The passage of scripture that
I read is the last of three different occasions when the Lord told
the disciples exactly what was going to happen to him. He talked
about how he was going to be beat, scourged, spit upon, mocked,
crucified, and the third day he would rise again. Now, he
didn't say this in a parable. He said it very plainly to his
disciples. There was no mistaking about
what he had said to them. And I am not amazed by the disciples,
but I'm amazed by the disciples. I'm not amazed because I know
me. But why weren't they waiting at the tomb? Look in Mark 16. And they, verse 11, the disciples,
and they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been
seen of her, believe not. I don't believe that. After that, he appeared to another
in another form unto two of them as they walked and went into
the country. And they went and told it under the residue. Neither
believed they them. Afterward, he appeared unto the
leaven, as they said it meet, and upbraided them with their
unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them
which had seen him after he was risen. I preached last night
in Danville, and the disciples asked the question, after they
saw the rich young ruler leave, who then can be saved? Well,
when they made that statement, they were betraying an ignorance
of the gospel. They were thinking, if this guy,
as good as he is, can't be saved, well, then who then can? I mean,
the disciples were like me and you, sinful, stupid individuals,
spiritually stupid, needing to be taught by the Lord. And the Lord was so patient with
them. So patient, I'm so thankful for that. But this passage I
just read in Mark chapter 10, took place two weeks before his
crucifixion. And like I said, this was common
knowledge with even his enemies that he had said that he would
rise from the dead. In Matthew chapter 27, We read
the words of the Pharisees. Now the next day, verse 62, Now
the next day that followed the day of the preparation, the chief
priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate saying, Sir, we remember
That deceiver said, while I was yet alive, after three days I'll
rise again. They'd heard of this. So this
was common knowledge. It wasn't just the disciples.
I mean, this had made its way through the rounds. And even
the Pharisees knew of this. Command therefore that the sepulchre
be made sure into the third day, lest his disciples come by night
and steal him away and say to the people, he's risen from the
dead. So the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate
said to them, you have a watch, go your way. I love this statement. Make it as sure as you can. You
see, they did make it as sure as they could, but what could
they do to prevent the resurrection of the Son of God? There's nothing
they could do to prevent that. So they went and made the sepulchre
sure, sealing the stone and setting a watch. Now, I have preached
verse by verse through every book of the New Testament except
Mark. When I finish Mark, I will have
preached verse by verse through every book, or every book of
the New Testament, and some of the old. But I was interested
because this passage of scripture that I just read in Mark chapter
10, it's also in Matthew chapter 20, It's in Luke chapter 18,
and I said, I'm gonna get out my old notes and see what I said.
And I like what Spurgeon said about your old notes. They're
good either to be burned or to weep over. And I don't think
that I would disagree with that. Sometimes I think, where was
it? Why didn't I see that? But at
any rate, I got my notes out out of Matthew chapter 27, and
this is a message that I preached 20 years ago, 20 years ago. And I entitled the message, The
Only Message. And I introduced the message
by saying, speaking of Christ, speaking of his death and his
resurrection. Same thing in Matthew here, almost
the exact same words. I made this statement, this is
the only subject of this book. All of the narratives, histories,
genealogies, sacrifices, ceremonies, poetry, miracles, and teaching
can be deduced to this. What Paul said in 1 Corinthians
1-2, I determined not to know anything among you. saved Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Now in this introduction, I said
this is not the central theme of this book. This is the only
theme of this book. 20 years later, I still believe that. And I hope
a little bit more. Verse 32, Mark chapter 10, and
they were in the way going up to Jerusalem. You know, he knew
he was going there to die. He was going to die in two weeks. And they were in the way going
up to Jerusalem. Now, before we go on reading,
turn to Luke chapter 18 for just a moment. Look at Luke's account. Verse 31, this is very important,
this is not in Matthew and Mark's account. Then he took unto him
the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and
spit it on. And they shall scourge him, and
put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again." And
Luke gives us his editorial comment, and they understood none of these
things. And this saying was hid from them. Neither knew they
the things which were spoken. I always like to think about
the disciples saying to each other when they get away from
him, what do you mean by that? What did that mean? Why did he
say that? I can just see that going on
all the time. What in the world? But the point
is, everything that's going to happen happens according to the
Old Testament scriptures. Everything. If you talk about
the details of his death, why it was said that his hands and
feet would be pierced, they would mock him, he'd cry out, I thirst. They'd cast lots for his garments,
all the details. It's almost as if when you read
the account of the crucifixion, they would look up at what we're
supposed to do next, and it would be written down. And they didn't
know that they were fulfilling the scriptures, but they were.
And this is the fulfillment of every type, every prophecy. I
think of, this is Abel's lamb. This is the substitute ram. This
is Isaiah 53. This is the great day of atonement. This is the Passover. Go on and
on. This is the serpent lifted up
in the wilderness. This is the message of this book. This is the religion of this
book. The Lord said, you search the
scriptures, and in them you think you have eternal life, and they
are they which testify of me. That is their only testimony. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Look in Acts chapter 13 for just
a moment. Verse 28, and though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down and laid him in
a sepulcher. I love the language of that.
when they had fulfilled all that was written of him. Now back to Mark, verse 32. And they were in the way going
up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them. The whole gospel is in that statement. The Lord went before me as my
surety before time began. The Lord went before me when
he became flesh and kept the law for me. The Lord went before
me in his death. The Lord went before me in his
resurrection when he ascended back to the Father. He goes before
me now. He's called the forerunner, isn't
he? In Hebrews chapter 620, the forerunner who enters within
the veil. You know, the disciples were afraid, but they didn't
have any reason to be afraid, did they? If the Lord's before you,
is there anything to fear? Not at all. He went before them. Now, as I said, this is two weeks
before his death, and Luke 9, 51 says, when the time when he
was come that he should be received up, go back to the Father, he
set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. Now listen to this.
This is why he came. He came to die on a cross. Now he could have lived and lived
a perfect life and gone back to heaven. And what good would
that have done me or you? It would have done us no good
at all. But he came for this purpose. He came to die on Calvary's
tree. I am always amazed by thinking
of Revelation 13, 8, where he's called the Lamb having been slain
from the foundation of the world. Oh, would the Lord enable us
to not just already know that and see the glory of that? What are we told about in eternity
past? The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And I love thinking about this.
God created the universe for this. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world is the declaration, the manifestation of the character
of God. The cross. was not for the fall. I love saying this. The cross
was not for the fall. The fall was for the cross. You see, the cross is not God's
response or answer to the fall. The cross is not God's answer
or response to sin. You see, God never responds to
anything. He only acts. He never responds. He only acts. And the reason for the creation
of this universe, the reason for the fall, is for the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And as they went up to Jerusalem,
Jesus went before them. Well, I want Him always before
me, don't you? I never want to be in any position but Him being
before me, in every respect of the Word. And Jesus went before
them, and the Scripture says, they were amazed. And as they followed, they were
afraid. Now they knew that there was
trouble in Jerusalem. They knew when the Lord went
back to Jerusalem, that he had many people who hated him and
wanted him to die. And they were scared to death.
And they shouldn't have been because they were with him. But
wouldn't you be afraid too? Of course you would. I would.
Everybody else would. But they shouldn't have been
because he was going before them. But the scripture says, and he
took again the 12. Just to comment, I know he's
the son of God, but what, and I even hesitate to use the word
courage with regard to the son of God, but he had no fear in
what he was doing. He was afraid of drinking the
cup of God's wrath, but he wasn't afraid of the men in any respect. He is going to Jerusalem for
the very purpose he came, to die on Calvary's tree, and he
took again the 12, and began to tell them what things should
happen unto him. Now I like that language, what
things that should happen. You know why they should happen? Because it's all according to
God's purpose. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. you have taken and with wicked
hands have crucified and slain." It should have happened because
it was God's purpose. And God's purpose is always done. It's never thwarted. It's never
frustrated. Everything happens exactly as
He purposes it. But it should have happened,
and I don't know how to say this the right way, but it should
have happened Because when he became sin, that's exactly what
he deserved, to be forsaken of God. He deserved, because he
took my sin, And it became his sin. And everything that happened
to him was according to the justice of God. God's holy. God's gonna
punish sin. He truly took upon the sins of
the elect and they became his sins. He became guilty of the
commission of those sins. Now somebody says, explain that
to me. That's not something that can be explained. God can do
it. Only God can do something like
this. And we believe. and we worship Him and we're
so thankful He did this. This should take place because
it's God's purpose and because He became the sin-bearing substitute,
my sin became His sin, and everything He went through, it was the justice
of God inflicting it on Him because He was guilty. Now, do you understand
that? He was guilty. He wasn't being
treated as if he were guilty. He was guilty. My sin became
his sin. And just as truly as my sin became
his sin, his righteousness, his perfect obedience becomes mine. These are the things that should
happen. Now look in verse 33, saying,
behold, We go up to Jerusalem and the
Son of Man shall be delivered under the chief priests and under
the scribes. Now, here's a very important
point. Who delivered him? Him being delivered. by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God. This was God's will. His determinate
counsel and foreknowledge taking place, the early church said
in Acts chapter four in prayer, for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. That's everybody.
We're gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done. He has remained silent while
Pilate's questioning him. Why? Because he's guilty. He's
the lamb who opened not his mouth. He's guilty. And then Pilate
interjects, don't you know that I have power to crucify you and
I have power to release you? Thou canst have no power at all
over me. I love it the way he didn't stay
silent for that. He didn't stay silent for that.
Pilate, you have no power at all over me, except it be given
thee from above. Therefore, he that hath delivered
thee to me hath the greater sin. Pilate was a pawn in God's hand. doing God's will. Romans 8.32 says he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now there's no reason, if Christ
died for you, if God delivered him up for you, there's nothing
that could prevent God freely giving you all things. He will be delivered. And I think it's interesting
who he's delivered to. Verse 33, behold, we go up to Jerusalem
and the Son of Man said to be delivered under the chief priests
and under the scribes. Now we know that this represents
religion. You have the Pharisees. They
were the fundamentalists. They were conservatives. You
have the Sadducees. They were the liberals. You have
the Herodians. They were the kind of social
gospel type of person. You have the scribes. They were
the educated. They were the seminarians. They
were the authorities. Who was it that hated Jesus Christ? The religious. And I mean they
hated him. And human religion, somebody
says, that's the way they were back then. That describes every
one of us. Every one of us are in those
camps of religion. That's our natural religion.
And every one of us were, this is the contempt they had for
the Lord Jesus Christ. It says they spit on him. Now
what is the greatest act of contempt and disrespect? There is. clearing
your throat and spitting in somebody's face. You're letting that person
know what you think of them. And that's what these men did
to the son of God. They hated him so much. They
had such low esteem for him and such no respect for him that
they cleared their throats and they spit in his face. He's delivered unto the chief
priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to
death. That was their assessment of
him. They shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to
the Gentiles. Now, why did he, why was he delivered
to the Gentiles? Because he must be nailed to
a cross. How did the Roman government execute people that were the
lowest of the low, they had him crucified. Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree, and on a tree hanged he must be, as
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and they delivered
him to the Gentiles. That's the Roman government.
And that's when all this stuff started going on with them. And what did they do? Look in
verse 34. and they shall mock him." Now, what I love is that every
mock of venom they made against the Lord was a declaration of
the gospel. The wrath of man shall praise
thee. He saved others. They're making
fun of him. He saved others. Himself, he
cannot save. Truer words have never been spoken. The only way I can be saved is
if he didn't save himself and went through everything he went
through. What about this? Let his blood be on us and our
children. Why we hate him so much, we're
fine with being charged as being guilty of murdering him. Let
his blood be upon us. Let it be attributed to our children. That is the prayer of every believer. Let his blood be upon us and
let his blood be upon our children. Our only hope is the blood of
Christ. What can wash away my sin? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What about when the soldiers,
they hit him with a reed and they took a purple robe and put
it upon him and the scripture says they bowed down before him
and worshiped him and says, saying, hail, king of the Jews, They
said that in mock contempt and hatred, has there ever been a
truer statement made? He is the king of the Jews. And he's everybody's king. He's
the king of kings and the lord of lords, but he's most especially
the king of the Jews. And every believer is a Jew. He's not a Jew that's one outwardly,
but one inwardly, whose circumcision is that of the heart and not
of the liver. whose praise is not of men, but
of God. We are the circumcision. We're
the true Jews, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in
Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. You know, I've
already read that passage in Matthew chapter 27, where they
said with regard to the Lord and said, this deceiver, why
live, said in three days he'll rise again, called him a deceiver. God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned,
who knew not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And after their mocking, they
spit on him, the ultimate act of contempt, and that's what
the natural man thinks of the Son of God. And turn to Isaiah
53, this is one for just a moment. Who hath believed our report? And
he answers who has believed in the next statement, to whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? I know who has believed the report,
the ones that the Lord has revealed himself to. For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. He's despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from
him. He was despised and we, everybody in this room, everybody
outside of this room, this is the worst thing that could be
said of any man, we esteemed him not. to not esteem the eternal son
of God. We esteemed him not. They shall mock him, they shall
scourge him, beat him with a cat of nine tails, they shall spit
upon him, and they shall kill him, and the third day, He shall
rise again." Now, you think of what the Son of God went through,
and the physical things, as horrible as they are, were nothing compared
to being separated from His Father. And I don't even know what I'm
saying when I'm saying this. I mean, I know it's so, although
I can't enter into it, I can't understand it, but he had perfect
communion with his father. He had the perfect smile of his
father. Oh, the communion between the
father and the son. And now he's made the thing he
hates. He's made to know sin. He knew no sin and he was made
to know it. And he was made to experience
it. No, he didn't ever commit a sin. Worse, he was made sin. And on Calvary's tree, he drank
the dregs of that cup the father gave him to drink completely
dry. And oh, how he suffered. He suffered unto death. They shall kill him." And I love
to think of the fact that he wasn't a victim. I have power to lay my life down.
I have power to take it in. No man takes it from me. This
commandment have I received of my father. He was no victim. When he was going to the cross
and the daughters of Jerusalem were crying, he said, don't weep
for me. I'm not to be the object of pity. Weep for yourselves
and for your children. And like I've already quoted
what he said to Pilate, You don't have any power all over me."
Now he wasn't saying those things in harshness in any way. The Lord was not harsh, but he
knew that this was his purpose in coming, to die on a cross. You young people, you got your
whole life in front of you. You get a little bit older and
it's not the same, but you think, what am I gonna do? What am I
gonna do? Well, he knew what he was gonna do the whole time.
He came to die on Calvary Street. But the third day, he shall rise
again. Now, this is the gospel. What
I'm doing is preaching the gospel. This is THE gospel. As a matter
of fact, that's why I entitled this message, The Gospel. The third day he shall rise again,
and this is the cornerstone of the gospel. I love it when Peter
was preaching on Pentecost. He said it was not POSSIBLE that
death, that he should be holding a death. There's no way he could
stay in the grave. It was impossible for him to
stay dead. Now, I'm mystified by the fact
that he could die in the first place. How does the God-man die? I don't know, but he did. That's
the point, he did. Yes, explain to me how that could
happen. I can't, but he did. He died, but he didn't stay dead. The third day in that tomb, I love the fact
that the only one who witnessed it was the father. No men to
watch this and see this. He didn't need men's affirmation
about this. The only one who witnessed this
is the father and God, the Holy Spirit. But I love to think of
that dark tomb. He opens his eyes. He's been
dead and he gives himself life from the dead. Yes, the father
raised him from the dead. He raised himself from the dead.
He said, I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it up. He, by his own almighty, invincible
power, raised himself from the dead. Now this, as I said, is
the cornerstone of the gospel. First of all, it tells us he
is who he said he is. He's God the Son. He's the creator
of the universe. He's really the one who wrote
the Bible. He's the one who controls everything. He is who he said
he is. He's God the Son. He's the Son
of Mary. He's the Son of Man. He's the
Christ. He is who he said he is. He's the Savior. He is who he
said he is. Secondly, we know from his resurrection that the Bible is
absolutely true. The Bible is absolutely true. Why? In Genesis chapter 315,
the seed of woman shall crush the serpent's head. And the serpent
shall bruise his heel. That's the cross right there.
Everything in the Bible speaks of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Truth shall spring from the earth.
The psalmist said that's the resurrection. I want to know,
like Paul said, the power of his resurrection. And I know
when most religious people talk about it, they go, I want more
power in my life to live a certain way. And I, well, I, you know,
I suppose I understand that, but I'm talking about the power
of the resurrection. When he was raised from the dead,
every believer was raised from the dead. Every believer was
saved by what he did. Sin was put away. When he was
raised from the dead, that means God. completely accepted what
he did, and was completely satisfied with what he did, and completely
satisfied with everybody he did it for. You know what that means?
Let me put this in real simple terms. God's completely satisfied
with me. And that's true of every believer.
Completely satisfied. There's no spot in thee. He says,
I'm ravished by thee because of the resurrection. Every believer
is beautiful, perfect, holy in Christ Jesus. There's nothing
that God is not pleased with. That's what the resurrection
says. He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. When Christ was raised from the
dead, all sin was put away. I'm so aware, and I'm not as
aware as I ought to be, I realize that, but I'm aware of my sinfulness. My sin, I'm not just talking
about a sinful nature. Yes, I'm talking about a sinful
nature, but I'm talking about every action I do. I'm talking
about the good stuff, I'm talking about the bad stuff, every action. I'm talking about the motives,
I'm talking about the desires, I'm talking about the wickedness
of my heart, I'm talking about the jealousies and the endies
and lusts and just you, my sin is not. When he had by himself,
no help from me or you, When he had by himself purged our
sins, he sat down. You know why? Because the work
was done. When he was raised from the dead,
every believer was saved. And you know, this is a scripture,
I feel like I've just now understood it. Romans 5.10 says, for if
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son. Much more. Much more. Being reconciled, we shall be
saved by that resurrected life. Our hope. is sure and certain
because there is a man in glory with the scars in his hands and
his feet and in his side representing all of his people right now. You say, I wish I could feel
that. It doesn't have anything to do with feelings. It's a fact.
Wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost. that come
to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Peter said at the end of that
great message on Pentecost, you've taken him in wicked hands. You've crucified and slain him.
But God has raised him from the dead. And this same Jesus, whom
you crucified, God hath made both Lord and Christ. He's the Lord, and all that means. He's the Christ, and all that
means. Now here in three verses, we
have the entire gospel. And God uses the entire Bible
to expound this one message, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we glory only in the cross. And Lord, we only do that if
you enable us to do it. But enable each person in this
room to say from their heart, God forbid that I should glory. save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.