Amen. We are in, as Abe just read, John chapter 17, which many times is called the crucifixion chapter because it leads up in a detail. So again, Jesus Christ going to the cross to pay for his sins. And last time we were together, we looked at the previous verses that happen to begin right here, and we realized in the wickedness, in the absolute evilness that happened to begin of Pilate, that he devises a plan. He realizes that Jesus Christ is innocent. He doesn't want to put this innocent man to death, even though he has a right to let him go. So he comes up with this plan to have Jesus flogged. to have him beaten by the Roman soldiers that happen to begin right there. And then again, he brings him out before the people. And I said last time we were together, when you look at this passage of Scripture, in many ways it's really hard to go through, to realize this is our Lord and Savior, this is the way that they treated him. But it's also very good for us to go through. And the reason why it's so good for us to go through, it really shows human depravity. It shows, again, when our human natures are unchecked by the grace of God, how far they can go. Because when we look at the crowds, when we look at the Roman soldiers, when we look at Pilate himself, when we look at the religious leaders, we see ourselves. If we were there unchecked by our great God, this is where our sin would have led us. And also, again, this passage happens to be really good for us because of this. It really shows us what sin deserves. When you look at, again, how awful and even repulsive, you know, it's really hard to look at, really hard to think about. We realize that Jesus had to go through all of this just to get to the cross, just to pay for our sins. And it really reminds us, again, of this great love that Jesus Christ, again, has for us. And it's incredible because it really chronicles the rejection of all the world. Because all the world is here symbolically, isn't it? We have the Jewish nation represented by the religious leaders who condemn the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the soldiers, and also Pilate, representative of all the Gentile nations. And here they reject Christ. Not only reject Christ, but they're angry, they're vehement, they're violent against Christ. And think of who Jesus is. He's the most innocent man who has ever lived. He's the one who went everywhere. During his public ministry doing good, healing again the masses, preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, no one was more benevolent, no one was more kind, no one was more gracious, no one was more truthful, no one was more merciful than the Lord Jesus. And yet we see how he is treated. We see again what wicked man does to him. Last time we were together, we ended off with that statement of Pilate bringing him out, and he makes a statement, behold the man. Then it's for us to pause, right? That's what the word behold means, to look at the Lord Jesus. Think of it because the Jewish nation has been waiting centuries for the coming of Messiah, and here he has finally come. He's right before them. As you look at this passage of scripture, it's absolutely amazing, isn't it? Because here he is, in all of his grandeur, in all of his glory, really the great, great, great priest-king to the people. You know, and I want us to look at the response of the crowds to Jesus Christ being offered up as Behold the Man. Because again, as you look at this response, it is amazing because even Pilate himself thinks the people are going to have compassion, pity on the Lord Jesus. Here he is beaten, here's blood rolling down his face, here he is heaving in pain, no doubt with that robe that happens to be getting over him. And as he's presented before the people, they thought whatever hatred they had towards him, that they would have pity, they would have compassion, just let him go, he's been humiliated enough. But much to his chagrin, this is not what happens again in the passage of scripture. You know, and I think many times we forget how far our sinful nature will really take us when it's left unchecked that happen to be there. Now, let me just say this, it's easy to look at the opening seven verses of this chapter and just see the wickedness, just see the evil, just see the hatred, just see the rage, whether that must be the soldiers, whether that must be the people. But those with eyes of faith realize beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is in all of this. You know, that he is the ultimate orchestrator of all of these things. We realize that he is there. He's the one who's planned all these things, right? It pleased the Lord to crush him and put him to grief. And so we look at all these powers that happen to be again present, but there's no greater power than God. You know, Pilate might boast of his greatness, the religious leaders who think they can manipulate Pilate might boast of their greatness, but there's no one greater in this scene than God himself, because he is the greatest. Now, I think all of us would agree with that. You know, God orchestrated, the Father orchestrated all of these events to come to pass, but the one thing I think we forget many times is the goodness of God. When we describe God, we describe him this way. God is not only all-powerful, but he's all good. When we say he's all good, it's not that he's partial good. It's not that he's sometimes good. It's not that here and there he does good acts, but he's all good. That means all of his acts are good. His sovereign control over thing is good. His wisdom and how he orchestrates all events happens to be good. Again, it's easy to say in a way, yeah, I believe that, but I wonder if we believe that. I wonder if we look at this episode that happens to be right here and see the good hand of God. And I wonder as we apply this passage to our own life, whatever we're going through, whatever trials we're going through, if we can see the good hand of God. Because I know life is tough. Life is difficult. Relationships are tough and difficult. Sometimes people can abuse us. Sometimes people can say all manner of evil that happens to be against us and bring pain that happens to be in our life. But do you recognize beyond a shadow of a doubt, would you profess beyond a shadow of a doubt, God is good even in these situations? Because think about it, would we say as we look at these opening seven verses that somehow God the Father's love for Jesus Christ has failed? And I think all of us would say, no, certainly not. So why do we think in the intricacies that happen to be in our life, the suffering that happens to be in our life, the difficulties that happen to be in our life, that God's love has somehow failed us? And so what I want us to do as we look at verse six and seven again this afternoon, is I really want us to see the goodness of God. You know, as we see the goodness of God that happens to be again in the face of so much wickedness, so much horrendous wickedness that happens to be right here, we can apply it to our own life and see that our good God, our sovereign God, our sovereign good God is always up to good in our life. So let's first of all, I want us to see the goodness of God in the response of the crowds because look at verse number six. Verse number six says, When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. Now, let me just say this, and I think Brother Richard really alluded a little bit to this in his Sunday school class, but when I'm going through trials, when I'm going through difficulties, when I'm going through suffering in my own life, when I'm going through things that I get worried and overcome, when I feel the blues coming on in my own soul because of events that happen again and again in life, I wish I did this every time, and I don't do it perfectly, but one of the things I try to do is really look what's going on in my head. really look at what's going on in my mind. Because again, those things really control, again, our actions, control how we feel, control how we respond. And then I try to think this, what do I know about my God? And not just in the general sense, because I think we can be too general about this. all good, God is all sovereign. But I start to think about scripture. I start to think about instances where we've seen the goodness of God in the word of God. I start to think of some promises. Most of all, I try to look at specific gospel or specific passion narratives and think through them. Think through them. We said this this morning, but we have to put blood, sweat, and tears behind it. We have to think about what's going on. We often say this, that the most horrendous, the most wicked, the most awful act ever committed by humanity brought about the greatest good. We say that, but what do we mean by that? You know, what do we really mean by that? It's right here in this gospel narrative, and it's thinking through all that Jesus Christ went through. that we might have life. You know, and it's incredible, Pastor Scripture, and I find for myself, the more I think about it, the more I drink in, the more I drink in, the more I drink in, my thoughts, my heart begins to change. You know, I'm more hopeful and not as anxious. You know, I feel my heart settle down. I feel again there's more joy, there's more confidence that happens to be in my God. You know, and that's what the Word of God is meant to do, isn't it? It's meant to change us, not change out here, meant to change us in the midst of all of these trials that we go through. You know, and so when we look at this, this is really helpful for us, isn't it? Because we realize in this passage of scripture, the evil and the wickedness of Pilate, he's trying to salve his conscience, he realizes Jesus is innocent, he realizes he has the power to release him, but he cares more about himself, he cares more about his position, so he has him beaten. And he says, behold the man, and here's the Jews that happen to be getting out there. And right after that, we have the response that comes. A real surprising response. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to him, take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. And let me just say this, because I do find this incredible. It's been such a blessing going through the Gospel of John, because there's so many peculiar passages that you don't find in the synoptics. And the synoptics, again, are basically Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And they're called synopsis, because there's a sameness that happens to be there. And a lot of this information, especially in the opening seven verses, is really skipped over. You know, you have the pronouncement in the other Gospels, you have the pronouncement, again, that he's innocent, and the call out, again, to have him crucified, right to the crucifixion, right through the flogging in his crucifixion. But here you have all of this information, and I don't think a huge amount of time goes by, but here we see the response, especially from the chief priests and those who are called the officers. And you have to know who the officers are. The officers are basically the servants of the chief priest and also the officials that happen to be in the temple. And they had great power, they had great influence, and they had great affluence. Otherwise, again, a lot of money. They had comfortable jobs that happened to be there. And they hated Jesus Christ. They hated him because he put everything that happened to be dear to them at risk. And the narrative can't bring it out. You know, if you've ever seen what we would call these Middle Eastern wailings and crying out in anger and protest, that's what's happening here. When it says they cried out, there's a shriek out there. They're yelling at the top of their lungs. And he can imagine, because here's Pilate, and he's trying to talk down, he's trying again to make his point. But they can't hear Pilate, and why? Because they're shrieking out. And you have to realize, when they're crying out, there's this emotion that's coming out of them, this hatred that happens to begin right there, as they cry out against Jesus Christ. And I think a lot of times we're surprised by that. We shouldn't be surprised by that. If Jesus is preached in all of His glory and our need of Him, it elicits one or two, and they're both emotional responses. Either we fall down and worship Him and realize He's the great Redeemer, or there's this other response that puts the things, the darkness that we love, in jeopardy. And let me just say, this is a little side note. I do think it's amazing that the ones who persecute, the ones who are leading this chant, happens to be the chief priests and the officers. And the reason why I bring that up is because if you look at the last 2,000 years of church history, the ones who have persecuted Jesus the most, Jesus' people, Christians, those who happen to be, again, followers of the way, happen to be, here it is, Religious people. And not only religious people, but those, again, who have access to some of the scriptures, the truths about the Lord Jesus Christ. So when you go through the book of Acts, the greatest persecutors are those who have the Old Testament scripture. All those Old Testament prophecies, all those passages that teach on the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're the biggest persecutors. When you go further through church history, when you go down through the Inquisition, when you go down, again, even to the Reformation, There's a Roman Catholic Church that has access to what we call the gospels, and even claim fidelity to the gospel, but hate those who preach justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And the greatest persecutors throughout church history have always come from inside, again, that sphere of religion, inside that sphere where people have had some access to truth, but they really hate this doctrine. They really hate this gospel where Jesus Christ is done. at all, and I really believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that the greatest persecution that is going to come in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the next 20 years is inside the church. I really believe that. I think we live in a secular age and we see that animosity again growing against those who happen to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I think it's going to come to a head, but it's going to come to a head of those who deny justification by faith alone and Jesus Christ alone. in the church of Jesus Christ. This doctrine, this truth, this gospel cannot stand. But when you look at Pilate right here, he protests against all of this. And he says this, take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. Now, I do think, again, when you look at this passage of scripture, Jesus is not giving them free reign. He's not saying, go ahead and do whatever you want to do. He's not saying that. Because this is what you have to understand about crucifixion. Crucifixion was a right given to the Roman government, and that's it. Nobody else could carry out this. That was their prerogative. Anyone who tried to carry it out, all of a sudden, again, there would be repercussions again, and they would probably be crucified. And so what I think he's saying right here is, I've made my decision and live with it. You know, if you try to do anything else, well let me tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt there is going to be repercussions. You know, this is my decision. You know, and I do think it's amazing because there's a crying out trying to shout him down here to crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. That's what they want done. They want him crucified. And you can imagine because the scene is so tense. You know, and there's a tension. It's just ripe, and it's growing. Because again, later in the morning, more people are waking up. They're hearing the hubbub. They're hearing the news. They're hearing, again, all these shrieks. You can imagine the people in Jerusalem waking up. And they're all rushing, again, to Pilate's courtyard. At the same time, many of the pilgrims that were camped outside of Jerusalem are coming in. And all this noise is being heard, and they're coming in. And they're carrying on, they're looking at Jesus and saying, if this is the Messiah, if this is the one we praised during the triumphal entry, we don't want this kind of Messiah. But here's the thing, the religious leaders really don't know. What if all of a sudden there happens to be, again, more of these loyalists that come in that are loyal to Jesus Christ? And you can imagine, the scene is tense. They want Jesus Christ executed. And here's the amazing thing. The only hope for these people that hate Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ. His willingness, and think of it, his willingness to go to that cross to pay the ultimate penalty for us, and it's the ultimate penalty even of wanting an innocent man executed. It's quite a passage of scripture, and there's an excellent illustration. We went over this a few weeks ago, but I'm gonna mention it again, and that is, again, you have to realize that there was crucifixions going to take place that day. And there was going to be three crucifixions that took place that day. In other words, there were three crosses already prepared. And you can imagine, because Barabbas has already probably come out, he's been presented before the people, he's brought back to his self. And Acela would have been about 1,500 feet away from everything that's going on. And he can hear all of these shrieks from the courtyard. He can hear these impassioned pleas, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. And he's thinking about all the wickedness that he's done. He's thinking about all the harm that he's done in that society. He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is his day of execution. You know, and he hears Pilate trying to talk over the people, but he can't even make out what Pilate is saying. Crucify him! Now here's the question. Who do you think Barabbas... What do you think Barabbas thinks? You know, who does he think that the crowds are talking about when they're crying out, crucify him? You know, as he looks at his heart, as he looks at his life, as he looks, again, even at his murderous escapades and how he's stolen from others, no doubt, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he thinks it's him. And he can imagine, because this is the day of execution. And so you can hear the soldiers coming. You can hear the sound. And they're getting closer and closer. And he knows this is his time. And all of a sudden, a key goes into the door. And he can hear that click. And all of a sudden, the door opens up. And he realizes beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is his hour. And he can imagine his heartbeat beating, beating, beating, beating. And all of a sudden, the words come from the man who happens to be at the door. You are free to go. Can you imagine how exasperated he is, how surprised he is, how shocked he is? Can you imagine the question comes, you know, why am I free to go? And this is why. Somebody else has taken your place. Somebody else is substituting their life and going to that cross. You know what you deserve, perhaps? You deserve execution. You deserve crucifixion. You deserve the eternal punishment of God. And that's the amazing thing about each one of us, right? When we look at our lives, what do we deserve? We deserve crucifixion. We deserve the eternal wrath of God. And I love the way Peter says it in 1 Peter 3, verse number 18. He says, for Christ also suffered. He's talking about what we see in chapter number 19. For Christ also suffered once for sins. And then he says this. the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. I mean, isn't that amazing? You know, the righteous, Jesus Christ, for who? The unrighteous. And the unrighteous are you and me and everyone who has ever trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. It's us, isn't it? You know, and I love this because we come out Sunday after Sunday and we sing about, we celebrate that all we have is Christ. And we sing about this death. And think about it. Think about it as a physical sense and also a spiritual sense for us. with the song, And Can It Be? You know, because the song, And Can It Be, goes like this. Long, my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin, and nature's not night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose and went forth and followed thee. Amazing love, he asks this question. How can it be that thou, My God, this is the hope, this is the hope, this is why there's liberty. My God should just die for me. And isn't it amazing, because as you look at this passage of scripture, there is so much liberty, isn't it? You know, and it really shows the goodness of God, and it shows the goodness of God in an extreme sense. And here's my question, as you look at the goodness of God in an extreme sense that happened to begin right here, in the life of Christ, in everything he's doing again, for us, why would we ever doubt the love and goodness of Christ in the things that we're going through right now? You see, when you take the gospel, whatever you're going through, when you start to look at it, when you start to preach that message to yourself, when you start to see how this was done for you, it really changes. So again, it might not change everything that's going on out here, it might not change opposition or whatever it happens to be again over here, but it changes us, doesn't it? It really gives us this hope, it causes us to magnify this one who happens to be around. Our God is absolutely sovereign. And listen to this, our God is absolutely good. And you can see that in a response that happened to begin of the crowd, but we also see it in a rebuttal. And you can see the rebuttal in verse number seven. Look at what it says again right here. It says again in verse number seven, it says, the Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. And it's an amazing statement, isn't it? You know, I think you can tell a lot about people just by listening to them. Isn't it true? Because, you know, before long, the true self comes out in our words, our hearts come out. And right here in this passage of scripture, you can really understand what the Jews believed about the law of God. You know, and they looked at the laws, especially the religious Jews, the chief priests, and those again who were serious, the Pharisees, they looked at it as a way of righteousness. But it's amazing to look at the laws that they emphasized, the laws that they were able to keep. You know, or thought they could keep. And it basically gave them a standing before God, an earned salvation to have them be here. Now here's the problem with Jesus. Jesus came and preached the law. He showed him again beyond a shadow of a doubt the hypocrisy that happened to be in their life. That's why they hated him. So when you look at this, they really didn't care about the law. They really didn't have any love for God when it came to God being this law giver that happened to be getting right here. They really didn't believe it and they didn't believe in God. Not only that, it is amazing because a lot of people will say, when they look at the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll say this, I don't know if Jesus ever said that he was God in human flesh. Have you ever heard that argument? I mean, it's ludicrous. Because one of the things you have to see, especially through the Gospel of John, is what his enemies said about his words. Because his enemies understood his words in a certain way, and that's the idea of Son of God. Son of God, again, is not so much a title. It is used as a title in the Old Testament. Sometimes it's used of kings, sometimes it's used of prophets, but here it's an identity. This is who Jesus is. He says he is the Son of God. In other words, one with the Father, the same substance, the same subsistence as none other than the Father that happens to be above. He's very God. And it's amazing to look at the words that Jesus spoke in the opposition, again, to those words. Because you have that in John chapter 8, beginning of verse number 58, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, listen to what he says, before Abraham was, here it is, I am. And listen to the response, because they got the message. And they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid himself. and went out of the temple. Now, why did they pick up stones? And the reason why is because he made himself equal with God. He made himself none other than God. And they understood the message. And so when they bring this accusation, this is what they were claiming, again, about our great God. And let me just say, so when they, here it is. Pilate's done with the whole situation. He wants to throw it in. He wants to throw it out. He says, you handle it. You do it. I'm having no more of it, but be careful. Again, I've already made my decision. And Pilate is done. Done, done, done with the Jews. But here's the thing. The Jews are not done with Pilate. They want their will accomplished. They want their will done. And that's why you have this verse that happened to be right here. The Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to the law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. Now, let me just say this. You might look at that and say, why was that such a powerful argument? You know, why in this time would they bring that argument up? Certainly, Pilate doesn't care about Jewish law. He only cares about Roman law and the glory of Rome. And here's what you have to understand. When these governors would put in place over these provinces, what they did is they kept Roman law. They enforced Roman law, but they also enforced the local laws that happened to begin over the land, and especially religious laws. And the idea that happened to be behind that is that they would cultivate a loyalty to Rome, and they would be able to keep the peace. And think of it, because Pilate's already on shaky grounds. He's done a number of things against the Jews. It's gotten back to Rome. And he's also, again, opened his mouth against Rome, and that's gotten back to Rome. And he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt, if the Jews go there with one other thing, It could be detrimental to his career, it could be detrimental to his life, and so he does not want to let Jesus go. So when the Jews say, we have a law, what they're speaking of in particular is Leviticus 24, 16, which is, whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All of the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner, as well as the native, when he blasphemes in the name, shall be put to death." So here's what they're saying. Pilate, because again of what he's done, because of what Jesus Christ has claimed, Pilate is under obligation to kill him. He's under obligation to put him on that cross. That's what they're saying that happens to be there. Now, you guys have done really good. I'm really proud of you. I get two more points, right? I'm going to say put on your stopwatches, but that's always dangerous, so I'm not going to say that. But two more points, and this is one point, again, that I want to really emphasize, and that is that you really didn't care about They really didn't care about the enactment of law or the keeping of the law. They really didn't. You know, they're using the law and how they perceive the law for their own wicked means. You know, and that's what they're bringing up. Because think about it. The law, if somebody blasphemed the name of the Lord, they would be taken out and they would be executed by the whole community. And by stoning, right? Everyone would pick up a stone. Everyone would have that judgment that happened to be on it. And it was quick, right? It was over. Very quickly. And that was it. But the Jews don't want that. They don't want stoning. They want crucifixion. They want Jesus to be humiliated. They want him to be a public spectacle before everyone that no one ever would ever claim him to be Messiah again or have trust in him. That's what they wanted. And their hearts, I think of it, they're just raging against Jesus Christ. And here's the thing. How did they ever get to that stage? How do you ever get to a stage of such hatred? You know, and I'm gonna tell you, this is how you get to that stage of hatred. This is how you get to that stage of sin. And here it is, one sin after another sin. That's what it is, it's a slow, steady decline that happens being over there and it takes over our hearts. We think we can control sin. We think we can control the parameters and the borders of it in our life. But that sin wants to control you. Isn't it true? You see very early in the Gospels this, that the religious leaders are coming to Jesus. They've heard that he's Messiah. They've heard that he's doing these miracles. They heard, again, this message that they're preaching. And they want to go and observe for themselves. And they go there, and it seems like they have open minds. They seem to think, again, that this might be the Messiah. And they go, and all of a sudden they hear him, and they hear him, they hear him, they hear him. Again, preaching about the law, preaching about grace, preaching about the need of trusting him. And all of a sudden, something goes on in their heart. You know, and we see this, especially in the Gospel of Mark. Here's this paralytic, and he happens to be lowered through the roof, and Jesus says, your sins be forgiven. And right inside, not verbally, not outside, this man is blaspheming because only God can forgive sins. And they're absolutely right. Only God can forgive sins. But so you will know, I have the power to forgive sins. Take up your cot and walk and go home. And he's able to do that. And he proved it. And it's incredible, because after that, they started becoming more vocal. After that, they hired various different individuals to challenge him, to somehow find fault that happened to be in him. And after that, they started conspiring to kill him. And now we're at this place right here. And here is my plea to you. Be very careful. Because so often we think we can control sin's parameters, sin's borders that happen to be in our life, whether it happens to be anger, whether it happens to be lust, whether it happens to be despondency against our great God. That sin wants to control you. That sin wants to be the master of your heart and master of your life. And it takes, again, that mastery, one step after another, one little decision after another. Be very careful on that. And the other thing, again, that I want us to see in this passage of scripture that I think, again, is so helpful is basically this. Because the question is not whether Jesus Christ said he's the Son of God, he's the great Messiah. It's shown beyond a shadow of a doubt. He said that. That's not the question. The real question in all of this is whether. He is the Messiah, whether he is the Son of God. If he's not the Son of God, if he can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt, if he said something faulty against the Old Testament and the revelation that happens to begin right there, if all of his miracles and all of his signs and all of his wonders, if his preaching again are false, then all of a sudden again, well, have him killed, have him stoned, have him executed and forget him for all time. But if he preaches, if he fulfills these scriptures that happen to begin in the Old Testament, if he's doing these validation miracles that speak of his glory, speak of his goodness, then beyond a shadow of a doubt, you need to fall down and worship him. And think about it. We think about intent all the time, don't we? And there's wonderful intent in this passage of scripture. Because think about it, if you want to see the glory of Jesus Christ in the opening seven verses, here it is, are you ready? The glory of Jesus Christ in the opening seven verses, right? Come out innocent, crucify him, crucify him, and all this. Jesus never says a word in the opening seven verses. He never defends himself. And why? Because he knows where all of this is leading, doesn't he? When he hears the crowds cry out, crucify him, crucify him. With all the agonies that he's in right now, with all the agonies that he's going to go through, he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt. Here he is. He is like a lamb that is dumb before the shearers. And think about that, because so often we don't observe that, right? We talk about power, and here's the greatest, again, civic power that happens to be in Jerusalem, and that happens to be in Pilate. Here's the greatest religious power, and it happens to be, again, the religious leaders that are all gathered against Jesus Christ. And they even think they can manipulate Pilate to do their bidding, to do what they want to do. And here's these powers, but there is no greater power than the one who is absolutely silent. And he's silent, why? Because he wants to pay that price, wants to pay that redemption, wants to pay that payment, again, of your sin and my sin. And here's the amazing thing in the novel, in this, the more that you meditate upon that truth, the more it changes you. You know, it's incredible. Again, we can be going through at least my own life. The more trials I'm going through, the more suffering I'm going through, the more, again, tribulations and sufferings that happen to begin in my life. When I come back to the gospel, it's amazing how it gives me light and joy that, my God, would die for a person like me. It changes me in the midst. And here is my whole hope in all of our lives, and I hope we get this, I hope we're not too, too, too tired, but I hope we get this. You know, the gospel of the Jesus Christ and what he has done in our life is the most relevant message for us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And no matter what you're going through in your life, preach that gospel consistently, constantly, daily in your life. And I guarantee you, it will change your life. How can it not? God's wonderful grace. You know what? God is sovereign. And God is a good, sovereign God. Let's trust in him. Let's bow our hearts in a moment of prayer. Father, we thank you for this passage. Oh, Lord. How these passion narratives, Lord, have a dual action as we realize all that's going on here. Lord, as we play it through our mind's eye, as we put ourselves in the narrative and realize the abuse. realize the humiliating torture that Jesus Christ is going through, even to get to the cross. Lord, as we go through these passion narratives, it has a dual action in our hearts. Lord, it repulses us. Lord, we want to turn away. It's ugly. It's gory. Lord, it's such a sight that we do not want to behold. But Lord, the more that we look, the more that we see this divine love, Lord, the more that we're drawn towards Christ, the more that we recognize the price of our redemption, the more we see the expansiveness of what we call the love of God in Christ Jesus. God, help us. Help us to meditate upon these. Help us to see these things. Help us to glory in your great gospel and your great plan. We thank you again in Christ's name.