Now I do not have, well, I've got one place. The only place I have you to begin with is in the 23rd chapter of Luke. I'm only going to read one verse. And there were many that I could have used, and many would say the same or very similar. And I thought that I would title this The Suffering Savior, knowing that I will not tell you anything that I have not already said. You know it all, but maybe refreshing your memory. And then I thought, There's no way that what I say could compare with what the old, I think he was German, Krumacher, wrote in The Suffering Savior. And it wasn't worthy, mine was not worthy to be put in the same place as his. But in Luke 23, the very end, the very end of the life of the Lord Jesus here on earth. In verse number 46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, Now pay attention to the next two words. He said, after he had cried, and that last loud cry was, it is finished. And then he said, this is only to his father, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. So instead of a suffering Savior, I'll just speak to you on the death of and all that led up. to such a crime in Israel. Would you bow with me as we seek our Father? Father, only because he suffered, not for sins that he had done, but because he took my sins into his own body, became guilty before thee, and suffered so. All through life, really, but especially those last days. And then that day, where by wicked hands they took him and crucified our Lord. In him we come. In him we have salvation. In him we have only hope, or he is our only hope, that in those grievous sufferings, and then throughout his life, he paid a debt that we could never pay. Father, I pray that you might fix our hearts, that you might make us receptive, that thy word, thy truth might find a good ground, a well-prepared ground, for this seed to follow. And if there be one here that does not have high regards and a deep heartfelt love for this man, this God man, help them Father. We can profess salvation without ever being affected by death. We cannot be saved apart from coming to some knowledge and revelation. of what he paid. Exalt him. Edify your children. And for these that do not get savingly, no. The blessed Lord Jesus. Father, as little as the Spirit of God is working today, would you be pleased to grant to these much grace as the Spirit works within. Give hearing ears, give an understanding heart, and take us to Calvary. those hours leading up to it. For his great name's sake, and it is in that name that we ask these things. Amen. When Jesus gave up the ghost, Death was defeated. No saint of God will ever die. They may put your body in the ground, but you'll never die. Your soul will live on. Death was defeated that day. The grave was defeated. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? It has no victory over the children of God. And in Christ rising from the dead, The salvation of a people was brought into effect. Now there are a lot of things, many words have lost their meaning over the years that I've been here. Things that at one time used to be important to us in this nation, family, home, church, not specifically in that order, but yes, they all three must be. Your reputation, your loyalty, your strong allegiance, not to a political party, to Christ. All of us had freedom to pursue whatever career we wanted, desired. We all still have a privilege, though it is diminishing, to express our opinion. We can vote ever how we see fit. You can marry the one that you choose to, want to, you can attend the place of worship that is a freedom you have. And all those and many more were possible because the old forefathers in our nation were loyal Many of them to God and all of them to their country. You enjoy these freedoms and they felt that it was worth the sacrifice even of their own lives that you might have the freedoms that you enjoy. as to your loyalties. Many things there, but one thing ought to be far above all others. And that is to the one that you call savior with others falling in line after him, family, But your family is only significant as to the importance of the Lord Jesus in your life. Your family, dedication, devotion is depending upon your loyalty to the one you call Christ. If he's not first, then I assure you, none of these other things are gonna be in their proper order. Your loyalty to a church. No building has any significance to a devoted follower of the great shepherd that does not proclaim his lordship. that does not declare salvation is by grace and grace alone. None of your works. If that does not come forth from the pulpit and is not evidenced in the lives of you, the church members, then your loyalty to Christ isn't there. A church, not because there's a building with a name attached to it, but a church because it adheres to the word of God, refuses to get involved in their gimmicks and their easy believism salvation. I don't think it would be a surprise, it might be to some of you, of the number of Christians around in our land that cannot find a local church, an assembly, even in large areas where there are a lot of buildings that have the name of such and such a church. I was very thankful being away of what I heard, but I assure you this, that if their lives had not been consistent with what I deem is important to one in the pulpit, they never would have been asked. So I not knowing how long I will be around or be with you, This church will continue as long as your loyalty to Christ is what it ought to be. And His Word holds firm in your heart and those that follow behind me do so with your prayers. As you can imagine by all the gray hairs, which is all of them now, there are a few things that have taken on great importance to me just in the last months and the last very few years. Number one is the Lord Jesus. Do I know him? Do I love him? Am I faithfully following him? If I say he is my Lord, am I speaking the truth? He, his eternal works, who he is, what he did, and my relationship to him is of utmost importance. In the opening prayer Sunday morning, in speaking to the Lord, there were two things brought to mind as I prayed there, for them and for you. And one of them is the fact that the sun comes up every morning. And whether we see it or not, it's up. if you are in another day. And according to Psalm 19, that is the bridegroom making his circuit from one end of the earth to the other. And my grief is how long am I in the day before my heart and my mind are towards him? I wish I could say it is with the waking moment of the early morning hours, but I cannot and be truthful to you. Sometimes it takes a while, but it ought, it ought to be my waking thoughts and my closing my eyes, he being my thoughts. And then a couple of centuries ago, there was a little girl still carrying her baby doll in her hands. And she walked into where her father was preparing for the message the next day. And she climbed up in the chair there with him and he continued working. Then he took his glasses off and he laid them down on his Bible and he looked at her and he said, daughter, do you want something? And she said, no, Papa. I just want to be with you. Do you go to Him, children, at times when you don't need anything? Or is every word out of your mouth, is it a request for something? I want my time more and more to be when I just sit down, not wanting anything from God, just wanting to be with Him. I hope in The verses that we look at, we look at this day that it will be a help to you in seeing these things come to fruition in your life. The great apostle said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. God forbid that I should boast or rejoice except in the cross, by whom the earth, the world. One of your great enemies is that out there. Great enemy to the life of God and the soul of man is the world. The world keeps advertising, the world keeps showing things, look like me, dress like me, act like me. Go where I go, I want you to go. If you want to enjoy life, put my activities first in your life. After all, there's room for me and your Jesus. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. His cross is not some old wooden beam stuck out there on that old rock skull. His cross was a reality in the apostle's heart. And by that cross, everything is crucified. Everything is becoming crucified. What about you? Again, this was in the early 1900s, a young lady just in her early 20s. She left the States to go overseas as a missionary And when she returned, she was an old lady. And from time to time, she would be asked at meetings to give her testimony. And there was a young girl moved after she heard her. And she came up to her after all the others were through. And she said, I'd give the world to have a testimony like that. She said, young lady, that's what it'll cost you. And then I've mentioned to you about the old man preaching at the Bible conference. And after everybody had come up and shook hands and had their words to speak with him, there were two young preachers waiting in the back and they finally came up. One of them said, to preach like that, I'd give everything I own. And the old man said, that's what it cost me. As you're a Christian, did it cost you anything yet? Children, if you want something to lose its significance, just keep it in the public's eye long enough. has no relevance, no significance anymore. Abortion. Homosexuality. Those are just accepted today. No question asked. Just common activities. If the Lord tarries and the world stands one day, Mutilation of young boys and young girls, it will be just an accepted policy. Now all that's negative to the Christian, but if you want something to lose its significance, let me speak positively. Just keep it in the eyes of all around you. And so, in my generation, the symbol of the cross was made a little silver necklace or a little gold necklace that folks wore around their necks. And it lost its significance, lost its meaning. We don't know, we don't know the cost of our Lord Jesus at Calvary. when Hezekiah the 13th, the 13th king from David, who I do not know how long that Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness before David was king, but Moses lifted up a piece of brass there in the wilderness. In that look, all had life. if they were dying with a serpent's bite. But when Hezekiah came into the kingship there, he took that old brazen serpent that meant so much to the children of Israel that were dying, and they found life again by a look. He took it and he beat it to pieces. And he called it Nahashtan. a piece of brass. Doesn't mean anything to you. One time it meant life. Its importance was such that the Lord Jesus in Genesis 3 said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Means nothing anymore. The cross has lost its significance. movies. Every year, Easter time, you're going to see a movie of the life of Jesus. I don't know how much longer that will last. And then the movie, The Passion, came out with Mel Gibson. And there, though I did not see it, I can only imagine I'm not going to let some face on television affect my sight of Jesus on the cross. I'm not saying anything. Some of you may, many of you may, all of you may have watched it, I don't know. But they'd show Jesus with a few streams of blood flowing down his face. Him being somewhat in agony. Won't even come close. Isaiah 53, as many were astounded at thee, thy visage. His visage was so disfigured and so resembled only corruption. Disfigured more than any man, more than the sons of men. And if a stranger had walked beneath that old hill that morning, and looked on that middle cross, they would not have seen a man. They would have seen an object that they could not even make out, but it resembled more like that of a beast. There before God at Calvary on that cross, Jesus Christ taking your sin in his body, that body now disfigured so that he didn't look like a human being, but just a beast. Our Lord Jesus, the one that looked like that, said, for you, don't you take any thought for your life, what you shall eat or drink or for your body, what you shall put on is not the life more than what I eat and drink and wear. He that taketh not his cross, Jesus said in Matthew 10, 38 and 39, and follow after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth, if all of you found your life here, then you're going to lose it. But everybody here that loses his life for my sake shall find it. The cross there had but one purpose, and that was the death of the one that they had hung or nailed to, those old pieces of wood. He must die. There were occasions where some would suffer so long on there and still be alive that they would take them down. but they put them on there to bring them to death. If you do not take your cross, meaning as with Paul, I die daily. I go to work, but my work is not for me. My work is for my family. My work is for my church. My work is for the glory of my God. You come home and you prepare a meal, but behind the preparation, there's this. It is in love for my family, but it is for the glory of God. I'm losing my life for his glory. God said, Christ said, you'll find it. The cross meant death. No one was coming home. Man hauled off from his jail cell and his wife told, say your final goodbyes. He didn't whisper to her as he walked free or walked out to the cross. I really wish that you would prepare for me my favorite meal. And I'll be home after a while and tell the boys that we're going fishing tomorrow or we'll play ball together. No, he wasn't coming home. He's going to die there. Now the cross was used by the Persians and then later by the Phoenicians that introduced it in Rome to Rome in the third century before Christ. It was an instrument most cruel, most painful. The most shameful death. It was used for criminals having committed the greatest of crimes. or insurrection against their government. Now, when it first came into use, they would tie their hands outstretched on that beam, running horizontally with the earth, just tie them up there. That was a pretty difficult death, but they'd die soon. They'd suffocate. not having anything under them where they could push the body up to expand the diaphragm to get a breath of air. They suffocated. And then later on, we got to make that more difficult. Romans thought we'll put a stool under their feet and they can push up. And they could last there for days. But the Romans then went to the cruelest of all deaths. They took away the stool and they nailed their feet, bend them outward, and then nailed them, the feet, to the cross. They were able to push up, though with much pain in their feet, but they could at least get a breath of air. Push up, stretching the marks and feet and hands. And if they wanted to take them down from the cross, they'd come along and break their legs, which meant that they couldn't breathe anymore, not for long. And they come to Jesus, and he's dead already. No man taketh my life from me, I lay it down. but I want you to look with me now to Matthew 27 prior to the cross. Matthew 27 verse number 26. Then released He Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus, I'm sure that you girls here have experienced or experimented with plaiting your hair, maybe pigtails or whatever when you were younger. And you'd take three strands, you'd separate three strands of hair and you'd cross them all. And in between every place where there was a cross, the Romans, they'd put a piece of metal or a bone ever so far apart. And at the very end, of an old whip made of leather, three strands made up of woven leather together. At the end of that, they would put a hook and they'd wrap that hook around the body of those that they were scourging that would literally pull off flesh. You know the back is the part of you that has the least muscle and the least amount of protection. They'd rip those vessels back there. But there was a centurion that was placed over the scourging. And he would stop the ones that were using the whip, tearing the flesh off, of the victim, he had stopped them just prior to death because they'd lost some, just being scourged. Blood draining so quickly from them. And he'd stop them, that's enough. He's going to the cross. Now, you with me? You with me in Matthew 20, 27, 26? When he had scourged him, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers and they stripped him. One of the shameful features of the cross was a man was stripped of all his clothing. and he hung naked. And then when they took him down from the cross, they would put a robe on him. And when he is brought back in verse 27 into the common hall, verse 28, they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on. You ever taken a bandaid off a cut too soon? and you reopened the wound and it started bleeding again. They stripped him of the garment that he had. And then they put a scarlet robe, that signifying royalty. Put that scarlet robe on him and they planted a crown of thorns. weaved in and out, not these little half-inch thorns that we see around here, upward of three inches. And they would force that crown of thorns into the very base of the skull of the victims. They'd take that reed They'd mock, spit on him. That one with the purple, that was the scarlet robe. And then they took that robe off. In verse 31, put his own raiment on him. So they've kept opening the wounds. Blood from the Roman scourge, blood dripping. from the beating from the thorns, stopped just short of death. Then they've reopened these wounds two other times, bleeding, starting again. And he put his own garments on and they led him away to be crucified. And to you, dear child of God, one of the most hallowed and sweetest places you'll ever find is at the foot of the cross. And there with brokenness and tears sufficient to wash his feet, "'cause it was there for me. "'He died. "'Thus might I hide my blushing face "'while his dear cross appears. "'Dissolve my heart with thankfulness "'and melt mine eyes to tears. "'Isaac, watch o'er him. "'Naked, dying, because he thought you were worthy. And how long is that son going to be up in the morning before I remember my Lord? If one ever finds out they're a sinner, not because mom or dad or because the preacher said you're a sinner, if you ever really find out by work of the Spirit of God, your attitude changes quickly. And the older you get, the greater the sinner you become. Oh, not because we're out there running around committing vile acts of sin. Not because we murdered someone or we lied or we stole, no. You become a greater sinner because you didn't realize the corruption that lie within your heart that day when you begged God to save you and for Christ to have mercy on you. but you grow in grace and knowledge, and you see, and it was for me. For me, he paid that awful cost. And then he could, well, I'll get there later, hopefully. 45 times in Isaiah 53, he, his or him, masculine pronouns are used in reference to Jesus. In verse seven, one time, one time in that chapter, He said, and as a sheep before her. Every once in a while, a male sheep would rear its head from the chalk block. Occasionally they would. But you put that female lamb down, it'd lay there. Nobody took my Lord's life. Nobody had the power to haul him off to court. They're going to call them legions of angels. but he bear it because of his heart. Children get to his heart. As the old preacher up in South Carolina said, when I was just a young one, young fellow, son, preach all the great doctrines of scripture, neglect none, But do not stay long away from the cross. I have another place where I've got several, but I think I'll close it shortly. John 13. And I don't know if I'll get back. Days prior, John 13, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, what hour is that, Lord? When I give to the hands of wicked men, power to do with me as they please. When Jesus knew that his hour was come and that he should depart out of his world, out of this world to his father. Child, how long Jesus loved you? He said, knowing all things in front of him now. He said, no, that's too much. I can't. He thought you were worth it. The days prior to the garden, then in the judgment hall, the cruel lashes, the spikes in his hands and feet. And then last and not the least, great darkness came over all the land and he entered into that eternal darkness. his father turned his back on him. If he had not died for me, that eternal darkness will forever be my hell forever. If in all the punishment, in the pain, humiliation and the agony. If it was not for me, all that will be mine throughout eternity. The depths of pain that you will never know, child of God, but on that cross and prior to it, you're Had I not sinned against an eternal God, I possibly could go to hell and pay my debt in 10 million years. You say, that's a long time. No, it's not a long time. It's a drop in the bucket if you compare it to eternity. And that's the one word that drove me to many sleepless nights as I was entering my 10 years eternity. But if I had not sinned against an eternal God, I could go and in 10 million years pay my debt. But since I sinned against an eternal God, I will eternally be in hell if he did not die for me. And my punishment throughout hell, throughout all eternity. You can't use the word throughout. My hell in all eternity. He had to pay. I mean, there's not one sin that that I committed prior to being saved, or one sin I committed after being saved, or one sin that still lies hidden in my heart that I don't know about. If he didn't pay the full debt, I'll be paying it. Throughout eternity. You know what, children? I'm going to stop about, I think, halfway through. And it would lose its significance if I kept you here. Maybe the Lord will let me continue. I don't know. But please. Look. a suffering Savior. That's all I ask you to do. You young ones here, you're not going to heaven because you said, Lord save me, I'm a sinner. You're going to go to heaven because Jesus died for you on that cross, and that's what you've got to find out. I can gladly report that he's never turned away one honest, sincere, seeking sinner. I leave you that hope.