What does it mean to me personally? Does it have any impact on us as you read it? It is not just from a sadistic aspect that we're reading about some cruel punishment that a person endures, though it was cruel, inhumane, unjust. It's much more involved than that. This is the very vertex of all time. We date time as before Christ and after Christ. All the Old Testament brings us up to this point and this focal point. We've read in our reading that the veil in the temple was rented 20. That is not just an insignificant statement. It is God demonstrating that all the Old Testament sacrifices and the Old Testament mode of worship has now been accomplished and fulfilled. And now we began with a new administration, with a new priesthood, with a new mode of worship. And it is set forth by our Lord in John the fourth chapter as we have shared with you before in his statements there at the womb of the well, God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The only thing necessary for the child of God today to worship Jesus Christ is to have been regenerated and to have the truth of God. And those two, as I've said, are always abiding together. You cannot separate truth from the spirit of God. I don't mean to say that they are the same. There are those who teach that the Bible truth is the Holy Spirit. No, the Holy Spirit is the third person as we refer to Him in that aspect. He is very God as much as is Jesus Christ. He is part of the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Word of God contains the truth of God and is the revelation to us of the mind of God. And when the truth of God is believed and when it is declared, it is believed by regenerated people who have the Holy Spirit. You cannot understand the truth of God apart from the Holy Spirit. Our Lord told Simon Peter, blessed art thou, when he said, gave that great confession, whom do men say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the Christ. And the Greek article thee is very important there, and it is there. Thou art the Messiah. the Son of the Living God. All those times you have the definite Greek articles there, which means you are peculiarly the Messiah, the exclusively Son of the Living God. And our Lord said to Simon Peter, which is something that we need to understand about all truth, blessed art thou, Simon Barton, for flesh and blood have not revealed unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. So we may read and memorize the word of God and never have understanding of it. It must be given to us by the Holy Spirit of the truth that's set forth in it. And so when the Holy Spirit of God speaks to God's elect people, revealing to them the truth, they are blessed then to be able to worship God in spirit and in truth. And to show to us that this Transition has taken place. We have the veil in the temple being rented to. And should we lose the significance of that, 70 A.D., the Romans totally destroyed the temple. And even today, Jews, Orthodox Jews, cannot, even to this day, cannot keep the Passover. They cannot keep the Old Testament feast and sacrifices because they do not have the temple. They have made some provisions and substitution and arrangements, but they are not according to the Scriptures. They are according to the rabbis, but it's not according to, thus said, the Word of God. You and I, who've been brought by the Holy Spirit of God to know Jesus Christ as Savior, have this understanding, that the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ, the very Lamb of God, and that His death fulfilled all the Old Testament sacrifices, and that His death was indeed the means whereby that God has saved His people from their sin. It is the glorious news of the gospel that thrills the hearts of God's people, and it never grows old, and it is, I trust, always as thrilling to you as it is to me whenever I consider it and think of it. And we should not fail to be constantly minded of God's great love toward us. Now, there were three words that I want to used today in our consideration about the death of Christ. I hope and I don't think that I'm saying anything new to you at all, but I want to just refresh your minds, as Peter says, and stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. And I will use three words to kind of hang my thoughts on this morning, and those three words are predetermined, preordained, and propitiatory. Those three words. First thing that I want to point out to you about the death of Christ, and you very well know this already, but just remind us about this because it's significant. If we're going to understand or write the death of Christ, we must understand that the death of Christ was not by accident. It was not a mob getting out of control. It was not just things happening. but rather everything involved with the death of Christ that was also His life, everything involved about His death was according to God's predetermined will. Now you have Peter saying in Acts chapter 2 when he's speaking there on the Day of Pentecost to those very same Jews in Jerusalem who just a few days prior 40 days prior to that, it put Christ to death. And Peter is blessed to bring that great message there on Acts chapter 2. And he speaks to them and said, Him, referring to Jesus Christ. And again, in the Greek there, that word Him is very emphatic. He is speaking particularly too about this man. Him, hath Him being delivered. That's an important phrase too. Him being delivered. The Greek word would also mean Him being surrendered over. Never did things get out of control. You remember when they came to the garden and was going to take and arrest the Lord and Peter drew his sword and the Lord said, Put away your sword for I can call legions of angels. not that a mob overruled and not that things were, could not be prevented, but rather Christ was verily delivered. He himself submitted himself and became willing in the eternal counsel of God before the foundation of the world to experience death and to become flesh and dwell among us and to experience death for the sins of his elect people whom the father had chosen and given unto him. And so everything is a matter of submission. Him being delivered, surrendered over. That would tell us something about how God is always even in control of the wrath of men and wicked things. God suffers God allows people to do wicked things, not that He is in any way the author or instigator of them, but rather He allows men to exercise and manifest their anger and their wrath to accomplish His eternal will. Psalm 7610, the wrath of men shall praise Him, and the remainder of it He shall surely restrain. Him being delivered by the determined counsel, the word there determined is a Greek word from which we would get the word horizon. And you pronounce the word horizo, which is very close to our understanding of the word horizon. And when you look out across the horizon, especially if you were out on the high mountain or on the sea, you would see something or a line and that would be the boundary, the line between earth and the skies and so that's the horizon. It means the limits or the lines drawn or the boundary of something. And you can see this, I believe, when we look at the death of Christ, when you read over and over, and it is said to us, this was done that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Now, what are the Scriptures? The Scriptures are simply the unfolding of the revelation of that which God has determined to happen. And so when you read, and that's what prophecy is, people get all excited about the word predestination, they get problems. about predetermination, they have problems about it, yet they believe prophecy. I don't see how you can believe one and not believe the other. Him being delivered, God had determined before the foundation of the world that Jesus Christ, and Christ had agreed to this, that He would come and experience this very day. And so that we might understand that this was happening by the determined will of God and was not just simply the wrath of men being manifested, God puts little significant phrases and things in here that we would come to understand by the Spirit that He is always in control and so Everything about the death of Christ is determined. You go back to the very first prophecy about the death of Christ in Genesis 3, verse 15, that the Lord there spoke to the woman and said that the seed of woman would bruise the head of the serpent. Now, I can just imagine the old rabbi scholars reading that and scratching their heads and saying, how in the world is this going to be done? What is meant by this phrase, the seat of woman? Because always in the Old Testament and always when it's talking about begatting and genealogies and so forth, it's always in a masculine sense, the seat of man, the seat of so and so. But here it is, the seat of woman. But you and I who have come, been made to understand about the marvelous work of the incarnation, We understand how but the Virgin Mary was moved upon by the Holy Spirit of God so that she conceded without a man being involved, the man, Jesus Christ, and that His body was formed by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit of God. Uniquely, no other way it could have been done. And so here God put himself, so to speak, and I don't like to use that terminology, but that's what I've said. God put this thing in such a restricted frame. that when it happens, you would understand and we would understand that it was exactly as God had determined that it would happen. Isaiah 7, 14, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And that verse has been attacked by all of the atheists and all of the Bible deniers in the world and have tried to twist it and pervert it and make it to mean something else other than it does mean. And indeed it does, in the Hebrew language, The Hebrew word there for virgin would simply mean young woman, but you know, it's not like our modern day society. If you were not a virgin, you were stoned in Israel, and so it is a young woman who is a virgin, because that's the only kind of young women that was unmarried at that time. Mary confirms that and proves that when she said to the angel, how can these things be, saying, I know not a man. And that verse, they're still scratching their head over trying to refute that one. So God put this thing in a determinate way that we would understand that as it is unfolding across the histories of time, on pages of time, that it was exactly as God had ordained it to happen. He made promises, for instance, the seed of David. And it's exactly that's what Christ was. You read in Romans chapter one about Jesus Christ and he was on the seed of David. And who was Mary? Brother tribe of Judah. Who was Joseph? Brother tribe of Judah. And so it is all that tribe that Jesus Christ comes for, the kingly tribe. But not only is it in the very life of Christ, the birth of Christ, but you have the very means whereby that he was to be put to death. not well understood but in John the third chapter when Jesus Christ said, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That was reference to a unique way in which he was to be put to death and it was unique especially to Israel because Israel never crucified or hung anyone. They never hung anyone except as it was, we referred to and did around the 21st chapter, that it was understood that this person was in a special way accursed of God. Very rarely did it ever happen. And so now Christ said that in that manner, he would be put to death. He would be hung on a tree. Paul makes reference to that in relation to the third chapter. And he says that this is proof that Christ was made a curse for us. No other way could he have died. while they at times wanted to push him off a cliff, yet he passed through the midst of them. When they at times wanted to pick up stones and stone him, yet they did not do it. And he is untouchable or invincible into a certain degree until it comes to the very hour and day when he is to die, and he dies uniquely in a very special way, exactly as he had told his disciples he would die. In Luke, the 22nd chapter, he says in verse 22, And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined, there's the word, ordained, determined, as it was determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. In Acts, the 17th chapter, we have this Greek word again, horezo. Acts 17, verse 26, And is made of one blood all nations, I'm sorry, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined, put in bounds the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." Did you know this? The very community you live in, the very house you live in, I believe is ordained of God. That's what it says right here. And that's what the word habitation means, the very residence that you live in. Now, I don't know about you, but I have the very blessed and comfortable insurance that I believe that I live in the very house that God has ordained and prepared for me to live in. You know, yes, I got to pay a mortgage on it, but I believe that it was planned and I can go through the history and tell you that I think that that was a pointed place for me to live. But this is what it says. Acts 17.26, He made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth and to determine the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. In Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 7, this word has used. And it's interesting here because it gives us... And you see, when you compare Scripture with Scripture, you get like the Greek lexicon, you get an understanding of the various meanings of this word. And here in Hebrews 4 or 7, it says, and again, He limited a certain day, and that's the Greek word, perezo, which means He set the boundaries or He framed a certain day. He limited a certain day saying to David, today, after so long a time as it said, today if you'll hear His voice and harden not your heart. You see, the word determined means that you shut everything else out, and you focus in, and you are putting boundaries here. This is exclusively the way I will do it. It will be done. That was about the death of Christ. Well, Matthew 27, verse 35, they crucified Him and parted His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled what was spoken of by the prophets. Now, that's a very insignificant statement. in a relative sense. And these soldiers have no interest at all, Roman soldiers, they have absolutely, they didn't even know what the Bible, the Old Testament said about this. They have absolutely no interest at all in fulfilling the Scriptures. And if you'd walked up to them and said, y'all are fulfilling the Scriptures, they would have laughed at you to scorn and probably give you a backhand cuff because they were not interested in fulfilling the Scriptures. And they were doing totally what was their own volition to do. But you will see that God restrains them in the tearing of the robe and they cast lots for it. And the Bible says the lot is cast into the lamp, but the whole there I suppose is of the Lord. God is controlling what these wicked men will do. And lest you miss the point there, you come on down and you read the with the transgressors. That's spoken of in Isaiah, the 53rd chapter. That's exactly what Isaiah said 700 years before the birth of Christ. Isaiah says that he would be numbered with the transgressors, one on one side and one on the other side. John 19, the scripture that we read, done, what we're reading about, these were done, these were done that the scriptures might be fulfilled. These were done that the scriptures should be done, a bone of him should not be broken. And another scripture said, they should look on him whom they have pierced. The soldier, the one who has been pierced, came with every intention of breaking the bones of Jesus Christ. He is an ungodly person. I personally believe that he experienced regeneration and comes to acknowledge that truly this is the Son of God. Now, you may differ with me, that's all right. I think that God made a revelation revealing to them that truly this is indeed the Son of God. But He walks up to that cross with every intention of doing what He had done to the other two men, breaking their legs to hasten their death, and He's going to break the legs of Jesus Christ. But God had said not a bone of His body would be broken. That was God's determination. That was the boundaries. that God put on his death. Wicked men will act, they will do what God is determined to be done, no more, no less. Not a bone of his body should be broken, but his side will be pierced. And the soldier, what reason? He does it. You ask him, tell him, you just fulfilled the scriptures. You did this by the will of God. Oh, no, no. I just did it because I'm disgusted or anger. I want to be sure the man's dead. And he does it. Pierces the side of our Lord in fulfillment of the scripture. Why? Because God had determined that this death would be exactly as God had ordained it to happen so that you and I would understand that it is not just happening, but it is happening for a divine purpose. Now, that's the second word, preordination. They're very similar. And we sometimes use them interchangeably in a way, but they're not synonyms. I'll just try to give us some illustration. You're here today, by the grace of God, but you're here today because you determined to come here. But the reason why you determined to come here is because you came for a purpose. And so the purpose determined the predetermination. You cannot separate the two, but they're not the same. A young lady's getting married, and she, in a traditional wedding normally, and supposed to be, she would wear a white gown. Now, she just doesn't say, well, you know, it doesn't make any difference, or I kind of like white, or I don't know, maybe I'll wear blue. Certainly she wouldn't choose black. She chooses white for a reason. She predetermined, she chose to use the white because it would accomplish a purpose. There's a purpose to it. It has significance to it. And so she's going to wear this gown, predetermining it, choosing it, but she uses this gown because it declares it has a purpose to it. And so these things are, predetermination and purpose, preordination, but they're not one and the same. John, the 15th chapter, you have that word used by our Lord. Verse 16, he says, You've not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you. Now, we could say that predetermination is involved with choosing, but you also have the other word here, ordained you. And that means that I have put you here for a purpose. And he tells them what that purpose is. I've set you here, that's what the word ordained there means. I have put you in place. I have a purpose for you. Your purpose is that you would go forth and that you will bring forth fruit and that your fruit will remain. It's happened. Oh, because those apostles were such great preachers and they worked miracles and they were so gifted with such abilities. That's the reason why that they were so successful. Well, if you would look at Paul in prison, you wouldn't think of him being successful. Or if you would follow the paths of those apostles, most of them were put to death. You do not think that they were successful from human aspects. But you and I know the full story. And the reason why that they brought forth fruit, and the reason why it was that there were 3,000 souls saved on the day of Pentecost, and the reason why that they had such an impact on the world, and so it was said on one occasion they've turned the world upside down, is because God had chosen them as an instrument to do His will, and He said, I have ordained you, this is the reason I chose you, I ordained you to go forth and to bring forth fruit. The fruit that came forth was not because of their abilities, but rather because of what God did through and by them. And then He said that your fruit will remain. You are here today to worship the Lord in a New Testament church because God made that promise right there. Your fruit will remain. I do believe in the perpetuity and preservation of the Lord's church, not because some history book said it, but because God said it. Jesus Christ said, Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the ages. Oh, history will support it, but I don't look to history. I don't have to have a biology book or a science book to believe that Genesis chapter 1 through 3. I just believe what the Bible says, that God created the heavens and the earth. And the same thing is true about the preservation and perpetuity of the Lord's church. And so the death of Christ is not just something that's happening. It is because it has a purpose to it. It has been preordained that he die and that he would die to accomplish a certain purpose. That's where we have problems with other religious orders because they don't understand and they're denying the purpose of the death of Christ. He is not dying as an example or as a martyr. He is dying for save his people from their sins. John Matthew chapter one verse 21. His name should be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And so there is a divine purpose in Christ's death. Hebrews chapter 1 you have this word used in verse 2 where it says that God hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Now there's that word ordained whom he hath appointed heir of all things. Now would anyone argue regardless of whether you are quote Armenian or Calvinist as such, would anyone argue that Jesus Christ is the heir of all things and that he will indeed manifest throughout all eternity that he is that one whom God has appointed to be heir of all things? Why is it? Why is it that he will be heir of all things? Well, of course, we could say that he has fulfilled the will of the Father in Philippians chapter 2, and where God has highly exalted him, given him a name above every name. But the reason why all of that happens is because God hath appointed, God hath ordained it. It will be such as God has ordained it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, that word is used again, for God hath not appointed us to wrath. but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Not a one of God's elect people will die and go to hell. They are not appointed to wrath, but rather they have been appointed or ordained unto eternal life. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, God, for God who has saved us and called us to the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 1 Thessalonians 2, 13. We're bound to give thanks always unto God for you, beloved, because God, from the beginning, chose you unto salvation through the centric case of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Why do those things happen? Because God ordained them to happen. They shall not fail to happen. Every one of those that Jesus Christ died for on the cross of Calvary, every one of them have been redeemed. Every one of them have been justified. Every one of them shall indeed be heirs to eternal life. Every one of them shall be glorified because Jesus Christ came to accomplish the purpose that God sent him for. Now just consider with me such a foolish idea of this, if you would please. If it was true as the Armenians say, the free willers, that Jesus Christ died, and it's up to you to make a decision to accept it or reject it. Let's just suppose, using that reasoning, that no one, absolutely no one, in all the history of time, no one accepts it. I mean, when you consider the doctrine of depravity, man, that's not impossible. not four specks to say, knowing that people are dead in trespassings and sins, and knowing that the carnal mind is the image of God, and there's knowing that there is none that understands it, there's none that seeketh out the Lord, and when you look at what the Bible teaches about the depravity of man, it would not be four-fetched to say that if it were left up to man's human free will to come to Jesus Christ, not a single one would come, then what do you have about the death of Christ? that God would send forth His only begotten Son into the world to make flesh and to suffer the inhumane, unjust death on the cross of Calvary and that all of this would be done according to the will of God for the divine purpose to save people from sin and then it's all over with and nobody is saved and everybody dies and goes to hell. That's not a very wise God. And that's not the God of the Bible. Word of God teaches that God had a divine purpose in sending forth His Son, and that He was ordained before the foundation of the world to be the sin bearer for the sins of His people, and that Jesus Christ, who died according to God's predetermined plan, that He accomplished that purpose on the cross. And if you will accept nothing else, take this right here. Jesus Christ, when He is suffered, He said, The death of Christ's people was accomplished. No works, nothing to be done. Not one thing can we do, not one thing must we do. Christ has paid it all and salvation is certain and sure to all of those who've been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world because it was preordained for that purpose. Not because of what man makes out of it but because of what God has ordained. Which brings me to the third and final point, which is that it is propitiatory. You have that word in the third chapter of the book of Romans, where we read verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Now the word propitiatory. is a word that is exclusively used primarily in the New Testament. It is a New Testament word, although we do have a similar word in the Old Testament when we speak about the mercy seat. But the well-understanding of that word can be taken from Isaiah, the 53rd chapter, where you read that he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Now, you who are my regular listeners, you know very well that I do not use the word and try to abstain from using the word atonement in the death of Jesus Christ because the word atonement means primarily a covering and it was a temporary covering and so every year Israel of old had to have a day of atonement. They did this annually every year because it is only temporary and it was pointing to the coming when Jesus Christ would make the once and for all final sacrifice for sin and there would need to be no more sacrifice because God says, I'm satisfied. propitiatory. That's what it means to be satisfied. The law of God has been satisfied. The sword of God's judgment was drawn, and it was plunged, as it were, into the heart of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God on the cross of Calvary. And He shed His precious blood. And in those three hours of darkness, there was such a transformation and such a transaction going on between He, the Father, and the Son, that God put a shade across the sun. Father, the Son said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And when the three hours was over, Christ said, it is finished. And the light returned. And the Lord said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he dismissed his spirit, and bowed his head and died. It was finished. It was accomplished. He had paid the price and the sword of God's justice was put back into his sheath. God said, justice has been fulfilled and the law has been satisfied. There is no more condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. And so not a single one of those that Christ died for will ever die and go to hell. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Don't speak of people dying and going to hell for whom Jesus Christ died for. You belittle the death of Christ. You dishonor His work on the cross of Calvary. The death of Jesus Christ was by divine design for a divine purpose, and it accomplished that purpose. And when you read and you think about the death of Christ, rejoice in saying, He died for my sins, and I'm free, free. on the law's condemnation. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Appreciation. Satisfaction. I don't know of any other word any better to describe the death of Christ. There are many other words to talk about the transaction that took place. Ransom. He paid the ransom price. You wouldn't dare to pay a ransom price and then not get what you paid the price for. We think of people who... put a ransom price on someone and then they don't deliver that kidnapped person, we think of them as being the most inhumane and unjust criminal possible. Were you going to say the same thing about God, the Father, who is holy and just in all of His ways, and that He sent His Son to die to pay a ransom price for the souls of men and yet some of them die and go to hell? Nay, no, no, no, not so. Every one of those that Christ died for have been redeemed, which brings us to that other word, redeemed. That means to be set free, delivered. Three Greek words that describe the death of Christ have translated redemption. It means to pay the price, to set free, to loose from the chains of bondage. Christ paid the price for the redemption, for the deliverance of a person who had been in bondage to sin and then that person not be set free? Why, all the powers of heaven would be moved against such injustice to think that Christ would die for an individual and yet that soul die and go to hell. Nay, that's the reason why the Lord can say, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish because he paid the price of our redemption. Justification. He freely justifies. There is the accomplished act between God the Father and the Son, that all of the sins of all of God's elect people were laid upon Christ, and Christ satisfied the law concerning them, and God now is satisfied and declares them to be justified, not because of any foreseen goodness or acts that they might do, but because of what Christ did on the cross of Calvary. satisfied. Therefore we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul describes it again in Romans 3 that we are justified freely, justified freely by the grace of God. And so the death of Christ was a predetermined death from before the foundations of the world for a divine purpose which God had ordained that he would accomplish which he did accomplish when he said, I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. That will was that he might accomplish and pay the price of redemption for all of his elect people. And therefore, it is propitiatory. God is satisfied. And Paul, I think, summarizes it in the fourth and fifth chapters of Romans where we have him saying, therefore, being justified, we have peace with God. Well, I'll start reading. Let me start with one. that Christ was raised, chapter 4, raised for our justification and therefore being justified, therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no peace for the unregenerate person. But for all of those whom God is pleased to make known to them that Christ has died for their sins, there is peace. And that peace comes about because God imparts faith, not human faith, not just mental, intellectual faith, but divine faith, faith whereby we are made to believe God, faith whereby the Holy Spirit of God has worked in our hearts and we say, I believe him, I trust him. And I trust that God the Holy Spirit has to all of you imparted that faith that you can sing with assurance and confidence based upon the word of God that Christ has died for my sins.