Conclusions from the Death of Christ

Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of John, the third chapter of John. I'm speaking tonight
on the subject, some conclusions from the death of Christ our
Lord. Some conclusions from the death
of Christ our Lord. I'm only going to read about
six verses from John chapter three. beginning with verse 14. I want you to follow as we read.
John 3, verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
But for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. Our text is verse 17. For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. Let's bow together in
prayer. Our Father in Heaven, we approach thy holy, sovereign
and righteous presence tonight through the righteousness and
precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. who entered not into
the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself, there
to appear in thy presence for us. And he hath perfected forever
through one offering them that are sanctified. And we have been
told that we are to come boldly into thy presence, and we can
find mercy and grace to help in time of need. and that this
entrance into thy holy presence, open for sinners, is through
the blood and through the sacrifice of our Redeemer. We come tonight,
our Father, asking for mercy and for grace and for help. We have opened thy word and read
thy word, and yet we need thy Holy Spirit to reveal thy word
unto us. We need thy Holy Spirit to speak
through thy and deliver a message that the people need to hear,
a message that will glorify and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ,
a message that will comfort our people and instruct those who
know thee not in the way of life. We pray, Our Father, that throughout
this entire service that our Master, our Redeemer, might be
glorified, that whatever we do, in word or in deed, shall be
for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee that Thou
hast permitted us to come together to worship Thee. Thou hast given
us the desire to worship Thee, and the hunger and thirst for
righteousness, and Thou hast promised that we shall be filled.
We cast ourselves humbly and sincerely upon Thy mercy and
upon Thy grace in this hour. O Lord, visit with us. Thou hast
said where two or three are met together in Thy name. Grant,
O Lord, that we have come in Thy name. and not in the strength
and energy of the flesh, nor because of responsibility and
duty of religion, but that we have come sincerely in Thy Name
to praise Thee and to worship Thee and to seek Thy face. Thou
hast promised to be in our midst. And Thou hast said what things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe, and ye shall have them.
O Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. We pray for
all who minister the Word tonight where Thine aim is preached,
where Christ is exalted, where the gospel is declared, what
we have prayed for ourselves, we pray for all who preach Thy
word, especially our missionaries, these faithful men who, even
at this moment, are there in the Pueblos of Mexico and the
towns of Spain and on the streets of Ireland preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with them, our Father, and
bless them and meet their needs, supply their Bless their families
and strengthen them in every way according to Thy will. We
ask Thee to bless our nation. We thank Thee for this nation.
We thank Thee for the freedom that we have, and we know it's
the gift of God. And we pray for those who lead
this nation. Thou hast taught us to pray for
kings and magistrates and those in power, for they are the ministers
of God, and we hold them up before Thee. We ask Thee, our Father,
to bless this service now according to Thy will, and especially enable
thy servant to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit. Grant,
O Lord, that we shall not be left to our wisdom or to our
understanding, but that we might boldly preach thy word, that
Christ may be exalted, thy purpose accomplished. Be with us in a
very special way, we pray, both the preacher and the hearer,
according to thy blessed will, and for the glory of Christ we
pray. Amen. I read a verse of scripture which said, God sent his Son into the
world. I don't think any of us quite
realize the impact of that statement. God sent his Son into the world. I don't think very many of us
realize the importance of that statement, the overwhelming mercy
and grace contained in that statement. I was listening to a preacher
preach several years ago, and he just read John 1, verse 10. And I don't think I heard much
he said after that. He read this statement. He was
in the world. He who made the world was in
the world. The world knew him not, but he
was here. And Paul said, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this
world. The Ancient of Days became an
Infant of Days. Can you contain, can you imagine,
can you realize what that's saying? God came into this world in human
flesh. And he didn't come to honor,
he didn't come to fame, he didn't come to a position of respect.
He came to an enslaved, forgotten, downtrodden people. The scripture
says he was a root out of a dry ground, a desert place. He came
into this world as a Jew, a forgotten nation, an enslaved nation, a
downtrodden nation. He was born to a Jewish maiden,
unrecognized and unknown and unheralded. He came to an enslaved
people. And then he came to exile. From
the very first moment that he was born into this world, it
was said there was no room for him. There was no room for him. And this was true of his whole
life. There was no room for him in
the inn. When Mary and Joseph, Mary, great with child, about
to be delivered, came to the inn to find a place to spend
the night for the child to be born, it was said there was no
room for them, no room for him. And that was true till he rose
from the grave. No room for him. He came to poverty. A man said to him one time, I'll
follow you, Lord. He said, well, foxes have holes
and birds of the air have nests. But the Son of Man hath no place
even to lay his head. He spake as no man has ever spoken. He spake, the men said, with
authority, and yet he came to ridicule. and mockery. They said, Why, he cast out devils
by the power of devils. He's a wine-bibber, he's a gluttonous
man, he's a friend of publicans and sinners, he's a nobody. Everybody
who was anybody turned thumbs down on this Jesus of Nazareth.
Even one of his disciples said, Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? He spoke one day, and they said,
Well, we know this fellow. He's Mary's boy. He's Joseph's
son. He's the carpenter. We know him.
We know his whole family. We know his brothers, Judah and
Joseph. We know them all. Nothing to
him, just, I'll teach us. They ridiculed him and mocked
him the whole time he was on this earth. And he came to Saras. In fact, he was called a man
of Saras. He wept acquainted with grief. Man of sorrow, what a name! For
the Son of God who came ruined sinners to redeem. But hallelujah,
what a Savior! He came to poverty, he came to
sorrow, he came to trial. He was led into the wilderness
there to be tempted personally by Satan himself. He was a man
of temptation. He was tempted, he was tried
in all points as we are, and yet without sin. And he came
to die. Then they led him to a place
called Golgotha, and there between two thieves they crucified him. They scourged him, they mocked
him, they treated him as a criminal. He was even forsaken by the Father. He was nailed to a cruel cross,
and there he died alone. It was alone the Savior died
on dark Mount Calvary. Alone, alone, he drained a bitter
cup and suffered there for me. Alone, alone, he bore it all
alone. He gave himself to save his own. He suffered, he bled, and he
died alone. He was in this world He was born
to exile, he was born to poverty, he was born to sorrow, he was
born to suffering, he was born to trial, he was born to temptation,
and he was born to die. They took him down from the cross
and they laid him in a borrowed tomb. He was in this world. I'm overwhelmed that the Lord
of Glory should become a man, for an angel of God to condense
sin, to come down here and become a worm. would be nothing compared
to the Son of God himself becoming the Son of Man. I am amazed that
Jesus Christ should become a man. I am amazed that Jesus Christ
should be identified with sinners. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was one of us, yet without
sin. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He took upon himself bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh. I'm amazed that he would be identified
with us. I'm amazed that he would die
on a cross, a cursed, cruel death. But from this revelation I've
drawn four conclusions that I want to give to you tonight. He was
in this world. He became a man. He visited this
earth. Jesus Christ, God's Son, who
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant,
and died the death of death on the cross." What does it mean? Well, I think it means four things.
Primarily it means many things. We couldn't exhaust this subject,
but primarily it means four things. The first is this. If God sent
his Son into this world to save sinners, if he sent his Son,
his well-beloved, only begotten Son, if Jesus Christ, God's Son,
came down to this earth and was subjected to this type of life,
to this type of existence, to this type of treatment, to this
type of death, then I know this, I know that man must be lost. hopelessly, helplessly lost. Now, I tell you, the death of
Christ is the most extreme act that God Almighty could perform. And the reason that he sent his
Son, the reason God Almighty sent his Son, the reason God
Almighty gave Christ to such a death, that extreme act was
because man is in an extreme position. Now, to talk about God subjecting
his Son to this type of cruelty, to this type of poverty, to this
type of anguish, to this type of death, only as an example,
is foolishness. I know there are preachers all
over this world that talk about Christ died on the cross as an
example. But to talk about God taking
this extreme action, sending his Son down here into this world,
as a man, To bear our sin and our shame, to talk about God
subjecting Christ to that type of treatment only as an example
is foolishness. And to talk about God giving
the crown jewel of heaven only as a martyr to win our pity and
to win our goodwill, that's ignorance. Christ didn't die as a martyr.
Christ didn't die as a frustrated reformer. Christ didn't die as
an example. And to talk about God giving
Christ only as an offer, as a way of salvation, among other efforts
and among other ways, is blasphemy. To talk about Jesus Christ dying
in vain is blasphemy. Christ did not die on the cross
as an example. He did not die on the cross as
a martyr. He did not die on the cross as
a reformer. He did not die on the cross as
an offer, among other offers. He died as a sin offering. He
died as a substitute, he died as a sacrifice for our sins.
It was an extreme act, because man is in an extreme position. He's lost, he's helplessly lost. And Christ had to come in order
to save him. I have a friend up in Pennsylvania,
a young lady whom I've known for several years. She came to
hear me preach when I was holding a meeting up there several years
ago. Her mother is a good friend of mine, and she told me a story. Her father was a physician. She
was an only child. He loved her desperately, his
only child. They went to the beach one time
swimming for a vacation, and she went out into the water,
and she got in trouble, undertow, undercurrent. Her father was
sitting on the beach watching her swim in water a little deeper
than she should have been swimming in. He wasn't a well man, he
was a heart patient. And he was watching her swim,
and she got in trouble. There was no one else there.
And he ran and dived into the water and rescued his daughter
and brought her ashore. But in doing so, he died at her
feet of a heart attack. He didn't survive the effort,
but he had to perform it. It was an extreme act, but it
was performed because she was in extreme circumstances. And
I'll tell you this, if that father was willing to give his life
for the daughter, it was because it was in extreme circumstances. And when God Almighty was willing
to give the life of his only begotten, well-beloved Son to
redeem his people from their sins, it was because they were
in deep, desperate trouble. Now, if you would know the hopeless,
helpless condition of men, don't go to Noah's flood. That will
show it to you. God said, I looked down and I
saw that every imagination of man's heart was evil continually,
and I determined to destroy this world. If you want to know the
hopeless, helpless, sinful condition of mankind, don't go to Babel's
tower where God separated the nations and sent them in all
directions, speaking other languages because of their evil. If you
want to know the hopeless, helpless condition of men, don't go to
Sodom's fire where God destroyed the perverted ways of men. Don't
go to the wilderness cave. I know you where to go. If you
want to know how lost we are, how hopelessly, helplessly lost
we are, go to Calvary. And that one hanging on that
cross, shedding his blood under the wrath of hell and the wrath
of earth and the wrath of heaven, is God's Son. The wages of sin is death, and
Christ had to die. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. And Christ, because he was numbered
with the transgressors and identified with the guilty, he had to die. Paul wrote in Hebrews 9, without
the shedding of blood there is no remission. That's how serious
it is. You can shrug off the sinfulness
of sin. Paul talked about all the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. You can minimize it and ignore
it and laugh about it, but God Almighty gave his Son to die
for sinners. And if God sent his Son into
this guilty, wretched world to bear the anguish and agony which
he bore, you can put this down, God hates sin. God hates sin. Secondly, if God sent his Son
into the world, Man is lost, that's clear to me, totally lost,
without God, without hope, without help. And if God sent his Son
into the world, and you can put this down, Christ is the only
Savior. If there had been any other way,
God would have taken it. Our Lord said himself, I am the
way, not a way, the way. I am the truth, I am the life.
No man cometh to the Father but by me. A man is ignorant and
foolish and blinded by sin and tradition who will ignore the
only way that God set forth and try another way. I am the way,
Christ said. I am the door. It couldn't be
clearer than that. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. By me. I'm the resurrection and
the life. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. Why will men try to be saved
by baptism? Why will they try to be saved
by sprinkling, or pouring, or dipping, or immersion, or whatever?
Christ is the way. Why will men try to be saved
by walking an aisle, or praying at a mourner's beach, or joining
a church, or doing good work? Christ is the Savior, he said
so. But no, men have done that for
years. They ignore the object of faith and worship the means
of faith. God Almighty had Moses raise
up a serpent of brass in the wilderness. He said, Now you
people that are bent, look to the serpent and live! You know
what they did? After it was all over, they took
that serpent down from the pole and they put it in one of their
shrines and temples and began to worship that thing. And along
came a wise king and ground it to powder, and he said, That
thing has no power. That's nothing but a piece of
worthless brass. That's all that is. God Almighty gave his Son through
a woman named Mary. They made a God out of her. God
Almighty hung his Son on a cross, crucified him on a cross to bear
our guilt. Do men look to Christ? Do they
trust in Christ? Do they rest in Christ? No! They
worship the cross. They wear it around their necks.
They put it around on their pulpits. They put it out in front of their
churches. They wear it hanging down on their Bibles. They wear
it on their lapels. They worship not the Christ of
the cross. They worship the cross of the
Christ. And they got it backwards. Now, tell me that's not right.
I know it is right. God Almighty gave baptism to
show the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He gave baptism to
show our identification with Christ. So what do we do? We
ignore Christ and try to wash our sins away in the water. He
gave the Lord's table, the bread and the wine, to point us to
Christ. They are nothing but symbols. They are elements. He
said, this bread, this wine, as often as you eat it and drink
it, you show my death. Men have sought salvation in
this very thing. They think by eating the bread
that that puts their sins away, or drinking the wine that gives
them the life of God. The life of God is not in a wafer,
it's in Christ. You see what I'm saying? I am the wafer. Paul said there's
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid. What is it? Christ Jesus. Peter
said, we know we're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold, but with what? The precious blood of Christ?
Christ is the way from ruin to redemption? Christ is the way
from guilt to glory? Christ is the way from darkness
to light? Christ is the way from wrath
to love? Christ is the way from hell to
heaven. I must needs go home by the way
of the cross. There's no other way but this,
I'll never get sight of the gates of light if the way of the cross
I miss. Why? Because there's no other
way for God to be just and justify the ungodly except for Christ
to die for our sins. That's the only way that God
Almighty can satisfy his justice. He said, I will not clear the
guilty. So in order to be our Redeemer,
Christ became guilty. In order to pay for our sins,
he took our sins. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. By his stripes we are healed.
The only way for the law of God to be honored is for Christ to
come down here as a man and meet that law and agree with that
law and obey that law in every jot and tittle. There is no other
way for sin to be put away. There's no other way for God's
justice to be satisfied. There's no other way for God's
law to be vindicated. There's no other way for sin
to be forgiven. It is finished. So the Savior
cried, meekly bowed his head and died. It is finished! The
race is run, the battle is fought, and the victory is won. It is
finished! All that heaven decreed, all
that ancient prophets said, is now fulfilled as was designed
in the Savior of mankind. It's finished! Aaron now no more
must stain his robes with bloody gore. The sacred veil is written
clean. The Jewish rites no more remain. It is finished. This his dying
groan shall sins of every kind atone. Millions shall be redeemed
from death. because the Lord gave his breath. It's finished. Behold the Lamb
of God, the only Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of this
world. Thirdly, if God sent his Son
into this world, if that man, that physician, gave his life
in the salty waters of that sea. It was because his daughter was
in an extreme, dangerous position. And if God sent the crown jewel
of glory, if God sent his only begotten Son into this world,
it's because man was in an extreme condition, hopelessly, helplessly
lost. And if God sent his Son into
this world to save sinners, you can put this down. Whether you're
Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or Nazarene or Evangelical or
Catholic or Jew or whatever, he's the only Savior. The only Savior. And thirdly,
if God sent his Son into this world, thank God, he's going
to save somebody. He's going to save somebody. How do I know that God will forgive
sin? Can you answer that question?
Suppose somebody stops you on the street tomorrow, and they
said, how do you know God will forgive sin? How do you know
God will save sinners? How do you know? You know what
I'd say? I'd give them four answers. Number one, I know God Almighty
will forgive sin because God is love. God delights to show
mercy. The Scripture says he's plenteous
in mercy. He delights to show mercy. Call
upon me, he said, I'll hear you. And the second reason why I know
God will forgive sin is because Jesus Christ, who is that prophet
of whom Moses wrote, who is the one who came to reveal the Father.
Philip said, Show us the Father, and Christ said, Philip, he that
hath seen me hath seen the Father, and he that hath heard me hath
heard the Father. I and my Father are one. And coming down here
as that prophet to reveal the Father, he said, Thy sins be
forgiven thee. Come unto me, I'll give you rest."
That's what he said. I believe him. Thirdly, I know
that God will forgive sin because his Apostles, whom he sent in
the power of the Holy Spirit, to whom he said, They that hear
you, hear me. They said he'll forgive sin. John wrote, If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sin. But last
of all, and most important of all. How do I know God will forgive
sin? God is love. Christ Jesus said
he would forgive sin, the Apostle said he would forgive sin, but
the issue is settled at Calvary. If God spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him freely
give us all things?" Christ didn't die in vain. He died to save,
and he's going to save. He died to redeem, and he's going
to redeem. He died to put away sin, and
he's going to put away sin. He shall not fail. He said, All
that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And this is the will
of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I'll
lose nothing, but raise it up at that last day. He will forgive
sin. Christ Jesus didn't come down
here and make an effort to save anybody. He came down here to
save them. He said, The Son of Man is come
to seek and to save that which was lost. He cannot fail. He said, I came to do the will
of him that sent me. I came to speak the words of
him that sent me. I came to work the works of him
that sent me. And when he went to get him in
his garden, on his knees as he sweat great drops of blood, he
said, Father, I have finished the work. you gave me to do. Now glorify thy Son, that thy
Son may glorify thee." If the Jesus you preach, if the Jesus
you worship, if the Jesus in whom you believe did not accomplish
what he came to accomplish, you are worshiping and preaching
and believing in another Jesus. Because the one of the Bible
said, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. And when
he lifted his voice on Calvary's cross, hanging there between
two fiends in that three o'clock hour, he said, It's finished! And God Almighty shook the earth
and raised the dead and rent the veil and twain. It was finished.
And then last of all, if God Almighty sent his Son into the
world, then men are lost, we're in trouble, we're in real trouble.
Christ came to do what the Church couldn't do. He came to do what
the law couldn't do. He came to do what the judges
couldn't do, what the prophets couldn't do, what all the angels
and men on earth could not do. He came to save, and he's going
to save some folks, and I want to be one of them. Desperately,
earnestly, sincerely, humbly, I want to be one of them. And
then last of all, if Christ sent his Son into the world, what
an encouragement! What an encouragement to sinners,
to the chief of sinners. Paul said, he came to save sinners
of whom I'm chief. What an encouragement to you
and me. There is nothing to bar you from coming to Christ. If
he came down here to save, I've come, he said, to seek and to
save the lost. If he came down here sent by
the Father to save, on purpose to save, If his blood was shed
to redeem, then what is there to keep me from becoming an object
of his grace? The only thing I can think of
is this. As he looked at that crowd one
day, he said, You will not come to me that you might have life. Now, they come to the ceremonies
Why, yeah, the Feast of the Tabernacle, the Feast of the First Fruits,
the Passover Feast, they'd come to those feasts. They'd go through
all the rituals and ceremonies that the Old Testament set forth.
They'd come to the feasts. They'd come to the celebrations.
They'd come to the temple. They'd come to the house of worship.
They'd come to the law. And all of the customs and laws
and rules and regulations and creeds and catechisms and ordinances
cannot quench the soul's thirst. It can only be quenched at the
water of life, that blessed fountain about which we sang a moment
ago, drawn from Immanuel's vein. And Christ said, and said, If
any man thirst, let him come to me, and out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. But they just turned and looked
at him. and walked away, you will not come to me." Or you
can get people to come to church if you give something away. You
can get people to come to church if you don't preach too long.
You can get people to come to church if you'll hire a good
quartet. You can get people to come to
church if you make your building air-conditioned in the summer
and warm in the winter. You can get people to come to
church if you make the seat soft enough and the program interesting
enough, but they won't come to Christ. And if a man ever comes
to Christ, he'll come to church. And if a man ever comes to Christ,
he'll come to the Word, because Christ is the Word. If he ever
comes to Christ, he'll come to the altar, because Christ is
the altar. If he ever comes to Christ, he'll
come to the water because Christ is the water. That's right. But
he won't come to Christ. The way is clear, the way is
free, the way is perfect, the way is prepared, nothing to pay,
nothing to do, nothing to be, nothing to bring. But they won't
come. It's all of grace. Preacher,
give me something to do. Come to Christ. Give me something
to say. Say, Lord, be merciful to me,
a sinner. That's fitting words for a sinner. Give me something to be. Be brokenhearted. We ought to be. Come ye sinners
poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus stands ready
to save you, full of pity, love and power. Let not conscience
make you linger, nor fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
he requires is to feel your need of him. You will not come to me. That's
the only thing. Between you and mercy, between
you and grace, between you and salvation is your unwillingness
to come to crevice. You will not come to me. Jerusalem,
how oft would I have gathered you unto myself as a hen doth
gather her brood, but you will not. Men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds are evil. They love this world
more than Christ because their deeds are evil. They will not
come to him. I'm the way, he said. Come to me. Come to me. I'll give you rest. Our Father,
we thank thee for thy word, for every promise of this blessed
word. We're overwhelmed tonight by thy grace. God sent his Son
into this world. He died for our sins. He rescued
us from sin. In rescuing us, he had to give
his life, because that's what our sin had deserved, your wrath,
your judgment, your condemnation, eternal death. Christ bore it
all. Our Father, we look to him and
him alone, not to the means of grace, but to him who is grace. We look to him. He is the way. We come through Christ. He's our refuge. He's our shepherd. He's our life. And press upon
the heart of every sinner in this congregation the sinfulness
of sin, the inability of man, and the power and grace of Jesus
Christ. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen.

Conclusions from the Death of Christ

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Conclusions from the Death of Christ

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