Well, one of the reasons to work verse by verse through the Gospel of Matthew is for the purpose of understanding the narrative story of the life of Jesus. which culminates in his death, burial, and resurrection. There are some believers who maybe have never worked their way through a gospel, either to read it, or to study it, or even hear it preached from a pulpit. And so this is a wonderful opportunity for us to do that. We've been doing that in the Gospel of Matthew for quite some time now, and every week presents us with something new, something challenging, something exciting. But there's more reasons to study the Gospel of Matthew, and that really is so that we might encounter the person of Jesus Christ by faith. In fact, John's explanation for why he wrote his gospel, he notes in chapter 20, verse 31, that these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and that by believing you might have life in his name. That's the goal of preaching a gospel from the scriptures, is to create, to engender, to encourage faith in the life of the believer. And so the purpose again of this gospel, especially the passion narrative, is so that you would also see and understand and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And last week we looked at Jesus as the King which incidentally, if you were taking notes, is really the theme of Matthew's gospel. If you were to, this is an aside, if you were to go onto the website and look, I actually title every single one of my expositional series, and the reason I give a title and don't just call it Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, is because if we ever go back later on in 50 years and preach through it again, we'll have a different series. And so, Jesus is King, that's the overarching theme of the gospel of Matthew, that is what this is really all about. And this really becomes all the more remarkable when you consider in juxtaposition the unconscionable and brutal persecution, mockery, and violence against the King of creation. Nevertheless, in Matthew 27, we read about Pontius Pilate delivering up to death the king of the Jews, Jesus Christ, sending him to his death on a Roman cross. Of course, Jesus' kingship is not all there is to him. It's not that he is simply only king, that is his sovereign right and responsibility, but who Jesus is goes even beyond his kingship and extends all the way into his divinity, who he is. And if you were to ask people on the street, who is Jesus? That's a great question to ask people, by the way. It's always good to ask questions and sort of let people talk to you, but if you were to say, who is Jesus? You would get a lot of different answers. many ideas and opinions about who Jesus is. But one answer that you're most certainly not gonna get is that Jesus is God. Most people would not acknowledge that or even understand that or believe that. Of course, biblically literate people would maybe point out the fact that he is the son of God, but oftentimes will try to consign that sonship to a lesser status. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses and even Mormons believe that he is the son of God, but they denigrate him lower than God. Oh, he's a son. He's kind of like an angel or created being. But that's not what the Bible teaches at all. That's not what the churches believe for centuries and millennia. And so what does his sonship refer to? Well, just generally speaking, to be regarded as a son means to be equated to or descended from or even subordinately connected to someone else in a relationship. We think about fathers and sons, but we also have a sort of an identity of, well, this person is like a son to me. We're connected, we're close, there's intimacy. Of course, the Bible as well as Hebrew culture made full use of this concept, this idea of sonship. But the sonship of Christ means more than that. In fact, the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople understood Christ's sonship to comprise how Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, relates to the first person of the Trinity, God the Father. How do they relate to one another? How are they connected to one another? If we say that Jesus is God, how is he one with God? Well, the Bible teaches and churches affirm for centuries that he is the son of God. But if you're taking notes, if you're a theology buff, maybe there's a few of you in the room, you would identify with this. This is what we're talking about when we refer to his eternal relation of origin. What does that mean? It's how Jesus is related to God. Who is Jesus in relation to the Godhead? Well, we understand that he is the eternally begotten son. He always has been and he always will be. always has been the Son of God, always will be the Son of God. In fact, you could go a step further and say and understand that to be the Son of God is to be regarded as God Himself. And the Jews understood this concept. This is not something created by Christian tradition or theology. The Jews understood this even at that time. How do we know? Well, for example, in John chapter five, after Jesus heals the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, he tells the Jews who were angry because he was healing on the Sabbath, he says to them, my father is working until now, and I myself am working. And this enrages them. Why does this enrage them? Matthew 5.18, because they understood that he was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. They saw it even then, they knew what it meant to be the son of God, not a son of God connected to in terms of the people of God, no, the, the sole son of God. Fast forward three years later, Jesus is hanging on the cross. And what do people mock him for as he's hanging there? They mock him because they claim that he has said he is the son of God. And yet we know that in this sovereign and loving plan of God, the Bible teaches that he is the only begotten son. John 3.16, that God sent his only begotten son. Why? Why? so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That is the hope of the gospel, isn't it? And it's tied directly into the identity, the personhood of Jesus Christ. Turn with me to Matthew 27 in your copy of Scripture. We're going to see this play out this morning. Matthew 27, we're jumping right smack dab into the middle of the drama of the passage. We're in Passion Week. We're on Good Friday, as it's come to be known. Friday morning, very early in the day. This is the crux of the entire narrative of the gospel history. I mean, we're right close to the bone here. We're right at the marrow of theology. The Romans have begun the process of preparing Jesus to be executed on a cross here. This is all at the demand of the Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin. It's early Friday morning, as we've said. This is the Passover week. Jesus, the previous night, has been arrested, he's been tried, he's been convicted of blasphemy by the Jewish Sanhedrin, and now he's being delivered over to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who does not find Jesus guilty of any wrongdoing. He finds him essentially innocent, even though he won't proclaim him as such. And yet he still sentences him to death anyway. As to the method of execution, the angry crowd has demanded not something merciful, not something traditional. They have demanded that Pilate crucify him, which was nothing short of brutal and inhumane. And in preparation for the cross, the Romans, they scourge Jesus with a spiked whip, effectively ripping his back to shreds. And then the soldiers make sport of him by dressing him up in a purple cape and placing a reed scepter in his hand and then crowning him with a wreath of thorns. As if this spectacle wasn't enough of a humiliation, they mock him. They spit on Him, they slap Him, they beat Him, they deride Him, all before He even reaches the cross. And so now, at this point, the exhausted and bleeding Jesus is forced into carrying His own cross to the execution site, But at a certain point, lack of strength and fatigue make this absolutely impossible for him. And so they're forced into pressing a traveler who's passing by, a man named Simon of Cyrene, to come and help Jesus carry his cross. And so at this point, the death march is begun. In Matthew 27, starting in verse 33. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall. And after tasting it, he was unwilling to drink. And when they had crucified him, they divided up his garments among themselves by casting lots. And sitting down, they began to keep watch over him there. And above his head, they put up the charge against him, which read, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. At that time, two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads and saying, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him, saying, He saved others. He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel. Let Him come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now, if He delights in Him, for He said, I am the Son of God. And robbers who were crucified with him were also insulting him with the same words. And so the Romans have marched Jesus to this designated execution site, which is called Golgotha, which is an Aramaic word. That was one of the common languages of the day spoken by the Jews. So Golgotha is literally translated here as place of a skull. Now, Christian tradition refers to this spot as Calvary. I know many of you have talked about and sung songs about Calvary. Well, calvary comes from the Latin word calva, which is literally skull, and so Golgotha and calvary are referring to the same place. One is an Aramaic word, one is a Latin word. And so as to the location in Jerusalem, there's many sites historically that are maybe deemed to be the place of Golgotha or Calvary. There's really two that are the most prominent ones, as scholars and historians debate about whether that is the actual spot or not. But we know that it's certainly there, just outside the city walls. The scripture itself doesn't tell us exactly where it is. But John 19-20 tells us that it was near the city, just outside the walls. Hebrews 13-12 notes that Jesus had suffered outside the gate. So right outside the city, near one of the entrances to the city. Of course, the Jews believe that if they kill Jesus inside the city, that that would defile their Passover celebration, so heaven forbid you crucify the Son of God during Passover inside of the city, because that's bad juju, we don't want to do that. So we're gonna do it outside the city walls, and that will somehow make our Passover better. I mean, just the reasoning, the rationale is just awe-inspiring here. But we know that biblically, according to Deuteronomy 16.5, the Passover lambs were designated to be sacrificed outside the city. That was their practice. Now, they didn't know what they were doing at the time when they did this, and yet John 1.29 declares that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So, biblically, historically, providentially, Jesus as the Lamb of God, it was appropriate that He would be sacrificed outside the city walls, like every other sacrifice, but His sacrifice being preeminent above all. What about this name, Place of the Skull or Place of a Skull? Well, some maintain that there might've been a rock formation literally in the ground that made the place look like it was a skull, that maybe when they saw that rock formation of a skull shape that they knew that that was where people were executed. But more likely, it's that that's the place where the Romans did their executions. And so just as a nickname, it became known as the Place of the Skull. Some have speculated, well, maybe there was bones and skulls lying around. Well, we don't think so because if that were the case, no Jew would have even set foot near that place because they don't want to be defiled. So it's most likely that that's just the nickname of the place where the Romans would put to death the people who they deemed to be criminals. And that place, Golgotha, Calvary, place of the skull, that's where Jesus would give his life. But from here on out, moving in the narrative here, virtually every single detail is laced with prophetic meaning and scriptural allusion. Just look at this with me, verse 34 for example. It says, they gave him wine to drink mixed with gall, and after tasting it he was unwilling to drink. So he makes it to the place of execution. Simon has fulfilled his responsibility. The cross is there. Jesus is being prepared to be nailed to that cross. And as he gets there, Matthew notes that Jesus is offered wine mixed with gall. Gall could have been bitter herbs, we think. And it says, after tasting it, he was unwilling to drink. Now there's two dominant schools of thought about what this is. One popular view is that Jesus was offered some kind of a wine concoction that was mixed with somewhat of a narcotic to dull the pain of crucifixion. That this was actually an act of mercy to take away some of the faculty. And so the noble sentiment is that Jesus didn't want to partake in this narcotic because he did not want to dull his senses. And that's in a very real way, I mean, he is being obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And so he wants to have his faculties because he is going to partake of the full cup of God's wrath. He can't partake of the horrors of the cup of God's wrath if he's dulled to that experience. And so that's certainly one thought about what this might be. That certainly could be true. But there's another way to see this. Psalm 69, which is a lament psalm about the suffering of the servant of the Lord, Psalm 69 makes a similar reference to this experience of partaking in this gall. Psalm 69 truly is a prophetic origin of this detail. And this gesture takes on a different meaning when we think about it this way. I'm just going to read these verses to you. The suffering psalmist, which is David here, laments his own condition. And he says, I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall, bitter herbs, for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." And so if that's the sense of what's happening here at the crucifixion site, then it's not just a merciful gesture and then a noble sentiment. Again, that could be, but if Psalm 69 is really the origin of this, it's something completely different. This may have also been a taunt by the soldiers as Jesus is being marched to his death, a way to make his death even more insufferable. At the blood loss, at the horrors of all this, he would have been thirsty. Instead of offering him water, they gave him vinegar, they gave him bitter herbs. This would have been another taunt to the Lord Jesus Christ, but it gets even worse. Verse 35 notes that it was at this point, after that final indignity, before he gets to the cross, at this point, this in verse 35 is when they crucify him. Now, you have to sort of be awestruck at the brevity and simplicity of the word being used here. All four Gospels, there's no details about the practice of crucifixion, because at the time, anybody reading would have understood the practice, even though for us, this is a practice long gone, thankfully so. And so, Matthew only says that he was crucified, no more elaboration. But what is this? What is crucifixion? Well, crucifixion was first invented by the Persians. It was picked up by the Greeks and it was perfected by the Romans. It was a horrendous practice. It combined a series of tortures that culminated in one distinct and cruel manner of death. It's like they took the worst of human experience and put it all into one. it was the absolute worst way for a person to die. First, the victim was stripped naked, both to humiliate them, but also to expose their body to the harsh elements while they were hanging on the cross. Hypothermia would oftentimes set in if it began to rain, they experienced that as well. A wind or a breeze or even a storm, if there was snow coming through, whatever it was, their body was exposed and they were humiliated there, naked on the cross. Many scholars believe, however, that perhaps because of the sympathies of the Jews here, that Jesus might have been given a loincloth to cover part of his body, his sensitive regions, because the Jews would not have wanted to look on the nudity, and they wanted to be there for the execution. So it's possible that he was covered from the nudity. We can't be sure of that. Most other victims were completely naked on the cross. But after this, after they're stripped naked, the victim is whipped or scourged, which we talked about last time. Now this intense whipping with bone, fragments of bone and metal in the catenine tails, this experience would have ripped the flesh off of their back and their legs and their hindquarters, and it would have put them in a state of shock. It's easier to crucify somebody who doesn't have the strength to fight with you. And so that's what they would do. They would completely work them over with this scourging, and then they would take their lifeless body and they would put it up on the cross. Well, how would they get it on the cross? They would either fasten their arms outstretched and their legs down with either ties or with nails. We know that in Jesus's case, he was nailed. And after that was taken place, they would hoist them up vertically, and immediately the weight of their body would put pressure on the wounds and make this experience absolutely agonizing. In fact, a new word was created to talk about the experience of the cross, and we know that word to be excruciating. Excruciating is the experience of being nailed to and hung on a cross. However, it would not be their hand or their foot wounds that would kill them ultimately. It would be the issue of asphyxiation. See, with their arms stretched out, it's possible to take a breath in, but it's virtually impossible to exhale. And so in order to exhale, the victim then has to force their way up and press with their feet to try to get their chest cavity up to then exhale. But as they're doing it, they're scraping their raw flesh on the splinters of the cross. creating an absolutely mind-numbing experience of pain. Finally, after hours, in some cases even days, the victim would simply not have enough energy anymore. They'd be too tired, too fatigued to be able to breathe, and they would just suffocate and die hanging on the cross. That is excruciating. Matthew does not articulate all of this. He simply writes, and they crucified him. And while Jesus is hanging on the cross and he looks down and sees the soldiers and some of his friends and many of his enemies, it says here they divided up his garments among themselves and they cast lots. John 19.23 has a little bit more here. John notes that they took his outer garments and they made four parts. So they ripped up his outer garments to give to each of the soldiers that were there. Each part was given to a soldier, and then there's also the tunic. The tunic was seamless, and it was woven into one piece, and so they didn't wanna break that up. That was a nice garment, so they gambled. They cast lots to see who was gonna get Jesus' tunic. And so they cast lots for it, and even John tells us that's the fulfillment of scripture. Even how they gambled for his clothes, Psalm 22, 18. They divided my outer garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. And so all these details are being fulfilled scripturally, biblically, to the last letter in real time, and they don't even realize they're doing it. All they're doing is just having fun, making sport, doing their job, and they have no idea that the sovereign hand of God is working out every single detail. Verse 36, it says, Now, you read a verse like this, and you're like, well, that's interesting information, but there's actually more going on here. Why is this an important detail? Well, because remember, if you know the story here, and we'll get to it eventually, one of the accusations is that maybe the disciples stole the body. Maybe there was a way to get the body off the cross, and because that was actually something that could happen. Say your buddy was crucified, and so they weren't nailed, but say they were just tied up. The soldiers crucify your friend. They go out for lunch. You could run up, untie him, and you could escape. And so here, there's no possibility of this. There's no way to get Jesus down because the soldiers are there. They're guarding his body, they're guarding him as he's being crucified. They are posted there to see to it that Jesus of Nazareth dies at Golgotha. That's an important detail. Of course, as all of this is playing out, he's being nailed, he's being taunted, the soldiers are gambling for his clothes, as all this takes place, Luke records in chapter 23, verse 34, one of the things that Jesus says in that moment. As they're nailing him, as they're torturing him and killing him, Jesus cries out, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. This is a sad cry over evil actions of ignorant and sinful men. No, he's not asking God to forgive them eternally. It's not universal salvation. No, that's a cry of lament. Father, they don't know what they're doing. They have no idea who they're murdering right now. Forgive them. They don't know. Once he's been crucified, Pilate then goes and instructs the executioners to affix a placard above his head. There were many different kinds of crucifixes that were used. Some were just a stake in the ground, some were an X, some were in the shape of a T, and then some are the more traditional cross. We believe that this detail points to the fact this was a traditional cross with a part of the cross beam above his head because that's where the placard was fixed to. And so this placard would notate the prisoner or the victim's supposed crime. And what is Jesus's supposed crime for which he is being crucified? Pilate records only this. This is Jesus, verse 37, the king of the Jews. That's his crime, that he's the king of the Jews. However, it's interesting because the apostle John records a little more of this in John 19. verses 19 to 23. We read John's account. John fills this out a little bit. Pilate also wrote the inscription, putting it on the cross, and John notes a little bit further here. He says that this is Jesus of the Nazarene, the king of the Jews, the same basic information here, and it says in verse 20 that, therefore, many of the Jews read the inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek. But the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but rather that he said, I am the king of the Jews. Verse 22, Pilate answered, what I've written, I've written. This is one more blow against the egos, the prideful egos of the Jewish Sanhedrin. And here's the thing, Pilate is more truthful than he realizes. He's only trying to get one over on them for making his life so difficult, but there's more here. He is speaking truthfully, he is acting truthfully. Despite their perversion of justice and treachery, they were forced to face the fact that they had crucified the Son of David, the Son of God, the King of Israel. And so even then, in Pilate's haphazard stumbling over whatever he's doing, they're standing in front of Jesus and they're looking at a placard saying, this is Jesus, King of the Jews. And they have to face the fact that that's their King hanging on a cross. Verse 38. More information, at that time two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. This detail sort of rounds out the description of the scene here, keeping in mind that earlier Jesus is crucified on literally Barabbas' cross. Barabbas was a known murderer or criminal, an insurrectionist that was famous, infamous, notorious even in town. And it was him who was freed and Jesus was put in his place. It's possible that both of these men were his accomplices, we don't know. Whatever the situation here, Jesus is put right in the middle between these two known criminals. And even this fulfills scripture, Isaiah 53, 12, and he was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sins of many and interceded with the transgressors. Even that, his placement among them, is the fulfillment of scripture. In fact, Luke records that it takes place a little bit later in the day, but one of the thieves actually repents and professes faith in Jesus Christ, to which he replies to him, I tell you that today you will be with me in paradise. One man even comes to saving faith while he's on the cross next to the one who is interceding for him and paying for his sins. But at this point, it's still early in the day, and there is only abuse and only mockery at this point. And so for the remainder of the section here, we see only mockery from three different groups here. The first group is by those who are passing by, verses 39 and 40. 39 and 40, it says, those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, and saying, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Part of the reason that the Romans chose a location for their executions outside the gate of the city was to warn citizens as they were passing by what would happen to them if they committed crimes. It was not uncommon to be walking into Jerusalem and see a row of crosses with dead criminals hanging on it. In fact, one estimate is that up to 30,000 Jews were crucified during Roman occupation and tacked up on crosses outside the city. And so if you were a child growing up in Jerusalem at that time, it was not uncommon to see people hanging all around the city. It was a warning, but it also functioned to humiliate those who were being executed. If you did commit a crime and you were crucified for it and you were being hanged in front of the gate, anybody walking by would shake their head and they would tsk at you and they would attack you and say, you get what you deserve. See, this is what you get. It humiliated the person who was hanging there. And so all throughout the day, people are passing by, in and out of the city, walking by Jesus as He is hanging there. And Matthew records that they were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads, wagging their heads. It was a sign of scorn and derision. Shaking their head at Him, wagging at Him, taunting Him. But even this, even this, was a fulfillment of Psalm 22, seven, where the psalmist says, all who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip, they wag the head. Even the psalmist a thousand years before articulated the very experience of Jesus on the cross. And they were saying in verse 40, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. Save yourself. This first part of the taunt, it repeats the charges that the Pharisees and the scribes brought before the Sanhedrin. And this is the charge, and they were saying that Jesus had said he was gonna destroy the temple. He's gonna attack the temple. He's an insurrectionist. But that's a perversion of what he actually did say. He never said he was gonna destroy the temple. He never threatened violence against them. He prophesied what was gonna happen. Certainly in Matthew 23, he certainly did. But three years before, he had said, destroy this temple. Destroy this temple. And he was referring to his own body. And he said, in three days, I will rebuild it. He's referring to his death and resurrection. Jesus never said that he was going to destroy anything. He's talking about what they were gonna do to him. And yet they misunderstand or they refuse to believe. They don't see it clearly. But they keep on mocking him in this. And what do they mock him for? They say, save yourself. Save yourself. They're passing by. All they saw on the cross was a weak and dying man. They did not see a powerful savior. But they continued and they said, if you are the son of God, come down from the cross. Do you recognize that voice? You know who that is? That's Satan. That is exactly Satan. How do we know? Because he makes the exact same argument or taunt early on back in Matthew 4. Matthew 4, when Jesus is being tempted in the wilderness, Satan comes to him when he's weak and he's tired and he's famished. Satan comes to him and tries to provoke him and tempt him into sinning against God the Father. And what does he say? What is his plan of attack? The first thing Satan says to Jesus in the wilderness is, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. You're hungry, right? Well, feed yourself, son of God. There's no reason for you to go hungry. If you are the son of God, turn the stones into bread. You could do that. And yet Jesus resists. He says, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Hunger is not the biggest need of man. Food is not the biggest need. We need God more than we need food. But Jesus rebukes him, he corrects him, he pushes him back. But then Satan comes back to him a second time with a similar taunt. He says, if you are the son of God, Throw yourself down, and they're at the pinnacle of the temple. Jump off the roof, and God will save you. He'll show you that he loves you because he'll rescue you. God will protect you. But what does Jesus respond with? Scripture says, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And then Satan dispenses with all that, and finally, the third approach, he just says, if you bow down and worship me, I'll give you everything. And Jesus says, basically, get out of my face. That's how Jesus responds. But three times Satan had tried to tempt Jesus, and now it's three years later. It's three years later, and he's trying again through the mouth of the crowd. In the mouth of the crowd, this is what's being said, if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. That's really tempting, isn't it? Because he's in agonizing, excruciating pain And the taunt is this, you don't have to go through so much pain. If you're the son of God, you shouldn't be suffering like this. Come down from the cross. But here's the thing. If he does that, there is no salvation for anyone. No atonement will be made. God's wrath will not be satisfied. There'll be no forgiveness for sinners. All of humanity is dead if Jesus comes down from the cross. Could he have done it? Of course he could have. Of course he could have. He could have stopped himself from even getting to the cross. In fact, in the garden, he didn't even have to be arrested. When they're looking for him and they say, he says, who are you looking for? And they say, we're looking for Jesus. And he says, I am. And they all fall over. He could have stopped it even then, but he doesn't do it. Why? Because he was born to go to the cross. That's why. If He comes down from the cross, we are all dead. And He knows this. And so here is the thing, it's not if you're the Son of God, come down from the cross. Because He is the Son of God, He will remain on the cross until all the work is accomplished. He knew the job, He knew the assignment, He knew why He had come. Mark 10 45, the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus came to die and to rise. If you're the son of God, come down from the cross. Absolutely not. He remained on the cross. He gave his life. He became the savior of the world through this act. But the temptation is, oh, you don't have to suffer. Oh, your life could be easier. And don't we hear that temptation too? First Peter says it's better to suffer for doing what's right than for doing what's wrong. It's so tempting for us to take the easy route, isn't it? We feel that in our flesh. And yet this is the charge, this is the taunt coming directly at Jesus and attack on his personhood, on his work, on everything he'd come for, for the mission. The second group to mock Jesus is the Sanhedrin. And Matthew even notes the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. So this is incumbent of the entire group, all of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Sanhedrin came out to Golgotha that day to witness the spectacle. Verses 41 to 43, in the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, he saved others, he cannot save himself. and they taunt him even further. He is the king of Israel. They don't believe that. They're taunting him. He's the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he delights in him for he said, I am the son of God. It's a mockery. See, for the Jewish Sanhedrin, this was a day of pride and so-called victory. Normally, religious dignitaries didn't go and witness executions. Why would you? There's no purpose. Let justice be served and we'll move on with our day. We have Torah things to do, okay? But no, they come out, they go to this execution site on Passover. They break away from the Passover festivities to go outside the city to witness, and not just to witness, but to partake in mocking him. Some holy holiday, huh? They did this to gloat over their supposed victory over their greatest enemy. They had had his number for three years. They were seeking for three years a way to arrest him, try him, and execute him. They wanted him gone, and they were tripping and stumbling, and he humiliated them publicly over and over and over again. Their pride was wounded, their status was threatened. This was payback for them. and they were greedy for it. They wanted to gloat in his face, and that's exactly what they did. They all gathered around him, congratulating one another, and stirring up the crowd. I want you to notice, they don't actually speak to him. The pastors by, they speak to him, don't they? They taught him. The Pharisees and Sadducees and the scribes and the elders, Sadducees might have been there, but they're not talking to him. They're standing around talking about him to one another and to the crowd. They're stirring up the crowds now. He saved others. He can't even save himself. You see what they're getting others, they're inciting others to taunt him as well. This is just more and more wicked. They watched him heal people. They watched him perform miracles. They watched him deliver people, cast out demons. I mean, even if they hated his guts, they could at least acknowledge that there were things he was doing that were good. And here's the thing, they understood and believed it. They couldn't refute the miracles. They couldn't refute the power. And so you know what they did instead? We saw this in Matthew a while ago. They tried to attribute the genuine power of God. They tried to attribute that to Satan. He's doing all these amazing things through the power of Satan, because that's all they had left to talk about. And so they taught him, save yourself, savior. He can't even save himself. So they mocked him as savior. They also mocked him as king. They say here, he is the king of Israel. And again, they didn't believe that. but they see the sign, oh look, he's the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him. Same arguments before, right? This is Satan again speaking through these guys. Are they being genuine? Let's pose the question here. If Jesus actually did come down from the cross and say there, do you think they'd believe in him then? No. In fact, you know what they would probably do? They would just accuse him of witchcraft. Oh, he came down, oh, see, Satan is helping him. There's no way to win with these people. He'd already said publicly, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given except one. You know what that sign is? The sign of Jonah. That's it, that's all they're gonna get. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna be buried, and I'll resurrect, and if they don't believe that sign, they're condemned. He's not gonna give him a sign. It wouldn't do anything anyway. He kept his word. The only thing he would do would be to resurrect on the third day. And so they mocked him as savior, they mocked him as king, they also mocked him as the son of God. Verse 43, he trusts in God, let God rescue him now if he delights in him for he said, I am the son of God. Again, ironically, providentially, they're quoting Psalm 22, eight. In this, commit yourself to the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him because he delights in him. So they're making reference to that verse, they're quoting that verse, but their logic in quoting that verse is this. If Jesus really is the Son of God, and God really is his personal Father, then he, God, would not allow his son to die and be accursed on a cross. There's no way. So they're challenging not just the Son of God, they're actually challenging God the Father now. Ergo, their logic is this. He's not the Son of God because no father would let his son be accursed on a cross. He's not the Son of God. But they misunderstand the need for salvation. The blood of the spotless lamb must be shed. They understood atonement. They knew this. They had sacrificed thousands and thousands of lambs and bulls and goats. They understood that blood is the payment. Hebrews says, every priest stands daily ministering, offering time and after time, the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Hebrews 10, 11. And yet without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9, 22. So Jesus, as the Lamb of God, He must die and His blood must be shed. Without it, there's no payment for sin. Brothers and sisters, friends, sins are costly. We tend to think of our sin as being a light thing. When you hurt someone's feelings, when you say something, when you offend somebody, it's just words. Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names never hurt me, right? Except that's not really true. Our words, our actions, our thoughts, our intentions, everything that we do has some kind of merit or value. And when we sin, it's an affront, it's an attack. When you hurt somebody, you can't just say, well, get over it. There's a soul wound there. Well, how do you repair it? You can say sorry over and over and over and over and over again. That in and of itself is not gonna heal that wound, but sin is costly. Now that's with one another. What about sin's price before God? When you sin against a holy God, what could you possibly offer him in return? Well, God, I'll just do a bunch of other good things. With what kind of motive? What kind of good thing are you gonna do? You've sinned against a holy God. What, are you gonna carry someone's luggage for them? You're gonna go rake their lawn? You're gonna go bake them a thing of cookies? I mean, that's great, but how does that satisfy the wrath of a holy God who's been offended? Sin is costly, and the only payment that God will accept is a blood sacrifice, life for life, but not just any old sacrifice. Bulls and goats won't do it. Human sacrifice is abhorrent to God, and yet the only sacrifice that is acceptable is the Son of God, His blood on the cross. And so Jesus must die, His blood must be shed. And here's the thing, only God is righteous and holy enough to atone for sin. Jesus came down incarnate. to live perfectly, suffer brutally, and die propitiationally. Is that even a word, propitiationally? Close enough. He died as an atoning sacrifice. He's the only one with the character, with the deity, with the holiness, with the righteousness that would be acceptable to God. Jesus came down to die for the honor and glory of God the Father. He's the only one who could do it. Who else could die for sins? We could go through a whole exercise of the great people of the history of humanity, nobody. Only Jesus, he's the only one, the blood of the incarnate Savior could accomplish this. And he gave his life for sinners. He died on the cross for sinners, in the place of sinners. Again, he took Barabbas' cross, he took my cross, he took your cross, and he died in our place. And the taunts and the scorns and the derision and the abuse that should belong to us was laid on him. And he died in our place and satisfied God's holy wrath. And justice was served. Forgiveness for our sins was earned. And yet in that act, God's goodness and loving kindness was displayed. The grace of God was realized at the cross because now, now you and I don't have to go to a cross and be condemned. You and I will never have to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane and experience the full cup of God's wrath. You and I will not ever have to endure that if our faith is in Christ. Friends, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Our sins are egregious to God. And here's the thing, it's easy to point to big sins, the big sins of culture and big sins of humanity, but here's the thing, even our little sins are big sins. Hatred for another person in your heart, you might as well just go and kill them. Murder and hatred, it's the same muscle you're flexing. Stealing and covetousness, it's the same thing in God's eyes. Yes, the elevation of the sin is different, but in terms of the fact that we're culpable for that, our prideful, sinful, covetous, lustful hearts, it's an affront to God. So what, what can we do? We can do nothing except believe on the one who did everything for us. But we haven't forgotten about the third group here who mocks Jesus, verse 44. Of course, again, in God's kindness, one of these men comes to faith in Christ. He acknowledges that he is a sinner under condemnation. He has nothing to offer Jesus. He has no righteousness. He's a convicted thief. He can't get down and go to church after. He can't perform good deeds. There's nothing this man can do. He's literally dying on the cross next to Jesus. He has nothing to offer except his repentance and his faith. Guess what? That's also us too. We have nothing to offer except acknowledgement that we have sinned against God and a belief, a trust that he can save us. That's all he wants. Now, a life that is lived in response to that, yes, bears the fruit of righteousness. You don't just say, I believe in Jesus and do whatever you want. No, your life has to reflect that value system, right? But what do we bring to the table? We bring nothing. Jonathan Edwards famously said, I have contributed nothing to my salvation except the sin that made it necessary. That's it. That's all we have to bring. And yet, in begging for God's forgiveness, he offers this freely. For God so loved the world, he gave. And by give, the scripture intends to mean He sent His Son to be born into the world, to live, to die a terrible, excruciating death, and to be buried in the ground. He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Do you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe that He is God incarnate? That He can save you from your sins? Yeah, my sins are huge, they're too great. Bring it all to the cross. Bring everything to the cross. Confess. Everything. Your heart, your mind, your deeds, actions, everything. He will forgive you. He will forgive you, he will pay for you, and he will save you. Because we're worth it? Nope. Because he is worthy. He is the one who's good. And he demonstrates his goodness by giving his beloved son. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we come to a text like this and we're in awe. We can see this story playing out in real time. We can focus on the details. We can hear the sounds of the hammers banging in the nails. We can hear the taunts. of the crowds, we can hear the grunts and groans of the victims, we can see the blood, we can smell the sweat, we can place ourselves there, but what does this mean? Why have you given us this account? Why have you given us the word? Why have you given us the gospel? Our brother John tells us, it's so that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ. and by believing have life in his name. Lord, I ask you, I plead with you, I beg you to grow and build and cultivate faith in our hearts. Lord, we doubt so much. Let us be believing people who trust in you, who love you, who obey you, who seek to honor you, Lord, this world is so broken and we are broken with it. And yet you have given us something so precious. You've given us life. You've given us hope. You've given us a future in heaven with you. You've given us redemption. You've given us of your glory. The Bible says we're seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Why? Why would you give that? The only thing that Scripture can lead us to conclude is you did it because you are glorified in doing so. So help us, O Lord, to trust in this gospel. And for those who maybe have never believed, never trusted in these promises, Lord, they would believe today. that she would work in the hearts of people to believe today. And Lord, for those of us who do believe these things, Lord, let us not grow slack in faith. Let us not grow weak and feeble in our faith, but let us grow strong. Let us believe even more and let the bearing of that faith work itself out in our daily lives, oh Lord, that our lives would reflect our confession. But above all, bring glory to yourself through our lives. Glorify yourself even today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.