Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 23? While you're turning there, tonight
we're going to observe the Lord's table, and I'm going to preach
on the preaching of Jesus Christ. What is the preaching of Jesus
Christ? We just read from Psalm 76 verse
10, The wrath of man shall praise
thee. Now, when was the wrath of man
most clearly expressed? It's not hard to answer, is it? The cross. That's when the wrath
of man was given its full vent. And the psalmist tells us that
the wrath of man shall praise thee. Now in Luke chapter 23,
beginning in verse 35, I'd like you to read these verses with
me. And the people stood beholding
and the rulers also with them derided him, saying, he saved
others, let him save himself if he be 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 thyself. And a superscription
also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and
Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. The religious leaders derided
him. The soldiers mocked him and scoffed
at him. And in their scoffing, And in
their contempt for the Lord Jesus Christ, we're given some of the
most poignant and amazing statements regarding the truth of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I've looked at every one
of the slams at Christ. while he was on the cross, when
he was betrayed, and even after he died. And in these scoffs,
we have these glorious statements regarding the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now it begins with his betrayal.
We see the deceit of Judas, Mark chapter 14, verse 44, And he that betrayed him had
given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Take him and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he
goes straight way to him and saith, Master, master. And he
kissed him. He kissed him. What an act of
deceit. What an act of betrayal. What
an act of hypocrisy. He kissed the Son of God. And you know what Scripture came
to my mind? Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. And you perish from
the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
they that put their trust in Him. His betrayal begins with
a deceitful kiss, but oh, kiss the Son. I think this is interesting.
Judas kissed Him on the cheek. Where did the woman who was a
sinner kiss Him? At His feet. Which one are you? Turn to John chapter 18. I'm
sorry. Yeah, John chapter 18, beginning
in verse 29. Pilate then went out unto them
and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? And they
answered and said unto him, If he were not a malfactor, a criminal,
we would not have delivered him unto thee. Now here they call
the spotless, sinless, holy, perfect son of God, a malfactor,
a criminal. What an accusation against the
son of God. who never sinned. Let me make
that emphasis. He never sinned. Even when he was made sin, he
never sinned. Amen. That's the Son of God. But when he was numbered, and
I don't even know how to say this the way it ought to be said.
I wish I did. I think this is something that
is to be believed and not understood. I don't have any problem with
that. Somebody says, well, you ought
to be able to explain it. Well, I'll do my best. When Christ was numbered
with the transgressors, he became the male factor. All that sin is, he was made
to be. And when they accused him of
being a malfactor, they were wicked in making that accusation.
Yet when he was made sin, he was made to be what I am. And truly he was the malfactor
who his own sins or in his own self bear our sins in his own
body on the tree. Now, I don't understand how God
can do this, but he can. He can take my sin and make it
to where it belongs to Christ. And He can take the righteousness
of Christ and make it to where it's mine. I don't know how He
does that, but He does it. He does it. I don't know how
He's one God in three persons. I don't know how He never began
to be, but I believe it. I know it. I don't understand
how He did this, but I know He did it. My sin became Christ's
sin so that he became the malfactor. And his righteousness becomes
mine so that I'm the very righteousness of God in him. And what a blessed
place that is to be, to know that I am. Now this is the heritage
of every believer. We have the very righteousness
of God. Luke 23. Verse five. Verse 4, then Pilate said to
the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this
man. And they were the more fierce, saying, he stirreth up the people. You know, he did. They were angry
with him. They wanted to kill him. That's
why he was there. Indeed, he did stir up the people. But oh, how he stirs up his people. He stirs them up to love him
and to bow before him and to worship him. to where they're
so stirred up for him that they would count it a great honor
that they don't deserve to be enabled to die for his sake,
for his namesake. He stirreth up the people. Never truer statement has ever
been made how he stirs up his people. to want to completely
rest in Him, to want to glorify Him, to want to sit at His feet
as Mary did and hear His Word, to hear nothing but Him, how
He stirs up His people. Matthew 26. Verse 67. Then did they spit in his face,
and buffeted him, they struck him. And others smoked him with
the palms of their hands, slapping him in the face, saying, Prophesy
unto us, thou Christ. Who is he that smoketh thee?
Now here they're making fun of him as a prophet. If you're a
prophet, tell us. They blindfolded him, as a matter
of fact. And then they would hit him, and they'd say, tell
us if you're such a prophet. Who smoked thee? I can answer that question. Awake, O sword, smite the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. These men didn't know that they
were simply performing the will of Jesus Christ as the sinner's
substitute. It was the Lord who smote him. Now remember, he was no victim
at this time. He went to the cross willingly.
He went through all of this willingly. And it pleased the Lord to smite
him. Many hands were raised against
him. None did interpose to save. But
the greatest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice
gave. It was the Lord who smote him. Matthew chapter 27. Verse 25,
verse 24, when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but
that rather tumult was made. He took water and washed his
hands before the multitude, saying, I'm innocent of the blood of
this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all
the people and said, his blood be on us and our children. Now
look at what they said to Pilate. They said, you don't need to
worry about taking responsibility for this. We're glad to have
it put on our charge. Let his blood be upon us. This
is what we want. Why even let our children be
held responsible? We hate this man. And don't worry
about it. Now Pilate couldn't wash his
hands of that. He's still trying to wash them in hell right now,
but he couldn't wash his hands of that. But the children of
Israel, the chief priests, they said, we want to be held responsible
for this because we know he's wrong. Let his blood be upon
us and upon our children. Now here is the confession of
every believer. His blood is on us. We're responsible for his death. And so are our children. We're responsible. There's our
confession of sin. That's a true confession. We're
responsible for the death of the son of God. And so are our
children. That's the true confession of
sin. But more than that, Here's the very prayer of my
heart. His blood be upon us. May we be covered in His blood.
May we be seen only through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
so that all God sees is Jesus Christ. And I want the same for
my children. His blood be upon us and our
children. Isn't that your prayer? Right now, Lord, may Your blood
cover our sins. And may Your blood cover the
sins of our children. What a prayer! That's the prayer
of every child of God. So when they said this in derision,
His blood be on us and our children. Here we have the very heart cry
of every believer. Let His blood be upon us. Now
let me tell you why we cry that. God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Not when I see your faith, not
when I see your repentance, not when I see your good intentions,
not when I see how you deal with sin. One thing God was looking
for, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. His blood be upon
us and our children. Stay in Matthew 27, verse 27. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole
band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put
on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right
hand. And they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him and took
the reed that they'd given to him as a scepter and smote him
on the head. And after that, they had mocked
him. They took the robe off from him and put his own reign upon
him and led him away to crucify him." Now, Pilate brought him
out and said, behold, your king. And what did they do? They said,
hail, king of the Jews. They were making fun of him.
This defeated, weak, helpless man, hail, king of the Jews. They were making fun of him.
They were mocking him. They were scoffing at him. He's
in our hands. We're hitting him and striking
him. Hail, king of the Jews. Look in verse 37. They set up over his head his
accusation. This is why he died. His accusation. This is what we're accusing you
of. This is Jesus, the king of the
Jews. And we know from the other accounts
that this was written in Greek, in Latin, and in Hebrew. So everybody could see. Greek,
the language of the common man, the universal language that everybody
could understand. Latin, that's the Roman language,
the language of law. Hebrew, the language of religion. And everybody was given the exact
same message in this accusation. You know when Pilate had them
write that, he had no idea that the Spirit of God caused him
to do that. He had no idea. When these men
bowed the knee, Hail King of the Jews! They didn't know that
the Spirit of God caused them to do this. Now I want you to
think just for a moment about this being his accusation. You
know, everybody was okay with his miracles. Everybody was okay
with him feeding them. Everybody was okay with him healing
them. That's fine. But this is what
we will not tolerate. We'll not have this man to reign
over us. We will not bow to him as king.
Why, for us to be in his hands, and he can do with us whatever
he's pleased to do, and we don't have any control. We won't have
that! Yeah, you will. Yeah, you will. He's the king. Now they were made to bow in
jest. One of these days, they're either going to be bowing
in hell, forced to, or they're going to be bowing willingly
in heaven. But everybody's going to bow.
At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and every tongue will
confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He is the King of kings and he
is the Lord of lords. He is that blessed and only potentate
whose will is always done. Hail King of the Jews. Look in Mark chapter 15 for a
moment. Verse 19, And they smote him on the head
with a reed, and did spit upon him. Now picture this in your
mind. They're taking reeds and striking Christ in the face and
spitting on him. And what did they do next? Bowing
their knees, they worshipped him. in utter contempt. This weak, helpless man, claiming
to be the Son of God, claiming to be the King of Israel? Oh,
let's bow our knees and worship Him. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. When they were mocking Him, they
didn't know this is the object, the subject, the person of divine
worship. Now remember this, you will only
worship a sovereign. You will only worship Someone
you have no control of. You're in His hands. He's not
yours. You're in His hands. And He can
do with you whatever He's pleased to do. You'll worship Him. Now
they weren't worshiping. They thought they had control
of Christ. And so they were mock-worshiping Him. But in this mockery, in
this contempt, Here we truly have the one who
is to be worshiped. The object of divine worship. Do you worship Him? Do you bow
before Him and confess that you're in His hands and whatever He
does is right? He's the spotless Son of God.
That's what worship is. In their mockery of worshiping
Him, Huh, they glorified him when they bowed their knee in
jest. Huh, they're gonna be made to bow. Luke chapter 23. Once again, Luke chapter 23. Verse 11. And Herod, with his
men of war, said him at nought. They said he's nothing. He's
a zero. He has no power. All these claims
he's making concerning himself. They set him at nought, and mocked
him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
They set him at nought. And this answers to Philippians
chapter 3 verse 6, who being in the form of God, thought it
not robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no
reputation. He made himself nothing. So much so that he said in Psalm
22, 6, the Psalm of the Cross, I am a worm and no man. I'm not even fit to be called
a man. That's what Christ said of himself
when he was made sin. I'm a worm. Literally, I'm a
maggot and no man. made himself nothing. Now when the rulers were, when
the soldiers were mocking him and setting him at naught, they
didn't know that he made himself naught as the sinner's substitute. John chapter 19, verse 7, the Jews answered him,
We have a law. And by our law, he ought to die
because he made himself the Son of God. This was a criticism. Truer words have never been spoken. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. the uncreated, eternal, second
person of the blessed trinity, the creator, the ruler of providence,
the Son of God, the Son of God, the Savior. This is the Son of
God. Do you know that's faith? Now
listen to me real carefully. You remember when The Ethiopian
eunuch said, here's water, what hinders me from being baptized?
After he heard Philip preach the gospel. And Philip said,
if you believe with all your heart, you may. And he replied
in Acts chapter eight, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son
of God. You believe that? I'm not asking you if you believe
you're saved. I'm not asking you if you believe that Christ
died for you. I'm not asking you if you believe you're one
of the elect. I'm asking you this. Do you believe that Jesus
Christ is God the Son, the creator of the universe, the controller
of providence, and the Lord of salvation in whose hands you
are? Do you believe that? My dear friends, that's what's
called saving faith. That it? Yep. That's it. That is saving faith. When they made fun of him for
saying he's the son of God. Oh, he is God, the son. Matthew chapter 27. Verse 41, likewise also the chief
priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others. Himself he cannot save. They
were making fun of him. Oh, he walked around saving others
and healing others and doing things for others. But look at
him there, helpless on the cross. Himself he cannot save. Have truer words ever been spoken?
For mere you to be saved? He could not save Himself. You remember when He prayed,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me? If it were possible, the Father
would have let it pass. But it was not possible. He saved others, himself he cannot
save. And how true that is for him
to save me. He had to go to the cross and
suffer and bleed and die and put away my sin. He saved others,
himself he cannot save. He bore the full weight of God's
wrath being made a curse, taking what I deserve. Now for me to be saved, that
had to be done. And that shows just how much
Christ did everything in salvation. Now understand this. His work
on Calvary's tree saved others. He didn't make men savable. He
didn't make some kind of offer that you need to accept or reject.
His work saved others. And in doing that, he could not
be saved. Mark chapter 15. You see how the wrath of man
shall praise thee? These were all wrathful statements men made. But oh, how they glorify God
and how they honor the gospel. They don't mean for it to. They
meant it for evil, no doubt. But God meant it for good to
teach us something of his gospel. Now look in Mark chapter 15, beginning in verse 29. And they that pass by railed
on Him, wagging their heads." Can't you see that? I mean, they're
like having a party, wagging their heads, making fun of Him.
They railed on Him. And they that pass by railed
on Him, wagging their heads and saying, Oh, thou that destroyest
the temple and build it in three days, save thyself and come down
from the cross. Now for one thing, He did destroy this temple. and raise it from the dead in
three days. He was speaking of his body,
and he's the one who did it. He's the one who did it. He destroyed
this temple. He died under the wrath of God.
He permitted this to happen. He was in control of this. He
destroyed this temple, and he raised it in three days. And
when they said, save thyself, They were thinking, you can't
do it. But you know when Jesus Christ saved every one of His
elect, He saved Himself. How can that be? Well, listen
to this Scripture. If we believe not, He abideth
faithful. He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2.13. What about that
passage in Ephesians chapter 5 when it says, He that loveth
his wife, loveth himself. Now this is how real union with
the Lord Jesus Christ is. Once again, this is something
that can only be comprehended by faith. I'm Himself. As He is, 1 John 4, 17, as He
is, Whatever He is, whoever He is,
as He is, so are we in this world. Now, this is how near, so near
to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of His dear
Son, I'm as near to God as He. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. In the person of His dear Son,
I'm as dear to God as He. Now, when He saved me, The church is His body,
His bride, His house. When He saved us, He was saving
Himself. Matthew chapter 27, verse 43. Well, let's read verse 42 along
with it. He saved others. Himself He cannot save. If He
be the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross, and
we will believe Him. He trusted in God. Let Him deliver
Him now, if He'll have Him. For He said, I'm the Son of God.
He trusted in God. They were making fun of this.
Oh, He trusted in God. Where did it get Him? Look at
Him now. What's God done for Him? God's
done nothing for Him. Look. What? He's in. He's nailed to a cross. So much
was his trust for God, it wasn't real. Never has there ever been such
trust in God as this. He trusted in God when he was
in utter and complete darkness. He never quit trusting God. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Now let me tell you who never
was able to truly say that is me and you. As soon as something
goes wrong, how quick is our faith gone? What's happening? What's he doing? No trust. You know, I believe I understand
something of what Paul meant when he said, knowing. I love
it when he starts out with a knowing. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no man living be justified. My faith is this. I'm saved by his faith. I'm saved
by his faithfulness. He trusted in God completely. He's the only one to do it. Me
and you, we ain't done that. I'm ashamed to say he's never
given us a reason not to, but that's the power of unbelief
in a wicked nature. We've never trusted God completely.
He did. He trusted in utter darkness. Turn to Matthew 28. This is after his death. Now the next day, that followed
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came
together under Pilate, saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver
said while I was yet alive, after three days I'll rise again. Now
I think this is very interesting. They remembered that. Why didn't
the disciples remember it? They did. They knew all about
what he said. They said, this deceiver. This
is what they called the Lord Jesus Christ. This deceiver. And you know what? He was deceiver
to them. What do you mean by that? Because
they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. For this cause shall God send
to them strong delusion. that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. Will Christ deceive someone as
an act of his justice? Yes. If you don't believe, he'll
let you stay in that unbelief and he'll deceive you and let
you believe a lie and let you make you think everything's okay
when it's not. They called him a deceiver. He deceived them,
didn't he? And it wasn't a sinful deception
like me or you. It was an act of his irreprehensible
justice when he left them to himself. Now look, I love, go
on reading. Saying, sir, verse 63, we remember
that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three
days I'll rise again. Command, therefore, that the
sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away and say unto the people, he's
risen from the dead, so the last hour shall be worse than the
first. Pilate saith unto them, you have a watch. Go your way
and make it as sure as you can. They did. make it as sure as
they could. But what happened? He was raised from the dead. They tried to keep this from
happening, but they couldn't. Death could not hold him. He rendered complete satisfaction
to God. That's why he was raised from
the dead. The debt was paid. Righteousness is established.
They made it as sure as they could. What good did it do them? None at all. He raised himself
from the dead. Truly, the wrath of man shall
praise thee. And the remainder of wrath, thou wilt restrain. He's in control
of it. It may take some other form,
but he is God and he controls everything. The wrath of man
shall praise thee and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word, how we thank you that the wrath of man shall praise thee.
And Lord, we ask that you would give each
one of us saving faith in thy son. Lord, that's the gift of
your grace. It's not something we can work
up, but we ask in Christ's name, that name that's above every
name, that you will enable each one of us to believe thy son. In his name we pray, amen.