WEBVTT 00:00:01.100 --> 00:00:04.980 Throughout eternity past, God the Father delighted 00:00:04.980 --> 00:00:10.179 in his Son. This was more or less true during 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:14.519 his earthly ministry when Jesus Christ was incarnated 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:18.359 and came to the earth. A number of times God 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:20.940 the Father indicated his pleasure in his Son. 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:26.019 For example, at his baptism he said, This is 00:00:26.019 --> 00:00:32.579 my beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased. On 00:00:32.579 --> 00:00:34.820 that day when Jesus took Peter, James, and John 00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:38.759 and went to the mountaintop and was there transfigured, 00:00:38.859 --> 00:00:43.359 God the Father spoke on behalf of his son and 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:49.240 said, This is my beloved son. Hear him. In Isaiah 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:53.320 3, 2, 1, the Lord says, Behold my servant whom 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:57.700 I uphold, mine elect. in whom my soul delighteth. 00:00:58.460 --> 00:01:03.380 His servant there is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom 00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:06.439 Isaiah identifies as the servant of the Lord. 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.560 And yet we find this strange verse that we read 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:14.140 together from Isaiah 53, in which it says, It 00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:17.260 was the Lord's will, or the Lord's pleasure, 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:23.439 to crush him and cause him to suffer. Does that 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:27.980 not seem, contradictory to you, or at least mysterious, 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:32.480 that God the Father, who from eternity past had 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:37.379 delighted in his Son, was on that day, 2 ,000 00:01:37.379 --> 00:01:41.939 years ago, delighted to crush him and to cause 00:01:41.939 --> 00:01:46.159 him to suffer. How could it be that the Lord 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:52.640 be pleased to bruise the Lord Jesus Christ? But 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:55.219 it was certainly not the act of his dying and 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:59.599 his suffering that the Lord delighted in. But 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:02.859 it was the blessed results of what occurred on 00:02:02.859 --> 00:02:05.120 that day that caused the Lord to have pleasure. 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:10.300 It seems to me that there are three results because 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:13.039 the Lord was pleased to bruise him on that day. 00:02:13.539 --> 00:02:17.919 Results that affect you and me. The first result 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:20.419 of the work of Calvary was that revealed the 00:02:20.419 --> 00:02:25.150 love of God. We hear a great deal about love 00:02:25.150 --> 00:02:30.150 these days. The word love is easily spoken. The 00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:33.050 Bible says that it is not the word that counts, 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:37.830 but it's the deed to prove love. God has loved 00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:41.229 us not only in word, but in deed. I read verses 00:02:41.229 --> 00:02:47.710 from 1 John 4. This is love. Not that we loved 00:02:47.710 --> 00:02:52.509 God, but that he loved us and sent his Son, as 00:02:52.509 --> 00:02:57.310 an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Or it could 00:02:57.310 --> 00:03:01.569 be read this way. He loved us and sent his Son 00:03:01.569 --> 00:03:05.990 as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:11.949 away our sins. When you and I look at the cross 00:03:11.949 --> 00:03:16.550 of Calvary in the eye of our mind, as much as 00:03:16.550 --> 00:03:20.539 anything else, It reveals to us how much God 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:25.659 loves us. The essence of his nature is love, 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:29.360 for the Bible says God is love. That is not to 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:34.599 deny God's wrath and his justice. But it wasn't 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:37.180 the cross that God was pleased to reveal his 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:45.400 love for you and for me. God allowed sin to enter 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:49.150 into his creation. and its results to take place, 00:03:49.409 --> 00:03:55.250 so that in the process of time, his nature as 00:03:55.250 --> 00:04:00.830 the God of love could be realized by men. In 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:04.069 this sense, even sin itself serves the purpose 00:04:04.069 --> 00:04:07.430 of God, because through its presence and its 00:04:07.430 --> 00:04:12.090 results, God was able to show love toward mankind. 00:04:13.129 --> 00:04:16.470 By allowing his son to die for the sins of the 00:04:16.470 --> 00:04:19.910 world. As Paul says in Romans 5 .8, that God 00:04:19.910 --> 00:04:23.449 demonstrates his love in that while we were yet 00:04:23.449 --> 00:04:30.110 sinners, Christ died for us. It is customary 00:04:30.110 --> 00:04:34.029 that we give gifts to those that we love on Valentine's 00:04:34.029 --> 00:04:37.149 Day. Sometimes it's a box of candy, other times 00:04:37.149 --> 00:04:42.540 maybe a card only, or perhaps some flowers. But 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:45.620 I tell you that the greatest gift of love was 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:49.360 the gift that God gave to you and to me in the 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:54.240 death of his son for our sins. It pleased the 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.920 Lord to bruise him because through that process 00:04:56.920 --> 00:04:59.699 God was able to demonstrate his love to the world. 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:03.399 There's a second reason that it pleased God to 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:08.839 bruise his son. It is because through that God 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:14.569 reconciled the world to himself. In 2 Corinthians 00:05:14.569 --> 00:05:20.069 chapter 5, God's word puts it this way. Therefore, 00:05:20.170 --> 00:05:22.910 if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:05:23.509 --> 00:05:28.769 The old has gone, the new has come. All this 00:05:28.769 --> 00:05:33.529 is from God, who reconciled us to himself through 00:05:33.529 --> 00:05:38.250 Christ and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation. 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:43.360 that God was reconciling the world to himself 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:47.759 in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. 00:05:49.220 --> 00:05:54.079 God made him who had no sin to be sin or to be 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:59.120 a sin offering for us so that in him we might 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:03.879 become the righteousness of God. Another aspect 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:06.699 of that transaction that took place at the cross 00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:11.060 is what happened between the world and God. On 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:16.540 that day, God rendered all men savable. In the 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:20.860 death of Christ, he did not save all men, but 00:06:20.860 --> 00:06:23.500 he made it possible for all men to be saved. 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:27.899 Through the cross, he radically changed the relationship 00:06:27.899 --> 00:06:32.959 between himself and the world of sinners. Now 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:35.019 it wasn't that God changed or that the world 00:06:35.019 --> 00:06:37.759 changed, but the relationship between them changed. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:44.319 Before and after the cross, God was and is a 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:48.360 God of holiness and righteousness, as well as 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:52.040 a God of grace and mercy. Before and after the 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:55.500 cross, the world is still filled with sin and 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.279 rebellion against God. But because of the work 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:01.639 of the cross, the relationship between God and 00:07:01.639 --> 00:07:05.100 the world was changed so that God is able now 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:08.560 to show mercy toward sinners because of what 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:13.160 Jesus did for us. After that time, men's sins 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:16.660 were covered over as an atonement, and God overlooked 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:19.980 them as it were. But on that day when Christ 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:25.279 shed his blood, he made it possible for God to 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:33.579 put away sin. The second blessed result of Calvary 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:40.240 is that we were reconciled to God. Why then did 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.459 it please the Lord to bruise his son? Because 00:07:43.459 --> 00:07:46.899 through that process he could render the world 00:07:46.899 --> 00:07:51.259 savable, so that today whosoever will may call 00:07:51.259 --> 00:07:56.319 upon the Lord and be saved, even you and me. 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:00.480 And then there's a third result of the cross. 00:08:03.370 --> 00:08:05.970 The result of which pleased the Lord, and that 00:08:05.970 --> 00:08:10.449 is that through the cross, God redeemed the sinner. 00:08:12.490 --> 00:08:15.970 Peter puts it this way in his first epistle, 00:08:16.089 --> 00:08:26.230 chapter 1, verses 18 through 21. For you know 00:08:26.230 --> 00:08:28.829 that it was not with perishable things, such 00:08:28.829 --> 00:08:32.110 as silver or gold, that you were redeemed. from 00:08:32.110 --> 00:08:34.909 the empty way of life handed down to you from 00:08:34.909 --> 00:08:38.309 your forefathers, but with the precious blood 00:08:38.309 --> 00:08:42.389 of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 00:08:43.409 --> 00:08:46.730 He was chosen before the creation of the world, 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:50.850 but was revealed in these last times for your 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:55.230 sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised 00:08:55.230 --> 00:08:58.509 him from the dead and glorified him, and so your 00:08:58.509 --> 00:09:03.919 faith and hope are in God. Through the work of 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:05.940 the cross and the shedding of the blood of Jesus 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:11.259 Christ, God has redeemed the sinner. By redeemed 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:13.600 had a specific meaning in the day in which the 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:16.000 New Testament was written, a meaning that is 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.259 lost in our day because of the change in our 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:22.080 societies. In that day, slavery was prominent. 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:25.399 Most of the people who lived in the Roman Empire 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:30.580 were slaves of one sort or another. To be redeemed 00:09:30.580 --> 00:09:33.809 to a slave, had a very special significance. 00:09:34.669 --> 00:09:39.710 The word redeem means to purchase a slave in 00:09:39.710 --> 00:09:44.549 the slave market, to remove the slave from that 00:09:44.549 --> 00:09:48.490 location of the slave market, and then to set 00:09:48.490 --> 00:09:54.549 him free. What God did at the cross was to pay 00:09:54.549 --> 00:09:59.980 the price for our slavery to sin. So that when 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:02.700 we trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our own Savior, 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:06.120 we are brought out of the slave market of sin 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:11.860 and set free. Free. Free from slavery to sin. 00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:16.019 Free from the destiny of death, which we're sure. 00:10:17.059 --> 00:10:20.379 Free then to subject and submit ourselves to 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:25.480 the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Peter says that 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:30.100 Jesus was God's Lamb who Before the world was 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:33.279 ever created, he was appointed by God to die 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.960 for the sins of man who was still yet to be created. 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:40.159 You see, even before God created, God knew what 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:43.879 was going to happen. And God made provision even 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:47.720 before he spoke, let there be light. He made 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:51.860 provision for man to be redeemed from sin. He 00:10:51.860 --> 00:10:54.980 was the man chosen before the creation of the 00:10:54.980 --> 00:10:58.830 world, but then revealed. in these last times 00:10:58.830 --> 00:11:04.309 for your sake and for mine. Isn't that amazing 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:08.350 that God had you in mind and had me in mind before 00:11:08.350 --> 00:11:14.730 Adam ever knew existence? And in his mind, he 00:11:14.730 --> 00:11:20.549 offered up his son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us 00:11:20.549 --> 00:11:25.769 from our sin that we had yet to even commit in 00:11:25.769 --> 00:11:30.669 time. And yet that was God's purpose. And so 00:11:30.669 --> 00:11:33.210 why did it please the Lord to bruise his son 00:11:33.210 --> 00:11:35.929 in whom he delighted? Because of the wonderful 00:11:35.929 --> 00:11:40.309 results that took place because of his work at 00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:43.889 the cross. The result of revealing the love of 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:48.649 God, the essence of his nature. Because it reconciled 00:11:48.649 --> 00:11:52.289 the world to God. And because it redeemed the 00:11:52.289 --> 00:11:55.690 sinner so the sinners might live forever in heaven. 00:11:56.279 --> 00:11:58.500 having been forgiven and cleansed of all their 00:11:58.500 --> 00:12:02.960 sin. It pleased the Lord to bruise Christ because 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:08.200 of the results that were accomplished. I think 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:11.259 that these theological results that we've talked 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:14.179 about can be condensed into an anecdote that 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:18.399 I heard or read one time by Henry Bosch in which 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.240 he told of a tramp who knocked at the back door 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:24.159 of a home in New Hampshire some years ago and 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:27.269 asked for something to eat. The mother invited 00:12:27.269 --> 00:12:30.990 the tramp to come in to have something to eat. 00:12:32.090 --> 00:12:35.429 And as she was fixing the meal, she began to 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:37.490 learn that he had at one time lived a better 00:12:37.490 --> 00:12:42.529 life. Strong drink, however, had driven him from 00:12:42.529 --> 00:12:46.649 one sin to another. It had dissipated him and 00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:49.789 had sacked his ambition until he became a drifter 00:12:49.789 --> 00:12:53.289 and a beggar. And now he was convinced that there 00:12:53.289 --> 00:12:56.000 was no one in the world who loved him or who 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:00.960 could care for him in his condition. There was 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:04.340 a small boy in that home who listened to all 00:13:04.340 --> 00:13:08.039 of this and finally walked over to the tramp 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:10.779 and placed his little hand upon the ragged coat 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:17.220 sleeve of that man and said to him, Man, do you 00:13:17.220 --> 00:13:21.440 love God? Repeating the question several times. 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:25.759 and gave no answer, the child concluded, Well, 00:13:25.860 --> 00:13:31.299 man, God loves you. The baby's eyes filled with 00:13:31.299 --> 00:13:35.460 tears, and he began to tremble as the truth struck 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:38.740 his heart, and yet he made no reply. The little 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:42.320 boy then went to his room, and there he got ten 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:45.039 pennies that he had been saving to buy candy. 00:13:46.659 --> 00:13:50.059 Then, with a great deal of childish or childlike 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:53.570 sympathy, He walked into the room and gave those 00:13:53.570 --> 00:13:57.970 ten pennies to the beggar. The man's head bent 00:13:57.970 --> 00:14:02.429 even lower than this. And as he rose and left 00:14:02.429 --> 00:14:06.870 the house, there was a tear in his eye. Many 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:10.450 months later, a letter came addressed to the 00:14:10.450 --> 00:14:14.570 boy in the house. And in part, this is what it 00:14:14.570 --> 00:14:19.409 said. Many run your words saved me from hell. 00:14:20.680 --> 00:14:23.500 After I left your home, all I could hear as I 00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:29.500 walked along was, man, God loves you. Repentantly, 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:31.940 I finally threw myself on the ground and wept 00:14:31.940 --> 00:14:36.059 all the hardness out of my heart. I cried, oh 00:14:36.059 --> 00:14:40.399 God, give me the faith of that little boy once 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:46.200 more and save my poor soul for Jesus' sake. I 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:48.759 have a job now and clothes and a place to sleep. 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:52.860 God bless you, son, for helping to lead an old, 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:57.259 dirty tramp to the Savior. You see, my friend, 00:14:57.320 --> 00:15:00.299 that's what the cross is all about. It's for 00:15:00.299 --> 00:15:07.440 sinners. People like you and me. No one can be 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.980 too far gone for the cross to be able to save 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:13.860 him. There is no sin that is too deep but that 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:17.600 the blood cannot cleanse it from the life. I 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.269 hope that you know the meaning. of that cleansing 00:15:21.269 --> 00:15:25.730 and that your sins have been forgiven. If that 00:15:25.730 --> 00:15:28.370 is true, then on this afternoon as we meet together, 00:15:28.529 --> 00:15:32.870 our hearts surely are drawn in new and fresh 00:15:32.870 --> 00:15:35.269 devotion to the Savior who died there for our 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:39.809 sake. I'd like for us to take our hymnals as 00:15:39.809 --> 00:15:44.409 we close. We'll sing the first and third verses 00:15:44.409 --> 00:15:53.200 of 218. These words of A .B. Christensen, blessed 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:59.360 Redeemer. Let us stand as we sing verses 1 and 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.100 3 of 218.