I invite your attention this
morning in the first chapter of the book of Lamentations to
verse 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by, behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted
me in the day of his furious anger. Now these are the words
of Jeremiah the prophet, and here Jeremiah, when he saw the
sorrows of Jerusalem, he complained of all who dared to pass by her
when she was lying in her ruins, lying having been judged as it
were by a holy God, He complains of all who dared to pass by her
without lamentation, without stopping and mourning and weeping
over that city. It is so great a grief to him,
that is, that the city of Jerusalem is to be destroyed, that he would
hang the heavens with blackness and drape the world in sackcloth."
He was indeed lamenting what had happened to this great city.
He beheld that ancient and glorious city, besieged by her adversaries,
invaded by their furious armies, and given over to plunder, to
murder, to fire, and desolation. He saw the streets running with
the blood of her sons and daughters, her houses broken down, and her
glorious temple had been defiled and had been laid in the ashes. And he says, Is it nothing to
you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any
sorrow, liken to my sorrow. Now in all the annals of history,
there never was sorrow, I suppose, equal to the fate of Jerusalem. Now many cities have been destroyed,
but none amid such a tempest of terrors as was the city of
Jerusalem at this time. Beautiful for a situation, but
terrible in her desolation. joy of the whole earth, and yet
at this time she's the queen of sorrows. Well did the prophet
Jeremiah, in his foresight of this tremendous doom coming on
Jerusalem, cry to all nations, behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me. But brother
and sister this morning, the fact of sympathy, love of companionship
in hours of great calamity is true in other instances as well. We all share and are all sympathetic,
very sympathetic toward the prophet's pity here toward Jerusalem. But I have read to you this morning
in your hearing the 22nd Psalm, and I would ask you this morning
beings that you have some concept of the sufferings of our Lord
Jesus Christ, do you believe that there was any exaggeration
on the part of the prophet concerning the judgment of God upon Jerusalem? Is it true that there was never
a sorrow, that the sorrow that the prophet here had concerning
Jerusalem, that it was an unparalleled sorrow and that this suffering
was an unparalleled suffering Well, my friend, I would grant
that the suffering was great, but I think there was a degree
of exaggeration in the language of the prophet. Now, in my reading
of Psalm chapter 22, I would ask you, and if you've heard
what Psalm 22 had to say about the sufferings and the agony
concerning our Lord Jesus and His hanging on the tree, I would
ask you this morning, for whose woes I am a mourner and I point
you to the cross this morning of our Lord Jesus Christ and
to the man of sorrows there and I think that all of those who
love and preach Christ would have those who hear them to mourn
for him. to mourn for the Lord Jesus Christ
even as the prophet foretold they shall look on me whom they've
pierced and shall mourn for him. I believe that other than we
take a look at Jerusalem and her sorrow and her suffering
that we should this morning think of Calvary as the wounded and
bleeding Savior And I don't see how we can help this morning
but take the words out of the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet
and to place them upon the lips of the Son of God upon Calvary's
tree. And hear him say this morning,
behold and see if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow. I say we take the words from
the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet and place them upon the lips
of the Son of God as he hangs upon the gory tree. Now in all
the history of the church, this text, Lamentations 1 and 12,
has been adapted to and applied to the sufferings of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Hear Him say, now listen, if
you will, to the words of this text. Listen carefully. Is it
nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Now we can find, I think, in
this text, if we look carefully, a description of what happened
at Calvary. Now most people inside and outside
the churches in our day, preachers included, do not know what happened
on Calvary's cross. They do not know what took place
when God hung His Son on a cross. My desire this morning is that
you and I both May see and that perhaps somebody here in this
service will learn maybe for the first time What God actually
was doing when he hung his son the Lord Jesus Christ on that
gory tree I want to speak this morning on the subject of the
death of Christ what it is and what it is to you and what it
is to you now I know this much that God testified by miracles
at the events of the day when our Lord Jesus Christ died on
the cross, I know this much, that something big happened at
Calvary. something of tremendous impact,
something of vital importance. An event took place at the cross
which makes all the other events of history fade away into utter
insignificance. I know this, something happened
at Calvary that is worth you and I looking into, my friend. Something happened there that
is worth you and I stopping this morning and beholding and looking
into the death of Christ on Calvary. Now if you never look into anything
else, The Bible teaches you had better look in to what happened
at the cross. You better know what happened
at the cross. Is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by? Behold, now some writers think
that this is at Jerusalem's epitaph. There is an allusion here, and
I believe this is true, that that which is written upon the
epitaph of the tomb of those who were slain, others are being
called upon, those who are passing by are being called upon to come
over, to come over, to stop what they're doing, to come out of
their path, and to come over and look here at what character,
first of all, of the one who died as is described in the epitaph. Come and look at the character
of this one and also the circumstances of his death and what was accomplished
in his death. Stop! Behold! look and come over
here and look at this is what the prophet is saying look at
the epitaph and what is written there on and certainly this is
true of the Lord Jesus Christ all his character There was none
like Him. He was the Son of God, holy and
without sin, spotless, the Lamb of God without blemish and without
any stain. And then the circumstances of
His death. Do you understand why He had
to die? He come into this world, there
was no need naturally for Him to die because sin, He had no
sin. And then this morning, what was
accomplished in his death? Do you know what was accomplished
when Christ died on the cross? Now, he's calling then upon us
to stop this morning and to take time out from the business that
we think that is so important and to look and to behold with
earnest and intense contemplation because something's going on
here that affects every one of us. Something went on at the
cross that affects every one of us. Do you have time to do
it? Do you have time to stop and
behold? Do you have time to come out
of the path of your ordinary daily walk and look and behold
the sorrow and the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
let me ask first this morning, whom does the cross of the Lord
Jesus concern? Is it really any of my business
what took place at Calvary? Is it really any of your business
what took place there when God hung His Son on the tree? Well
it is, I believe, and it's answered in the text. It is something
to every one of us, especially it is something to all ye that
pass by. He says, all you that pass by,
He said, behold, stop and look at this. Now whoever it is, then,
who is passing by this way, and I think this means whoever has
in some way come in contact with this momentous event, you stop
and you take notice, you stop and you look. Now the cross concerns
any and all whoever in any way comes in contact with the message
of it. Anybody who comes in contact
with the message of the gospel, then the gospel concerns them. In Galatians 3 and verse 1, Paul
teaches or dispels the notion that even though a man or woman
was not there, physically to witness the actual death and
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, that
he cannot say that the death of Christ has no claim or effect
upon him. Listen to what Paul says to those
Galatians. And as far as I know, they never
witnessed the actual physical event of the death of the cross. But Paul says to them, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified
among you. He said before whose eyes Jesus
Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. Now
I understand this much. I'm not saying that I understand
all that is taught there, but this much I understand, that
it is possible in a spiritual sense to behold the cross without
physically being there. I can indeed look upon Him who
was slain. I can indeed see Him as He hangs
on Calvary's cross. I can appreciate His sufferings.
I can appreciate His death. I can do this spiritually, and
I can do it by the eye of faith without physically being there.
And it meant this also, that it's a serious thing to hear
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also means it is a
serious thing to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just
as something big and something vital took place at Calvary,
something big and vital takes place every time someone tells
you what happened at Calvary. Something big, something vital
will happen here this morning in this service. Christ is evidently
set forth. He is crucified among you. And when he is preached as one
who hung between heaven and earth upon a gory tree and bled out
his life's blood to save his people from their sin, Christ
has been crucified among you. Have you ever stopped to notice
and to look and to try to understand the death of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Now let me say that this is not for one group or one class. Now
the Americans have their special days and we just observed one
of them on the 4th of July. The Russians have their special
events. and their special days, but this
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is a special event for all classes. This event is an event that is
revelant now. It's as revelant now as it was
when Jesus Christ died on that cross. Now, so if you have come
into contact with the message of how Christ died, I say that
it concerns you. Because, number one, you are
guilty of the crime that was committed there. Oh, there are
many songs that tells us about our part in the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ. One of the songs says, Our conscience
felt and owned the guilt, as before the cross I stood. And
certainly the Lord Jesus Christ, as He hung on the cross, we know
that our own nature was a participant in putting Him to death. Our
nature was there in some of our forefathers. Now, it concerns
you not only because of the guilt of the crime, but because you
somehow or other will be affected by the consequences of the cross. You'll either be saved by it,
or it will aggravate your condemnation and your damnation. Now having
passed by the cross, we can never be the same again. Having Jesus
Christ evidently set forth, crucified among you, how can you ever be
the same again? You're a poor sinner, a wiggling
maggot of the dust, you're undone before God, a lawbreaker, one
that stands with the judgment of God, standing just barely
ready to fall upon you. How can you ever be the same?
when the death of Christ, when Christ is crucified among you. Now the gospel of God is like
the ark of God. Now the ark of God travels from
place to place. It is very interesting to see
that every time the ark of God came into a city, something big
happened. Every time it came into a place. It may be that 50,000 Beshemites
were killed for their unholy curiosity. It may have been that
Uzzah was killed for his righteousness, for touching that which was so
sacred. It may be the Philistines were
slaughtered because they dared to set the Ark of God up by their
idol Dagon. Or it could be the fact that
God blessed the house of Obededin for their gospel or for the Ark's
sake. Depending on however the Ark
was received or what was the attitude of those toward the
Ark, it had tremendous effect. And this gospel, when anybody
hears it at any time, this gospel must have an effect upon you. It will never leave you the same. When Jesus Christ is crucified
among you, you will never be the same. Now this gospel will
be used of God to bring you down into the dust of repentance and
make you dependent upon it for your eternal salvation or it
will, as we said earlier, aggravate your condemnation. It will haunt you for all eternity. You pass by the cross. What a
privilege you had. You were there when Jesus Christ
was evidently set forth, when he was crucified among you. You were there when God carried
out that which he planned before the foundation of the world,
and you passed right by it. And it was nothing to you, you
passed right by it. Now we're not dealing with trifles
when we're dealing with the gospel. We're dealing with that which
is the most vital thing that men and women could ever come
into contact with. You have a soul that either will
be saved or damned for all eternity. This is the most important thing
that you'll ever have to deal with is the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And only a fool would try to
ignore the issue I plead with you, don't pass by, don't turn
your heart away and go on in your own way to things that you
think are more important than this. Don't say I don't want
to get involved. You're already involved. You're
guilty of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and whatever becomes
of you will be determined by this gospel. Now don't try with
Pilate to wash your hands of the guilt and say I have nothing
to do. Yes you do Pilate and you can't
get out of it. You have to deal with the cross. Now whoever you are then stop
and behold and come over here and ask. and ask, and ask again,
and read, and read, and read again if you have to and find
out what happened when God hung His Son on the cross here to
die. What happened at the cross. What
happened at the cross? Now this is a very important
question. This is no ordinary event. Everybody
here would say amen to that. This is no ordinary event, but
it's a special and unique death. Now there is three special things
found in our text about the death of Christ that sets it apart
from any other death that was ever died. Three things in this
twelfth verse I want you to notice. Number one, the sufferings of
the Son of God upon the cross were unparalleled. They were unparalleled. Look
at this if you will. Is it nothing to you, all you
that pass by, behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto
my sorrow which is done unto me? I say that his sufferings
are unparalleled. Now we like to think that our
little sufferings when we go through something here in this
world and when we have setbacks and calamities and adverse situations
that arise, we like to think that they're probably unique
and that probably maybe it's something that very few people
ever had to endure or go through. But we know this is not the case.
But Christ could truthfully say that his sorrows was like no
other sorrows that anybody had ever experienced. He could truthfully
say that. His sorrows were indeed unparalleled
sorrows and sufferings. He said, look and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me. Now back
about Easter time, I was reading an article in a religious paper
And the writer in this paper was saying that certain Christians
who were being persecuted at that time in far off lands, that
their sufferings paralleled the sufferings of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But I make bold to say this morning
that the writer of that article never saw the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ in its proper light. Would you agree with that? I
say that his sufferings were unparalleled. The sufferings
of Christ. No martyr ever suffered like
he suffered. All the sufferings that earth
has ever known cannot be compared with his sufferings. In reality,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who ever endured hell
on earth regardless of what you think. I know that there are
many people who say, oh, we suffer our hell here on earth. There's
only one person that ever suffered hell on earth, and that was the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now God's wrath was poured out
upon him, and we don't know what hell is, and I hope we never
know what hell is, but Christ knew what hell was because he
experienced it here on earth. Now lifted up between heaven
and earth, the Lord Jesus tasted the awful bitter dregs of the
cup of God's wrath without any mixture of mercy in it. He suffered unparalleled sufferings. Now you say preacher, I see the
cross. I've looked before and I see
the cross. I see the nails. I see the bloody
spear. I see the crown of thorns. What
else is there to see preacher when you look at the cross? Well,
you just come back here a minute and you just come out of the
path and you just come here and you just look. Just a moment,
if you will. He poured out, the Bible says,
his soul unto death. He made his soul an offering
for sin. Now, you listen carefully, and
I want to give you a couple things here that is very interesting
to me. His Godhead, the Godhead, the fact that Jesus was God,
and the fact that He was God was the only reason why He could
endure these unparalleled sufferings. The only reason He could suffer
was because He had, listen, the Godhead, it gave Him this infinite
capacity for misery and infused a boundless degree of misery
into all the pain that He bore. He was God. and he could suffer
hell on earth. Now what Christ suffered is utterly
inconceivable. His soul was made an offering
for sin. Now we have no more idea, really,
of what Christ suffered in his soul than you could tell how
much water there is in the Atlantic Ocean by observing a drop from
that ocean. We just read a little bit. We
hear what somebody says. We hear somebody's testimony
about the cross. But we really don't know the
depth. Nobody understands the depth
of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. But now listen
to me now. Listen to me. His was a vast
soul. Listen now, so great a soul that
it seemed to have all the souls for whom he was to die in it,
in his own soul. It's as if the soul of the Lord
Jesus Christ, it was so vast that all of the souls of all
of his people made it up. That's what I'm trying to say.
And it had the capacity for suffering what all the souls of his people
would have to suffer had they went to hell. Now that's what
I'm saying. Do you get a glimpse of what
I'm pointing out? And the whole of that vast nature
which God had given to him, that wondrous nature which was also
essential, it possessed, essentially possessed was put forth to make
an atonement for the elect. He poured out that soul that
was so vast as it were made up of all of the souls of all of
his elect people. He poured it out to make an atonement. It became a sacrifice, his own
soul. Behold and see if there was ever
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me. Now then notice,
if you will, that this one deserved not to suffer. He deserved not
to suffer but he suffered like no other ever suffered. We deserve
to suffer and he did not deserve to suffer. Now the number two
thing then, the first is that his sufferings were unparalleled. The second thing is this, the
text tells us that if we'll give up our time, that we're so busy
in this life, and if we'll just give up a little time, and if
we'll come over here, and if we'll look at this thing as we
pass by, if we'll take just enough time to look that we would see
that these unparalleled sufferings are the work of God Almighty.
Look at the text. Look at the text. Let us read
it here again. Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow looking to buy sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith,
wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Now then, who is responsible
for Calvary? Well, the world doesn't know
to this good hour who The Lord hath afflicted me. Now these sufferings are of God,
first of all, in that that God planned these sufferings. Now you thought, perhaps, that
the Sanhedrin had planned the cross. The Bible does say, in
Matthew chapter 12 and verse 14, after our Lord had agitated
the Jews and the Pharisees in their religion, you know the
withered man asked if it was lawful for his hand to be healed
on the Sabbath day, and our Lord said, well it is lawful to heal
on the Sabbath day, and so he healed this man's withered hand. And then the Pharisees went out
and they held a council. They held a council against Jesus
and how they might destroy him. Said, we're going to have to
destroy this one who said it's lawful to heal on the Sabbath
day. Now, I want you to understand
what I'm saying. This is not the council that
determined his death. The counsel which determined
his death took place before the foundation of the world was ever
laid. In Acts chapter 2 and 23, the
scripture says, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. Now God had held the counsel
long before this the Sanhedrin had held one and determined what
that wicked council would do to his son. They said, we'll
kill him. And God said, I know that's just
what you're going to do because I've decided that that's what
you would do. You would deliver him up. But he'll be delivered up by
my determined counsel, not by your counsel. It's my counsel. Now in Acts 4, verse 27 and 28,
the Bible says, For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both haired and pontious pirate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, they were gathered together,
listen to this, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. What were they gathered together
to do? They were gathered together to do exactly what the counsel
of God had determined before to be done. I'm laying the groundwork
so you can see that these unparalleled sufferings, that it was the work
of God Almighty. Now, not only did God plan these
sufferings, He presided over these sufferings. Now, you thought
Pilate was in charge on this day, didn't you? Well, look,
if you will, in the Gospel of John, chapter 19. The Gospel
of John, chapter 19. I want you to look here at these
verses. Anybody that thought that Pilate
was in charge on that day, they need to look at these verses.
I want to read here this morning, beginning at verse 9 and read
through verse 11. He went again into the judgment
hall, Pilate did, and saith unto Jesus, whence art thou? But Jesus
gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest
thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee? And Jesus
answered, Jesus corrected him, here in this verse of scripture,
and as much as told him, Pilate you're not in charge here. You're
not in charge here at all. You've got nothing to do with
this, and you have nothing, you have no power. Listen to it.
Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were
given to thee from where? From above. Unless this power
was given to you from above, you would have no power over
me. Therefore, he that delivered
me unto thee hath the greater sin. And so, what am I saying? I'm saying that God presided
over the events of this day. That God presided here in this. Now note this, if you will, that
God directed the actions of all of those who were participants
in the crucifixion while He had no part in the sin of their actions. He directed those actions to
the accomplishment of his eternal purpose. That is a very important
statement and you need to get it. Now men's heart divides it
this way. Man's heart, as the Proverbs
says, I should say, deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth
his steps. Now nothing takes our Lord by
surprise, especially Calvary, and if God ever vacated His throne,
He didn't on this day, and of course He never has, but He didn't
on this day. God planned the events of this
day, and God presided over the events of this day. Now he's
in charge, I tell you. Christ comes here and he would
bid you come and take a look and say to you this morning,
here I am suffering like no one ever suffered. And I bid you
look and see that my Father in Heaven has planned these sufferings
and He's presiding over these sufferings. And there's another
side to it also, that He participated in the affliction of those sufferings. planned it, presided over it,
and is a participant in inflicting these sufferings. Now you thought
it was the Roman soldiers, didn't you? You thought it was the Roman
soldiers. You thought it was the Jews.
Well, in Zechariah 13 and verse 7, the scripture says, Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts. And Isaiah 53 and 10 says, Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief."
Sounds like the Lord, the Heavenly Father, God Almighty was an active
participant in inflicting this sorrow and this suffering upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. But what we must see as we pass
by is it pleased Jehovah God to bruise him. Well, what was
God doing? Well, He was exacting payment
for our sins. That's what he was doing. And
note this, the work that men did at Calvary was not sufficient
to accomplish the work of our redemption. Now let me say that
again. The work that men did at Calvary
was not sufficient to accomplish our redemption. Listen to me,
what God did there It's what my hope is. Now you think about
that. It's what God did at Calvary
that gives hope to our never-dying soul. God laid upon Him our guilt
and our sin and exacted the payment of that sin from Him. The Scripture
says He was made to be sin for us, legally constituted sin for
us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now when you look at the cross,
if all you see there is the awful things that man did Then my friend
you must look again and look again till you see God inflicting
this punishment and this sorrow and this pain there. in order
that he might be able to spare your soul from never dying hell. You must look again if all you
see is what man, the awful things that man has done. See God getting
satisfaction for the sins of his chosen. See him planning,
see him presiding, see him participating in the death of his son. Now the third thing I saw as
I passed by was this. that this unparalleled suffering
was the result and the manifestation of God's furious anger. God's furious anger. Or if we
could look with a songwriter who said, in the beloved I go
to the tree, and there in his person by faith I may see infinite
wrath rolling over his head. infinite love for He died in
my stead. I ask you this question, how
can the Holy God be angry with His Holy Son? I ask you that
question, how can the Holy God be angry with His Holy Son? God is angry with nothing but
sin. He never has been angry about
anything else but sin. Anger is not an essential attribute
of God. Anger is the result of God's
holiness stirred into action against sin. That's what God's
anger is. If God is angry with His Son,
then He must be guilty of sin. Well we've heard all of our lives
that he had no sin. We've heard all of our lives
that in him there is no sin. And we remember that his enemies
testified and said we found no fault in this man. And we know
the traitor Judas said I have betrayed innocent blood. We know,
now listen, but somebody says, well somewhere preacher, somewhere
between the manger and the cross, Jesus must have done something
that would cause the father to be angry with him. To cause the
father to come with his fierce anger. And to cause him to suffer
these great sorrows. Well you'll search in vain my
friend to find it. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is high, the Lord Jesus is holy, He is undefiled, He is separate
from sinners as far as His character is concerned. You will never
find where the Lord Jesus Christ is guilty of any sin. But He
is guilty of sin. Somebody said, well how could
that be? Indeed He is guilty! I want you to hear me. This is
one of the things that we see here. If we stop and look, we
see that he is indeed guilty, but not his own sin caused his
guilt. Let me say this to you this morning.
The poet said, for sin not his own, he died to atone. Isaiah 53 and 6 says the Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He is guilty. How
is he guilty? He is guilty by imputation. That's how he's guilty. Now,
imputation, that's a word that you ought to find out what it
means. What it means is that God accredited,
imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ all of the sins of his people. There's another side to imputation,
and that is that everything Christ was in His holy character, everything
He was through His perfect law keeping, through His perfect
obedience to the Heavenly Father, everything that Jesus Christ
was in His holy character, was imputed to me and to everyone
that believes on him. And that's how we have our standing
before God and you cannot have a holy standing, an acceptable
standing before God any other way except by imputation. That's the only way you can get
one. You can't be accepted of God except by what you are being
imputed to Him and what He is being imputed to you. That's
the only way. And let the legalists and let
the religionists tell you what He wants to. There is no other
way. But by imputation you cannot
be holy before God except by His holiness and righteousness
being imputed to you. It can't be done. There is no
other way. Imputation. Don't you ever forget
the word. My soul, if there wasn't such
a word as that, what would we do? He was charged with the sins
of the covenant people. And when it became sin for those
people, God was obligated to make Him, listen, God was obligated
to make this day This day when Jesus was hanging on the cross,
the day of his fierce anger against him. He was obligated to do it.
God is angry with sin. God will punish sin. He gave Christ a soul that was
big enough to be, and as it were, to be considered, or reckoned
to be, all of the souls of these people to suffer our hell. As
we said earlier, God's justice is inflexible. If God's Son has
sinned upon Him, then He must suffer the wrath of God. if he
has sin upon him. This is substitution. Christ
stood between us and God for us in our room and stead and
place. Well, last of all, now we'll
hurry on here to a conclusion. What is this to you and me? What
is this to you and me? Is it nothing to you? Well, the
man to whom this is nothing, and I really believe that If
it's nothing to you, then I think you're very foolish. I hope it's
more to me than just a sermon topic. I hope it is. The cross
of Christ, nothing to you. Let me ask you some questions.
Are you interested in the greatest story that was ever told? Are
you interested? Would you? Or do you like stories?
Are you interested in the greatest story that was ever told? This
is it. This is it. There ain't any greater
story that's ever been told than the one I told you this morning.
God hung his spotless, sinless son on a tree in order to spare
my unworthy soul eternal damnation, eternal hell. You like love stories? Oh, most people do, and you probably
do. Most everyone does. Well, this
is the greatest love story ever told. God so loved that He gave. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to be a satisfaction
for our sins. Are you interested in stories
of brave and daring exploits? The Lord Jesus came down here. He came a long way. He came all
the way from heaven to earth in order to suffer and to die
for us. And what did He come to do? Well,
He come to die. The scripture says He came to
suffer. The just He was, for the unjust
that He might bring us to God. And He might, all I thought about
this, Scripture says that He died for the ungodly. It doesn't
say that. He died for the ungodly. And do you know that He died
to make us so that we would be without spot or blemish or any
such thing? He died to make us holy before
His Father. He died in order that He might
present us to the Father without blemish or spot, wrinkle, any
such thing, that we could present us there, absolutely, what an
exploit. My friend, you talking about
a story of brave and daring exploits, this is it. Now are you interested
in horror stories? If you're interested in horror
stories, then stand by the cross on that day when God's fierce
anger was being poured out upon His Son. Stand by the cross when
Jesus Christ was baptized in His Father's wrath. Just stand
there and gaze upon that. Do you like mysteries? Do you
like mysteries? Well great is the mystery of
godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Son of Man, no let me say
it this way, the Son of God became the Son of Man that sons of men
might become sons of God. What a mystery. What a mystery. Can you figure that out? Can
you figure that out? Well, do you like stories of
great accomplishments? Do you? Stories of great accomplishments. Always like, if I want to read
something, I'd like to read something where somebody accomplished something,
wouldn't you? Well, just stand by the cross
and hear him say, what did he say on the cross? He said, it's
finished. It's finished. Stories of great
accomplishment. That's what it is to me. Well
now listen to me this morning. Scripture says he shall see the
travail of his soul, he shall be satisfied. He accomplished
what he went to the cross to accomplish. Now if you're interested
in all these things, then why wouldn't you be interested in
this gospel that we preach? Are you interested in yourself?
The scripture says in John 3 and 18, he that believeth not is
condemned already, but he that believeth is not condemned because
he believes in the only begotten Son of God. And he that believeth
not is condemned already because he's not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Now then, I'm sure that by nature,
if God leaves us to ourself, when the text says, is it nothing?
to you, if God leaves us to ourselves. Every natural man, that word
nothing is going to sum up what he thinks of the gospel. Is that
right? Nothing. Foolishness to the natural man. But thanks to a sovereign God,
there is a people to whom Christ in the cross is everything. It is everything. It is all my
hope before a sin-hating God, the cross of our Lord Jesus.
He can save me and He can go, now listen to me, He can save
me and take me to heaven and still be the holy God He's always
been because of the cross. Still be God. He can be just
and justifier. He can take me to glory, make
me clean, wash me, and I'll be without sin before God, staying
blemished before God, and He will still be the Holy God, the
cause of the cross. The cross is all my hope, the
cross is all my glory, and that's what it is to me. What is it
to you? These words I found in Gatsby's
hymnal. I'd like to share them with you
and we're done. Heart from the cross, a gracious
voice salutes my ravished ears. Rejoice, thou ransomed soul,
rejoice and dry those falling tears. Amazed, I turn and grown
strangely bold, this wondrous thing to see. And there the dying
Lord, behold, stretched on the bloody tree. Sinner, he cries,
behold the head, the thorny wreath entwines. Look on these wounded
hands and read thy name in crimson lines. The power, the sweetness
of that voice, my stony heart does move. makes me in Christ
my Lord rejoice and melts my soul to love. Father, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, bless this message and use it
to thy glory and make souls rejoice here and make us fall more deeply
in love than ever before with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
who died in our room and staid in place. We pray it in his name
and for his sake, amen.