This morning we're going to take
a look at some verses here in Luke 22, but primarily verse
37. Let's read verse 37 of Luke 22, and I'll give you the title
of the message here, Christ numbered among transgressors. For I say
unto you, this is the Lord speaking to His eleven remaining apostles,
that this that is written, referring back to all the Old Testament
scriptures that had been written and given of God, must yet be
accomplished in me. It must be. It must be accomplished
in me. And he quotes here from Isaiah
53 verse 12 where it says that he was reckoned or numbered or
counted among transgressors. Isaiah 53 is a prophecy concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And we read that He
was numbered among transgressors. For the things concerning me,
the Lord says, they must have an end. There must be an end. There must be an accomplishment
in Christ and Him crucified. Now, the title again, Christ
numbered among transgressors. What a large and important subject. to think about the Lord Jesus
Christ dying for the sin of his people. We read a moment ago
from Isaiah 53, Therefore will I divide him a portion of the
great, and he shall divide the spoil of the strong. Because
he hath poured out his soul unto death, Because he was numbered
with transgressors, because he bared the sin of many, and because
he makes intercession for folks just like you and me, transgressors. He interceded for us right now
as the right hand of God. When he by himself purged our
sin, he sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. How
could it be said that the Lord Jesus Christ was numbered or
reckoned or counted among transgressors? How could it be said that he's
numbered among transgressors? Now, we know the Lord Jesus Christ
as the God-man mediator had no transgression of his own. He never had a thought of sin.
He never had any motive but totally the glory of God. We read in
Isaiah 53 that there was no deceit found in his mouth. It says in
Isaiah 53 that he had never done any violent thing. He never transgressed
against the law of God. Yet we read in Scripture, he
was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, but had no sin that he
personally committed. Now this is very important to
understand. Let this fact be firmly established,
the Lord Jesus Christ is not a sinner by birth, by practice,
or by choice. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. The Word of God says of Him that
He knew no sin. The Word of God says of Him that
He had no sin. The Word of God says of Him that
He did no sin. That's so. The Lord Jesus Christ
is that perfect God, man, mediator who did love God with all of
his heart, mind, and soul, who did love his neighbor as himself. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law and the prophets. I came to honor the law and the
prophets. knew no sin. God made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. 1 Peter 2 says of the Lord Jesus
Christ who did no sin. In 1 John 3, 5 we read and in
him he was manifested to take away our sin and in him is no
sin. You see, He had to be the spotless
Lamb of God, ordained of God, behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away our sins. Now, I want you to hold your
place there, and I'm making an effort to show you from the Scripture,
turn to Hebrews chapter 2, that although the Lord Jesus Christ
was numbered among transgressors, and that He was made sin for
us, that He personally committed no sin. Personally committed
no sin whatsoever. Whatsoever. I want you to find
Hebrews chapter 4. It's a scripture I want to look
at. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. It says here that our great High
Priest, we have a great High Priest, which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmity, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. Without sin. Now, find one other
scripture in Hebrews 7 verse 25. Wherefore He is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them, verse 26, for such
a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. He is the spotless
Lamb of God who came to put away our sin. Now, the blessed truth
of the Gospel is, in His incarnation, He was made to be what He was
not in His incarnation. That is, the Word made flesh
and dwelt among us. He remained what He was, eternal
and holy God, and He became what He was not. He was made to be
what He was not. He took upon Himself the nature
of a real man. bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. The Word was made flesh. God
was manifest in the flesh. You see, He was made to be what
He was not in His incarnation. As the eternal Son of God, He
wasn't the man, the eternal begotten Son of God. But as in His incarnation,
He is The God-man, mediator, a real man, and the Father had
prepared him a body to inhabit. Secondly, likewise in his substitutionary
death, he was made to be what he was not. He was made to be
what He was not. I quoted a moment ago, 2 Corinthians
5.21. We had this on the radio this
morning. God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God made Him sin
for us. He really and actually was made
sin for us, although He never actually committed one act or
thought of sin. We read in Isaiah 53, verse 6, The iniquity of us all, or as
a marginal reference has it, made the iniquity of us all to
meet on him. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin, who his own self bear our sin
and his own body upon. The tree. He was made sin for
us. He was made to be the sacrifice
for our sin. Now, if we look at verse 35,
36, and verse 38, The Lord is simply telling these
apostles as He was headed for Calvary Street. Remember, this
is happening on the evening of His arrest. You read the rest
of this chapter, He will be arrested. He will be taken to the priest
house and then later to Pilate's. And then the next day, the next
day he's crucified between two thieves for our sin. The Lord is preparing these apostles,
sending them out. to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when he sent them out originally,
we read about it, studied it in Luke chapter 9, the Lord provided
everything for them to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom.
But now he says unto them, verse 36, He that hath a purse, let
him take it, and likewise his script. And he that hath no sword,
let him sell his garment, and let him buy one. Now, What can we learn from this? The Lord is telling the apostles
that they will be sent to preach the gospel into a hostile world,
a hostile environment, a cruel world. and that they will need
to use every means at their disposal to go and carry out the great
commission to preach the gospel into all the world. He said,
you shall be hated of all men just like they hated me. They
will hate you. Now, here's a lesson for us.
The Lord says here, likewise, he said, now you take a purse,
you take a script, and you take a sword. Now, here's a lesson
for us. We're to use what the Lord has
given us in all ways to carry out the gospel ministry right
here where we live, right in our community. We are to use
our purse. We are to use our script. We
are to use the sword that the Lord has given us, and I mean
by that the sword of the word of the Lord. Right here in our
community, we are to use the means God has put at our disposal. Preaching in the pulpit, preaching
in the bulletin, putting newspaper articles out, the radio ministry,
the internet ministry, the gospel tract, were to use what means
God has given to us to preach the gospel into all the world
as God has given us the command to do so. Now, one writer that
I read after quite often, J.C. Ryle, John Charles Ryle, back
in the 1800s, had this comment. He said, We shall do well to
lay heart our Lord's words in this place, and to act habitually
on the principle which they contain, that is, labor, toil, give, speak,
act right for Christ, as if all depended upon our exertions. But let us never forget that
success depends entirely on God's blessing. To expect success by
our own purse and sword is pride and self-righteousness. But to
expect success without purse or sword, without mean, is presumption
and false hope. You see what he's saying here?
We are to go and preach the Gospel and do all we can to put out
the Word of God and then to wait upon the Lord and ask Him to
bless it. We are to sow the seed of the
Word, we're to preach the Gospel and do all that we're able to
do and blessed to do and look to the Lord to bless our labors,
to wait upon the Lord. He said His Word will not return
unto Him void. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to call out his people. So what should we do?
We should be about our Master's business. Preaching, preaching,
preaching the Word all the time, lifting up Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We had this in our Bible study.
Don't turn, let me just read it to you. A few weeks ago I
made reference to it in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 where Paul said, I
have planted and Apollos watered He planted the seed of the gospel,
watered it with the word of truth, the water of life, Christ crucified,
but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planted
anything, neither is he that watered, but God that gives the
increase. Now, we're to go, we're to plant,
we're to sow, we're to water, but we can't make things happen.
Now I always look forward to plowing my garden in March and
April. And I'll take those little corn
seed or cucumber seed or zucchini seed and I'll do all I can. I
mean, I'll plow it up and I'll put, Nona will bring me and her
dear husband Roger will bring me a load of manure and I'll
put that manure on there and I'll grind it all up and I'll
put the cucumber seed and I'll put the zucchini seed and all
the other seeds I like to plant And I'll do all I can do. And
then what do you do? I can't do one thing about making
that seed grow. I've got to sit back and wait
upon the Lord. He may give increase, He may
not. And that's what we do with the gospel. We go, we plant,
we cast the seed, we preach Christ and we lift up the word of the
Lord. Well, I can't make you believe the gospel. God's got
to do that work in your heart. Now, He uses means. God has predestinated
the end, but He's also predestinated the means to arrive at that end
that pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to call out His
people. That's what this is talking about here, but I want you to
notice something down in verse 38 of Luke 22. Notice their response. And especially after the Lord
just said, all things must be accomplished and written in me
and numbered among transgressors. And you'd think they would have
had some comment about the Lord being numbered among transgressors.
Wouldn't you think they would have an ear to hear that? But all they're thinking about,
they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. That's quite amazing to me. The
Lord just told them that he's going to die as their substitute.
And they're thinking about to arm themselves with some swords.
When the Lord said, you need to sell your garment and buy
a sword. Notice what the Lord said to
them. He said, oh, that'll be enough. Yeah, two swords will
do it. John Gill had this comment on this. He said, this is the
Lord's short way of speaking, suggesting their stupidity and
ignorance when it's enough. You see how little their understanding
was? And we're the same way. Again,
we see the understanding of the apostles limited. They missed his message altogether,
but the Lord didn't harshly rebuke them, but rather in pity said,
well, that'll be enough. That'll be enough. Gil said,
it is enough, or it is very well. I perceive you don't understand
my meaning. I shall say no more. He could
have rebuked him, couldn't he? He said, you bunch of dummies. But he didn't. The Lord is so
long-suffering, kind, and patient, even with our ignorance and our
stupidity. Aren't you glad? He's long-suffering,
gentle, and kind. Now let's go back and look at
verse 37. with the time we have left remaining. For I say unto
you, I say unto you, now, would you listen? If the Lord, if the
Lord God from heaven speaks right now, and he says to you, Lionel
Davis, you reckon you'd listen? The
Lord says to you right now, you, you, you, you, right now, I say
to you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. It must be. It must be accomplished. It is written. It is written.
The scripture must be fulfilled in Christ and Him crucified.
And they were. He must die for our sins. He
must die in a way that the scriptures are fulfilled. All the Old Testament
Scriptures that were written by God the Holy Spirit teach
us one lesson. All the writing, from Genesis
all the way through Malachi, all the Old Testament writing
has one message. It's all about the person and
work of Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. The prophecy came not in old
time by the will of men, But holy men of God spake as they
were moved by God the Holy Spirit. And he moved each one of those
men. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elisha, Elijah, all the different
men, Moses, Jeremiah, they all had one message. Christ and Him
crucified is all of salvation. You see, He dies for our sin
according to the Scripture. It's all about Him. Turn a couple
pages and find Luke 24. When the risen Lord was walking
on the road to Emmaus, and these two men crossed His path, and
He said to them in verse 25, "'O fools, slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into His glory?' You see Luke 24 verse
27, "'And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures the thing concerning Himself.'"
You see, this book is all about Christ. Old Testament and New,
it's all about Christ. Now, another place here in Luke
24, begin reading at verse 44. And he said unto them, These
are the words which I yet spake with you, while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written in
the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalm concerning
me. Now we studied all 150 Psalms
and they're all about Christ. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said unto
them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day, the third day, and
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses
of these things. They must be fulfilled. The Word
of God must be fulfilled. Now, notice he says, the written
Word must be accomplished in me. Now, I love that word must. Must be. There's no option here.
Turn back to Luke chapter 9 verse 22. These things must be. Luke
9 verse 22. saying the Son of Man must suffer
many things, be rejected of the elders, chief priests, and scribes,
and be slain and be raised again the third day. There's no option. There's not another plan. These
things must be because Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. These things must be. Christ must suffer one time for
the unjust that He might bring us unto God. There is in Christ
crucified an absolute necessity of His death for our sin, for
our transgression, for our iniquities. Now, turn back to Isaiah 53.
Go back to Isaiah 53 and look at verse 4, 5, and 6. There is
the absolute necessity of His sheep, His elect, His people,
covenant people having a substitute. Surely He hath borne our griefs,
carried our sorrow, yet we did esteem Him stricken of God, smitten
of God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgression,
He was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, with His stripes we were healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, and the Lord laid on Him, we turned everyone
to His own way, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us
all. Look at verse 8. He was taken
from prison and from judgment, who shall declare his generation,
for he is cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. There is no other way for God to be just and justify
the ungodly but in Christ. Look at verse 11. Isaiah 53. He shall see the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquity. He shall be full of their iniquity. You see that word, he shall bear
their iniquity? That word there has a reference
to be impregnated, being like a woman full of child. impregnated
with their iniquity, full of iniquity. And that's what happened
when our sin was laid upon Him. We read in 1 John 3, Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. And he knows that he was manifested
to take away our sin, and in him is no sin. Now, there's no other way. for God to put away our sin and
be a just God and Savior but by Christ Jesus dying for our
sin according to the scripture. There's no other way for our
sin to be completely put away but by the blood atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein is love. Not that we love
God but that He loved us and that He sent His Son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. No other way. The great high
priest obtained eternal redemption for us with his own blood. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And the
messenger from heaven said, call his name Jesus. He shall save
his people from their sin. There's no other way for our
salvation to be accomplished but by the blood atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other way for God
to be just. and justify the ungodly, but by Jesus Christ in Him crucified. Thirdly, there is no other way
to be redeemed from our sin but by the precious blood of Christ. Is there any other way? We are
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Not with the blood
of bulls and goats, but with His own blood, He obtained for
us eternal redemption. Peter says, for as much as you
know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver and
gold, or your tradition, but by the precious blood of Christ.
Fourthly, there's no other way for us to be reconciled to God
but in Christ Jesus. Can you reconcile yourself to
God? Can you do anything about putting
your sin away? No. Thank God that God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Fifthly, there's
no other way for our holy God to be just and justify the ungodly,
to be a just God and Savior, but in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's why Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the only way. Look at the last part of verse
37. For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished
in me. And he was reckoned numbered
among transgressors. For the thing concerning me have
an end. Now there's an end to this. There's
an end to this. Now, for the thing concerning
me have an accomplishment. is what he's saying here. His
death is called an accomplishment. Christ dies on purpose according
to the decree of God to accomplish all things given to him as a
surety mediator of that covenant. So I ask myself this question,
to make an end of what? He says here, for the thing concerning
me have an end or have an accomplishment. An end of what? Well, I've got
several of them jotted down. Satisfy the law of God. It pleased
God to bruise Him in our room and in our stead. We study in
Romans chapter 10 verse 4 where it says that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He
redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. For the things concerning me
have an end. Aren't you glad that you're not
under the curse and judgment of God's holy law? He has redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. It's
amazing to me that some people who say they believe the gospel
want to continue to put themselves under the curse of the law as
our moral compass, as our moral guide. You are no longer under the curse
of God's law or the judgment of God's law. God's law demands
absolute perfection and we cannot produce it. Therefore, the Lord
Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes it. Secondly, the
Lord Jesus Christ not only made the end of the law, in the fact
that He established it for us, He honored it for us, both in
penalty and precepts. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the end of our sin, our transgression, our iniquities against God. Would you like to know that your
sin has been completely put away and made an end of? Wouldn't
that give you some peace and rest in your heart? Turn with
me to Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. That's exactly what we have in
Christ. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, let's
begin reading at verse 3. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is reward,
not reckoning of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Now read on carefully. Watch
this carefully. Even as David also described
it, the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputed righteousness
without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Now what a blessing in believing
that Christ took our sin to himself, numbered among transgressors,
and fully put away our sin. Made an end of our sin. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. These things have an end in me,
have a fulfillment in me. The Lord said on Calvary's tree,
it is finished. Now, may the Lord be pleased to show
us the necessity of Christ crucified. Do you see any other way for
your sin to be put away but by Christ? How is this received? Abraham
believed God. Faith is how. You see, faith
does not accomplish salvation. Faith receives the Lord Jesus
Christ who has accomplished our salvation. But may the Lord be
pleased to show us the necessity of Christ crucified, and may
the Lord be pleased to grant us faith in Him, to believe the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to trust Him alone. We say,
well, I'm going to trust myself and Him. Well, if you trust yourself,
you're in big trouble. You see, the truth of the matter
is we put no confidence in the flesh. We rejoice in Christ Jesus
and we have no confidence in the flesh. May the Lord be pleased
to show us the necessity of Christ crucified and the necessity of
faith in Christ to believe the gospel, to trust Him and to rest
in Him. We read this, without faith,
without faith, it's impossible to please God. He didn't say
it's difficult. He said it's impossible to please
God without faith. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder in them that
diligently seek him. May God be pleased to grant you
and me faith, and then cause it to grow, grow in grace and
knowledge of Christ. The Lord said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ."
No wonder that Peter calls faith, the faith of God the elect, he
calls it precious. Precious faith. to lay hold upon
Christ. What do you see in Christ crucified?
I see His amazing love. I see His amazing grace. I see
amazing salvation that we have in Christ. And I see that we
have security and everlasting salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. It's an honor and privilege to
hear the gospel and to believe it. That's a blessing, is it
not?