2024-04-10- At Calvary

The speaker wants more people to go to heaven and is praying for 48 more souls. They feel a calling to bring souls to Calvary and share the message of what happened there. They discuss the importance of knowing what happened at Calvary and the significance of Jesus' statements on the cross. They mention the prophecy fulfilled by Jesus and the works accomplished at Calvary, including the tearing of the veil. They emphasize that Jesus paid the debt for our sins and is our high priest. I want more people to go to heaven. That's why we got 48 more souls, right? 48 more souls this year, and that's what we're praying for. I'm thankful that the Lord saved Judson and Presley, and I'm looking forward to the baptism. But I'm thankful for what the Lord did at Calvary, and I'll be turning here to Luke 23. Now, when the Lord began to deal with me about this message, I believe He did deal with me about it. It was just a few weeks ago, and my dad and my sisters were singing at Calvary. And just about as soon as they started singing it, I was standing at my pew, and I was looking at the song book, the hymn book, I believe it's page 139. And I was looking at it, and just about as soon as they started singing, I began to cry because I felt the Lord dealing with me about taking souls to Calvary. And I can't physically take everyone to Calvary tonight. I can't take you right there at the physical place, but I believe there's a calling upon my life to take souls to Calvary, and that is to not just have Calvary and not to just use that word as if that's all we need to know about it, but what took place at Calvary. So I believe if I take you to the knowledge of what happened at Calvary, if I take you to the message, to the gospel of Jesus Christ of what happened at Calvary, it's just like if I took you there physically, and it'll do you a whole lot more good if I told you about it than if I could actually take you to the place because it's just what I'm called to do. And I want to bring souls to Calvary. You've heard this message many times. We just had our Easter service, and we had a great Holy Week revival, and we heard several great messages about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the resurrection. But I want to look here at Calvary in St. Luke chapter 23 and verse 33. Luke 23 and verse 33. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him in the male factors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Just one verse. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him in the male factors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Help me pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray for the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Lord God, I'm thankful, Lord, for this opportunity. God, and without the Holy Ghost, Lord God, I can't minister, Lord, like I should. So I pray, Lord God, that You'd anoint me. Lord God, anoint the congregation. Lord God, bring us to the altar. And Lord God, I pray, Lord, help me, Lord God, to guide, Lord God, my brothers and sisters, to Calvary tonight. Lord God, that I'd glorify You. Lord God, in obeying Your will. And Lord, I pray in Jesus' name, Lord God, that souls would be saved and that You'll do great things, Lord, as You always do. Lord, You're not willing that any should perish. Lord God, that all would come to repentance. And I pray in Jesus' name that we'll see repentance tonight. Thank the Lord. Amen. Now, the word Calvary is just a replacement to the word Golgotha in all the other Gospels. Now, Calvary means skull, so like the skull, your head. So when the other Gospels speak about Golgotha, it has the translation of the place of the skull or something like that. And so this Luke here is a physician. And in Colossians chapter 4, verse 14, it tells us that Luke, the writer of Luke and Acts, is a physician. So it makes sense for a doctor to use the technical term instead of use Golgotha. And so the doctor here, writer, used a technical term, Calvary, instead of Golgotha, which all the other writers of the Gospels used. And everyone should know what happened at Calvary, especially every Christian. So if we're approached by someone or if we feel the need to speak on Calvary, we should feel that need often to anyone at any time, not only in church, but especially so elsewhere because we're only at church three times a week. So we should always have Calvary on our hearts during the week. We should always have what happened at Calvary just on our minds and be ready to share what happened at Calvary. And that's what I'm trying to do tonight. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2 says, it's Paul speaking, "...for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Paul here is saying, I'm not trying to know anything more than just the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Nothing more than Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. That's all that matters to me. I'm determined to know that at least. And that's what is important to me and that's what should be important to everybody is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And what happened at Calvary is half of the greatest event perpetually. Of course, the other half is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And let me just observe here the words at Calvary. Now, at Calvary, there were different words spoken. There was mockery at Calvary. There are many people mocking our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at Calvary. And I'm not going to go into that. I'm just saying those were words spoken at this place called Calvary. But at Calvary, Jesus had seven statements. And I'll try to get these in order. One of them is to God the Father. And He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He's speaking about those same people who are mocking Him and who are crucifying Him and He wants them to be forgiven. He's asking the Father to forgive them because they clearly don't know what they're doing. They're crucifying the Son of God, God Himself. And He wants to forgive them. That shows how our Lord is a forgiving God. Even when He's being tortured and crucified, He wants those torturers and those crucifiers to be forgiven. The Lord speaks, Jesus speaks to the repentant thief. Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. The thief repents of his sin at Calvary. And Jesus makes a statement to him that you're going to be with me in paradise. You shall, thou shalt be with me, or today thou shalt, or shalt thou be with me in paradise. And the Lord is being merciful again. This is the very first conversion, the very first repentance, the only repentance that I can see at the crucifixion. But the first man to go to heaven because of the death of Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus goes on to speak on the cross to His mother Mary, a woman, behold thy son. He was referring to John, the disciple John, or the disciple that Jesus loved as the book of John would call him. And he spake to John and said, behold thy mother, speaking to John about Mary. And Jesus spake to God the Father again, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, meaning my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We just heard a fantastic message from Brother Tim very recently on this passage. And I won't add any more to that because it was perfect, it was very clear. It came out wonderfully and we just learned about the darkness at that time and we learned about the forsaking and we learned about the hell that the Lord Jesus went through and that torturous feeling and that forsaking feeling that was there because the presence of the Lord was not there from His only begotten Son. We hear Jesus speaking to the crowd when He says, I thirst. And this is one of many prophecies that was fulfilled of Jesus being on the cross. There's just some that I could find when I was studying. When Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That was a fulfillment of prophecy by David. And there could certainly be more that I didn't get to, but there's a prophecy by David again where he said, I thirst. And there's a prophecy by Isaiah when he spake about the prophecy of Isaiah was when Jesus was numbered with the transgressors. And that would go right along with the thieves that Jesus was between. Now, one man referred to this, well, I'll go to this one again. Jesus spake to God the Father and said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And this was right before He died. Now, it's not clear whether He said this before or after He said, it is finished. But anyway, He said to God the Father, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And we know that at that time He gave up the ghost. But around the same exact time, a man put it this way. Jesus spake to the world when He said, it is finished. And I'm thankful that it was finished. It is. It is still today. It is finished. I'm thankful that Jesus spake that to the world. And that brings me to the works at Calvary. When Jesus said, it is finished, that meant the end. It is accomplished and the debt is paid. Hallelujah. Praise God. The debt is paid. Mark chapter 10 verse 45 says, For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Sister Carrie was talking about earlier in the service that Jesus came to be a servant. Here He's saying that He came to minister. And He came to give His life a ransom, a payment for many. And I'm thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ ministered unto us and that He died on the cross for our sins at Calvary. He paid for us. He paid for you in your sins. He paid your debt. And I'm so thankful for the Lord. In Mark chapter 15 verse 37 to 38 it says, And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Something else happened at Calvary. The veil was torn when Jesus died. This veil at Calvary, this tearing of the veil, Jesus was the atonement for sin, and the tearing of the veil, it was our access to God through prayer. And in the Old Testament, God commanded Aaron to be the priest who would enter the holy place through the veil to make sacrifices unto God for the atonement of sin. God did away with this annual sacrifice forever by Jesus Christ. We no longer need a priest to speak to God for us. Jesus Christ is our great high priest. Hebrews 4 verse 14, and I'm starting there, says, Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not in high priests which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but within all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We couldn't have come to the throne of grace boldly before the veil was torn. But I'm thankful that the veil was torn, and now we have a great high priest, and that is Jesus Christ, and now we can come boldly before the throne of grace, and we can go directly to the Father. Now, in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 24 to 28, it says, For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us, nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Praise the Lord. I'm thankful that the Lord tore apart this veil, and that this veil is no longer part of our redemption, but that the Savior is our direct line to the Father, and that Jesus Christ is our intercessor and our high priest. And we no longer have to rely on a man that can fail, a man that has proven to not be faithful. Aaron clearly was not a faithful man in his life. He sinned many times. But I'm thankful that we have a sinless Savior. I'm thankful that we have an atonement that cannot fail, and Sister Michelle and Brother Jameson were just singing about Jesus, and that he never fails. Praise God. At Calvary, Jesus also broke down the middle wall of partition to provide the Gentiles access to God, and that is the most important part to us, because we are Gentiles. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11 through 8 says, Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God and one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. I'm thankful that Jesus Christ broke down the middle wall of partition for we the Gentiles. I'm thankful that the Lord is no respecter of persons and that salvation is for both the Jews and the Gentiles and that happened because of Jesus Christ and what he did at Calvary for us. I'm about done already, but I won't be preaching very much longer. But at Calvary, God the Father gave man power to crucify his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. This was a single event to deliver mankind from eternal suffering and death. As Brother Richard Goodman would say, I believe in eternal security but not unconditional security. This was not only to pardon you from punishment, but also to deliver you from sinful living. One man said, mercy saves us from what we deserve and grace gives us what we do not deserve. I'm thankful for mercy and grace. Now how does someone get saved in light of what happened at Calvary? Sister Michelle, will you come to the piano please? How does someone get saved in light of what happened at Calvary? Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We all must know that. Everybody has sinned. Romans 5.8 says, But God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's evidenced by what happened at Calvary. Ephesians 2.8-9 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You may stand. Romans 10.9-13 says, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The second part of Luke 13.3 says, Except ye repent, these are the words of Jesus Christ, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And 1 John 1.9 says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm thankful for what the Lord did for us, the Jew and the Gentile at Calvary. It is important to me. It should be important to you. We should all be able to tell everybody about what happened for us at Calvary. Although this seems to be an elementary message, it is vital to our salvation. We all heard the Gospel message. The Lord Jesus dealt with us all about what happened at Calvary for us. And we need to take it seriously and not get bored or weary in well-doing, for the Gospel is exciting. And I'm thankful for the exciting Word of God. And I'm thankful and I'm getting more excited about heaven all the time. And I'm getting more thankful and grateful for every time I get to speak about salvation and what the Lord did for me at Calvary. I sure hope that everyone has been encouraged and that everyone has learned more about what happened at Calvary for you and for me. And I pray in Jesus' name that everyone who is not saved will take the experience that Jesus had at Calvary for you and for me, and that they take it seriously, and that they want to know more about it, and that they would confess their sins, and that they would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then believe in their heart that God has raised them from the dead, confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to have faith. They can be saved. I believe they can. More souls can be saved than I believe they will because of what happened for us at Calvary. I'm thankful for it. Come on ahead and let's pray. Oh, I'm going to a city where there will be no more night. I'm going to a city where Jesus is alive. Trumpets gonna sound. I'll be called away. I'm going to a city someday. All of these trials I have known down here will all be over, no more doubt, no more fears. Gonna see my loved ones who've gone on before. And with Jesus my Savior, gonna live forevermore. I'm going to a city where there will be no more night. I'm going to a city where Jesus is alive. The trumpets gonna sound. I'll be called away. I'm going to a city someday. There will be no crying.