Matthew Pt. 107 - The Crucified King

Matthew 27. Say it again.

Yeah, yeah, I'm not as I'm not as hot.

I mean, I'm just one person. Hopefully every house is OK.

Blame Matt, alright? Kayla's happy.

Natalie's happy. Alright, Matthew chapter 27,

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

we're looking at verse 32. Of course, we've been in Holy

Week. We've been building up.

We've been following Jesus from the beginning of Matthew one.

This is part 107 of our series on Matthew.

We've been going verse by verse through the Word of God because

the Word of God is awesome. The Bible's not boring.

You're boring. And we have been blessed over

and over to see just how incredible Jesus is.

Matthew wrote his Gospel to Jews.

Matthew was a Jew. He was a tax collector.

Remember, Matthew is hated by the Jewish people.

He's a traitor. He betrayed them.

Romans come in, they take over. Go, hey, he wants to betray his

own people and collect taxes for us.

You're going to kind of line your pockets at the same time.

And Matthew's like, I'll do that.

Like you guys are here. You guys are ruling.

Why not be shrewd? Why not get on the winning team?

And now everybody hates Matthew. That's what it was like to be a

tax collector. Jesus even talked when he was

talking about correcting people in the church and he was saying,

hey, when you correct somebody, do this with them.

Here's how to correct them and then do this with them.

Like there's a pathway for church discipline so that if

someone is in sin and they're not repentant, we walk through

this pathway. And Jesus said, and if

eventually, if they don't do right, just treat them like you

would treat a tax collector. So Jesus even recognize and

emphasize like there was a way that the Jews treated tax

collectors and Jesus said there is a place and a time to treat

people that way. Jesus said that not to Michael.

And he said, so clearly Jesus acknowledged that tax collectors

are treated poorly. And yet Jesus one day when

walking past Matthew's tax collector booth, says, Matthew,

come follow me. And Matthew left it all and was

no longer a tax collector. It's not like the others where

he's also fishermen and also following Jesus.

No, no, no, to follow Jesus would be to walk away from that

entirely. And that's what Matthew did.

All of his comforts, all of his wealth, all of his provision.

And he said Jesus is worth it. Matthew is so right.

So Matthew is writing to the Jews, and throughout his gospel,

he has shown over and over and over to his Jewish audience.

Hey, guys, you know how we've been waiting for the Messiah

forever? You know, this prophecy and this

prophecy and this prophecy and this prophecy.

And Jewish readers would be going, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he goes, guess what? You're not going to believe

this. Jesus fulfilled it, and Jesus

fulfills this one and this one and this one and this one.

Over and over and over. Matthew keeps showing that he

still does the same thing here and now.

We've come through Holy Week, and now we've come through

Jesus's. Last night Jesus was up all

night long, arrested, harassed, wickedly abused.

And now we've come to the morning in verse 32.

Let's go. Verse 31 And when they had

mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes

on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Verse 32. As they went out, they found a

man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry

his cross. And when they came to a place

called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered

him wine to drink mixed with a gall.

But when he tasted it, he would not drink it.

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among

them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept

watch over Him there and over his head they put the charge

against him, which read This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and

one on the left. And those who passed by derided

him, wagging their heads and saying, You who would destroy

the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.

If you're the Son of God, come down off the cross.

So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked

him, saying he saved others, he cannot save himself.

He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the

cross and we will believe in him.

He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he

desires him. For he said, I am the Son of

God. And the robbers who were

crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

Heavenly Father, I pray that the weight of the cross would hit us

in every way that it's supposed to.

That we would see the depth of our wickedness in sin and how it

needed to be punished. And that we would see the depth

and the greatness of Your love and your mercy, which will cross

all of our sin, cover all of our shame, rid us of condemnation,

and enthrone us with the Lord Jesus Christ.

God, I pray for sinners who have not yet trusted in you, who have

not yet come to worship Christ the King, the perfect man.

And I pray for Saints who have been accused and harassed by the

enemy, who do not fully appreciate and fully receive and

fully enjoy the forgiveness that has been provided by the blood

of Jesus. Holy Spirit, only you can

accomplish this work. So as the Living Word comes

forth today, open hearts, open minds, great repentance and

belief in Jesus name, Amen, the cross and the crucifixion of the

Lord Jesus Christ, everything is built up to this.

The crucifixion and the resurrection are the center

point of all history. Everything from the beginning

with Adam was pointing to the cross, and everything after the

cross points back to the cross. Jesus, His cross, and His

resurrection are the center point of all history.

That is why the human calendar is built off of Christ's life.

But everything that's ever happened from Adam to Jesus and

then from Jesus and afterward, everything is impacted by the

cross. The cross is like the sun and

our solar system. Everything revolves around it.

Even before the cross happened, everything was building up to

it. From Genesis 3 Ford, every

single thing that has ever gone wrong in the world came as a

result of sin. Sin is the problem.

Jesus died for me. Jesus died for me.

Jesus died. Why though?

But why? Because of sin.

Sin is the problem with everything.

Sin is the reason everything's broken.

Sin is the reason that tornadoes exist.

Sin is the reason that thorns exist.

Sin is the reason that there is pain.

Sin is the reason that there is death.

Sin is the reason that there is cancer.

Sin is the reason that there is fear.

Sin is the reason that there is insecurity.

Sin is the reason that there is condemnation.

Sin is the reason that there is rage and murder.

Sin is the reason sin is the problem.

Sin is the thing that separated us from God.

That's what makes the cross so glorious.

That's why the gospel is good news.

But we have to tell the whole story of the gospel, not just

half of the story of the gospel. In America, many people love

half of the story of the gospel, which is simply God loves you

and has a wonderful plan for your life.

That is a true story, and I will preach that and I'll pound the

pulpit on that. But it left out the first half.

You're bad, you're doomed, and you deserve to burn forever in

hell. I don't like that part.

But it's the truth though, and it's the whole reason God's

mercy is so great, because you're not that awesome.

It's our ego that tells us I'm great.

Of course God loves me. I'm an American and my parents

said I was a big deal. God is not pleased with us

because of us being us. God loves us and God is only

pleased with us when we come in under the blood of Jesus.

That's it. Just like the Israelites, they

wanted the death Angel to Passover them.

Jesus remember being crucified on the Passover because he is

the Passover Lamb of God. The death Angel only passes

over. God doesn't say I'll just

Passover all of my people. He says no, no, I'll Passover

whoever has put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts of their

house. That's it.

God was impressed with the blood of the Lamb on the doorpost of

the house. God is not impressed with the

house. God was not impressed with the

inhabitants of the house. God was moved by the blood that

was on the doorpost of the house.

God is not impressed with John Michael.

Does God love John Michael? Yes, he does, thankfully.

Does God love you? Absolutely He does.

And yet he's not impressed with us, and we cannot be with God

because we're not holy, we're not perfect, and God is just.

I thought he was merciful. He is.

He is merciful and He is just, so He will not overlook His

justice to satisfy His mercy. God is so perfect.

He will perfectly satisfy his mercy and perfectly satisfy His

justice. And he'll do it in the cross of

the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how God perfectly does

everything. Justice is satisfied because

somebody has to suffer for sin. I will suffer for all eternity,

or I will come under the blood of Jesus.

And the Father will be pleased to see that Joe Michael applied

the blood of Jesus to his life. Joe Michael received the

provision that Jesus gave. He doesn't do it because I

earned it. He doesn't do it because I

looked good or I sounded good. He doesn't do it because I went

into the ministry. None of that matters.

None of that counts for anything.

The only thing that counts for anything is that I came to

Christ and I asked for the forgiveness of my sins and then

the Lord changed me and made me new.

It's the only thing that counts for any of us.

All sin came from Adam and then we all fell as a human race.

Everything through the Old Testament also, we know it's

been building up to this point to our redemption.

The whole Bible is about Jesus. He proved that.

When? Remember, after the resurrection

takes place, spoiler alert, Jesus doesn't stay dead.

If you didn't know already, now you know.

After he's resurrected, he walks with his disciples on the road

and he opens their mind to the Scriptures and he starts with

Moses, the Scripture says, and he goes through all the prophets

showing them everything about him because the whole Bible's

about Jesus. That's why your Old Testament's

awesome because it's awesome already.

But when you see that everything's preaching about

Christ, then you can enjoy it even more and recognize God's

redemptive plan. So now we have crucified the

Lord of glory, or they're, they're preparing to crucify the

Lord of glory. They're leading him away.

Jesus has been beat mercilessly by the Roman guard.

He was first abused by the Jewish elders in the middle of

the night. Pilate was hoping to be able to

get out of crucifying Christ because he didn't like the

position he was being put in and he knew Christ as an innocent

man, but he's been beaten so savagely that he can't carry the

cross fully the full distance. As they went out, a man of

Cyrene, Simon by name, they compelled this man to carry his

cross. So remember, Roman soldiers,

they can force you to do whatever they want.

They can force you to carry their their gear, their pack,

their stuff for a mile. That was legally what they were

allowed to do. So they can say, hey, you carry

my stuff for the next mile. So like unload their gear on you

and you're like, I hate this guy.

And then Jesus, of course taught us, if someone forces you to go

one mile, go a second. So instead, we're not going to

do, we're not going to be victims.

We're going to be generous. The first mile.

I'm a victim and I'm a hostage. You controlled me.

You had power over me. You made me do it.

And then the Roman guard knows like you've been counting the

steps of how far you had to take it as all right, give me my pack

back young. I'm good.

You can't take from me because I'm giving to you.

This is what the people of God look like, gracious and loving.

But this isn't probably what happened here with Simon.

He's probably forced, and we don't know what his motive is.

We don't know what his desire is.

Later we're told in the book of Mark, Simon was the father of

Alexander and Rufus. So for Mark to reference these

names, it seems like these two sons of Simon were influential

to some degree in the body of Christ.

Otherwise, why would Mark reference them in his gospel and

say Simon, his two sons are so and so and so and so?

That might imply that something happened with Simon on this day.

Maybe Simon was already a follower of Jesus and he was

following close by and then the Romans that carry his cross, and

maybe Simon was thrilled to what an honor.

Maybe Simon didn't love and follow Christ and maybe became a

follower of Christ. We can hope, but Alexander and

Rufus, his sons, likely followed Jesus.

Cyrene is just a city in North Africa, so that's where he was

from. There was a large Jewish

population there, so he's travelled here for the Passover

with his family, most likely. What a privilege, though, for

Simon to be able to do this. If you and I were there today,

of course, as Christ followers, what an honor carry his cross.

It would be the honor of my life to carry his cross.

He's called me to carry my cross anyway and follow him.

But to to help him today and carry his.

What an honor and what a privilege.

We, like Simon, are all called to follow Jesus in suffering,

though we're not carrying his cross for redemption, obviously,

we carry our own cross and we have to crucify our own flesh on

it. That's the invitation of Jesus.

Does Jesus love you? You better believe it.

Does he have a wonderful plan for your life?

Absolutely. And that plan includes you lying

down and dying and crucifying your flesh.

That doesn't sound so wonderful. I know it doesn't at first, but

that's because you still think that your sin is better than

Christ. Like the word that was brought

to us from the Holy Spirit through our brother Alan this

morning. Jesus is better.

Jesus is greater. But there is pleasure in sin.

That's why I do it. That's why you do it.

If sin was always only bad, there would be no temptation for

it, would there? And we just go.

Sin is just always the worst, always stupid, always easy to

avoid. And yet there are some pleasures

in sin. There's some preferences in sin,

all kinds of reasons that we could end up in our different

sins. Some of it, it just came out of

our heart. It wasn't because of our

childhood, it wasn't because of anything else.

It was in me because I am a Sinner.

And it came out and it's as simple as that.

And then other things, sure, we could point to circumstances or

environmental reasons. Well, this thing happened and

that produces this temptation. Me also true.

I don't deny that for you. I don't deny that for me.

And yet the Lord's answer to to difficulties and things in our

past, He says, I will forgive your sin and I will heal your

traumas. But those don't those don't

mingle together in some way. We're like, I need, yeah, I need

to be healed of my sin. No, no, no, no, no.

God doesn't heal sin. You are forgiven of sin when you

repent. Sin must be repented of.

Well, I've got a lot of trauma, I know.

And Jesus is a healer. He will heal all of that.

The Lord is a powerful healer. Your trauma is not greater than

the blood of Christ. Be comforted by that good news.

You must repent of your sin and the Lord will heal you for all

of your traumas, challenges, difficulties, proclivities, you

name it. But that's what it means.

We take up our cross and we follow Jesus.

Keep going here in verse 33. And when they came to a place

called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull, they offered

him wine to drink mixed with Gaul.

But when he tasted it, he would not drink it.

So Gaul was a bitter substance. This drink that they made was a

mild narcotic. This was something that was

given to men on their way to crucifixion, most likely offered

by those in the crowd along the way that the Romans who are, you

know, it's a job for them. Roman soldiers have killed a lot

of people and they crucify many, many, many thousands of people

throughout the reign of the Roman Empire.

The Romans didn't invent crucifixion, but they did

perfect it, unfortunately. So these guys, as they're making

their way with the three men who they're going to crucify, Jesus

and these other two men, these other two men have not been

beaten like Christ has. Christ has been beaten we had an

unknown amount of times by the Romans and then tortured by at

least 200 of the Roman guard as they ripped out his beard, as

they shoved a crown of thorns onto his head, as they took the

staff that they had given him to mock him and then whacked it

over and over to drive it deeper down into his skull.

His blood loss is great at this point.

Many people died just from the beating that they received from

the Romans. Jesus did all this for you.

He did this. This actually happened.

So now, as they're on their way to the crucifixion, there would

likely be those in the crowd who would offer this drink.

And the Roman guard might look at him.

Hurry up, you know, hurry up. Get away from him.

Take a drink. This, drink this.

This is going to dull the pain, at least of the crucifixion.

There are some who have theorized that the Romans

offered this to them. That makes no sense to me.

I don't see how that would be possible.

These are not compassionate men. These are Barbarians who are

just tormenting him, without Pilate knowing most likely, and

torturing him just for their own satanic pleasure.

I think it's more likely that somebody along the way came to

numb his pain, to numb his senses.

Potentially. Romans allowed this in hopes

that it would make an easier time for them to crucify a man.

It's probably not that easy to crucify a man to a wooden beam

when he doesn't want to be crucified to a wooden beam.

So the other thought is that maybe the Romans tolerated this

because, you know, it'll sedate him enough so that we can

actually get him spikes driven through his wrists and through

his ankles so that we can impale him onto this wooden cross and

make our job a little bit easier so he's not squirming and

fighting us. Regardless of the motive, once

Jesus tasted the drink, maybe he would have been willing to drink

water. But once he tasted the drink, He

rejected it. Once he realized it was wine

mixed with gall, he rejected it because he did not want

sedation. He did what not.

He did not want narcotic. He did not want an altered

mental state. Jesus wanted to go to the cross

fully sober. He wanted to go to the cross

fully alert, fully aware of everything He was saying and

doing. The sinless Lamb of God was not

about to sin now. He was not about to lose control

of himself in any way. He had no uppers.

He had no Downers. He had the full reality of what

was coming against him. This is an example for us.

It's common in our culture, it's common in the world to look for

something external, to ease ourselves, to soothe ourselves.

And you should look for something to ease and to comfort

and to soothe yourself. But you should look for what

Jesus looked for, which was the blessing of his Father.

Alcohol drank to a state where it's altering your mind.

Weed, which is any degree, nicotine, some alteration to our

mental state, some comfort, something to take the edge off.

We search for those things. We seek those things because

they're easy, because they're quick.

But here Jesus goes as the ultimate example, like he always

does, and shows us that we can face everything we need to just

by trusting the Father. As Christians, we're called to

be a sober minded people, so whatever we're walking through,

when we feel pain, I want comfort.

I choose comfort over discomfort.

It's objectively better. I choose peace over chaos.

And yet the route and the path that we take matters.

Dopamine addiction is one that's very common in our day and age.

I'm tired, I've had a long day, I've had a hard day.

I just need to veg out. But that's not restorative.

It's vegetative, it's consumptive, but it's not

restorative. I just need, I just need a drink

now. It's been a long day.

It's been a hard, I've earned this.

I deserve this. I deserve to change the chemical

state of my mind so that I would think different thoughts and

maybe say different things and believe different beliefs.

I want to alter myself to that degree first.

Peter 58 commands us though. Be sober minded and be watchful.

First Thessalonians 5-6 and eight says those who belong to

the day should be sober. So suffering is not an

exceptional thing. It's a normal thing,

unfortunately. And even in his deepest

suffering, Jesus shows us that sober mindedness, sober

mindedness, matters more, not less.

It's not a condemnation, but it might be a correction.

It's not an apology. I'm just clarifying as we

continue here. Matthew does not go into vivid

detail on the crucifixion because he and his readers

already knew what the crucifixion was.

They didn't need all the details.

The crucifixion is graphic enough.

It's horrific enough. It's a violent, violent death.

The Romans figured out how to make it the most terrible,

excruciating thing. And we've said before that word

excruciating in the English language, we actually get from

the cross excruciating meaning from the crucifix.

To crucify means to fix stakes, to drive stakes through a human

body. Why, why, why did Jesus have to

go to this cross? Because your sin is so awful

that it needs to be punished by a just God.

God is not willing to overlook sin because God is just and God

is perfect. Well, if I was God, I would just

forgive it. By what mechanism though?

There has to be a mechanism for forgiveness.

And the good news is for all of us, there is a mechanism for

God's forgiveness. It's not just that he goes, ah,

don't worry about it, because if he said that then God wouldn't

be just for tolerating unholiness.

Well, I think it would be OK. Spoken like a human being who

isn't God. Spoken like a humanist who wants

things to go their way instead of satisfying the justice of

God. Well, I think that's harsh.

Oh, but wait, you haven't heard the best part of the story yet.

Instead of making us suffer the justice that we deserve, God

came in the flesh to take the penalty for our sins.

So you will have no excuse on judgment day.

No one can wag a finger at God. Will they do?

But no one can righteously wag their finger at God and say you

did it wrong. Nope, your justice is too

demanding because He requires the full, full completion of

justice. What a high price.

It's not fair. Oh, but you can't say that

because God himself came to pay the high price.

So it all comes down to my belief or my own belief.

That's it. That's what I'll be judged upon.

Because if I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then I'll be

saved, and if I don't then I won't.

But God gets glory through it all.

This is how we are saved. This is the mechanism by which

people are saved. This is why no one can be saved

by any name except the name of Jesus.

This is why every other religion has no salvation mechanism.

Logically, just think it through.

Detach the emotional connection that you and I feel towards

those things. But what about this people?

And what about that people? There has to be a mechanism of

salvation from the true and living God, and wishful thinking

has never been satisfactory. But the gospel of the Lord Jesus

Christ actually saves people's lives.

Philippians 28 says he became obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross. Colossians 214 says our record

of debt was set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Our debt was so great that he had to suffer greatly.

You owed so much, that's why he had to suffer so much first.

Peter 224 says he himself bore our sins in his body on the

tree. Hebrews 12/2 says Jesus endured

the cross, despising the shame. Ephesians 216 says God that says

Jesus reconciled us to God through the cross.

You should love the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The early church did. First Corinthians 123 says we

preach Christ crucified. Galatians 614 says, or Paul

said, I won't, I won't boast in anything, but I will boast in

the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul had a lot to brag about. He was an accomplished and

brilliant, brilliant man, spoke multiple languages.

A lot of times ignorant folks in modernity read things from

ancient times. They think of these people as as

ignorant or foolish people, which isn't a massively ignorant

thing to do. I don't want to insult you or I,

but I just want you to have some framework for like the great

thinkers of history or far, far, far brighter than all of us.

If you're, if you're a history buff, you know that my history

buffs in the room, you know, like, yeah, if you've done any

reading from any ancient writers, you're going like, wow,

I don't feel so great with my master's degree anymore.

My doctorate has suddenly become a lot less impressive when I

read ancient thinkers, ancient Christians.

Paul was one of those, an absolutely brilliant man.

And Paul said, I don't brag in any of that.

My whole heap of my winnings, all my trophies, all my

accomplishments, all my knowledge, He said, I throw it

in the dung heap compared to the greatness of knowing Christ.

I don't boast in anything. He said, no, no, I boast in

Christ crucified. That's what I brag about.

And they're like, you don't get any credit for that.

He goes, I know, that's my point.

Jesus is the only thing worth bragging about.

What Jesus has accomplished on the cross is mighty and glorious

and perfect in every way, because God satisfies all of His

justice and all of His wrath, and He satisfies all of His

mercy and all of His love, and He does it in Christ on the

cross for us. It is wild, it is beautiful in

verse 35. And when they had crucified him,

they divided His garments among them by casting lots.

So the soldiers, without knowing it, here they are fulfilling

what the Lord showed David 1000 years earlier in prophecy on

this hill called Golgotha. Psalm 2218 says they divide my

garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 1000

years earlier, Matthew was doing it again.

Hey, my Jewish readers, you know, David, you know Psalm 22,

we know that's about the Messiah, right?

And they're going. Yep.

Yeah. And he goes once again, he

fulfills the prophecy over and over and over.

Why? Because Jesus is king, and

because God has orchestrated this and sovereignly designed

this from before the foundation of the world.

Jesus is the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the

world, in the heart and the mind of God.

It's always been done, and now it's happening exactly as it

would be told. The divide is clothing among

them. Jesus is satisfying everything

perfectly here in his death. Here as he he's stripped, they

strip him naked again. Here.

This is the commute, complete humiliation of Jesus.

Men were crucified naked. It would have been the same for

him. On top of the suffering that

you're experiencing, there's also this full exposure.

So remember the crowns put on him because they represent the

curse that was put on the earth. Not that the Roman soldiers

thought that. Hey, I think in the in the law

of Moses, it said something about the earth is cursed

because of sin. It's not what happened, but the

Lord knew what would happen. So the curse is put on Jesus and

the nakedness of Adam and Eve is fully upon Jesus the innocent

king here in verse 36. And they sat down and kept watch

over him there. So Jesus is in his excruciating

torment. These men are tired though.

These guys have had a long morning.

Jesus, of course, he's been up all night.

They don't want to stand. They sit down to do their job.

They make sure nobody's going to come and take him away.

They make sure nobody does anything they shouldn't do with

these three men they just crucified.

They sit down and rest because they worked hard today.

It's 9:00 in the morning when they crucified him.

They've beaten and tormented a man.

They've crucified 3 of them and now they rest from their

laborers. They keep watch over him.

Verse 37 and over his head. They put this charge against him

because often times the charge would be put over your head and

everybody knows he's a this person is a murderer.

This person is this, this person is that Jesus is guilty of

nothing, guilty of nothing. He's done nothing wrong.

Pilate knows that. So Pilate as one more poke in

the eye to the Jews says this man is the king of the Jews.

Another gospel account tells us that they went to Pilate said

don't put he's king of the Jews, Put that he said that he's king

of the Jews. Pilate said I wrote what I wrote

and that's what stayed above Jesus head.

Of course Jesus is the king of the Jews.

More importantly, Jesus is the king of the world.

Jesus is the king of the Jews. Jesus is the king of the

Muslims. Jesus is the king of the Hindus.

Jesus is the king of the Mormons.

He's saying all these people are saved.

Absolutely not. I'm just saying Jesus is king,

Jesus King over everybody. Well, they don't worship him.

I didn't say they worshipped him.

You could live in a King's Kingdom and be on his property

and in his terrain and be like he's not my king.

Like you can say what you want, but that doesn't change reality.

So Jesus's kingship cannot be affected by your belief or by

your unbelief. He's not phased one bit.

His throne isn't shaken at all. Jesus is coming back and he's

going to judge the living and the dead.

Of course no one has to be condemned because all are

supposed to come to the saving faith of God through the cross

of Jesus. That's the beauty of the cross.

It's not to exclude anyone, it is to include everyone.

I forgot who said it, he said, but maybe it was CS Lewis.

He said a man can no more diminish the glory of God, that

an insane man could blot out the light of the sun by scribbling

the words darkness in his cell, darkness.

Sunshine didn't care. Sunshine wasn't moved by it.

So the rage of humanity, the wrath of man that they have

towards God, God's glory has not been affected.

And everyone, even those who pierced him, the scripture says

their knees will bow, their tongues will confess, and they

will wail when they see him return on the judgement day.

They'll wail for those who didn't repent.

They will wail in terror. They will say to the mountains

cover us into the hills. They will say fall on us, hide

me from the wrath of the Lamb. I thought he's not wrathful.

Well there the judgement day will come.

Right now isn't the judgement day could be in 15 seconds might

not be able to finish any of these sentences that I'm

starting and you will face the Lord to the Christian that

should bring you great comfort and go.

I look forward to it right now, yes, please.

But if you don't have that eager right now, yes please, bubbling

up within you to say, I can't wait to see my Savior, then you

can call upon Him and He will save you because He wants to,

because He loves you. He'll save you from your sin and

He'll call you out of it into His glorious light.

I feel the fear of God. So whether or not Pilate was

intending to be sarcastic or not, it was a truthful claim

about who Christ is. But no one there on the grounds

with Christ recognize fully the sovereignty of God in this.

No one recognize that Jesus really is king.

Christ on the cross, he is king, Christ in the tomb he is king.

Christ resurrected, He is King John one.

Verse 10 says he was in the world and the world was made

through him, yet the world did not know him.

This is a perfect example what's happening on the cross.

The world was made through Christ.

Jesus does not have a starting point.

That is a heresy. Jesus did not begin when he was

born. Jesus has always existed as the

living word of God. That's the significance of the

incarnation when he became a human, because it says the Word

became flesh. The Word didn't start to exist.

What was his form like before? I don't know, and you don't

either, and neither does our favorite theologian.

But the Word has always been the Father, the Word and the Spirit.

But the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and he died on a

cross, and he was resurrected. And the Word still has a body

now, a glorified body, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,

to his left and to his right. He's not known.

He's mocked by soldiers. He's mocked and abused by the

Jewish leadership who should have been eager to receive him

and worship him. They mock and abuse him because

they really don't know him, which is why he cries out on the

cross in mercy for them. Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing.

We are so, so, so weak. I am so weak, the slights that

happened to me and the offense that I feel for those slights

when I'm wronged and what rises up in my flesh.

And I have not suffered to the point of shedding my blood.

And Jesus on the cross, looking at his murderers as he's mocked

by his murderers, as they're twisting what he said and

throwing it back in his face. The God man, the perfect one,

the Lord Jesus Christ, the strongest man, the manliest man,

says, father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.

Verse 38, Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the

right and one on the left. So this word robbers, in the

original language, it means bandits, rebels,

revolutionaries. These are not guys who stole a

loaf of bread. These men are potentially

murderers, probably insurrectionists, major threats

against Rome. This is what crucifixion was

reserved for. It was for the worst of the

worst and that's who He is surrounded by the innocent Lord,

sandwiched between two sinners, the innocent 1 covered by sin in

every way and in every direction.

Once again He fulfills the prophecy.

This one from Isaiah 53 scripture says Jesus was quote

numbered with the transgressors. The Lord cannot have been

surrounded with any more evil and any more sin than He already

was. You and I are represented by the

torment that he's experiencing, and we're represented by the two

men who are dying with Him on the cross.

It's what we deserve. It's what we actually deserve

for our sin against the holy and loving God.

And Jesus the Savior is going to save one of them literally as

one of the last things that He does, verse 39, and those who

passed to ride at him, wagging their heads and saying, you who

would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days?

Save yourself. If you're the Son of God, come

down from the cross. Of course, they're lying and

they're twisting what he said. He didn't say he would destroy

the temple and rebuild it in three days.

He said, you destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three

days. And they thought he meant the

temple because they weren't humble listeners.

They were fault finders. They're the kind of people who

when you say something, they hold it against you and you go,

well, what I meant, and it doesn't matter what you meant,

it matters what I can incriminate you with.

That's what the devil is. Just like whenever you act that

way towards others, you're acting like the devil.

When you are that excruciating with others in their language

and your demands, you said, well, are people allowed to walk

it back? Are you, are you willing to show

them grace? Are you willing to show them

mercy? You better show a lot of grace

because you're going to need it. You better sow a lot of mercy

because you're going to need it. So if you want that fruit to be

coming back on you, you ought to be eagerly giving it.

Let folks clarify things. Let your spouse explain.

Hey, I am sorry. That was wrong.

We're not minimizing any sin that took place, but we're going

to let the truth come to the middle of the room and that's

where we're going to sort things out.

Go hang on, that was wrong. Let's clarify.

What's the difference between sin?

What's the difference between bad communication?

What's the difference between misunderstanding?

Lot of human relationships act like the devil in these moments,

accusation, accusation and traps.

But we want to act like the Lord, full of grace and truth,

full of grace and truth. If you're the Son of God, does

that sound familiar? If you're the Son of God, where

has Jesus heard that before? Satan, He's just talking through

people. This time he tempted him in the

wilderness. If you're the Son of God, turn

these stones to bread, like Jesus going to do tricks for the

devil. If you're the Son of God, throw

yourself down off the Temple Mount.

If, if, if, Always casting doubt.

That's how he works. He's been working for a while.

Since Adam. He's been working.

He understands us better than we understand ourselves.

I've only been here 41 years. That's the level of

understanding I have. Some of you have been here

longer, some of you been here shorter.

Satan's been here longer than all of us.

He's been studying, he's been watching, he's been learning how

to manipulate, how to suggest, and that's what he does.

He's the father of lies. If you're the Son of God, now

take yourself down off the cross.

This is a legitimate temptation to Jesus, just like it was a

legitimate temptation for him to make the stones turn into bread.

He was hungry, he wanted food. That was a temptation.

But he'll do nothing at the suggestion of his enemy.

It's a legitimate temptation here now to take himself down

off the cross, because spikes are not holding the Lord Jesus

to the cross exclusively. The love of God is holding Jesus

to the cross, God's love for you and his perfection and his grace

and his strength. That's what kept him on the

cross, so that the justice of the Father would be fully

satisfied and that Jesus would have his whole church, you and

me, robbers and revolutionaries just like the men beside him,

murderers, every last one of us who have hated, adulterers,

every last one of us who have lusted, all deserving what Jesus

was suffering. Do you have any sin that you're

just like, man? I don't want anyone to ever,

ever, ever, ever, ever know. God treated Jesus on the cross

like he did the thing that you have in mind.

Duh, obviously, the sins that are the worst, the sins that are

the least, all of it. But Jesus committed himself to

the Father's will. He trusted himself into the

Father's hand. He loved you.

And he went through this mission with a clear head and a pure

heart. Because Jesus is the Son of God.

And that is exactly why he didn't come down from the cross

saying said, if you're the Son of God, come down.

Jesus said, I am the Son of God. That is why I won't save

yourself. No, in saving the world, I'm

laying my life down. The God who loves us, verse 41,

So also the chief priests with the scribes and the elders

mocked him, saying he saved others, he cannot save himself.

He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the

cross and we will believe in him.

If he comes down on the from the cross, we will believe in him.

But that was a lie because those same men three days later have a

Roman guard come to them privately because the Roman

guard was scared to death when an Angel moved the stone away

and Jesus walked out of the tomb alive.

The man they crucified, they guarded.

He walks out of the tomb. The soldiers laid on the ground

as dead men. And they said, we can't go tell

Pilate about this. Let's go talk to the Jewish

guys. This is like their whole deal.

And they go tell them with terror, terror, here's what just

happened. And the Jewish leadership

doesn't say, oh, my goodness, we've crucified the Lord of

glory. Let's repent and be saved, which

is what they should have done in that moment, and then they would

have been saved. And instead they said, we'll

sort this out with Pilot for you.

We'll figure this out. We'll say that the disciples

stole the body away. We'll make up some story that

evidence is not enough. I want to encourage you and

remind you, you don't need more evidence.

Evidence is not your problem. Unbelief is your problem.

Your friends and loved ones who demand more explanations from

you, They demand that you watch The Da Vinci Code and that you

explain what Tom Hanks is doing here with the I haven't seen

this, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I just, I just know when it came out there's a lot of stupidity

about the Bible and everyone thought they knew the scriptures

even though they didn't read the scriptures.

But you take it. Take your cultural idiotic

argument that people think is intelligent.

That's not what they need satisfaction for.

Explain these fossils to me and then I will submit my life to

the Lord Jesus Christ. No you won't.

You're a liar. Your issue is unbelief.

What am I supposed to do, believe the gospel?

God loves you. God loves you, a Sinner, and he

put all of His wrath at Christ so that you could trade places

with the Lord Jesus Christ. You should be crushed and

annihilated. Jesus should be elevated and

worshipped, and instead it pleased the Father to crush him

so that you could be raised up because the righteousness of God

can be given to you. That's crazy, but it's logical.

It's logical and it's fair because Jesus wanted it.

There was no injustice being taken place because Jesus said

I'm willingly doing it. So justice is perfectly

satisfied. The grace of God is perfectly

satisfied. The mercy of God is fully

satisfied. No other religion, no other

philosophy can do it. Nothing else.

You can't earn it, you can't deserve it, you can't accomplish

it. Jesus accomplished it.

That's why he gets all the glory.

That's why we always say Jesus is king.

I drove by no kings protest, I don't remember how long ago.

It was a bunch of people out at the stoplight and they wanted

everybody to know there was no king.

And I was like, well, there's one king.

The president's not a king. You are correct.

The president is not a king. That is a factually true

statement. So anyway, there is a king

though, and you can't escape his kingship and you don't want to,

shouldn't want to. He's a good king.

He's a perfect king. He's a loving king.

I didn't vote for him. That's not how kings work.

Let him come down from the cross.

Then we will believe in him. No, you won't.

Unbelief is the problem. Pride is the problem.

The love of sin is the problem. Men hated the light because

their deeds were dark. He raises the dead and they know

when he's raised from the dead, but they still don't care

because their hearts are hard. My encouragement to you, when

you see this in the Scriptures and you see proving out that

point that I just made to you over and over and over is that

you can just have full confidence that the gospel is

enough. That's all you have to share

with someone. I just don't.

I think they're going to need more.

That's because of your unbelief. Their unbelief is on them.

Your unbelief is on you. Well, I think I need to explain

this and this and this and this. I'm not saying we can't have

conversations with folks and be gracious and gentle, but if

people are making demands of you that don't lead them closer to

the devotion of the Lord Jesus Christ, do you think that the

illiterate early church, do you think that they were walking

around handling all the objections all the time?

Paul handled some objections, but he always did it through the

cross. His whole story was, guys, I was

killing Christians and I was knocked off my high horse.

God blinded me, then he literally, then he opened my

eyes, He saved me, and now I'm preaching Jesus.

He saved me. Jesus is the Messiah, everybody.

That was Paul's message. Like he told his own story.

Tell your own story, but the gospel is enough.

Romans 116 tells you. So I am not ashamed of the

gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone

who believes. That's the issue, belief or

unbelief. The gospel is the power though,

man, they just need, they need you to pray for them.

Pray for them. Somebody prayed for you, pray

for them. Don't give up on them.

Don't stop praying for them. Oh, I cannot even see them

coming to Christ, but Christ can see them coming to Christ.

That thief on the cross who repented later in the day, he

had been mocking the Lord with everybody else.

What a godless and wicked man. These two guys like, even in

their death, No Fear of God. And then one, by the grace of

God, the prayer of Jesus is answered.

Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're

doing. All of them.

And then throughout the day, throughout the morning,

throughout the afternoon, one of these guys, he turns and he

turns to the Lord Jesus. And he says, Lord, Remember Me

when you come into your Kingdom and Jesus understands what's

happening in this man. And he says today you'll be with

me in paradise. Think that boy's Mama was

praying? Somebody was praying for that

guy. Don't stop praying for people,

but you've got to give them the gospel, the message of a bloody

cross. It's foolishness.

It's foolishness to those who are perishing.

What? Really.

That's cute. You're such cute little

Christians with your Bible, with your Bible and your stories and

your sky daddy. All the insults that you're

going to hear. Rejoice if you're counted worthy

to suffer for his name. But know that the gospel will be

enough. He trusts in God.

Let God deliver him. Now these men are heaping

condemnation on themselves, yet the opportunity for their

salvation is still right in front of their faces.

He does trust in God. God will deliver him on Sunday

morning, but for now, it pleases the Father and it please Jesus,

please Jesus to be in this position.

He's fulfilling the plan that he's always had.

Verse 44 and we're closing. And the robbers who were

crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

Whether you have 20 minutes left, 20 years left, or 80 years

left, you are dying. Another spoiler alert.

If the Lord tarries, you're going to die.

If the Lord comes before you die, you're either caught up

with him in his presence or you're being condemned as we

always deserved anyway. But as long as it's not too late

for us, it's not too late for us.

Just like the man on the cross, you can be with Jesus today, not

necessarily in heaven. I don't want you to go to heaven

today, but you can be with Jesus today.

You can have Jesus today. Jesus will come into you today,

it'll change your life and it'll make you a new creation.

He loves you. I want you to see the suffering

of Christ and see the suffering of his cross and turn from your

ways and receive His grace. That's the big finish.

If you're not in the Kingdom of God, how do I know if I'm in the

Kingdom of God? Well, do you love the Lord

Jesus? Yes.

Do you have sin in your life that you're unwilling to let go

of, that you know you're going to return to?

And you say, I've chosen this sin.

I'm keeping this sin. I'm going to continue to pursue

this sin. If you say yeah, then I would

say, my friend, come to the cross of Jesus and be saved.

Because if you were, you would love the Lord.

And if you would love the Lord, you would want to obey the Lord.

And if that miracle hasn't happened inside you, I'm not

talking about warm affection for Jesus.

I've known a lot of people who tip their hat to the man

upstairs and they say I respect Jesus.

I believe the story of Jesus. Well, the devil believes it, but

that doesn't lead to a saving faith.

I expect everyone I share the gospel with to believe it.

I just do. In fact, I know that they do,

but they all don't respond to it in submission.

A lot of people don't like that word.

It's necessary and it's good. So that's the invitation.

Will you submit yourself to God? Not just.

Thanks, Jesus. I'll take your salvation, tuck

in my pocket and do my own thing.

No, my friend, you must have misunderstood the invitation.

Then the invitation was to come and follow him.

He didn't say. Hey, Matthew, how's the tax

booth? It's great, Jesus.

Remodeling my kitchen right now. Put a pool in the back.

Got a great vacation plan next year.

Hey, Matthew, be saved. Cool.

Jesus, I'm saved. Thanks.

See you later, Matthew. It's not what happened over and

over. Jesus said come follow me.

And to follow Jesus means that you have left something.

If you haven't left something or someone in your life or

somewhere in your life, you're not following Jesus.

If you're not leaving something, you're not following him because

he's always going to take you away from something.

He's going to take you away from sin.

He's going to take you into righteousness, and if you are in

Christ already, I want you to be comforted by the cross of Jesus.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are

in Christ Jesus. Reject the condemnation that

comes from your accuser and enjoy the completeness of the

work of Jesus. Believe the gospel.

Believe it for you, Believe it for your nasty sin.

Even this one, Yes, especially that one.

Even this one, Absolutely the one you turn from, right?

We're not talking about the one that you love and you're

caressing. You're deliberately going to

continue to pursue because that's a different story all

together. And I would never tell a person

who lives like that that they have salvation.

I'm not their judge, but I am their friend to tell them the

truth. Whom the sunsets free though, is

free indeed. Galatians 220 says I have been

crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but

Christ who lives in me. So if you're in Christ, you've

already suffered. That's how God sees it, legally

speaking. Legally speaking, if you're in

Christ, you're like, I just feel so bad.

I just feel like I deserve so much torment.

Well, you're right. Good news, you were tormented

through Christ 2000 years ago. That's the mechanism of

salvation. And how do I receive it?

Through faith in Christ. His righteousness is now applied

to you. I just feel like I need guilt

and shame and condemnation. Yes, in a sense, but also it was

satisfied in Christ. You do, but it was so now

receive it today as righteousness.

Abraham believed God and that was credited to him as

righteousness. If you believe God, that belief

will be credited to you as righteousness, and that

righteousness gives you new desires.

That's why I don't meet people who go, I love Jesus and they're

like, and also I'm continuing this life of sin.

I'm like, my friend, I love you and God loves you and also you

don't love God. Oh, I really do, my friend.

I believe that, you believe that.

But can we look at the book together?

Because I can just prove it to you.

So get my opinion out of it. Get my personality out of it.

Get Me Out of the way. To love God is to follow God.

To love God is to walk with God. Don't we still sin, Christians?

You know, you still have the ability to sin.

And yet when we sin, the difference is the Holy Spirit

says, hey, it's not you. You put on the old man there for

a second. That's not who you are.

So Christians, we still confess our sin, but we do it from a

place of children, already adopted, already enthroned with

the Lord. Romans 66 and seven.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that

the body of sin might be brought to nothing.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

So legally speaking, the Lord considers all those who are in

Christ. You've already died, You've

already been, you've already suffered.

I'm afraid, I'm afraid you know a lot of tender hearted

believers. As a pastor, I've had the

privilege of comforting a lot of tender hearted believers who are

like, I don't know if I'm saved. I don't know if I'm saved.

Of course, I don't want to just fake it and make up somebody's

salvation for him and be like you.

You are, I'm certain like, well, let's sort this out.

But a lot of times a tender conscience is just have I lost

my salvation? Well, the way you the way you

get saved is the way you stay saved by God's grace through

faith. So are you saved?

Enjoy what Jesus has accomplished, make much of the

cross, believe the gospel, believe that Jesus paid it all

and now enjoy it. That was what he intended.

And then carry it on so that we not just staring at ourselves

constantly, but then we actually get involved in the work of the

ministry instead of what about me?

What about my life? What about my spiritual life?

What about this life? What about my family?

What about my personal friend, We want to get you to a place of

such stability. Jesus wants to build you up to a

place of such strength that yes, you'll be cared for by the body

as well, but also that your eyes get up a little bit and not just

in the mirror, but your eyes go elsewhere and you go.

I'm on a mission and have a great work to do.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for what Jesus has

accomplished. Thank you so much for the grace

and the salvation that he makes available to all of us.

Lord, I pray for any who have not come to the full saving

knowledge of the Lord Jesus who have not been transformed by it.

The right now, they would just call out to you and that they

would surrender themselves to you, not caring what it looks

like, not caring what anyone would think around them.

But they would deeper in their heart of hearts where you're

whispering, where you're calling, where you're inviting,

where they would not turn away like the rich young ruler who

went away sad after Jesus invited him to follow him

because he had many possessions. But he would be like Matthew

soon as he was invited, gave it all up and came and followed.

If the Lord is calling you, please respond.

Please follow him. Please join the Kingdom of light

and love and goodness and grace and truth.

You will be celebrated, you will be honored, you will be blessed.

And to you, Christian, who feels condemned and overwhelmed by

your sin, I want you to be overwhelmed by the cross, be

overwhelmed by the love of God, for you shut the voice of your

accuser by preaching the gospel. Again.

Christ died for sinners, of whom I was the worst.

And now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and

whom the sun is set free is free indeed.

Enjoy the blessing, enjoy the overflowing cup, and believe in

Jesus name. And now the Lord bless you and

keep you. The Lord make his face Shinedown

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.

God bless you. You're dismissed.

Angelina and I will be available for prayer.