Our passage this morning, beginning in Matthew 27, verse 11. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, It is as you say. And while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. And then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? And he did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so that the governor was quite amazed. And now at the feast, that's the Passover, the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew that because of envy they had handed him over. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. But the governor said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release for you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ or Messiah? They all said, Crucify Him. And he said, Why? What evil has he done? But they kept shouting all the more, saying, Crucify Him. When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, He took water and washed His hands in front of the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood. See to that yourselves. All the people said, His blood shall be on us and on our children. And then He released Barabbas for them. But after having Jesus scourged, He handed him over to be crucified. Well, obviously, this is one of the most pivotal and significant passages, not only in all of Scripture, but in all of human history. So, as we pick up in Matthew's Gospel this morning, Jesus has been betrayed by Judas, one of the twelve, one of the twelve, to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court, high council. He's in custody. His disciples have all abandoned him, as he predicted they would. And over the last two weeks, we have seen Jesus appear before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, where they convicted him of blasphemy, convicted him of a crime under the Jewish law, not the Roman law. And they convicted him because he declared something that's true, that he is the Messiah, the Son of God. A few hours later, just a couple hours after that, after sunrise, Jesus was again brought before Caiaphas in the Sanhedrin, this is the High Court, and they sentenced him to death. But they couldn't carry out a death sentence. Only the Romans could actually impose the death penalty and carry it out. And so as we pick up this morning, Jesus has gone through the Jewish legal proceedings. And in chapter 27, verse 2, we saw last week, they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor. And that's exactly what Jesus had prophesied would happen even before they left Galilee. Three different times he had prophesied of this. And so in our passage now this morning, Jesus has been brought before Pontius Pilate. He's a Roman governor of Judea, appointed by the emperor. The high priests and the elders of the Sanhedrin go along with this. They take him and they are also there. They're sticking right beside Jesus and now they're acting solely as prosecutors and witnesses against him. They're no longer in the role of both prosecutor and judge. But they have a problem. They want Jesus put to death, but they've only convicted him of blasphemy, a violation of their law. And that wasn't a capital offense as far as the Romans were concerned. So even if Pilate believed Jesus to be a blasphemer, that wasn't going to give rise to a death sentence. And death is what they wanted here, not justice. Now all four gospel writers provide an account of Jesus' appearance before Pilate. We've seen throughout Matthew's gospel that oftentimes Mark and Luke also have an account of what happened, but now as we head down toward the crucifixion and resurrection, it's all four gospel writers recording things about this. And Matthew's and Mark's accounts are much shorter than those of Luke and John. So Luke tells us, and I've put this in your scripture sheet, that the whole body of them, the Sanhedrin, got up and brought Jesus before Pilate. John tells us, 1828, that they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, inside the governor's palace. He also tells us it was early still. So it's shortly after sunrise. He also tells us that they, the Sanhedrin, didn't go into the Praetorium. Why not? Because they were Jews, and they were about to celebrate the Passover, and to go inside a Gentile building would make them defiled. They wanted to eat the Passover. They hadn't eaten the Passover that day. So Pilate brings Jesus inside, and they remain outside. And we learn here from John that Pilate went out to them and asked, What accusation do you bring against this man? And they said to him, Look, if he weren't an evildoer, we wouldn't have brought him to you. So Pilate said, well then fine, take him yourselves and judge him according to your own law. So Pilate, at first, sought to return Jesus back to the Sanhedrin. He says, I don't have any jurisdiction over this. You judge him and you sentence him according to your own law. If Jesus has violated some tenet of your law, given by God, by the way, then it's a matter for you, the Jewish court, to take him. But they resist that idea. Why? Because they're not looking for justice. They want Jesus put to death. They're taking him to the one people who can put him to death. And under Roman law, they can't do that. So they respond to Pilate in John's gospel, we're not permitted to put anyone to death. Luke tells us, they began to accuse him, saying, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Now, yes, he said he was the Messiah, but the rest of this is lies. He didn't tell anybody not to pay taxes to Caesar. In fact, he said, render to Caesar that which is Caesar's. He wasn't misleading the nation. So if the Jews, though, were going to obtain the execution that they were seeking, they had to find some violation of Roman law that called for the death penalty. So they conjured up these alleged offenses, that he was misleading the nation, that he was trying to persuade people not to pay taxes to Caesar. But all of these accusations amounted to one thing. It was a charge that they hadn't even brought against Jesus. And that was that he was a revolutionary against Rome, that he was a seditionist, a politically dangerous person. Now Pilate is sitting there and he's got something in common with the Pharisees that we've seen throughout Matthew's Gospel. He is more interested than anything else in retaining his power and his position. He wants to retain his position and his status. So Pilate goes back in to the Praetorium. We see this again in John's Gospel. And he asks Jesus to be brought to him. And he asks him, are you the king of the Jews? And the emphasis is on the word you. Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus says to him, are you saying this on your own initiative or did others tell you about me? And Pilate says, look, I'm not a Jew. Your own nation and chief priests brought you to me. What have you done? Jesus said, and these words are so critical, John 18, 36, my kingdom is not of this world. Yes, he's a king. His kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be out there fighting for me. So I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews in the first place. My kingdom is not of this realm. His kingdom is a spiritual, eternal kingdom. Pilate answers, so you are a king? You correctly say that I am a king, Jesus said. For this I have been born. Now look at this. For this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. It matters whether we believe Jesus or somebody else. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Now Pilate is quoted then as saying, what is truth? And then he goes back out to the Jews and he pronounces his verdict. I find no guilt in him. Not guilty. Pilate finds him not guilty. Luke records the same thing. Pilate heard the accusations against Jesus. He then questioned Jesus concerning the accusations. He heard Jesus' response. He found Jesus not guilty. They didn't turn around and leave and say, well, we lost the case. They stayed at it. Luke tells us they kept on insisting He stirs up the people. He's teaching all over Judea. He started in Galilee, even as far as this place. Well, Pilate hears Galilee. Galilee is 70 miles to the north. And Herod Antipas is the Tetrarch, the ruler, a governor of Galilee. It's one-fourth of the land that had been Israel. Herod happens to be in Jerusalem at the time. When Pilate heard, he said, is this guy a Galilean? And he heard that, and he knew that he was one under the jurisdiction of Herod, he sent him to Herod. Pilate does not want to decide this case. So he sends him to Herod, who happens to be in Jerusalem. He thought he might be able to get rid of this case. That's what he wants, is rid of this case. I don't want to make a decision because whatever decision I make, I'm either going to anger these chief priests and the Jewish leaders. I may anger this crowd. I don't want to anger the emperor on the other hand. Now Jesus is brought before Herod. Luke 23.8. Herod was glad to see Jesus. And he was hoping to see some sign performed by him. Herod's glad to see Jesus, but he doesn't want to hear Jesus preach. He wants to be entertained by Jesus. He wants to see these great powers he's heard about. Look, many are drawn to the awesome works of God. Many are awed by the works of God, even today and even in the lives of some who profess to be Christians, but few desire to submit to his authority. So Herod questions Jesus, but Jesus doesn't answer him at all. He answered him nothing. Now the chief priests, where are they? They're still there. They followed Jesus from their own court to Pilate. Now they followed him from Pilate. And the chief priests and the scribes are there and they're accusing Jesus before Herod. Herod, we're told, treated him with contempt and mocked him, and then dressed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. He takes this royal robe and puts it on Jesus, mocking him, and says, go back to Pilate. Herod doesn't want anything to do with this either. And it doesn't seem that he applied any punishment of a physical nature. So Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate wearing this robe. And it's a robe intended to humiliate Jesus. And it appears that it's at this point that Matthew picks up the narrative in chapter 27, verse 11, although I can't be certain of that and nobody can. But remember, Matthew is likely summarizing this whole series of events in just four verses. Matthew isn't giving us all of this, so that's why we go to these other Gospels. Pilate sees the following as the key question to be asked of Jesus, and he asks it again. Are you the king of the Jews? This question is identical in all four Gospels. All four Gospels record Pilate asking this question of Jesus, and in all four, in the Greek language, the you is emphatic. Are you the king of the Jews? Now look, he looks at Jesus. He sees a peasant-like character. This is not a rich person, this is not one who held high position, had no wealth, he had no soldiers, he had no army. There was nothing about him that made him appear to be like earthly kings. But Pilate could also see this was no revolutionary. He wasn't out there rabble-rousing the crowds and trying to overthrow Caesar. So he asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus' answer is not yes, and it's not no, but it is in the affirmative. His answer is, you are saying it. It is as you say. If he said yes, Pilate would have thought, well, he was claiming to be an earthly king, and that maybe he was, in fact, trying to lead a rebellion. But to say no would be untrue, would negate the fact that he was a king. So his answer means he was a king not in the way you mean, not in the way you understand it. He's not an earthly king. He isn't seeking the throne of Tiberius or any other throne on earth. His kingdom is not of this realm. And the whole issue of whether we're going to follow Christ or not comes down to are we living in that kingdom, in his realm? Are we on a path, a narrow road to that city where he is king? Or are we simply willing to settle for what we can get out of this kingdom and this realm? Jesus' answer here, though, doesn't incriminate him in any way. Yes, he's a king, but not in a way that is in opposition directly to Caesar. Now there's something really interesting about Jesus' answers to these questions and His refusal to answer other questions. Notice that again, the only questions Jesus is willing to answer are those that have to do with His identity, with who He is. He told the Sanhedrin that He's the Son of God, that He's the Messiah, that He's the Anointed One sent by God, And now in answer to Pilate's question, he does affirm that he is indeed a king, but he doesn't answer any of these accusations against him. Not before Caiaphas, not before Pilate, and not before Herod. Whenever he's asked a question, here's what they accuse you, how do you plead? He remains silent. He does not at any time ever respond to the allegations. He does respond when asked who he is. He's the son of God. So, when Pilate asked Jesus about these charges, which probably included blasphemy in addition to the charge of sedition against Rome, he didn't respond. He would not respond to these frivolous and false charges. And while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, Matthew tells us, he did not answer. Here's Pilate asking these questions, asking, did you do these things? And with all the eyes of the crowd and the chief priests and everybody fixed on him, he just looks innocently at the governor. Silence must have been deafening. People waiting for his answer. There's no answer. He's not going to respond to those charges. Not a word. And this fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 53 7 that he did not open his mouth. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. Remember, he's doing this all voluntarily and according to the eternal divine decree. Well, Pilate asked him, verses 13 and 14 in Matthew 27, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? And he did not answer him with regard to even a single charge. As one translator translates this, not even a single utterance. So that the governor was quite amazed. Remember, Pilate's already declared that he found no guilt in Jesus. He's already pronounced him not guilty. He'd reached his verdict. So why is he continuing this interrogation? Why didn't he send everybody home? I think we know the answer, because he was a coward. He lived and he acted in fear. Sanhedrin wasn't satisfied with a not guilty verdict, and now, stirred up by the priests of the Sanhedrin, neither was the crowd. Jesus refused to offer a defense against what everybody knew were frivolous and false charges. He remained silent as a lamb led to slaughter, ready to suffer unjustly. Why? For the wickedness of others. All of us. That's why. That's why he's silent. Well, Pilate isn't done trying to extricate himself from this. He's announced him not guilty. He sent him to Herod. He's told them he doesn't see any guilt. And with the Jews still demanding Jesus' death, he tries something else. He proposes a compromise. He proposes he'll have Jesus scourged and then release him. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll punish him. We'll take him in there and whip him unmercifully. And we're going to see this scourging will be an extreme and extraordinarily painful form of torture. Pilate agrees to do that as a compromise. And then release him, he says. Luke 23, 14, I found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against him. Nor is Herod, he says, for he sent him back to us. And behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him." That's important because that is what makes him a suitable sacrifice for our sins. That's what makes him the unblemished lamb that God required, that he foreshadowed in the Jewish sacrifices. Therefore, Pilate says, I'll punish him and release him. He again pronounces him not guilty. He never found Jesus guilty of anything. And he keeps trying to find a way to escape this situation. He appears at times to be seeking justice, but only up to a point, not where his own hide is going to be in danger. He found Jesus not guilty at least twice. He tried returning him to the Sanhedrin. He tried sending him to Herod. He tried this compromise. But they rejected it as well. They reject his proposal to whip Jesus unmercifully. Pilate tries something else, a fourth means of evasion, maybe a fifth. He tries to get rid of this by making use of a custom, not a God-ordained custom, but a custom at the festival, apparently of Passover, to permit the Jews to choose a prisoner of their own nationality to be released during the Passover feast of eight days. 2715 at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner they wanted now at that time They're holding this prisoner. He's gonna give him a choice. This guy is a rebel. He is a seditionist He's an insurrectionist and a murderer named Barabbas Mark 15-7 Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. Luke 23-19 Barabbas was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city and for murder. Well, Pilate's thinking, they're not going to ask to have this guy released. They're going to ask to have Jesus released. Remember, it's only five days after Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey colt in fulfillment of Scripture to the hosannas of the crowds. Now, some of those crowds were from Galilee. They had come with him. Some of them, though, were local and had seen or heard of his raising Lazarus from the tomb. Jesus was a celebrated hero that day. He taught in the temple for two days after that and was healing people. He had great popularity for two or three days in Jerusalem. Pilate knows these things and he's thinking, surely they'll pick this one who they proclaimed as the son of David, the Messiah. And this way it'll be the Jews' decision, not his. He's trying not to make this decision. So, he calls in the Sanhedrin. And he submits this proposition to them. Now, 2718, this is interesting, Matthew tells us that Pilate knew that the reason the Sanhedrin hated him and handed him over was envy. So he knows that Jesus has this popularity among the crowds. They were calling him Messiah, the long-awaited one, waited for for hundreds and hundreds of years. So Pilate probably reasoned that surely they're going to pick Jesus as the one to be released. And right as he's about to make the decision, at the critical moment, when he's laid this decision upon the Jews, he's sitting on the judges chair and in comes a messenger. He's interrupted. He's sitting on the judgment seat and his wife, whose name may have been Claudia Procla, some traditions tell us that, he's sitting there. She sends him a message and the message says, have nothing to do with that righteous man. For last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him. Now where is this coming from? We don't know. Some say it's a message coming from God, some say it's coming from Satan who's trying to stop this act of redemption that Jesus is about to perform. We don't know that. By the way, Pilate's wife, Procla, or Claudia Procla they call her, is considered a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church on the basis of this alone, and whatever extra-biblical... The Egyptian Christian Church honors her memory because of this. There's no basis for any of that, but they do. In any event, people in antiquity, remember, they paid attention to dreams. I mean, God had used dreams with Daniel and Joseph and others. So it's not surprising that Pilate's wife has this dream and figures it's really important to get it to Pilate. She was not permitted to enter the court, we're told, but she could send this message. But here she is interceding on behalf of Jesus. And that's why, of course, she's elevated in some circles. But she is telling her husband, don't condemn. And look at how she describes him. That righteous man. That innocent man. Chief priests and elders, meanwhile, are demanding that Jesus be put to death. Here He is. Crucify Him. Don't have anything to do with it. He's got the decision out there with the crowd. Look at verse 20, Matthew 27. The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds. Mark says, stirred up the crowds to ask for Barabbas. So the chief priests in the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas and all of them didn't just sit there and say, well, crowd, what do you think? No, no. They went out there and lobbied. Release Barabbas. Release Barabbas. This guy's dangerous. And it worked. They persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. Pilate asked, which of the two do you want me to release? And they said, Barabbas. It had to come as a surprise to Pilate, to put it mildly. His scheme to free Jesus had failed again. He seems to have underestimated the influence of the Sanhedrin, and he seems to have overestimated the morality of the crowds. How could all this happen? Well, let's remember, God permitted His Son to go through this. God decreed these things would happen. Jesus prophesied these things would happen. He knew when He left Galilee these things were going to happen. He knew Judas was going to betray Him then. None of this came as a surprise to Him. And God permitted His Son even to be humiliated in this way, to be placed below even a robber and a murderer like Barabbas. But Christ humbled Himself and accepted this humiliation so that He might obtain for us heavenly glory, so that He might obtain for us a reconciliation with God. We were separated from God. If he hadn't gone through this, we never could have been reconciled to God. He was the only one. Everybody's pronouncing him innocent. There's an affirmation even from the wicked. He did this so we could enter into that city of God that I'm always talking about. He did this to open up that road, narrow as it may be, so that we could walk it as his disciples. They want Barabbas free. Well, then Pilate says a second question, well, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They said crucify Him. Let Him be crucified. Folks, this isn't like firing squad. This isn't like an electric chair. This is a horrifying way of death. Pilate asks a third question. Why? What evil has he done? but they kept shouting, all the more saying crucify him. Pilate tries three different questions even at this stage, each of which gives the crowd an opportunity to call for the release of Jesus or at the least some leniency in sentencing. What Matthew shows is the people began to follow those Jewish leaders. This is why Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD by God at the hands of the, using the hands of the Romans. So now the crowds are also demanding the death of Jesus. They kept calling out, Luke says, crucify, crucify him. They were insistent. Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for, who'd been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder. So the people in Jerusalem rejected the king that God had sent to them. And they chose to be deprived of the hope of a promised redemption and entrance into the city of God, to the New Jerusalem. They weren't going to get into the New Jerusalem if they were going to refuse the one who came to make it possible. Pilate saw he was accomplishing nothing. He says that a riot was starting, Matthew does. And then Pilate took water washed his hands in front of the crowd. He did pronounce another verdict. He said, I am innocent of this man's blood. Pilate could have stopped this. He could have tried. I'm innocent. Innocent I am of the blood of this just one. It's a better translation. Jesus is innocent and so is he. Only Matthew records this about the hand-washing. He portrays for us a frustrated pilot, a guy seeking a way to release Jesus, who he knows to be innocent, but a guy who's lacking the courage to simply do what is right. Sometimes we're going to have some bridges to cross. Sometimes we're going to be called upon to just do the right thing. That's what happened here, and he failed miserably. Chief priests were clearly determined to have him executed, and they got their way. And now it's even the crowds, some of whom were almost certainly in that crowd yelling Hosanna five days earlier. So he's washing his hands, indicating he's innocent. And of course, he's mistaken. He did have the final say. What he didn't have was courage. So he tries to appease his own conscience in this way, put the blame on the crowds. And the people were willing to accept the blame, at least in their words. Verse 25, all the people said, His blood shall be on us and on our children. The responsibility is ours, they say. But see, they were all guilty. Pilate, Judas, the chief priests, Caiaphas, Annas, the elders, the crowd, all of them were guilty. His blood on us and our children. Moses had taught the Jews that the impact of the sins of the fathers, and that's kind of a misunderstood passage, that the impact of the sins of the fathers would be felt down to the third and fourth generations. We should bear in mind this was for them no more than this thoughtless assumption of responsibility. They couldn't commit their children to punishment for what they were doing. Even if they did, they couldn't bind God to carry out some punishment against their children. They offer to take this off the governor's hands and take the guilt themselves. They assume all responsibility. If there's any punishment because of this, we'll take it. And they did. 70 A.D. the entire city was destroyed. The people scattered. So Pilate had tried that compromise earlier and that he would scourge Jesus and let him go back in Luke 23, 16. In Luke 23, 22, he tries it one last time. Gonna have him scourged? But it wasn't enough for them. I want to tell you just a little bit about this scourging. It's important that we know it. The gospel writers don't write a lot about it. But here's one quote, and I think most of this comes from Josephus. Here's the scourging. Stripped of clothes, the body was bent forward across a low pillar, and the back was stretched and exposed to the blows. In order to hold the body in position, the victim's hands were tied to rings in the floor in the front, at the base of the pillar, and his feet to rings behind. Two whips were used, one from each side. One whip and another. The whips had several thongs, each one. It wasn't just one whip, it was maybe eight, six. And each thong at the end had a piece of sharp metal or bone. The effect of this was horrifying. The skin and the flesh would be gashed, like with a knife, with these whips. And it would be gashed right to the bone. Because these ends of the lashes were armed. So there'd be deep, bloody holes torn in the victim's body. And men sometimes died under this. If you want to read more about it, you can read it in Josephus. But one can picture Jesus after the scourging, covered with these horrible bruises. Remember, he's shown up with his face covered with spit and beaten. Now he's got these horrible lacerations and welts. He did this for us. This was for us. All he gained from this was us. Isaiah 53, 5, He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him. This punishment for us fell upon Him. And by His scourging, we are healed. Now that is not talking about healing yourself of physical things. That's healing yourself of the effects of your sin. By his scourging, we are healed. We can come into that city. And as I said, none of the gospel writers dwells a lot on these dreadful sufferings. Modern times, we do. There's hymns all over the place about these things, and that's okay. But the gospel writers were more interested in the meaning of what Jesus endured. Our well-being. He was crushed for our iniquities. They were more interested in the meaning, as was Isaiah, rather than the details of the suffering. And sometime after this flogging, Pilate handed him over to be crucified. Here's the things we should know about this. I'm always amazed at these signs. Exciting, relevant teaching. I can't give you anything exciting about this. And I can't add anything to it. If this doesn't speak to you, I can't make it speak to you. This doesn't make you want to follow this man and serve him the rest of your life. I can't make you do that. But I'll tell you what, he chose to stand before that cowardly judge, Pilate. and the Sanhedrin, and He chose to endure the reproach of those people to whom He had offered eternal glory in order to save us, to cleanse the stain of sin from us, to heal us of our sin, and to reconcile us to God. How many of us would stand silent when falsely accused? But he did. He stood silent in the face of false accusations so that he could now speak, intercede for us with the Father. He was silent so that we can now boast of his grace and mercy and love. He stood before a mortal man and permitted himself to be accused and condemned as a criminal so that we would one day stand before God wearing the robe of his righteousness. That's why his enemy sought to stain him with everlasting shame. But we look to him and we see the glory that lies ahead and somebody who loves us more than we can imagine. And one day. Those evil men in the Sanhedrin and pilots and those crowds and all who reject Christ unrepentantly. And all who reject his atoning death on the cross that day will stand before him. And he's going to be the judge on that day. And they're going to be sentenced to everlasting punishment. But those who truly believe in Him, and by that I mean those who've given their lives to Him and followed His commands and turned from their sin, those will live in blessedness and glory that we can only begin to imagine. And so, if you haven't surrendered your life to Him, He calls you to do that. He calls you to do it right now. We want you to show up every Sunday. We want you to show up every Wednesday when the Lord comes to meet with us here. But that alone will not save you. Last Sunday, we invited people to declare their faith and trust in His righteousness and His offering of Himself. And I just want to say to you, if you've never done that and surrendered your life over to Him, I invite you to do that. to declare your faith in Him, your love for Him, and your willingness to follow Him. And if you do that, we'd want to know about it so we can pray for you and celebrate that joyous thing. O Lord, we thank you for your great love for us. It's a love with which we are not truly familiar. It's a love we fail to return, but desire to return, Lord. We thank you that you would undergo the most difficult of earthly punishments to make possible for us and to assure us of the most blessed of eternities. So, Lord, we give you praise and worship. We profess our gratitude to you, our faith in you, our love for you. We ask, Lord, that you, by your Spirit, would equip us to share this truth and break through the noise that keeps people from coming to you. We pray these things in Jesus' name.