Now we've concluded from the
Word of God that our Lord's words from the cross were seven. Seven statements which our Lord
made from the cross of Calvary. Arthur Pink called them the seven
sayings. I want to give them to you briefly.
We could really camp beside any one of them. we could make our
message, our day, our week, our month, our year, just camping
beside one of these statements and asking God to reveal to us
what is there. After they nailed our Lord to
the cross, as he was hanging there and the people below were
laughing and mocking and shooting out their lips and making all
sort of statements in regard to him. The scripture said our
Lord said this, Father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. In this statement we have Christ
the intercessor praying for his people, praying for sinners.
Man, the foolish blind creature, truly does not know what he does.
Nailing to the cross the Son of God, the Lord of glory, he
knows not what he does. But our Lord Jesus Christ prays
for this foolish creature. Our Lord prays for this blind
creature. Our Lord prays for this hateful
and hating creature. Our Lord prays for this depraved
creature. And in praying for his enemies,
Our Lord sets for you and me an example. Pray for them which
despitefully use you. Curse not. Pray for them. Pray for your enemies. Pray for
those that hate you. Pray for those who do all manner
of evil against you. Learn the duty of forgiving others
and praying for others. Then the second statement that
our Lord made from the cross, there were two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right and the other on the left. And the
scripture says that both of them began to ridicule and mock him,
just like the people were ridiculing and mocking him. But one of them
stopped mocking, and one of them said to the other, don't you
fear God, seeing that you're in the same condemnation? And
we indeed justly, for we receive just exactly what we deserve.
He looked at the Lord Jesus Christ and he said, Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. Lord, you're not going to stay
dead. You're going to rise again. You're coming into a kingdom.
Remember me when you come into your kingdom. And that's when
the Lord made that second statement from the cross, that second saying.
He turned to that thief, that repentant thief, and he said,
today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Here we have Christ
the King. Christ the King opening heaven's
gates to a penitent thief and bidding him enter. Here we have
Christ the sovereign Savior. I'll be merciful to whom I will. Be merciful. Here we have Christ,
the effectual Redeemer. He came to save the lost, and
the lost He will save. Christ, the effectual Redeemer. He came to save the lost, and
the lost He will save. Well, what do we learn from our
own personal experience here, preacher, besides that? Well,
we learn the duty of repentance and faith. Here was a man who
acknowledged what he was. and acknowledged what he deserved
and confessed his sins and sought the mercy of the Lord. Have you? Have you acknowledged what you
are and what you deserve? Have you confessed your sins?
Have you sought the mercy of the Lord? Today shalt thou, the
penitent thief, be with me in paradise. Well, there was a third
statement. Our Lord in the midst of his
anguish, in the midst of his dreadful hour and suffering,
looked down from the cross. And I don't know the time that
elapsed between these sayings. I know that from what we read
and what others have said, that the first one was, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. And
we believe the second one was when the thief confessed his
sins and prayed for mercy and the Lord Jesus said, today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. And we believe this is the third
one. He looked down from the cross and he saw standing down
there in that crowd of people a woman. And the scripture says that he
said, as he looked and saw her, and then the disciple, John,
whom he loved, Evidently with his eyes, he looked
at her and he said, woman. And then he looked over at John.
He said, behold, our son. And then from John to her, he
said, and son, behold, our mother. What do you see there, preacher?
Well, I see Christ the man. Now wait this carefully and ask
God to give me the words here. I see Christ the intercessor
praying for us. And without His prayers, we don't
have any mercy, we don't have any connection or communion with
God, we don't have any hope from God. Christ the intercessor and
Christ the King, He's sovereign even from the throne or from
the cross. He's the King even on the cross. He has the keys
of life and death. He has the keys of hell and heaven.
He'll open to whom He pleases. But here, woman, behold our Son. Son, behold thy mother. He doesn't
call her mother. I could say a lot of things about
that. But he calls her woman. But here
I see Christ the man. I behold his humanity. He is
truly a man. He truly was born of that woman. He is bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. And even in this most dreadful
hour, We're reminded of his relationship with us and with that woman. That's the woman that gave him
birth. He is to her a son. She is his
mother in the sense that she gave him life. She's not the
mother of God. She's the mother of Jesus, the
body, the flesh, the man. And what he is saying here is
that I am identified with you, I'm numbered with you, I'm one
with you. I was born made of a woman, made
under the law, took upon myself flesh and bones just like you
have. And here's his identification. He was a man. Jesus Christ is God. He's one
with the Father. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He was with God in the beginning,
He was God, and all things were made by Him. But God became a
man. God took on Himself human flesh. God was made in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and this was the vessel through which He came.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, but He lay in a mother's
womb nine months just like you did. And He was born like you
were. He was nourished on the mother's
breast like you were, and he was weaned like you were, and
he was diapered, and he grew in stature as a man. And he became a man like we are,
tested, tempted, tried in all parts as we are. Notice how often
the scriptures refer to him as the son of man. He was a man
of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Pilate, when he was on trial,
said, behold the man, and even now, God says there's one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. I know a little
bit about the, now listen to me, I know a little bit about
the depravity of man, but I would have you know this,
this race of men, was dignified above all imagination when Jesus
Christ became a man. Christ became a man. Christ became
a man. And this is what he's saying
here. On that woman, he could have taken care of this earlier,
but he didn't. On purpose. Everything our Lord does is on
purpose. And in these seven sayings, from this cross, in this dreadful
hour, in this momentous hour of redemption, in this hour when
heaven and earth are met together and righteousness and peace and
truth and love are met together here, all that went before and
all that comes after met in this climactic hour. And here the
Lord Jesus is talking about a woman, one solitary single individual
named Mary. But it's a whole lot more than
that, a whole lot more than that. Our Lord, what our Lord is saying
here when He looked at her, There are thousands of people
there, and the whole universe looking on, and all of the angels
of God looking on, and all the devils of hell looking on, all
history both ways looking on in here. Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother. Christ
the man. Christ the man. Identified with
me in the flesh in Everest, Christ the man. Jesus Christ, Son of
God, Son of man. Son of man. Flesh. There's a man in heaven. That's
Jesus Christ. There's a man. And he dignified
men. And he lifted men. And he restored
men. And when he became a man. And
he was numbered with men. And God loves men. And God died
to save men. And men are the sons of God.
Men. He didn't become an angel. He didn't take on himself the
nature of angel, but seed of men. He came from a woman. I'll tell you this, what I learned
from this too for myself, I learned the tenderness that
I ought to have for my mother and my father and my brother
and my sister. And for men and women, tenderness,
love, compassion, kindness. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
loving one another, forgiving one another, merciful to one
another, gracious to one another. If our Lord God can stop the
very processes of redemption and the most momentous, monumental,
climactic, majestic thing God ever did, to deal with one precious woman,
then you can do the same thing in your busy day, can't you?
Huh? You can do the same thing. You
say, Preacher, that's taking that too far. Don't think so.
Don't think so. Well, the next one was, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I'm coming back to that. But
the fifth statement from the cross, I want to come back with
that and deal with it later. But I thirst. What do you see
there? Here, our Lord was hanging there
on the tree. And then he said, I thirst, I
thirst! You could go through. He was
there in the soldier's hall and they'd put that crown of thorns
on his brow and they'd spat upon him, plucked out his beard and
lacerated his back with a cat of nine tails and they'd done
all these things to him. He'd stood there and before Pilate's
judgment, and then he dragged that heavy cross out yonder to
Golgotha's hill and they nailed him there between heaven and
earth. And hours had passed as he hung
there in agony, in hot fever, burning, burning fever. And his
bones were just pulled out of joint. You could see all of his
bones hanging there on that cross. the blood running down his face,
and the fever wracking his body, and he cried, I'm thirsty. What
do you see there, Preacher? I see Christ the suffering Savior. Christ the suffering Savior.
Our Lord suffered for sin. Brethren, sin demands suffering
and death, and Christ's sufferings were twofold. Now don't ever
forget this. The scripture said he made his
soul an offering for sin. God's judgment and justice upon
our sins and God's wrath upon our sins cannot be satisfied
only with the torment of a person's body. You know, our Lord said
to the disciples one time, don't be afraid of them that kill the
body and after that have no more they can do. I'll tell you whom
you shall fear. Fear him who is able to cast you body and
soul into hell. I was listening to a dear man
preach on tape one time, and he said that was Satan. Fear
Satan who is able to cast you body and soul into hell. Let
me tell you something, friend. Satan never has sent anybody to hell. He never has cast anybody into
hell. He never has taken anybody into hell. He never has sentenced
anybody to hell. That's God's business. God's
business. What Christ is saying in that
verse is this, don't you fear men and don't you fear Satan
who are able to kill your body and after that no more that they
can do. I'll tell you whom you shall fear. Fear God. Fear God. Fear the righteousness
of God and the justice of God and the holiness of God which
is able to cast you body and soul into hell. And when our
Lord redeemed us and suffered for us, he made his soul an offering
for sin. Sin is an offense against God
committed by the spirit, not just the body. Our bodies are
the instruments of sin. Our hearts, that's the seed of
sin, that's the root of sin, that's the source of sin. That's
the reason Christ said to kill a man is murder, yes, but to
hate him is also murder. And to commit adultery is sin,
yes, but to think it is sin, too, because that's where it
all starts, you see. That's where hatred starts and
lying begins, blasphemy. A man may never, you say, I've
never taken God's name in vain in my life. You've thought it.
You've thought it. And to think it is to be guilty
of the deed before God in the sight of God. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, here His thirst, His agony, His sufferings in body
are revealed. But let's not overlook His suffering
of soul. And here's something else here.
It says, Our Lord cried, I thirst. Turn to John 19. Let me show
you this verse here in John 19. There are two things here I see
in reference to us also. John 19, 28. Will you turn to
John 19, 28? And it says here in verse 28,
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Two things I
learned here. Number one is our Lord's fellowship
with me in suffering. I may suffer, but never like
He suffered. And you and I, when we are distressed
in body, distressed in spirit, remember that there's no distress
either of body or spirit that we can endure that He hasn't
already endured. I heard a preacher one time,
and the second thing here is the scripture's fulfilled. The
scripture's fulfilled. Everything that our Lord did
and everything that was done to him was a fulfillment of this
book, the word of God. Heaven and earth may pass away,
but not one jot or tittle shall pass from this word, and it's
all fulfilled. It's going to be fulfilled. That's
my comfort and consolation. God's going to do what he says.
But you know, I heard a preacher one time say this. He said, I saw the footprints of Christ
walking through life, and I knew that I must walk the same road. The road of mocking and persecution,
the road of tears, and the road of sorrow, and the road of rejoicing,
and the road of happiness, and the road of failure, and the
road of success, and all these things. And then the road led
to Calvary where he died, and then the footprints led to a
tomb, a grave. And the footprints led into the
grave. But he said, I noticed this, that they also led out. So I don't have to be afraid
even of the tomb. I don't even have to be afraid
of the grave. Because my Lord went there and
I shall go there. Jesus died and I'll die. Jesus
was buried and I'll be buried. But Christ Jesus arose and because
he lives, I'll live. I shall come forth. I thirst.
I thirst. Here's the sixth statement. It
is finished. It is finished. What do I see
here? It is finished. Our Lord cried
with a loud voice. It is finished. It is finished. Brethren, I don't believe one preacher
out of every thousand believe those three words. I don't believe
one preacher out of every thousand understand those three words.
I don't believe that one church member out of every 10,000 understand
those words, or comprehend all that is in those three words. I'll tell you what God has taught
me from those three words. Those three words. It's finished.
It's finished. Now, our Lord didn't mean his...
altogether, primarily, that his sufferings were finished, although
they were. Our Lord did not mean primarily
that his 33 and a half years on this earth were finished,
although they were. That's his human life span on
this earth. Our Lord did not necessarily
mean, although it's true, that the Old Testament tithes
were fulfilled. They were. No question about
that. He was that priest. He is the altar. He's the sacrifice.
He's the Sabbath day. He's the feast of the first fruit.
He's the tabernacle. He's the altar. He's the showbread.
He's the candlestick. He's the laver. He is the sanctification. He's everything. He taketh away,
God taketh away the first and he may establish the second.
But I'm telling you what Christ is saying there. Here we see
Christ the Redeemer. It's finished. everything that
the Father gave him to perform in the covenant of his mercy
and grace as the surety of his people, everything for the redemption
of his people, in the satisfying of the law by perfect obedience,
in the honoring and satisfying of justice by an effectual death,
in the offering of an atonement which was sufficient, in the
opening of the Holy of Holies, in the redemption of his church,
was finished! Nothing needs to be added to
what Christ has done, it's finished! And the scripture said, he went
to the right hand of God and sat down, having finished what
he came to do. Salvation's complete, salvation's
perfected. There's not one cent to be paid,
to be added to his payment, to his purchase, to his ransom. There's not one cent to be added
by any person or any creature. It's finished. It's finished. I have finished the work that
you gave me to do. I do not believe that Jesus Christ
partially redeemed his people when he died. I believe he effectually,
completely redeemed them. All that needs to be paid. If
Christ bore my sins, I do not bear them. If Christ died my
death, there's no death reserved for me. If Jesus Christ the Lord
put away my transgressions, they're put away. If by his stripes I'm
healed, I'm healed. Now brethren, back in that Old
Testament day, that Old Testament priest never sat down. There
were several types of furniture in that tabernacle. There was
a table of showbread, and an altar of incense, and a candlestick,
and an Ark of the Covenant, and a mercy seat and all, but they
weren't in chairs. because those men never finished
their work. They were always going in and
out of that tabernacle. They had the morning, afternoon,
evening sacrifices. They had all these things every
day, all the time, one sacrifice after another, which could never
put away sin, but were only types and symbols and pictures and
shadows and examples. But when Christ died, when all
of the wrath and judgment and condemnation of God for our sins
were laid upon Him, and when He suffered, born of a woman,
that's when his suffering began. He was a man of salvage and equated
with grief and he was tried in every point as we are and tested
and tempted and he bore our sorrows and griefs and came to the cross
and there the judgment and wrath of God were poured out on him
and when it was over, when it was all completed, he said, it's
finished! It's finished. And he went and
sat down. at the right hand of God, having
finished his work, expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. Today the Holy Spirit is applying that which Christ
has done. He is perfecting or bringing
men into an understanding of what Christ has done. He is perfecting
men in sanctification in the things that Christ already finished,
already finished. All right, the last statement.
He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. Here we have Christ, the conqueror.
Christ, the victor. Christ, the returning surety.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and the King of glory shall come
in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty.
He is the King of glory. He's triumphant. He's victorious. Christ didn't sneak into heaven.
When he finished what God gave him to do, I am come not to do
my will, but the will of Him that sent me, and this is the
will of Him that sent me, that of all which ye have given me
I will lose nothing. Our Lord came down here and engaged
the enemy and conquered him. Our Lord came down here and engaged
Satan and conquered him. Our Lord came down here and became
our substitute and paid the debt. He became our charity and He
went back home and took us with Him. All the spoils, he marched
triumphantly into glory and sat down. He's the conquering victor. He's the returning surety. The
crown is his. He reigns. Not going to reign,
he reigns now. He reigns now. He reigns now
and will reign with him. But let's go back to this fourth
statement and very briefly and I'll close. But this fourth statement
is the sinner statement. We have Christ the intercessor,
the intercessor, our father forgive them. We have Christ the king,
you're going to glory with me. We have Christ the man, woman,
our son. We have Christ Jesus, the suffering,
agonizing Savior. We have Christ Jesus, the Redeemer. It's finished. We have Christ,
the Conqueror. Christ, the victor. Christ, the triumphant one, with
his redeemed ones, with the spoils of battle, with the defeated
ones, with the crown of glory entering heaven. It's all over.
But here in the middle, we have the fourth and central cry of
the seven. This is the center point of his
suffering. This is the height of his suffering. This is the
most awful words that ever have fallen from the lips of a man.
This is the height of all his grief. This is the only time
he ever cried out. Only time. When they pressed
that crown of thorns into his brow, he opened not his mouth. When they drove the nails into
his hands and feet, he opened not his mouth. When he stood
before Pilate and Pilate said, you're an imposter, he opened
not his mouth. When the false witnesses came
and lied on him, he opened not his mouth. But he did this time. And the scripture says he cried,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? One day Moses went to the top
of a mountain, and he stood there, and he saw a bush burning. And
he went over closer to investigate, and a voice said to him, Moses,
watch out. Watch out. Take off your shoes, you unholy
ground. And that's the way I feel when
I come to this verse right here. I don't quite feel this way when
I came to the first one. Father, forgive them. I'm there.
He's in glory. He's between me and God, the
mediator. I helped crucify him. I could
crucify him, but it was my hands that held the hammer that drove
the nails, and I'm glad. I rejoice in that intercessory
prayer, and when he's talking to the thief, he's talking to
me. Today you'll be with me, and his mother, and I thirst,
and I can identify with bodily sufferings. I'm hurting now. and these things, and it's finished,
I can, oh, I can go with that, Charlie, I can just walk right
up, but here, here it's, he's talking to the Father. He didn't
call him Father. He always called him Father.
Father, forgive them. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. He didn't say Father. My God. My God, there's something there. And there's something else here. Martin Luther sat down with this
verse of scripture in his study one day, according to his wife.
And he sat and looked at that 46th verse of Matthew 27. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And she said he sat there for
an hour, for two hours, three hours, and never moved. And he'd read it aloud again.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And she said she
asked him if he wanted something to eat. He said no. He kept on
looking at that verse. Hour after hour after hour. Finally
she said he got up. Slammed the Bible down. Hit the
desk with his fist. And he said, God forsakes God. God forsakes God. Ain't no man
can understand that. No man. Can you? God forsakes
God. There's no man that can understand
that. I can't. So I'm not going to
spend my time trying to discover some of the writers how this
can be. Because when I get through, I'll
be no further than Luther was, after hour, after hour, after
hour. But I can spend a few moments
contemplating why God forsook God. I don't understand how God
can remember my sins no more. But he says it. But I want to
contemplate why, because Christ took my sins. Not how, but why. And not how. Here the Lord Jesus
Christ, God in human flesh, God in the form and body of a man,
God hanging on a tree, God cries out, My God, where hast thou
forsaken me? And darkness was over all the
land. There are three words that explain why. The first word
is substitution. That's the first word. This is
the key to all of our Lord's suffering, substitution. Jesus
Christ was forsaken of God because I deserve to be forsaken of God,
and He was me. He actually was numbered with
the transgressors. He, Jesus Christ, is every believer
in one person. Every believer. Let me tell you
something, when Adam fell, every sinner was in Adam. Every son
of Adam, when Adam shook his fist in God's face and took the
forbidden fruit, whatever it was, and rebelled against God's
government and God's authority, every son of Adam was in Adam.
And when God's wrath fell upon Adam, death and separation from
God, it happened to every son of Adam right then. Jesus Christ
came down to this earth and came out of that mother's womb. Every
son of Christ, every son of God came out of that womb right then.
It was in that man, Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ walked
this earth, and was tempted of Satan, and tried of Satan, and
spat upon, and mocked, and ridiculed, and yet lived in perfection,
loving every person, praying for every person, walking in
submission to God's holy will, and went to the cross, and there
died under the wrath and judgment of God, every believer was there,
out there, in Christ. He was every believer. He's the
federal head, the surety, the representative, every believer. And he was separated from God
because I deserve to be separated from God. He was judged and cast
out because I was guilty and worthy to be cast out. He bore
God's wrath because I deserve to bear God's wrath. He was wounded
for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities.
chastisement of my peace was laid on him, and by his stripes
I'm healed." Now that's what it is. First, that's substitution.
He was made of a woman. He was made flesh. He was tipped
as we are. He was our surety. Second word. Now watch it. This is so important.
Reality. Reality. Turn to 1 Peter 2. Let
me show you a verse over here. 1 Peter 2, 24. 1 Peter 2, 24. Reality. Now let me tell you
something. Jesus Christ is hanging on that
cross. The Son of God. The Son of Man.
The God-Man. That was no type. The types preceded
Him. That was reality. That was no
example. The examples went before. That
was no symbol. That was reality. 1 Peter 2,
24. Who? His own self. Bad. Not a picture of our sins
or a type of our sins or an example of our sins. He bore our sins
actually, really, honestly, literally, truthfully in His own body on
the tree. That's what was going on. reality. Christ actually, personally,
in his own body, bore all of our sins. The sins were real. They were not in type. The wrath
of God was real. It was not a type. The desertion
was real. It was not a picture. The death
for sin was real. The hell was real. The darkness
was real. is reality. And paying the price was real.
Now then, I'd like to tell the whole world this, the whole religious
world, because everybody else wouldn't know what I was talking
about. And I'd like to tell the whole religious world why I'll
die preaching particular redemption. And why I'll give up just about
half of the other things that We contend far, far give that
up. Because when Christ Jesus died on that cross, it was real. The sins were real. The wrath
was real. The judgment was real. The death
was real. That makes the ransom real. That
makes the redemption real. It wasn't an offer. It wasn't
a type. It wasn't a symbol. The Old Testament
was a symbol. When the priest brought the blood
of the animal in and put it on the mercy seat, that was a picture! That was a type! That was an
example! That men looked to it and believed
in it, then they participated in God's mercy. But Jesus Christ
didn't bring the blood of an animal, He brought His blood!
When He died, I died! I'm in Him! You see what I'm
saying? I've already been crucified with
Christ. I've already obeyed the law.
I've already gone to hell. I've already borne the penalty.
Payment God's justice cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding
shirtless hand, then again at mine. I say this, that a holy,
just, righteous God cannot send a believer to hell. Impossible. Because a man can't pay for the
same sins twice. My sins are paid for. Christ
didn't offer anything. He did what He came to do. Look at the verse again. He who
His own self bare in His own body our sins, that we being debt to sin, Dead
to sin? Yeah, when Christ died, we died
to sin. Died to sin's curse. Died to
sin's penalty. Died to sin's power. Died to
sin's practice. Died to sin's presence. It shall
no longer have dominion. Satan doesn't own a thing about
me. He doesn't have any claim on me. The law has no claim on
me. The judgment of God has no claim on me. There is no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. By whose stripes you were healed
completely. All right, the third word is
satisfaction. Now turn to Romans 8. Romans
chapter 8. And I know, my brother, I know
what Martin Luther is going through. I plan to preach on this. I sat
there and looked at it like he did, and I was so thankful to
find that little story about Luther. And he got through. He didn't have a thing down on
paper, not a thing. He just got through and pushed
back his chair. He said, God, forsaken God? No
man can understand that. And I don't approach it out of
curiosity or to whet my intellectual appetite or to think up a lot
of reasons how it could be. No, but I know why. I know why. I know why a holy God could not
look upon Christ. Because Jesus Christ on that
cross is every wretched, leprous, maggot that God gave to His Son
in His covenant of grace. That's who's hanging on that
cross. And covering Jesus Christ is every sin of every believer
of every generation. All our sins are on Him. God
hates sin. God cannot look upon sin. Reality. He actually bore my sins in His
body. Alright? He was my substitute.
He really bore. Now, He made satisfaction. Look at Romans 8. Verse 32, he
that spared not his own soul, but delivered him up for us all,
every one of his people, every one of the believers, every one
of the elect, everyone who will trust him, everyone who will
believe on him, us all, how shall he not with Christ freely give
us what Christ bought? Huh? Yes sir, it'll be ours. He paid for it. It's ours. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Anybody in heaven, earth, or
hell? God has justified us. Who can condemn us? Anybody want
to pick up the challenge? The law comes and says, I'll
condemn you. Oh, no, you can't. My Lord fulfilled the law. Justice
comes and says, I'll challenge you. Oh, no, justice. My Lord
died for me. Satan comes. Oh, he defeated
you. Even my own conscience comes.
But Paul answers, Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that
died. Who is it? It's Christ that died. It's not
just a messenger. It's Christ that died. The living,
eternal Son of God. Not only did He die, but He rose
again. Everything He did, God accepted. and verified it by
his resurrection. He's even at the right hand of
God. That's the place of acceptance
and love and power, position. Who also maketh intercession. He said, I pray not for the world,
I pray for them which thou hast given me. And right now the Lord
Jesus Christ is making intercession and praying for all that the
Father gave him and all for whom he suffered and all for whom
he died. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Why? Because he was my substitute. Why? Because he actually bore
my sins. Actually. Why? Because in order
for God to be satisfied and the justice and holiness of God to
be satisfied for all my sins, He had to be separated from the
Father. Hell is separation from God. That's what hell is. I don't
know a whole lot about how much fire there is in hell, but I
don't think you'll be nearly so engaged concerning fire as
you will separation from God. Hell is separation from God.
And that's what Christ bore. And when the old apostolic creed
talks about Christ descending into hell, in a sense He did. Because it's hell to be separated
from God. My God. Why? That's why. That's why. And one old preacher said on
television not long ago, if I had been there, I'd have stopped
that awful thing at Calvary. Not me. I was the one that started
it. I was the one that continued
it. But I'm telling you this, I'm glad he died.