I've said this very few times in my life and told very few people, but in my first year in Utah as a church planter among the Mormons, I had a problem with an insurance and couldn't get it resolved over the phone. It was a big problem and just as the receptionist said, you're very lucky, the regional representative is in town today and I think it would be good if you went over and talked with him. And I said, great. And I went over and we talked and he resolved my insurance problems. And then he said to me, what type work do you do? And I said, I'm a pastor, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he said, what church? And I said, Emmanuel Baptist Church. He said, how much do you make a year? And I didn't want to say, but he insisted, and I told him, which was very little. And he said, I like you, and you have something about you that I don't know what it is, but I would like to hire you and put you in a training program. And he said, I can promise you by the end of the year, and this was in January, he said, I can promise you by the end of the year, you will be making $100,000. If you follow through with our program, and it's a very large, if I mention the name of the insurance company, you would know it. He said, within five years, you will be making five times that. And if you stay with us, I can tell you, you can retire early and happy. And I would like to hire you. And I said, well, I don't think so, sir. He said, yes, I want you to think about this. And I said, no, sir, there's really no thinking. And he said, why is that? And I'm not trying to boast about me. I say this to the glory of Christ. I said, sir, if I were to take your job, the job that you're offering me, and make $100,000 at the end of this year, and $500,000, which I suspect that might not be the case, in five years, I would be taking a step down. And he said, no you wouldn't, I know what you make and I know what I can give you. And I said, no you don't understand. I would be taking a step down from being a servant. of the word of the great king to serve this insurance company. And it's just too big a step for me to take to go down. I thank God for the privilege of being a servant of his word and for allowing me to open up the holy scriptures and in a simple way expound them to you. So this morning, if you would, take the holy word of God and turn with me to two passages of scripture. The first is Luke chapter 23 verses 8-9 and then I want you to turn, hold your finger there, and then turn to Matthew 27. I want to read the Luke passage first because chronologically that is the order that it takes place. And I want to read these passages and speak to you this morning upon the silence of Jesus. Is there any way we can, is this light, does this light turn on? It would help my aged eyes. Great, ah, bravo. Luke 23, verses eight through nine, and then Matthew 27, verses 14 through 12. Hear now the word of the living God. Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see him, because he had heard many things about him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by him. Then he questioned Jesus with many words, but he answered him nothing. And then Matthew 27, verses 12 through 14. And from Luke's account, Jesus is in Herod's judgment hall. He is immediately ushered over to Pilate's praetorium. And this is the second time that he is before Pilate. And then beginning in verse 12 of Matthew 27. And while he was being accused by the chief priest and elders, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you? But he answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. May the Lord add his blessing to this, the reading of his word, and give us ears to hear today. Let's pray. Oh Father, Lord of the scriptures, I pray that today, as only you can do, you who gave the word will make your word effectual to our minds and hearts. Work deeply in each of our souls, and by your Spirit, convict us of sin and of judgment and of righteousness, and lead us on to Him who is life eternal. Work your will in each mind and heart here today, and again by your grace, may we leave this place changed for your glory. In the name of Christ our Lord we pray, amen. The silence of Jesus may seem like a strange title. Because as we're told in John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was face-to-face with God. Prostanteon. Literally, face-to-face, not face-to-face. This is the Word, the Eternal Word. God, and by the intimation of His name Word, we understand that the Eternal Son of God is one who speaks. Christ came to be a prophet, and He is the quintessential prophet. He is the ending of all of the prophets, as we would know them from the Old Testament. And as a prophet, He came to communicate the will of God to men and women. And I love the catechism question, why do we need a prophet? And the answer is, because I am ignorant. And Jesus came to be a prophet, and He came to communicate the mind and the will of God to all of His creation. And while Christ performed great works and great power and great miracles, His first and primary task was that of speaking and communicating the will of God. to His creation. The first indication of this is seen in His 12th birthday, when He is at Jerusalem, at His Bar Mitzvah. And Mary and Joseph are there to celebrate. They leave with the caravan, and a day's journey out, they realize that Jesus is not with them. And they rushed back to Jerusalem to try to find him, and rather than finding Jesus playing out in the streets with the young people, shooting hoops, playing soccer, or with his game box or Xbox or Game Boy or whatever, where did they find him? They found him in the temple. And what is he doing? He's there in the temple, and he's interacting with the scribes and the lawyers. And these lawyers are not like our lawyers. These were the ones who were experts in the Torah, experts in the law of the Old Testament. And Jesus, as a 12-year-old boy, is sitting there talking with them, asking them questions, they asking Him questions, And everyone is astounded. And when his mother rushes in, he says, what do you not know? Do you not grasp and comprehend that I must be about my father's business? And his task in coming was to be a prophet, to be a spokesman, to speak. His words and sermons were so different from those of other men. He spoke with authority. I like how what we call the Sermon on the Mount ends. It says that His words were not like the words of the Pharisees and the scribes, but they were words that were with authority. Their words fell to the ground. And a mark of an Old Testament prophet was that His words would not fall to the ground, but they would go forth and be fulfilled. And Jesus spoke with that same authority. For some, His words were like cool, refreshing waters to the soul. And you can see that in John chapter 8. And for others, His words were like swords penetrating the mind and piercing the heart. I laugh. It says, well, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and so it was that when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. And I laugh at this next point here, is that these Pharisees realized they had a problem on their hands and they needed to get rid of him. And we find recorded for us in John chapter 7 that they sent forth a squadron of soldiers to arrest him. And Jesus is preaching that great sermon, you know, that if he thirsts, come unto me, he that believes upon me, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. And what a sermon that must have been. And when he finished, the crowd disperses and the squadron of soldiers along with them. And they report back to their leaders and they said, where is he? Why didn't you arrest him? And listen to the answer. The officers answered and said, no man ever spake like this man. They'd never heard such things. And his preaching so captivated them, they forgot what they had been sent to do. Well, what this does, it enforces that Jesus was one who was the spokesman of God the Father. But now I want us to turn to His silence. And I can remember many years ago coming across these passages and mulling over them in their minds, in my mind, and they have helped me many times. And I hope by the grace of God they will help you today. I want to speak to us upon the silence of Jesus, the one who came to speak for God, to speak on his behalf, to speak to us. We are told on three different occasions that he was silent. First thing I want to look at this morning is the occasion of his silence. And when we look at these passages, and there are others that I didn't have time or didn't want to take time to read this morning, But first of all, he was silent in the face of false accusations. What's the first response to us when somebody falsely accuses us? No, no, no, you're wrong, that's not right. But here he is being falsely accused, and he says nothing. Secondly, he was silent in the midst of his trial, not just of life, but of death. Here he was before the 70, the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel. And then he is brought before Herod. And then the one that was above Herod, even Pilate. And he was the one, the Roman legate of all the whole area. These men, two men, had the power of life and death. Herod could have released him and the Jews could have done nothing. Pilate could have released him and the Jews could have done nothing. And here they're accusing him and the only outcome that could possibly be is either acquittal or death. And in the face of death, he said nothing. Thirdly, he was silent in spite of his innocence. I think of Shakespeare, he says, Methinks thou protestest thine innocence too much. Here was one who could have protested his innocence, and yet he remained silent. He said not a word. Continuing on the occasion, his silence was in the presence of powerful men. Men on whom he could have exercised great influence. He was silent in the presence of powerful religious leaders. He was silent in the presence of powerful political leaders. And he said not a word. Pilate marveled that he said nothing. He was silent when he could have enacted and exerted great influence. Jesus, why didn't you speak up? Why didn't you do as you did when they came to arrest you? In John chapter 18, I think this is another humorous story, a squadron of soldiers, not just a few, two or three, a squadron of soldiers is dispatched to arrest Jesus. And as He's coming out of the garden, You know the occasion there in John 18, He says, Whom do you seek? The old King James says, Whom seek ye? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. And our English translations say, I am He. But actually the Greek says it does a double take here, a double whammy. Ego am I. I am. And with the sheer authority of his word, the scripture tells us that this squadron of soldiers were thrown back and thrown onto the ground. And the idiocy of it is that these men got up and came at him again. I can tell you, I think if I'd been one of those soldiers, and when he said, ego ami in the Greek, I, I am, and just the sheer force and authority of his word threw them back, do you think I would get back up and come at him and try to arrest him again? You would have found me about three heels over. And he could have exerted that same type of authority. He could have spoken, and heard, and piled, and the high priest, and the chief priest, and the scribes, and the Pharisees would have all been forced backward and onto the ground. But he didn't. He was silent when he could have exerted great influence and power. And he was silent when he could have liberated himself. This is the occasion of his silence. And I think there are great lessons for us to learn here. But then secondly, I want us to see the purpose of his silence. Why was Jesus silent? I mean, He had been preaching. And whether you realize it or not, the thing that got Him into the most trouble was not the miracles He performed, the kind deeds that He demonstrated. The thing that got Him into trouble time and time and time again was His preaching. I mean, when he comes back from the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness, the first place he goes is back to his home synagogue in Nazareth. And they, recognizing him to be a rabbi, he is invited to open up Our English Bible says book, but it was actually a scroll, and the scroll would be laid out upon a table, and he would, according to Jewish custom, take this particular pointer, and he would read the scriptures. And what did he do? He turned to Isaiah 63. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, etc., etc. And when he finished it, he said today, This is fulfilled in your hearing." And he sat down. And what did those people, the people among whom he grew up in Nazareth, what did they do? Did they applaud him? Did they cheer him? Bravo, Jesus! Way to go! You're our long-expected Messiah, right? No. Luke 4 tells us they ushered him out of the synagogue and took him upon the precipice of a hill and sought to throw him over. His preaching got him into trouble. Well then why was he silent? What is the purpose of his silence? I would submit to you, first of all, it was not because he had nothing to say. He wasn't stupid. Secondly, it wasn't because he was ignorant. You know, I don't know how to exactly answer that. Thirdly, it wasn't because he lacked opportunity. He had every opportunity to speak, to defend himself. I mean, they brought in false accuser after false accuser after false accuser, and they couldn't even agree among themselves, and he could have shown their inconsistency. But he did not. He had plenty of opportunity. And it was not because he lacked the ability to communicate what he wanted to say. Have you ever talked with someone, and I've been there myself, I know what I want to say, but I don't know how to say it. You ever heard anyone say that? I've been there. I know what I wanted to say, but I didn't know how to say it. Not so with Jesus. He knew exactly what to say. He was never at a loss of speech or words. And so his silence was not because of these things, because he lacked the ability to communicate what he wanted to say. But there are definite reasons why he was silent on these occasions. I'd like to quickly give you eight. Why then? What was the purpose of his silence? Well, first of all, because his holy life had already spoken for him. I remember as a young Christian, I had a landlady, and she was a very religious Methodist, but she was unconverted. And I began talking with her about Jesus, and she got under great conviction. And she started asking me to have family devotions, though she was a widow of 82 or 83 years old, and I'm a young man of 18 years of age. And we start reading the scriptures and praying together at night. And I hope I'll see Mrs. Ashby in heaven. But she said something to me one time that was so profound, it stuck with me. She said, what you do, speak so loudly I can't hear what you say. Jesus, in one sense of the word, did not need to speak because His holy life had already spoken for Him. When they came to arrest him, he turns to his apostles and he says, which of you can convince me of sin or convict me of sin? I've said this, you don't have to be around me but three or four minutes and you'll be able to spot some sin somewhere or another. Ask my wife. No, don't ask my wife. But here these men were with him for three, I think probably longer, closer to three and a half years. And he turned to them and he said, which of you can convict me of sin? I can't do that. And let me let you in on a little secret, neither can you. But he had a holy life that spoke for him. He who is upright need not speak on every occasion. And he who is righteous does not need to speak often or much. You can see this later on in Matthew 27 on down in verse 68, when he speaks, when he does finally break his silence and speak, he doesn't say a lot. His holy life had already spoken for him. And when he does speak, and I think after this time of silence, Pilate is there looking at him, and I can only surmise, this is blackburnism, I think Pilate is looking at him and he cannot figure out this man. And then Jesus says, for this purpose came I into the world. to witness the truth. And Pilate said, what is truth? And do you know how Jesus answered him? He didn't give him an answer. Why didn't he answer Pilate when Pilate asked the question, what is truth? Because truth was standing right before him and he was too blind to see it. So first reason why Jesus did not answer is because His Holy Life had already spoken for Him. Secondly, in order to fulfill the prophecy of God. You see, Jesus was a man of the Word. He was bound by the Word of God. Though He was the Eternal Son of the Eternal God, He humbled himself and came down and was born, found in fashion as a man, born of a virgin. Took upon him true humanity. Very God of very God, very man of very man, very light of very light. Co-equal, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. Did not act arbitrarily. And part of his humility was to submit himself to all of the Word of God and keep the Word of God perfectly and punctiliously, which we have not done. And the first passage of scriptures a young Christian I ever memorized was Isaiah 53. As a lamb before her shearers is dumb, So opened he not his mouth. I didn't ask Pastor Jerry to put that, but he put that on the front of the bulletin. I thought, wow, that's great. As a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Jesus was very mindful that Isaiah's prophecy must be fulfilled. Now I like, this is not in my notes, but I like it. I'll throw it in for free. You know, when, upon the cross, he says, I thirst. And most people just quote that, but they don't quote the full part of the verse where it says, he, knowing that scripture must be fulfilled, said, I thirst. He's quoting from the Psalms. The Lord Jesus was silent, secondly, to fulfill the prophecy of God, to fulfill the word of God, not one jot or one tittle would fall. Thirdly, he was silent because he would not act the fool before men. He had already stated that he was a king, and he would not abuse his position and slip into a sniveling, conniving, begging coward. I remember my grandpa used to say to me, boy, don't act a fool now. Y'all familiar with that language? I'd be going out somewhere and I had a reputation of being a little rambunctious and my grandpa would say, now boy don't act a fool now. Jesus wasn't going to act a fool before men. He wasn't going to show himself sniveling, cowardly, begging. The reason why he was silent was to qualify himself to be a Savior. He was going to identify himself with us who were transgressors. And I'm not going to elaborate upon this point because I'm going to close out with it a little later. But just keep this point in mind. He was qualifying himself to be a Savior. He was the Savior. He is the Savior. But he was further qualifying himself to be such. Fifthly, he was silent in obedience to his father. Part of his foreordained humiliation was to suffer the abuse of wicked men. The first time Jesus prophesied of his death was right after Peter's great confession. As he is asking the apostles, who do men say that I am? They say, some say you're Moses or Elijah or John the Baptist or what? And he asked them probably the greatest question they would ever be asked, but who do you say that I am? Doesn't matter what others say, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And that sentence is so pregnant that it would take months to really unpack it, to Christos, the anointed one. And Jesus said, you're right, Simon, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father is in heaven. And from there he went on to say, and I must go to Jerusalem. I will be abused by sinful and wicked men. And they will kill me. but on the third day I will rise from the dead." That's the first prediction of his crucifixion and resurrection. The old theologians used to look at the life of Christ under two headings, his humiliation and his exaltation. His humiliation was from his virgin birth, his incarnation, all the way to his burial. And then from His resurrection to His second coming was considered under the heading of His exaltation. But part of His work as Messiah, as the Redeemer of God's elect, was to suffer abuse and to be humiliated. And He did all of this. He was silent in obedience to His Father. Sixthly, why was Jesus silent? Because some men do not deserve an answer. Wait a minute. We're in the 21st century. You can't talk to people that way. Oh yes you can. I like, and if you look at chapter Luke 23, 9, which I read earlier, he is before Pilate. And there are many things I could say about all of this, but do you know that, I mean, excuse me, he was before Herod. Do you know that Herod is the only person in scripture that Jesus ever called a name? Do you know that? You know what Jesus called him? You remember when he was on his way to Jerusalem and the apostles saw that he set his face like a flint toward Jerusalem. For it was not possible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem. And some people came up and said, Jesus, you better watch out, Herod is after you. And you remember how Jesus responded? He said, you go tell that fox. that I'm going to be preaching and healing and performing miracles these next few days and then I will get to Jerusalem. He had such disdain for Herod that he called in a fox. I like foxes. I mean the animal species. They're up there in the mountains where I'm from and I like those little critters. Some of the farmers down there don't, up there, because they get into their hen houses. I like them. But a fox in Jesus' day was not a very popular name. And he called, he said, go tell that fox. And here he is before Herod. I believe that possibly the disdain and animosity that Jesus had for Herod is demonstrated here. He would not even answer him a word. Some of you, maybe just a couple of you are old enough to remember that blasphemous rock opera called Jesus Christ Superstar. Any of you remember that, Brother Jerry? Remember that? And there's one song in there called Herod's Song. Jesus Christ, you're so cool. Walk across my swimming pool. And they're saying, if you're the Christ, the great Jesus Christ, do this, do that, do the other. It was blasphemous. But here, Jesus is before Herod. And he could have put him to silent shame. but instead he answered him not a word. Why? Some people, some men, some women do not deserve an answer. The notion that every person deserves an answer as if there's some merit within humans is humanistic reasoning, not the holy dogma of holy scripture. Just reading this morning in Proverbs 23, Do not speak in the presence of a fool. And sometimes we think that people deserve an answer. No, some people do not deserve an answer. And we are commanded, answer a fool according to his folly. Do not answer a fool according to his folly. And then in Proverbs 23 today, do not even speak in the presence of a fool. Herod was a fool. Had the righteous John the Baptist beheaded because his mistress's daughter did a striptease in front of him? Some men do not deserve an answer. Eighthly, or seventhly, why did Jesus not speak? Because he was preparing to make atonement for sin. I mean, his whole life was geared toward that. But from the time of the upper room, Everything was moving forward on whom the ends of the ages had spoken, and everything was moving now quickly toward the apex of all of redemptive history, the cross, where Jesus, the eternal Son of the eternal God, would suffer the infinite wrath of the infinite God for a finite period of time all because of our sins. He was preparing for that great hour upon the cross. And eighthly, why was Jesus silent? So that those who trust Christ to be their Lord and Savior will never have to be put to silent shame when they stand before God. We lose so much, we become so familiar with certain scripture, we lose so much of it. But in Romans, after Paul finishes in Romans 3, dealing with the whole, the judgment and the condemnation of all the world, he said, and for by the law is the knowledge of sin, and as he goes, he says, and the law was given that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. And there's gonna come a time when every one of us will have to stand before God. I think I was talking with Pastor Jerry, maybe not somebody, I said, you know what the scariest verse for me in all the Bible is? It's not found in Revelation. The scariest verse in all the Bible for me is Romans 2.16. where Paul said, who in that day shall judge the secrets of men's hearts by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. He's not just going to judge our works and our actions and our deeds. He's going to judge the secrets of our hearts. And I can tell you, I don't know about you, that makes me revel in free justification. When on that last day, all of us are summoned before this eternal throne, and out of the shadows, not just the Father, but here is the mediator between God and man, the only one that has been appointed by the Father. That's what Paul said in Acts chapter 17 on Mars Hill and the Aeropagus. He commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because he has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world. by that man whom he has ordained and has given assurance unto all and that he has raised him from the dead. Christ is the appointed judge. And now here is the judge preparing us so that we can stand before God and we don't have to stand there in silence. so that we may boldly stand before Him. And that's why even in Wesley's great hymn, Bold shall I stand in that great day. I love what John Calvin says about this. He says, So then the Son of God stood as a criminal before mortal men, and permitted Himself to be accused and condemned, that we may stand boldly before God. For if we recollect how dreadful is the judgment seat of God, and that we could never have been acquitted there, unless Christ had been pronounced guilty here on the earth, we will never understand how precious His silence really is. One day, and you know, I don't know about you, my wife knows this, We kind of have a law, it was first unspoken, now it's spoken. We don't talk about the news in our house. She watches the news, I don't. I get too, might as well just fess up. I get too mad, I get too angry to see such wickedness and ungodliness flaunted in the ignorance and stupidity of people to believe this nonsense. And we sat down at the supper table and she had mentioned it. I said, darn, let's don't talk about this. Let's talk about something other. We're getting ready to have family devotions. Our son comes over for supper. Oh, did you hear this? I say, son, let's don't talk about this. Well, I finally had to lay down the law, the sword of Damocles. No discussion. And then I have to be, re-instructed and re-informed in my mind. These people, the wicked, I never dreamed that we would live in times such as this, that a homosexual is proudly presented before the people as a presidential candidate, not to mention the other nutcases that are out there. And I'm thinking, are we going to become like Sodom and Gomorrah? And I get all worked up inside, and then I have to remember, the Lord's gonna set all this. The important thing is not he or she who is in the White House, but he who is upon the throne. I love what Daniel said in Daniel 4.32. He has his way among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or pull it back and say unto him, what are you doing? One day God is going to call this whole wicked world into judgment, and many will stand before him in guilty silence. But we who know Christ will not have to fear that. God were to say, why should I let you into my holy heaven? As Spurgeon said, I will run over to the feet of my Redeemer and put my arms around him and say, this is my only hope and this is my only plea. Jesus was silent for us so that we will not have to be silent on the last day. Let me quickly come to an end to this. We saw the occasion of his silence, the purpose of his silence, and I want to close with the self-imposed limitation of his silence. He was silent then. He was silent there. He was silent when he could have exerted great influence and power. And yet, he kept quiet. But he would not do so forever. He lifted his own self-imposed limitation. And on the way to the cross, you remember the women are saying, blessed are the breasts that gave you suck, and all sorts of things like this. And Jesus says, and they're weeping. He says, don't weep for me, but you need to weep for yourself because you had the day of visitation and you didn't even recognize it. And then when he gets to the cross, Wicked men had done the worst that they could possibly have done. And from the cross, Jesus is going to speak seven times. And after they crucified him, the first words that came out of his mouth were, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The second words were, I mean, you see grace all over this. Here is a wicked man who had previously blasphemed even the Lord Jesus, but something happened. He began to see that this righteous man was not acting as the other. And even a miracle of grace, Spurgeon calls this the conversion of the dying thief the greatest miracle. And he looks at Jesus and he says, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus always does more than what we ask him. He didn't say, I'll remember you. He said, hey, my friend, today, you're going to be with me in paradise. What a Savior that will do more than we even ask. And then the third thing that he said as he is there, he is still taking care of business. And he looks out and he sees his mother Mary. And he sees John and he says, woman, behold your son. And he is looking at John and he is saying, John, behold your mother. You take care of her for me. John was taking care of the Savior's business and caring for his mother. And then, of course, the fourth time that Jesus speaks from the cross, it grows dark over the face of the earth for three hours. It wasn't just an eclipse. There was something divine, something supernatural taking place here. The work of atonement was being made. Sin was imputed. This double, this wonderful truth of double imputation. Our sins. The transgressions of God's holy law. Not just the outward, but even the heart issues of them. are put upon Him, and the infinite wrath of the infinite God is poured out upon Him for a finite period of time, and we hear this most lamentable cry from the cross, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why? hast thou forsaken me. Now I want you to remember how he speaks that, my God, my God. The fifth saying that he says is, I thirst. And he wasn't because he was thirsty as much as he was interested in fulfilling scripture. Knowing that all scripture must be fulfilled said, I thirst. And the sixth saying, perhaps the greatest, to tell us that it is finished. Finished all the types and shadows of the ceremonial law. Finished all the priesthoods. Finished all that had been written in the scriptures. Old Testament. He did it. And then lastly, he ends with, Father, into your hands I come in my spirit. Notice he begins those with, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. And he ends it with, Father into your hands I commend my spirit. But in the fourth and middle one he does not call God his Father. Why? Because at that moment he is under the judgment of God. Sin was laid upon Him. He was making atonement. The holy, righteous wrath, the thermos of God Almighty was being poured out upon His Son for our sins. For He has made Him to be sin. Actually, the word there, made, means to constitute. He was constituted sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And as the sinner that He, the sin that was placed upon Him, and as Luther said, He was, at that moment, the greatest sinner who had ever lived. As our sins were imputed to Him and God's righteous judgment is poured out upon Him, He cries, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He speaks from the cross. But He ends with that great cross work finished, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. He had done it. He had finished it. He completed it. And not only does He speak upon the cross, but He speaks after His resurrection. I don't have time to go into all that. And though He was silent today, I want to submit to you that He speaks to us today. Really. Absolutely. I've had people come up, you know, God told me to tell you. I'd say, why didn't God tell me? Why did He tell you to tell me? I don't buy into this nonsense. Someone said that to me and they said, don't you believe God speaks to us? I said, absolutely He speaks to today. He's spoken to me two or three times this morning. Really? Yes. He does not speak with an audible voice. Don't tell me God has spoken to you with an audible voice. He does not speak through dreams. He does not speak through signs or wonders. But He does speak through His Word. And every time you open up that Holy Scripture, and you read it, God is speaking to you. Well, I don't feel it, it doesn't matter. The Holy Scripture is God's Word. And every time you read it, He is speaking to you. I love what Martin Luther says, I have made a covenant with God that he sends me neither visions, dreams, or even angels. I am well satisfied with the gift of the Holy Scriptures, which give me abundant instruction and all that I need to know, both for this life and that which is to come. And I love the catechism question, what do the Scriptures principally teach? They teach us what we are to believe and what we are to do. And God speaks to us through this book. And I appreciate this morning the responsive reading of the Word of God. We are in a place, my hometown, where I was born and raised. No Reformed Baptist church anywhere close proximity. I've gone to some of these churches and 10 minutes I'm thinking, I'll never come back here. They never open the scriptures. They never read the scriptures. The preacher stands in the pulpit and maybe will read a verse of scripture, tell some funny stories, tell some jokes, try to make some life lessons, whatever they may be. Nonsense. God has given us His Word, and Jesus speaks to us through His Word every day. That's why we need to be in the Word every day. Now let me close with just a matter, how does all of this apply to us? What can we take from this? Let me just say some things very quickly. Like the Savior, first of all, we need to learn when to speak and when to be silent. And so many times we speak when we should be quiet, and then as John R. W. Stott put it in his book on evangelism and world missions. Sometimes we're silent when we should speak. And we as the church today have a guilty silence. But like the Savior, we need to learn when to speak and when to be silent. And there is a time to speak and there is a time to be silent. Though we want to influence people for the gospel, we must be careful not to cast our pearls before swine. Jesus taught us that, did he not? Some men, some women, some people do not deserve an answer. They don't. Herod didn't. Pilate didn't. When Pilate asked Jesus what is truth, Jesus could have taken him through the Old Testament scriptures and unfolded everything to him as he did the men on the road to Emmaus, but he didn't. Thirdly, when we speak we must study to make our words count. Proverbs 15, I don't know about you, maybe Pastor Jerry has taught you this, but very early on in my Christian life, an old pastor told me, he said, how many chapters are in Proverbs? And I said, I don't know, sir, I haven't yet read through the old, he said there are 31. That means there's a chapter of Proverbs for every day of the month. You need to read a chapter of Proverbs every day. And I've tried to do that for over 50 some years. and I'm still being instructed. Proverbs 15, 28 says, the heart of the righteous studies to answer. How many times do we just, I just speak what comes to my mind, that can be dangerous. I mean, some people are very, Pastor Steve Martin, I mean, this guy, I said, I have never met such a quick wit He will, somebody will say something and he'll speak up and I'm 15 minutes later trying to process all of it. He is the exception. But for the rest of us mere mortals with feet of clay, the heart of the righteous studies how to answer. And then, fourthly, And I wish I had time to develop this, but the silence of Jesus speaks volumes, often more than a library of a thousand books. And the more when I see how Jesus and why Jesus was silent before these influential and powerful people, I'm still learning things. Fifthly, From this we can learn that we need to seek to have a holy walk before God and men. Not just before God, but before men. Walk with integrity before men and women, before people, so that we do not have to speak. Let your life speak for you. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't witness and share the gospel with others. That doesn't mean you shouldn't defend the truth when there is a need and a call for it. But like my old unconverted Methodist landlady said, what you do, speak so loudly I can't hear what you say. Make sure that we're having a walk before God and men that is a walk of integrity and closeness and communion with Christ. And then lastly, Rejoice today, my dear friends and brothers and sisters, that in His silence He became our substitute. Even in that. Even in that. Silent to become guilty and bear God's wrath because of our sins. Bear God's wrath for us. Hallelujah. What a Savior. I think about in the Garden of Gethsemane, and I don't have time to develop it, but do you realize that when Jesus walks into the Garden of Gethsemane, what does he begin to do? He begins to tremble and quake, and he falls to the ground. A lot of liberals can't understand that, and even some conservative Bible believers can't understand that. But the simple thing is, he was trembling and quaking for us. Before the Lord saved me, I never trembled, I never quaked. I didn't want God in my life, I didn't want Christ around. And here, Jesus is coming before God and seeing this cup with which He was going to drain the full dregs of it, the cup of the wrath of God Almighty, and He trembles. Even there, He is our substitute. And here, He is silent. Even here, He is our substitute. Hallelujah. What a Savior. May God grant us grace to be more conformed to His holy image and learn when to speak and learn when to be silent. May the Lord seal His truth through our hearts this day. Let's pray. Our Father, as only You can do, not only can You make Your Word effectual, but I pray that You will seal these truths to our minds and hearts and seal them there in such a way that they will bring forth fruit. Not just 30 or 60, but a hundred-fold fruit in our lives. May we reflect the image of Christ in us. May we have a sweet savor of Him. May we, in this post-modern age in which the name of Jesus is more of a swear word than it is a word of praise, May we reflect his holy presence in our lives, because we are truly disciples and followers of the Lamb. Bless this, your word bless this church, and cause it, O Father, to grow and to prosper, not for the praise of this church or its pastor or any of its members, but for the praise and glory of your great self as you have revealed yourself to us in the face of Jesus Christ. And we will thank you as we ask all these mercies in the matchless name of Christ our Lord. Amen.