Good evening to each of you.
If you would turn back with me again to Ephesians chapter 5
verse 2. And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us. an offering and a sacrifice to
God for sweet smelling savor. We've already studied who Christ
did what he gave, whom did he give himself. And tonight we'll
look at the to whom, which is God, and for whom, which is us. And I pray that this will be
a blessing to you as it has been me in the study of it. So the
question tonight, the first question is to whom? Well, it's to God. That's the fourth question in
our text. To whom should he offer this
sacrifice of atonement? It must be to him that was offended. That's who it's to. It must be
to the one who was offended. Who was offended? God was. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight," said the psalmist
David. The prodigal son, when he returned
to his father, he said, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and in thy sight. All sins are committed against
God. His justice is displeased. And it must, must be satisfied
before a sinner can ever be redeemed, reconciled to God. Christ gave
himself to God. You see, God is angry. What's
God angry about? And who's He angry with? Well,
the scriptures are plain. God is angry with sin. And He's angry with us because
of our sin. In his just anger, he must smite. But who? In Christ, there was
no sin. In John 18, one of the officers,
which stood by Jesus when he stood before the high priest,
slapped him with an open hand. And he said, and Jesus answered
to him, he said, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. In other words, if I've done
evil or if I've said something wrong, tell me what it is. And
he said, but if I've spoken well, why smitest thou me? And that's a good question. Why
smitest thou me? Why was he smitten? Well, that's
our second question. For us. For us. Abraham one day pleaded to God
on the behalf of Lot who was in Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18 verse 25 he said
to God Almighty, that be far from thee to do after this manner
to slay the righteous with the wicked? and that the righteous
should be as the wicked, that be far from thee." And he said,
he asked this question, he said, shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? God always does right. Christ always does all things
well. All things well. And he's definitely
going to do right to his son which glorified him on earth
and in heaven. And he's now glorified in heaven. And I suppose we can fetch the
answer from Daniel's prophecy. In Daniel 9.26 it says, The Messiah
shall be cut off, but not for himself. Oh dear friends, did
you hear that? He's cut off, but it's not for
himself. For whom then was he cut off?
Well, for the answer to that we must step to the fifth point
and we shall find it. For whom was he cut off? For
us. For us. All those that put their
trust in Him. All those that bow to Him as
a just God and a Savior. He took upon Himself our person. He became the surety for us. Oh, I like that. Now the course
of justice may proceed against Him. He that will become a surety
and took on Himself our debt must firstly be content to pay
it. And our Lord was. He was content
to pay the debt that we owed. You see, for God to be just and
to justify, for God to be a just God and a Savior, that innocent
Lamb of God must be made a sacrifice. And he that knew no sin in himself,
Scripture says, was made to be sin for who? For us. For us. That we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Now, nine times in three verses
in Isaiah chapter 53, the words we, ours, and us is used. Let me read those verses to you.
Surely He, being Christ, hath borne our griefs. our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Isn't that wonderful
news? All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. For whom did Christ die? For
us. For His elect, His chosen before
the foundation of the world. We were all sick. Grievously
sick. Every sin is like a mortal disease
before God Almighty. And Isaiah tells us we're in
desperate need. And we're in need of a great
physician for our sin is great. Oh, Isaiah was right when he
said, we have all like sheep gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way. And Christ, our great physician,
took a strange course for our cure. In order to save the guilty,
Christ did not give us medicine to make us better. dead in trespasses and sin, but
he took our infirmities and made them his own. Oh, other patients drink the
prescribed potion, but our physician drank the potion himself and
so healed us forever. Oh, truly when he said, from
the cross it is finished, it was finished. For us, he that
had no cause to suffer himself suffered for me. That's the gospel. so monstrous was our sin that
the hand of everlasting justice was ready to strike us with a
fatal and a final blow. But Christ in His own person
as the God-man steps between the stroke and us and bore just
for a while that which would have damned you and I forever. We who were his utter enemies,
he loved. It's hard enough for me to love
someone, period. Much less to love someone who's
cruel, mean, indifferent with me. But Christ died for his enemies. And then here is love without
limitation, my friends. This is love, unconditional love. It wasn't deserved. Not at all. Unconditional. One old writer
said, unspeakable mercy that the king of eternal glory should
yield himself to be crucified. for so poor a wretch, yea, even
a worm." He said, and not a loving worm, not a living worm, for
we both hated him and were dead in trespasses to him. Oh, worms
we are, but we hated him and we were dead to him. And there's
no exemption to the greatest All have sinned. There's no exemption
for the greatest from misery, so there's no exemption to the
least for mercy. Oh, just as Nathan said to David
in 2 Samuel, He said, Thou art the man. Thou art the man. David said, Let me find this
man. I'll kill him. I'll make him
return more than what he took. He said, You're the man. You're
the man. And one day, in God's mercy and
grace, he showed Glenn Hansen that he was the man. He showed
me I was the man. Thou art the man, He said. It's for me that the man Christ
Jesus died. It's for you who call upon Him
in mercy. We are the men and women who
caused our blessed Redeemer to be crucified. For us, He endured those grievous
sufferings that we might never taste them. May we by grace say,
let Him be fastened wholly in our hearts to Him who was wholly
fastened to the cross for us. Now Christ died to save us, friends. This was His purpose and this
was His performance. As He did, all He suffered was
to redeem us. By his stripes we are healed. By his sweat we were refreshed. By his sorrows we rejoice. By his death we are saved. The day he was crucified To the
Lord Jesus Christ, it was the heaviest day that ever a man
bore. But for us, it was the accepted
time. For us, it was the day of salvation. For us, it was the time of love. And with the Apostle Paul, we
have learned to say by his grace, I live by faith of the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2.20 We know
that everyone is a rebel. guilty, convicted by the supreme
law and justice of God Almighty. Death awaits to arrest us and
damnation waits to receive us. What can we do but pray, besiege,
cry and weep till we can get our pardon sealed in the blood
of our Lord. It's my prayer that every one
of us find a sure testimony in our own soul that Christ gave
Himself for us. I want to know that more deeply
and intimately. I want to know Him more deeply
and intimately. And I say to you tonight, without
reservation, that this should move us This should move us. Was all this done for us that
we might not be stirred or moved by it? Have we no regard? Lamentations 1.12 says, Is it
nothing to you that I suffer such sorrow as was never suffered? Is it nothing to you? All his
agony, all his cries, tears and groans, and all his sufferings
were for us. For us. May his passion move
us to compassion. Our Lord said one day, he said,
daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me. Don't weep for me,
but weep for yourselves. Have you wept for yourself? I
know that if you know Christ you have. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. Shall Christ drink this cup of
sorrow dry and we not love Him? Should He do for us what we cannot
do for ourselves and we give Him no regard? Does sinful man suffer nothing
for whom Christ suffered all? Well, I ask you, did not His
passion tear the veil in the Holy of Holies? Did it not shake
the earth? Did it not open the graves? And
our hearts, or are our hearts, I should say, are they more hardened
than these? Does heaven and earth, the sun
and its elements, suffer with Him and it's nothing to us? The truth is, we, being wretched
men and women, were the principles in His murder. Now that's not
a popular message, but it doesn't make it any less true. Now what
do you mean by that? Well, I mean just as Judas, just
as Caiaphas, just as Pilate, just as the soldiers, just as
the Jews were all accessories and instrumental causes in his
death, so are we. Yet he died for us. You've heard me and many others
say that if we had been there when they thought to stone him,
we would have been holding the rock in our hand. On the day
that he stood before his accusers and before Pilate, Pilate said,
I find no fault in him. I'm going to release him to you.
They said, no, no, no. Release unto us Barabbas, who
was a murderer. Oh, Contemplate these things in your
hearts and in your minds dear friends and tell me that his
passion does not move you I Know it does But we're so hardened
in our hearts that it's hard for us to endure one hour one
hours listening To hear about it Christ spent many hours dying
for us and most of us Especially me. You cannot sit for one hour
to hear about it. Boy, that just says a whole lot
about us, doesn't it? And this should put us to shame.
Christ delivered Himself to death for our sins, that He might deliver
us from death and our sins. And He came not only to destroy
the devil, but to destroy the works of the devil. And He suffered,
my friends, at all times and in all places and in all senses
and all members and body and soul for us. Did He not suffer
at all times? Why, in His childhood, He suffered
in poverty and had the king seeking to kill Him. Oh, what suffering! In the day he lacks food, in
the night he lacks a pillow. Even that holy time of the great
Passover is destined for his dying. When they should kill
the Passover lamb in thankfulness that God had forgiven them for
another season, they slay the Lamb of God in wickedness. He suffered in all places. From
the manger, the manger was his cradle. God of the universe lay
in a manger. In the streets, he was mocked. In the mountains, they would
have thrown him down headlong. Even in the temple, they took
up stones to cast at him. He suffered in the high priest
hall by buffeters. He suffered in the garden by
his betrayers. He suffered in the way to Calvary
carrying his own cross. And all our Lord suffered was
for us. Lastly, at Calvary, a vile and
stinking place. He suffered among the wicked
malefactors and was crucified. All this for us. He suffered in all places that
the mercy of God might protect us in all places. He suffered
in all senses. I thought about this. His taste.
is afflicted with gall and vinegar, a bitter drink for a dying man. His touch felt even more as the
nails were driven into his hands and in his feet. The most sensible
places for pain. His ears are full of blasphemous
insults, which the savage multitude shouted out against him. Release
unto us Barabbas, was their cry to pallet, preferring a murderer
before a Savior. He suffered in all senses. Here
are some of the things that they did and said. Matter of fact,
turn with me to Matthew 27. Look at this. Matthew 27. I want you to see it. Look at verse 29. And when they
had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and
a reed in his right hand, and they bowed their knee before
him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. Look down in
verse 39. And they that passed by reviled
him, wagging their heads. Have you ever seen somebody being
aggravated by something or disgusted and they just go, That's what
they did to the Lord of Glory, reviled Him and wagged their
head. Verse 42, they 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. In verse 43 and 44, He trusted
in God. Let Him deliver him now. If He
will have him, for He said, I am the Son of God. And the thieves
also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth."
Look at verse 49, the rest said, all the others said, let be,
let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. Mocked him,
ridiculed him, made fun of him. And all these things you consider
their blasphemy, and at the same time consider his patience. And he took it in patience. Why?
Because I should have been hanging there. And he spoke not a word
for us. For us. He just suffered the despite
of his enemies on the one side, and they showed their extreme
malice. And he suffered the weeping and
lamenting of his mother and his followers on the other side,
whose tears wounded his heart. Therefore suffered Christ in
all his senses That sin and all our senses might be done to death
the poison exhausted the senses purified And he suffered in all
members Look on that blessed body conceived by the Holy Ghost
born of a pure virgin And it's all overscorched, martyred, tortured,
mangled. Didn't even resemble a man when
they got done with him. They begin in his head, that
head which the angels revered is crowned with thorns. That
face which Psalm 45 says, fairer than the sons of men, is spit
upon by the Jews. His hands that made the heavens
are pierced with rusty nails, extended and fastened to the
cross. The feet which Scripture says,
a tread upon the necks of his and our enemies feel the pain
of the nails. And his mouth was battered, the
mouth which spake as never a man spoke, battered, bruised, and
bleeding. And he suffered all this for
us. For us. His head bled for the
wicked imaginations of our mind. His face was smeared with spit
because we had spit blasphemies against heaven. His lips were
afflicted that our lips might speak pleasant and peaceful words. His feet bled that our feet might
not be swift to shed blood. All his members suffered for
the sins of all our members, that our members might be no
more servants to sin, but servants to righteousness and to holiness." He'd be blindfolded. They put
a blindfold on him and beat him and hit him and said, you're
a prophet, tell us who hits you. The God of heaven and earth. And he was blindfolded that he
might take the veil of ignorance from our eyes. He suffered the
head to be wounded that he might renew health to all the body.
And six times in scripture that I can find, we read that Christ
shed his blood. He shed blood when he was circumcised
at eight days old. In his agony in the garden, he
sweat drops of blood. In his scourging and in his torture,
when the merciless tormentors fetch blood from his back with
the whip. When he was crowned with thorns,
those sharp prickles raked and tore his flesh, and he had blessed
head and drew forth blood. And in his crucifying, when his
hands and feet were pierced, blood gushed out. And lastly,
after his death, when he had given up the ghost, one of the
soldiers with a spear pierced his side. And scripture says,
out came blood and water. One commentator wrote, all his
members bled to show that he bled for all his members. I like that. Not one, listen,
not one single drop of His blood was shed for Himself. Who was
it shed for? For us. For us. All His blood was shed for us,
for His enemies, His persecutors, His crucifiers. So what shall become of us if
all this does not move us? How shall we live with Christ
if with Christ we be not dead? Romans 6, 8. So the Lord Jesus,
to recover us, to redeem us, we who were dead in our sins
and trespasses, He spreads and He applies His whole passion
to us. He lays His mouth of blessing
upon our mouth of blasphemy. His eyes of holiness upon our
eyes of lust. He lays His hands of mercy upon
our hands of cruelty, and He stretches His gracious self upon
our wretched selves. And lastly, Christ suffered in
His soul. Here's the true suffering, my
friends. All the other suffering was but
the outside of His passion. And our Lord says in John 12,
27, He said, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father,
save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto
this hour. All the outward afflictions were
but gentle prickings in comparison to what his soul suffered. You
know how when they take blood, or used to, they just prick your
finger and take it? That's what the outward sufferings
were like compared to his soul sufferings. The spirit of a man will sustain
his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear. Proverbs
18. He had a heart within that suffered
unseen, unknown, and unimaginable anguish. Oh, we can see the blood
from the thorns and from the back and from the hands and the
feet, but can you tonight see the suffering of a soul? Oh. He had wept the tears of pity,
the tears of love, but never before had he wept the tears
of anguish. And all this, all this for us. Augustine once prayed. I like
this. I'm going to write it down and
hang it up. I'm going to read it every day by His grace. He
said these words, prayed these words, Lord, give me a heart
to desire Thee. Give me a desire to seek Thee. Give me a seeking to find Thee. a finding to love thee, and loving
no more to offend thee. And I pray tonight, Lord, give
us eyes to see what our Lord suffered in body and in soul
for us. Amen.