In this sermon, the speaker begins by expressing gratitude for the love and grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The speaker emphasizes that salvation is a free gift from God, accomplished through the work of Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus is described, highlighting the rejection and mistreatment he endured. The speaker concludes by noting that the world's attitude towards Jesus has not changed, as many still reject him today.

This being Palm Sunday, I think it's so appropriate that we remind ourselves that the Lord Jesus Christ, on his last earthly visit to the city of Jerusalem, he was received in a rather wonderful way, festive occasion. The Word of God tells us that as he entered the city they spread their garments in the road, others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went before and those who followed after were crying out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David! Hosanna in the heights! The reason I've read that passage is simply to remind you that this is such a fickle world that we live in, that here on this day the entrance of the Son of God into the city of Jerusalem prompted such a response, respect, homage being paid to the Son of God. But before the week would have passed, the Son of God would have been arrested, given a mock trial, condemned, and nailed on a cross, put to an open shame. Praise God, next Lord's Day, if we follow the chronological order of these events, we will be celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. We do live in a fickle world. We live in a world that is blinded by the God of this world. Satan wants this world for himself. I'm not talking about the physical world that we live in, this planet earth. He wants you, and he wants me. He wants souls. It's his way of defying God. It's his way of, in some way, indicating a victory in his conquest of being greater than Almighty God himself. I will, I will, I will. With the words of that fallen angel, Lucifer, Satan still wants the souls of men, taking them down into a lost eternity. I'm so thankful that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we can gather together, we can commemorate in many ways a remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know what transpired here took place 2,000 years ago, but for us it is still very real, and thank God he is still being honored, he is being worshiped. Already this day in this very room we gathered around a table. On that table there was a loaf of bread, there was a fruit of the vine in the cup, and we followed out an invitation that was given to every believer by our Lord Jesus Christ. In that short span of time, from Palm Sunday until he was arrested, he had instituted what we call the Lord's Supper, and as he observed that last Passover with those that were so near and dear to him, he took a loaf of bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body which is broken for you, and he took the cup and he said, this is my blood which was shed for you. He gave it to them to drink and to eat in remembrance of his death, in remembrance of his death. The Lord's Supper is simply an opportunity provided believers in Jesus Christ to remember the broken body and shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins. He is the sacrifice that God has found completely satisfactory, meeting all divine requirements for righteousness, a perfect sacrifice without blemish, the sinless Son of God to be remembered by those that have availed themselves of the value of that sacrifice. The Lamb of God that can take away the sin of the world, we rejoice because he took our sins away. My sin is gone. My sin is gone. Praise God, my sin is gone. Therefore, we remember the Lord Jesus Christ. There is something rather remarkable about this particular season of the year in our remembrance of the Lord Jesus. I think one of the memorable things about him is that he was born to die. I want you to turn to Matthew 27, and let's take a look at some of the things that are part of that death of the Son of God. You might think in terms of your own life and what you consider to be perhaps a memorial day or a memorable day in your life. You might think about your own birthday, as we have here already this morning. You say, That's a wonderful day, the day I was born. Job didn't think so after what he experienced. He said, That day that I was born, would you God, that day had never been because of the experiences of life. Sometimes I hear people say that. Would you God, I'd never been born. But when you think about the advancements that we make in life, going to school and graduating, first job you've ever had, earning some money, your marriage. Many of the ladies would say, Well, that was the highlight of my life thus far. They haven't been married too long, they might say that. Having children, blessed events, indeed it brings a lot of joy. But then there's death, and we never really think about death in terms of our lives as being a memorable day, the day that I'm going to die. Thank God He doesn't tell us when we're going to die. The day of our death is something that we are never really sure of. We say, Well, I've already lived three score and ten and a few more, and it has to be pretty soon. But I don't know when. And thank God He doesn't tell us. But the Son of God was born into the world knowing that He had a divine appointment with an hour in time that God had already predestined Him for. There had been perfect agreement in heaven about this event, that the Son of God would come and that He would die. He would die for the sin of the world, and indeed that is a memorable day in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Leaning up to these events past the Sunday, the day that He made His entrance into the city of Jerusalem, He had already spent that precious time with His own disciples, and then He was arrested. He was examined by Pilate, brought before the crowd, and they cried, Give us Barabbas in preference to the Lord Jesus. Cruel soldiers had taken Him, and they crowned Him with a crown of thorns. They put a scarlet robe on Him, they spat on Him, they beat Him upon the head, they mocked Him, and then they crucified Him. That is the response of the world that God so loved that He gave His Son. That is the response of the world that is in spiritual darkness today to what God has done in giving His Son. The world has not changed. The attitude of the world today is still the same toward the Son of God. All of the things that I have just read for you concerning the treatment of the Son of God, that same attitude prevails in the world today. We will not have the man to rule over us. We will not have the Son of God as our Savior. So they crucified Him. Reading from verse 33 of Matthew 27, it says, And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall, and after tasting it He was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots, and sitting down they began to keep watch over Him there. And they put up above His head the charge against Him which read, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left, and those passing by were hurling abuses at Him, wagging their heads and saying, You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, He saved others, He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and we shall believe in Him. He trusts in God, let Him deliver Him now. If He takes pleasure in Him, for He said, I am the Son of God. And the robbers also who had been crucified with Him were casting the same insults at Him. Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? And some of those who were standing there when they heard it began saying, This man is calling for Elijah. And immediately one of them ran and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave him a drink. But the rest of them said, Let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said cruelly, This was the Son of God. I trust that during this particular season of the year, and it's only a brief season, that many will be convinced in their hearts by the Spirit of God that Jesus Christ is really the Son of God. He is God's Son. He came on a mission. That mission was to fulfill the will of God. It's not God's will that any should perish. God doesn't want to punish and separate Himself from poor sinners for all eternity. This is a choice of man. Adam sinned, and all mankind was doomed. This is not a very popular teaching, especially among many liberal theologians and those that have given themselves to more modernistic trends in what Scripture teaches. They do not believe in the depravity of all mankind. But Adam sinned, and all mankind was doomed. Romans 5 and verse 19 is a verse that I think any reasonable person, if they read it and if they believe the word of God, will accept this. It says, For as through one man's disobedience, that's Adam, many were made sinners. Many were constituted as being sinners because they were simply identified with him as to their origin, a member of the human family. Even so, through the obedience of the one, and that one is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the many will be made righteous. Here you have, in a nutshell, a wonderful, glorious truth that because of Adam's sin, all of the accentuating circumstances, what extended out from that one sin has touched the whole human family. Why? Because God said so. Simply because God said so, and that's enough. When we begin to accept what God said so, then you know we begin to make progress. We begin to make progress in the things of God. As long as we have in our hearts and minds doubt indeed can rob us of so much in the way of precious promises and truth from the word of God. Many look at this and they only can say, This is unfair that I, in the eyes of God, should be looked upon as being in my sin and separated from God, and I didn't sin in the Garden. Why doesn't he just judge me on the basis of my conduct in the world? Well, if he did, he'd find out real quick, and if you're honest, you'll find out real quick that you're not perfect, that you have a nature within that cannot and will not do the will of God, regardless of how good you may think you are. All has sinned and come short of the glory of God. But the wonderful thing about this is this. Even though all were constituted being sinners because of their identification with Adam and members of the human race, but by the One, our Lord Jesus Christ, the One that said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes unto the Father but by me, this One that was made a sacrifice for sin, the One that died upon the cross, the One that suffered all of this humiliation and shame in fulfilling the will of God, this One we can accept as our sacrifice, as our substitute, and can be made righteous in the sight of God. He that knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And I suppose this is one of those things that you have to accept it, and you have to look back and think about what it was like being in your sin and without Christ, and the judgment of God hanging over you, for you to really appreciate it, what it means to be made righteous and fit for the presence of God. You can't understand it. You can't appreciate it until you accept it. It won't mean much to you. It's just so much rhetoric. It's just so much preaching. It's just so much that is presented today. It's being held out to the world in the gospel message as being the answer to our needs. And just as Jesus Christ was rejected and crucified two thousand years ago, men and women are still rejecting the Son of God, and they will not acknowledge that He is the Son of God. He is God manifest in flesh. Well, while He hung upon that cross, just a casual search in scripture, and if you have a Scofield reference Bible, you'll have no problem at all following this line of thought, because we're told that there were some cries that came forth from the lips of the Son of God. Every believer should be interested in knowing what the Son of God said when He hung upon the cross. I would trust that everyone would, those that just have a casual interest in what took place here. Even the world has recorded, and in many, many places to date, they can tell you what He said when He hung upon the cross. Well, there are seven recorded sayings. The first one is found in Luke's gospel, if you want to follow an order as to what was said. In Luke's gospel, chapter 23 and verse 34, and this again takes us to the crucifixion. Verse 33 says, And when they came to the place called the skull, there they crucified him. And the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. That's the first thing He said. Forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. You know what that is? That's a prayer. The Son of God uttered a prayer on the cross after what we've read, all of the injustice, this rejection, looking into the eyes of men and perhaps women as well, and He could just see that hot anger and resentment and rejection of Him. And He says, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. Now, you know and I know that those Roman soldiers and those around the cross, they knew exactly what they were doing. They were crucifying someone. We're not talking about that. When you dig deeper and you have someone that does not understand who this person is that's dying upon the cross, they have rejected the Son of God. They have rejected the Lord of glory. They have rejected the unspeakable gift of God. They have rejected God's blessing for mankind. They have rejected the one that was heaven's delight. And they have said, we will not have Him to rule over us. And He responds and says, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. And you can still say today and you can say it, I believe without any apologies. Any human being that has ever heard this story, that has ever heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God and has rejected the Son of God, you don't know what you're doing. The God of this world has blinded your mind so that you won't believe Father, forgive them. Forgo judgment at this moment. He could have cried out, I want to see all of those that are in this world at this moment that are rejecting your love and despising your grace and trampling underfoot all that is divine and holy and righteous and sacred. I want to see judgment, Paul. The Apostle Peter could remind us that when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself unto Him that judgeth righteously. The Son of God is a wonderful Savior, a lover of the souls of men so much that He would be made sin for us. And still respond in a prayer to God in heaven upon His throne, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. Those two robbers that were on the cross with Him, they were a part of this group and they weren't silent. They had been casting into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ perhaps all sorts of things that were not very complimentary. And when we read about what they said and his comments to each one of them, one of those criminals that was hanging there hurling abuses at Him, saying, Are you not the Christ, save yourself and us? But the other answered and rebuking Him said, Do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? We indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And this is what the Lord Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. For a man pinned upon a cross, condemned by the world, and he had the privilege of dying by the side of the Son of God, the Savior of sinners. He was the last man perhaps that ever heard those words of pardon and forgiveness and acceptance by the Son of God. Today, this very day, this day, you will be with me in paradise. That's where Lazarus went into Abraham's bosom. Today you will be there with me because I'm going there. I have a mission to accomplish there. But you will be forgiven of your sin. Someone as well said, We're given both of these thieves. One of them was saved. One of them was lost. We hold out to everyone the hope and the prayer that you will respond and accept the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're always aware that there are those that will not because of the hardness of the heart, because of the rebellious spirit, because of the power of the God of this world. That satanic power that has such a grip over the hearts of men and women go on resisting, resisting, resisting. One of these fellows died and he's out in eternity now without Christ. He could have had forgiveness as well, but he made a choice. We are making choices every day in life. We that have made a choice to receive Christ as our Savior have responded in a way that is in accord with the perfect will of God. In John's gospel, there is mention of a cry that was made from the cross, the 19th chapter. Our Lord looking at his mother and John standing there said, Woman, behold your son. I simply mention that because it shows that there was a recognition and a love in the heart of the Son of God for his mother. Blessed above all women was Mary the Son of God. And in the passage that we've just read in Matthew 27 and verse 46, it says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's a question. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I would just like to submit to you for your consideration. The Son of God had never been forsaken of his father. The Son of God had never had the father turn his back upon him, and he had no idea. It is something that he, the Son of God, could not even imagine what it would be like. It was horrible. The excruciating pain in his soul. My God, my God. In that time in which he spun upon the cross, when God turned his back upon his own son, God is holy. He cannot look upon sin. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was being made sin for us. Don't ever forget that. The Son of God that hung upon the cross was made sin for us. Not for his own sin. For our sin he died upon the cross. And it was a horrible experience. He was forsaken of God. God turned his back upon his own son to save poor sinners like you and me. And you know, just a little casual examination of our loyalty and our devotion to the Lord makes us say sometimes, Lord, I don't think I was worth it really. I'm so thankful you can see more in me. There's more value in saving my soul and having me in your presence for all eternity than even I can see. So thank God for his mercy and his grace in saving our souls. The Son of God was forsaken of his Father, and it prompted a question. Why? Why have you forsaken me? Do you catch that note of despair that must have just gone deep down into the heart of the Son of God? Well, finally, we're told in John's Gospel where he cried out from the cross, I am thirsty. I thirst. But finally he said, It's finished. He said, It is finished. Note this. He didn't say, I am finished. He said, It is finished. Everything that you gave me to do I have accomplished. I left heaven's glory. We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, poverty stricken, put to an open shame, hanging upon that cross, forsaken of God. He finished the work, the divine, sovereign work of providing salvation as a free gift to whosoever will. It's free. It's free to you and me as a gift. It cost him everything to be our Savior. I can only pray this morning that if you are in this room, and you have never responded to the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that you will do it today. You don't have a thing in the world to lose but the penalty of your sin. Acceptance with God, accounted as being righteous and fit for the presence of God. It's finished. God's not going to do anything else to save our souls. It's all done. And I can't do anything to save myself. I can't add anything to this. I can worship and obey and honor God with my life because now I'm not my own. I was purchased with a price, the precious blood of Christ. You see, we've become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Old things pass away. Behold, all things become new. Praise God, what a wonderful Savior we have in the Lord Jesus. Our Father in heaven, we do bow in thy presence this morning and thank thee for the wonderful story of your love and grace and the account that has been provided of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to have our minds enlightened to the glorious truth that you have provided at great cost to thyself and to thy son, your great salvation, and that it's given to us as a free gift. God forbid that in the world today where the gospel is preached in this room this morning, not one person, not one person would reject your love and grace in the person of Christ but accept him. For we ask this in his holy name. Amen. The service is over. Let's have just a verse of a hymn.