Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to the book of Lamentations. The book of Lamentations,
chapter 1, verse 12. Let's read this verse together.
The book of Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 12. And the prophet
Jeremiah says, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me. Wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his fierce anger." Now,
we know that all Scripture, all Scripture, all the Word of God,
the whole Bible was given by God. Holy men of old spoke as
they were moved and driven by God. All Scripture was given
to teach us, not to entertain us, but to instruct us and to
teach us and to comfort us with the gospel of God's grace and
glory in the Lord Jesus Christ and to point us to the only Savior
of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only Savior of sinners. And certainly this text that
we have this morning is no exception. Down through the centuries, the
church has used this text to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now it is true that Jeremiah
is weeping and lamenting the devastating destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was undergoing a siege
by the enemy. The temple had been ransacked
and burned to the ground. The temple that David dreamed
of and the temple that Solomon had built had been ransacked
and its treasures taken and burned to the ground. All the priests
were put to death. Thousands had been slaughtered
and others were taken captive. King Zedekiah, king of Israel,
had been taken captive himself and his sons were killed before
his eyes. Zedekiah was kept in prison until the day of his death.
But my friend, it's not my desire to give you a history lesson
this morning. It's not my desire to point you to a city destroyed
and besieged, but rather to point you to the only Savior of sinners,
Jesus Christ crucified and risen and exalted, God our Savior,
seated at God's right hand. In whom is salvation? There is salvation in no other. We can rightly and truly take
this text, the words of Jeremiah, a prophet of God, and apply them
to the prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Now, look
at this text again, and can't you hear our Lord say from the
cross as he hangs there in all the bloody gore and mess, he
can rightly say from the cross, is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Now,
my friend, the question this morning is very vital, and I
pray that you'll give me a hearing. What happened at Calvary? That's the question this morning.
What happened at the cross? Most know, most people know something
of the historical facts. They know someone named Jesus
of Nazareth that died, but few have any interest to really find
out what happened there. I believe this scripture will
reveal and describe much of what God was doing that day at Calvary. Now, four things. Here's the
first thing. We see the Son of God, the lovely Son of God, suffering
like no other. Behold, he says, behold, gaze
upon this sight and see if there be any sorrow, any sorrow like
unto my sorrow." Here's unparalleled suffering. No one suffered like
he did. Isaiah called him the man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Lord of glory, God Almighty,
subjected himself to scorn, the scorn and ridicule of men, the
mocking and the beating of the soldiers. The ridicule of the
Pharisees, the unjust treatment of Pilate, who wasn't man enough
to release him. The false accusation of the high
priest. He submitted himself to execution
by the godless Romans. He endured the howl of the jeering
crowd that set away with him, crucifying him. We have no king
but Caesar. He dies a death reserved for
the most vile felons. But listen, my friend. His physical
and mental anguish is unparalleled. No one suffered like He did.
In Isaiah 52, we read that His visage, His image was so marred
more than any man. He didn't even look like a man
hanging there on the cross, stripped and beaten and mutilated by wicked
men. My friend, I would not minimize
His physical sufferings, but if that's all you can see, If
that's all you know, come back and look again. Sit down at the
cross this morning and let's look again at the Lord Jesus
Christ until you can see that He poured out His soul unto death. God made His soul an offering
for sin. His physical pain pales in comparison
with His soul agony. He endured the holy wrath of
God, of an angry God against sin, that's why He cried out.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And consider this,
he's the only one who never deserved to suffer. Such a high priest
became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sin. He never deserved to suffer. And consider this, he had the
power to prevent sufferings, yet he suffers like no others.
He had the power to prevent these sufferings. You remember when
he was arrested in the garden and Peter took out the sword
and cut off? an ear of one of those servants
of the priest. And the Lord Jesus Christ told
him, put up your sword. Put up your sword, Peter. Don't
you know I could call 12 legions of angels to wipe out these men? That's 80,000 angels. The Lord
had power to prevent these sufferings, and yet he submitted to these
sufferings. Secondly, we can see this. We
can see that these sufferings are the work of God. Look at
the text again. Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me." Done unto me. We can see that his sufferings
were with the Lord hath afflicted me in a day of his fierce anger. We can see these sufferings are
the work of God. Were with the Lord hath afflicted
me. The Lord Jesus Christ looks beyond
the instruments of the cross to the author of the cross. and
says this is the work of God. Remember these things, these
three things about Christ crucified. The first one is this, God planned
the cross. It's recorded in scriptures that
the Pharisees went out and held a council how they might destroy
him. But remember, God in the council
halls of eternity determined to send Christ to die as a lamb,
the lamb of God. Calvary was not an accident.
He was not a helpless victim of unjust man. He was the appointed
sacrifice of a holy God. Listen to Acts chapter 2 verse
23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel. That's God's
decree. God's purpose. Determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. Yes, they
did what they wanted to do. They did what their wicked heart
designed. and desired to do, but they did what God determined
before to be done." Remember that. God planned the cross.
This is His appointed land. This is His sin offering. Secondly,
remember this about the cross. God presided over the cross.
Maybe perhaps you thought Pilate was in charge that day. Pilate
thought he was. In John chapter 10, John chapter
19 verse 10, Pilate said to the Lord Jesus,
don't you know I have power over you to crucify you or to let
you go? And the Lord corrected him. He
said, Pilate, you don't have any power over me but that which
is given to you of my Father. Our Lord said plainly, no man
takes my life from me. I lay it down on myself. I have
power to lay it down. I have power to take it again,
this commandment have I received of my Father. Remember, God planned
the cross. God presided over the cross.
Thirdly, and most importantly, God participated in the affliction
of the cross. The soldiers, we know, were pleased
to bruise Him. They mocked Him as king and priest
and made fun of Him. The Pharisees were pleased to
get rid of this Nazarene. They were pleased when He was
crucified. But we must always remember that
it pleased God to bruise Him. That's what we read in Isaiah
53 verse 10. It pleased God. to bruise Him. You see, my friend, the work
wicked men performed that day at Calvary was not sufficient
to accomplish our redemption. It's what God was doing at the
cross. That's our hope. It's what God
did that day. God poured out on Him His wrath. Thirdly, why did God afflict
Him? Why did the wrath of God fall
out on the lovely Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ? I believe
we have the answer to that in the text. Listen, "...wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."
Now, the cross is seen as a display of man's anger, and it is. But few have seen the cross as
a display of God's anger. Now we're about to get to the
heart of the matter. What happened at Calvary? How
can the Holy God be angry with His Holy Son? We know this, God
can only be angry with sin. It says in the scripture in Psalm
5, 5, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity. In Psalm 11, verse
7, Psalm 11, Psalm 7, verse 11, God is angry with the wicked
every day, Psalm 7, verse 11. He is too holy to look upon sin
with favor, we read in Habakkuk. His anger is a result of his
holiness stirred in activity against sin. So how can God be
angry, a holy God be angry with His holy Son? If then His Son
is an object of God's wrath, He must be guilty of sin. But
the Scripture has declared He had no sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin. Did we miss something? Even His enemies testified that
He had no sin. Judas said, I betrayed innocent
blood. Pilate said, I find no fault in Him. Did we miss something
here? My friend, He was indeed guilty
of sin, but not His own. Listen to the Scripture. The
Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. In a word then, what
happened at Calvary? What happened at the cross? In
a word, can you describe it? One word describes what happened.
Substitution. He is indeed guilty, but guilty
only by imputation. God laid on Him. the iniquity
of His people. God made Him to be sin for us,
we read 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made Him to be sin for God's
people, God's elect, God's sheep. And He knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. He dies in the room
and instead of His people, sinners, and He takes their guilt being
laid on Him, being imputed and reckoned to Him. And my friend,
as a substitute, he makes satisfaction through the holy justice of God.
He redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. When the sin of God's elect were
laid on the Lord Jesus Christ, he made sufficient payment to
the justice of God to set the sinner free. That's why we read,
there is there now, therefore, no condemnation to those who
are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah wrote of him, he shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. What
happened at Calvary? Why did God afflict his son?
He was made sin for us. Now in closing, let me ask you
this question. What is your estimation of Jesus
Christ crucified? It says in the text here, is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? What is your estimation
of Jesus Christ crucified? Is it nothing to you? I know
this, God leaving us to our own wicked thoughts, our own carnal
wisdom, our own fleshly understanding. Our reply would be simply, it's
nothing to me. It's nothing to me. We read in
Scripture the preaching of the cross. To them, the preaching
of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. Christ
crucified under the Jew, it's a stumbling block. Under the
religious self-righteous, it's a stumbling block. Under the
Greeks, it's foolishness. Now listen to me, to approach
God upon any other foundation, any other sacrifice than Jesus
Christ crucified is to charge God Almighty with foolishness
in the death of his beloved son. That's what Paul said in Galatians
2.21. If righteousness comes by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. Indifference, my friend, to the
gospel is deadly and damning to your soul. Paul wrote this,
if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed
of God. In John we read, he that believeth
not the wrath of God abides on him. To some, Jesus Christ crucified
is nothing. It's nothing to them. In their
very life, their attitude reveals that it's nothing to them. To
others, though, Christ crucified is something, but not everything. To others, he's something, he's
a fire escape. or an insurance policy or a doormat. But my friend, to those who were
chosen by the grace of God in that covenant of grace, to those
who are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom
we have redemption through His blood according to the riches
of His grace, to those who were called and quickened by the Spirit
of God, God who saved us and called us with a holy calling,
Christ is not something, my friend, those who are redeemed and chosen
and quickened by the Spirit. Christ crucified is everything. Christ is all and in all. To
the believer, He's everything. Christ crucified is everything.
That's why Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Jesus Christ crucified is our
righteousness before God. It's our hope. It's our salvation. We say with the Apostle Paul,
God forbid. I should glory, save in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Now
if you'd like a copy of this message from Lamentation chapter
1 verse 12, I would gladly send you a copy at no charge. You
can write me or call me. and I'll send it to you. My number
is 631-9053, 631-9053, or you can write to me and request a
copy at Zebulon Baptist Church, 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville,
Kentucky, 41501.