Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/bbcsylmar/sermons/25845/the-sufferings-of-christ-in-scripture/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] All right, if you have a Bible, please find the Gospel of Luke and go all the way to the end of it, Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, we're going to find ourselves in a passage where Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. [0:20] He's alive. Some ladies come with a story that's unbelievable to the disciples. And in this chapter of Luke, he gives a little account of two disciples that are traveling on a road to Emmaus. [0:37] And the Lord Jesus Christ himself, in verse 15, drew near and went with them. And notice in verse number 16, it says, but their eyes were holden that they should not know him. [0:48] And that's a strange thing that he appears to these men and they were with them seemingly for years. And yet their eyes are holden. They don't know him. In Mark chapter 16, it says that he appeared to them in another form. [1:01] And so he speaks to them and they're going on about talking about what just took place, this death of Jesus Christ and the one that they anticipated was the Christ, the Messiah. [1:12] And in verse 21, we trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel. And so certain women, they talk about being at the sepulcher and they didn't find his body. And so they're just confused. [1:24] And they're even accusing him of being in verse 18. Aren't thou only a stranger in Jerusalem? You don't even know this stuff. They're just this guy here. What's his deal? So I want to pick it up in a verse here where he addresses something to them and kind of rebukes them for not understanding this whole thing that just took place concerning his death. [1:48] In verse number 25, then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? [2:06] That was his question. Shouldn't Christ, shouldn't the Messiah have suffered these things? What's wrong with you boys? Was his statement. You fools. [2:16] You're so slow of heart to believe it's been written in the prophets from Moses through the Psalms and the prophets. All these things concerning the Christ. [2:28] And you don't believe it. And so the verse 27 says, And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. [2:41] Now I don't know how much he went into detail. I know that the context had to do with his death, burial, and resurrection. His sufferings. He said that in verse 26. [2:52] Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? And then he takes them through the Bible. A Bible lesson that they had never gotten before. And opened their understanding to understand what the Bible was teaching this whole time about Jesus Christ and what he accomplished. [3:09] I was just thinking a moment ago about this. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 about that nation that crucified their Messiah. [3:21] And he says there, Their minds were blinded. But unto this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. [3:34] Amen. And that veil was over their eyes as they walked on that road. They knew the scriptures. They studied the scriptures. They've been trained in the scriptures. [3:46] This society had that. They had the scriptures. No one else had. They're the oracles of God given to them. And they loved them and were fond of them. [3:57] But they were blinded to the truth in them. Right in their own eyes. And the Lord Jesus Christ said this, O fools and slow heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? [4:08] That's his question. And I want to point out now because we're going to get into a night this evening about communion. And the broken body and the bloodshed of the Lord Jesus Christ. [4:20] And so in view of that, I want to draw your attention to the sufferings of Christ in the scripture. Because it's a topic that is revealed and it is discussed from cover to cover in this book. [4:35] I would never call it the central theme of the Bible. That's truly not the case. It's more so of him being the king of kings and the Lord of lords and his kingdom that will go on forever. [4:46] When he was murdered at the hands of wicked men is not the theme of the Bible. However, it is a topic that's laced through the narrative of scripture from one cover to the other. [4:59] And I want to point out what I've found and I believe are five different ways that this topic of the sufferings of Christ is revealed or is discussed in the Bible. [5:10] And for the first one, take your Bible and go over to 1 Peter chapter 1. The apostle Peter made mention of something that will hit this first point quite well. [5:24] And after that, we're going to head back to the prophet Isaiah. But from the moment, 1 Peter chapter number 1. [5:39] And I'll begin in verse number 10. Peter writes, he says, Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. [5:54] Notice verse 11. Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister to the things which are now reported unto you by them which have preached the gospel unto you, so forth. [6:16] These prophets prophesied, they testified by the spirit of Christ the sufferings of Christ. They did it before it ever happened. And so there's prophecies given in the Bible about the sufferings of Christ. [6:30] And so my first point here, the first way that I see the sufferings of Christ discussed in the scriptures is through prophetical revelation. Now don't mind those two big words, it just matches my outline and that's just something I have to do, so just bear with me on that. [6:46] Prophetical revelation or prophecy. The prophets revealed aforetime the sufferings and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. They wrote things and spoke things that they could not possibly know would come true about somebody they had never seen or met before. [7:07] And yet they spoke as if it was very fact and wrote it down in their life's work and saying, this is going to happen, thus saith the Lord. Now take your Bible and just, I want to show you a few, we won't get into a lot of them, there's too much to go through. [7:22] But go to Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, chapter 50. If not chief of all prophets, the biggest in volume, 66 chapters matching the 66 books of this Bible. [7:39] Isaiah chapter 50. Let me point out just three quick passages close together here in Isaiah of prophetical revelation where the sufferings of Christ are discussed in the scriptures. [7:53] Perhaps the Lord Jesus Christ himself on that road with those disciples referred to Isaiah's prophecy. Chapter 50 and verse number 6. The Bible says, I gave my back to the smiters. [8:06] That's not Isaiah. He didn't do that. This is a prophecy of the Christ. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. [8:21] Well, that one shows up a few times. The spitting that they spat on him. And not just soldiers, but the Jews did as well. Look also in chapter 52 of Isaiah and look at verse number 14. [8:38] Isaiah 52, verse 14. This is 700 years, probably about 750 years before Calvary. Isaiah pens this, verse 14. [8:50] And as many were astounded at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men. Who's he talking about? [9:00] His servant, verse 13. The Messiah, the one that will come. And in verse 15, what he'll do. This suffering of the Messiah is so integrated in the scriptures with the kingdom of the Messiah and his throne that they don't see the difference and they don't understand. [9:19] These are actually over 2,000 years separated. It's hard for them to distinguish this in their scriptures. And then chapter 53. We couldn't do this without chapter 53. [9:32] Notice verse number 2. Speaking of that Christ that would come, he shall grow up before him as a tender plant. And as a root out of a dry ground. [9:43] Now, what it's saying is when the Christ or the Messiah comes to this earth, he's not going to come and be this, in scripture, kings and powerful men are likened to trees. [9:55] You could go to Daniel and see that. We could see that in Ezekiel and his prophecies, that they're like this cedar tree, this tall tree with thick boughs and it reaches and spans out and it protects all the nations under them and provides for all them. [10:10] And this Messiah is not going to come and be this strong, magnificent tree that's going to dominate the world. But no, he's going to grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. [10:23] He hath no form nor comeliness. When we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. He's going to look like everyone else. He's going to look like this one cornstalk in a field of cornstalks. There's nothing about him that we should desire him and his looks and his dominion when he comes. [10:40] Now, getting to the sufferings, later on it says in verse number 5, He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace is upon him and with his stripes we are healed. [10:55] Not only is there wounds and bruises and stripes, but there's death. In verse number 8, it says in the middle of the verse, for he was cut off out of the land of the living. [11:06] In verse 9, he made his grave with the wicked. And so there's the death of the Messiah, prophesied, a brutal beating and a death. This is prophetical revelation. [11:18] This is discussing the sufferings of Christ in the scripture long before it ever happened. Now with the Psalms, there's loads in the Psalms and I'll mention a few. There's certain particulars about Calvary or that was fulfilled at Calvary that was prophesied by David and others long before it happened, mentioning things like they would part his garments, that they would cast lots for his vesture, that they would serve him gall and vinegar to drink, that they would mock him and that they would pierce his hands and pierce his feet. [11:50] The book of Daniel, Daniel says that Messiah is going to be cut off, just like we read here in Isaiah. He also prophesied of his death. The prophet Zechariah says that the Messiah would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. [12:05] Check. That he would be wounded in his hands in the house of his friends. That happened. That they would pierce him. The shepherd, that Christ said, I'm the good shepherd. [12:15] David said, the Lord is my shepherd. He said, the shepherd, smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered and the shepherd was smitten as Isaiah prophesied. So that's one area and that's an easy one for us that we study our Bibles. [12:29] We see that. It's in hindsight, real easy to see. Yes, there's plenty of prophecy and prophetical revelation. But the second one, which is not as obvious, the second way that the sufferings of Christ are discussed in the scripture, and I'll call this second one through pictorial illustration. [12:47] Pictures. We call this typology. You would never guess this. You would never understand this or see this until it happened and you look back and say, oh, I mentioned one in Sunday school about Adam and Eve. [12:59] How Eve was deceived and in the transgression, but Adam was not deceived. And so that shows you a type, a picture of Christ loving the church and giving himself for it. Abel was innocently murdered by his brother, a brother that was unable to earn God's acceptance. [13:18] A picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being innocently murdered by his brethren. Isaac, the son of Abraham, in Genesis 22, God said to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. [13:36] Was Isaac his only son? But God recognized him as his only son in that moment, whom thou lovest. Does that ring a bell? The only begotten son of God. [13:47] This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. A picture of Jesus Christ. He said, take him and offer him upon one of the mountains that I will tell thee of. And if you do a little Bible study on that, it turns out it looks like that mountain that Abraham took his son Isaac up upon was the same mount that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified on. [14:09] Now, there's Isaac, a picture, and by the way, your King James Bible gives you something that the Hebrew does not give you in Genesis 22 when he says in that passage, Abraham says to Isaac not to be afraid. [14:23] He said, God will provide himself a lamb. And it's so often just taken to say that God will provide a lamb for himself to sacrifice, which in fact happened in that case. [14:34] But no, the wording says God will provide himself as in God provided himself as a lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh became that lamb. [14:46] Another pictorial illustration or type of the sufferings of Christ is Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph was envied and he was plotted against and he was betrayed by his brethren. [15:00] Sound familiar? He was stripped of his robe. He was falsely accused and punished and captive among two guilty prisoners. There's a thorough study we could do of these Old Testament stories, their types. [15:13] They reveal many, many particulars that point to Jesus Christ. And this is not hard to grasp this. Consider that that these men and women lived lives filled with day-to-day activity and yet God just puts in little particulars about their life and retains them for us today. [15:32] Why? I'll tell you why. Because they're pointing to something future. This book's an amazing book to have application, a historical event to have application to prophetically be pointing to something that will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ. [15:46] Moses, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Jonah, others, they're all types of Jesus Christ in one way or another. Now more than just people, the pictorial illustrations go on with other things like this. [16:01] When Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says they were naked and unashamed, but then when they sinned, they realized they were naked and they hid themselves. And then the Bible says that God made them coats of skins to clothe them with. [16:15] Why? Well, what did we learn? We learned something had to die to pay for their sin or to cover them for them to be clothed upon with something innocent. [16:27] There was a sacrifice that was made right there when sin showed up. It's a picture of somebody. Move a book later in Exodus. We read about a Passover lamb in Exodus chapter 12. [16:40] That lamb was a male. That male lamb had to be without blemish. It had to be sacrificed. The blood had to be collected and applied. And did you ever read about the application of that blood in the places it was applied on the two side posts and on the lintel up above? [16:57] It's pretty easy to see a cross there. The Passover lamb is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a strong picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. [17:08] When he showed up, John the Baptist looked and beheld him and he called out one thing. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. He identified him as a lamb, that Passover lamb. [17:21] The apostle Paul calls Christ our Passover. And a little study of the timing of the crucifixion, it's no coincidence that it took place over Passover. That was the lamb. [17:33] As a matter of fact, in the book of Revelation, 27 times the Lord Jesus Christ who is referred to as the lamb. That Passover lamb is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his sufferings. [17:46] Think on the Levitical offerings. All through those books of Leviticus, the number, whether it's a bullock or a lamb or a goat or a red heifer or the day of atonement, these continual sacrifices which can never take away sins were all pointing to a future Messiah that would come and be offered. [18:04] The Bible says that Christ offered himself and that he offered one sacrifice for sins forever. So those offerings are all pictures and types of the one that would come. [18:18] Christ is pictured in other elements in this Bible. In the Jewish tabernacle, a study that's enlightening to point to Jesus Christ, the rock that was smitten by Moses, the brass serpent that was lifted up on a pole, the pictures abound in the Old Testament. [18:35] They're all illustrations pointing that the Messiah must suffer these things. So there's two ways. There's prophetical revelation, there's pictorial illustration, and then the third and the most popular by all means is historical information. [18:52] That is, the gospel writers. If we think about the death and the crucifixion of Christ, well, automatically we go to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And that's historical. [19:03] There's eyewitness accounts written down to be preserved. These men describe in detail what they saw and what took place on that horrible day. [19:16] And that event was as real as today is, what took place, and it was recorded and placed in writing. What they describe is that Jesus Christ was betrayed, that he was arrested, that there were several illegal trials that went back and forth throughout that night, through the overnight hours, and that he was stripped, that he was mocked, that he was blindfolded, that he was struck on his face. [19:41] They scourged him. He was beaten. The gospel writers say that he was spit upon, that he was smote on his head, that they plaited a crown of thorns and placed it upon his head. [19:52] And on top of all of this, back and forth and the pain and agony, that there was a bloodthirsty mob crying out for his life to crucify him. Pilate thought just beating him would satisfy the crowd, but no, those devils wanted him crucified. [20:08] Now I want to point something out. This is kind of a side note, but I feel it worthy as I considered this to bring out. The gospel writers, or when you read through your Bible, and you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, these men do not expound upon the sufferings of Christ. [20:26] As in, they don't draw out the scene into some just absolute gore and horrific details. They don't do that. You read through that, your mind is not drawn to these nasty thoughts. [20:41] The Bible's just so pure like that. They state facts of what happened. And I don't want to be too judgmental here or attacking because there's a balance to be had here, but when you get that kind of information, it comes from preachers that sensationalize something that the scriptures don't. [21:05] I don't know, have you ever heard of the phrase a cat of nine tails? I don't know if you've heard that taught and preached on. I've heard it all my life. But I've never read it in the Bible. I'm not saying it didn't happen. [21:16] I'm not saying it didn't exist, but God did not declare that. But I've always been taught that when they whipped him and they just suppose that it was 40 save one, 39 lashes, and there's nowhere to declare how many at one particular time. [21:34] The Bible doesn't give us the light. But they've always said, preachers have always declared, that those Roman soldiers would take their whip. And now you have to understand, the Roman soldiers, they had a kind of whip. [21:44] And if you've heard this before, then you know what I'm talking about. If you're not, then don't put too much stock in it or at least do what you want with it. But I've always been taught that that whip wasn't just one singular whip, but rather it broke into nine parts. [21:58] And in those parts they would put glass and bone and make it as torturous as possible and that every time they put that whip out and swung it with all their might, that it would rip into his back or wrap around the front and that they'd yank it as hard as they could and just expose and tear. [22:15] And preachers make a gory mess out of this, of just a piece of meat getting flocked and destroyed and I, you don't read that. That's my point. [22:26] God does not put that in the text and doesn't make your mind see that when you're reading the Bible. It's preachers that kind of sensationalize and expound upon that and bring out an emotional response to it. [22:42] And so, again, there's a balance to be had and I'm not accusing. I really don't mean to be that way because it is a preacher's job to bring to life the scriptures but maybe it gets overdone and man, sadly and grossly, tends to glory in gruesome imagery and God did not put that about his son in the text. [23:06] That's my point. And so, I don't want to sensationalize it to be more than life and to say that it was the worst thing that ever happened to any man ever on the planet because really it was a short time compared to, if you want to be real, some prisoners, some war prisoners and some horrible things they've suffered for days and weeks and months. [23:24] Anyway, there's historical information. Where does the scriptures discuss the sufferings of Christ in the Gospels? They give the history. They give what took place. [23:36] They saw it and they write it. Now, fourthly, the fourth way the scriptures discuss it, now we move past the Old Testament, past the Gospels and into the New Testament writers where they give theological explanation. [23:50] What they're going to do now with the sufferings of Christ is teach the world what that was all about. At the time, they didn't understand what was taking place. At the time, they viewed it and didn't realize they were fulfilling scriptures themselves and what they were doing. [24:05] They didn't understand it but now, on the other side of Calvary, they see what was accomplished. The New Testament writers, especially the Apostle Paul, expounds on the purpose of the sufferings and death of Christ, on the effect of the sufferings and death of Christ. [24:21] There's now theological explanation. Consider the book of Romans. Romans, a powerful thesis that describes clearly the operation of salvation. [24:33] Paul says in the first chapter that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Paul describes this death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as a work of redemption, as a work of reconciliation, saying in chapter 5 that we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. [24:54] The Apostle Paul describes that the sufferings of Christ is a means of our justification and sanctification. In chapter 5, he says that by one man, sin entered into the world and death by sin so that death passed upon all men. [25:11] And so, he makes the case that with Adam and Eve, with sin coming into the world, it poisoned the pot. The whole thing's poisoned with sin. But then he goes on to say, but by one man, the Lord Jesus Christ came righteousness into the world and the Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy sin and the works of sin and in essence to clean the whole pot if you'll receive it. [25:38] Now, Paul gives a theological explanation of the sufferings of Christ that the death of Jesus Christ was to destroy sin and to liberate the sinner and to give new life, eternal life. [25:50] He teaches that Christ fulfilled the law and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. He teaches that Jesus Christ in Romans 10 is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. [26:01] There's other epistles that offer doctrinal and theological explanation. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that Christ died for our sins. Christ was made to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. [26:20] Paul says, in whom we have redemption through His blood even forgiveness of sins. What about Peter? Peter gets up in the book of Acts and says this, Him, speaking of Christ, being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. [26:41] What did we learn? Peter, on this side of Calvary, realizes that this was determined by God. This was pre-ordained or foreordained by God. This was all part of God's plan that His Son should suffer these things and do it for our sins. [26:58] Peter later says in his epistle, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Why? Why, Peter? That He might bring us to God. [27:11] Peter offers us some theological explanation, giving us an understanding of what those sufferings were all about. But there's one more category I see in the Scriptures. [27:22] I see the prophetical revelation, the prophets foretelling it, the prophecy. I see pictorial illustration, the types and typology and pictures. I see the historical information where the writers wrote what they saw and heard, and that's the most popular accounts of the sufferings of Christ. [27:40] And I see also this theological explanation as these New Testament writers teach us why and what it accomplished. But then, fifthly and finally, the Scriptures discuss the sufferings of Christ by way of personal application. [27:54] The information, the explanations are great, but after all of that, you are forced to make a decision. [28:07] There's no neutral ground with the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. You're forced to receive it as payment for your sins or to reject it and say, I'm good. [28:18] I don't need that crazy religion stuff anyway. You have a choice to make. You're forced to make a choice. The Scriptures present to the world not only the fact of the crucifixion, but of the necessity for it. [28:35] The necessity for it, that is, this is what satisfied God's wrath for sin for eternity. And it's necessary because it's your only way to be reconciled to God. [28:47] That's the only means that works. In John chapter 14, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man, and I'll insert woman, teenager, child, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. [29:06] Nobody's getting to heaven without Jesus Christ. There's personal application that the Scriptures discuss. And here's how the Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians chapter 2, speaking of the Son of God, he said, who loved me and gave himself for me. [29:22] He made personal application to not just understanding theologically why and the redemption and the forgiveness, but he said, he gave himself for me. [29:34] My sins. And he makes it personal. I wonder if you've ever made it personal. I want to turn you to one more place in the Bible. Go to John, Gospel of John, chapter number 3. [29:48] One of the most popular passages, John chapter 3. The Scriptures discuss the sufferings of Christ. [30:02] And this final thought is that they discuss them by way of personal application. Knowing what it is, knowing that it took place is one thing. [30:12] Now it's time to make it personal. John chapter 3 and verse 16. The Bible says, For God so loved, notice, the world. Well, that's pretty big. [30:25] A lot of people there. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. But notice this word, that whosoever. That's not a big word. [30:36] That's a small one. That comes down to a singular person and it's generic. Whosoever, now we're down to one person, believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. [30:52] Verse 17, For God sent not his Son into, notice, the world, to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And then verse 18 goes back to singular. [31:04] He, an individual that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. [31:18] He has rejected him. Now, I, I'm going to turn one more place. I forgot. You don't have to. Romans chapter 10. Now, you notice that word in John 3, 16. [31:29] There's the world and then there's whosoever. There's the world that God wants to reunite, reconcile to himself and then there's just that he that believeth that actually gets reconciled. [31:44] In Romans chapter 10, the Bible says this in verse 13, For whosoever, there's that word again, that singular person, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [31:57] That's a generic word. It could apply to anyone. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Whosoever shall call upon the name. That's a generic, it could be anybody in the world. [32:10] So how does it apply? How do you make personal application? Well, it's up to the person. Let me give you a foolish, silly, but accurate illustration. [32:23] If I had 100 tickets to this year's Super Bowl, maybe that's not a thing for you, but I would go. If I had 100 tickets to the Super Bowl, it's coming up in probably about a month. [32:38] It's the biggest event in United States sports. It's the highest watched thing in the year. The biggest event, bigger than the World Cup, is the United States NFL Super Bowl. [32:51] I got 100 tickets. And I'll offer because there's not that many of you here that I could cover this whole crowd if you're interested. And so, whosoever, whoever wants one, I will give you one. [33:04] You just come to my office after the service, and I will give you your ticket. Now, when I say whoever wants one, am I picking you out? Am I isolating crowds? [33:15] Am I saying just my closest friends and family first? Or do I just, if you want one, come and get one. There's plenty for everybody. God says this, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, whosoever, there's plenty for everybody, whosoever believeth in him should not perish. [33:41] I wonder this morning, have you made personal application that Jesus Christ died for you, that you are that sinner that he came to die for. [33:52] And he paid for your sins in his blood and in his sufferings on the cross to appease the wrath of God so that God would not condemn you as a sinner and cast you into the lake of fire. [34:06] Whosoever, it's up to the person. If I was standing in my office after the church service with an envelope filled with tickets, I'd just be waiting, who's coming, who wants it, it's free, who really cares? [34:21] And some people would just go out the door and say, nah, I'll get my own, I'll buy my own. But this ticket to heaven, you can't buy. You're going to try and try and try and stand at the gate and find out you're not getting in here. [34:36] Your sins aren't paid for. They're not covered. They're not washed. Whosoever you are this morning, don't go to hell saying that you didn't understand it. [34:49] If you want to understand it, you can understand it. But God will cast you into hell. He will do it. And he won't accept your excuses of I didn't get it, I didn't understand it. [35:04] The scriptures have discussed it extensively, abundantly, the sufferings of Christ. What was accomplished and why? [35:15] The question is, will you receive it? Will you make personal application? I gave you five different areas that the scriptures discuss the sufferings of Christ. [35:26] The most important for you today is personal application. Do you understand the necessity for making it personal that he died for you? Do you understand it was for your sin? [35:39] And do you understand that it was a payment that was made to keep you out of hell? Maybe you think, well, I'm not really that bad of a person. Maybe you're looking at yourself through the wrong lens. Maybe if you look in this Bible, you'll find out, oh my, I have fallen short of the glory of God. [35:55] My sins are filthy. God is a holy God. He's not going to allow sin and filthiness into his glory. You better look at yourself, compare yourself to Jesus Christ and find out if you in fact are a pretty bad sinner. [36:08] it was your sin that he paid for, not his. If you'll receive it, you can be saved. You can receive the eternal gift or the gift of eternal life by receiving Christ. [36:20] Make that personal application today. Father, I pray that you'll bless the message today. I pray that your words would not fall on deaf ears and if anybody here is not saved and not sure of their salvation that you deal with them. [36:36] God, we know that tomorrow could be the end of it. Today, we're not guaranteed anything else. So Lord, I pray you'll deal with the one that may be unsure, may claim they don't understand, or may have never really considered this thoroughly. [36:55] Lord, put the pressure on if you see fit. I pray that they'd see that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It means them. Father, have your way in this time. [37:06] Thank you for the sufferings of Christ. Thank you for taking our sins and the punishment that we deserved. Thank you for loving us. God, we don't deserve to know you and to be able to call on you. [37:19] And all of this gift is so glorious and so abundant. Lord, may we not take it for granted. Before we dismiss here with your heads bowed, please, just for a moment, nobody looking around. [37:33] Thank you.