It is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in medical
witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love Great is Thy
faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies
I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endures. Thine own dear presence to hear
and to guide. Strength for today and bright
hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand
beside Praise thy faithfulness! Praise thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Fellas, y'all sounded good. They
sounded good. Yeah, they did. I want to draw your attention
to the 26th verse of the 27th chapter of Matthew, or the 36th
verse, excuse me. This is the account of the soldiers
after they had hung our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Verse
35 says, And they crucified Him and parted His garments, casting
lots, that it might be fulfilled which are spoken by the prophets.
They parted My garments among them, And upon my vesture did
they cast lots. And sitting down, they watched
him there. And sitting down, they watched
him there. The title of my message is Watching
Him Suffer. The subtitle would be In Knowing
Why. In Knowing Why. It is clear that this glorious
event was a spectacle, a must-see for the bloodlust of entertainment.
When I was a boy, before we had TV, we had the radio. We used
to sit in front of the radio and watch the radio. And our
mind made the pictures for the radio. We watched the Lone Ranger
and Gangbusters. My grandmother watched her soap
operas every day. They were 15 minutes long at
the time. But if it was entertainment for
the city or for people, you could go to the drive-in movie or the
movie show downtown. But the biggest entertainment
was religious. It was tent meetings. And most
people went just because it was entertaining. They were held
out in places where people didn't have usually a movie show, and
so those crowds were huge. Not necessarily because of any
true value in it, but there was great crowds. It was a lot of
fun. I went to several of them when I was a boy. This was a great event. There was no TV here, no internet,
no movie shows. Later they would have the Coliseum
where they would have entertainment of people killing people. But
this is about as big as the entertainment is got in this day. And these
soldiers were sitting there watching our Lord in his suffering, hanging
in agonies and blood on the cruel cross. It was kind of a macabre
sport, but it was attended by many. And many today like to
think that they look at the scene of the cross as they view the
sanitized versions of it, painted by men who have found a way to
market this event, whether with paint or press or whittling knife.
They have made crosses and crucifixes a common way for folks to think
they see Christ and know something of the events of the cross. Those
who profess such religious, or rather possess such religious
play pretties, relish such things, wear or display such things,
actually prove that they are unaware and painfully ignorant
of the portent of this singular, magnificent, and sublime event. And they neither understand nor
perceive what went on there in these few hours. That the king
of all kings allowed himself to be manhandled and then in
perfect obedience offered himself a sacrifice unto God. the judge
of all the earth. It has been said, and rightly
so, that three areas of Scripture that men and women are most ignorant
of is what happened in the fall, what happens when God saves a
sinner, and most assuredly what took place on the cross of Calvary. And I thought as I read of these
men, these soldiers, these stalwart warriors who just moments before
had treated our Lord with such malicious cruelty, are not there
to learn of Christ. They're there to mock Him. They
did not stop to consider what great thing is happening before
their eyes because they could not know. In a short while God
will hide the sun behind a curtain and turn noon to night. and shut
down the day star, and these who've gathered here to sit and
leer and mock will miss altogether the wondrous magnitude of what
is taking place. The darkness that will fill their
eyes is no match for the darkness that resides in their minds and
their hearts and their soul. That which transpires in the
next three hours cannot be perceived by sight, for no man has seen
with the eye what transpired in that darkness. It is only by the Scriptures
and by God-given faith, believing the Scriptures, that someone
might get a hint of what went on when Christ, the Mighty Maker,
died for man to creature's sin. The report is that they sat down
and they watched Him there. They sat down and they watched
Him there. They saw nothing that they considered
to be of great value or consequence. We hear nothing from them at
all until they saw the graves split open, and dead men walking
about, and felt the earth tremble beneath their feet, and astounded
at that visual display of power beyond their control, they proclaimed,
and perhaps it was for self-preservation, that Christ was the Son of God,
in verse 54. Many have said such things of
Christ, who without understanding of what went on at Calvary. Nicodemus
said, we know you're a man come from God, and God says you don't
know anything. The demon possessed damsel in
act 16 was talking about the greatness of the men of God.
But she was of the devil. The sons of Sceva thought they
knew who Paul was and who Jesus was. But they didn't know either
one. The devil said, we know who they
are. And then set about the sons of Stephen, whooped them up real
good. They sat and watched him there.
The question is asked, and must be asked, and must be answered
to some degree by everyone who hears the gospel. What do you
see on Calvary? Do you see some martyr, some
example, some failure, some good man, someone trying to do a good
thing, someone applying for a job? What do you see? It is of eternal importance to
you that you grasp what eventuated on Golgotha. Do you know that
even if you have no true interest in Christ, that He, as the despot
of this universe, bought you and paid for you? and has absolute
rights to you and will do with you as he sees purpose, as king,
as despot, as the Greek word used in 1st and 2nd Peter chapter
2, despotes, has bought us He owns us lock, stock, and barrel.
God has put all things in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist said, He's given Christ authority over all flesh.
To this end doth Christ both die, rose, and revive, that He
might be Lord of the living and the dead. And if you know Him,
it is because on the cross He bought you. Not as despotes,
not as despot, but as kurios, Lord. He redeemed you by His
blood. imputed the very righteousness
of God to your account, lives for you in intercessory glory,
and will soon deliver you from the present evil world to a state
of eternal joy and bliss, if you know what happened on the
cross. These few hours in the realm
of human history so easily viewed by those who sit and watch are
in fact the hinge pin of all history and all eternity. Everything
traces to this and from this. Everything that happened in time
and eternity before Calvary, what's it about? It's about Calvary.
Everything that happened and shall happen in time and eternity
after Calvary, what's that about? It's about Calvary. You are about
Calvary. Your life, your death, your existence,
your job, your thoughts, your deeds, your actions, your heart,
and your mind are about these few hours that our Lord spent
on the cross 2,000 years ago. You say, well, I don't see that.
You don't have to see it for it to be so. Your life and death
and existence, all is about Calvary. If you live in grace, it's about
the Christ of the cross. If you live in rebellion and
unbelief, it's about the Christ of the cross. Everything hangs
here, everything turns here, this is the hinge, this is the
pivot, this is the nail in a sure place upon which all history
and eternity, time and time, and the universe hangs this very
hour. Earth and all that dwell therein
have to do with Jesus Christ and His cross. What do you see? In John 19, there's a word that
summarily defines what took place on Calvary. The word does not
list all that took place, but declares something about what
took place. In John 19, 27, and 30, a single
Greek word is used and translated two different ways. That word
is translated another way in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
14. The Greek word is teleo, and
it means perfect. It refers to perfection in the
sense of a thing being completed. A thing being finished, a thing
being accomplished, a thing being ended or made perfect. The word
is used in John 19.27 and translated accomplished. The word is used
in verse 30 of chapter 19 and translated it is finished. The
word is used in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 14 in reference
to the estate of all those whom Christ suffered and died for.
And that word is perfect. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. What do you see? If you see anything
less than absolute success, let me be very clear here, if you
see anything less than absolute success in plan, intent, purpose,
and consummation concerning Calvary, then a dark veil hangs over your
eyes to this day. There is no sense, no hint no
suggestion ever in all of Holy Writ that what Christ did on
Calvary may be seen or viewed or construed as anything other
than a perfect thing, an immaculate accomplishment of precisely what
He intended to do. It is fulfilled, it is accomplished,
it is finished, and it is perfected. To what may we apply this declaration? His name. Thou shalt call His
name Jesus, for He shall save His people from His sins. He
did it. Fulfilled. Accomplished. How do you make God just to save
sinners by His propitiatory work? That's how it's done. That's
fulfilled. God is just and justifies them
that believe. Is people justified? Fulfilled. Is people glorified? Fulfilled.
Is people sanctified? Fulfilled. Is people righteous?
Fulfilled. None of this is a might be or a probability or a possibility. It's all taken care of. All the
prophecies and types and pictures and shadows of the Old Testament
were fulfilled right here in these few hours on the cross.
Over a hundred particular prophecies. were filled in these few hours.
Word for word. One of them is even listed. They
shall part my garments and cast lots upon them as it is written.
As it is written. Our Lord said the Bible was about
Him. That's what He told the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
He opened the Scriptures to them that they might understand the
Scriptures and told them that all the things in the Psalms
and the Prophets and Moses spoke of Him. Spoke of Him. Then He opened their eyes to
understand the Scriptures. He said to those who read the
Scriptures but didn't believe on Him, you do search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you find eternal life, but there they
would testify of Me, and you will not come to Me, they might
have life. Jesus Christ is the Book. He's the Word. He's the
Living Word that is expounded in the written Word. The eternal
purpose of God in redemption was fulfilled on the cross. You
read Isaiah chapter 45. Our Lord said, I'm a just God
and a Savior and I've sworn this is going to happen. Men are going
to come to this Christ. Men are going to say in Him have
I righteousness. All that are incensed in Him
shall be ashamed. And in Him all shall be justified
and shall glory. That was fulfilled on Calvary's
tree. He made His soul an offering for sin. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him when he made his soul an offering for sin. He
shall see his seed, and the Lord shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall be in his hand. He shall see all
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his skill
and knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities fulfilled." Fulfilled. The Father's love for His people
has loved us with an everlasting love. Scripture says, the Lord
said, because I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
I have drawn thee, fulfilled. That's taken care of. That's
taken care of. God commended His love toward
us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Scarcely
will one die for a righteous man. Some might die for a good
man, but God commanded His love toward us while we were sinners.
He died for us. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Fulfill. Fulfill. Eternal purposes and redemption. Fulfill. Father's love fulfilled. God's hatred for sin fulfilled
once. Once. God hates sin. But nobody ever took the full
wrath of God. We don't know anything about the wrath of God. We're
in the hands of the mediator. The despot has bought us and
the Lord has bought His people. We're in the hands of the mediator.
He has authority over all flesh. We don't know anything about
God's wrath. We have our stumblings Our trials and our tribulations
come on. We know nothing about God's wrath. Nobody does except
Jesus Christ. It was Him whom the Lord said,
take the sword out of the scabbard and plunge it in the heart of
my fellow. Only done once and that sword
has been back in that scabbard ever since. Our Lord Jesus Christ took the
full weight of God's wrath and God shut down the light so nobody
could see it. You don't know what it's about
and I don't either. We know this is what God does with sin, because
when Jesus Christ was made to be sin for us, God poured out
His wrath upon Him. We see God's hatred fulfilled. How much does God hate sin? When
His Son was made sin, God poured out His wrath, turned His back
on Him for a second. God the Judge dealt with Christ's
surety and exacted the payment of the debt that He had assumed
from all eternity. He visited our transgressions
with stripes as they laid upon the blessed Savior Jesus Christ. What do you see? Full and eternal
salvation. Fulfilled. Fulfilled. He not dealt with us after our
iniquity. but has separated our sins from
us as far as the east is from the west. Fulfill. Fulfill. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will encode no
wise cast down. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is my Father's will, which he sent me. Of all he has
given me I shall lose nothing, but raise it up again in the
last day. Full and eternal salvation. For
whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate, to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He
also called. And whom He called, them He also justified. Whom
He justified, them He also sanctified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? He spared not His
own Son, but freely gave Him up for us all. How shall He not
with Him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is Christ that died. Who is
He that condemneth? It is God that justifies. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus fulfilled, you see. Eternal salvation. God has been
kind to you in mercy and grace. And you stand before Him holy
and righteous, just, saved. And that will never change. That's
what Christ did on Calvary. The full manifestation of God's
character was there. All of it. He was indeed a just
God and a Savior. Where there we see righteousness
and holiness and justice and mercy. We also see grace and
we also see love. All of that our Lord will manifest
Himself. And I'll tell you what I find
out on Calvary when Paul said, I determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I understand what
he was saying. This is all I have to preach. This is all I need
to preach. Now men talk about practical message. This is the
most practical message you could ever have fulfilled. Would I
preach humility? He humbled himself and became
of no reputation. Shall I teach humility? He said,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Would
I preach obedience? He was obedient even to the death
of the cross. Would I preach selflessness?
He was totally selfless. He gave Himself. He satisfied
not Himself, Scripture said. Would I preach love? Herein is
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be a propitiation for our sins. Would I preach forgiveness? Here's what the elect of God
do. They forgive each other and forbear one another, even as
Christ has forgiven us. Would I preach giving? Every time I preach Christ, I
preach giving. I've never preached but one message on the actual
giving. That's when I covered it in scripture. But what I preach
giving, I do every Sunday. He gave himself for us. Ought we not give ourselves for
one another? That's what the scripture says.
These men sat and watched him, mocked him, cared nothing for
him. When you watch, What do you see? Father, bless
us to understand and pray in Christ's name. Amen.