In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the incredible truth of the gospel. He describes Jesus as the judge who dies for criminals and the advocate who pays the fine for his clients. The preacher highlights the significance of what happened at Calvary, stating that it is the most awe-inspiring event in the history of the universe. He compares the physical immensities of outer space and the human cell to the spiritual reality of Jesus' sacrifice. The sermon concludes with a tribute to Jesus, highlighting the uniqueness and power of his life, and emphasizing the depth of his suffering and redemption on the cross.

Good morning. I want to talk to you this morning about our wonderful Lord Jesus. The greatest life ever lived here on earth. The greatest life that ever will be lived here on earth. Wonder of wonders. His name is Jesus. He's God and man in one person. Cannot be mixed. What Jesus said, God said. What Jesus did, God did. We have a tendency to separate them in our mind. We say, well, Jesus as a man, he slept on that pillow in the boat. And as God, he rose and said, peace be still. And the waves stopped. But you can't do that. You can't separate those things in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God in one indivisible person. He claims to be God, said I and the Father of one. The Word of God says he's one. We read that this morning. The Word was God and the Word dwelt among us that could only refer to the Lord Jesus. God the Father says he's God, Hebrews 1.8. But unto the Son he saith, thy throne forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. His works prove him to be God. He did works that nobody ever did. And nobody has ever equal since then. He has the attributes of God. It's wonderful, the attributes of God. I'd like to think about some of them here before we go any further. The Lord Jesus combines every virtue and every beauty in his person. We can look about our friends in this life, and some of them really have some great characteristics to a certain extent. The Lord Jesus has all virtues, all beauties that can be conceived, that can exist. Isn't that wonderful? He is altogether lovely. Some of God's people are together lovely, but not altogether. But the Lord Jesus is altogether. Ten thousand charms around him shine. Best of all, I know he's mine. The hymn writer said, Join all the glorious names of wisdom, love, and power that mortals ever knew, that angels ever bore. All are too mean, that means adequate here, all are too mean to speak his worth, too mean to tell the Savior forth. I'd like to think about some of his other characteristics, and I hope your heart will just be warmed when you think of them. The Lord Jesus was morally perfect. It's interesting, a French skeptic named Renan said it would take a Christ to invent a Christ. And of course, that's one of the great proofs of the inspiration of the scriptures, that here you have the story of a man, and you can't find any fault in him, whatever. You and I couldn't write a book like that. Somewhere in our hero there'd be some weakness, but there isn't any in the Lord Jesus. He's morally perfect. He's righteous. What does that mean? He always does the right thing. He always says the right thing. That's very clear in the Gospels. When his critics were carping at him, and even friendly people were saying things, he always spoke just exactly the right word. He was a man and God of grace. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And it really did. What grace and beauty shone in all his life below our wonderful Savior. He was wise. What does that mean to be wise? Well, wisdom is what enables him to do, to accomplish the right ends in a right way. Wise. The Lord Jesus always did that. He was generous. How generous he has been to all of us going through life. You think of the generosity in nature, the generosity in seeds. That's really wonderful. He is wonderful. He's joyful. I think the Lord Jesus was filled with joy. Didn't always seem that way as he went through life, but it was true just the same. He's peaceful. Peace was one of his great virtues. Peace perfects peace. Long-suffering and patient. I often think of that. He called me long before I heard, before my sinful heart was stirred. When I took him at his word with joy, he lifted me. That's true. And that's true of many of you here today. He's been calling for years, long before you ever knew there was a God, he was calling. And he's still calling. He was humble. The only person that ever lived that had reason to be proud, and he was humble. He made himself, it says, of no reputation. How it is so easy to push oneself, you know, to get in the limelight, to be a member of the me generation. That wasn't like Jesus. He went about doing good. And I think that we think of the miracles of the Lord Jesus. And he was always thinking of the last, the least, and the lowest. So compassionate. And giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. Causing the lame to walk. My compassionate Lord. He was meek and forbearing. Think what he had to put up with coming into this world, this swamp of sin. Forbearing, thy foes might hate, despise, revile. Thy friends unfaithful prove. Unwearied in forgiveness still. Thy heart could only love. O give us hearts to love like thee. To grieve far more than others' sins, than all the wrongs that we receive. He's thankful. He was thankful on one occasion when he was being met with rejection, sadness. He said, I thank you, Lord, Father, that you've hidden these things from the wise and revealed them unto babes. He was selfless. What a virtue. And we see it perfectly in our Savior's self. He thought of others. In fact, that's what Philippians chapter 2 really says. He allowed other people to walk all over him. Became obedient to the cross. The death of the cross, God has highly exalted him. He proved that the way up is down. He was single-minded. He set his face, as it were, as a flint to go to Jerusalem. And the disciples were amazed. They were walking after him as if their feet were filled with lead. And they just marveled that he was going to Jerusalem to be delivered up and to die and to be buried and to rise again. The Lord Jesus had class. I don't know if you've ever thought of this. John MacArthur said, sometimes I think that Jesus had more class than some of his disciples. And I think that's true, too. Jesus had more class than some of his disciples. He was courteous. My Savior was a gentleman. And I think this is a marvelous thing. He was omniscient. He knew what everyone was thinking. As he accompanied with the disciples and with the 5,000, he knew what they were all thinking. You know, it would be dangerous for you and me to have that power, because we'd be blabbing about other people. We'd be causing them embarrassment and scandalizing them. We're perfectly safe in the life of the Lord Jesus. He never said anything that would cause embarrassment, except for the person's own blessing, if that was involved. He was free from covetousness. Free from covetousness. And he had a passion for souls. Told the disciples to look on the fields that were white with harvest. Let me look on the crowd as my Savior did, till my eyes with tears grow dim. Let me view with pity the wandering sheep and love them for love of him. He was zealous. Last week or Saturday, we had a man here that was zealous. His name was George River. Burning himself up all these years. I first knew him in 1955, I think. And ever since then, he's been going like a house on fire. The Lord Jesus was zealous. When he drove the money changers out of the temple area, the disciples remembered that it was written of him, The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. The Lord Jesus was consumed with zeal for his Father's honor and glory. He never retaliated. Isn't that wonderful? Never gave tit for tat. When he was reviled, reviled not again. But he just turned it over to his Father, who's able to judge rightfully. He became poor in order to enrich others. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor at the cross, that we through his poverty might be made rich. The Lord Jesus didn't judge by appearance. That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? We all do. We judge by appearance. Teachers do. Business people do. He didn't. He was calm and unruffled in the circumstances of life. How I envy him for that. He never wasted time. The Lord Jesus got up every morning and his ear was opened to receive instructions from God his Father for that day. You say, really? That's what it says in Isaiah. You've opened my ear. And he did it every morning. And he found out what the Father's will that day was. And we should do that, too. I want my life so cleared of self that my dear Lord will come and set up his own furnishings and make my heart his home. And since I know what this requires, each morning while it's still, I slip into that secret room and leave with him my will. He always takes it graciously, presenting me with his. I'm ready then to start the day in any task there is. And this is how my Lord controls my interests, my ills. Because we meet at break of day for an exchange of wills. In death he left nothing but the clothes that he wore. And they gambled for that. The great thing today is to die rich. It should be our ambition to die poor, to die broke. Then we follow the Savior in that regard. The shadow of death was over him from the very beginning. And he never turned away from it. I'd like to read you a tribute that was paid to him. The life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was the most unique life lived under human conditions. From first to last it stands completely alone. It was a revelation and challenge to all who saw it. It was a benediction to those who recognized and yielded to its charm. It touched our human lives at so many points. And its touch was always a touch of grace and power. No other life ever lived was so utterly human. Think of his love of the open air and the sunshine and the flowers, the lakes and the mountains. Think of his love of little babies and little children. Think of his sensitiveness to hatred. Think of his yearning for human trust and human love. Think of his noble scorn of ostentation and unreality. His noble scorn of unreality and conventionality. Think of his passion for the derelicts and the wrecks and the flotsam and jetsam of society. Of him it was said, no one ever spoke like this man. Oh, it was a wonderful life. I can amen that. Oh, it was a wonderful life. And the older one grows and the more one looks at it, the more one is amazed at the grace and glory that break out from it in all directions. He gave sight to the blind, healed the lepers, cured the paralytic, restored hands that were withered and cast out demons and raised the dead. His teachings were revolutionary. In fact, if you just think of the teachings of the Lord Jesus, they were enough from the human standpoint to ruin any movement. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies. Hate your father and mother, husband and wife, brothers and sisters. Of course, we know that that means it's a comparative. It means that our love for the Lord Jesus should put all other loves as hatred. It doesn't mean that we neglect our loved ones, but it's a comparison. Our love for Christ should come first, and all other loves should play second fiddle. Don't lay up treasure on earth. It's more blessed to give than to receive. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated by men. For the sin of man's sake, when you're assaulted, turn the other cheek. Repay every act of hatred with a kindness. Lend to those who ask you, hoping for nothing in return. I'd say, you present that to the world today, to men of the world today, and they'll think you're crazy. You can't live that way. Jesus said that's the way we should be. Forsake all that you have for Christ. Imagine the Lord Jesus saying this to multitude, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It's interesting, when that passage comes up in the average church today, the speaker will go to extreme lengths to explain what it doesn't mean. We should go to extreme lengths to explain what it does mean, because the Lord Jesus meant what he said, didn't he? Some people thought that Jesus was an idiot. Dostoevsky wrote a book called The Idiot, and it's a man who was kind of the Christ figure. He tried, unsuccessfully, but he tried to put these teachings into practice, and his friends just thought he was crazy, an idiot. And that strikes me that the closer you and I live like the Lord Jesus, the more people will think that we, too, are idiots. Then, after his earthly ministry, his betrayal. I often think of this. Just think of a man, at the very breath he was breathing, was dependent upon Jesus, and he betrays his master for 30 pieces of silver. Judas had the privilege of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Christ even called him my own familiar friend. But then he added, he has lifted up his heel against me. Such treachery. Think of dear Peter. He knew that Jesus was gone, but to save his own life, he was afraid to publicly identify himself with Christ. His arrest. I'd like you to turn to Matthew 26, 49, and 50. Matthew 26. It shows you how ridiculous men can be. 26, 49, and 15. Well, it's in this portion where they came to him with swords and clubs. 47. When he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude, with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now his betrayer had given them a sign, and so forth. They came with swords and clubs. For the Lord Jesus had never used violence. They had never seen him use violence of any kind. And they come to him with ropes and all kinds of paraphernalia, as if he were a criminal. Then his trial. Imagine the great judge of all the earth, and he's being tried by sinful men. That's what you have there. His crucifixion. That was the day God died, when the creatures took their creator and put him to death. It's hard for the human mind to take that in, isn't it? That's what happened. That's what happened. Amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? Think in your mind now of that one on the middle cross, semi-nude. It's your God and my God. It's God the Son. It's God incarnate. And the blood that was shed there at Calvary was the blood of God. It says that in Acts chapter 20. Feed the flock of God which he purchased with his own blood, it says. God's blood. Feed the flock of God which he purchased with his own blood. Jesus didn't look like God any that day at Calvary. That is the way they thought he should look. They thought he was God dying for you and for me. The maker of the universe, as man for man, was made a curse. The claims of law that he had made unto the uttermost he paid. His holy fingers made the bow where grew the thorns that crowned his brow. The nails that pierced his hands were mine. In secret places he designed. He made the forest whence there sprung the tree on which his body hung. He died upon a cross of wood that made the hill on which it stood. The sky which darkened o'er his head by him above the earth was spread. The sun which hid from him its face by his decree was poised in space. The spear which spilt his precious blood was tempered in the fires of God. The grave in which his form was laid was hewn in rocks his hands had made. The throne on which he now appears was his from everlasting years. The new glory crowns his brow that every knee to him shall bow. Somebody said more buildings in his honor, more books concerning him alone than of all the greatest men that ever lived put together. And it's absolutely true. His crucifixion. I don't know if I ever quoted this before, but there's a man in England, a preacher years ago. His name was Sinjin, Harold Sinjin. And he said, you'll never appreciate Calvary until it takes your breath away and becomes the most important thing in your life. You'll never appreciate Calvary until it takes your breath away and becomes the most important thing in your life. And a woman named Dorothy Sayers said, go back in eternity. This is not exactly the words she said, but the idea. Back into eternity past, up to the present time, and on into eternity future, she said, there was no other event but Calvary. I think that's beautiful. I wish I had written that. That's wonderful reading. From time past to time future, no other event but Calvary. What does that mean? It means there's nothing else worth talking about. It was so central in its significance. Absolutely true. I quoted that French skeptic Renan. He said, whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be surpassed. He dies. The immortal dies. Why did he die? God could not pass the sinner by. The law demands that he must die. But in the cross of Christ we trace the beauty in his wondrous grace. Millions have been saved, sins forgiven, made fit for heaven. Believers are better off in Christ than they ever would have been in an unfallen Adam. It was really an amazing role reversal. An amazing role reversal. It's the creator dying for the creature. It's the shepherd dying for the sheep. It's the great physician dying for the patient. It's the judge of all dying for the criminals. And the advocate paying the fine for his client. It's the holy one dying for the unholy. The just for the unjust. The rich one dying for the poor. And the omnipotent for those without strength. I want to tell you, friends, the truth is beyond comprehension. It strains my poor feeble brain just to think of it. And I realize I'm not getting the full picture. No angelic or human tongue will ever be able to describe the marvel of Calvary. A hundred Shakespeare's would utterly fail to capture the wonder. The words would break under the weight of the idea. And the best that any human being could ever do in describing it would be not much worth than a stutter. No other event in human history can match the enormous significance of what happened at Calvary. J. Sidlow Baxter wrote this. He who is the prince of life bows his head in death. He who is without sin becomes the sin-bearer. The Christ of God becomes the crucified. He who is the Father's delight becomes the God-forsaken one. He who lit the stars lies in the dust of death. He toils, he hungers and thirsts. He weeps, he suffers. He bleeds and dies. He redeemingly agonizes in a depthless, boundless infinity of suffering, which only his infinite capacity for suffering could experience. A man named J. C. Jones pictured being there at the cross, and the Lord Jesus, God the Father, putting all of our sins upon him. And he pictures sins coming from every direction to a light on the head of the blessed Lord Jesus. This is how he says it. Sin came from all directions. A multitude of sins from our own neighborhood on a pilgrimage to Mount Calvary. Isn't that amazing? Your sins and my sins coming from all directions to Mount Calvary. Iniquity poured in from all quarters and fell in terrible cataracts on the devoted head of the patient victim. Your death, Lord Jesus, was like unto your birth, which would no glory borrow, no majesty from earth. You know, the birth of the Lord Jesus was very plain, wasn't it? Very plain. Didn't borrow any majesty from earth. No parades, no trumpets blowing, no bassinet even. Just a feed and a stall there. Incredible. The most hated man, the most hated person in all of history dies for a world of lost sinners. Isn't that marvelous? That's the gospel, dear friends. The enormous significance of what happened at Calvary is breathtaking. Nothing in the history of the universe has been or can be as awesome as the drama of redemption. Outer space has dimensions that a maximum power telescope cannot reach. The most sophisticated microscope cannot fully explore the marvels of the human cell. But these physical immensities are minuscule compared to the spiritual reality that took place on this planet 2,000 years ago. They took his body down and they placed it in a borrowed tomb. He, the Lord of creation. That's the gospel, dear friends. Think of the welcome that awaited him when he ascended back to heaven. The Christ of Calvary is the Lord of glory. God has highly exalted him and given him a name that's above every name, the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow. If you're here today and you've never bowed a knee to him, you're going to. The truth is, somebody died for you. Or you say, that's not me, I'm not a Christian. Doesn't make any difference. He died for you. The one who died for you is God, manifest in the flesh. You'll have to give account that you sat in Fairhaven Bible Chapel and heard it. And you understood what you heard. What are you going to do about it? He's the brightness of God's glory, the express image of his person. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him. He's the Lord high and lifted up. He inhabits eternity. That's a marvel expression. I wish I knew how to explain it. He inhabits eternity. And yet he could hang on that middle cross. Heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool. Heaven and the highest heavens cannot contain him. He upholds all things by the word of his power. He hears prayer in all languages simultaneously. You say, somebody like that died for me? Yeah, that's what I mean to say. Exactly what I mean to say. Somebody like that died for you. The one that those things are absolutely true of died for you. He controls the rulers of the world. And sometimes he exalts the basest of men. King's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of waters. He turns it whithersoever he will. I often think of accidents and all the flying metal and glass and all the rest. It's all under his control. In war he controls the bombs and the bullets and all the armaments of men. He allows Satan a certain amount of leeway. Then he stops it and turns it all to his own glory. He ransacks land and sea to provide food for you and me. He heals the brokenhearted. The same passage where it says he calls the stars by name says he heals the brokenhearted. Wonderful, wonderful Jesus. He fine tunes the heavenly bodies today so that they make the earth habitable. If they were in any different place it would not be. He knows the thoughts and intents of six billion minds. That leaves a question in all of our minds. What am I going to do with Jesus? And that's what we'd like to talk about next week, Lord willing. What would be a fitting response to what the Savior did for us? I hope you'll all come back. Shall we look to him in prayer? Blessed Lord Jesus, our hearts are stilled. We're flabbergasted when we think of it all. And we know it's true. We bow and worship before you today. And we say, why should you love me so? Why should my Savior to Calvary go? Why should he love me so? For those who know and love you, we pray that these thoughts might incite their hearts to greater worship, greater love, greater service for you. And, O Lord, for those who've never taken a public stand for you, for those who've never crossed the line, for those who've never said yes to Jesus, we pray that this might be the day of days for them. You promised to honor your word. We pray that you will do exactly that today. Honor your word, that it might not return unto you void, but will accomplish what you've sent it forth to do. In the Savior's precious name, amen.