And we're going through the gospel of John. And when it comes to the crucifixion, all four gospels, the longest section in each gospel is concerning the crucifixion, which tells you the Holy Spirit who inspired the scriptures wants us to know this. This is stuff we need to know. So as we go through John, I'm putting all four gospels together, trying to get this all in order. So we need to have this firmly in our heads. because this is what it took to save us. This is what our sins produced. This is what God had to do to save our souls. So let's work through this again. I have on your sheet there the ordeal so far. First of all, Jesus is arrested. We saw that earlier in John 18. He's bound and taken to Annas, who was a former high priest, where he's questioned. While he's there, one of the soldiers slaps Jesus in the face. Secondly, Jesus is sent bound next door to Caiaphas, who is the high priest and is his son-in-law, for a pre-trial trial. The Sanhedrin, who is the Supreme Court of Israel, will meet first thing in the morning. But this is a nighttime trial, which was illegal. They didn't care about such things. Thirdly, while he's there, the soldiers who are holding Jesus, Jesus is slapped repeatedly and abused by the soldiers who hit them and say, tell us who hit you. They blindfold them. At this trial before Caiaphas, Caiaphas had arranged witnesses ahead of time. False witnesses. Remember, Jewish law required that if you condemn anyone to death, has to be at least two witnesses have to agree. So they brought in all these witnesses. As Mark says over and over again, they kept trying to find two witnesses, but they couldn't agree. These witnesses couldn't get their story straight. The trial was falling apart. Had Jesus remained silent, they would have nothing to accuse him of, legally. But as you know, Caiaphas demands that Jesus tell them, are you the Christ? That's on your sheet here, Mark 14, 62. And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus gave them exactly what they needed. He didn't have to do that. Remember, Jesus is making this happen. Jesus is deliberately giving himself over into their hands so that he can be our sacrifice on the cross. And he gave them exactly what they needed to condemn him. I am the son of God. And you're going to see me coming one day on the clouds with great glory and power. And they ripped their robes. He's a blasphemer. He must die because they're so blind. So Jesus condemned to death as a blasphemer. And it says there in Matthew 26, how they all take turns slapping him. punching him and spitting on him. Picture that. Jesus certainly was the nicest, kindest, most loving man anyone ever met. He was the most innocent person who ever walked this earth. He was sinless. He was a good man. He was the only good man. Kind and generous in all the good things he'd done. And here they are, punching him, slapping him, abusing him, spitting in his face, calling him a blasphemer. Remember why that's happening. He doesn't deserve this. You and I do. I deserve to be abused and mocked and slapped because of my sin. But it's happening to him in our place. Keep that in mind. Fourthly, first thing in the morning, soon as the sun comes up, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court, meets. And of course, they rubber stamp what happened the night before. They tell him what Jesus said. Jesus actually tells him there again, he's the son of God. They condemn him to death. Remember now, all during this time, all during this nighttime trial, Peter is out in the courtyard near this, denying Jesus three times, exactly as Jesus prophesied he would. Remember that horrible scene we went through? Jesus denies him three times. And then the last time says Jesus and Peter's eyes meet. And Peter goes out and weeps bitterly. He's betrayed the Messiah like he swore he would never do. Sixthly, Then Jesus is bound and taken to Pilate. Now, Pilate is the Roman governor. He rules for Rome, Judea, because the Jews do not have legal right to kill anyone. They want Pilate to do it. Of course, Pilate, number seven, he questions Jesus. He takes him inside and questions him. And Pilate says, literally, you are the king of the Jews. Remember, Jesus has been up all night. He's probably bloodied and full of spit and sweat, and he just looks awful, disheveled, tired, beaten, and abused. Here's this bound man standing in front of Pilate saying, you're the king of the Jews? Like, of course he's not. This guy's no threat to anyone. Pilate sees what's going on here. He's mocking him. He's mocking them. But then Jesus explains in Pilate number eight, he says, I am a king. I have a kingdom. I am a king. And we saw that a couple of times now in the last couple of lessons. Jesus truly is the king that God the Father has said is going to rule this world. He is. I am a king. I have a king. But he says, my kingdom right now is not of this world. Otherwise, my people would fight. So Pilate's hearing him say this. Jesus is talking things Pilate's never heard before. But he's realizing very quickly, Jesus is not a threat to Rome at all. So number nine, Pilate goes out the first time and says, I find no guilt in him. This guy's innocent, he hasn't done anything worthy of death. Now on your sheet number 10, Matthew 27, 12 through 14 says, while he was being accused by the chief priests and the elder, they're standing there hurling insults, he's a blasphemer, he's a threat to Rome, he says he's a king, all that stuff. Says he did not answer, Jesus is silent. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you? Don't you hear what they're saying about you? Because Pilate had talked to many criminals in his day. And here's your chance to speak up and defend yourself. Yet Jesus is silent. And Pilate said, don't you hear what they're saying against you? Why don't you defend yourself? But it says there, and the governor was quite amazed. Pilate's getting spooked by this. Pilate never saw anyone like this. Pilate had interviewed many criminals. Pilate had put many criminals to death in his time. But here's this guy who they're screaming, he needs to die. Gentle, he's basically quiet. He's already told Pilate, my kingdom's not of this world. And here they are screaming accusations at him, and Jesus just stands there and takes it. It almost seems like Jesus wants this to happen, like Jesus is letting this happen. Dean? Why should he defend himself against lies? Well, that's when you need to defend yourself. Like if you're in a court of law and they're lying about you, the way to defend yourself is that they're lying, and here's why. He never speaks up. He never defends himself. It's almost like he wants this to happen, because he does. And it says there, Pilate was quite amazed. Like, who is this guy? I never saw anything like this. Well, in the Luke 23.5 tells us, but they kept on insisting. These Pharisees and scribes kept on insisting, saying, he stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee, even as far as this place. When Pilate, number 11, when Pilate hears that Jesus is a Galilean, Pilate wants out, he wants no part of this. I don't want to be bothered with this, this is stupid. Well, since he's a Galilean, let's send him to Herod, who's king over Galilee. We'll send him to Herod. Get him out of my hair. So Jesus is sent, like a five minute walk, to Herod's palace in Jerusalem. Herod questions him at length. Herod had wanted to see him for a long time. Remember, this is the same Herod who beheaded John the Baptist. This is the same Herod whose father murdered all the babies in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. So Herod questions him over and over. And while he's being questioned, the Jews are standing there accusing him of all this stuff. And Jesus just stands there silent. Herod demands a miracle. Do something. I hear you can do this. Do something. And again, imagine if Jesus had done a miracle. He could have easily done something spectacular and proved who he was. He just stands there silent. He was the lamb. Doesn't say a word. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter. He could have defended himself easily But he doesn't. So Herod puts a robe on him, a royal robe, and the soldiers in his court, they mock him and spit at him and call him names. They send him back to Pilate. But then Pilate says this, it's on your sheet, your number 11, Luke 23, 13 to 15. For the third time now, he's pronounced innocent. Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the people and said to them, you brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion. And behold, having examined him before you, I have found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you made against him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us. And behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him. That's the third time now we've heard that statement. He's innocent. He's done nothing. And I think what our Lord is doing here, God, is making sure, publicly and legally, it's obvious that Jesus was innocent. When he was nailed to that cross, it was for nothing he did. That's made obvious here. Pilate, and everyone who examines him, comes to that same conclusion. He's innocent. We'll get to that more in a minute. Number 12. So Pilate gets another bright idea, how to release this guy. It's been called the Paschal Amnesty Program. They had a tradition every Passover, Pollock would choose several prisoners. The Roman jails were full of Jewish prisoners. They'd bring out several prisoners and say, you can pick anyone you want, and I'll release them free of charge. Pollock gets a bright idea. All right, this guy, the worst prisoner he had was a guy named Barabbas. We're told John says he was a robber. Matthew, or sorry, John. Mark. Mark says he was an insurrectionist. who also committed murder, he's a murderer, a murdering insurrectionist. And then Matthew says a notorious crime. I think what's going on here, remember there were two thieves crucified that day. There were three crucifixions planned for that day. Probably the third one was Barabbas. If Barabbas is the worst prisoner in their jail, which seems what Pilate did, he grabs the worst prisoner and brings him out. There were probably gonna be three crucifixions that day. I think Jesus died on the cross that was scheduled for Barabbas. But he brings out Barabbas, that the worst, and Pilate's thinking is, this guy's a murderer, he's an insurrectionist, he's a terrorist, they're never gonna want this guy. And he stands Barabbas and Jesus up there. But of course, number 13 in your sheet, while that's going on, while Pilate is sitting on his little stool outside of the praetorium, it says, of Matthew 27, 19, he gets a letter from his wife. Remember, that's unusual. In fact, Roman law said when any Roman governors or senators, wherever they were, were doing Roman business, their wives had to stay silent and out of the way. That was a law. Pilate's wife writes him a note and gets it probably to his shoulder and says, take this to Pilate right away. And here it is, Matthew 27, 19. She said, have nothing to do with that righteous man. For last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of him." Pilate's wife has a dream that Jesus is a righteous man and her husband's about to kill him. And she begs him, have nothing to do with this guy, he's righteous. Now remember, Pilate's a Roman. They're pagans. They believe in many gods, but they believe often that God spoke through dreams. Romans believed a lot in dreams. They actually dream interpreters, and dreams meant something to them. Here, his wife has this dream about this Jesus. I'm sure that spooked him. We'll see here in a bit here. Pilate gets scared. This is really starting to upset him. It appears that the gods, little g, were talking through his wife. So Pilate's third attempt now fails. He tried to free him, because they choose Barabbas. They call for Barabbas. Number two there in your sheet, Pilate's third attempt fails. You're in John 18, look at verse 40. So they cried out again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, according to Matthew 27, 17, a large crowd's been gathering. Remember, it's Passover. During Passover, there's over a million Jews in the city. The sun's coming up, it's the day of the Passover. They're hearing this news, the buzz, Jesus has been arrested, Jesus is on trial. So people start showing up, huge crowds start showing up. It's only a sheet during Matthew 27, 17. So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus who was called Christ? Now here's what probably happened. Remember a week before this, Jesus rode into town in a donkey, and they're all screaming, Hosanna, son of David, praise God, the Messiah has come. Six days later now, they come out and they see Jesus. Remember, he looks a mess. He's bound in Roman shackles. He's been beaten and bloodied and spit on. His hair's a mess. He's tired. He's been abused. He's in the custody of Rome. And I'm sure many of this crowd are thinking, what kind of Messiah is this? They had hopes. as the two in Emmaus said, they had hoped this was going to be the ones going to overthrow Rome. But here he is before Pilate, bound, standing like this, totally defeated. So many in the crowd start changing their mind. This is no Messiah. He's no Messiah. He was lying to us. This is no Messiah. They turn on him. And we're told there that while Pilate was busy with his wife's note, the Jewish leaders were working the crowd. That's found in Matthew 27, 20 through 21. It's on your sheet. But the chief priests and the elders, note that word, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death. Then the governor said to them, which said, then do you want me to release you? And they said, Barabbas. While he's getting this note, the Jewish leaders are out going through the crowd saying, ask for Barabbas. Jesus is a false messiah. Jesus is a blasphemer. We want Barabbas. And the crowd, the same crowd, many of them who a week before were shouting his praises, now cry out. We want Barabbas. We don't want this Jesus. At this point, Pilate is quite agitated. Now he knows Jesus is not only harmless, he's innocent. He knows that Jesus does not deserve death. Three times now he's already said that. Herod has said the same thing. His dream, or his wife's dream probably really spooked him to get a note like that. He's probably thinking the gods are speaking to me through my wife. He's probably thinking something like that. So Pilate is quite agitated. Notice his response on this sheet here, Luke 23, 22. And he said to them, notice this, why? What evil has this man done? Pilate's shouting this, why? Why do you want this guy dead? What has he done? I found in him no guilt, he's demanding death, therefore I will punish him and release him. This is the fourth time now Pilate says publicly, he's innocent, he does not deserve death. Why do you keep calling for him to die? So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna punish him and I'm gonna release him. Now, this lesson is a hard one for me. And it should be for you if you're thinking, if you're awake at all. All this week as I was studying this and thinking this through, I guess I'm gonna be an old sissy, I start crying. What's about to happen next, now up to this point Jesus has been manhandled and abused and spit on and mistreated and cheated out of a fair trial, but now it's really gonna turn out. And now it really gets nasty. I can't teach this without getting emotional. It hurts. We love Jesus, don't we? And to see him going through this, and the scripture writers, they want us to see this. This isn't just facts, then this happened, then this happened. This is, you need to see your savior and what he did and what he was willing to go through to save our miserable souls. That's important. So Pilate, notice chapter in John 18, 19 verse one, Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him. You'll notice, note all four gospel writers, they say the same thing. They don't describe this. Same with crucifixion. All they'll say is, and they crucified him. They don't describe that. Because they know what it was. They lived this. Now Pilate here is sending an innocent man, he knows he's innocent, to be scourged. It tells you something about Pilate. Here's where this really gets hard to think about. Now the Jews had a law, it was found in Deuteronomy 25.3, that if you whipped a man, you couldn't do it more than 40 times. You could kill a person by doing this. So the Jews had a law, only 40 times. The Jews, to be safe, made it 39 times. You could only whip a man 39 times. Paul said this, 2 Corinthians 11, 24, Paul said, five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Think of that. Think of what Paul's back must have looked like. Like a crossword puzzle. Five times he was, now the Jews, when they whipped you, usually they used a cane or a leather whip. Nothing really serious. It would hurt, but it wouldn't cripple you. Five times, Paul said, I got 39 lashes from the Jews. I imagine his back looked like leather. Now the Jews used, as I said, a cane or a leather whip. In fact, in Jewish lore, the whipping was called the one from death. 40 times, you could actually kill a man if you beat a man 40 times with a whip. So they made it 39. Now Romans didn't have any of those restrictions. The Romans didn't think like that. It was illegal for a Roman citizen to be scourged. Remember in the book of Acts when they arrest Paul during the riot and the centurion's gonna scourge him. And Paul says, can you scourge a Roman citizen? Oh no, no, no, no, we can't touch a Roman because it's that horrible. Jesus is Jewish. Now there were basically two kinds of whippings the Romans did. There were three classes, but two kinds of whippings. The first one was basically like a cane. They would beat you on the back with this cane, or just a leather whip. And that was used not so much to injure you as much as to humiliate you. You were caught petty crimes, little things. You insulted a governor, they would cane you, they would whip you. The second one, as I'm sure you know, is using what they call a lector. A scourge. The words used in the Gospels indicate that's what this is. Jesus isn't just being caned. He's being scourged. Now let's talk about this. A scourge or a lictor, I think I spelled that wrong, was a whip that had several fingers on the end of leather. And they would tie bone or pottery or little pieces of metal in there. So every time it hit you, it would sink into your flesh and rip out. It would rip you up. It was actually a form of execution. It was cruel and vicious. There would be several soldiers would take turns doing this, and each stroke would just sink into you. Have you seen The Passion of the Christ? I don't recommend it. It's gory. I've seen it two or three times. I think that they go overboard there, but that's a pretty good example of what happened, what it was like. There would be several soldiers taking turns, and each stroke would sink into your body and rip it back out of you, exposing veins and bones and even organs, depending on how long they whipped you. Now, they found skeletons of crucified victims. I'll show you some pictures when we get to the crucifixion. But they also found some of these men who were flogged, who were scourged. On their shoulder blades and the back of their ribcage are all these scars from these whips. It would go right into the bone and just rip you up. If I could say this reverently, you became like bloody hamburger. It was horrifying. It was horrifying. That's the word used here. Extreme pain. This would hurt like mad. This would be so painful. It would produce trauma. Lots and lots of blood loss. Now the Romans would keep on flogging until either they got too tired to do it anymore, or they were ordered to stop, or the victim died. Now, we don't know how many times they hit Jesus. Now, when Pilate came out of the Praetorium, because the Jews won't go into his house, he's sitting out front on a little, like a little throne. Only about 50 yards to the right of him was where this was taking place. They know where this was. There would be a stone courtyard with a post. They would strip you down to your underwear, take your robe off, tie you onto this post like this with your back bare. And then these guys would stand behind and just take their turn whacking you with this whip over and over and over. And I'm not trying to be gross, but I'm going to ask you to picture that. Remember who this is. This is Jesus. This is the son of God. This is the most kindest, gentlest, lovingest human who ever walked this earth. The most honest man who ever lived. No one ever loved God more than him. No one ever loved sinners more than him. No one ever did more good to this earth than Jesus did. And look what they're doing to him. And we're told over and again, he was silent. Never cried out, never screamed out, They were used to seeing these men screaming out curses at their tormentors and screaming out. He never said a word. He just took it. And remember, Jesus, don't think you go, well, he's God. He's fully human. He feels every bit of this. Every bit of this, he feels. This was a severe physical beating, tied to a post. Now, again, we don't know how many times they hit him, I imagine enough. This was usually reserved for condemned criminals, because once you're flogged like this, a handful of times, without medical attention afterwards, you're going to die. If you don't get medical attention right away, I mean stitches, cleansing of wounds, replacing of fluids, this could literally drive you out of your mind just with pain. It's that bad. This explains why later Jesus is too weak to carry his own cross. There are two guys carry theirs, he can't carry his. He's beaten half to death already. I think Pilate has sort of figured out here what's going on. I don't know if Pilate, how long he'll let them go. We don't know that. But either way, he is bloodied up. He is ripped open. He is in such intense pain. I'm sure he's probably shaking, probably even half in shock. Each blow would lacerate your skin. As I said, muscles and bones would be exposed. Someone said you looked like bloody hamburger. The bleeding would be massive. The pain is intense. And then after this beating, without some kind of medical attention, you're gonna die. Infection's gonna set in without immediate help. Jesus is not gonna live much beyond this without a lot of help. If we just ended there, that's enough to think about, isn't it? But you know, it gets worse. You're in John 18, go John 19. John was there. John 19, verse one. Pilate then took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and put a purple robe on him. And they began to come up and say to him, hail, king of the Jews. And they give him slaps in his face. I remember just moving him around when he was done, they untie you. They put this purple robe, this scarlet robe on him, on his back. You don't imagine. In fact, that rope then was ripped off of him when he goes to the cross in a few minutes after this. And again, the Roman soldiers weren't gentle. But it says they put a crown of thorns on his head. Now, around Jerusalem in Israel, there's many different kinds of thorn bushes, thorn trees. They would have taken one of these vines and just wrapped it. Thorns, I read, would be between one to four inches long, depending what bush they got and where they got it from. But something like that. All these needles sharp. In fact, the word used in verse, they put, this is where English versions fall down. Literally the word there is pressed or thrust. They took this, I'm afraid to touch this thing, and pressed it onto his head. Just pushed it down onto his forehead. And all these needles would dig into you and dig into your flesh. Dig into your skin. Head wounds, facial wounds bleed profusely. Now again, picture this. Again, I'm not apologizing, but picture this. One of the worst scenes in The Passion of the Christ, in my mind, is after they're done flogging him, he's in this little room, and they put this thing on his head, and they're all beating him, and punching him, and mocking him, and hitting him with a reed. They put a reed in his hand, and they beat him with this. He's in intense pain. He's probably shaken all over from the pain already, bleeding profusely. They're torturing a bound, suffering criminal, in their minds. Jesus is being tortured. He's being tortured. That crown of thorns is a mockery. In the Roman games, when you won one of the games, they put this wreath, this crown on your head. They're mocking him, the great victor, the great king. It's a mockery. It's an awful, awful thing. Head and facial lacerations, all this whole thing. Let me ask you a question. What do you think the significance is to him having a crown of thorns? What do you think the symbolism is of thorns? Why thorns? When man fell, what was our curse? Thorns and thistles, it shall produce for you the ground. But Genesis 3.18, when man fell into sin, God said, from now on, the ground's gonna produce thorns and thistles because of your sin. Jesus now is wearing a crown of thorns. In Romans 8, it tells us the whole creation, the earth itself, has been subject to where there is a futility because of our sin. This earth is cursed because of us. Our animals get sick and die because of us. The earth convulses because of us. The earth never did anything wrong, we did. And it says there how the earth is waiting, it's groaning until the day when what? When Jesus makes everything right. Jesus is gonna set the earth free. You could say accurately the earth itself has a savior. And it's Jesus. And he's wearing that crown of thorns, I believe, as evidence. I'm bearing the curse of the earth. I believe he's wearing that as symbolically. He's taking on the curse of the earth. Not only our sin, but what our sin did to this beautiful planet God made. He's the redeemer of the earth. He's the redeemer of the universe. Romans 8 makes that clear. When the sons of God are placed, it says, the earth will no longer be subject to its fertility. That means our pets will no longer die. That means trees will no longer have mold on them. There will no longer be tornadoes or earthquakes or all that stuff. God made the earth beautiful. He loved everything he made. We've ruined it all. Our sin has ruined it all. The earth is in bondage because of our sin. Our sin. Jesus died to do away with sin. That's a beautiful, beautiful thing. The world has a savior. Notice it says there also, they put up a scarlet robe on him. The word in the Greek there is scarlet. They took one of the Romans. The Romans wore those red scarlet capes and those robes. I wish we had capes today. Capes are cool. Anyway, they put this robe on him. Yeah, that would work over a while, wouldn't it? Put this robe on him. Do you think there's any significance to the word scarlet? A scarlet robe? Isaiah 118. Though your sins be as scarlet, says the Lord. Come, let's reason together, God says. Though your sins be as scarlet. I mean, you're stained to the bone with sin. They can be white as snow. He's wearing this scarlet robe, caked in blood. I'm sure his blood's just soaking into this awful robe. I think that's symbolic too. Scarlet, awful robe. Matthew and Mark add here, that they put a reed in his hand, mocked him, and then beat him with the reed, and there's more slaps, punches, and spitting, as he's sitting there, racked with pain, bleeding profusely. I'm almost traumatized by all of this. They're beating- Still silent. Still silent. They're beating him, they're mocking him, they're spitting at him, they're punching him and saying, who punched you? Remember who this is. This is the one Pastor Paul's been talking about from Colossians chapter one, who created rules and governs the universe. This is the one who in the garden, they said, who do you seek Jesus? He said, I am. And they all fall backward. This is the kind of power this guy has. Yet he's sitting there taking this, letting them do this. So they're pummeling and mocking a bleeding bound prisoner. This is torture. He's being tortured now. This isn't just a mock trial and this is torture and they're calling him hail king of the Jews Mocking him because the Jews are so afraid this guy is some kind of a king They hit him on the head with a reed and Roman soldiers are known for their cruelty. They were just heartless some of these guys They're known in all four Gospels. They say and the soldiers mocked him, but they never tell you what they said Because they couldn't print such stuff the things they would say to him, the way they would insult him and mock him and just violently insult him, the Roman soldier. So we're going to stop here, but I want you to consider, as hard as this is, picture it firmly in your mind. And I do that not to be gross. All four Gospels tell us this. We're supposed to know this. We're supposed to see this. This isn't just facts. Well, this happened, then this happened. This is meant for us to get this image firmly in our brain, and then make some conclusions, to ask some questions. Imagine you're the Apostle John, who's there, or others. Say you're one of his disciples, and you're in that crowd, and you see him up there before Pilate, and Pilate says he's innocent. Five times, he's innocent. but I'm going to have him punished and released. And then they take him off the pilot's right, and you see him being tied to this post. You're watching this. And they start ripping him with that whip. And you see the blood, and you hear that whip hit, and you see the, just ripping him open. What would you be thinking? What would you be thinking? I know what I'd be thinking. Stop this. Stop this. He doesn't deserve this. What would you be doing? You'd be praying, wouldn't you? Father, help him. Father, please come to his aid. Help him, wouldn't you? This would rip your heart out to see the master. The one you know is the son of God. The one you know, he's the Messiah. You've been with him. What do you think John's thinking right now? Father, why aren't you helping him? Help him. All the disciples who were there, can you imagine seeing this? What would you do? How would you process this? All these miracles he did, he walked on water, he raised the dead, he shut up storms. Look at him now. How would you process that? You wouldn't. Somebody stop this. But here's the one who walked on water. Look what they're doing to him. And he's not stopping them. John says right out, Jesus knowing all things that were coming upon him. That's John 18.1. He knew. But imagine you're standing there. I'd be crying, Lord, stop this. Father, stop. Now imagine, let's go a little further with this, with imagination. Imagine a father in heaven. God is not a force. He's a person. The reason you have emotions is because he does. were made in his image. God feels. God has joy. God has anger. God gets sad. We see that in the scriptures. What is God? This is God's doing. God sent his son to do this. Look, you imagine God the father sitting on his throne. What do you think Jesus is doing right now? what any righteous man would do, right? Help me, Father, help me, please help me, wouldn't you? Help me on a cross, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's crying out for help. There's a father and he's not gonna help him. I will not help you. God the Father just sat there. Picture the angels who adored Jesus Christ. He's the darling of heaven. I can picture, I don't know how much the angels knew, how much did God tell them, I don't know. 1 Peter says how the angels long to look into these things. They don't get it. They don't need a savior. Picture the angels watching this, looking at God, watching this, looking at God. Aren't you gonna send us? Just say the word, Lord, we'll stop this. God just sits there, and the angel's like, just waiting for the call, it never comes. Just let that sink in, just let all that sink in. Remember who this is happening to. If this doesn't hit your emotion, there's something wrong with you, maybe I'm just a softy, I don't know, this kills me. And you can just hear Satan in all of this, laughing, and laughing, and spreading his wings and laughing. Here he is, I'm sure he's praying, help me father, help me. And no help comes, he's abandoned, he's alone. His disciples who are watching this are horrified. How can this be? How could this happen to him? Please stop this. And it doesn't stop. It goes on and it goes on and it goes on. Then they do that awful thing with the robe and the crown of thorns. How would you process that? How would you take that? Some thoughts. Some thoughts. When Paul and I were down in Ecuador together, he was preaching. And he said something I never saw before from Psalm 22, verse 1. Psalm 22, verse 1 says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it says, why are you so far from hearing my cry? That word cry in the Hebrew is an animal crying out in pain, describing. A couple months ago, across the street, up in the hill there, they have dogs. And I'm out in the yard doing something. I hear these kids yelling for their dog. It's out on the road. I can't see it. But I hear these kids, come on, come, puppy, come, come, come. They're yelling and yelling. And all of a sudden, I hear this car come flying down the road. I hear the brakes screeching. I can't see. It's behind the other house. And I hear this dog going, rat, rat, rat. That sound goes through me. Did you ever hear an animal cry out in pain? I can still hear that dog. And you know what that dog's doing? Help me, help me, help me. The car hit him. Psalm 22, which is an inside view of what Jesus is feeling, like an animal wounded by the side of the road. Help me, help me, someone help me. And they're not. There is no help. Think of it. There is no help. So letter A there are some thoughts. Why is this happening to him? I know you know the answer to that. But now you've got this firmly in your mind's eye. I'm doing this to him. This is because of me. This is because of you. Every time I've told a lie or lost my temper or lusted or whatever, it's my sins that are making him get beat like this. Do you realize that? We need to own this. We need to feel this. I know this is hard, folks. I know it is. What's causing all this suffering? He did nothing to deserve this. Nothing whatsoever. Nothing at all. You got it right, Carol. It shows you the depth of our sin. We take our sin way too light. This is how God the Father views our sin. That should be me there being beaten and whipped and rejected and condemned to death and just tortured. That should be me. That should be me dying under God's curse. This is because of our sin. Why must he suffer so intensely? Why couldn't he have just stabbed him or hung him or poisoned him? You're right, Carol, again, that's good theology. This sounds like overkill. Why is God, they're torturing his own son. He's being tortured to death, why? I'm sure hell is gonna be some form of eternal torture. We're gonna get to that two weeks down the road, Lord willing. Think of it. Why is he suffering so intensely? Because of you. Because of me. We brought this on him. We did this to him. This is how we see our sin. This is how God looks at sin. Sin is this bad. Did it have to be this bad? It's got to get worse. Did it have to be this bad? You better believe it did. because of what we did. You know, Jesus is suffering for murderers. Jesus is suffering for pedophiles. Jesus is suffering for all these wicked transgenders and human traffickers. He's suffering for them, those who are part of God's elect. He's suffering under their wrath. So let her be. And you know these. Why? Why doesn't he save himself? He could easily stop this. He has the power to easily make this stop and make the pain go away. You know he has to want to. He's human. He's got it behind him. Make it stop, make it stop. Father, help me. But he won't. because he's giving himself. Exactly right. He is giving himself to this. There's that scene in the Passion. I doubt it's true. It may be. When they beat him and beat him and beat him and he's on the ground and he gets back up again. Beat me some more. I don't know that happened. But he's submitting to this. He's letting them do this because this is what it takes. As Carl said, we need to see this. This is what sin is. Father, if you will that I get my back ripped open, then Father, I'm going to get my back ripped open. Can you imagine? But why would you do that? He loves his father. And he loves us. I said, for this reason, John 10, the father loves me. I lay down my life for the sheep. So let her see. And again, you know this answer. Why doesn't the father intervene and stop him? How can the father let him go through this? In fact, the father made him go through this. Most famous verse in the Bible, it's in every football game, John 3, 16. God so loved the world that he gave. This is what giving your son looks like. He gave his only begotten son and whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. This is what giving the son looks like. I'm giving my son to die for you, to be tortured for you, to fall under my wrath. Can you imagine? God won't stop this. Why? Because he wants to save you. In fact, Jesus cried out like an orphan. My God, why have you forsaken me? By the way, that's the first time in the gospels Jesus always called his father what? Abba. On the cross, he didn't say the word Abba. So lastly, letter D. Are you worth this? Come on, think about it. Are you worth this? It took this to save your soul. Are you worth this? But are you worth him doing this? I often think every day a Christian ought to picture Jesus on the cross. Picture this. As if he's getting whipped and he turns and says, but I'm doing this for you. We're not worth this. A million years from now in heaven, you'll still not be worthy of this. But this is what it takes to save us. God so loved the world, he gave his son. Of course, you know this was prophesied in a big way. Some verses are in your sheet. This is not on your sheet, by the way. Psalm 22, six through eight says this. This is prophesied. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip, they wag their head saying, commit yourself to the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him, because he delights in it. He said, I'm mocked, I'm hated, I'm laughed at, they sneered me, they hate me. This is on your sheet, Isaiah 50 verse six. The suffering servant, the servant of Yahweh says this. I gave, note that word, I gave my back to those who strike me. and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting. I gave them this. I walked into this buzzsaw on purpose. I gave my back to them." Read on, Isaiah 52, 14, the prologue to Isaiah 53. Speaking about the servant of Yahweh, as Isaiah calls him, just as many were astonished. Get that word astonished. That means shocked. Astonished at you, my people. So his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. He no longer looks like a man. He's that beaten and ripped up and bloody. He says, this is astonishing. In fact, Isaiah 53 starts, who can believe our report? Who can believe such a thing? The servant of Yahweh is so marred and disfigured, you can't even tell who he is. You can barely tell what he is. When he's nailed to that cross, there's this, again, I say this reverently, this bleeding, bloody piece of hamburger hanging there. That's not an exaggeration. That's who He is. That's what He is. And Isaiah, 600 years before Christ, prophesied. Who could believe such a thing? He was marred so badly, you couldn't tell who He was. You couldn't even tell what He was. And of course, Isaiah 53, I've shortened this a bit for you, just pulled out some verses. It's on your sheet. Who has believed our message? Who could believe such a thing? He was despised and forsaken of men. He's all alone here, no doubt about it. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Here's his word, he was crushed. This is what crushing looks like. This is the beginning of it. He hadn't gone to the cross yet. He was crushed for our iniquity. The chastening, that word chastening means punishment. The punishment, the beatings I should get. The chastening for our well-being. fell upon him, the chastening that made me well, he was chastened with." But note the next phrase, 600 years before Christ, and by his scourging or by his stripes, we are healed of our sin because he was scourged. You get that? That's a horrible thought. It's a wonderful thought, but it's a horrible thought. Like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. As for his generation, who considered, who knew that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people? Who got that? They didn't. Who knew that he was doing all of this because of our sin? Who knew that? to whom the stroke was, get that word stroke. They struck him and struck him and struck him. We deserve that stroke. The stroke was due to us. Who considered that he was being struck? Take care of our sin, read on. The Lord was pleased to crush him. That's a hard verse to get your mind around. God the Father was pleased to crush him. Why was he pleased? because this is what saves you. God the Father had chosen you in the eternity past, set his love upon you, and this is how God the Father redeems you to himself. He was pleased to crush his son, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will bear, get that word, bear their iniquities. He poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded. Him over that post having his back ripped open, he's bearing our sin, he's bearing our punishment. And when he goes to the cross, our actual sin debt will be laid upon him and he'll bear it all. Can you get your mind around this? And again, I ask the question, do we deserve this? Am I worthy of this? Not for a second. This is pure grace. This is pure God's mercy. We have a loving God, loving Father. We have a loving Savior. Who would do this? Jesus even said, hardly for a righteous man, someone might die. Paul said that. But for a sinner, who dies for sinners? Who dies for their enemies? But God alone. This is what bearing their sin looks like. All these beatings, and all this condemned to death, and all this fake trial, and now all this scourging, and the crown of thorns, and the mocking. And now, next time we get together, he's going to go to the cross, I think. All of that is what bearing our sin looks like. This is what laying down your life for the sheep looks like. And all the sheep do is stand on and look in horror and amazement that he would do this. Great quote from Charles Spurgeon. He always says things way better than I can. It's on your sheet. He took the payment and bore it to God. Took his wounds, his rent body, his flowing blood up to his father's very eyes. And there he spread out his wounded hands and pleaded for his people. Now here is proof that the Christian cannot be condemned. He goes on to say, it says, for your sakes, for your sakes, he became poor. Not a thorn in that crown for himself, but for your sakes. No spittle on his cheeks, no hair plucked from them for himself, but all for you. For you, the cruel lash as it pitilessly furrows that holy shoulders. For you, those drops of crimson sweat as they stain the cold earth. For you, each of those cruel nails. For you, the spear that pierced his side. Oh, let each Christian here really seek to lay claim to have a personal interest in the griefs and groans of Jesus. Sweet possessions owed to treasure. That's why I think all four Gospels go to great length to make sure you know this. These wounds are mine. This is happening because of me. Not only that, this is happening for me. When he was condemned, I was condemned through him. When he was tortured under God's wrath and all this suffering and agony and pain, so was I. When he was nailed to the cross and died under God's wrath, so did I. And when he rose from the grave, so did we. You need to be able to say to yourself when you hear these things or think about these things, I did that. I caused this. I'm the one who caused his sufferings. This happened to him because of us. We did this. And he's bearing my sin. I deserved all that. He did it for me. And then it goes without saying how we should love him for doing this for us, shouldn't we? I hope you love Jesus Christ as much as you know how to do. This should break your heart. You would do that for me. You would give your son for me. You would go to that cross for me. No one loves you more than this. No one ever can. We should love Him, we should adore Him, we should worship Him, we should give our lives for Him. Our whole life should be one big thank you. I don't apologize if this hurts, it's supposed to. I don't apologize if this makes you feel bad, it should. It's horrifying and it's wonderful. It's terrible and it's awesome. Because you're saved because of it. Christ is risen from the dead. Those things are over now, the payment is made. And that's why in scripture, whenever you see anyone in heaven, they're praising God. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Revelation 5, Revelation 7, praise be to the lamb because of what he's done. This church should always, always lift Jesus Christ high and worship him. Thank him, praise him. You should be eager to try to tell your friends and family about this because he did this for sinners. Let's close in prayer. Oh, precious Heavenly Father, we read these histories. We know they're accurate. And Lord, we are on one level horrified that the son would go through this. Lord, we're horrified that you'd put him through this. We can't imagine the physical agony he's going through at this point. We can't begin to imagine the pain he took. But Lord, we add to it the absolute truth that this is all because of us. This is all because of our sin. This is the world's hatred for you being poured out on him. And he's taking our sin, bearing our shame, bearing our pain. He gave his back to those who would strike him. And you were pleased to crush him to save our worthless souls. Father, we don't deserve this. We never will, but oh, we thank you for it. You are a loving God, full of compassion and grace and mercy to sinners. You were willing to give your only begotten son, Lord Jesus Christ. Royal Highness Lord, We can only marvel at who you are and what you did. No one has ever loved us like you did. No one cared for us like you do. We thank you and we praise you and we lift you high, Lord. May you be first in our life, first in our hearts. Help us, Lord, to always visit these scenes, to always visit the cross, to always have this foremost in our minds, to own this, to believe this, to feel this. Lord, may it truly be for your glory and for the pleasure of your Father. We know that's why all of this was done. Again, Lord, help us to believe and to respond accordingly as those who truly love you, love the gospel, love our salvation. We ask this all in Jesus' name, amen.