The Great Exchange

Father, we acknowledge before you that this Bible text that we have just read

has been used by sinful men and women to unleash dark forces from within to hurt many people.

And we acknowledge before you, Father, that we are reading a story of spiritual leaders

who read and studied your word, yet got it completely and utterly wrong.

Lord, we ask that you would have mercy upon us, that the Holy Spirit would move with might and power

and deep conviction, that we might search your scriptures and that we might humbly and hungrily

understand them in the way that you intended. And so live gripped by the gospel and living for your

glory. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your son and our savior. Amen. Please be seated.

It sounded like my... I'm broadcasting all right? Okay, perfect. So, you know, as we all know,

the behavior of Christians can make the gospel look ugly. And the behavior of Christians can make

Christianity look unbelievably unattractive. And the text that we are going to be looking at today

is on one hand a very powerful text about... that touches a common human problem. And the common human

problem is that no human being lives without tragedy and brokenness in their lives. And it's a common

human desire that in the midst of tragedy, in the midst of evil, in the midst of terrible things that

happen, that there could be some type of amending of that which has been broken. And this Bible text,

on one hand, is a very, very powerful text that speaks into this. Yet at the same time, this very

powerful and wonderful text that speaks into the problem of how we human beings address tragedy and

brokenness and how the gospel speaks to it, is also a text that has been one of the main texts used to

justify violence against Jewish people and the murder of Jewish people for centuries upon centuries.

It is a text which has been used to justify horrendous evil and has also been used to justify horrendous

abuse of power by politicians, by kings, and by those in positions of authority. It's very,

very interesting that the same text which has been used to perpetrate horrors is also actually a text

which describes a profound horror which is absolutely essential for the mending of the world and the

mending of creation and the mending of relationships. And so let's look at it together. John chapter 19,

John 19 · chapter mention

beginning at the first verse. John chapter 19, beginning at the first verse. And just before we start to read it,

John 19 · chapter mention

as you turn to it in your Bible, what we're reading is we're reading one of the four ancient biographies,

eyewitness biographies of Jesus. There's only four ancient eyewitness biographies of Jesus. This is one

of them. And the way that John, the author of this biography, has chosen to write it, he spent some time

sort of introducing who Jesus was, described his miracles, and then out of all the writers, he spends the

longest amount of time on what Jesus said to his disciples privately in an upper room after Judas

had left the disciples and left Jesus to get the soldiers and capture Jesus. And that's already

happened. John then describes in sort of a summary a very key meeting between the spiritual leaders of

the land and Jesus. And then last week, we looked at the beginning of how Rome, the imperial power, the emperor,

that great pagan empire, how that empire begins to deal with Jesus. And actually, it's not going to be up on the

screen. You'll just have to have it in your Bibles. If you just look at 18, chapter 18, verse 38, there's a phrase

there which is very, very, very important to set to help us to understand what's going to be happening

in this chapter, which is the ongoing attempt by Pilate to deal with Jesus and with the spiritual

leaders. And Jesus has said that he's come to bear witness to the truth. And Pilate famously in chapter 18,

verse 38 said, Pilate said to him, what is truth? What is truth? And it's very, very interesting.

This is the power of story, is that when we are gripped by the story, it helps us at a sort of a

very emotional and imaginative level to enter into truths that we might have a hard time articulating

in words. But Pilate says to Jesus, what is truth? Sounds just like a university professor, sounds like

most people you would meet in a Starbucks or a Tim Hortons for that matter, most newspaper writers,

what is truth? And then Pilate doesn't wait for an answer. If you look what happens next, and after

he had said this, he went back outside to the spiritual leaders and told them, I find no guilt in

him. So Pilate knows that Jesus is completely and utterly innocent of any Roman law. He hasn't violated

any Roman law. But then, and here's the terrible, heartless cynicism of Pilate, verse 39,

but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to

release to you the king of the Jews? And they cried out again and again, not this man, but Barabbas.

Now, Barabbas was a robber. And we know in other places that he was an insurrectionist and a murderer.

And we didn't look at this very much last week, but what happens here, it's a very, very powerful

thing to understand is that if truth does not exist, then justice does not exist.

Right? Because that's what happens here. I used the example last week to try to bring it home. It's as

if the soldiers came in and said, let's just grab Anne, you know, innocent.

I'm sure she has a tongue on her, but basically harmless. And what the heck? We'll just compare

Anne to a murder and see who the crowd wants me to kill. Like, that's what Pilate just does.

That's what he's doing right here. A person that he knows is completely innocent, but he then says,

oh, I'll just throw it out, see a bit of a lottery as to who the crowd's going to pick. It's

unbelievably cynical. And so what the story is helping us to imaginatively understand

is that if truth does not exist, then justice does not exist. And all that is left is a desire for power,

whether it's by the individual, the party, the tribe, or the nation. Long before Nietzsche,

the Bible nails it. Long before Nietzsche, long before postmodernism, and both of those get all

sorts of other things wrong in a very profound way, the Bible nails it. As we lose the belief

that truth exists, we will lose the belief that justice exists. And when truth is gone and justice

is gone, all that is left is the clenched fist. Whether it's my clenched fist, the party's clenched

fist, the tribe's clenched fist, or the nation's clenched fist, that's all that's left.

It's all that's left. And what also happens is that when we lose the belief in truth and lose

the belief in justice, we start to live a very, very unbalanced and incomprehensible life.

We start to not be able to understand ourselves, our own actions. And that's what's going to explain

what's going to happen right now with Pilate. Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent. He's given

up on truth. He's created this opportunity where the crowd can pick Barabbas, or they can pick

Jesus. What's going to happen? Verse 1 of chapter 19, then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.

He flogged him. He whipped him. He whipped him. He whipped him. They would have taken the clothes

off his back and whipped him and whipped him and whipped him. And Jesus would have stood there

bloodied and battered inside the praetorium. And verse 2, and the soldiers twisted together,

that's the Roman soldiers, twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and arrayed

him in a purple robe, a purple robe. It would have just been some old piece of rag that they had

kicking around the guardhouse. And purple is the color of royalty. And the crown of thorns would

look like the type of crown that a Roman emperor would wear. And they came up to him saying,

Hail, King of the Jews! Which is actually mocking, because the normal cry of the Roman soldier would

be, Hail, Caesar! And hail means live long and prosper, basically. Is that the Vulcan war cry?

Whatever. It's one of those Star Trek things. Live long and prosper. King of the Jews that we've just

whipped and put a filthy robe on and a crown of thorns on your head. Head wounds bleed.

And not only that, they continue on, and they struck him with their hands. In the original language,

they struck him again and again and again. Pilate went out again and said to them, oh, sorry,

just pause here. Oh, yeah, keep going. So Pilate has done this. So he has an innocent man. He has him

whipped. He doesn't necessarily know that the soldiers are going to mock him, but it wouldn't surprise him

either. He would know his troops. And he would know how they deal with the conquered people,

and they would deal with somebody that, from the eyes of the troops, if the spiritual leaders have

picked Jesus over a guy who's a terrorist and a robber, then obviously Jesus is a bad guy,

and they treat him appropriately. In verse 4, Pilate went out again and said to them, and that is the

spiritual leaders, see, I am bringing out to you, bringing him, that's Jesus, out to you, that you

may know that I find no guilt in him. What probably is happening here is that Pilate is probably hoping

that the severe flogging of Jesus and this complete and utter humiliation would quench their lust for death.

Verse 5, so Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them,

behold the man, the man. And when the chief, the chief priests and the officers saw him, that is the

spiritual leaders, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves

and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. And just sort of pause there for a second. If you go

back and you'll see that within a very few number of verses, because chapter 18 only has 40 verses,

and it's in verse 38 that Pilate declares that Jesus is innocent. In verse 4, he declares that Jesus

is innocent. And in verse 6, three times, Pilate declares that Jesus is innocent. Three times.

Pilate declares that Jesus is innocent. And yet the response of the spiritual leaders is to demand

the crucifixion of Jesus. The Romans, during that first part of the first century, crucified literally,

according to non-Christian historians, according to Jewish historians, crucified literally thousands

upon thousands of Jewish people. Crucifying another Jew is no big thing for Pilate.

Because he's crucified lots. And he will crucify lots after this. And he has the power to let

Jesus go. The spiritual leaders demand that Jesus will be crucified. Literally, when Pilate says,

behold, the man, it's actually sort of a famous phrase. And he probably just means, look at this

pitiable guy that I've just beaten up. Like, he's no threat to me, he's no threat to you. I've just beat

him up terribly. I've just flogged him. Like, he's like a gnat that I can just flick off. Like, what threat

is he? But in John's language, Jesus is more than just a miserable man. He is the man. As we will see

in a moment, he is the one who can die for all human beings and represent all human beings. Pilate speaks in a

sense in a prophetic way that he's not aware of when he makes that statement. And the other thing which is

so interesting about this is that Pilate and the spiritual leaders are working hand in hand, one's weakness

and the other's desire for his death. They're working hand in hand inadvertently to fulfill a prophecy of

Jesus. It's a great irony. These human beings with all their power, if Pilate had said, listen, I'm just

going to give you permission this one time not to crucify him, but just to deal with him your own way.

I'll turn a blind eye. You go and deal with him yourself according to your law, and I'll make sure the

troops are all somewhere else. Then Jesus would have died by stoning, because that's the way that the

Jewish people carried out capital punishment. But Jesus had prophesied that he would die by

crucifixion. And it's very, very interesting. It's the enemies. If Jesus doesn't do anything to

fulfill his own prophecy, it is his enemies that act unwittingly to fulfill the prophecy that Jesus has made.

Amen.

And then there's this very, very puzzling thing. The Jewish people, the spiritual leaders actually

here make a tactical error that almost means that Jesus is going to be let go. And look at what

happens in verse 7. The spiritual leaders answered Pilate, we have a law. And according to that law,

Jesus ought to die because he has made himself son of God. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even

more afraid. He entered his praetorium again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him

no answer. This is a very interesting clash of worldviews. Remember, what you have to remember when you're

reading this is that all the smart people in the world agreed with Pilate. The Jewish people in that

ancient world, they weren't smart people. They were the dumb people. They didn't believe that there were

lots of gods, which every smart person, the old, the first century equivalent of the Globe and Mail,

the National Post, the CBC, the University of Ottawa, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge.

They would have all agreed with Pilate because that's what all the smart people just knew was true.

To disagree with it, they'd go like, duh. So Pilate's operating from his point of view. And from his point of view,

the spiritual leaders have just said, this guy claims to be son of God. And from Pilate's point of view,

he understands his mythology. And in his mythology, the gods sometimes have sex

with human women. And a demigod, the son of a god, walks the earth. Or a god, or goddess himself or

herself would walk the earth. And the spiritual leaders have just said that this guy claims to be God.

God. And Pilate's already trying to puzzle over why they're so incensed upon killing him. And Pilate

now, all of a sudden, is a good pagan, knowing what all the smart people know. By the way, you know,

I'm saying that on purpose because we can be, I can be so overawed by what all the smart people know.

And it's so easy to forget that in 20 years, people will mock what all the smart people know today.

Not even 20 years. All the smart people will think something different.

So that's one of the reasons why, as an aside, the Bible is not a conservative book. The Bible is

perpetually radical and revolutionary. It keeps pointing us to a truth that comes outside of the

flow of history that's always true. Anyway, so Pilate now is terrified. Have I beaten the son

of a god?

Now, it's in this question and answer period that we come to the very part of the story that has justified

anti-Semitism and the murder of, to be honest, by those claiming to be Christian literally throughout

history, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Jewish people.

Look what happens here in verse 10.

So we'll go back to verse 9 again.

Pilate entered his praetorium again and said to Jesus,

where are you from?

That's a smart question to ask if you think, like, are you, he's trying to figure out where,

like, which god, like, how, like, where are you from?

It's a pagan question.

But Jesus gave him no answer. Jesus is silent.

So verse 10, so Pilate said to him, just remember here, Pilate has crucified many people.

He has had many people beaten, many people whipped.

Pilate, he would be very, very used to a person crying and soiling themselves and making all

sorts of promises if Pilate would just relent and let him go.

He has had many beaten men and women before him.

And Jesus is silent.

So Pilate, in verse 10, is exasperated.

He says, you will not speak to me?

Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?

Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.

Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.

And just to be clear, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.

When in John chapter 3, if you go back and you look, you must be born again.

John 3 · chapter mention

You have to be born from above.

Jesus is referring to the fact that the authority that Pilate has has come from God.

Hence, this becomes an important text for those who believe that the Bible and that Jesus and Christianity justifies the power of tyrants.

And then the next bit.

Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.

And at a linguistic level, he's referring to the Jewish people.

He's referring to the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people.

Jesus has just said the ones guilty of the greatest sin.

The first thing that he who did is to be born again.

The first thing that he who did is to be born again.

The first thing that he who did is to be born again.

The first thing that he who did is to be born again.

And you can see how this is fueled.

Murderous hatred of the Jewish people at different times throughout Christian history.

So we just have to pause to think about this text a little bit before we get to the real heart of it in terms of our hearts.

But once we're aware of this, we can't just ignore it.

The first thing about this text actually is that it has a very deep irony about it.

Pilate is claiming that he has all this power.

Yet the fact of the matter is in this story, he doesn't have power, does he?

Jesus, just by saying nothing, has completely and utterly flummoxed all of Pilate's power.

And Pilate's being pushed around by the crowd.

Being pushed around by the crowd.

Pilate can go like this and the Roman soldiers could scatter those people.

And Pilate can do whatever he darn well feels like and yet he doesn't.

In fact, everything about this story.

Remember I said that when you lose the sense of truth, you lose the sense of justice.

And all that's left is this.

But this is profoundly unstable.

And what ends up happening is that you have no principle, no way of knowing true north.

No way of knowing where to go and your life becomes chaotic and driven hither and yon.

And that's actually exactly what you see happening to Pilate.

Let's deal with the power first.

One of the things which people misunderstand about the text is that what Jesus is not saying,

what Jesus is saying is this, God never relinquishes sovereignty over human beings.

Okay, this is not, once again, a political comment.

It might very well be.

I don't know who's going to be in power.

I'd say the exact same thing now as I would if I was in PEI and it was a green government,

or if I was in BC and it was an NDP government,

or if I was in the future when eventually the conservatives win,

and then the liberals will win after that.

But the fact of the matter is, is what Jesus is not saying,

Justin, I give you a blank page.

I give you a blank page.

Write whatever you want on it.

Do whatever you want.

And by the way, I'm going to give you a blank check.

You just fill out the amount.

I'll give you all the resources.

You can just do whatever you want.

That's not what's happening.

If you understand that the Lord has never relinquished sovereignty over the earth,

when Jesus says that people have authority because it's been given to them,

the military understand instantly what this means.

They've been given a commission.

Authority has been given a commission by God.

And therefore, God can judge them for whether or not they fulfill their commission.

And it's very clear from the commission, as you look throughout the whole of scripture,

that at the heart of the commission is the preserving of life.

At the heart of the commission is seeking the flourishing of the people.

At the heart of the commission is a developing and deepening of the basic institutions of the society,

like the family, that the concern for truth and justice is the very heart of that commission.

And so what Jesus is actually saying is he is calling Pilate to repentance.

You have been given not a blank sheet and a blank check, carte blanche and a blank check.

You have been given a commission.

You have been given a commission.

You will stand accountable.

The sermon series that we're going to do after this is we're going to do Jonah

and then we're going to do Nahum.

And the importance of both of those books is it shows God's concern for pagan nations

and that God holds all human beings accountable and responsible,

even empires that would not acknowledge the Lord is Lord at all.

What about the anti-Semitism?

Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.

You know, it's very tempting for me to want to be able to...

There's two temptations, right, if we're honest.

And one of them is a very, very modern Canadian thing.

I could apologize right now for all the bad things previous people have done.

You know what?

That is so cynical and arrogant and self-congratulatory

for me to go ahead and say,

Oh, yeah, I feel bad about what Irish people did like 150 years ago.

And it's actually to me, and I think to the gospel, it's sickening.

Very easy for me to confess my dad's sins.

Very hard for me to confess my own.

And so I could just say, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know,

Christians have done all these things.

I apologize to my Jewish friends.

But that's not the way to go.

The other thing that I could do is just say that they're so-called Christians.

But that would be wrong, too.

I'm sure some of the people who've permitted,

perpetrated those horrors will be in heaven with you and me.

What we just have to acknowledge is that one of the easiest,

one of the hardest things for Christians is to not have the gospel

and not have the Bible become just a religion,

that we use the Bible to justify our fears, our insecurities,

our paranoia, and our hatred,

that we study the Bible not to understand the Bible

and to be converted and humbled by it,

but we use the Bible in a means to justify ourselves.

And this is yet another example,

not of how bad the Jews are,

but it is yet another aspect of God's profound critique of all religion.

Because who are the Jews?

One of the things which is so interesting is the Bible doesn't say,

if you go back and read the Old Testament,

the Bible doesn't say,

I've chosen the worst people in the world to be my people.

No, the Bible says that God chose the least people,

a small, insignificant group of people.

Why?

Because in all things,

it's always to display the glory of God,

not human glory.

It would be very easy if you chose the Roman Empire

with its might and everything,

but God chooses the weak of the world to shame the wise,

the despised to shame those who are powerful,

and God chooses the least of the people.

And the importance of this text

is that what the Jewish people had

was the best religion in the world.

All the smart people thought that the pagans

had the best religion in the world.

But we read the Bible

and know that God himself spoke to the Jewish people,

and the Jewish people end up turning

God's declaration of freedom from slavery

as command to be a blessing to the nations,

that what they did is they turned God's word

into a religion in the same way that it is possible,

and we have seen it too often,

and it sometimes speaks too deeply into our own heart

to take the New Testament

and turn it not from a proclamation of news

of what God has done for us

to make us right with him

in the person of his son,

but become a book by which we can feel better than others

and superior than others

and look down our nose on others

and justify ourselves.

And what is happening

is that the best of religion

falls short.

The best of religion

falls short.

And the New Testament goes beyond that

because it's very clear in the New Testament.

This is why all anti-Semitism is wrong.

The New Testament is very clear.

There are covenant promises made to Israel

that have not yet been kept by God,

but they will be kept by God.

God is not finished with the Jewish people.

Jesus is Jewish.

John, the writer of the biography,

is Jewish.

And if you read the book of Acts,

one of the things you see several times within there

is how many priests become Christians

after the resurrection.

Because the New Testament message is not,

look at the Jews, aren't they terrible?

But the message is,

for all have sinned and fall short

of the glory of God.

The greatest empire,

the greatest religion,

they fall short of the glory of God.

For all have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God.

It's the memory verse for the week.

Let's bring this particular part of the story to a close.

Let's see what happens next.

After Jesus pronounces these things to Pilate,

verse 12,

from then on,

Pilate sought to release Jesus,

but the spiritual leaders cried out,

if you release this man,

you are not Caesar's friend.

Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.

So when Pilate heard these words,

he brought Jesus out

and sat down on the judgment seat

at a place called the Stone Pavement

and in Aramaic,

which is the common language of the time,

Gabbatha.

Just remember,

Jesus spoke at least three languages

and maybe four.

He would have spoken Aramaic,

which was the language of the day.

We know that he spoke Hebrew

because he could read it.

He almost definitely spoke Greek

and he might have spoken Latin.

He was at least trilingual,

maybe spoke four languages.

And here we have this little insight

that in the,

what the locals called the spot.

And now this is a very significant part of the story

because now the judgment is about to come.

Pilate has been doing all sorts of things,

you know,

because that's just the way the rule worked.

At the end of the day,

you know,

there's laws,

but there's power

and often power trumps law.

It's been that way then,

can be that way today.

It's a common human problem,

but now there's the time for the judicial,

so to speak,

decision made by the one

who has authority in that area.

Verse 14,

that was the day of the preparation of the Passover.

And what that literally means,

the Passover is the time

that celebrates God's deliverance

of the Jewish people

from bondage of slavery in Egypt.

That's what the Passover is about.

It's celebrated for seven days.

And in that seventh day,

of course,

the very first day,

especially holy,

but another exceptionally holy day

is the Sabbath day

in the Passover week.

And what the text is saying

is that at the same time

that the spiritual leaders

have begun to take the spotless lamb

and kill the spotless lamb

as part of the special celebration

of God's deliverance

of the people

from bondage and slavery.

And they're remembering

as well

how God created the world

in six days.

And on the seventh day,

he rested.

And they're remembering

that the Sabbath day

is a holy day to the Lord,

a holy day to the Lord

in a holy week.

And the beginning

of the sacrifice

of that lamb

happens

at the middle

of the day.

And it is that time

that Pilate

is about

to make

his judgment

on Jesus.

And after the judgment

is made on Jesus,

Jesus will be immediately

taken out

to be crucified.

Verse 14,

it was the day

of preparation

of the Passover.

It was about

the sixth hour,

the middle of the day.

He said to the spiritual leaders,

Behold,

your king.

They cried out,

Away with him,

away with him,

crucify him.

Pilate said,

Shall I crucify your king?

And now the spiritual leaders

are guilty

of great blasphemy.

Because if there's one message

of the Old Testament

it's that the Lord is king.

He is their sovereign king.

And the spiritual leaders

answered,

We have no king

but Caesar.

And so Pilate

delivered Jesus

over to them

to be crucified.

One of the things

which

it's a very,

very powerful text

and one of the things

about this text

that touches

a very human problem,

a separate one

from the problem

of law and truth

and justice

is the fact that

in this life

we have disasters

and we have calamities.

We have terrible things

that are done

to human beings.

And the fact of the matter

is that in a country

like Canada

we don't really know

what to do

when terrible things

happen to human beings.

Book written on

why do bad things

happen to good people.

Sort of a wrong,

it's a good cry

of the heart

but a wrong way

to understand.

I was just sharing

with a fellow

the other day

how

that the Christians

don't divide the world

between good people

and bad people

because we understand

that the difference

between goodness

and badness

goes right down

the middle

of every human being.

It's not a Christian idea

to divide the world

into good and bad

but we are familiar

with the fact

that terrible,

terrible things happen.

And the fact of the matter

is

is that

sometimes

bad things happen

and they don't happen

just,

it's not just

a terrible day

but a terrible week,

a terrible month,

a terrible year,

a terrible decade

and then comes death.

And for parts

of our culture

we get fixated in that

and for most of the rest

of our culture

what we do

is we amuse ourselves

so that we don't think

about such things.

But at the same time

that we know

that there's terrible

things that happen

we have a sense,

every human being

has a sense

that there must be

some way to mend

that which is broken

to make sense

out of that

which is broken

to have meaning

out of that

which is broken

to have hope

in the face

of that which is broken.

And I would suggest

to you

that only the gospel

answers that human longing.

Only the gospel.

See,

the reason we read

this story

is that we know

well I'm going to tell you

another important part

of it in a second

but we know

that on Sunday

Jesus rises

from the dead.

We know

there will be

resurrection.

And the Bible

is not making

a case

that

the different

broken things

that have happened

in our lives

will be mended

on this side

of the grave

and it's not making

the case

that all we have

to do is just

endure terrible

terrible things

on this side

and it doesn't matter

because eventually

we'll die

and go to heaven

and it will make

all things right.

Although it does say that.

It says something more.

It says that,

you know,

part of the problem

for modern Canadians

is we might have

a vague hope

that we go somewhere

better when we die

but fundamentally

we know that we have

no real basis

to believe that

other than hope.

But Jesus shows

that death doesn't

have the final word

and by showing

that death doesn't

have a final word

he holds out

before us

the fact that

when we put

our faith

and trust

in Jesus

there isn't

just a self-declared

meaning that I make

in the face

of tragedy

which is completely

and utterly

dependent upon

my strength

but we see

that the very

creator of the universe

because Jesus

is introduced

as in the beginning

was the word

and the word

was with God

and the word

was with God

before all

through him

all things

were made

and without him

nothing was made

that was made

and we see here

the very creator

of the universe

dying the death

that we deserve

and rising

on the third day

the very same

God

who creates

all things

is the God

who in the form

of Jesus

fully God

and fully man

has died for us

and rises from the dead

and there is this sense

not just by my self-declaration

but by God himself

that there can be

meaning to our life

and purpose to our life

and a goal to our life

and a presence

and power

of the creator himself

in the midst

of our tragedy

and our turmoil

to bear up

under the tragedy

and to have a sense

that it will be well

with my soul

not because of the strength

of my willpower

which is very weak

but because of what Jesus

has done for me

on the cross

could you put up

the first point

Andrew

some of you will see

right away

that I'm referring

to Genesis chapter 50

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

they devised evil

against Jesus

but God intended it

for a good purpose

it's a very

if you go back

and read Genesis 50

it's a story

of how

the

Jewish people

originally come

into the

into the land

of Egypt

and we see

that Jesus

Joseph's 11 brothers

do terrible

horrible things

to Joseph

and

and

but Joseph

through God's

providence

if you read

the book

of Genesis

you see

that Joseph

ends up

becoming

the second

most powerful

person

in the empire

he ends up

being the means

by which

his family

his extended

family

is able

to survive

a famine

and when

Joseph's father

dies

the 11 brothers

are worried

that Joseph's

now going to

take vengeance

on them

and kill them

so they go

up to

Joseph

and they lie

and say

just before

our father

died

he privately

met with us

and he wanted

to make sure

you don't do

anything against

us

and Joseph

has this

very very

powerful phrase

Genesis chapter

Genesis 50:20

50 verse 20

he says

you meant it

for evil

but God

meant it

for good

and that's

the commentary

and everything

that we've

seen here

Pilate

meant it

for evil

the soldiers

meant it

for evil

the spiritual

leaders

meant it

for evil

there's no

illusions

about that

but God

used it

for a very

good purpose

to bring life

if you could

put up the last

point

only two

Jesus

was declared

worthy of death

that you might

be made

worthy of life

it's this

great exchange

that we are

to receive

by faith

Pilate

was declared

Jesus

was declared

worthy of death

by the spiritual

leaders

he was declared

worthy of death

by the custodian

of what all

the smart

people knew

by the empire

and he was

declared

worthy of death

but he was

declared worthy

of death

that by his

death

when we receive

what he has

accomplished for us

by his death

and his resurrection

that you and I

might be made

worthy

of life

you see

Adam and Eve

sought to wear

a crown

of deity

so Jesus

wore a crown

of thorns

to deliver

the sons

of Adam

and the daughters

of Eve

from death

Adam and Eve

chose death

when they rebelled

against God

so Jesus

would die

so the sons

of Adam

and the daughters

of Eve

would live

Adam and Eve

were ashamed

to stand naked

before God

after they

had rebelled

against him

so Jesus

first wore

a robe

of shame

before he

himself

was naked

that by faith

in him

we would one

day be able

to stand

completely

and utterly

transparent

before the Lord

Jesus was

declared worthy

of death

that you might

be made

worthy of life

Jesus wore

a crown

of thorns

that you

the guilty

might wear

a crown

of glory

Jesus wore

a robe

of shame

that you

might be

clothed

with his

spotless

robe

of righteousness

Jesus stood

condemned

that you

might stand

innocent

Jesus bore

contempt

that you

might receive

praise and

glory at the

last day

Jesus was

delivered to

death

that you

might be

delivered

from death

Jesus was

declared guilty

that you

might be

declared

acquitted

Jesus was

ridiculed

that you

might taste

the love

of God

Jesus was

beaten

that by his

wounds you

might be

healed

Jesus was

disfigured

that by him

you might

be remade

Jesus was

despised

that you

might know

the Lord's

great affection

for you

Jesus was

rejected

that you

might be

accepted

as God's

child by

adoption

and grace

Jesus was

led to the

slaughter

that we

might be

led back

to God

Jesus was

deemed

insignificant

that you

might become

God's

precious

possession

Jesus was

punished for

what you

had done

that you

might live

before God

in his

presence

on the

basis

of what

Jesus

has done

for you

Jesus

was declared

worthy of

death

that you

might be

worthy

of life

I invite you

to stand

Jesus offers

a great

exchange

if you

have never

received that

there is no

better time

than now

to say

to Jesus

I did

not know

what you

have accomplished

for me

on the

cross

it did

not come

home

until my

heart

till now

Jesus

take me

and be

my savior

and my

lord

and never

let me

go

there is

no time

better than

now to

say that

prayer

to Jesus

and he

will hear

you and

receive you

and for

each of

us

it is a

holy time

to be

remembered

to remind

it once

again

of what

Jesus

has done

for us

and to

cry out

to him

that these

truths

would grip

our memory

our imagination

our longings

and our

yearnings

our mental

categories

our affections

bow our heads

in prayer

father

thank you

for Jesus

thank you

for what

he accomplished

for us

on the

cross

thank you

father

that the

only weapon

in his

kingdom

is the

truth

thank you

that all

that he

did

fulfilled

true

justice

with nothing

left over

and yet

in his

death

upon the

cross

your

mercy

and grace

triumph

over

judgment

so that

all that

put their

faith

and trust

in this

our

crucified

messiah

might know

your mercy

and grace

in this

life

and day

by day

with greater

depth

until we

see you

face to

face

bearing an

eternal weight

of glory

that is not

our own

but comes

from seeing

Jesus face

to face

and becoming

like him

all by your

grace

all for

your glory

father

grip us

with the

gospel

that we

might live

for your

glory

and all

God's

people

said

amen