Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS, USA
Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.
THE FOUR MOUNTAINS
“I WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Psalms 121:1-2
REDEMPTION
COMMISSION
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Written By
B.A. Wilson
TEXT: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth” (Psalms 121:1-2).
This certainly does not mean that people are to worship Mount Sinai, The Hill of The Skull (Calvary) or the hill of The Commission (Mount Olivet) which shall be the Mountain of Glory at the return of Christ with his saints. You will please note that Mount Olivet occupies two places of importance in this message; The Commission, of Christ's Glorious Return.
You may ask, how can Mt. Sinai help a poor guilty sinner like me? This mountain stands for the Law. Proof of this is given in Gal. 4:21-25; “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the f lash; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children." By nature, and choice all of Adam's race are slaves to sin. Isaac and Ishmael cannot live together, neither can one believe in grace and works for salvation. One or the other must go. All the law can do for a lost sinner, is declare that sinner guilty. “Now we know what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3: 19-20. If your going to heaven depends upon your law keeping, then God says: “there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” The law reveals our sinfulness to us; But provides no way out of this guilty state. Have you been helped by these scriptures to see yourself a poor lost sinner?
“And when they had come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull.” …”And they crucified him,” Matt. 27:33, 35. We are told in Luke 23:33 it was: the place, called Calvary, where they crucified our Saviour. Many times we sing:
“Up Calvary's mountain one dreadful morn,
Walled Christ my Saviour, weary and worn;
Facing for sinners death on the cross,
That He might save them from endless loss.”
In His death for us, we are told that, “He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,” Titus 2: 14. How many of our iniquities did he redeem you from? All! Then it is stated in Gal. 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:” So we are redeemed from the penalty (curse) of the law. Christ has suffered all that we deserved to suffer, for us. “For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” Rev. 5:9-10. Let us remember that Mount Calvary is also the mountain of Forgiveness. As Christ suffered on the cross, one of the vilest of sinners rebuked the other thief saying,” we die justly, but this man (Christ) hath done nothing amiss.” Luke 23:41; “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, …To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42-43 William Cowper wrote:
“The dying thief re-joined to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, through vile as he,
Wash all my sins away".
This is also the Mountain of the Love of God. It was on this mountain that God gave His Son for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jobn 3: 16 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1 Tim. 1:15
III
THE MOUNTAIN OF (SERVICE) COMMISSION
On Mount Olivet Jesus told his disciples they were to “witness unto me both in Jerusalem, Judah, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8. The way we serve the Lord is to: “preach the gospel to all nations, baptize the believers, then teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20. Christ love for me as a sinner to die for me, and rise from the dead as my surety, is a most wonderful truth to tell to the world. But his love for me as a child, as a sheep of God, is also wonderful. Paul stated in these words: “For the love of Christ constraineth us;" 2 Cor. 5:14. If our service is based on love, then the hardships we suffer will be much easier for us. Go Preach, Go Teach, Go Witness to all the peoples of the world, is the Mount Olive commission. If we will look at Mount Olivet from Calvary, that is the heart of our message.
It is going to be a day of GLORY for the Lord, and for his redeemed, when he comes back to the mountain from which he left this world. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up in heaven, this same Jesus, which is taken up into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Christ will bind Satan for a thousand years. Rev. 20:2. There will be universal peace on the earth during this period; Christ will do what the Glass-House in New York (United Nations) can never accomplish. He will be King of kings, and Lord of lords. In redeemed, glorified bodies, all the saints will come with Christ to the Mount of Olives. Zech. 14:4-5. The only way men can be ready to love spiritually, and to die in the Lord, is to know the Christ of Calvary who died and rose again. If you “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” Glory will follow.