Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth – Jesus the Innocent One – Luke 22:63-23:16

Welcome to the roots where it's all about Jesus. We

love God, we love people, We reach the loss, and

we make disciples. And one of the main ways that

we make disciples is by regularly and continually continuously going

through God's Word. And so today we're gonna have the

awesome time of getting to open up our Bibles together.

But I want to stop and say, she's not in here,

so you guys can tell her that I said this.

I love my wife, okay, so just trying to you

guys can help me out there. I love my life.

Bring this up because she she loves a clean house.

She loves a clean house, which honestly, it's grown my

affections to also love a clean house. She loves to

make sure that everything is in its place, and I

must say, with having four young children, it definitely helps

kind of like our expectations or that the intensity of

the neatness knob be turned down a little bit, because

as soon as you put the house back together, how

quickly does it get torn apart? Very quickly, if you're wondering.

But one of my favorite features of my lovely wife

is if I put something down in a special location,

if I put something down in a special location. If

I leave it there for too long, chances are it's

going to magically find its way to its proper home.

Does anyone relate with that?

Is that.

Relatable to anyone? Now? More than once this has led

to a conflict. And let me tell you why. Not

because she was mad about putting it away. But it's

because when something goes missing of mine that I put

in a very specific spot, my accusations start immediately. We've

been married long enough that I'm like, it could not

have been me. I put it somewhere. I know exactly

where it should be. If it's not here my wife,

or now my children, that's a new thing. My children.

My son's like, do you know where your headphones are?

And I'm like, did you touch me? And he's like no,

and I'm like, yes, you did. Where are they? It's

the whole thing. But I can get grumpy and I

can start accusing and interrogating everyone in my house where

my things went, like went and whatnot, only to find

that I in fact had hidden them in a very

very secret, special location this time that even I couldn't remember,

which normally brings me I think rightfully. So back to

my family repenting things. Sorry, that was the little out

of hand for jumping to conclusions making such swift accusations

as if it could not have been me, because immediately

it's it's kind of ridiculous. I'm working on it, but

I'm like, there's no way that I would move that.

There's no way I would do that. So I started

making all these accusations. But it's crazy because the one

making the accusations was really the guilty one, and I,

unfortunately was accusing the innocent in my own home. Now today,

in our text, we're gonna see something kind of similar.

Jesus himself is in custody to the religious leaders, and

he is being abused and accused and leading them to

ultimately deliver Jesus over to the Roman authorities, hoping for

a guilty verdict, but not getting one, because as we

will see throughout our text today, that Jesus is the

innocent one. So if you would please turn with me,

we're gonna be in Luke chapter twenty two. If you

do not have a Bible, we have some rad new

bibles out at the resource desk in the lobby. Please

go grab one, keep it. We want you to have

a Bible. It's important, and honestly, you're like, you should

have one because we go through the Bible here so

often that it's good to have one that you can

follow along with us. We're gonna read it together, pray

and break it down. Does that sound good? All right,

let's jump into it. Chapter twenty two, starting in verses

sixty three, says, Now, when the men who were holding

Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him.

They also blindfolded him and kept asking him prophesy, who

is it that struck you? And they said many other

things against him, blaspheming him. When day came the assembly

of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief

priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council,

and they said, if you are the Christ, tell us.

But he said to them, if I tell you, you will

not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.

But from now on, the son of Man shall be

seated at the right hand of the power of God.

So they all said, are you the son of God? Then?

And he said to them, you say that I am.

Then they said, what further testimony do we need, we

have heard it ourselves from his own lips. Then the

whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilot,

and they began to accuse him, saying, we found this

man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute

to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king.

And Pilot asked him, are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered him, you have said so. Then Pilot

said to the chief priest in the crowds, I find

no guilt in this man. But they were urgent, saying

he stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from

Galilee even to this place. When Pilot heard this, he

asked whether the man was a Galilean, and when he

learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him

over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at the time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he

had long desired to see him because he had heard

about him, and he was hoping to see some sign

done by him. So he questioned him at some length,

but he made no answer. The chief priests and the

scribes stood by vehemently accusing him, and Herod with his soldiers,

treated him with contempt and mocked him, then raided him

in splendid clothing. He sent him back to Pilot, and

Herod and Pilot became friends with each other that very day,

for before this they had been at enmity with one

another or with each other. Pilot then called together the

chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said

to them, you brought me this man as one who

is misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold,

I did not find this man guilty of any of

your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent

him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been

done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.

This is God's word. Let us pray. Lord. We just

thank you that we get this opportunity to gather in

your name, to open your word. And so Lord, I

also ask now that you would open our ears to hear,

open our eyes to see, and open our hearts to

receive the word that you have for us today. So

we give you this time, ask that your spirit would

be here with us to make much of Christ. Then

conform us as your body to his image in Jesus name.

Everyone said, amen. So if today's your first time, We've

been in a series titled Luke The Orderly Account of Truth,

where we even going through the Gospel of Luke, where

Luke the Doctor has laid out an orderly account of

all the things accomplished by Jesus. Our hope in this

series is as we look at the life and ministry

of our Lord Jesus, that our faith would be build up,

that we would see Jesus as the gracious, glorious God

that he is, and that we would have certainty concerning

the things that we believe about him. Now, over the

last several weeks, we've been looking at probably the darkest

twenty four hours of Jesus's life. He's shared one final

meal with his disciples before he's was to be arrested

and ultimately put to death. We've seen him betrayed and

arrested in the garden, deserted by his disciples, and as

we saw last week, even denied by one of his

closest disciples, Peter. Jesus is going through it, and sadly

the night has just begun, as we're going to see

in our text today, Jesus is going to be mocked, rejected, accused,

and abused, and while he's on trial before the religious

leaders and then ultimately they're going to bring him to

the Roman officials. We see that Jesus will be abused

by those who have him in custody. We're going to

see him accused by those around him. But as we

see in our text today, Jesus will be excused concerning

the accusations brought against him. That Jesus, though accused, will

be found innocent. So for today's message, you can simply

write Jesus the innocent one one of the really cool

things about us. Looking at the next kind of like, well,

this passage of scripture specifically, that's twenty four hours. However,

so however long is we really get to hone in

on specific aspects about the gospel. We get to look

at what Jesus has accomplished. What does it mean that

he's going to the cross, the things that he's accomplished,

what are those specific parts and the meaning that they

bring to our salvation? And so we're gonna see that

Jesus in this text is innocent and what that means

not only about him but for us, Jesus is innocent

in his interactions. He's innocent as it regards the allegations

and accusations, and Jesus this is innocent when it comes

to deserving the death penalty. We know that the Bible here,

not only here, but the Bible teaches us that there

are certain times that should receive the death penalty, like murder.

And this isn't just something that's found in the Old

Testament law, but it's since Noah got off the boat,

there was something that God wanted Noah to know. We

see this in Genesis nine five through six, and it says,

and for your lifeblood, I will require a reckoning from

every beast. I will require it, and from man, from

his fellow man, it will require a reckoning for the

life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man,

shall his blood be shed for God made man in

his own image. And just for a quick little reminder,

at that point when he's being told this, there's eight

people on the planet, so it kind of makes sense

that if there's someone going around killing people, it's like,

we got to stop that guy and make sure that

that that does not happen anymore. So The reason I

even bring this up is that there's a precedent in

scripture for the death penalty when it comes to being

a murderer. But the death penalty is actually something much

deeper than that, actually goes back farther than that. The

death penalty is ultimately what our sins deserve and what

the wages of our sin will get us. The reason

death exists in the first place is because of the

rebellion of mankind in the garden, where God told the

first man and woman that if they disobeyed and ate

of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

that they would surely die. And when they rebelled and

sinned against God, death was brought into the world. Look

at this. Romans five twelve says, therefore, just as sin

came into the world through one man, and death through sin,

and so death spread to all men because all sin.

So the reason we all die is because we all sin.

We see Romans six twenty three. For the wages of

sin is death, but the free gift of God is

eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. So we

all sin, and thus we all deserve death. But God,

by his grace has made the only way, the only

way for anyone of us to be made right before him,

and that is by putting our faith in the perfect

and innocent person and work of Jesus Christ, which is

why today is we will see that Jesus is the

innocent one. As we see that point, for our main point,

I'm going to be arguing that innocence is only found

in the innocent one. Innocence is only found in the

innocent one, and we're going to unpack what I mean

by that. But as we will see as we walk

through our text, that we are by no means innocent.

We're not innocent. If you were here last week, you

might remember that called everyone a failure. We're not innocent.

Only Jesus is. Only Jesus is, and because of that,

our only hope of ever being innocent will be for

us to somehow, some way be found in him. Now,

like I said, we're gonna look at this big chunk

of text. We're gonna do so in three sections. I've

titled them the innocent abused, the innocent accused, and the

innocent excused. So let's begin in our first couple of verses,

the innocent abused. We're gonna see Jesus in custody. He

was arrested under the cover of night, and while they

wait to take him and put him on trial before

the religious leaders, they begin to mistreat and mock Jesus.

Verse sixty three says, now, when the men who are

holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him,

they also blindfolded him and kept asking him, prophesy, who

is it that struck you? And they said many other

things against him, blaspheming him, and the other gospels that

it tells us some of the things that they were

actually doing. They were spitting on him, There were striking him,

they were slapping him, and they were doing this while

he was blindfolded, and they were mocking him, so that

while he was blindfolded, they would hit him and say,

who did it? Your prophet? Tell us you didn't have

to see that. You speak to God, you tell us

who hit you. This is heavy stuff, Like I said,

it's we're just after week right now, we're just kind

of hopping back into kind of a really rough twenty

four hours. But I think it's good. I think it's

good that we feel that weight, we feel the heaviness

of what our savior carried in our place. Amen. So

they were mistreating and mocking Jesus as a prophet as

we've gone through. Look we've seen, or Luke, We've seen

Jesus teach over and over again that not only was

this going to happen, Jesus knew this was going to happen,

that he was going to suffer be rejected by the

religious leaders, but also that coming upon this generation was

all the blood of the prophets whom Israel had killed

and mistreated throughout its history. This is it was kind

of the final straw. The reason being is Jesus had

taught in a parable only a couple days prior, that

God had set leaders over Israel, but that those leaders

would turn away from God, so God would send them prophets,

most of whom were rejected. And so finally God sends

the ultimate prophet, the one who can truly speak on

his behalf, his son. But the wicked servants reject him,

but in fact they go on to kill him. And

this parable is coming into play right now. Jesus, the

true prophet, the son of God, is being treated like

all the other prophets before. Jesus is the one who

truly spoke on God's behalf and yet was mocked for it.

And even reading this, I know, as believers, when we

speak God's gospel, when we proclaim the truth of his word,

we too can expect mocking, and maybe even ourselves have

experienced it. But I want to encourage you because we

are in good company. We're in good company with the prophets,

and we're in good company with Jesus himself. And I

think when we're feeling weighed down in the heaviness of

standing for the truth, speaking the truth, living for the truth,

and our strength and endurance and that starts to come

a wane, it's actually really cool because Scripture tells us

what to do. Hebrews twelve three says, consider him who

endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you

may not grow weary or fainthearted. So actually, what's great

in sitting in this heavy moment and sitting in this

heavy places, we go like, wow, that's heavy, that's a

lot to carry. But the thing that's amazing is that

when we find ourselves in those own spaces, Scripture tells

us and think about him, Think about him. Now, it's

going to help you get through. Think about him who

endured these things. So once day broke, they finally take Jesus,

who has been severely beaten and abused at this point,

to go on trial. We're going to see him first

before the religious leaders who hate him, and once they

convict him, they're going to bring him to the Roman

authorities seeking to put him to death. So for the

next section you can write the innocent accused, the innocent accused,

and we're gonna be in verse sixty six. When day came,

the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together,

both chief priests and scribes, and they led him or

led him away to their council, and they said, if

you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them,

if I tell you, you will not believe, and if I

ask you, you will not answer. But from now on,

the son of Man shall be seated at the right

hand of the power of God. So the religious leaders

bring Jesus in, and all they want is for Jesus

to confess to being the Christ, son of God. But

they're doing this not to find out the truth. They

don't really care if Jesus said, yes, I am. They

don't care. They don't want a confession so that they

go like, oh good, he needed clarity on the situation

because we were all confused. They wanted Jesus to confess

because they wanted to accuse him of blasphemy and put

him to death. I don't know about you, but have

you ever been asked a question that you knew if

you gave the honest answer to it is gonna be

used against you. It's interesting, they say, if you were

the Christ, tell us and what does Jesus say? It's

kind of interesting because he like he kind of gives

an answer of yes, but not directly. He kind of

puts it back on them. He says, look, if I

did tell you, you will not believe. If I do

tell you the truth, you won't believe. Also, if I

ask you, you won't even answer me. Jesus is saying,

this is not a trial and good faith. You're not

seeking clarity. You're here seeking to convict me. No matter

the truth, jesusays, if I tell you the truth, you

won't believe it. These men are so wicked and blind

that no matter the case, they won't accept the truth.

They have their sights set on getting Jesus killed. Jesus

confirms that moving forward, though they are rejecting him for

who he is, that that doesn't change the truth, saying

that from now on the Son of Man will be

seated at the right hand of the power of God.

Which this is really really cool. We got to look

at this. This is really cool. It says, whether they

accept or reject who Jesus is, it doesn't change his identity.

That's what's really cool. His identity and the plan the

Father has for him isn't going to change. And how

good that news is. Then, no matter those who reject

or mock the truth, they can't change the truth. We

need to know this ourselves as believers. Then, no matter

what people say about us reject the truth that we proclaim,

seek our harm, that doesn't change our identity in Christ.

Nothing can change that. That doesn't change the eternal life

that God has in store for us when he returns.

So once Jesus says this, we kind of ask a

slightly different question, saying, so they all said, are you

the son of God? Then? And he said to them,

you say that I am. Then they said, what further

testimony do we need? We've heard it ourselves from his

own lips. So they ask him if he's the son

of God. Jesus says, you say that I am, or

your translation might just say yes, I am, depending on

your translation, but either way it was good enough for them.

They were like, we got him, and in an uproar,

these religious leaders feel they have enough to try and

take Jesus and put him to death. But here's something

really interesting, right, This is where cultural context actually becomes relevant.

We're kind of interesting. I guess you say it's always relevant,

but it's interesting because the Jewish people are under Roman rule.

They don't like, they don't have the authority to put

anyone to death. They're still in subjection to Rome. So

they can't just be like, oh, blasphemy, let's take him

out and stone him. They have to go like, well,

we have good cause for why we want to kill him,

but we can't touch them without getting in trouble ourselves.

So what we need to do is we need to

now take Jesus and go bring him before the Romans

and get him in trouble with the Romans to see

if the Romans would put Jesus to death. But here's

a real question, why would Romans care about someone supposedly

breaking a Jewish law. They wouldn't They wouldn't care, And

the religious leaders know that. So when they bring Jesus

before the Roman governor Pilot, they just start lying. Look

at this, They start accusing him of treason against Rome,

verse one of chapter twenty three. Then the whole company

of them arose and brought him before Pilot, and they

began to accuse him, saying, we found this man misleading

our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar,

and saying that he himself is Christ a king. And

Pilot asked him, are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered him, you have said so. Then Pilots

said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find

no guilt in this man. So all their accusations are

pretty much lies. Jesus didn't mislead the nation. He was,

in fact telling them the truth.

They accused of Jesus teaching people to refuse to pay

taxes or tribute to Caesar, but he did the opposite.

He taught to them. He's like render to Caesar, whats

Caesar's render to God? What's God's? He gave the perfect answer,

and they were just mad that he had the perfect answer.

He's Jesus. They accuse him of being Jesus, of being

Christ a king. Now here's what's interesting. They're not wrong,

they're totally right. They're saying the right thing. So he is.

But what they're saying is like, oh no, no, no,

he's trying to lead a rebellion. He's trying to prop

himself up as a king, and say he's defying Rome.

Because if any of that was true, if any of

those charges were true, it would be good reason for

Pilot to put Jesus to death for trying to start

some kind of insurrection or rebellion against Rome. The pilot

examines and asks Jesus if he is the king of

the Jews. And this is actually something that's kind of interesting.

Like picture being pilot, just for a second, go there

with me, Picture being pilot. A man is brought in

before you, beaten to a pulp, bloody, all alone, helpless

by himself, no army that you can see. You're looking

at this man, going he's the one leading a resistance.

This is the guy he asked, Jesus, are you the

king of the Jews? Jesus responds, you have said so,

whereas or you translation might say it is as you say.

But after looking into it, Pilot is not convinced of

the chargers brought against him. He finds no guilt in

this man. He has done nothing wrong, and believe it

is I actually think we have a great example in

Jesus right here that we should live our lives in

such a way that those who want to accuse us

either have to hope that our good works are going

to get us in trouble or they just have to lie. Now,

no one likes to be in trouble, but the realities

we see it here is is that those who hate

the truth will try and do everything in their power

to destroy it. So the leaders here were not happy

with this verdict, so they just kind of double down

start complaining, says, but they were urgent saying he stirs

up the people teaching throughout all Judea from Galilee even

to this place. It's upon hearing that Jesus is from

Galilee the Pilot kind of gets an idea. He decides

to send Jesus over to Herod, who is over that district,

to see if he can find anything wrong with Jesus. Now,

mind you, this is the same Herod. We have met

him before earlier in the Gospel of lou He's famous

for beheading John the Baptist. It's kind of a problematic

figure in the Bible, and actually just history, if you

just read history too, he's very problematic. But verse six

it says when Pilot heard this, he asked whether the

man was the Galilean, and when he learned that he

belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod,

who was himself in Jerusalem at the time. When Herod

saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long

desired to see him because he had heard about him,

and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.

So he questioned him at some length, but he made

no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by

vehemently accusing him, and Herod with his soldiers, treated him

with contempt and mocked him, then arraying him in splendid clothing.

He sent him back to Pilot, and Herod and Pilot

became friends with each other that very day, for before

this they had been an enmity with one another each other,

so once again Jesus has brought before these other authorities.

He's questioned and accused, but this time Jesus makes no answer,

And this is fulfilling the prophecy Isaiah fifty three, verse seven.

It says he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet

he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that has

led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before

it shears, is silent. So he opened not his mouth.

So not only is Jesus just straight up fulfilling scripture

right here, but I believe that Jesus is also kind

of given us funny enough, another great example. And when

we're accused of wrongdoing and are innocent that maybe sometimes

it's the best move is just to stop talking. Everyone

wants to justify themselves before others, but sometimes just saying

silent might be the white move. Fifth Amendment right, the

right to remain silent. And sometimes I think we might

be right to remain silent. We need wisdom for those situations.

But Herod questions and Jesus remains silent, the leaders accuse him,

Jesus is mocked and treated with contempt and ultimately sent

back to pilot. So it was kind of a little detour.

Nothing comes of it. It comes back to Pilot. Actually,

and funny enough, Luke gives us this I think it's

funny editorial note. Right there at the end of that section,

he says, before this, Herod and Pilot didn't get along,

but after this little interaction they become friends. It's kind

of it's just a funny thing. It's like, all right,

Luke thinks, Now, say what you will, but I do

want to point out that I think there's something about

people getting around Jesus that can make even enemies become friends.

It's probably not what Luke was trying to say, but

it's there. Finally, we get to the last portion of

our text, and if you're taking notes, you can write

the innocent excused. So Pilot receives Jesus back and gives

his verdict Verse thirteen. Pilot then called together the chief

priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them,

you brought me this man as one who is misleading

the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I

did not find this man guilty of any of your

charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him

back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done

by him. I will therefore punish and release him. So

Pilot says, I don't find him guilty of anything you've said,

send him to Herod. He didn't see any issue either.

And more than that, Pilot says, because he knows what

the seeking, he knows what they want, so he tells

them plainly. Pilot says, nothing deserving death has been done

by him. And oh how true that statement is. And

I think it was much more than Pilot himself even realized.

Jesus hadn't broken any Roman law, and Jesus most certainly

had never broken God's law. Jesus is perfect. Jesus is

completely innocent. No matter which way you slice it. You literally,

if you wanted to get Jesus in trouble, you'd have

to make up a bogus rule and just say he

broke it, which is kind of what we have seen

as we've gone through Luke all the time. They're like,

you broke that law, and he's like, that's not even

a real law. You just made that up. But Jesus

is completely innocent. Jesus did not deserve death on any level.

But as we concluded earlier, the same cannot be said

for any one of us. We are not perfect, and

we are not innocent. We deserve for more reasons than

one death, and no matter what we do, we cannot

make ourself innocent. We can't make ourself innocent. Your works

can't save you, You can't try and outwork your wrongdoing.

That I can't really save you any more than being

before a judge for murder and they're like, did you

murder that person? You're like, yes, but I did help

that old lady across the road that one time. They're

gonna look at you like you're crazy. Okay, you did

something nice, but you need to be held accountable for

the wrongdoing you've done. Once you've lost your innocence, it's gone,

and we know that. I mean, that's one of the

reasons I think that we use kind of the phrase

of like we try and protect our children's innocence is

because we know once that goes away, there's no going back.

We all have multiple moments for various areas of our

life where that was lost, and once that's gone, there's

no getting that back. Like Adam and Eve who disobeyed

God and ate of the tree, it says their eyes

were open, and they realized they were naked. They now

were feeling shame. They had lost their innocence. And we're

now guilty because of sin and deserving of death. And everyone,

by birth and by action is in Adam and thus guilty.

Just like Adam, we are born from and into the

guilty one, and thus we need to be born into

and found in the innocent one. We need to be

born again. Jesus is the new atom. Though unlike Adam,

Jesus perfect and he stayed perfect. Jesus obeyed God perfectly.

Jesus is perfectly righteous and innocent. That's what this text

is telling us. That is the main thrust of this section.

And it's so important that we know that Jesus was innocent,

that even the people who did convict him that was bogus.

There was no He was literally telling them the truth

that we're like, we don't like that. That was that

was their equivalent of him breaking their law. He was

telling the truth. Obviously they had bad laws. Then he

brings him before the Romans. Romans like, there's nothing wrong

with this, dude. Jesus is perfectly righteous and innocent. That's

why he's referred to as the spotless lamb, the spotless lamb.

There's not one blemish, there's not one thing wrong with Jesus.

He is perfect, the spotless lamb that takes away this

of the world, because only those in him covered by

his blood will be found innocent. We said this at

the beginning, that innocence is only found in the innocent one.

So we need to be found in the innocent one.

If we're to ever escape deserving death. We have to

be found in Christ. Because in ourselves it's impossible. We're

too corrupted, too far gone. We need something uncorrupted to

make us new again. And that's actually what we're told happens.

Romans five says, for while we were still weak at

the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one

will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for

a good person one would dare even to die. But

God shows his love for us that while we were

still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have

now been justified by His blood, how much more shall

we be saved by Him from the wrath of God?

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to

God by the death of his son, How much or

much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be

saved by his life. So this is good news that

Jesus took our place as sinners and gives us his righteousness.

He gives us his innocence. Just Actually, a little bit

further on in Romans five, starting verse eighteen, says, Therefore,

as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, who's

he talking about. He's talking about Adam. So one act

of righteousness leads to justification life for all men. For

as by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners,

so by the one man's obedience, the many will be

made righteous. Now the law came into increase the trespass.

But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more so

that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign

through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So an atom, we all sinned and thus deserved death.

But if you are in Christ, you will find and

receive justification and life. And justification is a big word,

but it's actually one of the most important words in

all of the Bible. So that's a big deal. Just

in case you're curious talking about the Bible. God's word

justification is one of the most important words in all

of the Bible because there's a big problem we face

as humans. How can unholy humans stand in the presence

of a holy God. We're guilty, and if we stand

before the judge, the judge has there's no choice because

he's a good judge. He's a just judge. He is

a loving judge, but he's a good just judge, so

he will look at the guilty and say, you're guilty.

So how can we be justified in his sight? How

can we stand justified before him when we're so guilty?

Through faith in Christ. It's the only way we can

stand justified in the side of God. By putting our

faith in Christ, putting our faith in his finished work

on the Cross, on our behalf. That instead of him

looking at us as the sin riddled creatures that we are. Instead,

when we've put our faith in Jesus. This is so beautiful.

God looks on us and doesn't see our sin, but

he looks at us and he sees Christ's perfection and innocence.

Christ covers us. So when God looks at us, what

he sees is not ourselves. He sees the sinless savior.

He sees the innocence of Christ. And this is so

beautiful when we are in the innocent one, God views

us as innocent. I need the band to come up,

please and thank you. And I'm gonna tell you why

this is good news. Obviously there's obvious reasons why it's

good news, but we're I really want to make a

big deal of why Jesus's innocence is so important. Two

Corinthians five twenty one says, for our sake, he made him.

That's Jesus to be sin who knew no sin. Does

that mean Jesus was perfect and innocent? So that in

him we might become the righteousness of God? How are

we righteous? We're in Christ. It is in Him that

we become righteous. It is not our own righteousness. We

don't have righteousness. We don't have really anything to give.

Anything we do have to give is just stained by

our sin. But there's a righteousness given to us by

grace through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is

why it's good news. Because until we are in Christ,

we're guilty. We're just guilty. We will stand condemned. Before

we are in Christ, we stand accused and condemned by

our sin. I think a lot of us feel that

we might. We know we're sinners, we know we're failures,

we know we fall short, so we can go to

bed and we don't have peace. We can't have peace

unless we lie to ourselves and try to ignore our

sins and our problems. But the truth is, we fall

short and we're guilty. There's only one way that we

could find and have peace, and that's by being in Christ.

Because once we've been justified in God's sight, our guilt

is removed and that there's no one can condemn us.

If God tells you that you are justified in his sight,

you're cleared. You're no longer guilty. Once we are in Christ,

God has made the verdict we are righteous before Him,

which is why it's so beautiful. It's a verse that

I memorized a long time ago when I would wrestle

even as a believer, because we all do this, even

as believers. We just forget. Even as believers, we wrestle

with our guilt and our condemnation for the sins that

we commit. And so I took it to heart to memorize.

I still have it written down, but I did take

it to heart to memorize Romans eight one. And when

I would feel the condemnation and wait and guilt, I

would remember that there is therefore now no condemnation for

those who are in Christ Jesus. And I'm going to

choose to believe God's word and his verdict over the

guilt and shame that my flesh and my sin and

Satan trying to remind me of. I'm going to choose

to listen to God's word and God's voice that if

I am in Christ, if I put my faith in Jesus,

I have peace with Him, and there is no more

condemnation for my sin. If we are in Christ, we

can receive the same verdict that Pilot gave, that there

is no charge against us that can stand. That our

sin is removed and we are found no longer deserving

death because Christ takes our death and gives us his innocence,

and because God is the one who makes the verdict,

there is no accusation, no charge, nothing that can separate

us from being in Christ. Romans eight thirty one says,

what then shall we say to these things? If God

is for us, who can be against us? He did

not spare his own some, but gave him up for

us all. How will he not also with him graciously

give us all things. Who shall bring any charge against

God's elect It is God who justifies who is to

get condemned. Christ Jesus is the one who died, more

than that who is raised, who is at the right

hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. We

looked at that a couple weeks ago. Who shall separate

us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress,

or persecution, or famine or nakedness or danger or sword,

as it is written, for your sake, we are being

killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep

to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are

more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I'm

sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor

height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will

be able to separate rate us from the love of God.

In Christ, Jesus, our Lord, it is a good thing

to be in Christ. It is a huge blessing to

be in the innocent one. And I pray, brothers and sisters,

that you would remember the good news that it is

to be in Christ, that if you aren't in Christ,

that you would repent of your sin. You will put

your faith in Him and receive this gift, this gift

of innocence, only given by Him, only by being in

Him and Him covering you. So if you're also struggling

with shame and guilt, that you would remember that for

all those in Christ, Jesus God sees you is innocent

and not because of you. Don't get that wrong. It's

only because of Christ. He has declared you righteous and

there is nothing that can change that. And so to close,

I want to I want to share my favorite hymn

with you because for me, once again, in the seasons

of shame and guilt, that I feel because we still

know that sin is still there, like we still wrestle

with that sin. Christ has won that war. It's over ultimately,

and as we're being sanctified, as we're growing at His images,

as we're putting our sin to death, that no longer

has power over us. In the same way that our shame,

our guilt has no place and has really no hole

on us any longer. And there's a hymn that I

just love it because it reminds me of this, and

so I've shared it before the second verse, but I'm

gonna read the whole thing. It's the hymn before the

Throne of God above, and it's a perfect picture of

standing before God, the Judge, the Creator, and our Savior. Says,

before the Throne of God above, I have a strong

and perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is Love,

whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven

on his hands. My name is written on his heart.

I know that while in heaven he stands. No tongue

can bid be thenced apart in this one right here,

when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of

the guilt within. Upward, I look and see him there,

who made an end to all my sin. Because the

sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free for God,

the Just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.

Behold him there, the risen Lamb, my perfect, spotless righteousness,

the great unchangeable. I am the King of glory and

of grace one with himself. I cannot die. My soul

is purchased by His blood. My soul or my life

is hidden with Christ on high, with Christ, my Savior

and my God. So in Christ we go from abused

by our sin to adored by our God. In Christ

we go from accused by our sin to acquitted by

our God. And in Christ alone we can be excused

from our sin and cleared by our God. And this

is good news. Amen. Would you please stand