In this sermon, the preacher discusses the three-and-a-half years of Jesus Christ's ministry on earth. Jesus is portrayed as a superior teacher and performer of miracles, with John the Baptist recognizing him as such. Throughout his ministry, Jesus touched and blessed many lives, demonstrating his power and authority through various miracles, such as healing the blind. The sermon emphasizes that Jesus knew his purpose from the beginning and was aware of the details of his death, leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection. The preacher encourages the audience to reflect on the significance of these events in the life of Jesus.

It's always delightful to be in the rich part of the city. I have only one objection. Every time I come to Northgate Chapel, I find that before I eat my noon meal, I have to wash my hands. They are green from all that money that you folks have. But it's wonderful to be with you occasionally and to renew this wonderful fellowship. Before we turn to the Holy Scriptures, let's bow in prayer. Our gracious Father, we unite our hearts once more to praise Thee for all the gifts that we have enjoyed from Thee, Lord, a gracious God. We thank Thee for every gift that we have from Thyself, the things that we have enjoyed during this past week, for health and strength, for meeting all of our needs while there are many who are starving to death. We thank Thee for the good land in which we are found, and for all the freedoms that we enjoy from day to day. We know they come from Thee, and we thank Thee for them. When we think of the greater gifts that Thou hast given to us, Thy holy word, how poor we would be and how helpless we would be if we did not have Thy word in our own mother's tongue that we could read it and understand the plans and purposes that Thou dost have for us. We thank Thee in this word Thou hast revealed Thy beloved Son, and we thank Thee for His coming into the world and all the blessings that He has already brought. We pray that today as He is exalted, as He is lifted up, we pray Thou wilt bless every servant of Thine who is faithfully presenting Thy Son, and we pray that ere the sun sets tonight there will be many who will be rejoicing in newfound joy in knowing that they are now passed from death into life and the possessors of eternal life. We ask Thy blessing on our service this morning. We ask that Thou wilt search every heart that is now bowed before Thee for everyone who has already trusted the Savior and can rejoice in Him. We give Thee thanks. And for those who may be here who are not quite sure about their eternal destiny, who can only say, I hope that at the end of the road I would be in heaven, we pray for them and pray they may see the wisdom of being sure about this and of receiving Thy Son so that they can be sure. We ask Thy blessing on our coming together in every similar gathering where Jesus Christ is lifted up and exalted, and we give Thee thanks and ask Thy blessing in His worthy name. Amen. I presume that nearly everyone attending Northgate Chapel brings the Bible along, and you are familiar with your Bible. It may be that you are reading it regularly at home, and it may be that you want to keep secret how little or how much you do read the Bible. When you read it, especially the Old Testament, you will find many, many people introduced. Some of them have easy names, such as Jacob and Isaac and Abraham and so on, and while you are reading, sometimes you find some very difficult names to pronounce, some jawbreakers, and some people have used that as an excuse for no longer reading the Bible because it is too difficult to read. But of all the people that you have read about in the Bible, I am sure that after you are through reading, you recognize that there is one person that is exalted above all the rest. Your New Testament begins with these words, The generation of Jesus Christ. The New Testament ends with these words, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The last book of your New Testament begins The Revelation of Jesus Christ, and that title would be a good title to be written over your entire Bible because that is exactly what it is, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. And if you read your Bible without seeing Christ in it, you may not receive the blessing that is in store for you. Of course, when you read the Old Testament, you will never read his name. He is not mentioned in the Old Testament. But there are thousands and maybe even millions of pictures of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament that harmonize so beautifully with the revelation that is more clearly made known in the New Testament. Between the two Testaments, the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is a period of 400 years of silence. In your Old Testament, you will read of God communicating with the sons of men by means of a voice from heaven, God speaking audibly to men. Sometimes he speaks through dreams and visions, sometimes he dispatches angels to speak to men and women, but he is busy continually communicating to man. But when you come to the end of the Old Testament, you will find there is a period where heaven is silent for 400 years, and it would almost seem that God is disgusted with the human family. He says, I am going to let them alone. I am not going to speak to them. I am going to let them on their own and see how they make out. But that silence is broken when one day, Gabriel is dispatched from heaven and he comes to Elizabeth to announce that she will have a son. His name is John. Only a short time later, Gabriel is dispatched once more, and this time he comes to Mary and makes the announcement that it is so important that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will be born of her. Just a few months ago, the religious people in the United States were celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to give you just a brief review of the things that a bird's eye view in your New Testament regarding the revelation of Jesus Christ. His announcement to the shepherds in Judea, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. A little while later, maybe when Jesus was between one and two years of age, the wise men appear from the east. They have come to bring gifts to him, and to worship him. Then you won't hear anything about him until, or rather I should mention that when he was eight days old, he was brought to the temple and there were some Jewish rituals carried out. But after the wise men appear and bring these gifts, you won't hear about him until he is twelve years of age, so about ten years of silence, and you don't know much about the boyhood days of our Lord Jesus Christ. The human mind tries to figure out what God hasn't revealed, and the human mind sometimes will say, I believe that Jesus Christ was just like other boys. He played ball or whatever they played in those days, and he was just as active as other boys. Some other humans will try to speculate and say that maybe he was entirely different. Maybe he was a bookworm, and when all the other children were playing, he was back there reading his Bible. You will have to decide just about the boyhood days of our Lord Jesus Christ, because you can't find any details between the age of maybe two and twelve years of age. At twelve years of age, he is found in the temple, and the doctors and those who are asking him questions and he is asking them questions have discovered that he is very unusual. They are attracted to him because he has wisdom that is not usually found in a boy of that age. Then you have another silent period of about eighteen years, and you know nothing about him except that perhaps he is busy in the carpenter shop in Nazareth with his foster father, Joseph. There seem to be wasted years, and the Holy Spirit has not been pleased to tell us very much about those years. But when he is thirty years of age, he becomes a public figure. John the Baptist introduces to him, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And perhaps when you hear that pronouncement, you are apt to ask, I wonder why he didn't say, Behold, the Son of God? Or why didn't he say, Behold, the King of the Jews? Why did he use that title? Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. That is some of your homework to find out why he used that term. He is introduced, and John the Baptist, who has quite a large following, watching and hearing him preach, turns all of his crowd over to one that he recognizes as his superior, although he is younger than he is. And Jesus Christ is busy for three and a half years performing miracles mostly around the Sea of Galilee. During those three and a half years, he is demonstrating who he is and why he has come into the world. Many, many people's lives were touched and blessed through those three and a half years. Someday you will hear the testimony of those who were helped, for there was no need brought across his pathway that was a match for him that he couldn't handle. If it was a blind man, he had the power and the authority to say, Even though you have never been able to see, you may see right now and prove by doing that that he was the creator and that he had the power to give sight to the blind. The person who wasn't able to hear could instantly hear because of the touch of this unusual man. And so far as his miracles are concerned, I suppose that we list at the top of those miracles the raising of those that were dead. Those who claim to be able to do unusual things today do not impress us too much if they claim to have the same power that the early disciples had, unless they are able to go all the way. They may be able to handle snakes, they may pretend to drink poison without doing any harm, but I have very little confidence in them until they can say, Here is one that I raised from among the dead, a man that has been dead for four days, and Jesus Christ stands at his tomb and cries, Lazarus, come forth! And he that was dead comes forth. Why these three and a half years of public ministry, of proving by his miracles that he was the son of God? God wanted to make sure that after Jesus Christ was on the earth, there could never be a reasonable man who would doubt his identity, so that there could never rise an infidel, an agnostic, an atheist who would say, No one can prove to me that this was God's son. And that's why we have a right to say that every person who doubts that Jesus Christ was the son of God is an unreasonable person, who doesn't want to, probably loves his sins, and doesn't want to be sensible, for all the evidence is given in three and a half years. This is not an ordinary man. This is God's man, the Lord Jesus Christ. His teachings excel all other teachers. When Jesus Christ is in his publicity, or while he is a public figure, he is teaching many, many wonderful lessons. The three and a half years draw to an end, and what now? We are at that time of the year, two weeks from today, we will be celebrating his resurrection from the dead, and a few days before his crucifixion. Next Sunday, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which again brings us to that point where he is just about to go to the cross and to finish the work that the Father gave him to do. I'm sorry for such a lengthy introduction, because you are accustomed to having the preacher, first of all, read the scriptures and then start preaching. Well, there's really no scripture that you have to do it that way, but now I'll let you turn to the scriptures. Matthew 20, verse 17. Keep in mind where we are in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is now coming to the end of his three and a half years of public ministry. Matthew 20, verse 17. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third day he shall rise again. Mark's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 32. And they were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went before them, and they were amazed. And as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him. And the third day he shall rise again. Luke, chapter 18, verse 31. Then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished, for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, and they shall scourge him, and shall put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things that were spoken. I wanted to read all three of the gospel accounts of this particular moment when our Lord Jesus Christ predicts his death. He did it on a number of occasions earlier than this, but this is the final time that he tells them about his death. He is the only person that I know that has ever told the details of his death. I must remind you that these are not funeral arrangements. Funeral arrangements are very popular. There are a number of people who recognize that someday they are going to have to leave this world, and see the wisdom of making some arrangements for the benefit of those who are left behind so it will be easier on the day of their exodus, and some funeral arrangements are made. They cannot be in detail, but at least enough to help the family circle. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not giving his funeral arrangements. He is giving his death arrangements. He is telling us where he is going to die, how he is going to die, and a number of the details that men are going to do to him before he is going to die, and adds each time that then after that he will rise again from the dead. This is rather unusual, and it is strange that our blessed Savior would reveal all of these things, proving again that he wasn't an ordinary man, that he knew before he ever came into the world just what would lie ahead of him. Those silent years, we question them and say, if God demanded that his son should come down to the earth and should die on the cross for our sins, why didn't he just drop him down on a parachute, or a full-grown man, thirty-three years of age, just drop him down a few hours before he goes to the cross, let him die, and let him rise again? Why all the prelude to it, and all of the details that we have in the word of God? Again, I remind you, God wanted to make sure that no reasonable answer could be given or question raised as to who he is, that he is God's beloved son, and that he came for a definite purpose. Remember that our Lord did not predict when he started his ministry what he would do. He did not say to his disciples, this is what I am going to do. I am going to feed five thousand people at one time. I am going to raise the widow's son. I am going to open the eyes of the blind in all the miracles. He could have related all of them, but he didn't. These things happened as he was passing by, but the very fact that he tells us, tells them in detail, the details of his death would remind us that all the time from his very birth, he knew what was going to happen, he knew the main purpose for his coming into the world, he knew exactly how he would die, he knew who would condemn him, he knew every detail. This had to be God's beloved son, and that ought to cause our hearts to bow in reverence and in adoration. Think of some of the things that he mentions. First of all, he is delivered to the Gentiles, he is betrayed by Judas, and of course the nation of Israel is responsible perhaps for initiating the hatred against our Lord Jesus Christ. When I speak of his publicity and how he has the multitudes following him, and there is blessing dispensed on every hand, I have to also tell you that alongside of that was opposition growing continually. In fact, right from the very beginning, there was no room for him in the inn, he was unwanted. And the greater his miracles, the greater the animosity of Satan and all of his crowd, and the opposing forces were growing as Jesus Christ demonstrated who he was. And that opposition rises higher and higher and higher, until men, the Jews, the Gentiles, whosoever will, joins in one chorus and says, this man is not fit to live. Who is not fit to live? Barabbas, a murderer, a condemned man? Yes, we are willing to let him live. If there is a custom that a prisoner shall be released, let's release him. But not this man. If you ever want to raise the question just how stupid the human race is, and how poor the judgment of the human heart, you will have a very good demonstration of it just before Jesus Christ died on the cross. Man's judgment. This man. Just think of all the good he could have accomplished. Let's just forget for a moment the purposes of God. Some years ago, a man told me, he said, you know, it was a shame that they had to kill him at thirty-three years of age. Suppose he had lived twice that long. Just think of all the good he could have done. He could have healed some more people. He could have raised the sick and taken care of their disease and the demon-possessed ones and so on. And that man only had in mind the good that Jesus Christ accomplished so far as the human race is concerned in temporal things. But Jesus Christ came for one definite purpose. And the nation of Israel plus all the Gentile nations are responsible for crying away with him. They mocked him. Why was that necessary? Again, it exposes the wickedness of the human heart. Why not let him alone? Condemn him to death, but you don't have to mock him. But when hatred grows against deity, every form of animosity will be raised up. Shamefully treated him. And you have the details of all the things, that includes the crown of thorns that they made because they were mocking him with the crown of thorns. You can imagine that when they recognized him as being a king, you don't have a king without a crown. So let's make a crown. You don't have a king without a robe on him. So let's take the purple robe and put some kind of rags upon him. And then put a stick in his hand and bow down in mock worship, worshiping this wonderful person, but doing it all together in mockery. I'm amazed at the patience of God, because God was looking down from heaven when there were sinners getting down on their knees and bowing their knees and saying, to you the Jews, to you the Jews, yeah, you wonderful. It's a wonder God didn't send an earthquake and open up the earth and let those men drop down into a lost eternity. But he allowed it to happen. What else did we read? They spit upon him. This is probably the human reaction of disdain. Those of you who are mothers and fathers, tell me, how long did it take you, how many lessons did you have to give to your child to teach them to spit at you? It took a long time before they could learn that lesson. Whenever you don't like something, you can spit upon a person. Where did they learn it? It's a part of the human heart. If I want to express my disdain, it comes naturally. And the blessed face of our Lord Jesus Christ was filled with man's spittle. Again, to prove. And he told them, he predicted that this would happen, and it did. Scourge him. A whipping post. The cat of nine tails, with perhaps bones, sharp bones injected in that whip. And they plowed upon his back. Why was all of that necessary? Again, I raise the question, if Jesus Christ had to die for sin, then let's lead him to the cross without all of these things. Why all of these preliminary things? Again, so that man might recognize his own wretched wickedness. This is my heart exposed. Not content just to put him to death. But then the final thing, they shall kill him. This is man's limit. You can't go any farther. It may be on a few occasions that if a man has hatred towards his brother or some other person to the extent that he kills him, and after he's dead, he'll even stump him, just to show his wrath against the person. But after he's dead, there's no more can be done. The full limit of man's hatred is expressed when our Savior says they shall kill him. And they did. God allowed man to put his son to death. I don't want you to think of that being the main purpose of his death, because many people who do not read their Bible carefully presume that Jesus Christ was murdered, and there weren't enough good people there to protect him, and the bad people overpowered him, and nothing could be done. That is not true, because our Savior said, no man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This power he received from his Father. No, but God did allow man to express himself, and Jesus Christ died under the load of our sin, and God allowed man to carry out the details of his death. But I'm glad that when he predicted this in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as soon as he said they shall put him to death, he adds, and he shall rise again. Isn't that wonderful? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is nothing more wonderful, so far as the human race is concerned, to prove the fact that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of the world. Sometimes those who are trying to reason their way through religion will ask us the question, what about all these other great leaders of religions? Muhammad, who has a tremendous following, what's the difference? Muhammad claims that he rose from the dead, that he ascended from the dome of the rock, but there is absolutely no evidence that Muhammad ever rose from the dead. So there is no other person in the whole wide world that can claim that he rose from the dead, but our blessed Savior did rise from the dead, and just two weeks from today, the religious world will be celebrating that wonderful event. After all of this, the last verse that I read in Luke's gospel, chapter 18, and they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things that were spoken. I wonder why? It was plain English language, who couldn't understand those words? I wonder what they were saying? After he repeated these words, I'm going to imagine that the disciples said, do you know what he was talking about? What did he mean? Oh, I think he must have been speaking in parables. Do you remember when he was teaching up there by the Sea of Galilee? He would teach us in parables, and he is talking now in a parable, and it has some significance, and someday we will understand what he means, but right now we don't know what it means. Surely we can't believe literally what he is saying. He couldn't mean that. They didn't understand. It went over their heads, and because of this, when Jesus Christ did rise from the dead, you remember that they wouldn't believe it, one by one. He rose from the dead. I don't believe it until I see it for myself. They could have just reflected and said, I remember that he said so, and after he did rise from the dead, eventually those who doubted did remember. Now we understand what he meant when he predicted before he went to the cross all the details, and everything happened just as it did. I guess the saddest thing about the story of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion is that our world today does not understand why Jesus Christ came into the world. If you want something interesting, and yet it may be rather sad, you stop on a busy street corner and stop a person who is not too busy and ask him, what do you think about Jesus Christ, and then jot down his answer, and then ask the next person, and the next person, and come home with a list of answers, and you will be liable to say, I must be in a heathen country, or at least in a country where there are no Bibles, because of the answers that I received. Who was Jesus Christ? He was a very good man. He had real good lessons to teach, but he was only a man. And why did he come into the world? He came into the world to show people how to live, and if they live as near as possible, like Jesus Christ lived, they've got nothing to worry about. And I would say in Durham, North Carolina, there are thousands of people who are trying to live somewhat like Jesus Christ lived, and they believe that in so doing, they've got nothing to worry about when they come to the end of the road, that that will mean their salvation. And when the preacher stands up and says, stop trying to live like Jesus Christ lived, you're wrong. It'll get you nowhere. In fact, it'll take you straight to hell if you try to live like Jesus Christ and rest on that for your salvation. Read your Bible and discover that Jesus Christ died for you on Calvary's cross. There are some who have read their Bible enough to say, I believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, in a very general sense, who know the history and all that is related to this person. The saddest of all things is the fact that in spite of what Jesus Christ did, made salvation possible for every person, there will be many people who will go to hell as if he had never come, as if he had never died, as if he had never been raised from the dead. Why? Because that big enemy of souls is busy deceiving people and allowing them to go on day after day without accepting him as Lord and Savior. After this message is presented, that Jesus Christ died for your sins personally, you have an obligation either to turn him down or to accept him. And it may be that there's someone in this congregation who has never at any time definitely accepted him as your own personal Savior. And in case that is true of you, if you were to die this afternoon, you would go straight to hell. And you won't like that. You will think I'm a judge. But I must tell you, the Bible says that. Unless you have definitely at any moment received him as your Lord and your Savior, your substitute who died for you, this morning. And if you did, you would be able to say, I know that I'm on the way to heaven. I'm not finished when I finish my message because I still want to offer an opportunity to help you. It may be that there's someone here and you need to be saved and you realize it. This could be the day of your conversion. Today, you could open your heart and say, I've been fighting against God. I can't fight any longer. I would like to accept him as my Lord and Savior. If you do that right where you are, God will save you on the spot. Let's turn to number 356 for our closing hymn. We're just going to sing one verse. Listen to the words. Have you any room for Jesus? He who bore your load of sin. As he knocks and asks submission, sinner, will you let him in? While we sing just this one verse, you have an opportunity to come to the front and by it say, I will receive him as my Lord and Savior. I ask you to do that before you go home. Shall we stand and sing just the first verse? The worst sin that you have ever committed, I think you might pick out the wrong one. The worst sin that you have ever committed in your life is to say no to Jesus Christ, who wants to save you. And there is a possibility that you are going to commit that sin once more this morning by going out and turning down Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. I'll remain at the front of the building. I would love to talk to you if you're interested in going to heaven and being sure about it. The meeting is dismissed. God bless you.