When Luke was reading that passage
of scripture about the shepherd of the sheep, my heart was crying
out, I want to be a sheep. Don't you? I want to be a sheep
with him as my shepherd. Back to Luke chapter nine. In that passage of scripture
I just read, only Luke points out that when
the fashion of the Lord's countenance was altered and His raiment was
white and glistering, look in verse 32, Peter and they that
were with him were heavy with sleep. When I thought about that,
I thought how much do we miss through our spiritual sleepiness? Peter and they that were with
him were heavy with sleep. Verse 28, and it came to pass
about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John
and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the
fashion of his countenance was altered. Matthew tells us that
at this time his face did shine as the sun. Now, that's bright,
isn't it? And he says his raiment was white
as light. Mark's account adds that no fooler
on the earth could make them that white. And as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was
white and glistering. And all I can say about that
is his deity burst through his humanity. Isn't that a glorious
thing to think about? I tried to picture this and behold,
verse 30, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and
Elijah. Moses, the representative of
the law, Elijah, the representative of the prophets. And what did
they talk about? We don't have to speculate as
to what the subject matter of their conversation was. Luke
tells us, when Moses and Elijah appeared to the Lord as he is
transfigured in this glorious, glorious way, it says in verse
31, They spake of his decease, of his death, which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem. I've referred to this verse many
times, but I've never preached a message on it. The decease
which he should accomplish. The death of Christ is utterly
unique. There's nothing like the death
of Christ. Me and you are going to die. And we don't have any
choice in the matter. We're going to die because we're
sinful men and women. Maybe pretty soon. I wish we
could, I wish I'd preach like this was my last sermon I'd ever
preach. And I wish that you'd listen like this was the last
sermon you'd ever hear. Because I couldn't be dealing
with a more important subject than what I'm dealing with. The
deceased, which he should accomplish. Now, like I said, when any man
dies, it seems like the end and defeat. But when Christ died,
it was an accomplishment. It was an achievement. He accomplished
something great and glorious by his death. Now his death,
in many ways, is shrouded in mystery, isn't it? You know,
I just have a real hard time getting a hold of this thing
of Jesus Christ the Lord dying. That's shrouded in mystery. The fact that the God-man actually
died. Can you get a hold of that? You
know, I remember a fellow wrote me and he corrected me in a message
I preached on TV. And he said, you're wrong when
you say the God man died. He said, the God part didn't
die. It was only the man part that died. Oh, I'm glad you got
that figured out. I mean, something that's so mysterious
and glorious that no man could ever give an explanation to.
I don't understand how the God man died, but he did. He did. The God-man died. Darkness surrounded
the cross during this time. The sun was shut out. The sun
refused to shine as it watched its creator nailed to a cross. The God-man died. And what mystery is veiled around
his death? And let me say, these things
that the scripture says about his decease, which he should
accomplish. Now, first of all, when we're
talking about the death of Christ, we're talking about the subject
of the eternities. You know what was spoken of before
time began? The subject was the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. That's the subject of the eternities. That's what the subject was before
time began. The lamb slain from the very
foundation of the world. I love that scripture. I quote
that a lot. You probably figured that out
by now. I quote that a lot. I love to think about it. The lamb,
not who will be slain, but the Lamb having been slain from the
foundation of the world. Now that's what the subject was
before time began. Now let me give you a view or
let the scriptures give us a view of heaven they worship. Turn
with me to Revelation chapter 5. John gives us this view into
heaven. He says in chapter four, verse
one, I looked at behold, a door was opened in heaven. Now look
in chapter five. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. Now this book is the decrees
and purposes of God sealed with seven seals written on the front
and the back, which means nothing can be added to it and nothing
can be taken from it. This glorious book of God, the
book of God's purposes and decrees included in it is the book of
life with all the names of God's elect in there, but it's God's
purposes. Verse two, and I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice. You know, it says a strong
angel. I reckon every angel strong,
don't you? And he proclaimed with a loud
voice. I mean, everybody heard this
voice. Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals
thereof? And no man in heaven nor in earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon. What about you, Moses? No. What
about you, David, the man after God's own heart? No. What about
you, Isaiah? No. No man was found worthy to
open the book. I remember hearing Henry Mahan
preach on this once, and he said, what about you, Pope? Are you
open? He said he didn't even know there was a book. That tickled
me. No man. In heaven nor in earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look thereon. And John says, and I wept much,
because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book,
neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns, omnipotent, seven eyes, omniscient, which are the
seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came
and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon
the throne. And when he'd taken the book,
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang
a new song. Now, this is the song of heaven.
This is the song of the eternity. Thou art worthy to take the book
and open the seals thereof, for Thou wast slain and has redeemed
us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation, and has made us unto our God, kings and priests,
and we shall reign forever. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and
the elders, and the number of them were 10,000 times 10,000,
and thousands of thousands sang with a loud voice, Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain. Now that is the subject of the
eternities. You know what? It's my subject too. There's nothing that thrills
my soul more than thinking of the accomplishments of the death
of my living Redeemer. He was dead, but he's alive now. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Now, the death of Christ was
predetermined. I love thinking, I love this
scripture. It's found in Acts chapter four. For both Herod
and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the children of Israel were
gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. Everything with regard to his
death was nothing but God's will being done. He determined every
bit of it. Isn't that glorious? Him being delivered, the scripture
says, or Peter said, on the day of Pentecost by the determinate
counsel and for knowledge of God, you have taken him with
wicked hands, have crucified and slain. Now his death was
predetermined by his father. His death was voluntary. Do you know he's the only one
to ever die voluntarily? You say, well, what about somebody
that committed suicide? Didn't they die voluntarily? No, they were going to die anyway.
They were going to die anyway. I love that passage of scripture
Luke just read. I have power to lay it down. I have power
to take it up. No man takes it from me. His
death was completely voluntary. Old Pilate says to him, don't
you know that I have power to crucify you and I have power
to release you? He said, you could have no power
at all over me, except it were given thee from above. You see,
his death was completely voluntary. He was doing what he wanted to
do. And his death was substitutionary.
For Christ, the scripture says, hath also once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God being
put to death in the flesh and quickened by the spirit. First
Peter 3, 18. Now his death was substitutionary. Who did he die
for? Well, once again, I'm so glad you read that passage of
scripture. He said, I laid down my life for the sheep. Now, understand
this. This thing of the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I always want to point out that his death was
for the elect. It was for the sheep. And the
reason I point that out is not so much because, well, I want
to glory in the fact that he didn't die for everybody, but
here's what I want us to see. His death was successful. If He died
for you, you must be saved. You can't run the risk of the
possibility, the hazard of me being anything but saved if He
died for you because of who He is. Now this is, that's the point,
but not particular redemption. It's not just, you might not
have died for you. It has nothing to do with it.
We want to talk about the success of His death. And let me say
this, if you want to be somebody He died for, if you want to be
one of His sheep, He's never going to say, I didn't die for
you. No. Anybody who comes to him as a sinner needing his mercy,
he says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. I don't ever want to present
his death any other way than that. His death is successful. It was substitutionary. He died
for his sheep. Well, who are his sheep? Well,
the ones he says are sheep. The sheep. The elect. Those he died for. Those who
believe. But I like this scripture. As
a matter of fact, this is one of my favorite scriptures. Romans
5, 6, for when we were yet without strength. Where do you fit in there? In
due time, Christ died for the ungodly. If you, beloved, if
you are without strength and if you're ungodly, Jesus Christ
died for you. And what else do you need? You
have the hope of heaven. You have the only hope. You have
the sure hope. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, his death was substitutionary
and he died for the ungodly. But let me also say this about
his death. His death was punitive. What do I mean by that? His death
was punishment. Absolute punishment for sin. You see, it wasn't... He really
was forsaken by his father. I talked about it some this morning,
but just the very thought of that, he really was forsaken
by his father. He experienced everything that
a damned soul experiences only much more acutely because of
who he is. You see, sin, sin doesn't bother
us the way it ought to. We're used to it. We're used
to it. A man drinketh iniquity like water, the scripture says.
I mean, it's just, But his holy soul, when he was made sin, he
deserved to be forsaken by God and his death was punitive in
that sense. He was punished. Punished guilty
before God. Condemned for sin. He bare our
sins in his own body on the tree and God forsook him. He was made
sin and God killed him. It was the sword of God's justice
against sin that pierced him through. The songwriter said
many hands were raised against him, none would interpose to
save, but the stroke that pierced most deeply was the stroke that
justice gave. His death was punitive, a punishment. See, he took what I deserve. I deserve, I deserve to be forsaken
by God. I have no question about that. That's what I deserve. And he
took my place. So I'll never be forsaken. His death was the greatest act
of obedience ever known. The scripture says in Philippians
2, 8, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. He said, though he slain me. Yet will I trust him. You know,
he's the only ones that have been able to say that. Me and
you've never said it. Things are going bad. We think, what
in the world's going on? What's the Lord doing? Why is this happening?
But he said, no, he's slaving. Yet will I trust him. This is the greatest act of obedience
ever known. He became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross, and His death was an accomplishment,
the greatest of all accomplishments. They spake of the decease which
He should accomplish. Now what did he accomplish by
his death? I've got several things that
I tried to think of. First of all, first and foremost,
he accomplished the glory of God. He fully glorified his father
by his death. Now that's why this death is
the subject before time began. It'll be the subject after time
began, and it's the subject right now in this place, isn't it?
It's the subject right now. May we, every time we meet together,
this is our subject. Christ crucified. The person
and work of Christ. May the Lord strike me dumb before
this is ever not my subject. Christ and Him crucified. This
is the subject of the eternities. He accomplished in it the full
glory of God. He said in John chapter 17, verse
4, He said, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished
the work thou gavest me to do. Now what was the work the Father
gave him to do? Well, Matthew 1, 21. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's
the work the Father gave him to do. And you know what he did?
He did it. And in doing that, He fully glorified
His Father. Now you think of His death. This becomes more glorious to
me. His death glorified the justice and holiness of God. God's not
going to let sin go unpunished. His death glorified the wisdom
of God, how God is so wise. He can make a way to remain just
and yet justify somebody like me when I'm unjust. That's the
gospel, isn't it? To him that worketh not, believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly. That's what we believe. What
wisdom, what glory, what power is seen in the death of Christ
that He actually put away sin? Every attribute of God is glorified
in the death of Christ. And this is why the Lord had
Him die. He glorified His Father. Every attribute. God's mercy,
God's grace, God's kindness, God's tenderness, God's love
for sinners. Oh, everything. God makes himself
known. You won't know God apart from
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, all you will ever
know and all I'll ever know of the infinite God is the man Christ
Jesus. Isn't that glorious? His person
and his work. We're never going to see God
the Father. We're going to see His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we're going to be worshiping Him for His death. You know when
the scripture speaks of the Lamb slain? and worthy is the lamb
that is slain. And John said, I saw a lamb as
it had been slain. It didn't mean he saw a lamb
with wool and horns and blood coming out of him. He saw the
man Christ Jesus with the wounds that he bore on Calvary Street. He still has those wounds. That's
the lamb slain. And like I've said, I'm going
to know. I'm not even going to remember what it's like to be
a sinner. I'm not even going to remember what it's like to
sin when I'm in heaven, and I'm going to know when I look at
the wounds on that one, I'm going to know the only reason I'm in
heaven is because of Him. I know that. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
glorified His Father, and He achieved glory for Himself, which
He would not have had if He never died. Now this is another one of those
things that you just don't understand. It's just what the scripture
teaches. I mean, how could he get more glory? I don't know,
but he did. He became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. Wherefore? Because of that. Because
he became obedient to the death and even the death of the cross.
God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus Every knee should bow
of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth,
and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God. You see, he achieved for himself
glory that he would not have achieved unless he gave himself
up to death. His death was the fulfillment
of the scriptures. How many times do we read in
the gospel accounts that he did these things that the scripture
might be fulfilled? All the events surrounding his
death, the piercing of his hands and his feet, the casting of
lots for his garment, the drinking of vinegar, the things they said
against him. I mean, just go on. It's all
foretold in the Old Testament. And one could almost think that,
well, what do we do next? Let's see. I mean, everything
they did was according to the scriptures. He fulfilled the
scriptures in his death. Now, I know they didn't know
they were fulfilling the scriptures, but that's exactly what they
were doing. And his death accomplished the defeat of Satan, the accuser
of the brethren. You know, the adversary, the
accuser, and that's what Satan is. He's the accuser of the brethren.
And you know, Satan, the devil, Lucifer, the god of this world,
the prince of this world, the prince of the power of the air,
all the things that scripture calls him, he hates Jesus Christ. And he thought when Christ died,
he thought, I've defeated him. And he didn't know at that time
he was crushed. It was simply the fulfillment
of the ancient prophecy, the seed of woman, not the seed of
Adam, but the seed of woman shall crush your head. You'll bruise
his heel, but he'll crush your head. Satan was judged, defeated,
and destroyed by the accomplishments of the Lord on the cross. He
accomplished the actual putting away of sin. The putting away towards no more. Hebrews 9.26 says, now once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. By his own bloody death on the
cross, he put away sin. 1 John 3 verse 5 says He was manifested
to take away our sins. And that's exactly what He did.
He put away sin. Now you want to talk about accomplishment.
My sin is so put away. It's so gone. It's so non-existent. And what God sees is the way
things really are. God says there are sins and there
are iniquities. I'll remember no more. Now what God sees is
the way it really is. I really, right now, as I speak,
I'm conscious of my sin. I'm conscious and ashamed of
my sin and I know that God sees me without sin because Christ
put it away. What an accomplishment. I will be propitious to their unrighteousness and their sins
and iniquities, I remember no more. Listen to scripture, Jeremiah
50, 20. In that time, the iniquity of the children of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall be none. And the sins of Judah
and they shall not be found. Why? There's nothing there to
find. Now that's the power of the blood
of Christ. That's the power of the deceased that he should accomplish.
The sins of everybody he died for were actually put away so
that when I stand before God in judgment, I'll have no sin. It's what the Bible calls justification. This is what he accomplished
by his death. Romans 5, 9 says being justified, being now justified
by his blood. We should be saved from wrath
through him. Justification. I hope that the Lord delivers
us from ever looking at justification as just one of those doctrines
of the New Testament and see the glory of being justified
by Christ. To be without guilt before God.
To where my life is without sin before God. You put up my life
on a screen, there'd be nothing but what Christ did. That's justification. What an accomplishment He made
by His death. Yes, He put away my sin, but
not only did He put away my sin, He made me the very righteousness
of God in Him. Now, what an accomplishment. When I was listening to Gabe
Stonerker preach last week at the Bible Conference in Virginia,
he said, now, I want to live. And I thought, well, you know,
I do, too. I don't want to die, but I do want to die, too. I
don't want to die. I want to live. I want to enjoy
my family. I want to enjoy you. I want to
enjoy the church. I like living. The Lord's put in us a desire
to live, and we want to live. I want to live. But you know
what? If the Lord takes me. Wonderful. For me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. And the best day of my life is
going to be the day of my death. And I'll be ushered into the
very presence of Jesus Christ, accepted, complete in Him. Now what an accomplishment His
death is that He actually justified us. In His death, reconciliation
was accomplished. Romans 5.10 says, if when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Did you hear that? And when?
When we reconciled? When we were enemies. Not when
we asked Him to do something for us, but when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God. by the death of his son. What power in his blood, in the
decease which he should accomplish. His death accomplished this glorious
presentation. Jeremy cautions one for a moment. Verse 20. Here's what he did by his death,
and having made peace through the blood of his cross. I love
that statement because how many times have people said, have
you made your peace with God? No, I haven't made my peace with God. He made
my peace with God. He did it. And he did it all. And he made
my peace with God through the blood of his cross. and having
made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things unto himself by him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime or
before time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you, literally having presented you. holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable,
and don't miss this, in His sight, and in His sight is how things
really are. By His death, He made us holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable,
in the very sight of God. His death accomplished the forgiveness
of sins in whom we have redemption through his blood. even the forgiveness
of sins. His death accomplished the complete
purchase of the church. Acts 20, 28, feed the church
of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Husbands, love
your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it, that he might wash it and cleanse it with the washing of
the water by the word, that he might present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. I'm not really that, I'm not
old. I mean, I consider myself, as a matter of fact, I don't
feel like, I don't feel like I'm any different than I was
when I was 18. But I look different. And I've, you know, I look at
all these age spots, losing pigment in my face, age spots, brown
things. Lynn and I talk about these big
brown things coming off. Old age, you know, I mean, you're
getting old. But you know, in Christ, No spot, no wrinkle, nor any
such thing. What that means is his death
made me beautiful to God. The bride he desires. He says thou art all fair my
love. There is no spot in thee. Now that's true of every child
of God and that's what his death accomplished. He accomplished
by His death a reason for us to live for Him. I've got one
more after this but I want you to look at 2 Corinthians 5. 2
Corinthians 5. You know, the death of Christ
is what motivates and empowers a believer to live unto Him.
It's not the threat of the law. It's not the desire to gain a
higher reward in heaven. It's the death of Christ. Look
at this scripture in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. For the love of Christ constrains
us, because we thus judge, if one died for all, then we're
all dead. He died for thee all, and they
all died, and that he died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them
and rose again. The death of Christ and its accomplishments
is the great magnet. The Lord said, and I, if I be
lifted up, And this he said, signifying what death he would
die. Talking about the death of the
cross, if I be crucified, will draw all men. And that word men is in italics,
literally, the all. The all. I will draw the all
to me. Now here's the drawing power
of the death of Christ. Now the man that wrote this,
John Newton, was a slave trader. He would go to Africa and capture
people and sell them as slaves. Now I can't think of anything
more abandoned than a life like that. Can you imagine doing that
for a living? Going and capturing people and
selling them into slavery? That was his livelihood. He was
a slave trader and the Lord saved him and he wrote these words,
in evil Long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till
a new object struck my sight and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree in
agonies and blood, who fixed his languid eyes on me, as near
his cross I stood. Sure, never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins, his blood had
spilt, and helped to nail him there. Alas, I knew not what
I did, but now my tears are vain. Where shall my trembling soul
be hid, for I the Lord have slain? A second look he gave, which
said, I freely all forgive. This blood was for thy ransom
paid. I died that thou mayst live. Thus while his death, my sin
displays in all its blackest hue. Such is the mystery of grace. It seals my pardon, too. With pleasing grief and mournful
joy, my spirit now is filled, that I should such a life destroy,
yet live by him I'd killed. Let's pray.