Last week we began a series of messages that we've entitled, it's all about Jesus and not about me. And we opened up that message with the thoughts from Luke chapter 9, where Jesus said, let these sayings sink down into your ears, that I'm about to go and be crucified for you. That's sort of a paraphrase, but that's what he said to them. And they didn't get it. They didn't understand it. And there began to rise among them a strife over which of them was the greatest. But when the cross, when Christ crucified is what's in our head, it eliminates strife, it eliminates the things of this world in our mind. It makes everything else pale in comparison. All else becomes a shadow compared to that. It's all about Jesus and not about me. That should be our lives. That should be what we are. That should be how we think. When Christ, the cross, is in our head, Paul said, I determined not to preach anything among you except Christ and Him crucified. That's what I want to try to do this morning. I just want to go to God's Word and try to, in a short amount of time here, go to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and tell you the story of Christ and Him crucified. That perhaps the Spirit of God might put that in your head and make you understand that it's all about Jesus and not about you. Nothing else matters when Christ and Him crucified is what's between your ears. Let's go to the Bible. Let's look at that cross. Let's look at the detailed description as much as we have of it. If all that could have been said and written down, John said the world couldn't hold the books. But let's go to what we have. What the Spirit's given us, which is sufficient to stir our hearts and our minds to know that it's all about Jesus and not about me. Let's go to Jesus' first trial before Annas. In John chapter 18, then the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him. You think they could have bound God if God wasn't willing? Jesus allowed that. They bound him and led him away to Annas first. He was the father-in-law. Jesus went to a trial there first at the house of Annas. Then Matthew tells us that they laid hold on Jesus and led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. So they have a trial at Annas' house, then they go to Caiaphas' house, and they have a second trial. Jesus will suffer six trials through this night. Peter follows afar off, Luke tells us, and they kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together, and Peter sat down among them. That was a mistake that that man made that night. He had said, I won't deny you Jesus, I'll die with you, but he would deny three times, and he would follow afar off and not come to the aid of Jesus. Witnesses were sought, according to Mark, to testify against Jesus. Mark 14.55 The chief priest and all the council sought witness against Jesus to put him to death and found none. They could not find two witnesses that their testimony would agree. They'd come up and say such things as he said he would destroy this temple in three days and build it back. Well, he wasn't talking about the temple that Herod had built there. He was talking about his own body that he would bring back, and what he said was the truth, and their testimony said they didn't even agree about that. They finally come to Jesus, and they say to him, I adjure you by the name of God. That is to say, as I understand that phrase in that day, if you believe in God, then you have to answer this question. Are you the Son of God? And he said, I am. I am. And they say, what reason now do we have any further? We've got the testimony out of his own mouth that Jesus had answered not a word all that time. And then finally he said, he told them who he was, that he was who they accused him of being. But he was. If he hadn't have been, maybe that would have been blasphemy. But he was the Son of God. And he said, I am the Son of God. And for that truth, they would crucify him. They say, what further need we of any witnesses? We have his own mouth. that testified this blasphemy. And they condemned him to be guilty of death, and they began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to hit him with their fist, to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy. And the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands. They put a sack over his head, and said, Now if you are who you say you are, tell me who is hitting you. He knew who was hitting him. He knew everything that was happening. He was God, but he willing to become salvation for his people became flesh that he might go through this torment. And this belittling, humbling event of being beat upon and spit upon by men in order to save you from your sins. Let that soak down into your head. What this man went through voluntarily. They couldn't have bound him. They couldn't have hit him. They couldn't have put that sack over his head. They couldn't have crucified him had he not been willing to die for you. But it meant so much to him to have you with him forever in heaven that he was willing to suffer this. Let that soak down into your head. That's what we're trying to talk about. It's all about Jesus. When that can soak into our heads, that makes it where it's not about me anymore, Lord. It's about you. Well, there was this young girl comes along and she accuses Peter of being with Jesus. And Peter denies it, said, I know him not. I know not, neither do I understand what thou sayest. And he went out on the porch and the cock crowed at that point. Then there was a girl came to him out there when he was going out on the porch. Another maid said unto him, I believe you were with him. This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth." And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. He swore that he didn't know him. Then the third time, about the space of one hour, Luke tells us after, another confidently affirmed saying of a truth, this fellow also was with him for he is a Galilean. And about this time, a kinsman of the one that Peter had cut his ear off in the garden said, Yeah, I believe I do recognize him. He was in the garden. He was the one with that sword. Then began Peter to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crowed, Thou shalt not die me three times. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Peter had said, I'll never deny you Lord. I'll die with you. And three times Peter had said, I don't know him. He swore that he didn't know him. He cursed and said, I don't know him. Jesus's third trial begins probably about daylight. Luke 22, 66. And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together and led him into their council saying, and they continue to try him there before the Sanhedrin. The whole multitude of them arose at that point and led him unto Pilate. Here comes his fourth trial. A trial before Annas, a trial before Caiaphas, a trial before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish court, and now a trial before the Roman governor, Pilate. Jesus' fourth trial before Pilate. Jesus was accused of being a king. Well, he was God and he was the king. Pilate then went out and said unto them, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, if he wasn't guilty, we wouldn't have delivered him to you. Pilate said, You take him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put a man to death, that the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. You see, the Jews couldn't crucify a man, and that's what the Jews were determined he'd be crucified. That's what he came into the world to be, was crucified. And it was going to work out that way. So they had to bring him before Pilate to get that sentence passed. Pilate entered into the judgment hall and called Jesus and said, Unto him art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this of thyself? Or did somebody tell you that? Did others tell thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priest have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should be not delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from here. Oh, he's talking some mysterious things to Pilate. A wonderful kingdom that Jesus brings into this world. A kingdom that Jesus said is at hand. A kingdom that Jesus said is within you. A kingdom that we can take hold of and live in where we understand that it's all about Jesus and not about me. That's the result. That's what will happen if you'll understand that this cross will get down into your head and sink between your ears and you'll understand the glory of what Jesus has done for you. And then there's a kingdom available even in this world while you live. That's not out in this world, but it's in this world. And it's that hand that's within reach, and it's the most glorious thing this world has to, the world doesn't have it to offer, Jesus has it to offer while you're in this world. That if you'll just understand it's all about Him, and become a servant to Him and live in His kingdom, then you can experience this kingdom relationship with Jesus Christ even now. He tells Pilate, my kingdom's not of this world. If my kingdom were like this world's kingdom, my servants would fight. That I should be delivered from the Jews, but my kingdom's not from here. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born. That's why I came to be a king. And for this cause came I into the world, to be the king of this kingdom that I'm describing to you. But it's not a world's kingdom. It's not a kingdom that's any threat to you, Pilate. It's not like the Roman kingdom. It's a kingdom from heaven that's in this world that we can lay hold on if we'll understand that it's all about Jesus and not about me. My friends, this is a practical message for you. It will change your life. If you'll change your way of thinking and get that cross between your ears, then you'll come out of that experience living in a kingdom that's far better than anything this world has to offer to you. Pilate therefore said to him, Are you a king? Jesus said, Thou sayest that I am a king, and to this end was I born. For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. If the Holy Spirit of truth is within you, hear that voice of Jesus and come to him and experience a kingdom that's far beyond anything this world can offer you. Solomon found no contentment. He found only vexation and vanity. Vexation of spirit and vanity in anything that was under the sun. But this kingdom of Jesus that's in this world, that's where you can come and not have your spirit vexed and not find emptiness and vanity. Everything else is nothingness, but you'll understand it's all about Jesus and not about me. You can experience some things this world can't give you. Pilate saith unto him at that point, What is truth? What a question! And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find no fault at all in the man. I find no fault at all in the man. Jesus stood there at that point and answered nothing. Mark tells us that. We come on down to Luke and we find that Pilate said again, I find no fault with him. But they were the more fierce, stirred up, and wanted him crucified. At that point, Pilate understands that Jesus is from Galilee, and knowing that Herod is in the same city at that time, Pilate's gonna gotta sorta wash his hands from this. He would literally wash his hands and claim no guilt, but he had guilt. But at this point, he says, ah, if he's a Galilean, I'll send him to Herod, and this is the fifth trial. When he comes before Herod, it's recorded in Luke 23 and 7. As soon as he knew that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, as soon as Pilate understood that, he sent Jesus to Herod, who himself was at Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw it, he was glad. He wanted Jesus to perform some kind of magic trick like he'd been hearing about some of these miracles. But Jesus stood before him and answered nothing. The chief priests and scribes and such accused Jesus before Herod, but Jesus answered nothing. And Herod, with his men of war, set Jesus as nothing, set him at naught, mocked him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. The same day Pilate and Herod became friends, and they had been enemies. A common bond, if they're both involved in the judgment of Jesus and his crucifixion. But Herod and his crew, they mocked Jesus, and they arrayed him in the robe of a king, and made fun of him. He's returned to Pilate for the sixth trial. Pilate offers a release. He says it's time, it's tradition that we release one at this time. How about Jesus or Barabbas? Barabbas was in prison for insurrection, for murder that had been committed in that insurrection. The chief priest and the scribes convince the people to cry for Barabbas' release and Jesus' crucifixion. They say of Jesus, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate says, then what do I do with Jesus? Crucify Him. Crucify Him. Release Barabbas, but crucify Jesus. Matthew chapter 27, verse 24, Pilate's sentence. When Pilate saw that he could not prevail over them, that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult or a riot was made, He took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. He's not innocent, and neither are they, and neither are we. It's our sins that put him on the cross, too. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Then released Evarabba's son to them. And when he had scourged Jesus, that is, whipped him, he delivered him to be crucified. Jesus was whipped. Jesus was scourged. Jesus was stripped of his clothes and they put a mockery scarlet robe upon him, a crown of thorns upon his head as if that was his crown to be a king. They put a reed in his right hand and then jerked it out of his hand and beat him with that reed, that walking stick, that staff. They spit upon him and they smote him on the head. At that point he seems to have been returned to Pilate one more time. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto him, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then Jesus came forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Behold, the man," look at that man, he says. You really think he's any threat? You really think he's a king? He's a man. Look at what you see. Jesus there with blood all over him, having been beaten, his face probably swollen, having been whipped. to the point that a lot of men didn't survive the whipping, and Jesus there in his weakness stands before the people, and Pilate said, look at the man, just look at him. When the chief priests therefore and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I will find no fault with him. The Jews answered, We have a law, and by our law he should die, because he said he is the son of God. Pilate was afraid when he heard that saying, we're told. He took Jesus into the judgment hall and said, Whence art thou? Where'd you come from? Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate said, Why don't you speak to me? Don't you know I have power to crucify or have power to release? Jesus says, You could have no power if it wasn't given to you. Except it were given thee from above, you'd have no power. Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. who sort of maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar. At that point Pilate began to wonder, it seems. Oh, I don't want to get in trouble with Caesar. I better follow what they're saying. They cried out, Away with him, away with him, and crucify him, and Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then Pilate did deliver him, therefore, unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away, and he, bearing his cross, headed towards that place of Golgotha. It seems, by comparing the accounts, that Jesus began carrying his own cross, and perhaps from the weakness and the blood loss and everything that had happened to him thus far, he stumbled under the cross. And they jerked the man out of the crowd, and Simon, a Cyrenian, and he bore Jesus' cross for him up that hill. When they were coming to the place called Golgotha, Matthew tells us that they gave him vinegar to drink mixed with gall. He tasted of it, but he would not drink it. He didn't take any of that that might have been a pain reliever or narcotic or something of that nature that would have eased his pain. It was about the third hour and they crucified him and they parted his garments and cast lots as it had been prophesied in the Old Testament. They hung him on the cross, and the soldiers gambled for his clothes, and sitting down there, it says, they watched him there. And they sent over him the accusation, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Ah, that brought an uproar from the chief priest, said, oh, no, no, don't write he's the King of the Jews. Write he said he was the King of the Jews. And Pilate said, what I've written, I've written. And it was written in three languages, so that all that came back could read it. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. There were two thieves that were crucified with him, probably the two companions of Barabbas. You know, Barabbas had been released and Jesus was numbered with the transgressors and took Barabbas's cross in the center there. And those two thieves crucified with Jesus, one on his right hand and one on the left. Scripture was fulfilled, which was said he was numbered with the transgressors. At about this time, Jesus would look down and say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. At about this time, Jesus, hanging on that cross, would see his mother, and would speak to John, and say, Behold thy mother, and look at his mother, and say, Behold thy son. The man Jesus Christ God Almighty had not an inheritance of this world to leave for his mother, and ask a friend there to take care of his mother in the days that would come. Behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. The bystanders and the thieves, they would mock Jesus, God Almighty, hanging there on that cross. Picture Him. Don't let this go in one ear and out the other. Let this saying sink down into your ears. They said, Jesus Christ stretched forth on that cross, concerned about forgiving sins, concerned about His earthly mother, concerned about you and me. But they that passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads and saying, Thou destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days. Save Thyself, if they just knew what was going to happen in three days. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. He'd come up from the grave, but he would refuse to come down from the cross because he was there to save you from your sins. And he would fulfill that task and accomplish the will of God that he had come to accomplish. Likewise also, the chief priest mocking him and the scribes and elders said, he saved others. Himself he cannot save. He was saving you. And he refused to deliver himself from that cross is what really happened. They said, if he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and then we'll believe. They wouldn't have, but they claimed they would. They said, he trusted in God, let God deliver him now, if you'll have him. For he said, I am the Son of God, the thieves also, which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth, if God will have him. You think God loved Jesus at this point? If God said of Jesus at the time of the baptism, which represents crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection, God said, at that time, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased when Jesus was baptized, just pointing to this cross. What do you think God felt about him when he's hanging on that cross, suffering for God's people? Oh, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, accomplishing my will to save my people from their sins. He said the two thieves mocked him, railed upon him. But then Luke's account says one of those thieves didn't do that. What happened there? Is there confusion in God's word? Is there a contradiction? I don't think so at all. I know better. God's word is truth from cover to cover. What happened here is that both those thieves were raining on Jesus according to Matthew and they did. But all of a sudden there's a change of heart. There's a change of attitude. There's a change of mind. There's a new creature. One of those thieves has been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. And that changes a person. Luke's account says that this one thief now looks to Jesus and said, remember me when you get your kingdom. He looked to that other thief and said, don't you know who you're talking to here? Don't you fear God? Jesus says to that thief who's been changed by God. He says, one day you'll be with me, and it's today. Today you'll be with me in paradise. You'll live with me in heaven forever, he tells that thief. What glorious words to hear! What glorious words Jesus spoke! Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He that had begun a good work in him, when that Holy Spirit came into that man, even on that cross with the new birth, would live with Jesus forever. There was darkness until the sixth hour, where God turned his back even on Jesus. And Jesus would say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's when our dark sins were placed upon Jesus, and the world was covered in darkness. And God turned his back on his son as his son paid for the debt that we owed, suffered the wrath of God poured out upon him in our place. For even God forsook his son, Jesus Christ, the God who promised never to leave you nor forsake you, turned his back on his very son, Jesus, for your sake. Jesus would at that point say, I thirst that the scriptures might be fulfilled. They'd bring a sponge full of vinegar and put it to his lips, and some would say he's crying for Elias. Jesus about that time would say the last statement from the cross. It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. That's God dying. That's a paradox that there's ever been one in all the history of mankind and all the history of the world. God hung on that cross and in some shape, form or fashion, God died that day. The God who cannot die, died. The God who is life, died. For you and for me. It is finished. And he bowed his head and he gave up the ghost. What a glorious story, that cross of Jesus Christ. That story of salvation. It's all about Jesus. It's not about me. The soldier would come and pierce his side and forthwith would come blood and water. Blood that would wash us from our sins. Water that would cleanse us. from all of our filthiness, things that would cause us to be separated from God, so that God could and would smile upon his children that Jesus died for. They pierced his side and forthwith came blood and water, that Centurion would declare, Thou art the Son of God. We've truly seen something today happen. watching Jesus and the earthquake and he would say truly this was the Son of God. The rocks were cleft when the earthquake came there were graves that were open and people came from the graves after the resurrection of Jesus but the graves were open at this point they would come forth after the resurrection of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus would come and request the body of Jesus and desire to take it and to bury it. And they would in a new tomb, Joseph's new tomb, that he'd hewn out of the stone. And Jesus wouldn't keep that grave forever. Just for three days, he needed to borrow that tomb. Early in the morning on the first day of the week, Jesus came forth from that tomb and presented himself first to the women and then to the apostles and then to above 500 And he is risen. He's not in that tomb. But he did die. He did suffer. He did hang on a cross. And while he was doing that and when he was doing that, he was thinking about you. And what he asks now through the gospel and through the message of the scriptures, through what he would leave for us and what the apostles would leave for us, through the preachers even today that he would have to proclaim this message, He would have this message to soak down into your ears, that you would perceive and understand what's happened, and that you would understand that it's all about Jesus and not about me. Not a message with a lot of flowery words, not a message with the wisdom of men, not a message designed and told by men in some clever way, just a straightforward description of what details we have of Christ and Him crucified. of a cross on a hill called Calvary, and your Savior hanging on that cross, thinking about you, and asking now that you be in His mind, that Him be in your mind, that what He's done soak down between your ears, that you might understand the significance, the wonder, that you might be amazed beyond anything else of what He's done for you, and that that might be a motivation beyond any other motivation. to cause you to live for him. It's all about Jesus and not about me. God bless you. Thanks for listening. Tune in next time if you will. May the Lord richly bless you all.