So I invite you to take your
Bibles this morning and turn with me to John chapter 19. John chapter 19. I want us to look at three verses
of Scripture, but this first one in particular. In these three verses of Scripture
is the account of the last moments and the last words of Jesus of
Nazareth as He hung on this Roman cross. Forsaken of all. Hung there by Himself. And He
spoke these words. He says in verse 28, John chapter
19 verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the scriptures might be fulfilled,
saith I thirst." After this. After this. Now most professing
Christians, I don't know any other way to describe who I'm
talking about other than using those words, professing Christians. Now, our Lord used that type
of language. He said, you will say unto me,
or you have said unto me, or you profess this or that. He used that kind of terminology. Because everybody that saith
Lord, Lord's not going to enter into the kingdom of God. He told
our disciples that very plainly. But most professing Christians
do not know anything about the appearance or accomplishments
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's just so. If you don't
believe me, just engage yourself in a conversation with one. It'll
take you about five minutes before you understand that they've got
no knowledge whatsoever of the Old Testament. And the Old Testament
is that which lays the groundwork for who Christ was and why he
came and what he did and where he's at now. And these four Gospels,
in particular this one here of John that we're studying, these
four men were witnesses that Jesus of Nazareth was that Christ
of whom the whole Old Testament lays the foundation. He's been
preached to generations by false prophets as a symbol of hope. That's why they wear the crosses
around their neck. That's why they've got them on
the staples. He's a symbol. He's a symbol
of hope. He's just an inspiration to do better. He's an example
for reform. But all of these things are based on the idea that man
is savable. And from the get-go, our Lord
tells us that man is not savable. He cannot save himself. He didn't
save himself in the garden. Man fell, he was totally at the
mercy and grace of God. If God chose to and he would
have been right to have done it, he could have destroyed Adam.
in his rebellion and sin. He didn't have to come to him.
There was nothing that obligated God to come to him, nothing that
obligated God to come and tell him the truth or sit before him
this promise of the woman's seed or demonstrate to him what this
seed was all about. Man is not savable. If there's
one thing I'm 100% sure of is that in the Old Testament man
is never represented as one who's savable. He's not savable. If he has the potential to reform,
has the wisdom to choose and the will to turn to God, then
there's no need for Christ to die on a cross. If all he needs
is inspiration, the Holy Spirit of God could have come and regenerated
the man, inspired the man. He could have sent Him prophets
and teachers to inspire Him to reform. No need for Jesus Christ
to appear as a man. No need for God to robe Himself
in human flesh and come into this world if man is savable. If all man needed was to be inspired,
God could have done that apart from Christ. But the purpose
of the whole Old Testament is to lay the groundwork for the
coming of Christ and man under the best of conditions. He was
in a garden, was he not? It was the garden of God. It
was paradise. Everything that a man could want
or need was in the garden. Anything, anything, everything
that was for his good was in the garden. But man sinned. and sin and rebelled against
God. God comes along and he separates a people. He separates these
first two sons of Adam. He's got Cain and Abel. They're
both told by the same man the same declaration. They're told how and why a man
has to approach God with a substitute. Adam told them that. And under
the best of circumstances, one of them came, one of them didn't.
One of them brought vegetables and carrots and watermelons and
whatever else he could think of, laid on that altar, proud
of it. Offered that sacrifice in pride
and self-righteousness before God, feeling himself worthy of
God's approval. The other one brought it in shame,
looking at the slain substitute, confessing that he was not worthy
apart from that sacrifice. These things have been pictured
under the best of circumstances, and man always falls. He always goes astray. Israel. Who on this earth had more light
than the nation of Israel? They had the priesthood. God
spoke to them. They had the oracles of God.
They had the law of God. They had teachers, men set aside,
inspired by the Spirit of God to teach them. They had God's
hand in blessing against their enemies, God's preservation of
them in the wilderness, all of these things. And what'd man
do? Huh? Two out of two million went into
the Promised Land, if that'll give you any idea. Man under
the best of circumstances. The Scripture said man at his
best state is altogether vanity. Altogether vanity. In great detail,
the Old Testament Scriptures tells us what must take place
to reconcile men to God. A substitute has to die for our
sins. A representative to do for us
what we cannot and will not do for ourselves. And simply calling
on a man called Jesus is not going to do you any good. Not
going to do you any good anymore. You might as well just get you
a four-leaf clover and take it down there and have it laminated
and carry it around in your pocket and every time you feel trouble,
get out and rub on that four-leaf clover. Get you a cross and hang
it around your neck and rub on that or one of those whatever
they are, saint soul and soul that they hang around their neck.
You might as well get involved in some kind of superstitious
foolishness as just call on the name Jesus with no understanding
of who this man was. Mexico's full of men called Jesus. They pronounce it Jesus down
there, but Jesus is how it's spelled. It's full of... Well,
which Jesus? That's my question. Which Jesus? Jesus walked before the Pharisees. And they knew the man. They knew
his name. They knew his mother, his father,
his sisters, and his brothers. Isn't that what they said? We
know thee who thou art. They knew his name, but his name
didn't do them any good because they didn't know who he was.
They didn't know why he came. They didn't know what he was
doing. And they don't know right now where he's at and what kind
of authority has been put in his hands. The purpose of the
whole Old Testament is to lay the groundwork for the coming
of Christ. And in great detail, it sets
it before us. There must be an understanding
with the calling. I'm going to show you that. Turn
with me over to Romans chapter 10. I believe this is a crucial
point of doctrine. I believe that this has a direct
bearing on what our Lord says in the closing moments of His
life's work on this earth. In Romans 10, verse 10, For with
the heart, that's the seed of all man's affections, with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now in this passage
cited here in Isaiah 28.16, the last line reads in Isaiah 28.16,
this is what Paul's quoting. But it's quoted a little bit,
it's stated a little bit different in Isaiah. This last line says,
he shall not make haste. And then when Peter quotes this
over in 1 Peter chapter 2, you remember those verses where he
said, unto you therefore which believe he is precious and so
on. Well, he quotes this same verse and he said in that last
line of it, they shall not be confounded. The sense of the
verse is that we're not left ignorant and unknowing about
Christ. We're not going to stand in that
day before God ashamed. Standing there in ignorance talking
about, I preached in your name. Well, he said, I never knew you.
I did wonderful works in your name. I never knew you. Standing there talking to him
as though they were on a first name basis with him and had all
of his blessings and that now they just can't understand why
they're being cast away. They're ashamed. He said, you're
not going to be ashamed. This man who believes from the
heart is not going to be left ashamed, and he's not going to
be confounded. He's going to have an understanding.
And he's not going to be made haste. You go back and read that
whole verse back in Isaiah 28, and it talks about the stone.
God laid in Zion a stone. This is the head. This is the
foundation. This is the very basis of all
our hopes before God. And he that believeth on him
is not going to make haste. He's not going anywhere else,
John. He's in no hurry to leave this foundation. He's going to
sit right here. Why? Because he has an understanding,
and because he's established, and because he's grounded on
this hope. All right, now look here. Still
in Romans chapter 10, there's no difference, he says, in the
next verse between Jews or Greeks. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. Verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall you call on Him
in whom you have not believed? And how shall you believe in
Him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? You see that there's understanding
that comes with the calling and understanding. And my business
as a preacher is not to get you down an aisle. It's not to get
somebody to sign up. It's not to get somebody to join
an organization. My business as a preacher is
to tell you who he is and why he came and what he did and where
he's at. Knowing that, the Holy Spirit
of God will convince you and you'll sign your name and you'll
walk down an aisle and you'll profess Him and confess Him until
you die. But you're not going to until
you hear. It's just not going to happen. Our Lord inspired John to pen
these words after this. He's not just talking about those
brief moments before as He hung there on the cross. He's talking about the whole
of the work of redemption that had taken place up to this point,
after this. How do I know that? Well, read
the next verse. I'm back in John chapter 19,
verse 28, still in verse 28. How do I know that? How do I
know that He's talking about everything that happened to Him
from His birth to this moment? How do I know that? Look at these
next verses. Jesus knowing that all things
were now accomplished. Knowing that. That's why He said
it after this. If all we have is just a fond
hope What do I mean by that? I hope, I hope, I hope. Just
like you're going to have a picnic next Wednesday and you say, well,
I hope it don't rain. Well, you got what basis do you
have of believing it's nothing, just a hope, just a desire, just
a fond desire. That's all you have. And if that's
all we have, a hope without reason or understanding, I fear we're
going stand in that day of judgment and find ourselves with the rest
of this deceived world talking about what we have done. The Son of God, here's what John
said, 1 John 5, I think it's verse 20. He said, and we know, talking
about believers, Here's what we know. Believers know a lot.
You go through that book of 1 John and you're going to find that
little phrase all the way through that book. And we know. And we
know. Why? Because believers know.
They have an understanding. That's what I'm trying to get
across to you this morning and that's the only point I have
and I hope before it's done I will have convinced you. The Son of
God has come and given us an understanding. An understanding
of what? that we may know Him that is
true. Most people face a judgment of
a God they know nothing about. That's why they're relaxed and
at ease. They know nothing about this
God. They know nothing about the perfection of His character.
They know nothing about His justice, His holiness. They know nothing
about those things. And that they will one day stand
before Him. The Apostle Paul said on Mars
Hill to that unbelieving crowd there in Athens, he said, God
hath set a day in which he's going to judge this world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Now that's
the standard. That's the standard. You see
what John's saying here? We know that the Son of God hath
come and given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true. You want to understand the judgment of God, the justice
of God? Look at the cross. There's His
Son hanging on the cross. How will He judge me in that
day? Will He overlook my faults? Will He simply erase my sins? Will He look at what I've done
and look at what He did? He was a perfect man, tempted
in all points like as we are yet without sin, and yet he's
dying on that cross. Why? Because of sin. And we won't take that pitiful
excuse that we call righteousness and we're going to plead that
in that day? You see what I'm saying? Most men just have a
fond desire. It's just a hope, a hope, a hope.
They have no understanding and no reason, no foundation for
the hope. He's come and given us an understanding
that we may know Him that's true and that we're in Him that's
true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. He came into this world to accomplish
the will of God. And that will He plainly declares
in John chapter 6, verse 39 and 40. It's to raise up again at the
last day all that was given to Him by the Father. Justice. Law. Purpose. Authority. Righteousness. And all those He chose and gave
to His Son. He's going to raise them all
up at the last day. Why? Because that was the will of
God that He came to accomplish. And Jesus knowing, you see what
He's saying here on the cross? that all things were accomplished. He came to fulfill all righteousness. That's what he told John the
Baptist. John said, I'm not worthy to baptize you. I'm not worthy. And he said, I know that. But
it behooves us to fulfill all righteousness, so you go ahead
and baptize me. He came to save his people from
their sin. Did he do it? He said He did.
He said He knew that all things were accomplished. He came to
bear our sins in His own body on the tree. Did He bear them?
Knowing that all things were accomplished. He came to reveal
a saving knowledge of God. And to believe on Christ is to
be brought to the same knowledge of which He confesses as He hung
on the cross. Knowing, Jesus knowing that all
things We're now accomplished. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
Before you and I can have any hope, we're going to have to
come to that same place. You ain't going to have any hope
until you come there. Because if these things are not
accomplished, we have them yet to do. Now, let me ask you this. Do we believe that? Do I believe that? Do we believe
that His righteousness is sufficient to present us to the Father unblameable
and unreprovable in the presence of His glory? Do we believe that? Do we believe that His blood,
His death, His suffering is sufficient to put away all our sins? Or
do we still believe God demands more? Do we believe that because of
what He did, God raised Him up and gave Him the right to save
to the uttermost all those that come unto God by Him? That by virtue of His accomplishments,
He has the right and authority and power and position to direct
all providence, send the Holy Spirit of God, direct preachers
to call out those for whom He died. Do we believe that? Are we still trying to accomplish
it in this flesh? To redeem his people, he must
take to himself the body and soul of his elect. And he did
that. He did that. He must live as
they're commanded to live under the law and authority of God.
He must be tempted as we are in all points. He must be exposed
to the infirmities of this flesh in order when you pray to Him,
you can know, Paul said over in Hebrew, you can know that
He hears you. Because He's been made a faithful
high priest and was taught in things that He suffered to identify
with those who call on Him in their suffering. He knows. You
don't suffer anything compared to what He suffered. And in His
suffering, He identifies with you. He can be touched. We call
on Him from our heart in our suffering. He's touched. He understands. He knows what you suffer. And
then with the full weight of our sins upon His head, He bare
the wrath of God alone and left to shame and mocking and the
ridicule of men. I just, I can't express this
enough to you, how important it is to know these things. You
can't be saved and not know these things. You can't be saved. If Jesus Christ did not accomplish
and make an end to the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth, then we're still under the curse and a perfect obedience
is going to be demanded of us in judgment. Isn't that what
he says over there? I think it's in Revelation chapter
20. Those whose names were not written in that book of life,
and it says, and they were judged according to their works. What
works? The works demanded under this
law with Jesus Christ as the standard. If His death did not
put away all my sin, then there is no possibility for me to ever
be reconciled to God because He will by no means clear the
guilty. And we come forth from the womb
speaking lies. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26 says,
If we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, if we totally reject this new and living way, if we
totally reject this once and for all sanctification, if we
totally reject that high priest appointed of God on our behalf
in things pertaining to God, if we totally reject the substitute,
and sin offering that God appointed and sent into this world. If
we reject those things and prefer and go back to those traditions
of religion, He said, you know this, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins. All you have to hope for is a
certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.
That's all there is there outside of Christ. Outside of Christ,
God is a consuming fire. He's a consuming fire. We've
got one hope, and it's that hope of that knowledge that He expresses
as He hangs on this cross. Know it. I don't even know. I can't even look and know of
myself. I know because He spoke those
words on the cross that all those things were accomplished. Those who despise, listen to
this, this continues on down in Hebrews chapter 10. Those
who despise the law of God, the law of God given by Moses to
his people. Those who despise that law, openly
transgress that law, they were taken out and in the presence
of a few witnesses, Winston, they picked up rocks the size
of grapefruits And they stoned them men until their brains ran
out on the ground. They killed them. They killed
them. They killed them. Now listen
to this. Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant whereby he was sanctified as an unholy
thing, and had done despite under the Spirit of grace." What do
you reckon God's going to do to him? Take this message and just throw
it on the ground. After this, after all that he
became in his condescension, taking our flesh upon himself
to be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. After this,
all the lies and temptations and trials. After this, the constant
nipping at his heels by those dogs of false religion who hounded
him from day one. After this, the cruel accusations,
humiliation, insults of false charges brought against After
this, the mock trial, the false witnesses, those in envy outstirring
the crowd to condemn him. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were accomplished, not made possible. Not what that
says, is it? It says accomplished. Not partially,
not a down payment, not just an example, but accomplished.
Until we're brought to know what the Lord said He knew, we've
got no foundation for hope or peace. No hope for heaven. I was thinking as I prepared
this lesson of all the places in the Scriptures where He talks
about why He came. It says He came into the world
not as an angel. But He took on Him the seed of
Abraham in permanent union with this flesh. He came into this
world bringing grace and truth. That's what John said. He came
into this world to manifest in the flesh that eternal union
given to Him by the Father. The Father prepared a wedding
for His Son. He came into this world to save
His people from their sins. to manifest the love of God.
We've got no idea of the love of God except as we view it in
his sacrifice on that cross. He came into this world to declare. God set him forth as a man in
this world in the exact manner that he set him forth to declare
his righteousness and to declare God as just a justifier of all
them that believe. He came into this world to give
life to dead sinners. to do the will of the Father,
to glorify His Father, to deliver us from this present evil world,
and to fulfill all the Scriptures. To fulfill every one of them.
He couldn't leave one undone. He could not be the prophesied
Christ until all those Scriptures of Him were fulfilled. And Jesus,
knowing that all things were accomplished, that the scriptures
might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. I thirst. And there was set before him
a little vessel there filled full of vinegar. And those fellas
went over there and they took a sponge and put it down in that
vessel and plucked a cattail growing there beside the thing.
That's what hyssop is, is a cattail. And they took that thing and
they broke it loose and they took that sponge and they sponged
out that vinegar on that old cattail and they stuck it up
to his lips. And having received the vinegar,
having received the vinegar, he turned to the father. And he said, it is finished. It's done. It's done. Now brethren, if it's finished,
there's nothing left for me to do. It's done. But now watch this, verse 30
here in John chapter 19, and I'll close with this. He bowed
his head and gave up the ghost. He committed, it says in another,
by another one of the witnesses, he committed his spirit into
his hands, into the Father's hands. Now brethren, what he
did is exactly what we do by faith. There comes a time when
we hear, and those who hear commit themselves into his hands, into
the hands of the Father, into that eternal purpose of grace.
into the accomplishments of His Son. We commit all things into
His hands. And all our lifetime is spent
committing ourselves into those hands. And then when we come
to die, we've got no other hope. We stand before the Father, and
in full confidence of those accomplishments of Christ, we commit ourselves
into His hands. That's the hope of the Gospel.
It's all in Christ. All in those accomplishments.
all in the understanding of what took place. We're not going to
believe anything, trust anything, or do anything apart from an
understanding. God be gracious to us and give
us that understanding.