But you turn to John's gospel John chapter 18 and we come to the verse 39 John 18 and beginning at verse 39 Pilate is speaking but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover and So do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. And then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him or scourged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him saying, hail, king of the Jews, and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, see, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man. When the chief priest and officer saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die. because he has made himself the son of God. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for John's gospel that gives us these words from the lips of our Savior, from the very lips of God. Oh God, that we might learn, that we might grow, that our heart might be more attracted about Jesus. And I pray, Father, in these moments that you'll bless our time in your word. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. We're looking at the trial of Jesus as he stands here before the governor Pontius Pilate. Pilate represented the Roman government. He is there to keep the peace and to put away all the troublemakers that would threaten the national security of Rome. So here we have Pilate. He meets Jesus face to face and he comes to a conclusion. I find no fault in him. I find nothing wrong. He's an innocent man. Well, that wasn't the sentiment of the Jewish leaders. They wanted to get rid of Jesus. And for a long time, the Jewish leaders have been plotting the death of Jesus. And now it is the appointed hour. God allowed Judas Iscariot to go through and betray Jesus into their hands. And God allowed the high priest, Caiaphas, to send him to Pilate. You see, only the Roman government had the authority to pass out the death sentence. The Jews could not do that. And so that's why we read in John chapter 18, we back up there verse 28, where it says, they led Jesus from the house of Cephas to the governor's headquarters or the praetorium. as it's called. Now Pilate, he knew the real reason why, he knew the reason why they brought Jesus to him because it was out of envy that they brought Jesus to him. It wasn't because of a crime worthy of death, but he knew that they hated Jesus. And the only reason why Jesus was brought to him was to be crucified. The Jews had no interest in having a fair trial. They care nothing about that. They just wanted Jesus to be killed. So this was a blood thirsty lynch mob that came bringing Jesus for his crucifixion. Now in chapter 19 in verse five, there's something Pilate says, I think it's very important for us to consider here. There's not much good that came from his mouth, but this is something that even God can use a ruthless spineless ruler like Pilate. And in chapter 19 verse five, he says, so Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple rope. And here's what Pilate said, behold the man. Behold the man. The greatest display of the glory of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here Jesus is standing. But by all appearances, Jesus didn't have the look. a look that someone that seems to be glorious and majestic. It's like the prophet Isaiah when he said he had no form or majesty that we should look at him. He had no beauty that we should desire him. To the world Jesus is nothing desirable, yet For the dry and thirsty, Jesus is a wonderful fountain of life to behold. For the lost, tired, and weary, and heavy-hearted, Jesus is the great shepherd to behold. For the defriended one who's lonely, Jesus is the best friend to behold. The crowd is growing now here around Pilate. They're growing. Pilate says to all of them, behold, the man. But to this crowd, there's nothing about Jesus that seems appealing, nothing that seems to be attractive. The hosannas have long been quietened down. The miracles and the good works of Jesus have been easily forgotten. And even Pilate, when he said, behold the man, he didn't know the significance of that back to over 2000 years ago. But you know what? Today, 2023, we're challenged this morning. Behold the man. Why? He's the lamb of God. Behold the lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world. There are six pictures I want you to see here as we go through the text. So consider, first of all, behold the man, behold the rejected man. If you see that in verse 39 of chapter 18, Pilate comes out to them and says, listen, you have a custom. Every Passover, I am to release a criminal, a Jewish criminal that's been incarcerated. And Pilate would hope that they would pick Jesus, but Barabbas, The Bible says there in verse 40, we don't want Jesus. We don't want Jesus that you call the King of the Jews. We want Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Now ESV version used that word robber and it's actually more than that. Let me give you the other gospels. Matthew 27, 16 says, a notorious prisoner. And Mark's gospel said that he was a murderer involved in the insurrection. There was an attempt to overthrow Roman rule and Barabbas was in behind all of that. He wasn't arrested for jaywalking. I mean this is a serious dude here in crime here. He was guilty of murder. You might say he was a terrorist. And so Pilate, if he released Barabbas, he would be in danger of the emperor of Rome, Tiberius Caesar, if he heard about that. Why are you letting that guy back in the streets? Well, he is a threat to Rome. Now they wanted Barabbas, a notorious criminal, to be released into the streets. They rejected Jesus. Just like the scripture says in Psalms 118 and verse 22, the stone that the builders rejected. Jesus is the rejected stone. He is the rejected man. He was rejected by the chief priests. He was rejected by the Sadducees and the Pharisees. He was rejected by His own. The Bible says He came unto His own. His own received Him not. He was rejected by the very people that He healed, that He saved, that He helped. He was even rejected by the disciples who fled the scene. He was rejected even by the Roman soldiers who mocked Him, who spat upon Him. And Jesus was rejected by God the Father. When Jesus hung on the cross, He said, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Well, here's the thing. Jesus was rejected so we could be accepted. He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of Christ, that we might be accepted in the Beloved. It's like Saint Francis' prayer. It says, he experienced hate that we might know love. He suffered despair that we might know hope. He endeared the darkness that we might walk in light. He experienced infinite sorrow that we might know joy. Jesus was rejected, so we don't have to be. He's the rejected man. I want you to see also in chapter 19 now, In verse one, he is the tortured man. It says there, Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. Now, reading that, you think that Pilate did it himself, but actually, the other translations, New American Standard, actually, he had Jesus flogged. Other soldiers took, involved in flogging, in scourging the victims here. How long would they whip Jesus? They would do it this way. The victim would be stripped, tied to a post. And the instrument was a wooden handle. And from that wooden handle would be leather thongs. And at the end would be attached jagged pieces of bone and metal. now the Jews had a law that you could not give lashes over 40 so they were very careful they only gave 39 but the Romans did not go by Jewish law they just gave as many as they wanted to give so they kept whipping Jesus on his back. How long? Well, they say it would go as long as until the soldiers who took turns doing this were exhausted. Or number two, they would stop when the commanding officer said, that's enough. Or third, they would stop when the victim died, which was not uncommon. Jesus was tortured The Bible says that Jesus could have stopped all this if he wanted to, couldn't he? He could have called twelve legions of angels and put an end to all that. He stayed there, took the beatings. The Bible says by his stripes we are healed and the greatest healing is the healing of a sin-cursed soul. Jesus took our beating. He took upon himself the torture that was meant for us. He took hell for us. Hey, don't let anybody deceive you into thinking that hell is an okay place to be. Hell is an awful place. It's pure, unadulterated, holy torture. Jesus took hell on the cross. He experienced hell on the cross. Also in verse two, chapter 19, it says that the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him and saying, hail king of the Jews. and struck him with their hands. They mocked him. They made fun of him. They played a foolish game here with Jesus. Adding to the torture that he was already experiencing, they took the crown of thorns, and the thorns were about 12 inches long, and they would crush it up on his head. And so there was the humiliation and the added pain with those crown of thorns. And then to add to the mockery, they took a cloak from a soldier, the purple cloak, and they put it around his shoulders as if he was dressed in purple like a king, pretending to be a king. And then they would stand in front of him and bow down to him and say, Hail, King of the Jews! Then they would get up off their knees and slap him in the face. It wasn't this way. The way they did it, they went that way. They struck his face. They mocked him. Isaiah 50 verse 6 is a prophecy of Jesus. I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheeks to those who pull out my beard. I did not hide my face from insults and spitting. Jesus is the rejected man. He's the tortured man. He is the mocked man here. But look at verse 4, verse 4. Pilate went out and said to them, see, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know I find no guilt in him. I find no guilt in him. Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate said, behold the man, I find no guilt in him, no fault in him. Pilate could not pin a sin on Jesus. In his book, he was innocent. Nothing wrong with him. There is no wrong in Jesus. He never committed a sin. The Bible says in Hebrews 4.15, he was tempted at all points as we are, yet without sin. 1 John 3 and 5, you know that he appeared to take away his sins and in him is no sin. So behold the man, the sinless man, The perfect man. R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on John, he says this, when Pilate said, behold the man, the people in the crowd should have looked on him and said, yes, here is man, as God intended him to be, as God designed him to be, a man with no fault in him. No fault, no sins. But in verse five, it tells us, He came out, Pilate brought Jesus out wearing the crown of thorns, the purple robe. Pilate says, behold the man, Jesus came out. Look what he's wearing, that ridiculous crown of thorns. And what's with that robe, that purple robe? I mean, couldn't Pilate at least replace that crown of thorns with a crown that he had in his own palace with gold and diamonds and jewels and make it more appealing and attractive. You're saying behold the man. They don't even look like something we want. We don't want this man. He's not something that we want. He looks ridiculous. But behold the man. The kind of man that God says, this is my son in whom I will pleased. And because he is sinless, here's the good news. Because Jesus is sinless, he came to make us to be the kind of person that we should be. And this is what God said. This is what God said. He says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God. Verse six, the crucified man. When the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. That's all they had on their mind. Crucify him. Pilot, take him yourself. Pilot knew he couldn't do that because they didn't have the okay to crucify people. Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him. And the Jews said, well, listen, we have a law. And they're quoting Leviticus. We have a law that a man like Jesus here, he ought to die because he's made himself be the son of God. But they kept on saying, crucify him. You read the other gospels, like Luke 23, they continued with that, crucify him, crucify him. They wouldn't let up. No other option. The Bible says they were urgent in their demands. Their voices prevailed. They kept on, kept on, kept on crucifying him. Jesus was crucified. Did you know that there are many, many people who do not believe that Jesus was actually crucified on the cross? For example, if you're a Muslim, you probably have a copy of the Quran. And in the Quran, I quote, here's what it says, and they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but another was made to resemble him to them. The Muslims don't believe Jesus died on the cross. I actually talked to Muslims and they said, no, we don't believe that. Gnostic or very early Gnostic writings made claims that Simon of Cyrene, you know, when Jesus, he couldn't even carry the cross, and this man came, Simon of Cyrene, and carried the cross. The Gnostic writing says that Simon of Cyrene switched places with Jesus, and it was Simon of Cyrene that actually was crucified. There are a lot of people that believe that. The Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter says this, there's someone else who was crucified instead of Jesus. You know, you've heard of the attacks on the deity of Jesus, right? There is also an attack on the humanity of Jesus. Behold the man, he was a man. Yes, he is God, but he was man. If you have doubts about the crucifixion of the son of God, the son of man, then you have to have doubts about the resurrection. Then verse seven, the Jews, answered and says we have a law and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself to be the Son of God. As I said they were quoting Leviticus 24 16 and it says whoever would blaspheme the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death and they would consider this blasphemy if you claim to be the Son of God. Unless, unless you are the Son of God and Jesus is. Jesus is the perfect, sinless man, and he's also the Son of God. He is man and God. He's not half a man and half a God. He is 100% man and 100% God. He is the God-man. He is the Son of God. John 1, verse 1 says, in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. That's talking about Jesus. And verse 14 says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we've seen his glory, glorious of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. Now, somebody will ask that question. Well, how, I don't understand it. How, how can Jesus be both God and the same time be, be a man and God? I mean, God, listen, God never sleeps. And sometimes I feel that way. I can't sleep at night. But God never sleeps. He never gets hungry. He never gets tired. Yet Jesus as a man experienced all of that. He did get sleepy. He got tired. He got weary. So here's the thing about it. Our God is a triune God. He's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus always existed just as God always existed. The Holy Spirit always existed just as God always existed. But here's the thing, there came a time when Jesus became a man. There was a time when he was just God the Son, but the incarnation of the Lord Jesus in the fullness of time, born of a virgin. Jesus, the son of God, became the son of man. And so you have two natures. Jesus has two natures. He has the divine nature and he has human nature. Perfect man. There are some verses on that. Colossians 2 and 9 says, for in him, in him the fullness of deity dwells. Talk about Jesus. 1 Timothy 2 and 5 says, for there is one God and there's one mediator between God and man, the man, the man, Christ Jesus. Titus 2.13 says, we are waiting for that blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior. Jesus Christ, put it together. He's God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then this one of my favorites, John 20, 28. You remember Jesus' resurrection? There was one we called, we also called him Doubting Thomas, you know, and Jesus convinced him, look at my nail pierced hands and look at my nail pierced feet and look at the pierced side. Those nail prints will be there for all eternity as a witness. And when Thomas examined it, he bowed down and he says, my Lord and my God. Did Jesus say, well, wait a minute, don't, are you, you're not calling me God, are you? No, Jesus received that. Why? Because he is, he's Lord, my Lord and my God. Isaac Watts, he's correcting this hymn at the cross. One of the verses says, well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in when Christ the mighty maker died for man the creature's sin. Christ the mighty maker died. God didn't die. Jesus the man died. Christ the mighty maker died. Thank God. He died, but he rose, amen? He rose victorious. He rose from the dead. John saw Jesus on the island of Patmos. And here's what Jesus shows to him there. John says, when I saw him, I fell down just like a dead man. And Jesus laid his right hand upon my shoulders. He said, fear not, I am the first. and I'm the last. You can't get any further than that in the first. And I'm the last. He goes on and says, and I am he that liveth and was dead, but behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death. Behold the man To behold Him is to know Him, is to believe in Him, and as the Lord says, is to be changed by Him, look unto me and be saved. That's right. Hello, this is Pastor Chris Gowan. Thank you for listening, and we hope the message was helpful. If you want to reach out to us through sermon audio, you can email, call, or even write us using our contact information that's given on this website. We'd be delighted to help you in your walk with Christ. May our blessed Lord enrich you and yours with his amazing grace and abounding love. Goodbye.