Let's begin tonight in Galatians
chapter 6. You'll find my text in Luke 23,
but I want us to begin in Galatians 6. By now, I'm sure all of you are
fully aware that I abhor religious symbols and images such as that. That picture that's on the front
of the Psalms of Grace book. It was there before I knew it
was there, or it wouldn't have been there. And you can pretend
that's one of my baby pictures, but we don't have images of angels
or such of that nonsense. Having said that, Rembrandt's
greatest, most dramatic etching is called Three Crosses. It is
Rembrandt's attempt to show the moment of our Savior's death
on the cursed tree at Golgotha. I took a good look at that recently.
Massive beams of light sliced through the darkness, focusing
upon Christ, our Redeemer, and the thieves crucified with him,
the one on the left and the other on the right. As I looked at
that, I thought, it seems to me the artist is trying to convey
the idea No one can ever understand the significance of these three
crosses except light shine from heaven and give such understanding. In Galatians chapter 6 verse
14, the Apostle Paul speaks of three crosses, three crucifixions. He speaks of the crucifixion
of our Lord Jesus Christ. the crucifixion of the world
and the crucifixion of himself, of all believers. But God forbid,
he says, that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And glorying in the cross, he
is not talking about the historic fact of it. He is not talking
about a silly papist emblem of it. He's not talking about any
of the things that folks generally refer to when they talk about
the cross, but rather he is talking about the doctrine of the cross,
the gospel of God's free grace, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
God forbid that I should glory, rest in, boast in, trust in,
preach anything but the cross of Christ, by which By the death
of Jesus Christ, my substitute, the world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world. Now turn to Colossians chapter
2. Here in verse 14, the inspired
writer tells us that we are complete in Christ, because when he died
upon the cursed tree as our substitute, as our blessed Savior, The Lord
Jesus took the law out of the way. Look at this, verse 14. Blooding out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. What's that? All the commandments of God,
all the ceremonies of the law, all the sacrifices and rituals,
all the priesthood, all the tabernacle, all the temple, the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. In other places he calls
it the rudiments of the world. He took it out of the way. What a word. Look at it. Blotting
out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, opposing us all the time, and took it out of
the way. Let me give you a better translation.
Set it aside. Picked it up. Set it away out
of the way. Set it out of the way. Set it
aside. How'd they do that? The whole
of God's law that prohibited any possibility of you and me
entering glory." He nailed it to his cross. What a word. Nailing it to his cross. When
our Lord Jesus was crucified, God's elect were crucified in
him, the law was crucified, and the world was crucified. What does all that mean? Let's
read Luke 23. beginning at verse 32 again.
And as we look at the scene before us on Mount Calvary one more
time, I want us to look specifically at the spiritual significance
of these three crosses on Calvary. Now understand this and understand
it well. Nothing written in this book
is written merely to inform us of historic facts. Nothing. Nothing. Brother Bobby read in
the back about the children of Israel in the Passover coming
out of Egypt. And folks often read that, like
the historic facts. Get all the historic facts right.
Now, the historic facts that are given in Scripture are exactly
right. But nothing here is written merely
to inform you of historic facts. There's something intended by
every historic fact revealed. Now, as we look at this passage
before us, I want us to seek by God's grace, I believe I have
found in his word, the spiritual significance of the three crosses
on Calvary's hill. The title of my message, if you're
taking note, is Three Crosses, Three Crucifixions, Luke 23,
verse 32. And there are also There were also two other malefactors
led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. That's the way all humanity has
always been divided. Before the world was, one on
the right hand, the other on the left. When old Dias found
himself in hell, the Lord God tells us in the parable that
he heard there is a great gulf fixed. You can't get here, and
I can't go there. The one on the right side, the
other on the left. And when the Son of God was crucified,
there are two feet. representing all human beings,
one on the right side, the other on the left, in the day of judgment. One on the right side, the other
on the left. Sheep over here. Goats over here. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his
raiment, and cast lots. And the people stood beholden,
and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself, if he be the Christ, the chosen
of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou
be the king of the Jews, save yourself. And a superscription
also was written over him, in letters of Greek and Latin and
Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. And one of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him. Now, if you read Matthew's account,
Matthew tells us they both did. Matthew leaves out the next thing,
but Matthew tells us both of them blasphemed and railed on
him, saying, If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. But the
other, something happened to him. Something happened to him. The
other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God? The fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom. Seeing thou art in the same condemnation,
You're here dying just like this man, under the same accusation,
with the same condemnation, from the same court of law. And we
indeed just that. Oh, we are fixing to go to hell, because
we deserve it. But this man hath done nothing amiss. He is
that holy man, that holy one promised of God. And he said
unto Jesus, Lord, Master, Sir, remember me. When thou comest
into thy And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee,
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Now first, let's focus
our attention on our Savior's own crucifixion as is set before
us in the scriptures. Understand, God help you to understand,
believe and rejoice in and rest your soul in what he accomplished
there. hanging upon the cursed tree,
the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. When our Lord Jesus was made
sin for us, He owned our sins to be His own. Listen to this.
Innumerable evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have
taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are
more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me.
He said, O God, thou knowest my foolishness. The word is,
my perversity. What a way for God the Son to
speak. Thou knowest my foolishness,
my perversity, and my sins, my guiltiness is not hid from thee. Our Lord Jesus, when he was made
sin for us and claimed our sin as his own, said, hath broken
mine heart, I am full of heaviness." What condescension! What infinite
love! What indescribable, unimaginable
grace! He who is the Holy One of God,
hanging upon the cursed tree, bears our sin in His own body
on the tree, and was made sin for us. And when he was made
sin for us, his father forsook him. My God, my God, he cried, why
hast thou forsaken me? It's so sad we try to figure
out the most amazing revelations of grace and stick them in a
little box so we can explain them to ourselves and others. I've had folks write to me and
ask, sit down in Bible conferences and had preachers to talk to
me and debate, in what sense was he forsaken? How can you
say he was forsaken of God? Listen to me. Listen to me. More
really, and to a greater extent than you can ever imagine, a
man being forsaken of his father. He was forsaken of his father. Forsaken of his father. Who is of pure eyes and to behold
iniquity. Hanging there upon that cursed
tree. Our Savior was despised of men,
mocked by men who acted like a pack of wild animals around
the hot blood of a fresh keel. And that's exactly how he describes
them in Psalm 22. He called them the strong bulls
of Bashan gathered against him. He said, they are lions ravening
upon me. They're dogs. snarling at me
because this man is made sin and forsaken of his father and
then finally he cried it is finished and bowed his head reverently
as a servant whose work is done and he breathed out his life
to God He said when he came into this
world, lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. I've come here to save
your people and my people. I've come here to honor your
name and my name. I've come here to magnify your
law and my law. I've come here to make it honorable.
I've come here for the praise of the glory of your grace. And then he said, it's finished.
The work's done. And irreverently, bows his head
and commits himself unto the Father. The God we love, trust, and worship,
the God we adore, died as a condemned malefactor. He was reckoned among
the transgressors. But blessed be His name, that's
not the end of the story. The Son of God died for us. as
our substitute, suffering all the agony and all the hell of
God's furious wrath by the hand of His own Father and our Father,
that we, by the will of God, might be justified and live by
Him, in Him, with Him, and for Him forever. This is the promise,
by His knowledge. shall my righteous servant justify
many." By his knowledge of who he is, why he came, what he did,
and for whom he did it, he will justify many. Now that's the
significance of our Savior's death given as briefly as I can
give it. Now let's take a careful look at the three crosses and
the three crucifixions before us. May God the Holy Spirit give
us heavenly light and understanding. It is not, in my opinion, insignificant
that when Paul spoke of glorying in the cross back in Galatians
6.14, he spoke of three crucifixions that took place when Christ died. Three crucifixions that took
place by him dying. And all three are represented
in the three crosses we see here. It seems to me that it is the
Spirit's intent, Paul's intent, to show us that there is a spiritual,
allegorical message in the three crosses at Calvary. First, understand
this. Behold Jesus Christ crucified
and know that God's holy law was crucified. Oh, pastor, don't
you know what the legalists are going to say about you now? Yes,
I do. Let me say it again. The law
was crucified. But our Lord didn't come to abolish
the law, but to fulfill it. That's exactly what He did. He
fulfilled it. And fulfilling it put a dot to
it. put a period to it, ended it. Let's see if that's what the
book teaches. The demands of the law held us in bondage under a profound
curse, a curse of infinite wrath and justice. It is written, cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." Now, that quote is taken
from Galatians chapter 3, verse 10. You're all familiar with
it. But if you'd like to find where Paul is quoting, when you
get home, read the 26th, 27th, 28th chapters of the book of
Deuteronomy. And folks say, well, that's talking
about the Ten Commandments. Curses everyone that continue
with not in all things written in the book of law do them. And
we've got to live by the law. He's not telling us we have to
obey the whole law. That quote is taken from the passage dealing
with the ceremonial law God gave Israel and dealing with sacrificial
laws and all those things. And the apostle is saying to
us by the Spirit of God, Cursed is everyone that doesn't do everything
God required in the law. That which was required in the
Ten Commandments, and that which was required in the priesthood,
and that which was required in the sacrifices, and that which
was required in all the law God gave Israel. Christed is He. For all the law is the revelation
of God's demand of perfect obedience and perfect satisfaction. The
Lord Jesus met those demands. The demands of the law for righteousness,
And he paid all the penalty demanded by the justice of God as our
substitute. Becoming a curse for us, he satisfied
the justice of God. Now, this is what the Scriptures
teach. We are now dead to the law. We're dead to the law. We are
D-E-A-D, dead to the law. What does that mean? dead to
the law. No curse from the law, no condemnation
from the law, no covenant with the law, no commitment to the
law, no responsibility to the law, no influence by the law.
The law is to us something to which we are utterly dead. Romans 7, verses 1-6 plainly
declare that. Romans chapter 6 plainly declares
that. You're not under the law, you're
dead to the law. You're not under the law, you're dead to the law.
You're not under the law, you're dead to the law. How many times
can God say it? Oh, but now that doesn't mean
we're fun dead. Dead to the law. Well, what place
does the law have then in the believer's life? Any place you
can find it for a dead man. We're dead to the law. Dead to
the law. Oh, but he was such a crook.
He was such a criminal. He could do anything he wanted to. He's
dead. The man's been in the grave for 40 years. What are you going
to do with him? Are you going to bring him out and whip him?
He's dead to the law. I have been dead to the law,
dead to the law for better than 2,000 years. Jesus Christ died
to the law and I died to it. But that's not all. That's not
all. Not only has Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us so that we are dead to the law,
Jesus Christ declares by his death, as it is explained to
us in the New Testament, that the law is D-E-A-D, dead to us. Go back to Colossians 2 again.
Okay. Colossians 2. What did he do with the law?
Verse 14. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, set it aside, removed the mountain
that stood between us and God, removed the barrier, lifted up,
made the valley even, brought the mountain down. Fixed it so
there's nothing standing between us and God. How'd He do that? Nailing it to His cross. Let me give you an inspired commentary
on that. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. End. Boy, that's a deep word, ain't
it? That's hard to figure out. I don't know how we'll ever get
to that. How will a fellow ever figure out what E.N.D. means?
If you read it anywhere except in this book, you'd understand
what it means. And the only reason you don't
understand what it means in this book is because you refuse to submit
to what it says in this book. And you're still going about
to establish your own righteousness. That's all the problem you've
got. My grandson, sitting right there, just turned five years
old. If I told him to go to the end of the room, do you know
where he'd go? Now, unless I said it real firm, he might stand
and look at me like, did you really mean that? But if I said go to the
end of the room, he'd go right there to the end of the room. He would stop halfway and say,
I'm at the end. He'd go to the end of the room. But how do you
get to the end? When you get to the stopping
point, that's the end. When you get to the finishing
point, that's the end. And when Jesus Christ died at Calvary,
He nailed the law to His cross and took it out of the way. He's
the end of the law. Oh, preacher, how are you going
to get folks to live right? How are you going to get folks
to do what's right? How are you going to get folks
to come to church? How are you going to get folks to keep the Sabbath? How are
you going to get folks to tithe? I have no intention of trying. I have
no intention of trying. God's people are not mercenaries,
and they don't live under the threat of the law or the hope
of earning something from God by their obedience. God's people
are moved by the constraint of the love of Christ. And if that's
not enough to inspire my heart and yours, we have not yet experienced
the grace of God. That's all there is to it. All
there is to it. The terrors of law and of God
with me can have nothing to do. My Savior's obedience and blood
hide all my transgressions from view. The law's demands were
all met and exhausted by the crucifixion of our Savior. over to the right side is a dying
thief. I'm going to presume, because
of what I said earlier about the significance and right and
left sides of our Savior, this thief over here is that one who's
the object of God's free grace. brought by his guilt, by his
depravity, by his crimes against God and humanity, at this hour,
to this place, to die with the Son of God. That's us. He's representative of all God's Believers, like Paul, can say,
I am crucified with Christ. Quite literally. I was crucified
with Christ. That's the significance of that
man's cross and his crucifixion. Turn to Galatians chapter 2. Paul said in Romans 6, verse
2, God forbid that we should live in sin. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer there? Well, what does that mean,
dead to sin? Oh, the Lord saved me, and now I've quit drinking
coffee, and I quit doing this and doing that, quit going to
picture shows, quit wearing shorts. quit talking bad, quit smoking,
quit chewing, quit drinking, and I'm reading my Bible a lot,
now I'm dead to sin. No. No. Absolutely no. What's talking about dead to
sin? Dead to sin. When Christ died, we died. And sin now has nothing to claim
in us. Dead to sin. Paul said in Romans 6 again,
down in verse 7, he that is dead is freed from sin. What? Freed from its being? Is there anybody here who even
suspects that so? No. No. God, no. But freed from the guilt. which is the dominion of sin.
You see, some of you here are under the dominion of sin. And
I don't mean by that that you sin all the time. That's a given. That's a given. You do sin all
the time. You're under the dominion of
sin because the guilt of sin is constantly pressing you down. Constantly tormenting your soul. Constantly making it impossible
for you to live in peace. You're driving down the road,
speed limit says 65, and you're pushing 85 or 90. Rex is familiar. And you pass a cop, and you'll drive for 15 miles
doing 45 like this. How come? Because you know you're
guilty, and he just might come get you anytime. That's the dominion
of sin. Man by nature lives as one under
the wrath of God, constantly terrified by reason of his sin
and his guilt, waiting execution with terror. But now, he that
is dead is free from sin. This is how I used to look at
God. watching over my shoulder, horrified. How about you? Let me show you how I'm looking
for him now. You understand the difference?
Freed from sin. My sin, my guilt, he's taken
away. Galatians 2.20. Look at verse
19. Later on in Romans 6, Paul says
in verse 11, likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin. That's the way God reckons things,
and God's reckoning is right. So reckon yourself the way God
does. Verse 19, Galatians 2, I through the law am dead to
the law. Dead to the law that I might
live unto Christ. Now listen to me. Listen to me. As long as you seek to live to
the law, As long as you seek to render
obedience to the law. That's why I want to show people
that I love Jesus. That's what I said. As long as
you seek to render obedience to the law. Well, I want people
to know I'm a faithful Christian. That's what I said. As long as
you seek to render obedience to the law. As long as you seek
to some way, somehow, by some means, to some degree, gain God's
approval by your obedience. You can't live unto Christ. It's an impossibility. What'd
he say? I through the law am dead to
the law that I might live unto God. The only way you can live
unto God is to get out from under that ministration of death. The
only way you can live unto God is to quit works. The only way
you can live unto God is to give up all hope of righteous obedience
and trust Jesus Christ alone. He says, I am crucified with
Christ. I have been crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live. Well, Paul, can't you make up
your mind? He's got it made up. I'm crucified
with Christ. I'm alive. What's he talking
about? Yet not I. Yet not I. Oh, no. I'm not talking about
Saul of Tarsus. the blasphemer, the persecutor.
I'm not talking about that boy that was born to his mama and
daddy, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, registered in the cradle roll
in Sunday school. I'm not talking about him. No,
no. Not I. Not I. But Christ liveth. And that's in the present tense.
Christ liveth in me. God stuck his son inside us, That's called eternal life. That's
called salvation. That's called the new birth.
That new man in you, which Paul says is created in righteousness
and in true holiness, is Christ in you, the hope of glory, being
made partaker of the divine nature by the grace of God. And now,
Christ perpetually, forever living in me. Our Lord said, I will
come to you. And I'll not leave you. I live
in you. He came here and took up residence
in us. When He came by His mighty grace,
giving us life, and will never cease to live in us. Do you know?
And the life which I now live in the flesh, I'm walking around
here in this body of flesh. And I'm carrying with me the
old nature of flesh. But the life that I live in the flesh,
living unto God. This life that I have, Christ
in me, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now, this is
not talking about, as Paul does often in Galatians, the faithful
obedience of Christ, His faith for us. This is talking about
faith in the Son of God that Christ has given us, that faith
of which He is the author and the object. He said, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me. What a word. Loved me. I know
He loved me because He came, took up residence in me. He died
for me. He redeemed me. He loved me. People talk about God's universal
love. Well, there's some sense which
God loves everybody. Universal love. I said it this
morning. I'll say it again. Universal love makes the love
of God absolutely meaningless and insignificant. If God loves
everybody alike and some folks go to hell, what does the love
of God have to do with anything? Nothing. He loved me. Aren't you glad he did? He loved
me. And the scriptures always talk
about in the past tense. He lives in me. But Merle, he loved me
one time, back in the past, and never quit. Never changed his
mind. He loved me with everlasting
love. And he who loved me gave himself for me. People talk about
Christ dying for everybody. If he died for everybody, died
to save everybody, died to redeem everybody, what does his blood
and his death have to do with anything? Nothing. Oh no. He died for folks he loved. in
whom he comes and resides by his omnipotent grace and saved
by his power. The life which I now live, I
live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. And now I do indeed live. All right, let's look at this
third cross. Another man died that day on Calvary. The man over here on the left
side. How does Paul identify this man? How does the Spirit of God identify
him? He said, when Christ died, the world was crucified unto
me, and I unto the world. It's got to mean two things.
First, clearly, by the world, the Lord God speaks of men lost
without hope, without God in the world. That men died without
faith like the world dies. What was the difference between
this thief here and this thief over here? What was the difference
between this man and that man? went to glory with Christ that
day. Washed in His blood, forgiven
of all sin, robed in His righteousness, except. This man is in hell, suffering
the wrath of God forever. What's the difference? This man
believed And this man believed not. As it is written, as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. The distinction was
made in eternity. And the distinction was made
at Calvary. And the distinction is made in
time. The distinction of God's distinguishing
grace giving a man faith. And the distinction of a man
who in his dying hour reviles the Son of God in unbelief, and
forever perished. The wrath of God was abiding
on him there, and it's abiding on him now. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not,
the wrath of God abides on him. God help you to believe. Will
you or will you not believe on the Son of God? Oh, trust Him,
trust Him, trust Him, and life eternal has been given you. The
world means something else. Paul said, all that I've done,
all of it, is a dead thing to me. A dead thing to me. All the applause of the world,
all the frowns This is called the City of Destruction
by Mr. Bunyan. All its attractions are
just vanity fair. I don't mean some of them. All
of them. All of them. If I could convey something to
that little girl and that little boy right now, they'd never forget. The world ain't worth having. None of it. Something that's dead, it just doesn't have much appeal,
does it? It doesn't have much appeal. The sooner you bury it,
the better. It's dead. It's dead. Let me look at it. Always is
dead. Our Lord says, love not the world. These are the things that are
in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. Not only is the world crucified
to me, I to the world. You see, I'm not my own. How about you? Answer. Not openly. In your heart
to God. I'm not my own. How about you?
I've been bought with a price. Lock, stock and barrel. I belong to Jesus Christ, my
Redeemer. Totally. That means nothing and nobody
comes between. Ever. Ever. We just had one child, so I don't
qualify for giving instruction about parenting. She was a girl. He was a girl. I can't qualify
to raise boys and raise more than one. But I'm going to tell
you something. That one child, she'll tell you
to this day, Not once in her life was anything ever given
over of the worship and service of God to please her, or to honor
her, or to gratify her. Not going to happen with those
two. Not going to happen. As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord. Because I'm crucified to the
world, and the world to me. Amen.