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I want to speak to you tonight from these passages in John, and we'll speak of them as the excess of John's gospel. I draw your attention first to John nineteen, where we read these words. Pilate says, knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given me from above.
Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Now, in the passage before us, we have reached that tragic experience in the life of Christ. He has now come to the dark depths of Calvary sufferings and shame. At the moment here, he's standing his trial. It was very unfair, very unjust. He's standing before Pilate. Pilate was as convinced as could be that Jesus was absolutely innocent. Again and again he had to say, I find no fault in him.
I've examined him before you, and I find no fault in him. No fault. Yet, he speaks to Christ like this. You see, the verse that goes before, when he's in the judgment hall, Pilate asks him the question, whence art thou? He gave him no answer. He gave him no answer. One is reminded of that old verse in Isaiah fifty three, he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep dumb before a shearer, so openeth he not his mouth.
One day Paul said to Timothy, regarding his defense for the gospel, he commanded him to the Lord Jesus, who witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate. Now that's what causes Pilate to say to Christ, knowest thou not that I have failed to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. Judas. Judas. The man who one day stretched out his hand to the chief priest, and he said, put the money there, thirty pieces of silver, and I'll hand you over Jesus of Nazareth.
The blessed Christ says, greater sin. And tonight, down in the regions of the damned, there's a man who sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. He imagined for a moment, surely, oh, how foolish was his thinking that he could deliver Christ over to the hands of these men, and they could do what they pleased with Christ. Pilate thought as a judge that power lay in his hands, for behind him was the brawn and power and might of the great political Rome, with all its military force, and he thought representing that government, he had power to release Christ or power to crucify him.
The Lord Jesus said no. And I wrote in the margin of my Bible beside this except, no permission, no power. Here is the idea, away back in the countless ages of eternity, we go back to our minds wheel. We find yonder in the Godhead a great problem rising to be resolved. What is it? The recovery of a fallen race. And right away back before time began, the Divine Trinity settled down to consider the great means whereby a guilty fallen creature could be restored and brought back to God.
And that's what made our Lord Jesus Christ at the appointed times, vacate the realms of glory, descend in human form, John into Bethlehem's manger, wrapped in the poverty of all humanity, yet the mighty, almighty, infinite, eternal God come down to be the savior of men. No one coerced our Lord Jesus to come. No one constricted Christ to come. No one urged Christ to come. He came willingly and absolutely voluntarily to the death of Calvary. And my friend, even at that time, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, if he had cared, and had it been within the range of the divine counsels, he could have blasted those men in a moment's time into eternity, as most of you know.
My, said the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact he knows even now, I can pray to my Father, I will give me twelve legion of angels, all the myriads for his defense. But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled? I want to tell you, dear friend, that right down the pages of God's book, every book from Genesis right down through the Pentateuch, and then through the historical books, then through the Psalms and through the prophets, every one of these books were like an avenue or avenues, all converging on the New Testament and bringing our Lord Jesus Christ as a willing sacrifice right to the middle tree at Calvary. Remember, men and women tonight, if it never has dawned upon you, may it dawn upon you now, that except you know what it is to get a real vital interest in the sacrifice and death of Christ, you'll never be in heaven.
Now, remember that. You may get religious if you care. You may live a life of a high moral standard, which is the most covetous thing for us to do. We ought to covet earnest of the best gifts, and here's one of them, that one will live a straight, upright life in the sight of a holy God, but even that, dear friend, will not take a man to heaven. It was an absolute essential thing that our Lord Jesus Christ should come into the world, and thank God he came willingly. What a lovely picture of this we have in the Old Testament. One day God said to Isaac, to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of, for a burnt offering.
And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and he made for the place. And when they were come to the lad in the way, behold the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? My sons and the fathers, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. The point of beauty is this, when they reached the altar, that great big man, approximately thirty years of age, laid himself willingly down upon the altar. What a lovely picture of this. My friend, all the power of Rome could never have put Christ to Calvary. Sometimes we sing, 'Twas love that sought Gethsemane, or Judas Nair had found him.
'Twas love that held him to the tree, where iron Nair had bound him. And if there's one thing touches my heart as a believer in Christ, after many years, it's this thought. It rushes into my mind again and again and again and again. Oh, to think of it, that the second person of the Godhead, the one that threw the world, as we saw this afternoon, into space, the w- the one that created the first microscopical atom of Earth's dust, that one day, on a gibbet between two malefactors, he suffered and bled and died. My friend, it's a mystery, the mis- the mystery of mysteries that shall never be fathomed.
But thank God for the intense love of Christ. His love brought him down from the glory. His love brought him down from the sky. His love in his heart for the sinners led him to suffer and die. And so, dear friend, right away I want you to get a hold of this thought, that Calvary, dear friend, and its sufferings were before the Lord Jesus Christ, and no human element could drive them there or hold them back. It was in the divine counsels from all eternity that Christ should die and make an atonement for sin.
But I want to couple with this the passage which is on my mind very much in the twelfth chapter. Here we have a number of Greeks and the desirous to see Jesus. It's a great thing when you find this in the experience of any man, a desire to see Jesus. I was pointing out just recently in the gospel that whatever is an anxious seeking sinner, he won't have far to go to find an anxious seeking savior. And that's the truth in this passage. Sirs, we would see Jesus. And you recall this, dear friend, that these dear men had little opportunity, but here's one in a lifetime.
Now here's a chance for us to lay hold upon something this one tells us that will give us hope for eternity, and these men made up their mind they would have this opportunity now and not let it slip. My, I'm thankful to God that away back fifty years ago, well nigh in a few months, down on my knees in the middle of a miner's kitchen, I made up my mind I'm not letting this occasion go past. No sleep to mine eyes tonight, no head to the pillow, until I know for a certainty that my sins are all forgiven. And bless God, dear friend, wasn't five minutes in that position till I rose to my feet with the knowledge that my sins were gone and my name was written in heaven.
I tell you, it's a great thing to find those with a desire to see Jesus. Of course, you can always be sure of this, wherever that desire is, there will be an opposing element. I've often thought of that dear little man called Zacchaeus, and of course his trouble was he desired to see Jesus, but his trouble was he was in low stature, and he couldn't see over the heads of the crowd, and he wondered, is the crowd going to bar my view of Christ? The crowd bars the view of Christ for many a soul, many a soul. Many a young man would have come to Christ in his tender teens had it not been just for that crowd of young fellows, his companions.
Well, my friend, I'll tell you if you're in the meeting tonight, and I've just described you, I'm going to give you a little bit of plain hearty advice, and it's this. You get to Christ, young man, and let your companions go by the board. I think of George Beasley, who was mightily blessed of God in the Northdown Hills. A young drunken man, never out of the public house. His mother, a dear old Methodist believer. One night going down to the class meeting, she knew the pub where George was, and she come down and she opened the swing door and said, George, will you not come with me?
His companions laughed and jeered it. That's right, George. Will you go to the meeting on your mother's apron string. George really put down his glass of beer on the counter, and he looked the men in the face. He said, tell me, men, is there any one of you men would go to hell for George Brealey? Ah, there was no answer. And George dropped his glass and went out, went to the class meeting, and God saved his soul. I tell you, dear friend, many a man's in hell tonight, and he couldn't get to see Jesus for the crowd. But thank God, there was a key that got over the crowd, and he saw Jesus, and he got so hit.
I think of that woman who was in the crowd one day, and she said, if I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall surely live. Some preachers say very unadvisedly that she elbowed her way to Christ. She did nothing of the kind. That dear woman hadn't the power to elbow anyone. Imagine that woman elbowing a big man like Peter out of the way, the big brawny, good big fisherman. No, no. But the point was this, the blessed compassionate Lord Jesus saw her in the crowd. He knew the desire of her heart. He knew the faith that was in the breast. If I could only get an opportunity of getting near to him. But alas, it was a crowd.
But on this occasion, our Lord was so gracious. What thing he did? I suppose this is what happened. He made the crowd just move this way and that way until he found himself so near to her that friendly she got down and took the hem of his garment, and she lived. Thank God she got through the crowd. For the Lord's help. I think of that man called Bartimaeus. My God, if I could only get near the Lord. He was blind. He couldn't see the avenue to reach him through all the passing company. What think you he did? He stopped the crowd, and he cried, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
And the Lord stood still at the cry of a blind beggar, and the man that stopped the crowd got to Christ. Oh, young friend in the meeting, let nothing keep you back from the Savior. Sir, we would see Jesus. And of course, there are willing disciples who bring these men, bring their desire to the Lord. Then the Lord gives this wonderful message. He says, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Here now is another except. In the first, no permission, no power.
In this one, I could see something most beautiful. No death, no harvest. No death, no harvest. The apostle in First Corinthians fifteen, he turns around to an objector to the truth of resurrection, and he says to him, now tell me, man, if you sow your seed, what takes place to it? Don't you know right well, the seed that you sow, it dies. And if that seed does not die, then there'll be no fruit. Now, dear friend, we all know that principle. The Lord's laying it down here. No death, no harvest. Ah, dear friend, this brings me tonight to the heart of the gospel.
What is the story here? It is this, that the only ground on which the blessed God can lift a poor sinner out of his sin, and even though he dies then, trusting Christ and goes into the grave, the only power that God can use to lift him out is this, the fact that he put his faith in a, a Christ who was dead, a Christ who was buried, and a Christ who was raised up from among the dead. Thank God for the great, grand, triumphant message of the gospel. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and was raised again the third day, according to the scriptures.
That brings life. In the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and down at verse twenty two, the writer brings before us the case of Abraham, and he says something like this about him. Now, Abraham, you see, he believed God as to the promise of a son when all was hopeless, when all was darkness, when all was death, when there was no prospect, he believed God, that God could give him a living son out of death, and he did. His name was Isaac. Now he said, it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed or reckoned or counted to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again on account of our justification.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. My friend, here is a great gospel. Here shall my soul rest for eternity. There's no fog about it. There's no mist about it. There's no dubiety about it. There's no maybes about it. Here is the great, grand, concrete foundation facts upon which a soul can rest for eternity. Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. That's Christ. It must fall into the ground and die, or it abided alone. Here, dear friend, had it not been in the divine purpose, Christ would have come down from glory.
He could have lived a sinless, stainless life amongst men, and as far as his moral and spiritual state was concerned, he would have gone back to heaven, but he would have gone back alone. But I hear the truth of the gospel. He wanted to raise dead sinners. He wanted to pardon guilty sinners. He wanted to cleanse filthy sinners. He wanted to bring distant sinners into the near place. And the only way he could do it was to go down into the death of Calvary. Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Blessed be his name. My friend, this is the gospel. Now I thank God for it. Let me explain as best I can. I take you to another scripture in the eighth of Romans. Who is he that condemneth? Now this is to the Christian. To the boy of the devil, the man of the woman, that by the cross of Christ takes his place and looks into the eyes of the dying Savior and recognizes him as the one who died in your place, as your substitute, as your surety, as your representative, as your sin bearer. Look at him, see him, then to Paul.
Who is he the condemner? Fifty years come the twenty first of August. I know, with my eyes fixed on the cross, Christ dying, no sin of his own, sinless, stainless, spotless, faultless, flawless, unblemished, untarnished, untainted, unmarked by sin. There he is, too far for me. And I believe on that occasion that the rod of Jehovah's judgment that should have fallen on me, my blessed substitute, took my sins and my guilt upon him, and the rod fell on him.
And thank God, dear friend, in the language of Isaiah fifty three, I learned that I still believe. He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement or punishment for the view to my feet was upon him, and with his stripes I am healed. Isn't that the gospel? It is, friend. It is in all its beauty. Now, says the Lord, who is he to condemn us? This little man here? Enter his twelfth birthday, resting on the atonement of my substitute rendered to the throne on my account, having borne the last stroke that my sin deserves.
Heaven cries, who is he that condemneth that lad? There he answers. Would it be Christ that died? How could he condemn him? How did he die for his guilt? wrote further, who is he that condemneth? Christ that died? Yea, rather, that is written again. Who is even at the right hand of God? How did he get there? This way. He went to Calvary. He took my load. He took my guilt. He bared his breast to the penal stroke, and abutted God, poured out his indignation upon Christ that my sin deserved, till he cried, it is finished.
And God, a holy God, perfectly satisfied with the death of Christ on my account, proved it by raising Christ from the dead and seating him on the highest. I wouldn't change places tonight, dear friend, with the Prime Minister of Great Britain. It's plenty of difficulties, I know, but I wouldn't change places with his high and lofty position tonight for the honor of standing in the rostrum here, behind the rostrum in Alma Hall, to tell the great grand facts of the death of Christ. It was a death that was the first letter of the word, demanded. Demanded. High holy heaven frowned against the sinner with his sin.
And justice barred the way to heaven. Righteousness made its grave and said no sinner will ever come in to God's holy presence until that character is vindicated, till that throne that has been insulted is satisfied. Never come in. Then the Lord Jesus Christ left from the shining glory. Never finished telling tales upon a tree of shame. Then the Son of God became the surety. Thank God, dear friend, upon that tree, he held up, held on. He knew that God's throne demanded it, and that death he would die willingly and voluntarily in the sinner's place.
It was a death that was demanded. E. It was a death that was exacted. Listen, you very in his lovely version in Isaiah fifty three, he puts in that lovely word, he was oppressed and he was afflicted. He puts in these lovely words, it was exacted, and he became answerable. Our heaven said for David Craig, I must have satisfaction for that sinful past. I must have that past blotted out by the punishment being paid, paid out in full.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ stepped into Golgotha's cross for me, and it was exacted my guilt, my debt, my wrongdoing, and he became answerable. Thank God he paid the last night on my account when he died in the tree. And got to prove he had paid it all the third day, despite the fact, dear friend, that material power held his body in the wrong tomb sepulcher. Military power held the body in, the quaternion of soldiers. Political power held them in, the Roman seal and the stone.
Infernal power behind it all tried to hold Christ in, but he rose from the dead. And God took him up as far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that's named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He has turned it up far above all heaven, that he might fill all things. And tonight, in the highest place and glory, sits a man with a match at Calvary, the positive proof, dear friend, that he satisfied the throne for the payment of man's debt. Again, gospel. It was demanded.
It was exacted. And there the third letter, it was accepted. And the proof is the throne is filled with a living man. He said from I, from John Revelation one, from the exalted throne, from the excellent glory, he said to John, John, fear not, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore, forevermore. Bless him, he's up there tonight. He's up there. His death was accepted. And of course, surely my demonstration of his going up would remind us the next letter. His death was triumphant, triumphant.
While we're told in Hebrews two fourteen, for as much as the children are forsaken of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that is the power of death, that's the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all the lifetime subject to bondage. And when Christ died on the cross, he gave the death blow to the devil. He's only waiting here, friend. He's got an extension of time, shall I say, until his sentence is executed, but he's defeated by the death of Christ at Calvary. That was John 12. Now is the crisis of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And the Lord Jesus Christ, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the soldiers came to break the legs of the prisoners to hasten their death.
The marvel that Jesus were dead already. What had happened? Another pointed tick came on the divine clock from all eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ, instead of waiting till death claimed him, he claimed death, and he walked into it. He walked into its realm. And after three days and three nights, he came out. He shivered the gates of the grave. He stepped on the wheels of hell's empire, and he mounted in fire in heaven. To the death that was demanded. It was exacted. It was accepted. It was triumphant.
And thank God it was honored. Honored in what sense? I'll tell you. Take the final sinner tonight outside of hell. May his sin be as blood and hog, dear friend. Let that sinner put his trust or her trust in the atoning blood of Christ, and God will honor the death of Christ and give him that soul's salvation. Let it be. See where the time is. Great pity with a subject like this. I'm going to mix them for a moment. First, no permission, no power. That is a no power power to accept him or give me from above.
Christ gave him himself in love willingly and voluntarily to die for me, to die for me. Secondly, he had to go down to death. There was no other way God could take man to heaven than the substitute, tapping in, the representative, the mediator, satisfying the claims of God by his sin-atoning death, and God surely was satisfied by raising him from the dead. That's the twelfth chapter of John. So no death, no harvest, but thank God there's been a death, and bless God there'll be a harvest. And I'm thankful to God for this.
I often go to read the scripture from the open grave, the job I never like to do, the job I feel honored to do, especially I know when I'm burying a child of God. But bless God, you know, doesn't matter what type of a grave it is, that precious dust is laid down. But we believe the word of God teaches, I believe it as sure as John three sixteen, the day will come when the Lord Jesus Christ will come to the earth, and he will give that ransomy shout, and the heart will rise with immortality, those who have never died, with incorruptibility, those who have lived through the grave, and will forever rest the Lord.
The trial for the corn fell into the ground and died. Come to the mixing for a moment. This man called Nicodemus in John three, he's in trouble about this great matter. He knows right well there was a member of the Sanhedrin, that the seventy, that ruled the nation of Israel. While he was acquainted with the law, he had a making void in his heart, and he knew the only one that could solve his problem was the teacher, the heavenly teacher. That was found out just recently he ate with Jesus by night, not because he was a coward, but he ate with Jesus by night to get time to talk with him about this matter, but he was in dead earnest.
My friend, except you're in dead earnest about your soul's salvation, you'll never stay. Never do that. Don't you think you'll come into a gospel meeting just and sit indifferent and go out careless, not care, dear friend, what the man said? Don't you imagine you'll ever do that, miss? I tell you, when God saved this man's soul, a little fellow in a miner's home, I made up my mind, I'll not go sleep to my eyes tonight till I know Christ. Determined to get him. That was this man. He part figured his night's sleep to see the Savior.
Many a soul has done that. I remember a dear young girl in County Tyrone many years ago, a way back over thirty. I saw her one day running out of the house into the shop, and I said to my preaching partner, can you see her running yonder? And I said, I'm covering that young woman for Christ. And dear friend, I never rested when I saw her in the kingdom. But I can remember well for three nights before ever she got in. That little head was never on the pillow. Those eyes were never closed. Thank God she got Christ. It'll be different.
When you young man, young woman, it'll be an awful tragedy if you find yourselves, before you know where you are, enveloped in the awful flame of the lake of fire, because hell's a start. Resurrection day will bring body and soul together, and then eternally from the great white throne into the lake of fire. And once you're there with an unimpaired memory to remember every gospel reading, every gospel text, every gospel preacher, every pleading of the Holy Ghost, and to find I'm lost, I'm lost forever. What an awful tragedy. To mess, dear friend, to go from the brothel hall to hell. To mess.
I never left my work away back many years ago. I put the last pay packet on the table to my young married wife, only a year or so married, whose eye was burning with breath. My dear fellow traveler to eternity, I leave it with you tonight. Now's your opportunity. God has raised me and brought me back again into your midst for this night to plead and to preach as a dying man to dying men and women. There's a heaven and there's a hell, dear friend, and to be in heaven. The Bible says here, the Lord Jesus has said, except a man be born again, can't see the same. So that is your explanation. It's just there.
If you get born again, you'll be in heaven. If you don't get born again, you'll be in hell. There's no middle course. There's no middle place. Heaven or hell. And except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Where did he go? Now, you say, preacher, I didn't think I would have heard that tonight. Well, my dear friend, I, I, I haven't made it, but it's the words of the Lord Jesus to a would-be religious man, Nicodemus, and did he duplicated it, for he said, Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again.
And indeed he triple-ized it, for he said, again, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. A threefold cord is not easily broken. And the Lord says, if you emphasize it three times, born again, heaven, born again, heaven, born again, heaven. And the negative is, born again, no, no heaven. Born again, no, no heaven, no heaven. Time I was through. Just give me a few minutes to speak about the last one. This is Solomon. John six.
The Lord Jesus set the gospel plan before his audience. Clearly and plainly as any preacher could be eye, he's the prince of preachers. Then he made this statement. No man can come to me. You listening now? No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. As far as I know, dear friend, there's only one power in operation tonight in this world that draws them to Christ.
And that power is the Holy Spirit of God. That works through a preacher, that works through that fellow who was sitting by yourself. You say, what are you, what are you getting at? I'm getting at this. My friends, except you commander, the mighty influence and power of the Holy Ghost. You'll never be saved. Now, the preacher explained that for a second, don't go over the time. Second will do it. There are three things one can do in relation to the Spirit of God. A man or a woman can encourage the Spirit.
Encourage. What's that mean? It just means this. Whenever you have any anxiety about your soul, for every man who turns to have it in a, in a way like this. Those nights when you can't just sleep and you say, so where will I be when I'm in eternity? Where will I be? That's the work of the Spirit of God. You should encourage that. Encourage. If I said you're home without the door tonight, and I would say it, I'm not likely, but I may. Sometimes I do, the spirit of God puts it into my heart. I say, young man, are you saved yet?
We go get out to meet another night. My sorry for the wee soul. Drop the wee head and tears begin to flow, not saved yet in the spirit. Back of the feet of man with a courage of the Christ, couldn't do it. But I would say that little girl is encouraging the spirit of God, and she'll get, she'll get saved. Never look for an anxious soul that will get saved if they're anxious. Really anxious. Never you tell me that I realize your soul with much salvation. You tell me, you've never known. The great will prove that, that every man and woman that arrives there that has heard the gospel, the books will declare and show without the shadow of a doubt the very thing that takes that soul back from Christ.
Spirit of God, you can encourage them. I encouraged them when I was a wee fella, and if I say. I used to love when the gospel preacher would have a wee word for a wee fella sitting in the audience. The man that ran was just speaking to me, got my soul's salvation. They're ready for it all. There's a second thing you can do. Act seven, you can resist them. Resist them. And I have known those, I have known those near and dear to me that resisted the Holy Ghost. And dear friend, they were just within an inch of missing God's salvation, resisting the Holy Ghost.
I'll tell you another thing can be done, it seems to be a hopeless case. You can either encourage them, or you can resist. And Hebrews ten says you can insult him. And I question if one insults the Holy Ghost. But other is the same. So what does that mean to you? It means this. Whenever the Spirit of God and the gospel message makes the work of Christ so clear to you that you can see there it is for me, I don't deserve it. Christ has died for me. I will live over with the Savior. If I don't, I'll be, I'll be lost. I'll miss salvation. And when you come to hear it, and you deliver the welcome word, you say no to the Holy Ghost, after all his efforts, after all his striving, after all his deliberations to set Christ before you as the way of salvation.
You say, no, I don't want it. You come away, stop the Holy Ghost. And Hebrews was said, it's literally like the stimmer. God bless his word and grant that some of you tonight in the meeting will recognize the vault of the spirit. See your need of being born again. Go in for it now. Shall we?