefore, we are what we are by the grace of God. And nowhere is this more evident
than when God brings one of His sheep to a saving knowledge of
Himself. All of a sudden, things which
this man had heard began to make sense. It never did make any
sense to him before. Didn't have any effect on him
before. Just went right in one ear and right out the other.
But all of a sudden, they began to make sense. All of a sudden,
these things began to come together. All these things that he'd been
listening to and hearing. All of a sudden, he could find
sympathy for this dying man that everybody else despised. All
of a sudden, this man saw his just dessert in his own crimes. but could find no cause of death
in that one who hung beside him. All of a sudden, this man realized
that this man dying beside him was on his way to the throne.
This was the Christ. He wasn't on his way to the grave. He was on his way through the
grave to the throne. And he said, when you come into
your kingdom, remember me. Remember me. What suddenly causes
a man to halt in the direction he's going and turn from everything
he's ever known and turn to Christ? God's sovereign, distinguishing
grace. God's people do not exercise
their free will. They're made willing in the day
of His power. And they don't exercise their
right to make a decision. They're drawn by the Father and
brought to know the truth. And then the third act of God's
absolute sovereignty displayed on the cross is the death of
Christ. Turn with me over to John chapter 10. John chapter
10. Jesus Christ is God come into
the flesh. There is no natural cause of
death in Him. Adam and Adam's sons all died
because of sin, but this man had no sin. He could not be tempted
to sin. Satan himself found nothing in
him to exploit. And death is the penalty for
sin. Now listen to what our Lord tells
His disciples here concerning His death in verse 14. He said,
I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. Now listen, no man taketh it
from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have
I received from my Father. They did not take His life from
Him. He gave His life. He gave His
life. Every time that you read about
Christ's death, even the eternal purpose of God and that eternal
counsel of God and decree of God, the Father gave His Son. Isn't that what it says? He gave
Him. And He gave His own life. A ransom. He laid it down immediately after
he cried, It is finished. And knowing that all things were
accomplished, the scripture said, He gave up the ghost. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the full with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. was numbered with the transgressors,
and bear the sin of many, and in so doing made intercession
for the transgressors. What an act of God's sovereign
mercy and grace manifested in the death of Christ. Now, in
conclusion, let me give you three more things, just briefly. I
just want to state these things, and I'll quit. Three things that
the Holy Spirit reveals to God's elect in the Gospel of Christ. And the first thing is this,
the exceeding sinfulness of sin. That's where you learn it. You
learn it on the cross. The exceeding sinfulness of sin. Our sins. He's not dying for
Himself. He's dying for sinners. He's
dying for His elect. He's dying for His chosen people
who are all under the condemnation of God, all under sin. And I
look up at that cross, and I see how God feels towards sin. I see the judgment of God upon
his own son. He spared not his own son. That ought to tell you something
about the exceeding sinfulness of sin. God doesn't wink at it. He doesn't excuse it. It must
be punished and justice must be satisfied. And the only place
that he can be satisfied is in Christ. God saw the travail of
his soul and was satisfied. That's it. There's no other place.
No other place. exceeding sinfulness of sin.
It's for sin that the Son of Man is dying on this cross. And
then secondly, that His death on the cross is sufficient to
put away our sins. It's sufficient. If you ever
learn what took place on that cross, you'll quit looking to
your works. You'll quit doubting the power
of God to save your soul. His death is sufficient. It's
all sufficient. Those old priests continually
offered. We're going through Exodus on
Wednesday night. And everything that takes place
there surrounds a sacrifice. They had a lamb, and they had
a goat, and they had a heifer, and they had a he-goat, and on
and on and on. Something, doves. There had to
be blood sacrifice. Constantly, constantly, constantly. But in Hebrews it said, this
man, this man, after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down. All sufficient. The old hymn
writer said, what can take away our sin? Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. He alone is God. And as God has set him forth,
as our propitiation can blot out our sins. And then thirdly,
That righteousness can only be found in the obedience of Christ.
That's the only place you can find it. Which obedience, he
emphasizes over and over, was unto death, even the death of
the cross. Jesus Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Does that mean we don't do good
works? Well, we're going to talk about that here a little bit
this morning. It doesn't mean that we don't do good works.
But it tells you what these good works are all about. It tells
you what they're all about. It tells you how they're motivated
and how they come to be and why they must be. They must be. You know that a believer without
good works is as much a mockery of the death of Christ as anything
else. It's a total mockery. It says
that his death bought nothing. His death guaranteed nothing. That's what it says. And that's
why it's so important. And believers who know that are
careful. That's what Paul said, be careful. Be careful to maintain
good works. Why? Because it makes a mockery
out of the death of Christ.