We are having the Lord's table. We'll have it after this after the sermon this morning. And we have done it in the times past. We haven't done that for a while, but today we will. And as you have been singing and reading and paying attention to the words, did you pick the subject for this morning if you haven't looked at the app already? Rock. OK, that was somewhere I heard that. So the rock rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. And so be looking at the Lord Jesus as the rock. You know, it's hard for mortal man, a mortal man to describe the Lord Jesus Christ because he is God. And so from the scriptures, we'll do the best we can in presenting the Lord Jesus in this way. I don't know that we'll go on and continue because we'll be back into doctrine, but there is at least four sermons in and from the book of Isaiah where Isaiah paints portraits of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you read through Isaiah next, and I trust you do read through your Bible, but as you get there, mark those verses somehow in color or outline or write them down, all the verses that prophesy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's portraits everywhere. He is one of the main in the Old Testament that painted as many pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he is immortal, inspired by the spirit of God, penned these things down. And we'll look at just three of those this morning. And so let's pray and ask the Lord to guide us as we do. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your word. Thank you, Lord, that we can come into your presence, being the supreme God of all the universe. the creator of all things. But let us, Lord, come and understand and try to comprehend with our mere mortal minds the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Heavenly Father, we'll soon be there and we'll see you face to face. And I pray that in all our life, in all our actions, we might be preparing ourselves for that meeting as we get to know you through your word and through fellowship and through our commitment. And Lord, may our commitment be so deep that nothing else occupies our mind when we seek to study you in your word. And Lord, to see your face in the word and Lord, the devil would like to distract us away from the great and almighty Lord Jesus Christ. But Lord, may we concentrate and think and meditate on the wonderful things even this morning. Bless the sermon as it goes forward. Heavenly Father, be with those that can't be here because of sickness. Minister to them and their ailments and may they be able to tune in today. Lord, we pray for each teacher in the Sunday school class as they start again this year, this day, that you'd bless them, help them to gear the message to the understanding of the children they minister to. Lord, what a blessing to have children in the church. A lot of churches don't have children. And we thank you for each one of them and each parent that brings them along. And may they not send them along, but come with them to church. Lord, bless now. And Lord, we think of the folks up north in the area of the floods and be with each of the churches and the physical aspect of the church. Also, Lord, the The people that can't get in and out and their food and all the situation, Lord, they've been warned, but it's probably worse than they thought. And I pray, Lord, that you protect their mortal bodies and, Lord, that they might be able to recover from all the effects of these things that you send, the rain on the just and the unjust. Minister now for your glory and praise in Jesus name. Amen. Let's turn back in our Bibles to the book of Isaiah. the book of Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. And we're not doing these in order as they come in the book of Isaiah, so we'll be moving around. And each of the three main points has one or more verses in the book of Isaiah that specifically speaks of the point we're making here, the making of the Lord Jesus. And this is a well-known verse. We read it usually at Christmastime. For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it, justice, righteousness, it will be from henceforth forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. As we look around the world today, it's so far from the reality of what Jesus will bring. And for people that read a verse like this and say, and I've been told, there's no mention of Christ at his kingdom. There's no coming kingdom. There's no millennium. I just look and say, what Bible are they reading or are they reading their Bible? Look at it. So clear there. And you get to Jeremiah, chapter 16, 17, 31, 30, and all those passages speak of the king. The king cometh unto thee, writing upon an ass in the New Testament as well. So here we have a Mention unto us a child is born unto us, a son, Christ, the son. Let's consider Christ, the son, for a little time to start with. Turning to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 22 and verse 42. Well, we'll start at 41. Well, that's Matthew 22, 41. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them. He took every opportunity. He knew who the crowd was made up of, usually by their dress, even in Israel today, the way they dress. And he knew that the Pharisees were there saying, he said, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Whose son is he? They didn't know they're put in the trap when they mentioned or when they said anything. They say unto him, the son of David, of course, haven't you read the Bible? He said unto them, how then does David in the spirit call him Lord? How can a son, a father call a son a Lord? It's not done that way. It's the other way around. If anything, the Lord and he's quoting the Old Testament, their Bible, he said, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit down on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If and that hell has prophetic ramifications, he is seated at the right hand of the father until he's all the enemies are brought into subjection. Mentioned in First Corinthians, the middle of chapter 15. If David then called him Lord, how is he his son? That's not the way it works. That's not the way it's written. That's not the way it's done. Why? If you question the Lord Jesus Christ in front of a crowd and you're wrong and you've got the wrong attitude and motive, be prepared to be humbled. because that's what he will do. And he did do that right in front of them, not just the Pharisees, but the rest of the people. And I can just see the crowd there and they they're listening. And then they then they turn around and look, eyeball every Pharisee that's there. Do you hear him? Did you hear what he just said? Why can't you answer him? I think the the local people just enjoyed what the Lord Jesus did to these These hypocrites, these people that kept everyone in subjection with their religiosity and not with spirituality and not with Bible. Whose son is he? That's the question, whose son is he? And then he used that illustration, just one verse from the Old Testament, he pulled out. What think ye of Christ? Matthew chapter one, back to here. Mentions of the son. Whose son is he? Well, let's look. Chapter 1 and verse 1 of Matthew, then, of the book of the generations of Jesus Christ. And then right up to start, it says the son of David, just just what we've read. And how can David call him Lord if he's if Christ is David's son? So here we have the son of David because he descended. And and then he gives the genealogy in Matthew. And I think it's Luke, isn't it? Luke, the genealogies of the Lord Jesus Christ and traces him right back to Abraham so that you can be sure that he's of the seed of Abraham and of the seed of Adam. It goes right back to Adam. And that's why we know what when we read the genealogies that you can fit the Old Testament versus all with those those names and say it's 4000 years to Christ from creation. There's one generation, one their name that you have to work out in those generations. But he's a son of David. And that's what a son will sit on the throne. One of your sons will sit on the throne. The Lord Jesus Christ will sit on the throne. In fact, in the millennium, what is it going to be like in the kingdom? Thy kingdom come when it happens. Who's going to be sitting on the throne? The Lord Jesus, who else is sitting on the throne as co-regent? David, because he was promised that position in a resurrected body, reigning from Jerusalem, reigning in the new world order of the Lord Jesus Christ over the world. David. Would you like that? Yes, because he is a just man in what he did with people. And he was benevolent. He was not a king that shouted everyone the orders. He was a servant that ministered with the people. He went out in front of the people in the army. He was up front. He didn't tell them how to run. He showed them how to win the battle, didn't he? What was his first battle he had when he was only a lad? Goliath. He took on the biggest first and he put Goliath down. Son of David. Let's go to verse 1 again. And the son of? Abraham, the son of Abraham, whose son is he? Son of David, son of Abraham. Chapter one, verse 21 of Matthew. And he shall bring forth a son or she sorry, she shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreters, it is God with us. son of David son of Abraham here the son of Mary the son of Mary it says it in those verses that we just read he came into this world through Mary the virgin birth chapter 3 of the book of Matthew and verse 17 3 verse 17 and lo A voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Who said he's his son there? God the Father. This is my beloved son. Whose son is he? Well, he's all of the son. And who are we? We are the sons of God through Jesus Christ. What a privilege. What a blessing. So son of David, son of Abraham, son of Mary, the son of the father, the beloved son, as is given there. Chapter 8 and verse 20 of the book of Matthew 8 20. Whose son is he? It reads there, And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nest, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. The son of man. It was made in the likeness of man. He took upon him the form of a man and the son of man. He did that so that he might be, as in Ruth, the kinsman redeemer. He's a fellow person. He is tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. And so he became the son of man, a kinsman redeemer. All these things are fulfilled. God in eternity past planned all this down to the last jot and tittle, that he be the sons of, as mentioned so far. Then chapter 13 of the book of Matthew and verse 55. We're only going through the gospel of Matthew, not the others. In chapter 13, 55, it says this. Is not this the, now these are all given from different perspectives, from different people, as you see it. And this is the local folks in Nazareth. Is not this the carpenter's son? He made me a chair. He made me a cupboard. He did these things. The carpenter's son. Is not his mother called Mary, and his brother James, and Joseph, and Simeon, and Judas? These is his half-brothers. The carpenter's son. The carpenter's son. So if you're a carpenter, rejoice that the Lord did carpentry. And he did his apprenticeship with his father in his shop, and he made things there. The carpenter's son. He subjected himself, it says, from that age of 12. The story goes, as you read it in the Gospels, unto his parents until that time appointed to the father where he would go get baptized. And this is my beloved son, it would be said to him. There's a spirit descended upon him, the carpenter's son. So he did manual labor. Manual labor is not wrong. He, the son of God, the son of David, the son of Mary, The Beloved Son did this task. Then you go to Matthew chapter 14 and verse 33. Matthew 14, 33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of the truth thou art the son of God. Now, yeah, OK, it goes with this is my beloved son at the baptism of a truth. This is a son of God. A miracle performed here. He walked on the water. He stilled the storm. Who else can this be but the son of God? With all these things being said, the majority of people didn't believe on him. Whose son is he? Whose son is he? Son of God. The eternal Son of God, by the way. He's not just born of Mary and then became a son of God. He was always Father, Son and Holy Spirit for eternity past. Matthew 27. As I said, we're just in Matthew. Referring to the Son. And I like this testimony coming from this person of all people. who participated in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, may have even used a hammer to drive the nails through his and pierced his body, may have driven the sword into his side. We don't know which one it was, but listen to the testimony of this one, Matthew 27 and verse 54. It says there, now when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, that the darkness for three hours from midday to three in the afternoon and all the things that were done and how that Jesus gave up the spirit He died before he should have. Normally they would last longer on a cross in agony, but he gave his spirit, wasn't taken from him. You see, he gave for God so loved the world. He gave his unabegotten Son and the Lord gave himself. This man feared greatly saying, saying what? And I pray that unsaved people say this too. This was the son of God. Here's a testimony for an unsaved soldier, rough and ready and seeing all the things that happened at the time of the crucifixion. This was truly this was the son of God. Would to God that every person in the world, I don't know, we might see that man, that soldier in heaven. Were you the one that said that? There's a lot of meetings in heaven from all the Bible verses we know. So we've seen the Lord Jesus, as Isaiah said, portraits of Isaiah, of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ the Son, unto us a son is given. He's whose son is he as he asked himself that the Pharisees that question put them to shame. Son of David, son of Abraham, son of Mary, the beloved son, son of man, the carpenter's son, the son of God. And truly, this was the son of God from that man. Now, according to First John, and we've gone through that in detail study a few, maybe a year ago, you know, in our prayer meeting. But in First John, chapter four and verse 15, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. You need to confess that he is deity. He is God in the flesh. He is the son of God to be saved. If you don't confess that, if you won't confess that, you're not going to heaven. And then back over in chapter four and verse three of first John, it says, and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Speaking of his humanity, deity and humanity, we must confess that he is and was He was in the flesh in the past in the stories of the Gospels, but you need to confess that you might have eternal life, the Son, just as that rough and tumbled soldier did at the cross when he saw these things. Let's go to the book of Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28 and verse 16. Another portrait we take. You see, when you take one out, you can go through all the other verses that tie or many of them, not all of them, that tie with the New Testament and other references in the old. And this is a big one. What's a stone? It's a rock. a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste or in another person portion. He that believeth shall not be ashamed. He is the rock. He is the cornerstone. And we need to recognize that he is the rock. And this theme is developed extensively through the Bible. Look at Exodus chapter 17. Maybe I'll just read that to you. 17 verse 6, Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that people may drink. It's just feeding or satisfying the thirst of the children of Israel in the wilderness in the sight of the elders of Israel. So Moses was told to take the rod and what do? Smite the rock. And water, it says in other verses, gushed out. What is your mind thinking? The rock was smitten. Who was the picturing? The Lord Jesus Christ. When was he smitten? At Calvary. And when he was smitten, the water of life gushed out and is open to any and everybody of all time. The water of life. And where do you have that in the Gospels? A whole chapter almost is given to this. The woman at the well. Drink of this water. You'll never thirst again. You know, it's wonderful. And we could go there. We won't. In Isaiah 53, verse four, we did esteem him smitten, stricken of God and afflicted, smitten. The rock was smitten. Moses smote the rock and they didn't know. Not even Moses understood what he was doing. I mean, just to meet the needs of the children of Israel for water. But he didn't realize that in the future one would be smitten from whom waters would gush out. And I like the saying gushed out. It was like an overflow. It says overflowing. The wadis and the waterways at that time were overflowing with the water that came from that rock. It would have been a wonderful miracle to behold. But still, they didn't believe. You know, they still rebelled in the wilderness even after that water was given to them. Doesn't it picture a Christian who's not walking with the Lord, is not obeying him, We've partaken of the water of life that come from heaven above of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we still don't obey him in our Christian lives. Let's not mock and laugh at the children of Israel. We do that, too. And it says over in First Corinthians, First Corinthians, Chapter 10 and verse four. And speaking of the occasion we just looked at in Exodus, did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock. that followed them and that rock was Christ's rock. He is the rock. As Isaiah said, 28 and verse 16, and the spiritual rock that followed them, not realizing, as I've already mentioned, and Paul here is bringing it to their attention or to the Corinthians attention at the time he wrote that. In the Old Testament, in the book of Psalms and verse 2 of chapter 40, I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me also up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. And what did He do when He pulled us out? You can imagine. Pulled this fellow. All the mud's dripping off him. I've seen it literally happen with a fun fellow I was working with, or for. and an EPA, Environmental Protection Agency person from the government, went into a pit like this, and they grabbed her and helped her out. And she looked different than when she went in. She was always miry, awful from the potatoes. It was bubbling. There was methane and everything in there. The farmer tried to cover it up, and she put the foot in it, and she went down. And that's like us. We've been pulled out of the miry pit. Now, what did he do when he took us out of the pit? He washed us with pure water, but he set our feet on a rock. A what rock? None other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He set our feet on a rock. Have you your feet set on a rock? And for the sake of time, we won't go there. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the rock of ages. 2 Samuel 22, 47 says the Lord giveth And blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. So he's the rock of salvation, the smitten rock, the spiritual rock, the sure rock on which he's put our feet, the salvation rock, as it says in 2 Samuel 22, 47. Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the rock of my salvation. Let him be exalted. And Psalm 71. Psalm 71 verse 3 says this, Be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort. Thou hast given commandment to save me, for Thou art my rock and my fortress." He's a secure rock. We can go there for a habitation that we can continually resort to because we are facing things in life all the time that we need to resort to the rock. Go back Look at the Lord Jesus and continually say, He is in charge. He knows the things I'm going through. And you continually resort back to the rock and the protection there, a secure rock. a sheltering rock. We probably double up on some of the sayings, but these verses point this out in Chapter 61 of Psalms and verses 1 to 4. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer from the end of the earth. I will cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Lead me to the rock. This probably is one of the Ways of explaining the Lord Jesus more than any other. The rock, the stone, smitten rock, spiritual rock, sure rock, salvation rock, secure rock. And here a sheltering rock. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for there has been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. Let him be so in our lives as we walk the Christian pathway. The sheltering rock, the strengthening rock. This is in Psalm 31. And notice David writing a lot of Psalms. I'm not saying that he wrote every one we're referring to, but the rock is constantly brought before us. Chapter 33, verse 1. Rejoice, O Lord. In the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with the harp. There's our harp. Sort of. The piano. The harp. And sing unto him with the paltry and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song. Play with a skillful and a loud noise. So praise the Lord, sing unto him a new song. The word there, rock, is not in that, but it's he who we sing to, isn't it? We sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs according to the book of Ephesians, chapter four. And he can be our strengthening rock. Thank you. I was going to say, haven't anyone pointed it out to me yet? It goes with the servant. We sing unto the rock. In thee, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. I was over in chapter 33. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily, for thou art my what? Rock. Strong rock. And I keep on looking at, you can't help it when you've done it all your life, that bigger bulldozers than I had pushing rocks. And I know what they're thinking, I know what they're doing. They're getting it to go over and down the mountain. And just watch it see what it can destroy on its way down. and D11s and they're pushing this big rock, smoke pouring off the blade and I can smell it just looking at it without even being there, the flint smell of it on the granite rock. And you roll it out and off it goes down the hill. I did it and I told you I've done it and yak and dander pushed a rock over the hill and the farmer was, yeah, yeah, yeah, do it, let's do it. I said, road down there? No, I won't get to the road. a main road, bitumen road. We went off and we just watched it as it went down the hill. It picked up speed and hit trees and they just splintered mid-air. There was a dead tree and then it kept on going and it stopped before the road. But the power in the rock, a strong rock, and we need to be strengthened by putting our trust in the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is none other. a successful rock. We won't turn there, but in Matthew 16, verse 18, Jesus said, And I say unto thee, Thou art, finish the verse. You should know the Bible. Peter, and upon this rock, not Peter, referring to himself, the Lord Jesus, I will build my church. So he's a successful rock. He's building his church. He's been building it for 2,000 years, and he's still building it. And we say, oh, Lord, when are you going to finish? He's still building it. And as Romans 11, 25 says, he's going to do it until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And he will be successful about it. And ask and look at the number of redeemed souls in heaven one day. a successful rock, and he has been doing that. Daniel, what vision did he have? The first vision that he interpreted was a vision of a man, gold head, silver, brass, iron, and iron and clay, and a man, an image of a man. And Nebuchadnezzar got proud about this, and he built a bigger image and tried to say, this is me. Everyone bow, but that's another story. And so in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 34, it says there, Thou sawest until a stone, a rock, was cut out without hands, which smote the image of the man upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then with the iron and clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broke in pieces together and become like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away and no place was standing for them anymore. The stone, the smoke, the image become a great mountain and filled the whole earth. You get all that? I pray if you know the Bible, you would have got all what was just being said there. The image was an image of the, as the interpretation is given, of all the empires of the world, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Grecian, the Roman, and the revived Roman Empire. That's the whole image. And a stone was cut out without hands on it. Hit that image and decimated the image. What is it decimating? All the empires of the world. What do they amount to? A hill of beans, a hill of dust, a hill of chaff. That's what it's saying. They're just chaff. Even today, you say, oh, they're powerful. No, no, not compared with the rock. And he will smite them. And when he smites them, his kingdom will fill the whole earth, a universal kingdom with David and the Lord Jesus reigning at Jerusalem. And you have the interpretation given in verse 44. Well, let's look at that in Daniel, Daniel, chapter two and verse 44. And we read. And the days of this kingdom, in the days of the kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, that filled the whole earth. And the kingdom shall not be left to another people, like every other kingdom has been left to another kingdom that overtook it. But it shall break in pieces, consume all the kingdoms, and it shall stand forever, forever and ever and ever. For as much as thou sawest the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, it's God that did this, and it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God hath made known to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, what shall come to pass hereafter. The dream is certain, and the interpretation is sure. Who said this? God said this through to Daniel here in this, and he said it to Nebuchadnezzar the king. Matthew chapter 7. If we go to Matthew chapter 7. Verse 24. And it reads there, therefore, whosoever here with these sayings of mine and do with them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock. The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded not upon a rock. That's your life, that's your being, that's your person. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them shall be likened unto a do with them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house on the sand, the things of this world only. And the rain descended. And we sing it in Sunday school, don't we? And the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon the house, like up there in North Queensland right now, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. Great is the fall of a person that does not put their feet on the rock, the Lord Jesus. The fall is eternal. The fall results in hell. and fiery judgment for all eternity. Great. God says great is the fall of a person that doesn't build their life on the Lord Jesus. Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ. None other. Build on the rock. Are you a foolish or a wise man? And in Matthew chapter 21, Matthew 21 and verse 44, it reads in that verse, and whosoever And whosoever shall fall on this stone, the rock, the Lord Jesus shall be broken. The Lord receives those that are of a broken and a contrite spirit, that he will not despise those that come unto him in that way. But on whomsoever it shall fall, What will this rock do, this stone do, if he falls on you? Grind you to powder, just like he did the empires of the world to the chaff mentioned there. And when the chief priests and pharisees heard it, this peril, they perceived that he spoke of them. They got that one. Then when he said, this, the rock, I'm the rock, you're going to be ground to powder if you don't believe on me. And he still says it today. Ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock from which you are hewn, and from the hole and the pit from which you are digged. If you're a Christian, look unto the rock, the Lord Jesus, today in archeologically. sites, archaeological sites, they dig up and they find things and they find a rock that's out of place. This rock doesn't belong here. Where did it come from? So what do they do? They identify the area that that rock is in and find the quarry from which it was digged. That's what they do to find out where the origin of it. Your origin, if you've trusted the Lord Jesus, is, look to him, the rock, the pit from which you have been hewn. I pray that you do. And last of all, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 50, excuse me, and verse 6, it says, I gave, this is the smitten rock. Christ the stone, Christ the sun, Christ the smitten rock in the book of Isaiah, a portrait, again, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them, and I plucked off my hair, and I hid not my face from spitting. Chapter 52 And verse 14 of Isaiah, as many were astoned at thee, his image was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. And over in chapter 53 in verse 4, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him smitten, stricken of God, and afflicted. Christ the smitten one. Christ the smitten one, the rock that has been smitten for us. And in the last reference, we look at in the book of Matthew, chapter 27 and verse 26. in thinking of the Lord's table as we prepare ourselves for that. Matthew 27 verse 26, Then released he Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus, it's just scourged Jesus. Sounds like you just read over it, but that is a whipping. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him. He mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! and they spit upon him and they took a reed and smote him on the head what was on his head a crown of thorns and after that they mocked him they took a robe they took the robe from off him and Let me read that again. They took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ was smitten for us. He was bruised. He was battered. He shed his blood every almost occasion where they did something to him. They drew more blood from the Lord. Then they crucified him. Any wonder that Simon was compelled to bear the cross because the Lord had no physical strength to carry the cross. And you think, why did he let him do it? He could have called 10,000 angels. When Peter smote off the fellow's ear, put up your sword, I could have called 10,000 angels. Why did he go and let this happen? Mere mortals doing this to deity. because he loved you and me. He gave his life a ransom for us. And I pray that we'd always appreciate that. The smitten stone, the rock of ages, the one who bears our sins in his own body or bore our sins in his own body.