On the northern side of Jerusalem,
just a few hundred feet from the Damascus Gate, there is a
singular dismal hill. It would seem to be insignificant,
just a pile of dirt, commonly used in old times to cast off
that which is dead. But this bleak, dismal hill is
the most important the most significant place in all the earth. It's
the place called Calvary. Ever memorable and dear to believing
hearts is this place. It is my prayer that God the
Holy Spirit will give wings to our souls that we may tonight
fly to this place. Turn with me if you will to Luke
chapter 23. We'll begin reading at verse
1. And the whole multitude of them
arose and led him to Pilate. And they began to accuse him,
saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding
to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king. And Pilate asked him, saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered him and said,
Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief
priest and to the people, I find no fault in this man. Verse 13. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priest and the rulers and the people, said
unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth
the people. And behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof ye accuse him. No, nor yet, Herod, for I sent
you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I
will therefore chastise him, and release him." Verse 21, But
they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto
them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found
no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priest prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence,
that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired. But he delivered Jesus to their
will. And as they led him away, they
laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and
on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. Verse 33. And when they would
come to the place, the place which is called Calvary,
there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right
hand and the other on the left. Not just any place would do. They must come to this specific
place. the place which is called Calvary. Golgotha is another name by which
it is called, the place of the skull. There the God-man must
suffer and die under the wrath of God, bearing all the fury
of God's holy indignant justice as the sinner substituted. When
our Lord Jesus set his face as if he would go up to Jerusalem.
He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew where he was going. He
knew what would happen there. But to Calvary, he must go. He said, as his heart began to
be overwhelmed with the prospect of being made sin for us, what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour, Father glorify thy name." And he goes on until he
comes to the place called Calvary. Satan tried to destroy him when
first he was born. He tried again when our Lord
Jesus was led away by the Spirit into the wilderness and tempted
of the devil for forty days. The Jews tried repeatedly to
murder the Son of God. Again in Gethsemane, it seems
to me that Satan thought he might be able to stop the Savior in
his mission in this world. But his hour had not yet come. He had not yet come to the place,
the place which is called Calvary. But now his hour has come. and he comes to the place. The
Jews thought they had dragged him there as a helpless victim
to the place of execution. But in reality, the Lord of Glory
led them as a sovereign king to the place of his conquest.
God the Eternal Son had purposed from all eternity to come to
this place. It was the object the desire,
the purpose of his heart to come to this place before ever the
world was made. In fact it could truthfully and
should truthfully be said that the great purpose, the singular
great purpose for which God created this world was that in the fullness
of time his son might die in this place. Our Savior said now
is the judgment of this world, the crisis of the world, the
turning point, the hinge of history. This is the place to which he
has come. Our great Redeemer from old eternity
had fixed his eye and his heart on the place called Calvary.
before the world was he swore to redeem us and he would not
rest until at the place called Calvary he had accomplished redemption
for us crying it is finished and so Luke tells us when they
will come to the place called Calvary and so it came to pass
exactly as he had purposed he must come to this place In my
mind's eye, I see the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, marching
to this place throughout all the ages of time, to this place
where he would make himself an everlasting and a glorious name. We read his words in the prophecy
of Isaiah, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that
I shall not be ashamed. The Lord Jesus was on his way
to Calvary when he stopped outside the gates of Eden and promised
to our fallen parents that he would come the woman's seed to
crush the serpent's head. He was on his way to Calvary
when the Son of God stopped by Noah and Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord and commanded Noah to make an ark and shut
him up in the ark which would be but a symbol and a picture
of his great work at this place. He was on his way to Calvary
when he came down in the mighty power of his grace and delivered
Israel out of the land of bondage by the blood of the Paschal Lamb
slain and by the power of his mighty outstretched arm. As he
led Israel through the wilderness for 40 years, protecting and
caring for, providing for them, performing wonder after wonder
for forty years, leading them by day with a pillar of cloud
and by night with a pillar of fire. He was declaring his coming
into the world to bear the wrath of God at this place. He was
on his way to Calvary when he calls David to prophetically
write of him, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Isaiah
caught a vision of what took place here, and he penned these
words as he beheld the Lord Jesus suffering and dying as our substitute. 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. Before ever the
world was, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke in covenant grace, declaring
as our surety what he would do, and said, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God. And then in the fullness of time,
when he came forth from his mother's womb, The scripture tells us
he spoke those very same words, said, Lo, I come to do thy will,
O my God. And all through the days of his
life, he showed himself headed to this specific place, sprinkling
tokens of his grace, giving evidence of what he would do and what
the result of his work at Calvary would be. He came to the pool
of Bethesda and healed a poor crippled man there. He stopped
by Jacob's well one day, sat down at the well and waited to
be gracious to a harlot who would come there. He went to the Mount
of Transfiguration. And with Peter, James, and John
beholding him, Moses and Elijah spoke to him about the death,
the exodus he should accomplish at Jerusalem. He stopped by the
Jericho Road on his way into Jericho. and healed a poor blind
man by the name of Bartimaeus. On the way out of Jericho, he
healed two other blind men. And there was another poor publican
up a tree looking to see who it was just out of curiosity.
Oh, maybe you came here just out of curiosity. But if the
Son of God will do for you what He did for that publican Zacchaeus,
you will go home this day with Him with you forever. He stopped
at the place where Zacchaeus was and said, Zacchaeus, come
down, for today I must abide at your house. Now, Lord Jesus
came into Jerusalem just a few days earlier, and as He rode
into Jerusalem on an ashes coat, The people spread palm branches
before Him and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel
that cometh in the name of the Lord. And now He comes to the
place which is called Calvary. We're just saying about the cross,
and often we do. The scriptures often speak of
the cross. I'm talking to you about this place. Please understand,
we're not talking about a physical place. or a physical cross. We're talking about the message
of the place and the message of the cross. We leave it to
the Pope and his idolatrous followers and those who follow his idolatrous
customs to worship relics in holy places and such as that.
But I pray that we may tonight, by the Spirit of God, be brought
with our Savior to this place and behold him as he accomplishes
our redemption. Well do I remember the first
time God brought me to this place called Calvary. I came with a
heavy, heavy, heavy load of sin and guilt and terror and fear,
sense in the wrath of God in my soul. The wages of sin pressing heavy
on me. I thought I would sink into hell
at any time. But the Lord God brought me to
this place and caused me to behold Him. Dying in the room instead
of this center. Putting away my sin. bearing
all the wrath of God for me, and by one sacrifice, accomplishing
my redemption. And the burden fell off of my
heart. And let me tell you something,
it has never returned. I have never again been terrified
of God. I have never again felt guilty
before God. I have never again sensed His
wrath because my sin, my guilt, He buried in the sea of His infinite
forgetfulness, washing it away in the blood of the crucified
Savior. Oh, truly, mercy there was great
and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. I have just one purpose in preaching
this message. I want you to behold the wonders
of Calvary in here. And being overwhelmed by the
things revealed in this book that transpired upon the cursed
tree when the Son of God died as our substitute upon that dark,
dismal hill, I want you to trust your soul to the Son of God. Now, I wouldn't raise curious
questions. God forgive me for the thought
of such blasphemy. The things written in this book
are not written to satisfy curiosity. And it is nothing short of blasphemy. Nothing short of blasphemy. to
look at the things in this book with curiosity. But I want to
raise four or five questions and answer them for you. Things
that are answered for us here in this book. First, who was
there? Who was there? You read in the
four gospel narratives a great many people who were there. Brother
Larry Criss preached to Outstanding message to you here just a few
weeks ago from this very chapter on the crowd at Calvary. The
self-righteous Pharisees joined in sport at Calvary with the
Roman soldiers. Refined, educated men joined
with the uncouth men of the streets in diabolical amusement as they
tortured the Son of God. Housewives and harlots danced
together around the cross. Women and children joined in
hellish concert with the songs of drunkards. But those aren't
the people that are interesting and that are meaningful. There
were some people whom we might expect to see at Calvary who
were not there. Where were those disciples who
had boasted that they had forsaken all and followed the Savior? Where were those apostles who
had walked with Christ throughout His journeys upon this earth
in His earthly ministry for three and a half years? Where was bold,
boastful, confident Peter? Where were the thousands, the
thousands, the thousands who had profited from his miracles? Where were the Savior's kinsmen? None were there. As our Lord
had prophesied, so it came to pass. I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. Reproach hath
broken mine heart, and I am full of heaviness. And I looked for
some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters,
but I found none." Others we might have expected not to be
there were there. We read just a moment ago about
a man, a Cyrenian by the name of Simon, who carried the Savior's
cross. Our Lord Jesus went forth to
suffer without the gate, fulfilling the typical sacrifice of the
red heifer. But as he was going toward this
place called Calvary, this man Simon, a Cyrenian, was compelled
to bear his cross, following the Savior up to the place of
sacrifice. What a message there is in that.
The Lord God even here, shows the wonder of his sovereign dominion
over everything. He uses this hellish event, this
hellish event, these hellish men and women, these hellish
politicians, these hellish soldiers, these hellish religionists, for
the gathering in of one of his elect on this very occasion. There's no indication that this
man Simon was ever a believer before this. But the scriptures
clearly indicate that he became one of the Lord's disciples.
His family is mentioned in Romans chapter 60. He's the father of
Alexander and Rufus, people all well known in the early church. Even his wife is mentioned in
Romans 6. Simon's name means hearkening
and obedience. None are fit to bear, and none
will ever bear the cross of Christ except those who hearken to his
voice and are obedient to his call, being made willing in the
day of his power. Simon, we are told, was compelled,
compelled to bear the cross. You see, if we would live forever
If we would be the followers, the disciples of Christ, we must
take up his cross and bear it after him, following him in the
way. But the cross of Christ, the
gospel of God's free grace, is so offensive, so disagreeable
to proud human flesh, that you will never bear it willingly. until you are compelled to bear
it by God's sovereign, free, irresistible grace. And there
were some women there, some devoted, believing women who followed
the Lord to this place. Matthew tells us that many women
there were watching him from a distance. But three are specifically
named. All three are named Mary. Mary. Mary has numerous meanings, but
you remember when Naomi came back to Bethlehem, Judah, she
said, don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, call me Mary, for the
Lord hath dealt bitterly with me. And these three women, whose
names mean bitter, were women who had experienced bitter, bitter
things. the mother of our Redeemer, the
mother of that holy thing that now suffers in our stead upon
the cursed tree. She heard when she brought him
to the temple that he was set for the fall and rise of many,
and that he would pierce her heart. And now she watches him
as he suffers her God to redeem her. Mary, the mother of James
and John, Zebedee's children. Do you remember where she's mentioned
again? She came to the Lord Jesus, conspiring
with her two sons, and asked that they might give him a special
place of preeminence in his kingdom. One sitting on his right hand
and the other on his left. but the Lord God graciously sees
to it that she is there she is there beholding him as he suffers
for her sin and there's another Mary there Mary Magdalene out
of whom the Lord had cast seven devils this woman who it appears
had lived the bitter life of a streetwalker who had come in the recognition
of what was about to take place here, and she seems to be the
only one who understood before they got there what was about
to happen. In sweet gratitude, she came
to the Savior in the leper's house, knelt down before Him,
broke an alabaster box of ointments, plighted Precious, anointing
him for his burial in anticipation of his resurrection. And she
washed his feet with her tears, wiped them with the hairs of
her head, and kissed them. Mary Magdalene is here. But the
thing that's most significant is that all three persons of
the Sacred Trinity are here. God the Father, sacrificing His
Son. God the Son, obeying His Father's
will. And God the Spirit, strengthening
and sustaining the sacred humanity of our Savior as He bears God's
infinite wrath. And somebody else was there.
I was there. You, my brother, my sister, every
believing sinner, the whole of God's elect was there. You see,
that which our Lord Jesus did on this earth, please hear this,
that which he did on this earth from the time he broke his mother's
womb as the firstborn out of the womb, our Savior did nothing
as a private person. He did nothing for himself, but
rather the whole of his life was the life of a public representative
man, a man representing other men, a covenant surety, a federal
head. He lived and died for us, and
we lived and died in him. All that he endured on that horrible
day that blessed day he endured for us. The shame was my shame. The guilt was my guilt. The pain, my pain. The sin for which he suffered,
my sin. The wrath he endured, God's wrath
against me. The death he died, the death
God demanded of me. Salvation is all together by
grace. Grace that is free to us, but
grace that flows freely to us through the blood of God's darling
Son. Turn to Galatians chapter 2 for
a minute. Galatians 2. Here in Galatians 2, Paul is
showing us that salvation is indeed by grace alone without
works. He asserts that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ. Not by faith in Christ, but by
the faith, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto death as our
surety. Then in verse 19 he says, For
I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. How is it that we are now dead
to the law? We're dead to the law because
we were crucified with Christ. When He died as our substitute,
we died in Him. And that's what Paul declares
in verse 20. Look at this. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
for me." That opening statement in verse 20 is terribly, terribly
translated. And it has been terribly used
by men who take the translation and run with it, as though Paul
is talking about something in the present tense. Paul is not
saying, I am being crucified with Christ. He is not saying,
I am now crucified with Christ. Literally, this is what he's
saying. I have been crucified with Christ. This is something that took place
back yonder, when the Son of God died. I was crucified with
him. I was crucified with him. Then
he speaks of that which is presently true of all believers in the
blessed experience of grace. Being born of God, he says, nevertheless
I live. God the Holy Spirit has given
this man who was crucified with Christ life by his almighty grace. Yet, this new life in Christ
is not me. Not me. Rather, Christ liveth
in me. This is what Paul is talking
about when he says Christ is in us the hope of glory. Being
made partakers of the divine nature. Believers are a people
in whom Christ lives. Imagine that. Christ lives in
me. And that is truly me. That is truly me. And the life
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith, by the merit
and efficacy of the faithful obedience of the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. Here's another question. What happened at Calvary? If that's merely a matter of
curiosity to you, you'll leave here getting what you came for. Nothing. But the answer to that
question ought to break the hardest of hearts. It ought to cause
every sinner to bow before the Son of God. And it ought to cause
every believer to worship. Adore and love Him. What happened
here at Calvary? Here, the free will of man, wicked,
vile men, exercising their free will. Oh, how men love to boast
of their free will. You can't listen to a newscast
for an hour without hearing some idiot on the box talking about,
God gave us a free will. God gave us a free will so we
can do this, we can do whatever we want to. But let me tell you
what men want to do. Men want to kill God. That's what man's free will is.
Pilate delivered Jesus to their will. But the wicked free will
of man here performs the sovereign will of God Almighty. He was
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God into the hands of these men who by their wicked wills did
exactly what God determined beforehand must be done to him. In fact,
the scripture tells us, they gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before should be done. Listen
to this. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him,
They took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher. And yet, I want you to understand
that God sovereignly rules the will of these men and the action
of these vile, wretched specimens of humanity so thoroughly that
they did nothing except what God decreed from eternity must
be done. If you read the gospel narratives,
and read what happened, sit down sometime and read Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, all of them just about the events from Gethsemane
to the time of the resurrection. And it looks as though, it looks
like, those folks who executed the Son of God, got them a concordance
out, and they thumbed through the scriptures and they said,
now what are we supposed to do next? It looks like they were just
following the rule of scripture. It looks like they intended to
just do exactly what God in the Scripture said must be done.
How come? Because they were doing exactly
what God determined must be done, and He uses their wicked hearts
and their wicked wills and the circumstances of time to accomplish
it. Listen to this. Our Lord Jesus
was betrayed by a friend, as Psalm 41.9 said He must be. He
was sold for 30 pieces of silver, exactly as Zechariah 11 and verse
12 said he must be. False witnesses were hired to
testify against him, just as he said it would happen in Psalm
27.12. These men who held him in their hands, beat him, spit
in his face, and plucked off his beard, just exactly the way
he said it would happen in Isaiah 50. They laughed him to scorn,
mocked him, and insulted him. So do they laugh him to scorn,
and shoot out the lip, and shake the head, saying, He trusted
on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him now,
seeing he delighted in him. And they pierced his hands and
feet. Because in Psalm 22, 16, it is written, they pierced my
hands and feet. They gave him gall and vinegar
to drink. Usually it would be another mixture to stupefy the
senses. But he had said, they gave me
also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink. And then as they watched him die, they sat down and cast
lots for his garments. Because the scriptures teach
plainly that it would be done according to his purpose in Psalm
22, 18. Our Lord Jesus was crucified
between two thieves. Because the scripture said he
was numbered, reckoned among the transgressors. And they came
to break his bones. Time came, the Jews wanted to
get him off the cross, after all it was their holy day. And
Sabbath was about to come, and we don't want to have this hanging
on on the Sabbath day, not on the Lord's day. No, no, we don't
want that to happen. So they sent a soldier to break
his bones. And when they came to him, And
the soldier started to take the huge mallet and crush the Savior's
legs. He realized he's dead already,
and so he didn't do it. How come? Because the scripture
says, not one of his bones is broken, but the soldier in malice
and hatred. For that man whose corpse now
hangs on the tree takes his spear and sheds it into his side through
his heart. Because the scripture said, they
pierced my side. If I could find that Roman soldier
who pierced the heart of the Son of God. Let me tell you what I tell you.
The blood you spilt is sufficient to atone for the crime of spilling
it. Is his blood on your hands? His blood is sufficient to wash
it away. Completely forgiving sin. Oh, it is true. These men, by
wicked hands and malicious will, crucified the Lord of Glory,
but they did that which was ordained before the foundation of the
world, exactly that and no more. Say something else I see here.
I hear ungodly men, ungodly men, as ungodly as any who ever walked
on the earth, telling the truth of God as plainly as Isaiah,
God's prophet. The chief priest, the scribes
and the elders, they said he saved others. Himself, he cannot
save. I never preached a better sermon
than that in my life. James Jordan, if he saves you,
he can't save himself. He saved others, therefore himself
he cannot save. Pilate said, I find no fault
in him. Just as the Apostle Paul declared,
he knew no sin. Pilate had a large sign printed
up at home on top of the cross. The sign read, this is, not claimed
to be, this is, not pretended to be, this is Jesus, Jehovah
who saves the king of the Jews. And one of the Roman soldiers
testified truly, truly, this man was the son of God. Look again at this place called
Calvary. Here is a picture of the whole thing. Here is an innocent
man dying in the room instead of a guilty man. Because Christ
died that day hanging upon that tree that had been specifically
erected in its place for a man by the name of Barabbas, Barabbas
walked free. All the glorious attributes of
God are set before us here. Turn to Psalm 85. Psalm 85. This psalm is talking about what
took place at Calvary. Verse 1, The Lord, thou hast
been favorable unto thy land. Why did he come to this place?
Because God's been favorable to his people. Thou hast brought
back. That is, you have overturned
the captivity of Jacob. He set the captive free. How
is that? Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Now don't just walk away from
that. Stop and think about it a little while. Thou hast been
favorable. Thou hast set the captive free. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away, what a
word, all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Verse 10. How did he do that? Mercy and truth have met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Because mercy
and truth have met together, because righteousness and peace
have kissed each other now, truth shall spring out of the earth.
He shall rise again according to the truth of God's word, and
righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good, and our land, the land of grace,
the land of God's elect, shall yield her increase. Righteousness
shall go before him. And when righteousness goes before
him, oh, son of God, come here today in righteousness. That righteousness shall set
us in the way of his steps. What happened here? The law came
to an end. A total, complete, absolute end. Brother Don, you mean it came
to an end for this purpose but not for that. It came to an end. It came to a period, a stopping
point, a termination point. Because our Lord Jesus fulfilled
everything required in the law. Fulfilled all the types and ceremonies
and rituals in the law that pictured Him. Fulfilled every sacrifice.
Fulfilled every ceremony. He put an end to the law fulfilling
it. And now satisfying its justice,
its demands for righteousness, and its demands for satisfaction.
He is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth. And Satan is here defeated. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. Revelation 20 describes him coming
down as the angel of the covenant with a mighty chain in his hand
to bind that foul spirit who held the world in captivity and
darkness, that he should deceive the nations no more. And he binds
him and casts him out of his usurped authority and sends the
gospel into all the world. Children of God, look over this
scene and understand that here, when our Savior cried, it is
finished. Our salvation was utterly and
completely accomplished. Justice is satisfied. The law
is silenced. Righteousness is established.
Sin is taken away. Wrath is consumed. And now, there is therefore no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. When I behold
the Son of God, in all He accomplished at Calvary,
standing here, I find absolute confidence and assurance that
my sin is gone. That righteousness is brought
in and that judgment is forever ended. Forever. Another question. Why did our
Savior come to this place? Let me give you a brief answer. He loved me, gave himself for me, and there was no way he could
have me except by the sacrifice of himself to the satisfaction
of divine justice. Folks are forever saying, Brother
Don, you need to be practical. We need more practical preaching.
I want to gag every time I hear the word. Let me give you some
practical things. Here's some practical things to learn. When
I see Christ hanging upon the cross as my substitute, I see how I ought to love my
brethren. Just like this. When I see Christ
making His great sacrifice for me, I learn what it means to
give. In fact, this is the very example
Paul uses when he encourages believers to give with liberality
and charity. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. How that though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty
might be made rich. And he says, now in the light
of this, you prove the sincerity of your love. I see here what
it is to obey God with a willing heart. A willing
heart, Darwin, counts nothing. Did you hear me? A willing heart
counts nothing. A willing heart does no calculation,
none at all. Father, thy will be done. And I see here everything I need
to comfort my heart all the time. God who spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. will surely with him freely give
us all things. will give you grace never to
move from this place, but ever to have your heart fixed here,
glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which I
am crucified unto the world, and the world unto me. Amen.