And the people stood beholding. There were many who were looking
upon that naked man nailed to a cross. Matthew's account says
in Matthew 27, 36, setting down. They watched him there. What did they see? Many looked upon one who they
saw in sympathy. They felt bad like the daughters
of Jerusalem weeping for him. They felt bad at the horrible
ordeal he was going through. There were many who looked upon
him with apathy and indifference. They didn't care one way or the
other about this one hanging on a tree. This was their entertainment. There were some who looked upon
him with hostility, hatred. They were the ones who cried,
crucify him. We don't want this man to be
anything but crucified and put to death. We hate him and want
to do away with him. There were some who looked upon
him politically. I believe that's the way Pilate
looked upon him. You remember when they said we
have no king but Caesar and he knew I've got to do something
about this. But you know there were some
that day that very day that looked upon him savingly. Remember the thief on the cross? Lord, I think that is one of the most
amazing things in scripture. That thief on the cross who I
don't suppose had even heard of Christ before that day and
saw him, beside him, He knew what it was to be nailed to a
cross and how helpless he was. He knew he couldn't do anything
to get himself down, but yet he says to that one hanging beside
him, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. You're
going to come back as a mighty reigning king. I simply ask that
you remember me. What about the Roman centurion?
Surely when he heard him cry, so when he heard him cry without
loud voice, it is finished. Surely this man was the son of
God. What do you say? You've got an
opinion. You've got thoughts concerning
this. What do you see in that one nailed
to a tree? And the people stood beholding. Now pray for me. I want to tell
you what this man sees in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now understand this. If I'm only
giving you my opinion of what I see, this is a waste of time. I'm giving you what I see the
scripture says regarding this one hanging on a tree. They stood beholding. What do you see? What do I see
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? First of all, I see the
hand of God. The hand of God. I see the will of God being done. I see the purpose and the counsel
of God being done. I see what God purposed in eternity
being carried out in time. And never forget this. I can't
even speak of the importance of this enough. Christ is the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is nothing
less than God's will being done. I think of the Lord saying, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Now that's amazing
to me to think of the Lord who's omniscient, he's God, and yet
he says to his father when he knows it's not possible, if it
be possible, let this cup. And I know exactly what that
cup was. That was the cup of drinking our sin. He was so overwhelmed
at the thought of that, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. Him being stripped naked and
nailed to a cross was God's will being done. It was the will of
the Son. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it's written of me, I delight to do thy will." Oh
God, the Son's will was to do the will of His Father. Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain. Now this is where we got to begin. Anytime we talk about
the cross, we got to begin right here. This was God's will. He was no victim. He was no martyr. This was God's will being done. What do I see? What do I see? When I see that
one hanging on the cross, I see the Old Testament scriptures
revealed. This is what the Old Testament
scriptures were all about. I see the seed of woman crushing
the serpent's head in answer to the ancient prophecy of Genesis
chapter 3 verse 15. I see Abel's more excellent sacrifice
Abel knew that Lamb wasn't doing anything for him. He knew it
pointed to the coming Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the world. I see Noah's ark pitched within
and without with pitch. That word pitch is atonement,
safety, security, salvation inside the ark, outside of the ark,
nothing but wrath. Here is where security is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I see that in the cross of Christ.
I see Abraham coming down Mount Moriah rejoicing that he'd seen
the Lord's day in the substitute for his son, Isaac. I see the
blood of the Passover lamb when God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. I see the tabernacle. You know,
I think it's glorious. Every piece of furniture in the
tabernacle is given for one purpose, to reveal some aspect of the
saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see the Old Testament
Scriptures revealed. 1 Corinthians 15, 3, Moreover,
I declare in you the gospel. Verse 3, How that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures. and that he was raised
again the third day according to the scriptures. Everything
in the Old Testament pointed to this. The root and offspring
of David, the cause of David, the root, the cause of David,
the offspring of David, David's son, coming to bear the sins
of God's elect and putting them away. All the Old Testament is
the gospel. When I see him nailed to that
tree, I see what the writer to the Hebrews called in Hebrews
chapter 13 verse 20, the blood, blood coming from his wounds,
the blood of the everlasting covenant. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 13. I want you to see these words,
not just because I quote them. I want you to see them for yourself
because this is such an important and essential part of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 20, Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's the same covenant we considered
in Sunday school this morning with David saying although my
house be not so yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant. ordered in all things and sure
now I love this phrase the blood of the everlasting covenant the
Lord said this is the New Testament in my blood when he instituted
the Lord's Supper this is the New Testament in my blood this
do in remembrance of me the blood of the everlasting covenant now
here's the way this covenant works God is a covenant making
covenant keeping God there are two covenants Paul said that
in Galatians 424. These be the two covenants. There's the covenant of works,
the covenant where salvation is in some way dependent upon
you doing something. Now salvation, if your salvation
is in any way dependent upon you doing something or you won't
be saved, you know what you believe in? You believe in woes. That's
the covenant of works. And all that that covenant can
do is curse you. Because the fact of the matter
is, if there's anything required of you to do, you can't do it
and you won't do it. Now that's the truth. That's
the truth. There's a covenant of works and
thank God there is the covenant of grace. That's where salvation
is completely dependent upon what Christ does. Here's the only covenant I find
any security in, any hope in, any salvation is, is that my
salvation is completely dependent 100% upon what Christ does, did
for me. Salvation completely depended
upon the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His blood of the everlasting covenant. He sealed it with His
blood. You see, my sin had to be paid
for. He had to work out a righteousness for me. The covenant was a covenant
God made with Christ. I'm going to give you Todd and
Albert. I'm going to give you the elect. I'm going to give
you this people that's going to be your bride if you will
represent them, if you will work out a righteousness for them,
if you will pay for their sins by your own death on the cross,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And when I see
this one hanging on the cross, I see the blood. of the everlasting
covenant. When I see that one nailed to
a tree, naked, bearing the shame of our
sin, I see The total depravity, not
only of our race, but of me. Do you remember when Pilate said,
I washed my hands of this. I'm not going to bear responsibility
in this. This is on you. This is your will. Could Pilate
wash his hands from this? No, he's still trying to wash
his hands in hell. You see, every one of us made
the choice of Barabbas over Christ. Now, see, there's a lot we could
say about sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Sin is coming short of the glory of God. To him that knoweth
to do good and doeth it not, to him it's sin. We could say
all kinds of things about sin, but sin is not so much seen in
what you've done in this life, but what you did when you and
I chose Barabbas over the Christ. That's the depravity of our race,
what we think about Christ. Now let me say this. Men don't
hate a doormat named Jesus. They don't hate a Jesus who wants
to save you, but He can't unless you let Him. They don't hate
a Jesus who has to wait on you to find out what you'll do and
whether you'll accept Him and make Him Lord of your life or
reject Him. Men don't hate that Jesus. You know why? Because He's not
fearful. I'm not afraid of a Christ like that. I like what one fella
said when God said, Jesus won't save you unless you let him.
But if you don't, he'll send you to hell. And the man said,
if he can't save me unless I let him, he can't send me to hell
unless I let him. And you know, that's true if that's the case.
Nobody is afraid of that Jesus. He's not fearful at all. But
the Jesus, you're in his hands. And your salvation is not up
to you. It's up to Him. Your eternal
destiny is in His hands. He can do with you whatever He's
pleased to do. It's up to Him as to whether
or not you'll be saved. You know what men say to that,
Jesus? We will not have this man reign over us. We reject
this. We don't believe it. We'll nail
this Jesus to a cross. And that's exactly what men have
done. That's exactly what men, you did. I see the entire and
total depravity of our race. and seeing that one that men
said, let him be crucified. Scripture says he delivered Jesus
to their will. Not only do I see the depravity
of our race, the true sinfulness of our race, only here do I see the evil of
sin? He spared not his own son. Now that's how evil sin is. When
God saw sin and that's exactly what he saw because Christ was
made sin. When God saw sin in His own Son,
He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. And those sins truly
became His sins. He became guilty of them. Now,
how many times when you should have corrected your child if
you went ahead just to save yourself the trouble, turn your head and
let it go. Not God. Even when sin was found
on his son, his darling son, his beloved son, he forsook him. I see the evil of sin. You know
something else I see about sin when I see the Lord Jesus Christ
being nailed to a cross and suffering and dying? I see the wages of
sin really is death. It really is death. Now understand
this. You're going to spend eternity
either in heaven or in hell. If you're in Christ, you've already
suffered. You've already died. You have
nothing but salvation. If you're outside of Christ,
you're going to experience the wages of sin as death. And I
see the reality of that in Christ dying on the cross. Now when
I see that one hanging by his hands and feet, naked before
that jeering mob, I stand and behold him. I'm one of these
people sitting down, they watched him there. I see the character
of God. I see the God of the Bible revealing
himself. I see the character of God. Now,
understand this. God never responds. He never responds to anything. You see, the cross was not God's
response to man's sin. The cross is God's purpose. His sovereign will being done. Him bringing His will to pass. I see that so clearly in the
cross. This is God. I see God's holiness. God hates sin. He is going to
put every sinner to death. He hates sin and how that's seen
in the cross. I see the justice of God. God is going to punish sin. He
will not let one, do you know not one sin that's ever committed?
Okay, there's seven billion people in this planet. How many billions
and billions and trillions and quadrillions of sin is that?
And not one of those sins will go unpunished. not one, either
in the substitute or that person paying for it themselves. But
all sin will be punished. I see how the strict justice
of God in the cross. He bore the full equivalent of
eternal hell. I see the wisdom of God. I love that scripture in 1 Corinthians
1, 23 and 24 where Paul said, we preach Christ crucified. That's
our message. We preach Christ crucified. That's all we preach. We preach
Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block. They trip
over this, they can't receive it. To the Greeks, foolish, did
you expect me to believe something like that? But unto them which
are thee called. Christ, the wisdom of God. Christ, the power of God. In the cross I see the wisdom
of God, how He is so wise. He has made a way in His wisdom
to be just. totally consistent with every
one of his attributes, and yet justify somebody as sinful and
wicked as me so that I am perfectly righteous and perfectly holy
in God's sight. Now that, only God could contrive
something like that. Not only do we see the wisdom
of God in the cross, we see the power of God in the cross. What
power it took to put sin away so that it is no more. What power
it took to make somebody like me perfectly righteous. Oh, in
the cross, I see the love of God. God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. I see the grace of God. I see
the mercy of God. There isn't a hymn I like singing
any more than the first verse of that one hymn. I stand amazed
in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could
love me. He does. A sinner condemned unclean,
yet He loved me. Every attribute, all that God
has pleased to make known regarding himself is seen in the cross. Now remember this, the cross
was for this one purpose. It wasn't God's response, it
was God's revelation of himself. We could not know God apart from
that one hanging on a tree. That's the character of God.
And here, in the cross, in that one hanging on a cross, listen
to the things he said. My favorite statement is, I love them all,
I love all seven statements of the Savior from the cross, but
you know what my favorite one is? It is finished. And he bowed his head
and gave up the ghost. At that point, he gave death
permission to come and take him. In the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I see a finished, completed salvation. Matthew 121, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. It is finished. Mission accomplished. The work has been done. He left no loose ends, nothing
undone. My salvation, now listen to me
real carefully. My salvation was completed. First of all, before time began.
That means there's nothing I can do in time to mess it up. It
was completed before time began. The works were finished, the
writer of the Hebrews said in Hebrews 4, 3, from the foundation
of the world. He saved us and he called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which were given us. in Christ Jesus
before the world began." Does anybody have any trouble with
that? If you do, you got trouble. If
you do, you got trouble. I love it. My salvation was finished
when he said, it is finished. Completed salvation that has
no loose ends by one offering, talking about his death on Calvary's
tree, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. In
that one on the cross, I was saved from my sins. But don't you have to believe?
Yeah, you gotta believe that. That's what you gotta, you gotta
believe that. Well, where's faith? That's what faith is. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. If he left anything undone, I
am undone. I know exactly what Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And what do I see as I stand
beholding that one? Turn with me to this scripture
because I want you to read it with me. First Corinthians chapter
2. Paul says to the church at Corinth,
and I, brethren, when I came to you, he's talking about when
he first came. When I came to you, I came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God,
for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. What do I see in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ? I see the only subject to preach. What about all the other stuff
in the Bible? Well, there isn't other stuff. Every doctrine in the Bible is
only understood in light of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Let's talk about election and
predestination. We love it. God being God, how
can that be understood apart from Him choosing me in the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world? I've never been viewed
apart from Christ crucified. That's the only way God's ever
seen me. If He saw me as I am in myself, He couldn't choose
me. He'd have to send me to hell right now. But He saw me in the
Beloved. Accepted in the Beloved. When we talk about justification,
it's not some legal term. It's having His righteousness
as my personal righteousness before God. His life is my life
before God. When we talk about redemption,
I'm redeemed by His blood. When we talk about sanctification,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. I could go on and on. There is
no doctrine in Scripture that can even be grasped apart from
the Lamb. Behold, I love in Revelation,
when you read about heaven, what is Christ called more than anything
else in the book of Revelation? The Lamb. That's talking about
his sacrificial work, his death on the cross. That's the celebration
of heaven. And really, you can't preach
anything without preaching the cross. And if you can, you preached
error. It's a message that God hates.
It's a message that every believer hates. All I want is to preach
Jesus Christ and Him crucified with regard to anything I'm dealing
with. He's the motive. The cross is the motive why I
want to follow Him. I want to take up my cross daily. I want to deny myself, take up
my cross. What is my cross? Well, this
is my cross to bear. I'm having financial difficulties or I'm
having health difficulties and that's just my cross to bear.
No, it's not. The cross is taking up the confession
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what denying self, taking
up your cross and following him is. This is everything in the
gospel. As Moses, you know, even if you
talk about being born again, I think of John chapter three,
you must be born again. Well, in that same message, when
he was talking about the new birth, as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted
up. You know, when you're born again,
when you see the cross and not before then, That's when you're
born again. That's when you're born from
above. When you see the glory of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. In that one hanging on the tree,
this is the lens through which I view the world. Turn with me
to Galatians 6. I've quoted the first part of
this. Verse 14. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that says everything I'm
trying to say right there. God forbid that I should glory,
that I should have confidence in, that I should rejoice in,
that I should boast in anything, anything. but the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go on reading. By whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Now the cross of Christ is the
lens that I view this world through. There are many things about life
that we all enjoy, the joy of family, friends, eating, go on and on. I mean,
there's a lot of pleasure in this life, and it's not saying
we're against that, but this world that hates Christ, the religion
of this world, the philosophy of this world,
the value of this world. In the light of the cross, I
see it as a crucified thing. I'm not impressed. You know,
people that love the world, you know why they love the world?
Because they don't know God. If you know God, you hate the world. Now, I'm not talking about the
pleasures of life. God has given us all things richly
to enjoy. I'm not talking about enjoying
life, but I'm talking about this, the world that hates the gospel,
the world that hates God, worldly maxim, worldly... crucified. I see nothing in it. Nothing that impresses me, nothing
that I love. Actually, that which disgusts
me. I see the world as a crucified thing. You know what the world
sees of me? Same thing. Same thing. That's all right,
isn't it? I don't want the world to love me. I want the world
to hate me. It is only through the cross
of Christ that I live in this world now. Paul said, I'm crucified. I am crucified with Christ. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave Himself for me. His love to me makes me love
Him in return. And I say, with Thomas of old,
as the Lord showed him His hands and His feet, He showed him the
cross, my Lord and my God. Turn with me to the 22nd Psalm.
This is what we're going to close with. This has been called the Psalm
of the Cross. And you can see why. Verse 1,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In verse 7, all
that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip and they
shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted him. They said that
around the cross. Verse 11. Be not far from me,
for trouble is near, for there's none to help. Many bulls have
compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have sent me round about.
They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ragging and roaring
lion. I'm poured out like water and
all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It's melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. Thou hast brought
me unto the dust of death, for dogs have compassed me. The assembly
of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. Now notice the word all. I can see, I can count all my
bones. Now the Lord could not see all
of his bones, maybe just a small percentage of them. Most of them
were covered up with skin, weren't they? He wasn't a skeleton. But who are his bones? His bones
are his body. I can see all my bones. From the cross, I can see all
my bones. And what do his bones do? Let's
go on reading. They look they carefully consider
and they stare upon me. And that's what we're doing right
now. We're looking and we're staring. In evil long I took delight,
unawed by shame or fear, until a new object caught my sight
and stopped my wild career. At all times, we're just looking
and staring in wonder, in amazement at the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. When I survey the wondrous cross
which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss,
and poor contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, saving the death of Christ my God, all the vain things that
charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head,
His hands, His feet, love and sorrow flow mingled down. Did e'er such love or sorrow
meet, or thorns composed so rich a crown, were the whole realm
of nature mine, that were a present far too small, love so amazing,
so divine. demands my soul, my life, my
all. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that we may be your bones, beholding you, looking upon you,
and staring at you. And Lord, let not our eyes be
anywhere but upon Christ and him crucified. Bless these words that without
your blessing will fall empty. Bless these words for your glory
and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Matt, come lead us in closing
hymn.