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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
May, 1934
and sinners unsaved. The hardening effects of sin may be seen in the utter indifference and callousness of those who stood by and saw and heard the sights and sounds at the crucifixion. The same indifference and cal lousness are manifested today when peo ple turn away from the gospel. Finally, Christ’s death was accomplished as He cried with a loud voice and yielded up the ghost (v. 50). His death was wholly voluntary. His life was not taken from Him; He willingly yielded it up as the sacrifice to God. He gave Himself, as the Scriptures declare (John 10:11; Gal. 1:4). He was not an unwilling victim, forced to the cross; but deliberately He chose to give His life a ransom for sin ners. That life was not wrenched from Him, but it was laid down of His own will and by His own design. Christ’s death was also penal, paying the full penalty for sin (1 P e t 3:18). Any view of the death of Christ which omits the satisfaction of divine justice, comes far short of the truth. Sin is not merely a dis ability, arousing the sympathy of others. Nor is it simply some lack of development in the psychical nature of man. Sin is a crime against God, a crime which entails a penalty. It was this penalty that our. Lord paid when He assumed the sinner’s place and stood in the sinner’s stead. Moreover, Christ’s death was substitu tionary. He did not die for His own sin. He was the sinless One, according to the testimony of .both friend and foe. The demons declared Him to be the Son of God, the Holy One; the centurion said He was “a righteous man” ; Pilate said he found no fault in Him; God the Father was well pleased with Him; the apostles declared He was without sin. Christ died, not for His own sin, but for the sin of others. The question for each one to answer is : “Did He die for my sin ?” When the death of Christ is made personal, by the use of the personal pronoun, then the value of that death will be seen by the in dividual. Furthermore, Christ’s death was wholly satisfactory to God, the eternal Judge of all men. All that justice declared to be necessary, all the law demanded, all the Scriptures asked, was fully satisfied by the death of Christ. That death is also satis factory to man, whenever it is personally accepted. It is satisfactory to Christ Him self, as He gathers the results of it in the salvation of souls and the establishment of the righteousness of God. That the death of Christ is sufficient to meet every demand is revealed in that God raised Christ from the dead, and in so doing acknowledged the fact that every demand had been fully met. At the heart of the Scripture declaration there lies this tru th : On the cross, Christ did something for us that we could not do for ourselves, and without which we would all go to hell. What that something was is variously stated: He paid a ransom; He blotted out the writing which was against u s; He paid the penalty; He re moved obstacles between the soul and God; He rent the veil which kept men away from God; He opened a way into heaven for all who believe. There is one phase of the death of Christ which is commonly overlooked because of the greatness of the penal sacrifice. Christ not only offered Himself for sin, but He offered Himself without sin. The offering of Himself for sin was the sin offering aspect; in offering Himself without sin is seen the sweet savor aspect. The former aspect" satisfied God’s justice, holiness, truth, and righteousness; the latter satis fied God’s love and mercy and goodness.
but how much better it is to accept Him in the days, of our youth than it is to wait until our life has been reduced to ashes. Let us say “Yes” to Him now.
of these ashes? No, for the fire has burned too far. It is wonderful to know that God does accept the ashes of a wasted life if that person truly takes Christ as Saviour,
JUNE 10, 1934 JESUS ON THE CROSS M atthew 27 :l-66
Lesson Text: Matt. 27:33-50. Golden Text: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Outline and Exposition I. T he S cene at the C ross (33-38). T he place was called “Golgotha” and “Calvary”—the former being the Heb rew word and the latter the Latin word, both meaning “a skull”—because, from a certain angle, the hill presented the appearance of a skull. The soldiers gave to the Lord Jesus vine gar to drink—a sort of wine calculated to deaden the senses. But when He tasted it, He refused to drink. He would lay down His life with every faculty clear, and with full sensibility to all His sufferings (v. 34). The parting of the garments of a victim of crucifixion was the common custom of the soldiers of that day; but the parting of Jesus’ garments was also in fulfillment of written prophecy. To those hardened sol diers, Jesus was just another malefactor, and they would have been astonished if they had been told that they were actually, though unconsciously, fulfilling prophecy. Likewise, many today are fulfilling pro phecy, although they are wholly uncon scious of this fact. The death of Jesus Christ had been foretold, and it occurred exactly as predicted, to the minutest detail; Christ died “according to the Scriptures.” The accusation which was written and hung over Christ’s cross was true (v. 37). He did claim to be the King of the Jews. But while it was true, the accusation did not express all the truth. He claimed not only that He was the King of the Jews, but also that He was their God to be honored, their Saviour to be trusted, and their Lord to be obeyed. The same claims are made by the Lord Jesus Christ today, and those who reject them take their places with those, who were responsible for His death. There were two thieves crucified with the Lord Jesus—one on the right hand, and one on the left (v. 38). Both of them railed upon Him. But one became convicted and converted before he died. There is only this one instance given in the Bible of a person who was saved at the edge of the grave. But there is this one, that none need despair; and there is only one, that none should presume. “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). II. T he S corn at the C ross (39-44). The multitudes, passing by, reviled Jesus (vs. 39, 40). These men and women re membered, doubtless, His promise to rise (John 2:19) and sarcastically taunted Him for the seeming failure to fulfill His word. These people were no different from the multitudes which pass by today, who sar castically make sport of the sufferings of the Saviour. The chief priests who were gathered there also mocked Him (vs. 41-43). These priests represented the nation. What they said was quite true: “He saved others; him-
self he cannot save.” He could not come down from the cross, but the reason He could not do so was not the reason that the chief priests had in mind. He could not descend from the cross because of Scripture predictions to the contrary (Lk. 24:25-27), because of His mission (Matt. 20:28), and because of His love (Eph. 5 :25; Gal. 2 :20). The recognition by- these priests of the claim that Jesus made is fully acknowledged in the words: “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now . . . for he said, I am the Son of God” (v. 43). Whatever men may say today, there is no question concerning the fact that Jesus claimed to be very God of very God. In addition to the mocking of the priests, the two thieves “cast the same in his teeth” (v. 44). But there was a difference be tween these two thieves. The difference was simply that one recognized his crime as being against man, while the other looked upon his wrongdoing as being against both man and God (cf. Lk. 23:39- 43). It was the latter malefactor who was saved. And he was saved by simply cast ing himself on the mercy of the Lord. All classes united in crucifying Jesus— the Greek, the Roman, and the Jew. All classes were represented at the cross—the religious, the governmental, the cultured, and the criminal. According to the record, only one of all that number, and he a criminal, cried, “Lord, remember me,” and received Christ’s promise of salvation. III. T he S aviour at the C ross (45-50). The darkness- (v. 45) was supernatural. It was no common eclipse that occurred just at that time, as some unbelieving sci entists would have us believe. The Phari sees had asked for a sign, but their unbelief was so settled and determined, that even such a sign as this left them unmoved. Men today may say that they would believe, if they had a sign, but what they say is false. The darkness continued for three hours— until the ninth hour, the time of the even ing sacrifice. At that time, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself became the Sacrifice, giving His life “a ransom for many”—even for His enemies, for whom He prayed. Centuries before the crucifixion, a minute description of the scene at the cross was written (cf. Psa. 22). At Calvary God’s face was turned from His devoted Son, be cause that Son assumed the world’s sin, in cluding “my sin,” as every saved one de clares. Our Lord could certainly have avoided such a death, but only at the ex pense of having God’s will unfulfilled, His mission unaccomplished, sin unremoved, BLACKBOARD LESSON
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