find our seats, silence our electronics, and prepare our hearts for worship. So, so so so Well, we welcome all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to Dayspring Fellowship. We are so delighted to have you all here this morning, and we're especially glad to see some faces that we haven't seen in a couple of weeks because we were out on our annual retreat. last week and not everyone was able to join us. We're glad to all be back together, and we're glad to have visitors among us. I want to encourage you, if you're visiting us for the first time, there's a guest register out on the hall table that we would love for you to sign so that we can have a record of your visit. And also there's a stack of these booklets, Ultimate Questions. We want to give a free copy to you as a token of our appreciation for you joining us for worship. So be sure to grab one before you leave this place today. And I want to direct your attention to the bulletin. You'll see that inside the bulletin we are continuing in the Sunday school hour. at 945, our study of 1 and 2 Samuel. This morning we were in 2 Samuel chapter 22, a man on the run, part two. So we got to see part two of what we started two weeks ago. And with the extra hour of sleep, we had, I think, 20 people here for Sunday school. That was wonderful. We encourage you, if you were providentially hindered from joining us this morning, that was recorded. You can go onto our website this week, download and listen to that message. Also you'll see that our sermon passage for next week will be John chapter 19 verses 12 through 16a as we continue to work our way through the Gospel of John. So I encourage you, as always, to be meditating on that passage during the week, you know, in your private devotions, your family worship time, just in preparing your heart to gather around the Word next week. Across the page there you'll see that we are in a new month, and so we have a new monthly free online resource. So every month throughout this year, I've been recommending to you a free resource to encourage you to save your money that you would be spending on good Christian books and to give sacrificially to the ministry. And this month's free resource is a wonderful book by D.A. Carson titled Love in Hard Places. Love of Enemy, for example, is a love in a hard place. And he goes through the call that we have as Christians to love God and to love our neighbor. Very, very helpful book. I encourage you to be reading that this month. And then you'll see that the dates for next year's retreat are October the 24th through the 26th of 2025. We just want you to have that in advance and mark your calendars. We had just a wonderful retreat out there at the River Inn Resort in Hunt, Texas this year. We'll all be out there again next year. We encourage you to plan for it. You'll see there, there's a link for the conference that a group of us pastors here in the Austin area all put together back in September on church and politics is available for free online. The audio of that you can get with the link there in your bulletin. And then we're going to continue the second Wednesdays of every month this year to do some lectures. So we're going to have this month, we're going to have a lecture on theological liberalism, fundamentalism, and evangelicalism, so a little bit of church history, fairly recent church history. And then the month of December, we're going to have a lecture on heaven and hell. So more of a systematic theology lecture. But then in the new year, we're going to have testimonies. So we're going to shift gears and use those Wednesday nights to hear testimonies of Dayspringers, how the Lord converted you and brought you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and what he has been doing in your life ever since. So I am seeking volunteers who want to share their testimonies so we can get to know you a little bit better and glorify God and his work in your life. Please see me if you want to be one of the 12 who share their testimony in 2025. It is time to check the pictorial online church directory just to check and see if your email and your phone numbers and your address and pictures need to be updated. You can download to your smartphone an app of that directory or just go to our website and get it from there. And then this Saturday, November the 9th, is the Saturday that the sisters are going to be gathering for their monthly brown bag brunch and Bible study. Say that fast 10 times. Brown bag brunch and Bible study. They're going to be in the Gospel of John. It'll be a great time for the ladies, and so you're encouraged to be there at 10 a.m. right here in the Fellowship Hall this coming Saturday. Thanksgiving is upcoming, and so I encourage you, as always, to invite any Dayspringers who don't have Thanksgiving plans, don't have family nearby, to have a place at your Thanksgiving table. If you need any ideas on who might need to be invited, you can see one of your deacons And then we have all sorts of things coming up in December. Just a couple of things I want to mention already is that the Austin Symphony is once again going to be performing Handel's Messiah, just one performance on Saturday evening, or Tuesday evening, sorry, December the 3rd, 8 p.m. at the River Bend Center. And if you've never sat through this marvelous work, I encourage you to do so. It is inspired by God, literally. It is the Word of God being sung from the King James Version of the Bible, from beginning to end, telling the entire gospel story from the promise of the Messiah, to his virgin birth, to his sinless life, to his sacrificial death, to his glorious resurrection, to his reign and rule. That's the Hallelujah Chorus that you might be familiar with, all the way to his second coming. And so we encourage you, as we do every year, to enjoy Handel's Messiah. To get tickets, you can go to austinsymphony.org. And then finally, the Dayspring Christmas Party will be held. 6 p.m. on Saturday, December the 7th, so you want to mark your calendars for that. We'll have more information on that upcoming, but mark your calendars now. Well, as we begin worship this morning, I want to encourage you to find your red hymnal in the rack in front of you. Turn with me in that red hymnal to hymn number 57. It's 5-7 in the red, and please stand together for our call to worship. Our call to worship this morning comes from the great 146th Psalm. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth. On that very day, his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord. Let us sing together. Alleluia! Praise Jehovah! O my soul, Jehovah praise! I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days. But no confidence in princes, nor for help of men depend. He shall die, through dust returning, and His purposes shall end. Happy is the man that chooses Israel's God to be his aid. He will bless this hope of blessing on the Lord his God-estate. Heaven and earth the Lord created, seas and all that they contain. He delivers from oppression, righteousness he will maintain. Food he daily gives the hungry, sets the mourning prisoner free. Raises those bowed down with anguish, makes the sightless eye to see. Well, Jehovah loves the righteous, And the stranger He befriends, Helps the fatherless and widow, Judgment on the wicked's sins. Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah! O my soul, Jehovah, praise! I will sing the glorious praises Of my God through all my days. O for all God reigns forever, through all ages He is King. Unto Him, your God, O Zion, joyful hallelujah sing. Let us pray together. Our marvelous God and Heavenly Father, we do praise you today, and we thank you for your gracious, unconditional election of sinners like us for so great a salvation. We thank you for all of your tender mercies, which are new every morning. We thank you for the greatest mercy of all, the greatest kindness of all in sending us Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, taking upon himself the shame, the judgment for our sin, so that we do now gain an interest in his blood. We thank you for the working of your Holy Spirit in our hearts so that we believe on Jesus and trust in him and persevere in that faith. And we thank you, Lord God, that even when we walk through the valleys of darkness and when affliction assails us, we can know that our Lord Jesus is reigning as King supremely over all heaven and earth, that we have a merciful high priest and king seated at your right hand in heaven, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who is always leading us onward. We thank you, Lord God, that this one who loves us and gave himself for us and reconciled us to you is always with us, never forsakes us, and is coming back for us to gather us with all of your people to wipe away every tear. We pray that you would come and meet with us today, that you would minister to your people, that you would shape us by your word. We pray, Lord God, that through the reading and the preaching of your word, that you would be present here to speak to us, to mold us, to change us for your glory. And we particularly thank you for the fellowship that we have in Christ Jesus, in this church body, which celebrates and revels together in the victory that Jesus has won. We pray that you would help us to be a true family to one another this week, to bring you honor and glory, to you, our Father. Work through us and in us and for us, we pray. And may your name be lifted high. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated. Well, good morning, everyone. Please take your blue hymnals here. and we will be singing a new song, but to a familiar tune, hymn number 733 in the blue. 733. Okay, well it's new to me. Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide. In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side, Some great cause, some great decision Offering each the bloom or bride And the choice goes by forever, Twixt the darkness and that light. Then to side with truth is noble, When we share her wretched crust. Ere her cospring fame and profit, and his prosperous hope to be just, Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, till the malted to make virtue of the faith they had denied. By the light of burning martyrs Christ thy bleeding feet we track Toiling up new calvaries ever With the cross that turns not back New occasions teach new duties, ancient values test our youth. They must upward, still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth? Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong. On her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong. All right, now take your red hymnals and turn to 295. Crown him with many crowns. Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne. Mark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. found him the Lord above, beyond his hands and side, rich fruit yet visible above, in beauty glorified, no angel in the sky, can't fully bear that sight, but downward bent his burning eye at mystery so bright. Crowned him the Lord of Peace, whose power a scepter sways, from pole to pole that wars may cease, absorbed in prayer and praise. His reign shall know no end, and crowned his pierced feet Our flowers of paradise extend their fragrance ever sweet. Crown Him the Lord of years, the potentent of time, creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime, all hell Amen. Now we have the reading of God's word. Good morning. I'm reading from Revelation 19. I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice, he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty. on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Amen. We celebrate the coronation of that King of King and Lord of Lords whose robe was dipped in blood every Lord's Day as we celebrate the Lord's Supper together according to the pattern that we find in Acts chapter 2 is the early church would gather on the Lord's Day and devote themselves to four things, to the apostles' teaching, to the prayers, the fellowship, and the breaking of bread. And this is, as I have said, a dangerous meal for some, and it is a sacred meal that is only meant for a specific people. And so we want to make it very clear who is welcome to the table. There's one sense in which it is very open and broad, in that we do not restrict the Lord's Supper to members of this local church. It is not Dayspring's table, but the Lord's table. And so in that sense, it is very open. But there's another sense in which it is very restricted, and that is that this sacred meal is not for good, religious, upright people. And it is not for sinners who have made friends with their sin and have not repented and trusted on the Lord Jesus. This is a meal that is for sinners who are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as their substitute to save them from their sins. So we ask three things of you, and the most important of those three things is this, that you are one who is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. So you're not looking to any merit on your part, to any goodness that you have to bring to God. You know that you bring nothing but your own shame and guilt and sin, and you're looking to Jesus Christ as your only hope, as your substitute in his life, the one who lived a substitutionary life of worship and obedience to the Father in your place that you have failed to live, and the one who took upon himself the punishment, the death that you deserve to die for all of your sins. So you're one who has been saved by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, for his glory alone. There is no boasting on our part. And then secondly, we ask that you be a baptized believer, but we do leave the details of your baptism up to your own individual conscience. So as you look to scripture, if you're able to answer in the affirmative, have I been obedient to my King in baptism? And then thirdly and finally, we ask that you not be under church discipline from your local congregation so that we might respect the work of our Lord as he continues to build his church here in this world. as we prepare ourselves to partake of the Lord's Supper. Let's take our red hymnals once again and turn in the red to hymn number 253. It's a great hymn that's written by William Cooper, the often depressed and occasionally suicidal brother who wrote a marvelous hymn, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood. Let us sing together. There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains. And sinners plunged beneath the flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there have I, as vile as he, washed all my sins away. Washed all my sins away. Washed all my sins away. And there have I, as vile as he, washed all my sins away. E'er since, by faith, I saw the stream, your flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die. Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing your power to save. Spoil this being's stammering tongue, Lie silent in the grave. lie silent in the grave, lie silent in the grave. With this coalescing, stammering tongue, lie silent in the grave. Dear dying lamb, your precious blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. I'll join the chorus. Good morning. What is repentance? We talk about it every Sunday, but have you ever stopped to just consider what the word truly means? The Oxford Dictionary has this definition. The act of repenting. Well, that's really helpful, isn't it? But it continues with sincere regret or remorse. Well, what does it mean for us here? True repentance has many elements to it, and I want you to consider these as you reflect on the battles of sin that each of us have with our old nature. The elements of true repentance are confession. Acknowledgement of being wrong, an expression of regret, and this is key, commitment to change. Finally, there is asking for forgiveness. Now, what does that look like? Well, here's an example. Lord Jesus, be merciful to me. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Work in me to change me from what I am to what you want me to be. Forgive me and keep me from sin that I might be useful to you and bring honor to your name." You know, the Lord promises that anyone who comes to Him in true repentance will be forgiven. The thing is, we don't come on our own. Our very repentance is a gift from God. Our eyes are open to our sin by the Holy Spirit working in us. Then we see our need for a Savior because we can't fix ourselves. We are dead in sin. So we run to Christ and beg for his forgiveness and put our trust in his finished work that he did for us. It can only come through him. But will he really forgive everything? Well, consider this passage from 1 Corinthians 6. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. and by the Spirit of our God." There are many such lists in the Bible. They identify our true sinful nature. However, there was always something following, usually beginning with a simple conjunction, but. But you were washed. Or this passage, which is my favorite. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And so I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, Is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world." Brothers and sisters, let's take a moment to examine ourselves. Heavenly Father, how great and how deep is your mercy towards sinners. We might consider ourselves merciful if we forgive a friend, but Lord, you forgave your enemies. You sent your only Son that He might be the one to pay the penalty that only He could pay for those who hated you, who were your enemies, and that you loved us enough to make us alive again through Him. Lord, our joy should know no bounds at the very thought of this. And it should empower us to reach out to those who do not yet know this glorious salvation. Continue to work in us, to refine us, to help us wage our own daily battles with our old nature, to stand victorious over sin that has beset us. and to be faithful and true ambassadors for your kingdom in a dark world that so desperately needs your word. Be with us during this time. Teach us, encourage us, and renew us to be fit for your service. For as the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we pray, amen. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. But the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is the body of the Lord which was given for you. And this cup is the new covenant in Christ's blood, shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sin. Please take the insert in your bulletin, all glory be to Christ. We sing knowing that we boast in the glory of Christ alone and not in what we gain or what we can profit for tomorrow. Should nothing of our efforts stand, no legacy survive, unless the Lord does raise the house, in vain its builders strive. To you who boast tomorrow's gains, tell me, what is your life? A mist that vanishes at dawn, all glory be to Christ. All glory be to Christ our King, All glory be to Christ! His rule and reign we'll ever sing, All glory be to Christ! His will be done, His kingdom come, On earth as is above, Who is himself our daily bread, praise him, the Lord of love. Let living water satisfy the thirsty without price. We'll take a cup of kindness, yet all glory be to Christ. ♪ All glory be to Christ our King ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ His rule and reign will ever sing ♪ All glory be to Christ ♪ When on the day the great I am ♪ The faithful and the true The Lamb who was for sinners slain is making all things new. Behold, our God shall live with us and be our steadfast light, and we shall every people be a glory be to Christ, a glory be to Christ our King, a glory be to Christ, His rule and reign she will ever see. All glory be to Christ. If you love that modern hymn, you should join us at midnight, New Year's Eve, every year, right here in this room. We sing that during our watch night service, and we encourage you to be there. Well, let us continue to give glory to Christ our King by turning in the Red Hymnal to page 785, 785 in the back of the Red Hymnal. We're going to have a responsive reading from Psalm 2. Please stand together. Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath. saying, I have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. Therefore, you kings, be wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and you be destroyed in your way. For his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Let us pray together. Our most merciful God and Heavenly Father, we come before you to thank you for all the mercies that you have shown to us. We thank you, Lord God, that our help comes from you, that it does not come from princes, that you have changed our hearts, you have given us both the ability and the desire to stop raging against you and against your anointed. but to kiss your son and to find our refuge in him alone. We pray, Father, that you would work by your power among us for your glory today. We pray for this country in which we sojourn as aliens and strangers, for all of the leaders in the government, for President Biden, for Vice President Kamala Harris, for President Trump, for Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz, we pray that you would grant them each humility, whether they win or lose, that you would bless each one of them for the good of your elect. We lift up this congregation to you, Lord, and we especially pray that you would give us tender hearts to receive your word for us this morning. You would lift up all who are sick or suffering or unable to gather with us to worship you today. We especially lift up to you and pray for our Sister Marie that you would be with her in this very serious surgery this Thursday. Lord, I pray that you would give her a peace which passes all understanding, a great trust and encouragement that comes only from you. I pray, Lord, that you would be with her surgeon, that you would be with her anesthesiologist, all the doctors and nurses who help her, Lord, that you would bring about a good and successful end. We pray, Lord, that you would be with all of our missionaries, that they may hold fast to that hope that only comes from our Savior, the only one who paid for our sins and rose from the dead to give us hope and new life and who will come again soon to save us all to the uttermost. We pray, Lord God, that you would be glorified in your church throughout the world today and that as your gospel goes forth, we pray that you would add to your church daily as many as are being saved. Pastor Nathan Loudon down the road here at Millwood Baptist Church, that you would fill him with your Holy Spirit today as he leads your people to greater faith in Jesus. We pray for this world, Lord. We pray for those in Spain who have lost loved ones and have lost property in these destructive flash floods. We pray for your church there, that they would rise up and be a great witness and a source of comfort to those who are suffering. We pray that all Israel might be saved and that the whole earth might be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In Jesus' name we pray and for his sake, amen. Well, you may be seated and our children may go out to Children's Church at this time. And as they go, please turn with me in your copy of God's Living and Active Word to the 19th chapter of the Gospel of John. John chapter 19, where you will remember from two weeks ago all of John's gospel has been leading to this one day. We're here on the Friday of the Lord Jesus' sham trial and crucifixion. One of the things that strikes me every year on Good Friday when we gather together out here in the Fellowship Hall and we take turns reading through 100 passages that narrate these final days of Jesus, one of the things that strikes me is how we read right up to Jesus's crucifixion and death and burial, and then we just stop right there, close our Bibles, we all go home for two days, and then we come back together in this room on Easter Sunday morning for the next part of the gospel story, the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And that impacts me every year. And we're about to experience something very similar here in our John series, because Lord willing, over the next four Sundays through these Lord's Days in November, we're going to cover all of chapter 19 in four parts, which we're beginning today, which is going to end with the death and the burial of Jesus, and then we're just going to stop there, because in December we have our tradition of an Advent series, and then the first Sunday in the new year we celebrate as Bible Sunday. We have so many traditions that our founding pastor established for us, probably the The less known one is the one we did today. We sing a hymn once to every man and nation. We do that every four years. That was a tradition Jackson started, I think, in 1980. Probably the next least known tradition is Bible Sunday, and so we'll have a special sermon on that first Sunday of the new year on God's Word itself, as we always do, and then I'll be taking a couple of weeks of family vacation in the middle of January, and then finally on that last Sunday in January of the new year, we're going to pick back up in John 20 with the resurrection of Jesus. So instead of just three days in the tomb, we're going to leave him like three, no, eight weeks in the tomb. But praise God, we know that that tomb is empty today. It's been empty for over 2,000 years, and our risen King, he reigns, and he rules today and forevermore. Well, remember where we are from two weeks ago, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, he has declared Jesus officially to be not guilty, innocent of the charges. But then he decided to play the politician and help the Jewish leaders kind of save face by making them this offer of letting them decide to release Jesus, who is clearly innocent, rather than release a very guilty insurrectionist. That was the offer that Pilate made to the Jewish leaders. But of course, they didn't take that offer, and they insisted instead that this other man, the insurrectionist Barabbas, be released instead. But then Pilate, he gets another idea to try to convince the Jews to let Jesus go. And that's where we pick up the story today. Look with me at chapter 19. I'll begin reading for us in verse 1. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying, hail, king of the Jews, and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Jesus said to them, behold the man. 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. The Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die. because he has made himself the son of God. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. Well, John, the apostle, is showing us here that everyone who's involved with Jesus from start to finish in our passage, every single one of them, seems quite certain that they know who they are dealing with in Jesus, and yet all of them are completely wrong. Did you notice that? Verses 1 to 5, Pilate and the soldiers, they obviously, they think that they're dealing with a fake king, right, a pretender at best, and more likely just a clown to be mocked, that's what they think. In 6-7, the Jewish leaders think that they're dealing with an obvious blasphemer who has just obviously, falsely called himself the Son of God. That's what they think. And then in 8 through 11, Pilate obviously thinks he's dealing with this just kind of common criminal over whom he has absolute unbreakable authority. Every single one of them has confidence that they know who they're dealing with in Jesus, and yet every single one of them was wrong. They misjudged the situation entirely. That's the irony that runs underneath this paragraph, and I think it's also the main idea of our passage. So here's the main idea that John wants us to get. These people thought that they knew who they were dealing with, but they were wrong. So don't make that same mistake. That's the main idea that John wants us to get. These people, they thought that they knew who Jesus was, who they were dealing with in Jesus, but they were wrong. Don't make the same mistake. So let's consider just each of those sections today and see what each of them reveals to us about who Jesus really is. So point number one, This is verses 1 to 5, the suffering Messiah, the suffering Messiah. Point number 2, verses 6 and 7, the Son of God, the Son of God. And then finally, point number 3, this is verses 8 through 11, the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. And it's my hope and my prayer this morning that as we consider this, as we study this together, that unlike Pilate, and unlike the Roman soldiers, and unlike the Jewish leaders, that you and us together, that we will actually look through the situation to see Jesus for who he really is, and that you'll believe in him, and trust upon him, and find salvation in his name. So point number one, verses one to five, the suffering Messiah, the suffering Messiah. If you look at verse one, at first glance, that's just a stunning verse, right? The reason it's so stunning is because it comes right on the heels of 1838, where Pilate, remember he comes out to the Jewish leaders and he renders this sort of official Roman verdict that Jesus is not guilty. Now, when Pilate does that, when he comes out and says, you know, this man, he's innocent, that basically should have been it. Roman justice had spoken. The verdict was given. Pilate, basically at that point, he should have taken Jesus's bonds off and released him with maybe even a detachment of soldiers to get him home safely if he thought he needed protection. So it just seems jarring after that. chapter 19 verse 1, that in the wake of this not guilty verdict, this verse at the beginning of chapter 19 would say just willy-nilly that Pilate had Jesus flogged. How does he do that? I mean, is this just a miscarriage of justice? Is it just a complete farce of Roman justice? Well, it's really not that simple. See, Pilate had acquitted Jesus of the capital charge that was brought against him by the Jews, that he was setting himself up as king against Caesar and threatening the power of Rome, but he still had authority to level some lesser charges against Jesus, and that's apparently what's happened. So why does Pilate do this? By the way, flogging in Roman times, there were three levels of it. There was a lesser level, and then a deeper level, and then a level that sometimes would kill the victim and it was preparing them for crucifixion. This flogging was that low level. Later, Jesus receives the lashes that have the bone and the metal and that tear off the flesh. So this is a lesser flogging that he gets from Pilate. But why does Pilate do this? I mean, why subject Jesus to this flogging now after he's been declared innocent? And he hasn't really done anything to irritate Pilate either. Well, the Jews were not accepting the verdict, and they weren't taking Pilate's offer to give him clemency either. And Pilate couldn't risk releasing Jesus and potentially causing a riot here during Passover week. He doesn't want to crucify a guy that he's already declared to be innocent. So this is just one last-ditch attempt to get the Jews to let up on their demands that Jesus be crucified. He has him flogged instead, instead of crucifixion. So he dresses him up in these props that are meant to just ridicule and mock his claims of being a king. And he trots him out in front of the Jews, and look at what he says in verses four and five. Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, behold the man. You see what he's doing there? He's trying to get the Jews to see how ridiculous they look in being afraid of this man. He's trying to convince them that they look ridiculous for trying to tell Pilate that this pathetic creature right here is somehow a threat to Caesar and to Rome's authority. So that statement, behold the man there, isn't some grand pronouncement, right? It's, hey, look at him. He's pathetic. And you guys are scared of him? He's not a king. You think this thing is a threat to Rome's authority? So he's trying to get them to say, you're right. We don't need this man to die after all. He's been totally discredited. He's been made a laughing stock. And you've got to admit, it was a dramatic, effective scene that Pilate created here. I mean, notice he waits for the dramatic moment, and then Jesus comes out, is flogged. He's bleeding from the thorns that the soldiers had pressed down into his brow. He's draped with the purple cape. Pilate walks him out and says, look at this guy. I mean, everybody there at the time, from the Jewish leaders to the soldiers to Pilate himself, thought that they were looking at a joke. They thought they were looking at a petty nobody who had become this kind of broken pawn now in a power struggle between the Jewish leaders and their Roman masters and oppressors. That's what they thought. But John, the apostle, he wants you to see something utterly different in this picture of Jesus coming out, flogged, and beaten, and whipped, and with a crown of thorns pressed into his brow and a purple cape draped over his shoulders. He wants you to see a reality in all of that royal imagery, mockery though it was. He wants you to hear a truth in the declaration that the soldiers make as they slap him on the face. Hail, King of the Jews. He wants you to be able to look past the mockery and really, truly behold the man. I love what an old Reformed pastor said about this passage. He said, his enemies, Jesus's enemies, his enemies might deride his pretensions and express their mockery of his claim by presenting him with a crown of thorns, a reed, and a purple robe, and nailing him to a cross. But in the eyes of unfallen intelligences, he was a king. a higher power presided over that derisive ceremony and converted it into a real coronation. That crown of thorns was indeed the diadem of empire. That purple robe was the badge of royalty. That fragile reed was the symbol of unbounded power. And that cross the throne of dominion which shall never end." You see the point? You see what John is wanting you to see by trotting out all of this royal imagery around Jesus as he bleeds? He wants you to see that Jesus's suffering and Jesus's death was far from proof against his kingship. It was the proof, in fact, of his kingship. His suffering and his death showed more clearly than anything except his resurrection three days later, that he was, in fact, the long-awaited king, the Messiah of Israel. Now, why is that? Why does his suffering and his death prove that he is, in fact, the Messiah of Israel? was because if you read the Old Testament, that's what messiahship, that's what kingship in Israel meant. It meant to suffer and to die in the place of your people as their substitute. That's what the whole Old Testament teaches. It teaches it all the way back with God's covenant to David in 2 Samuel 7, through Psalm 22, through Isaiah 53, all the way into Zechariah 13. If you're the promised king of Israel, you suffer and die in the place of your people as their substitute. That was the great Old Testament hope and promise. And if you study the Old Testament, you know that that's the case. The whole epic story of the Old Testament is hurtling toward this very moment. There are at least three different, probably a dozen, but at least three gigantic prophetic lines that are weaving in and out of one another, which come to rest right here on Jesus's thorn-crowned head. See, the first one was that the Jews always expected a divine Son of Man figure to come and to conquer the world, to divide the world between the righteous and the wicked, and to save the righteous and judge the wicked. They expected the Danielic Son of Man, the Divine One, the God-Man, to come and do that in the world. But secondly, they expected a king in the line of David, a Davidic king, a Messiah, who would come and who would establish God's people. And they expected a suffering servant, thirdly, of God, who would suffer in his people's place. But what you realize is that as those three prophetic themes weave in and out, they turn out by the end of the Old Testament to be the same person. The divine Son of Man and the Messiah King from the line of David and the suffering servant of God are all the same person. and the salvation that the King would bring and the judgment that the Son of Man would bring are both accomplished by the suffering servant's death on the cross. By dressing Jesus up in this way, they were trying to be ironic. But there is a deeper irony here that they didn't get. What you see is what you get. The king of Israel will be a king who is baptized in blood as he dies in the place of his people. The Romans didn't understand that, the Jews should have understood it, and you see the point of all of this is that Jesus, as Jesus was standing there in that crown and in that robe, he was offering himself to the world as the Messiah that he was always meant to be, that Messiah who would stand in the place of sinners. Sinners like you and me, die for them, have his blood shed so that our blood would not have to be shed. Die so that we would not have to die. As we often sing, one with himself, I cannot die. My soul is purchased by his blood. You need to behold the man this morning. See him for who he is, the King of Israel and the suffering servant who now holds out his hand to every single one of us and says, come and take mercy from my hand and I will save you from your sins. That invitation is to all. It is open wide to all. For you, if you're a Christian this morning, what does that mean? Well, above all, I think it means to worship Him for who He really is, right? To see Him for who He really is and what He has really done, to remember what He has accomplished for you, and to remember that above all, and to remember that that above everything else, that he is to you, he is your sovereign king and your savior and your substitute who died in your place to save you from a death that you deserve to die. That's what it means to behold the man. Because I think it's easy to forget that, right? To get wrapped up in the world and to sort of baptize the world in religious terms and basically think of Jesus as kind of the executive director of your circumstances, or the middle manager of your parenting, or the regional distributor of nice things to you. And forget who he really is. Above all, the suffering servant, the pierced king, the crucified redeemer. Brothers and sisters, never ever forget who Jesus is, above and over and beyond all. Never forget the crown, never forget the robe, never forget the nails and the spear and all that you do in every day of your life. Behold the man. Point number two. This passage also reveals him not only as the suffering Messiah, but also as the Son of God. You can see that starting there in verse 6. So Pilate's little ploy, it doesn't work. Remember what he was doing, right? He was trying to get the Jews to see how ridiculous it was for them to be all worked up about this guy, so that they would then let him go. That's what Pilate is trying to do, try to get Jesus released. but it doesn't even begin to work. So he trots Jesus out to try to convince the Pharisees that Jesus is no threat, they should back off, but they're not having it at all. So in verse six, John says that they start to cry out loud what they really want to happen to Jesus. Stauroson! Stauroson! Crucify! Crucify! They want him dead, and they want him dead in the most public and humiliating and official way possible. It's interesting, I think important, that from now on, the main way, not the exclusive way, but the main way that John's gonna describe what the Jews are doing throughout the whole rest of the trial of Jesus. So remember in the earlier part of the trial, it had been they answered, or they replied, or they said, or something like that. Now it is they screamed. They screamed. They screamed. The whole thing is descending into kind of mob violence at this point. And John, he wants you to see that. Anyway, by this time, Pilate, he seems equally done with them, and so he snaps at them there in the middle of verse six. Pilate said to them, after they're screaming, they're screeching, they're yelling, crucify, crucify, Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. Now, he's not actually giving authority to the Jews to crucify Jesus there. That's not an official command to them to go crucify Jesus. He is mocking them. He's saying, you're the ones who brought him here and asked me to pronounce a verdict over him. I've done that, but you're not listening to my verdict on the matter. You won't accept it. So take him yourselves and do it yourselves, because he knows they can't. They don't have the authority to do that. So when Pilate says that, it's just more exasperation than anything else. And it's a needling of the Jews and telling them, you don't have the authority in this matter. I do. I rule over you. And yet you keep questioning me. So now it's the Jews who are all of a sudden, they're in a scrape, right? Because not only does Pilate clearly want to release Jesus, he's tried like three things now to get Jesus off the hook here, and also three times now, three times, did you notice, Pilate has declared Jesus not guilty, to be innocent. Not only does he want to release this innocent man, but he is irritated now at the Jews. So the Jews, they try one final tactic, which is, believe it or not, to finally be honest with Pilate. They finally just tell him the truth. Look at verse seven. The Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God. So there it is. Finally, they're being honest. You see that? I mean, that had been the Jews' complaint against Jesus from the very beginning. I mean, going all the way back to at least chapter 5 of this book, their complaint against Jesus was that he was calling himself the son of God and thereby making himself equal with God. That was their complaint. So they wanted him dead for that. But ever since they arrived at the praetorium to make their case to Pilate that this man needed to die, they had not been making that blasphemy case. They hadn't been making a theological case at all. They'd been making a political case. Pilate, you need to condemn this guy because he is a threat to Rome. But that was not the real complaint, right? That was smoke and mirrors. This right here is the real deal. Their complaint, ultimately, it wasn't political. It was ultimately religious. So finally, they just put it to Pilate plainly. Jesus has made himself out to be the son of God. Now ask yourself, is that true? Is that charge true that Jesus has made himself out to be the Son of God? Well, absolutely yes. That's true. I mean, there hasn't been any doubt in this book from the opening verses of chapter 1. Jesus has done this over and over again. He has claimed to be the Son of God. He has claimed to be equal with God. Before Abraham was, I am. They just refused from the very beginning even to consider whether or not that might be true. Jesus has been claiming to be the Son of God, and he has been backing that claim up with scripture, with mighty works. So you know what they should have done? They should have considered whether Jesus might be, in fact, the Son of God, not just rejected him out of hand. And look, if you're not a Christian this morning, that's what you have a responsibility to do as well. Not to reject him out of hand, but investigate his claims, right? Consider Jesus Christ, look to Jesus. And you will find that Jesus is reliable, that you can put your faith and your trust in him and be saved. Behold the man. Here's point number three, finally. Jesus, he shows himself here to be the prince of the kings of the earth. the prince of the kings of the earth, the one who is sovereign over all. So verse 8, when Pilate heard this statement about Jesus claiming to be the Son of God, he was even more afraid. It's fascinating. For one, it tells us Pilate's been afraid, right? Now he's even more afraid. It's also, it's really clear in verse 8 that Pilate, he's all of a sudden realized that he's dealing with more than just a tribal-local dispute here. He suddenly realizes that, oh my goodness, this is more than what I thought I had sunk my teeth into, and I have bitten off more than I can chew here. See, he tried to put an end to the whole thing by pointing out how much of a mere man Jesus was, right? Dressing him up, mocking him, flogging him. Behold the man. And now it explodes on his consciousness that he might actually be dealing with somebody who is far more than just a man. I mean, he saw something in Jesus that made such an impression upon him that when he hears that Jesus is claiming to be the Son of God, that claim does not strike Pilate as ridiculous. It strikes fear into his heart that maybe, maybe it's true. So he goes back in and he asks Jesus this question. It was haunting him. Where are you from? He's not wanting there just a geographical answer, right? I'm from Nazareth, I'm from Bethlehem. That's not his question. But Jesus had already given him the answer, right? Remember up in chapter 18 in the first questioning, my kingdom is not of this world. I am not from this world. So he's silent. He doesn't answer it again, which enrages Pilate, right? Verse 10. So Pilate says to him, you'll not speak to me? Do you not know who I am? You not know that I have authority to release you, authority to crucify you? And then Jesus gives this absolutely majestic answer that we talked about out at the retreat last week. In verse 11, Jesus answered him. You would have no authority over me at all, unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin." God is sovereign. He is sovereign over everything. And he does, according to Romans 13, as we saw last week, he gives Pilate his authority as a ruler. And more than that, here, God has sovereignly given Pilate this entire situation. This whole sequence of events, starting with the Jews plotting and then Judas' betrayal, God has orchestrated this whole series of events to drop it into Pilate's lap. now he's got to deal with it. But Pilate, he's just a secondary player, right? That's what Jesus is saying there regarding Who has the greater sin? He's saying to Pilate, you didn't start this whole thing. You didn't set this whole wicked enterprise in motion. That wasn't you. So the greater sin, the special guilt, the guilt of instigation, that greater guilt of starting this whole wicked thing in the first place, it belongs to them, to the Jewish leaders. Their sin is greater because they started it. but yours is less because it just so happened to land in your lap. That's what he means. But notice a couple of things here. Notice here that Jesus says that the Jews have the greater sin, not the only sin. He says the Jews have the greater sin, not the only sin, which means that Pilate's sin here is great. Why? Well, because despite his own reason, despite his own verdict that Jesus is innocent, despite his seeking and approving of justice, that's what he was brought to believe in as a Roman, he's gonna turn him over to be crucified, despite the fact that he knows that Jesus doesn't deserve to be crucified, despite the fact that he's been raised and trained to serve honorably and to seek to do justice, and despite that even now, He has something gnawing at his heart that tells him that Jesus is more than just a man. In just a few minutes, despite all of that, he's gonna wash his hands of the whole thing, he's gonna turn away, and he's gonna cast Jesus aside. That is a great sin. If you know who Jesus is, if your heart is gnawing at you, because you know who he is, then to turn away from him and to cast him aside, that is a great sin. And you need to hear that. But it's not as great as the Jews' sin. Why is that? Why is Pilate's sin not as great? Well, it's because the Jews of all people, they should have known better. They were promised the Son of God in the Davidic king. These chief priests and scribes and Pharisees, they studied the Scripture night and day. They knew Psalm 22 by heart. They knew 2 Samuel 7. They knew Isaiah 53. They knew Zechariah 13. They knew it was the very destiny of the Messiah to suffer and to die in the place of the people. They knew that the crown of the Messiah that he would wear was not going to be a crown of gold, but a crown of death. They knew that, and they rejected him anyway. Listen, this is important, and then we're done. The greater sin. The greater sin is by those who sit year after year studying the scriptures, hearing the sermons, singing the songs, and yet whose hearts remain apathetic. Apathetic and hard and unmoved. That's the greater sin. Years ago, as a local church, we had to solemnly use the keys of the kingdom that God has given to the church to excommunicate a member who had grown up in church all her life. She had even received an award from her childhood church for being the most Christ-like. We had to turn her over to Satan for serious public unrepentant sin which caused her profession of faith in Jesus to no longer be credible. You can have that most Christ-like award, or just, you know, the trophy that you put in your own head, and yet your heart be hard. You can listen to a thousand sermons and love studying theology and Christian apologetics, and yet your heart be hard. You can put your hands up in the air and tilt your head back and close your eyes and sing, all glory be to Christ our King, with tears, and yet your heart be hard. Don't let that be you. Don't walk out of this place with an apathetic and hard and untouched, unmoved heart. Because the question to you will be, didn't you hear it? Didn't you hear it every single week, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the invitation to receive mercy and eternal life? And yet your heart is unmoved and apathetic and hard. There's so many ways, so many ways to misjudge the situation with Jesus, aren't there? You can imagine him to be someone that he is not. You can put him in a position that is lower than the position that he is actually in. Worst of all, worst of all, you can turn away from him as somebody who is not worthy of your time and your energy and your attention. Don't misjudge the situation with Jesus like these people in our passage did. Look Jesus full in the face and really, truly behold the man. Let us pray. Our sovereign King and Lord Jesus, we honor you And we praise you today as the son of God and the son of man, the suffering servant who gave yourself in your people's place so that we might not have to die for our own sins. How we thank you that you died as a substitute for every single person in the history of the world who would ever believe in you, trust in you for salvation, and repent of their sins. You save everyone who does that. And then, Lord, united to you by faith, we rise from the dead right along with you, first spiritually, but ultimately physically, to live in a new heavens and a new earth that you're going to create. These are such great promises to us, and we pray that you would light them on fire in the deep recesses of our souls. Help us to love you more as we behold you for who you really are. We pray all of this. In your precious name, the name of Jesus, and always to your honor and glory, amen. Please stand together. Remember, ladies, to gather at 10 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall this Saturday for your monthly brunch and a Bible study. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit be with you all, amen.