I want to refresh your memory
of the context this morning of verse 12. Hebrews chapter 10
and verse 1. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers turn to perfect. For then would they
not have ceased to be offered? Of course they would have. Why? Because the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices
there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
he cometh unto the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I In the volume
of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifices
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither had pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. by the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once and for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices which
can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat on the right hand of God. From henceforth expect him till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. For of the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that, he said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and write them in their minds, and in their
minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated, made new for us
through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having done
high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a
true heart, and in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed in pure water."
My text is here in verse 12. This man, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. This man. And of course, this
man is identified here in verse 19 as Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. And he is
identified there also as our priest in verse 21. This man,
this man. And I would imagine that this
is the theme, the best I can discern from this book. This
is the subject of this book. This man, the high priest. This man or high priest. Every other subject in this book either is vitally
linked to this or it flows from it. Every subject that's mentioned
in this book flows from this main theme, this man, our high
priest, our high priest, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary. That was his name, wasn't it?
Jesus. I love that name. Don't you just
love that name? I love the way these writers
use His name. Sometimes they call Him the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sometimes they call Him the Lord.
Sometimes they call Him Christ. There's a reason they call Him
Jesus that shows to us, reminds us of His humanity. And His humanity
is essential for our redemption. If Christ never assumed our humanity,
we don't have a high priest. As a high priest, he must become
a man, for he must have an offering to God. So let's consider this
morning this man here in verse 12. This man, Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. And the first
thing let's consider about him this morning is that he is indeed
a real man. everything that it takes to make
up a man, Jesus Christ is. Whatever clearance you are possessed
of this morning, Jesus Christ must be possessed of that, to
be a man. We are told here in verse 5 that
he had a real body. See what he said in the last
portion of verse 5, speaking of the Father? A body hast thou
prepared me a real body, not a body created as Adam's body
was, that was made out of the dust of the ground. But Jesus
Christ was possessed of a real body that was born just as yours
was and just as mine was. was brought into this world through
the womb of a virgin, through the means of a woman's womb. The scripture says that Mary
brought forth her firstborn son. Mary conceived in her womb this
child. She bore him. She carried him. And she brought forth her firstborn
child. That was as much Mary's child
as her other children was that she later on had. That was bone
of her bone, and that was flesh of her flesh. He was made of
a woman. Made of a woman. The scripture says here, the
Lord Jesus himself said, a body as thou prepared me. But how
did God prepare that body? Through the means of a woman. He was implanted in her and developed
just as you and I developed in our mother's womb. And when Mary
brought him forth from her womb, she brought forth her firstborn
son. She washed him. You remember
your little daughters, some of you ladies remember your little
sons and your little daughters? Remember how they looked when
you first brought them forth from the womb? That's the way
he looked. He had to be washed. Why? Because he had a real body. She
clothed him with swaddling clothes. She hung him on her breast. She fed him because he grew weak. She cared for him because he
was utterly dependent upon her to do so. She protected him just
like you protected your children. She taught him. When he was hungry,
he had to eat. When he was thirsty, he had to
drink. When he got tired, he had to rest and sleep. Why? Because he was a real man. This man, this man. They emphasize that in these
epistles. John knew that there was going
to be a set of people that taught that Jesus Christ did not really
come in the flesh. That He just had the appearance
of flesh. But He was real. He was a man. A real man. I heard a man say just the other
day, and this is getting pretty popular right now, It started,
I guess, among the Orthodox Jews, some of the religious Jews, that
when you read the Old Testament, you're not to take it literally.
That is metaphorically speaking. And when you read about a man
called Abraham, don't worry if that was a real man or not. That's not important, they say.
It's what the story of Abraham teaches us, you see. But listen,
brothers and sisters, if there wasn't a man, a real man, by
the name of Abraham, then there was no Isaac. And if there's
no Isaac, there's no Jacob. If there's no Jacob, there's
no twelve patriarchs. There's no tribe of Judah. And
if there's no tribe of Judah, there's no King David, who was
of the tribe of Judah. And if there's no David, there's
no Christ, because David was of the seed of Abraham, and Christ
was the seed of David. Was He not? He came out of David's
loins. He was the son of David according
to the flesh. This is not metaphorically speaking. This is real. A virgin shall
conceive and bring forth a son. Whose son? The son of God. But
it was Mary's son too. It was Mary's son. A body hast
thou given to me. He was a real body when he was
in his mother's womb. He was a real body when he was
barned. He was a real body when he increased
in stature. He was a real body when he went
out among the Jews and preached to them and taught them. A real
body when he bled in the garden. A real body at the judgment hall
when they opened up his back so the white of the bones appeared.
A real body that hung on the cross. A real body that went
to the tomb. And that's a real body seated
in heaven today on the right hand of God. The man, this man. Handle me and see. Ain't that
what he said? I have flesh and I have bones.
It's real. This man. But something else about this
man, he is possessed of a real soul. What is it that makes a
man a man? A body? But if you don't have
a soul, you're not a man. You're not a human being. James
said a body without the spirit, without the soul, is dead. You must have a soul. The Lord
Jesus had a human brain, he had a mind. He had the spirit of
his mind, his soul. The scripture says he learned.
He learned. He grew in stature and wisdom. He increased in knowledge. He could perceive. These are
the things of the soul, aren't they? The spirit of the mind.
The soul and the spirit belong to Jesus Christ. Listen, the
scripture says he rejoiced in spirit. His spirit. And he said, Father, I thank
you that you've hid these things from the wise and prudent and
you've revealed them to them. The scripture says he was grieved
in his spirit and said, one of you shall betray me. He had a
spirit, he had a soul. Look here in chapter 5, verse
7. Look here at what is said of
him. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
he had a body and he had a real human soul. Who in the days of
his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death. And he was heard in that he feared."
He has a soul. Where does fear come from? It
comes from the heart, doesn't it? It comes from the spirit
of man, the soul of a man. The Scripture says, That he rejoiced
in his spirit. He was grieved in his spirit.
He trusted God with his heart. He was a man of hope. He hoped
in God. Where does these things come
from? From the soul. These are things of a man's soul. He gave his soul in that offering
for sin. He can be touched. were the feelings
of our infirmities. Why? Because he was tempted. Tempted in his mind, tempted
in his soul. Whatever touches your body, whatever touches your organs,
whatever touches your weakness and infirmities of your body,
he can be touched with it. He had a real body. Whatever
touches your soul, whatever saddens you, whatever afflicts you, whatever
tempts you, He can be touched with it. Why? He has a soul. A real human soul. He's a man. This man, Jesus Christ. Whatever it takes to make up
a man. You say, Bruce, what about sin? Sin ain't what makes up
a man. That's not what makes you a man
or a woman. A body and a soul. If you want
to see a man, look back yonder at Adam. When God created him
and breathed on this nostril, he became a living soul. He had
no sin, but he was a man. He was a man. What made Jesus
Christ a man? He had a real body, born of a
woman, and he had a human soul, a feeling, breathing, conscious
soul. But there are two ways. that
Jesus Christ is essentially different from us in his humanity. And it's so different, so essentially
different, and so vitally different, that the only way you and I can
enter into it and begin to grasp it is just to believe it. Here's
a mystery of this man. And first of all, the first way
in which he is essentially different than you and I is this. This man was not a sinner. This man was not a sinner. Every man who has ever lived
since the fall of Adam has been born a sinner And he's lived
a sinner, and he's died a sinner. Every man, with one exception. Ain't that amazing? And here
he is, this man. This man. You say, Bruce, you
guys just want to talk about this man. Yeah, that's right. It is him. I can't help it. I
never get tired of talking about him. You never get tired of hearing
about him. You know why? There's nobody like him. You
find us somebody like this man, and we'll talk about him. You
show us somebody that has no sin, that has never sinned, and
who cannot sin, I tell you, we'll talk about him, won't we, Clarence?
I'll sell my house and move in next door to that fellow, Bill,
just to watch him, because I've never seen anybody like that.
I want to know somebody like that. I want to pattern my life. I want to see how somebody like
that lived, because I don't know how anybody like that would live. And I'll quit my job and I'll
follow him around, just to watch somebody like that. No sin? Barned without any sin? Lived
without any sin? and die with no sin of his own. Do you know anybody like that? This
world has had its holy prophets and its holy apostles. This world
has had men after God's own heart. But every one of them was born
in sin. And they lived in sin until God saved them from their
sin. And the holiness that they had was given to them and worked in them by the power
of God. It wasn't something they possessed
of themselves. But here was a man that was born
of a fallen woman and was not fallen himself. Here was a man
who lived in a sinful world among sinners. And yet, never sinned
himself. And here was a man that was tempted
in every way and in all points, like you and I could ever be
tempted. And yet, he never sinned. Let me show you that. Look here
at chapter 4 of the book of Hebrews, in verse 15. Look at this. This is amazing.
This man, this man. Look in verse 15 of chapter 4. For we have not, then, high priest,
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmity,
but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. And I'm telling you, he was tempted
more extremely than you and I could ever be tempted. He fasted, Brother
Larry said this morning, for forty days and forty nights.
Can you imagine how weak and hungry he was? And Satan said,
you can turn these stones to bread. And he could have. And you know something? In some
mysterious way, he was tempted to do it. And yet, did not see
any. That's a mystery in itself, ain't
it? How often have you yielded to
temptation? How often have I fallen at the
least temptation? Not this man. Not this man. Look here in another place. Look
in chapter 9 and look in verse 14. How much more? If the blood of
those bulls and goats sanctified to the purifying of the flesh
in a ceremonial sense, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your He was born of a sinful woman,
had no sin, lived among sinners and had no sin, died between
two thieves, and offered himself without any spot or wrinkle or
any such thing to God. Born without sin, lived without
sin, and here he is dying without sin. Here is the difference.
Look here in chapter 7 and verse 26. Here is the difference between
us Look in verse 26 of chapter 7. For such and that high priest
became us, who is holy, essentially holy, holy within his own self
and nature, he is harmless, innocent, undefiled, and separate from
sin. That's the distinction between
him and us. What's the difference? Sin. He
had none. He had none. He did none. This man, from the time he came into this
world to the time he left it, he had no sin. I come, he said. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will and listen to what
was in his heart. Yea, thy law is in my heart. When you was born, what was in
your heart? The devil, wasn't he? The devil
was in our hearts. The God of this world. Hatred
for God. love for self in this world.
But when this man was born, he said, Thy law is within my heart. I'm going to magnify it. I'm
going to honor it. I'm going to exalt it. And how
many times did the Father look down from heaven and said, Oh,
my son, my son, my soul is wrapped up in you. I love you, my son. Oh, I consider how you've honored
me, how you love me, how you obey me. My son, my soul is thrilled
with you. I love you. I love you." There has never been but one
man since the fall of Adam. that in his humanity, by his
own merit and by his own power and by his own will, could work
his way into the presence of God and be accepted. That's how different he is from
us. That's Jesus of Nazareth, this man, this way. How is he different from us?
He's not a sinner. Never had been and never shall
be. And secondly, here's another way that he's essentially and
eternally different from us, is this. He's the Son of God. Look in chapter 1. Look in chapter
1 and verse 2. Look at this. in these last days, spoken to
us by his Son." The Son of God. This man was the Son of God. Not as Adam was created, and
not as you and I are by adoption. How was he the Son of God? By
his essential nature. He was naturally the Son of God. Unto us a child is born, but
a son is given. And this Son was with the Father
before the world ever was. And we're told here in chapter
1 and verse 2, by whom the worlds were made, and in verse 3, by
whom all things are upheld. And then we're told over here
in verse 12, by whom the world will be folded up and changed
and created anew. Who? By this Son. By the Son
of God. Who was this man? Well, they
got mad at him, didn't they? They got mad at him. They said, you call yourself
the Son of God? How could that be? Look at you. Look at you. You're just like
we are. You're just a man. There's no halos over your head. Your face don't shine. You've
aged. How old are you? Fifty? And you're
telling us you're the eternal Son of God? That you were with
the Father before the world was? Yes, yes. This man, oh, he's
not like us, is he? Though he's bone of our flesh,
bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, the Son of Mary, the
Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, this man is eternally different
than you and I. He's the Son of God. God spoke
to us by His Son. But we don't even stop there
because the Scriptures don't stop there. Look here in Hebrews
chapter 1 and verse 7 and verse 8. And of the angels, he saith,
who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the Son, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. Thy throne, O God. Who is this man? He's the Son
of God. And He's God. He's God. Todd, Brother Todd and I, I heard
him say a year or so ago now. He said, I just love to say that.
I just love to say that. Jesus Christ is God. He's God. He is God. When you've seen me, you've seen
my Father. Some people asked me a while
back, I was off preaching, some people came up to me and said,
do you think we'll see the Father in heaven? Yeah. When we look at Jesus Christ,
we'll see the Father. I and my Father are There is
but one God, and He has revealed Himself in the Son of God, this
Man. When you see this Man, you have
seen God. That disciple, that apostle,
bowed before this Man and said, You are my Lord and You are my
God. And you know what happened? Christ
received His worship. Why did he do that? Because that's
who he is. He's God. This man. This man. I started in the tenth
chapter of the book of Hebrews. I began with this man and worked
my way back to the Son of God and to God the Son. But the Hebrew
writer began with God the Son. And then when he established
that this Son of God was God, then he says he cut to himself
our humanity, the sinless, spotless man. And what did he do in that
humanity? He tells us here in my text.
This man offered one sacrifice for sins, for And what did he do? He atoned
for sin. He offered to God a sacrifice
for sin. And in that offering, atonement
was made for sin. Satisfaction was made for sins. Sins were purged by this one
offering. They were put away. Behold the
Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. There are five things I want
to give you right quickly that you and I can conclude from verse
12, and I'll be quick in doing it. Five things we can conclude
from this verse. This man, after he had offered
One sacrifice for sins forever he set down on the right hand
of God. Here's five things we could conclude.
Here's the place, here in verse 12, where you and I can learn,
can begin to learn, to estimate the true nature of our sins. offer himself a sacrifice for
sin. You want to know the true nature
of sin? Come right here and learn. There's not a one of us here
this morning that hasn't had guilt upon our conscience. All
of us, saved or lost, you've experienced the guilt of sin. And some of us have experienced
it to the point that we have felt the corruptions of it, the
pollutions of it. And we can say with King David,
my wounds stink. That's what sin does upon the
conscience. It's sore corrupt. And that, in a sense, teaches
us the true nature of sin, this guilt, this pollution. And you and I are still trying
to come to grips with that truth that's taught in the Bible of
eternal damnation. And I'll be honest with you,
brothers and sisters, I still, I still, if I didn't find that
truth in the Bible, I could not believe it. That a man or a woman could live
in this life for 50, 60 or 100 years, and then leave this temporal
world and go out into eternal world and suffer eternal misery,
a world without end? I tell you, that is hard to grasp,
ain't it? There must be something about
sin in its very nature to damn it, to punish it for all eternity. And you look at our world, at
the devastation that comes on it almost daily. There was no accident, what just
happened over the weekend in Japan. You and I try to be careful
with these things. We don't want to unnecessarily
have people to misunderstand us and be offended with what
we say. But where did that earthquake
come from? Where did that weight come from? If it comes on them or comes
on this country or on me personally, where does it come from? It's
God that sends these things. Then why? I tell you, we're not
what we used to be, are we? Sin entered this world. And when
sin entered this world, the judgment of God is upon this world. These
are God's judgments. He's known by the judgments which
He executed. And you look at something like
this, and what does it tell you about God? He's a just God. He's a just God. Look at the
nations that are having trouble. Look at the hearts that's broken.
Look at the families that are broken. Look at the devastations
in our society in every realm. What's the problem? Sin. But
if you and I want to estimate the true nature of sin, don't
look around us. Don't look within us. Look yonder
to the cross. Look yonder to the cross. There
it shows us the true nature of sin. How vile it must be. How do I estimate my foolish
thoughts? How do I estimate my unkind words? How do I estimate my unbelief
towards God? Look at the cross. Look at the
cross. What did it take to satisfy for
sin this man given himself? The next time I think too long
on a lust, The next time my attitude towards
God is not what it should be, the next time I sin, here is
where I go to estimate that sin. The one dear old hymn writer
said, You who think of sin but lightly. Me who thinks of sin
but lightly. Nor suppose the evil great here
may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load.
Who is it? It's this man, the Lord's anointed,
the Son of Man and the Son of God. How awful sin must be in
its very nature. Secondly, here is something else
that we can conclude from verse 12. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sin, a sacrifice from sin, how God must hate sin! How God must hate sin! Here is
where every transgression was punished. Here at the cross of
Calvary's Word, every disobedience received its just recompense,
a reward. You know what's wrong with our
society today. You know what's wrong with man.
Always has been. This is always his problem. He
don't know God. That's man's problem, ain't it?
He does not know the nature of God. And what is that nature? It's holy. Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. You know, they're still debating.
They debate in our paper all the time, in our newspaper. If
Jesus was here, would he accept homosexuality? Should the churches ordain homosexuals
as ministers? What's wrong with our society?
Here's what's wrong with our society. They don't know the
nature of God. That He hates sin. Not just homosexuality. Not just the abortionists. Not
just the shedding of innocent blood, but idolatry, gods of our own imagination,
unbelief, hatefulness. God hates sin. He's of too pure eyes to behold
any evil. Bruce, how do you know that?
I tell you, he'll punish you wherever he sees you. You punish
it in whomever he finds it. And don't we have the prime example
of that? He puts the sins of his own chosen
people upon the son of his love. And when he sees them there,
what does he do? He punishes them. He punishes them. He won't spare
his own son. He hates sin. That's what we
can conclude from verse 12. Jesus giving himself a sacrifice
for sin. How God must hate sin. Can't you and I conclude this
from verse 12? Since this man had to give himself
a sacrifice to atone for sin. Can't we conclude this that a
man is utterly incapable of satisfying for his own sins. If I could satisfy for my sin,
why would this man have to satisfy my sin? I was reading a story. He was the president of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I can't even remember
his name. But they said he was so conscious of the need to make
his wrongs right. He lived with a conscience of
that every day. And if he ran through a red light,
he would stop and back up and wait until it turned green and
go through it again. Well, if it's a sin to run a
red light, you ought to atone for it by backing up and going
through it again. What can a man do to atone for
his wrongs? Can I give all the tears of my
eyes? Can I give all the sorrow of
my soul? Can I give the blood that's in
my veins? Can I give my firstborn? Can
I give my body to be burned? If you and I could take the least
sin that a man could ever The most righteous deed that
we could ever do could not atone for it. We cannot atone for our
own sins. We cannot satisfy God for our
sins. Ain't that what this verse tells
us? This man, this man offered a sacrifice for sin. Why did
it take such a sacrifice to put away sin? Because sin is infinite. It's against an infinite God,
and it must have an infinite sacrifice to atone for it, to
put it away. This man offered a sacrifice
for sin. Fourthly, we can conclude this, that when Jesus Christ died upon
the cross of Calvary and offered himself as a sacrifice to God,
all the sins, innumerable company of sins, that had been put on
him of God were satisfied for him. All the sins that he bore that
day on Calvary's tree were satisfied. They were purged. They were put
away. There was not one sin that he
bore and suffered for that remains to this very day. All of them
were atonement. Now, you'll find that in several
scriptures. But if you don't find it in other
scriptures, right here is sufficient proof. And it's proof enough
if you look at it and consider this, that if you believe this
passage, you can live in the assurance and joy that if the
Son of God bore your sins, then your sins are gone. They're satisfiable. How do we know that? You say,
Bruce had just said here that he offered himself a sacrifice
for sin. How do you know? How do you know? How can you be sure that they
were all satisfied for it and put away? Well, he says here
in the last portion of verse 12, when he had offered this
sacrifice for sins, he sat down on the right hand of God. He said, it's done. It's done. What's done? Sin has been satisfied
for me. How? By myself, by my blood,
by my suffering, by my death. Look in Leviticus chapter 16,
and I'm just about finished. Look in Leviticus chapter 16.
I told you a number of years ago to mark this passage. And just sit and read it and
re-read it until it dawns upon you the truth of it. Leviticus
chapter 16. This is the day of atonement. Do you remember it? Two goats
were taken. Aaron, the priest, the high priest,
was to take one goat, cut his throat, take the blood into the
most holy place and sprinkle it upon the mercy seekers. And then he was to come outside,
he was to put his hands upon the head of the second goat and
confess all the sins of the children of Israel. And then he was to
turn that goat loose and let him go off into the land not
inhabited. And then he comes here in verse
And look what he says, "'And this shall be a statute forever
for you, that in the seventh month on the tenth day of the
month,' that was the day that this all took place, "'you shall
humble your souls and do no work at all, whether it be one of
your own country or a stranger that sojourneth among you. For
on that day the priest shall make an atonement for you in
your place, in your stead, to cleanse you that you may be clean
from all your sins before the Lord." Now, you go home, brothers
and sisters, you just read that and read that and read that.
until it dawns in your heart what the priest did. What did
the priest do? What did Jesus Christ do? What
did this man do? Your sins were transferred to
him, and by himself he took his own blood and went into the presence
of God and put your sins away. He purged them away. And you weren't even there. You
never done a thing. You did no work. You were commanded
not to work, but to humble your soul and just wait to see what
the priest was doing. And what did he do? He made an
atonement for you to cleanse you. Isn't that amazing? Isn't
that amazing? And look in verse 31. It shall
be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and you shall humble your souls
by a statue forever. When Jesus Christ satisfied for
our sins, He did it by Himself. And what do we do? We just humbly
receive it. We don't lift a finger. We don't
aid. We don't make any contributions
at all. We just humble ourselves down
and say, thank you, Lord Jesus. What a Savior you are. What a
priest you are to make an atonement for me. This man, this man. You know why we don't believe
in a general redemption? How could we possibly, brothers
and sisters, look at this man? How could we possibly know who
he was? And then say that he took sins
in his body and suffered for them and satisfied for them,
and yet that individual perished. How can we possibly say that
when we know the nature of this man, that he's God? No, if he took your sins to that
cross, then he's satisfied for your sins. And you can believe it because
he's set out. You can rest because he's set
out. Last of all, we can conclude
this, that this man, this man, Jesus of Nazareth, this God-man,
must have been a courageous and strong man. Courageous! How courageous! Oh, how courageous
he must be! How strongly courageous he must
be! I'm afraid of some things. I'll
confess this to you, and you'll probably laugh at me. But I'm
afraid of the dark. Even though you're afraid, I'm
afraid of the dark. I had the experience when I was
just a little kid. I used to go up to my neighbor's house
and stay too late. We lived way out in the country.
I was coming home one night, and I thought for sure some kind
of a big animal was going to get me. I couldn't see him, but
I could hear him. I thought, man, I'm in trouble.
I don't know what it was, but that made such an impression
on me. Sometimes I'm still to this day afraid of the dark. I wondered how you and I would
feel if somebody put a covering over our head and a dull knife
to our throat and said, you deny Jesus Christ to be the Son of
God. I'm going to cut your head off. Would you be afraid? We saw that happen, didn't we? You ever see the film where they
cut that pearl's head off? He screamed for one big scream,
and that's it. Reckon that makes you afraid?
I'm thinking right now, boy, I'd be pretty scared. Wouldn't
you, Bill? I'd be pretty scared. But you know something? This
man is not afraid of anything. He is not afraid of anything.
The only time you ever see him even flinch at anything was in
the garden when he said, Father, You are
about to give me this cup of Your wrath, the sins of my people. I fear that. And he started sweating
blood through the pores of his skin. And he said, if there be
any other way, let this cup pass from me. That's the only time.
That's the only time he ever flinched from anything. But the
Scripture says he got up. He got up from off of his face
and went out to face the enemy. And said, whom seek ye? Whom
seek ye? We seek Jesus of Nazareth. We're
going to take Him over to our priest's house, and they're going
to mock Him. We're going to take Him to the
judgment hall, and they're going to condemn Him. And they're going
to whip Him and strip Him naked. We're going to take Him to the
cross and crucify Him. We're seeking Jesus and Mary.
I mean, boy, He ain't afraid of anything,
is He? He's not afraid of your trials. You may be in the fire, He's
right there with you. When you pass through the waters,
He's right there with you. He's not afraid of anything.
He's courageous. He's a strong man. To do this, to do something that was so contrary
to Him and His nature, to take sins and offer Himself for it,
How strong, how courageous he must be. And I'll tell you what
else you can learn from this passage. God's determined to have mercy
on somebody. Now, that's what I'd conclude.
I can't see God delivering His Son up and smiting this shepherd
and then say, I'm not going to bless. Boy, here's the perfect plea
for any lost man or woman. Come to God and say, have mercy
on me for Christ's sake. When I see the Son of God suffering,
boy, that puts a plea in my heart. God bless me. God bless me. You ain't done this in vain.
You ain't done this without a cause. Bless me. Bless me. Save me. Forgive me. Fill me
with Your Spirit. Bless me with Your presence.
Take me to glory to be with You. I don't know if there's anything
God would not do for the sake of His blessed Son that did what
He did. For Thy sake. For Thy sake. God
bless this world.