event of human history, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Father, there's so much in this chapter, just please help me to find just a few things that
we could dwell on this evening that would change our lives, that would bring us closer
to you.
And in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Now we're approaching the very end of the book of Matthew.
Of course, in Matthew 26 we saw Jesus betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Judas Iscariot betrayed him in the garden, one of his most trusted, closest disciples
was a devil from the beginning, the Bible says, an infiltrator, who had just gotten
in with them for financial gain, just to basically be, he was filled with Satan, the Bible says,
and he had this idea to betray Jesus Christ and get him in trouble, get him crucified.
And then we also saw in chapter 26 that Peter, his other close disciple, let him down.
I mean, the man was saved, he was a great man, he's still a great man, but when the
time came down to it, when he was under pressure, he was intimidated by some little girl.
I mean, if you read the story, he's sitting around with the world's crowd warming his
hands around the fire with a bunch of ungodly sinners, says he sat down with these ungodly
people, he followed Jesus afar off, if you remember, and he was kind of just watching
to see how it would all turn out, and just a young girl comes up and says, hey, I know
you, you were with him, weren't you?
And he begins to just curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man.
And the cock crew, he went out and wept bitterly, that's where we left off in chapter 26.
Now in chapter 27, we see two great events, there are three great events left in the book
of Matthew, of course the death, the burial, and the resurrection.
Now in Matthew 27, we're going to see Jesus' death and burial, and in chapter 28, that
short chapter at the end, we're going to see his great resurrection.
Now look at chapter 27, verse number 1.
The Bible says, when the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people
took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
So this trial that they've been having has pretty much lasted all night long.
If you remember, they caught him in the middle of the night in Gethsemane, and Jesus said,
hey, I was openly in the temple.
He said, I've taught you every day, I've been in your streets.
He said, you didn't come and take me and arrest me then, but he said, but this is your hour
and the power of darkness.
And so they did this in the middle of the night, they came with torches and staves in
the middle of the night, they had him arrested, they've had this grueling trial all night
long, and we saw a few things in chapter 26 where they're punching him in the face, they
cover up his head and punch him in the face and say, hey, who hit you if you're Jesus?
So they've just made fun of him, they've mocked him, they've beat him, they've had this trial
all night long, and in the morning, they're saying, okay, we're going to put him to death.
So we're going to take it to the next level.
Now the trial that they had in chapter 26 where they arrested him was just with the
Jews, but it was not lawful for the Jews to put a man to death because they were under
the authority of the Roman Empire.
So the Jews had to get permission from Rome in order to put somebody to death.
So now they've decided, okay, he's worthy of death, we're going to take him and we're
going to get him put to death.
So they have to take him to this man Pontius Pilate, who is the Roman governor of that
territory that they're in.
So the Bible says in verse number two, because they're going to put him to death, and when
they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Then in verses three through ten, we see, we already covered that last week, that's
where Judas repented himself when he realized that he betrayed Jesus Christ and that Jesus
was going to be put to death.
He brings the money back, and we already talked about that last week, so just look at verse
number 11.
The Bible says, and Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
And he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.
So Pilate is very impressed with this man.
If you read the book of John's account, it says that three times he said, I find no fault
in him.
He said, this guy hasn't done anything wrong.
I find no fault in him.
But the Jews are just insisting and begging him to put this man to death.
So finally, Pilate's to the point where he realizes, I can't get through to these people.
And this is the chief priests and the elders who had brought Jesus.
He said, I'm trying to turn them away, but they're just bugging me.
They're begging me to put them to death.
And so look what he says in verse number 15, it says, Now at that feast the governor was
wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
So now Pilate's saying, well, look, the elders and the chief priests have brought me Jesus.
They want him put to death.
But he says, here's what I'm going to do.
I've seen this guy's popularity.
I mean, I've seen Jesus, I've obviously heard of him, and he says, I can tell that the chief
priests and elders have only delivered him to me because they envy him.
And so he says, here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go to the people.
And since I release one prisoner a year to the people, even though Jesus has been arrested,
he said, I'm going to go to just the crowds of people and I'm going to say to them, I'm
going to release a prisoner to you.
Do you want me to release Jesus or do you want me to release this other man, Barabbas,
who was a murderer and he was a man who'd made an insurrection against the government.
He was a rebel against the Roman government.
And so it says, they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas, he's a famous prisoner.
Therefore when they were gathered together, this is all the throngs of people, whom will
ye that I release unto you, Barabbas or Jesus, which is called Christ?
For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him saying, have thou nothing
to do with that just man, for I've suffered many things this day in a dream because of
him.
And then look at verse 20, but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they
should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
So they had already got to the people and gotten them to agree to destroy Jesus.
So the governor asked them, whether the twain will ye that I release unto you?
They said, Barabbas, Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus, which is
called Christ?
They all say unto him, let him be crucified.
And the governor said, why, what evil hath he done?
But they cried out the more saying, let him be crucified.
So here's what we see, this is one of the greatest stories in the Bible.
We have Barabbas here, here's a man who was legitimately a murderer, the Bible says, he
was a robber, he made an insurrection, he was a rebel.
I mean he had every guilt, he had every right to go and be sentenced to death on the cross.
And that's what his fate would be, to die and be killed at the hands of the Romans.
But here he is sitting in the jail cell on this fateful morning.
I mean there's already been a cross made for him that's going to be his punishment.
And here he is sitting in the jail cell, I mean you can just picture him, he's probably
looking at his watch thinking, a few more hours and this is it for me.
And then, all of a sudden, he probably hears the guard walking down the hall toward his
cell.
And you can probably hear just the coming down the hall, I mean he's on death row, he's
about to die, it's his last day.
And you know the guard comes, he jiggles the key around, opens the door, takes Barabbas,
brings him out, walks him out the door, and he probably could see off in the distance
that hill that's shaped like a skull, the Bible says.
The mountain called Golgotha, or Calvary, that actually had these rock formations that
looks like the eye sockets of a skull carved in the side of it.
And so that's what they would use to crucify people, that's where they'd kill people, was
on this mountain called Calvary.
And he probably walked out the door and looked at that skull, looking him in the face, and
he probably could have seen some people up there getting ready for the execution that
day.
I mean there were two other men being executed also that were crucified on Jesus right and
left.
So Barabbas is thinking to himself, that's going to be me, that's where I'm headed, it's
all over, this is it.
And what happens?
They loose the shackles off his hands, and they just send him away free, and say, Barabbas,
you're free.
I mean, why?
He doesn't know.
I mean, he's sick, because think about it, he thought he was going to die, but he's just
released free.
And I get to see Barabbas as he walks out that door, a little bit perplexed, I mean
he was all psyched up, he thought this was it, he thought he was going to die.
Then he walks out the door, and he probably sees another man, you know, Jesus Christ,
beaten and bloody, carrying a cross up that hill.
And see, that's a great picture of our salvation, is like Barabbas.
I mean look, we're all guilty in the eyes of God.
We've all committed sin.
The Bible says there's none that doeth good, no not one, for all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God.
There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not.
And the Bible says, this is the condemnation that has come on all the world.
And so we're all sinners, we all deserve to die and go to hell one day, but the story
that we're reading about in Matthew 27 is when Jesus Christ paid our punishment for
us, and when we, like Barabbas, were set free, and said, you're free, go ahead.
Boy, can you imagine what Barabbas must have felt like?
I mean, as he stood there and watched Jesus Christ be crucified and thought, that should
have been me.
I mean, I'm the one who is guilty, I'm the murderer, this man has done nothing amiss.
This man who is the perfect, sinless son of God, dying on the cross, beaten like I should
have been beaten, nailed to a cross like I should have been nailed to a cross.
But you know, he's the same case as every one of us, that we should have had to pay
for our own sins, but Jesus Christ paid them for us.
That's the story of this great chapter.
Look at verse 25.
They just have released Barabbas.
They've just set free a murderer and a wicked man, and praise God, because that's what we
all are, and we've been set free also.
But look at verse 25, they've just set him free, and at the end of verse 24, Pilate says,
I am innocent of the blood of this just person.
See ye to it.
He says, I'm not going to have anything to do with it.
You go ahead and do it.
And then, look what they say in verse 25, they answered all the people and said, His
blood be on us and on our children.
Oh, man, I get chills coming out of my spine every time I read that.
Can you believe that?
I mean, they're going to crucify Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, the Son of God,
and they have the audacity, the goal to say, His blood be on us and on our children.
Wow.
And I'm thinking to myself, and I don't know if this is popular to say this, I don't really
care, but the Jews, let's face it, they by and large rejected Jesus Christ.
Now, they are God's chosen people, the Abrahamic Covenant.
I mean, He did choose them and say that, I'll bless your seed after you to Abraham,
and He said, if any man bless you, I'll bless them, and whoever curses you, I'll curse them.
But let's face it, the Jews rejected Jesus when He came.
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, the Bible says.
And I'm going to tell you something, these people who cried out and said, His blood be
on us and on our children, they have paid for that throughout history.
I mean, in this generation, their whole nation was invaded by the Romans, and the temple
was destroyed in 70 A.D. by Emperor Titus, multitudes of people were massacred and slaughtered
in the town of Jerusalem, because Jesus said that the blood of all the prophets is going
to be brought on this generation.
He said, I'm going to pay this generation back, this generation, and historically we
see that, when Titus came in and just destroyed the nation of Israel in 70 A.D., which is
only 37 years after that.
But you know, I was thinking about this, and I was pondering it just in more recent days,
and I was thinking to myself, who controls, and I don't care whether this is popular or
not, this is the truth, who controls all the TV stations, you know what I mean?
Who controls all the movies in Hollywood?
Who makes all the pornography in this country?
Who is all the politicians that we probably agree with the least, like Dianne Feinstein
and Barbara Boxer, yes, I'm talking about the two senators in California who are just
flaming liberals.
Who is it that produces all the filth?
I mean, think about it, I was just, and I don't really know that much about the Hollywood
and the movies, thank God, but I was just thinking about this, the names, Steven Spielberg,
Jewish.
I was thinking about, you know, Jeff Goldblum is a name that came to mind.
Richard Dreyfus, you know, I was just like going down the line, just these Jewish names,
Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, you know, and I'm not against the Jews, and I'm not a racist
at all, not one bit, and I still believe that the Jews are God's chosen people, and I think
that nobody should curse them, and I don't think anybody should, you know, take their
land away from them, I don't believe in that, because that's straight out of the Bible.
But I'm going to tell you something, when you turn on the television and watch all the
Hollywood, when you go to the movies and watch all the Hollywood, you're watching the product
of a group of people who say, his blood be on us and on our children, and I venture to
say that they're some of the most wicked people in the world today are the Jews that are living
in America, who control all this filth and pornography and Hollywood and TV, and that's
just the truth.
And I'll tell you why, because they're under the curse of God, because they have, you know,
yes, they're God's chosen people, and he blessed them, but you know what, there came a time
when he said, sorry, you know, I'm going to turn to the Gentiles, because you have rejected
me.
And there's going to be a restoration that happens with Israel, you know, in the end
times, there's going to be 144,000 Jews that God uses to serve him, but I'm going to tell
you something, these people who said that are the people who produce all the filth and
all the garbage that you love to watch on TV and on the movies.
And they said, his blood be on us and on our children.
What a chilling statement, what a disgusting statement.
But it makes me think about the great verse in the Bible, Acts 16, 31, that I use out
soul-willing every week, and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved.
What's the last three words?
And thy house.
Remember that?
It says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
That's the last three words that are on the end there.
And thy house, because he says, look, if you get saved, your children are probably going
to get saved.
Your wife's probably going to get saved.
Your family's going to get saved.
He says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
And I'm going to tell you something, when you reject Jesus Christ, sometimes you're
rejecting him for your children.
And when you accept Jesus Christ, sometimes you're accepting him for your children.
Now they still have to get saved on their own, don't get me wrong.
Everybody gets saved on their own.
But if you say, you know, when I walk up to the door sometimes I'm soul-willing, and I'll
try to win somebody's award.
I don't care.
I'm not interested.
And, you know, I see a little toddler in the background there, and I'm thinking to myself,
you know, I wonder if that kid's ever going to get saved.
I wonder if not only you're slamming the door on me for you, I wonder if he's ever going
to get to hear the chance to hear the gospel, because you slammed the door.
And I remember I was soul-willing with Brother Jimenez when he was here, and we knocked on
this door, and this lady said, I'm not interested in that, because I can show you how you can
know for sure.
If you die today, you'd go to heaven.
Can I show you that?
And she said, well, you know, I'm not interested.
I don't really care.
And he said, well, you know, he said, well, if you'd ever like to know that, because he
said, you know, I see you've got four little kids here, and he says, you know, they might
like to know that sometime.
You know, they might care about that, and, you know, if you're wrong, you know, I mean,
then all you guys will go to hell.
I mean, your kids will go to hell, and he said, so, you know, if you'd ever like to
know that, or if you'd ever like to make sure that your children have a chance to at least
they could hear how they could know that, then you know where to go.
It's right here, you know, this church right here.
And I just thought to myself, wow.
And every time I go soul winning, I see little kids like that, that's what I think about.
It's how sometimes you say, what about these people over in Ethiopia, they didn't hear
the gospel clearly, and nobody came, and hey, look, their parents probably heard the gospel
and rejected it, and sometimes their children are going to be damned to hell because they
rejected the gospel.
And look, sometimes you decide, like, oh, am I going to go to church, am I not going
to go to church?
It's like, you know, when you don't come to church, your kids aren't in church.
Think about that.
Or when you don't get what you need, how are you going to give other people what they need
from the Bible, the gospel, and the things that you learn in church?
And so learn this, that everything that you do in life affects other people, always, always.
When you sin, it hurts other people.
When you do right, it helps other people.
You say, well, yeah, it's my life.
No.
The Bible says, no man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself, whether therefore
you eat or drink, do all unto the glory of God.
Think about the story of Daniel in the lion's den.
They throw, remember the men that lied about Daniel and tried to get him arrested?
They took those men and they threw them in the lion's den instead of Daniel, and they
threw their wives in, and they threw their children in.
And you say, man, that's horrible, that's not fair.
Well, I don't think it's fair either, but it happened.
I mean, it happened.
I mean, those wicked men, you know, their wives and children were thrown in the lion's
den.
What God's trying to show us is that when you sin, it affects your whole family.
When you reject the truth, it affects your whole family, it affects your kids, it affects
your great grandkids, it affects the third and the fourth generation, the Bible says.
Every sin that you commit is visited upon the third and fourth generation, the Bible
says.
And so you better take your life seriously, because it's not just you, and you say, well,
I can get by with it.
No, it's you, it's your children, it's your children's children, and God says if you do
right, he'll bless all the way to the third and fourth generation.
And so you've got to take your life seriously.
Take everything you do seriously.
Take every word that comes out of your mouth seriously, and it'll be like these people
who, this is an extreme example, but they said, we want the blood of Jesus Christ to
be guilt and to be held to us and our children guilty for it.
Wow, that's so brazen.
But look at verse 26, then released he Barabbas unto them.
And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Now, it talks about Jesus being scourged.
This is what they would do in those days.
In the Bible, in Deuteronomy, there's a law that says you cannot beat a man more than
40 times.
It says you cannot beat a man 40 times or more, or more than 40 times, because he said
that it's disgusting to people to watch somebody be beaten more than 40 times, and actually
the man would probably die after being beaten more than 40 times.
And so God puts that limit that they could beat a man 40 times.
So what they used to do, and you'll find this in the book of First Corinthians and
other places, but what they used to do is they would beat him 39 times, because they
didn't even want to get close to that limit, because in case they miscounted, they didn't
want to accidentally beat him 41 times, because, and I don't know if this is true, because
this part's not in the Bible, but I've heard people say that if the man accidentally beat
him 41 times, then they would turn around and they would beat him 41 times.
And so, I mean, this is a very brutal process that they would go through.
And so they took Jesus, they stripped his clothes off him, that's how they do this.
They'd take his clothes off him, they'd hang up their hands like this, and they would just
take a whip and just one, two, I mean, they beat him 39 times.
And the Bible says that he had stripes from every time they beat him.
So think about that.
The whip hit that first time, they pulled the whip off, and there's a bloody stripe
left there.
And then think about it, 39 times, I mean, all the skin and flesh is going to be gone
off his midsection.
And then think about how they put his clothes back on him, the Bible says.
And think about how the clothes would just stick to that open wound, where they'd whipped
him 39 times, and then put his clothes back on him.
And you know the blood is just seeping through those clothing and drying on.
And so as you just read over, I mean, it's just, it's not even a complete sentence.
It's a subordinate clause.
And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him, oh yeah, they scourged him in the, no,
the scourging itself was just a brutal process.
I mean, how would you like to be beat 39 times with a whip, and then put your clothes on
you?
And then the Bible says, they led him away to crucify him.
And then in verse 27, the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall,
and gathered under him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him.
So now they ripped the clothes back off him a second time, and put on him a scarlet robe.
And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his
right hand.
So here's what they're doing, they're making fun of him.
So they strip off his clothes off him, I mean, he's got this torn apart midsection.
They take a scarlet fancy royal robe and put it on him.
Then they go out and the Bible says they platted, which means braided, a crown of thorns.
So they went out and found big thorns and thorn bushes, and they twisted them together
and braided them into a crown of thorns, and they shoved that crown onto his head.
Now, you may know this, but your head bleeds unlike any other part of your body.
I mean, the two parts of your body, in my experience, that bleed the most are your hands
and your head.
I mean, they bleed profusely.
I remember one time I was in California, and I was crawling through an attic.
And I don't know if you know this, but when they put the shingles on roofs, they used
those long staples.
And if you've ever crawled attics, you know that there's sharp staples hanging down from
the ceiling in the attic.
Well, one time I was working with my dad, and I was pulling on a wire, and I yanked
it like this.
You know, it was stuck, so I'm like, ugh, ugh, ugh, and it came loose.
And I slammed my head into one of those staples, and I just felt the staple go into my head,
you know, because it just went straight in.
And ugh, the pain was just extreme.
I mean, it was intense.
It's a sensitive part of your body.
And it was just intense pain, just from one sharp little needle that just shoved into
my head.
And I remember the first, I mean, you know, I was seeing stars, because it hurt pretty
bad.
And the first thing I thought about was saying, man, what about that crown of thorns?
That's the first thing I thought about.
I thought, what about the crown of thorns, just several at one time, just shoved down
into his head.
I mean, just the extreme pain, and just the blood.
I mean, can you imagine the men who were doing this?
Can you imagine the men who were just beating him, and just shoving a crown of thorns, just
watching blood pour down his face, and the Bible says that he didn't even open his mouth,
he didn't even say anything.
I mean, it's not like he's cursing at him, or arguing with him, or yelling at him.
I mean, he just sat there as a sheep is dumb, before his shears so opened, he gnawed his
mouth, and he just sat there, he didn't say a word, he just let them shove a crown of
thorns into his hand.
They put this robe on his back, they put a reed in his right hand, a big long stick,
and they start bowing down to him and worshipping this bloody mess.
I mean, can you imagine that?
The Bible says that he hath no form or comeliness.
He says, when we look at him, he said there's no reason why we desire him.
He said it's just not a desirable picture at all to look at this man.
That's what it says in Isaiah 53.
It says, I mean, you look at him and he has no form, you can't even make out the features
of his face.
It says his visage is more marred than any man.
He's despised, he's rejected, the Bible says.
And I mean, the Bible says there's nothing pretty about this sight.
You know, you see these paintings of the crucifixion, and they're made by some artist, you know,
who's a homosexual, you know, Michelangelo, or whichever one it is, some queer.
These paintings, and you'll see the little drop of blood, you know what I'm talking about?
And they have this real girly looking guy on there, and he's got a few little drops,
but he's got like a few little abrasions right here on his stomach.
I mean, to me it's blasphemous.
You're downgrading what Jesus Christ really went through, because you're putting this
little picture of some pretty boy who's just got a few little marks on him.
And not only that, but they make this real beautiful scene out of it.
Hey, there's nothing beautiful about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
It is an ugly, disgusting image of a man beaten beyond recognition is what we're looking
at in this story.
A man with blood flowing down his face, flowing out of his body, beaten, mocked, made fun
of.
And you say, why in the world would God have, the Bible says it pleased the Lord to bruise
him.
Why in the world would God have this disgusting sight of Jesus on the cross?
I'll tell you why.
Because God is trying to show you, and God is showing you how ugly sin is to God.
He says this is what sin does.
Go back to Adam and Eve in the garden.
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, nothing or no one had ever died before.
No plant had ever died, no animal had ever died, no human being had ever died.
There had never been death until Adam partook of that fruit.
And what's the first thing that God does when Adam, when he comes and speaks with Adam?
He takes a lamb and he slaughters it and skins it in front of Adam.
And you can just imagine that first death taking place of just an animal.
I mean this little cute, little innocent lamb just being butchered and stripped of its clothing
and that clothing was put on Adam and Eve as a clothing for them to wear, as a covering
for them.
And you think to yourself, this grotesque picture of blood and guts and everything,
and why?
Because God says that's how disgusting sin is, that's how ugly sin is.
You know, you read through the book of Leviticus and you read about these sacrifices that they
do with a lamb and they cut out the liver and the call and the flanks and the kidneys
and it just describes them gutting an animal.
It's because God is saying, look, sin is disgusting.
I remember I was thinking to myself, my dad was telling me when he was reading through
the book of Leviticus at the time, we were just chatting at his house, and he said, man,
he's like, this is a gory book, kidneys, call, liver, you know, and it's talking about cutting
them out and burning them on an altar.
He's like, can you imagine what that might have smelled like?
Yeah, it smells like sin smells like to God.
It smells like liquor smells like, it smells like cigarettes smells like, it smells like
drugs smells like, it smells like fornication smells like.
It smells like stealing and hurting people and these filthy fornicators you read about,
these pedophiles in the news every week that are on the news and Mark Foley, the pervert
Republican senator who was molesting boys and whatever.
Hey, it's filthy in the eyes of God and God says, it smells to me like if you took a dead
body of an animal and burned it on an altar, it's what it smells like to me, it's disgusting.
And so you see this image of Jesus dying on the cross is a picture of Jesus became sin
for us and it was an ugly sight.
The payment for our sin was an ugly sight.
Thank God we don't have to pay it.
If we're saved tonight, we'll never pay for our sins.
We'll never have our sins mentioned to us.
We'll breathe our last breath and be in the presence of God in heaven on the streets of
gold.
But do you ever stop and think the price that was paid for us to go straight to heaven like
that?
I heard somebody say to me the other day, I was explaining them the gospel and they
were like some kind of a die hard of one of these liberal churches that's like work salvation,
you know?
They believe you're saved by doing good works.
And I explained to them the gospel, how it's free.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And this is what he said.
You know what?
He said, you know what that is?
He said, this is what my pastor calls that.
What you're telling me about how you're just saved through Jesus Christ?
He said, my pastor calls that cheap grace.
Where you think you just do whatever.
And I'm thinking to myself, cheap grace?
It's paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.
It's not cheap.
It's free.
It's not cheap, friend.
It's free, but it wasn't free to Jesus because Jesus paid all of it.
He paid every single beating, every lash, every whip, every puncture wound from the
crown of thorns put into his head.
So the Bible says that they bowed the knee, in verse 29, they bowed the knee and bowed
the knee before him and mocked him saying, Hail King of the Jews, and they spit upon
him.
Can you imagine spitting in the face of God himself in the flesh?
They spit upon him and took the wreath and smote him on the head.
Remember, the crown of thorns is on his head, and then they hit him in the head with a stick
on that crown.
And after that, they had mocked him.
They took the robe off from him.
I mean, they're stripping his clothes on and off after he's been beaten.
And the Bible says that they put his own raiment on him and let him away to be crucified.
So by the way, he wasn't naked on the cross, as these pictures, they just like to draw
naked men.
He wasn't naked.
The Bible says they put his clothes back on him and let him away to be crucified.
That's what the Bible says.
And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled
to bear his cross.
I mean, he wasn't even physically able to carry the cross up the hill because he couldn't
be beaten so bad.
So, I mean, you can see he's trying to carry it.
He's probably stumbling under the load.
I mean, it's probably knocking him to the ground.
And they took this man and they said, Simon, you carry the cross.
And they had this other man carried for him.
And the Bible says, and when they were come unto a place, verse 33, called Golgotha, that
is to say a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.
And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
And they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophet.
They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
And look at verse 36, and sitting down, they watched him there.
Can you believe the wickedness of mankind?
I mean, isn't it disgusting?
Now, you sit down and watch.
Hey, let's sit down and watch.
Hand me some popcorn.
I mean, it's just filthy and ungodly, the heart of man.
You say, oh, man's basically good.
It's just the environment that's bad.
No, man's a sinner.
Man's ungodly.
I mean, think about it.
They've got Jesus Christ, never done anything wrong.
Then the governor said, he hasn't done anything wrong.
You've only delivered him for envy.
And here he is, hanging on the cross, beaten, disgusting, gory.
You know, I think about how people love to watch these gory movies, these gory horror
movies.
Hey, you know what?
That's disgusting.
You shouldn't like to watch these gory video games.
People's heads are being chopped off and everything.
It's disgusting.
But that's what mankind, that's what a sinful mankind wants.
They want to look at this show of a man beaten and abused on a cross, an innocent man, dying
on a cross, sitting down, they watched him there.
And set up over his head his accusation written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another on
the left.
And they passed, they had passed by, were bile and wagging their heads, and saying,
Tao, that destroys the temple and buildest it in three days.
Save thyself.
If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Likewise, also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved
others, himself.
He cannot save.
If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him.
He trusted in God.
Let him deliver him now, if he will 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.
Now look if you would, flip back if you would to Psalm 22, Psalm 22.
And it's so interesting, you know, the cross is the central theme of the entire Bible.
The central moment of all eternity hinges on this one event right here when Jesus is
being crucified on the cross.
This is the central event in the entire Bible.
And so all throughout the Old Testament you'll see this event described.
And one of those great Psalms is Psalm 22.
One of them is Genesis 22, one of them is Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Psalm 16, there's so
many.
But look at Psalm 22, verse number 1.
My God, my God, are you there in Psalm 22?
My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?
Oh my God, I cry in the daytime but thou hearest not, and in the night season and am not silent.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted and thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto thee and were delivered.
They trusted in thee and were not confounded.
But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn.
They shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would
deliver him.
Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him.
Look at verse 14.
I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.
You catch that?
All my bones are out of joint, it says.
So when they hung them on the cross, you can imagine that when somebody nails your hands
to a cross and nails your feet to a cross, they obviously didn't nail them to the cross
while the cross was up erect because he carried the cross up the hill so it was not yet mounted
because he carried it up the hill.
And so what happens is they carried it up the hill and then they laid it on the ground
and they nailed them to the cross on the ground and then they picked up that cross and they
dropped it into a hole in the ground.
And when they dropped it into a hole in the ground, you can imagine the impact of when
it hit the bottom just where it ripped on him and the Bible says it just took his bones
out of joint.
And so he says all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and thou hast
brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me.
They part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture.
You see, he's saying I may tell all my bones.
The word tell is like the word count, like you know the teller at the bank that counts
the money.
He's saying my bones look and stare upon me.
He's saying I can look down and see my bones like I can count the bones in my body where
they've beaten all the flesh off my chest and I can see my bones staring at me.
He says the assembly of the wicked have just enclosed me round about.
He says I'm surrounded by the wicked, ungodly men who've done this to me that have pierced
my hands and my feet.
And he says even God has forsaken me.
Can you imagine the event here?
Surrounded by wicked men laughing and mocking, shaking their heads, whacking their heads,
shooting out the lip at them, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him.
Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
And even he looks up and says God, where are you?
And even God is not even responding to him because go back to the book of Matthew and
look what happens next.
See, you kind of bring a little bit more to the picture when you look at Psalm 22 and
Isaiah 53 and these other passages, but look at verse 45 in Matthew 27, the Bible says
now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land of the ninth hour.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,
that is to say my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
So think about this, surrounded by wicked ungodly men and at this point at the sixth
hour, which is 12 noon, the Bible says that darkness covered the entire world.
I mean it was just a total eclipse, total, I believe it was this pitch black darkness.
And the Bible says that here he is, I believe that the darkness was because basically God
the Father had to just turn his back on his own son Jesus Christ because the Bible says
in Habakkuk chapter 1, it says thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not
look on iniquity.
And so God the Father is so holy, it's like he can't even look at sin, he can't be a part
of sin.
And so when Jesus Christ became sin for us, it's like God the Father almost had to like
turn his back on him.
And then there was this darkness all over the whole land.
And that's when he cried out and said my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
Now look at verse 47, just an interesting note here, just so you understand that Jesus
was not speaking Hebrew while he was on the survey, he was speaking a language called
Aramaic.
And you can see this throughout the Bible, one of the reasons why you can see it is because
right here, the people that were around him, they didn't even understand what he was saying
when he spoke in Hebrew.
Every time Jesus spoke in Hebrew, it tells you what he said in Hebrew, like you'll notice
this as you're reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, every time Jesus slipped into the
Hebrew language, it always makes a note and says, he said, you know, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,
which is to say my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
And they didn't understand the language because the word Eli means my God in Hebrew.
Because all throughout the Bible, you'll see, you don't even need to study Hebrew, if you
just read the Bible, you'll know that the word El means God, and that Eli means my God.
You can understand that just from reading the Old Testament.
Like Bethel means house of God and so forth, but they thought he's saying Elijah because
he's saying Eli, and they're thinking like Elias, they're thinking, oh, he's calling
out for Elijah to help him, when really he's calling upon God.
And so it says, the rest said, let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
And in verse 50, the Bible says, Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded
up the ghost.
Now what time did Jesus die on the cross?
Well I firmly believe that Jesus died on the cross at 6 p.m. because it says that
the darkness stopped at 3 p.m., but then there's more events that happen after that that are
described.
And the reason that I believe that Jesus died at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening, and I'll show
you why.
Flip back to Exodus chapter 12, and we'll see a whole other aspect of this story.
Exodus chapter 12, and I'll show you why Jesus died on the cross at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evening.
And of course we know it's Wednesday evening because the Catholics say it was on Friday,
but that's not three days and three nights, not even close, you know.
I mean if he was to die on Friday night, it would be like one day and two nights, okay,
if he rose on Sunday morning.
Like the Catholics say he died on Friday night and rose on Sunday morning.
Okay, well you got Friday night, you got Saturday all day, and you got Saturday night, that's
one day and two nights, not even close to three days and three nights.
And look if you would at Exodus chapter 12, I'm going to show you something real quick.
Now the Bible says Christ, our Passover, is offered for us in 1 Corinthians, so we
know that the Passover of course is a picture of Jesus Christ.
We'll look at verse number 5, this is the description of the Passover.
The Bible says in Exodus 12, 5, your lamb shall be without blemish, that's of course
Jesus Christ, no fault in him, the perfect, spotless, sinless lamb of God, a male of the
first year, you shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and watch this, and
you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month, and the whole assembly of
the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Do you see that?
Now a lot of people, I've heard a lot of preachers say that every household was going to take
a lamb and kill it, but really what everyone did is they all took a lamb, and then they
all got together, the Bible says, and it says that the whole assembly of the congregation
of Israel killed the lamb, because that's a picture of how the whole assembly of Israel
said, let him be crucified about Jesus Christ, and they were all there to have Jesus killed.
And when did they kill him?
In the evening.
So the evening in the Hebrew world, and in the Bible actually, the Bible defines the
evening as any time after 6 o'clock, so it had to be at least 6 o'clock when Jesus died
on the cross because it says that they killed the Passover in the evening on the 14th day
of the month Abib, and I proved in another sermon that I preached several months ago
on the sermon called The Hoax of Good Friday, I preached on how Jesus died on the 14th day
of the month Abib at 6 pm, and that's why there's no way he could have been killed on
a Friday, because it wasn't three days and three nights, and Palm Sunday was the 10th
day of the month Abib, and on Wednesday night at 6 o'clock, when it became Thursday, was
the 14th day of the month Abib, and that's when Jesus was crucified, he spent three days
and three nights dead, and then he rose again, before Sunday morning, because it was actually
in the night there, the Bible says, before it was even light, while it was dawning toward
the first day of the week, they went there and the tomb was already empty, and so that
was on the first day of the week before it was even light, because the first day of the
week began on Saturday night at 6 o'clock, according to Hebrew calendars, when it became
Sunday.
While our Sunday starts at midnight, theirs started at 6 pm the night before.
That's part of another sermon, if you want to get that tape, but the point is, Jesus
was killed after 6 o'clock, so he hung on the cross for about six hours, you know, from
the time of, at least from noon until past 6 o'clock, he's hanging on the cross alive,
but look, notice the next part, it says, they shall kill it in the evening, look at verse
7, and they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper
door posts of the house, wherein they shall eat it.
Now I heard somebody say that, you know, if you put blood on the upper posts and on the
side posts, it's like you're making almost like a symbol of a cross out of blood on the
door, and then it says right here, and they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with
fire, you see those three words, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter
herbs they shall eat it, eat not of it raw, nor sodden it all with water, but roast with
fire.
He shall eat his head with his legs, and with the pertinence thereof, and ye shall let nothing
of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall
burn with fire.
Now did you ever wonder to yourself as you read throughout the Old Testament, because
we know that the whole Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ, I mean we know the whole
Bible from Genesis to Revelation has one subject, Jesus Christ, I mean everything in the Old
Testament is pointing us toward Jesus Christ, everything in the New Testament is pointing
us to Jesus Christ, and you ever wonder why all these offerings, not only would they kill
the animal and shed the blood on the altar, and we know that's a picture of Jesus obviously,
good night, but not only that but they always did what was called a burnt offering, did
you know that?
I mean if you notice I mean hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times throughout the Bible,
they say you take the offering, kill the lamb, shed the blood, sprinkle the blood on the
mercy seat, or sprinkle the blood on the altar, whatever the case may be depending
on which sacrifice it was, and then they say you'll burn the sacrifice whole on the altar.
Why?
Well, because it's a picture of Jesus Christ's next step, not only did he die on the cross,
but also his soul when he died on the cross, when he gave up the ghost as we just saw in
Matthew 27, you can turn back there, Matthew 27 verse number 50, this is where Jesus dies.
The Bible says, Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost.
Now the moment that he yielded up the ghost, that was nothing more than just a body on
the cross, because you know what happened?
That moment his soul left his body, and did it go up to heaven?
No.
It went down into hell, into the fires of hell.
You say, why is it so important that God says don't boil it, he says don't eat it raw, don't
sod it with water, he says the Passover must be roasted with fire, and you'll notice every
sacrifice the Bible says shall be seasoned with salt, he says every sacrifice is going
to be burned in the fire, and they always had a burnt offering, why?
They had a burnt offering because Jesus Christ, not only was he killed, not only was his blood
shed, but then his soul descended down into hell.
I'll read you a few verses, well actually flip over to Acts 2 and I'll show you this
quickly.
I don't want to take too much time, but I want to show you this important doctrine that
is all but fallen off the face of the earth it seems like sometimes.
People believe such goofy things, they don't just believe the King James Bible, that's
the problem.
Like they say well if you go back to the Greek and Hebrew, hell doesn't really mean hell.
Hell just means Hades, hell just means Sheol, and they'll come up with all this cute stuff
about hell.
Hey, you know, it's just this place and the underground and there's a good part and a
bad part and he didn't really go to hell, he just went to Hades or he just went to Sheol.
Well let's read what the Bible says, shall we?
Look at Acts chapter 2 verse number 29, men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto
this day.
Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of
the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
He's seeing this before, so David saw this before, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and
the burial and the resurrection, he's seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
So the resurrection is the fact that Jesus' soul was not left in hell, but that it was
resurrected from hell.
That's why in Psalm 16, 10, you don't have to turn there, this is the verse that Peter
is talking about in Acts chapter 2.
If you read the original quote, the Bible says, I have set the Lord always before me,
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved, therefore my heart is glad and my
glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope.
What's he saying?
My flesh also shall rest in hope.
What's he saying?
My dead body that's laying in a tomb, that's resting, that's my flesh that's dead, shall
rest in hope.
Why?
Verse 10, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy
one to see corruption.
So the Bible says that his body that lay in the tomb for three days did not see corruption,
and it rested in hope, because three days later, his soul came up out of hell and entered
into his body, and he rose again from the dead in a glorified state, where his body
was actually changed in a resurrected, glorified form.
And so don't tell me that Jesus didn't go to hell, because if you tell me that Jesus
didn't go to hell, you're denying the King James Bible, because the King James Bible
just said that his soul was not left in hell.
He said, I will not leave my soul in hell.
The book of Jonah, again, I'll just read this for you, you don't have to turn there, same
thing.
See, you have to understand that many times in the Old Testament, these prophets, they
were not talking about themselves, they were prophesying about Jesus Christ.
Look at Isaiah 53, where he tells the story about he's despised and rejected, and he talks
about how he's beaten and abused, and then the Ethiopian eunuch says, Spake the prophet
of himself or of some other man, is what it says in Acts chapter 8.
He's speaking about another man.
Psalm chapter 16, David in Psalm 16, the Bible says that he was not talking about himself,
when he said, I will not leave my soul in hell.
Peter said, look, David's body did see corruption.
David's body is still in the grave right now.
He spake it about Jesus Christ, he's a prophet.
It says David, being a prophet, spake this of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul
was not left in hell.
Well, listen to what Jonah said, not about himself, but this is what Jonah says, let
me get there, I'm sorry.
Jonah chapter 2, I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me, out of the
belly of hell cried I, and now heard is my voice.
Now take the Bible literally, Jonah said that he cried out of the belly, oh, was Jonah in
hell?
No.
Jonah did not die in the whale's belly, the Bible makes that clear, because it says in
Matthew 12.40, it says, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so where was he?
He was in the whale's belly for three days and three nights, he didn't die, he remained
in the whale's belly for three days and three nights.
So shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, in
hell.
He didn't say, as Jonah was in hell, the son of man's going to be in hell.
No, he said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall also
the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And that's why Jonah is prophesying, saying, out of the belly of hell cried I, and now
heard is my voice.
He says in verse 6, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with her bars
was about me forever.
You see that?
Jesus Christ was in the heart of the earth suffering eternal hell in the heart of the
earth, and he was resurrected from that, having paid the price of sin.
I'll read one more passage on this subject, Ephesians chapter 4, if you want to turn there.
This will be the last passage I show you on this subject real quick.
But I want you to see that not only was Jesus Christ our Passover killed for us, not only
was the blood shed, but he also went to hell for us and was roasts with fire, just as the
sacrifice to the Old Testament were.
But look at Ephesians chapter 4, I love this chapter, great chapter.
Look at verse 5, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, Ephesians chapter 4, one God and
Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all, but unto every one of
us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Therefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts
unto men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts
of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all things, that he might fill
all things.
You see that?
The Bible says that Jesus descended first into the lower parts of the earth before he
was glorified, because he went down into hell, that's what the Bible teaches.
Very clearly, of course in Romans 10 the same thing, I'll just quickly look at that,
you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says, who shall ascend into the deep?
Who shall ascend into the deep?
That is to bring up Christ again from the dead.
See Jesus Christ went down into the heart of the earth, he said the Son of Man shall
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And so Jesus paid an awesome price, he's beaten, he's spent upon, he's physically abused, he's
whipped, he's mocked, he's hung on a cross, the sins of the whole world were put upon
him.
The Bible says he himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree, he who knew no sin
became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God through him, and then
he died, he gave up the ghost, he descended down into hell, and then three days and three
nights later he rose again from the dead, victorious, and he said, he said, fear not,
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the
keys of hell and of death.
That's what he says in Revelation chapter 1.
And you'll notice if you read the rest of Matthew 27, I don't have time, but you'll
notice that the rest of this chapter, it talks about that body, it just talks about like
it, you know, he took the body, he buried it, you know, it's just a body.
I mean his soul and his spirit were down in hell, being tormented for the sins of mankind.
I heard somebody say recently, somebody was disputing this doctrine with me about how
Jesus went to hell, because you know, people who are liberals, who don't want to believe
the King James Bible word for word, and they want to try to change what it says, they'll
try to say he did not go to hell.
And they say, what?
Wasn't Jesus' death and his blood on the cross enough to pay for our sins?
I mean when he said it is finished, I mean, wasn't that it?
I mean wasn't that enough to pay for our sins?
No.
You're leaving out the whole resurrection, my friend.
The Bible says that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, what's the
gospel?
The Bible says how that Jesus rose, I mean how that Jesus died and was buried according
to the scriptures and how he rose again according to the scriptures.
Look, the most key element of salvation is the resurrection.
Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this is a whole other sermon, there would
be no salvation.
If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, there would be no salvation.
That's the whole key note of the gospel.
Look at every time in the book of Acts that Paul, the apostle Paul, preaches the gospel,
he always emphasizes the resurrection of the dead.
Every sermon that he preached culminated with this great truth, Jesus Christ, whom
God raised from the dead.
He said that's where our salvation is.
Look, don't get into some weird stuff where, oh yeah, it was all done on the cross.
Look, it wasn't done until Jesus died on the cross, shed his blood, his body was buried,
he went down to hell and paid our sins, he rose up again from the dead, then he took
the blood, and the Bible says he sprinkled it on the mercy seat seven times in heaven.
Look, it wasn't done until then.
I mean, he had to do the whole thing.
So yes, Jesus did go to hell and pay for our sins.
Yeah, I mean, a lot of people have been beaten.
Other people were crucified.
Two other people were crucified that day.
But see, only Jesus Christ paid for all the sins of mankind in hell.
And only Jesus Christ took the whole sins of the world.
Every wicked sinner, every Adolf Hitler, every Jeffrey Dahmer, and took all those wicked
filthy sins into his own body like as if he had done it.
And then had God pour out his wrath on him for all that sin.
That's the only one.
That's Jesus Christ.
Did it willfully, and then three days later rose again from the dead.
And so I've got to hurry here, but the Bible says in verse number 50, Jesus, when he cried
again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent
and twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake and the rocks rent.
Now I'm going to close with this because the rest of the chapter, I'm going to tie
in with chapter 28 because it has to do with the same subject matter.
But I want to say this.
Look at that phrase right there.
And behold, the veil of the temple was rent and twain.
Now there was a veil in the temple.
In the old temple, there was the holy place and the most holy place, the Bible calls it.
Now in the most holy place, the Bible says that the high priest entered once every year,
not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people.
But only the high priest was allowed to go in there.
The other priests were only allowed to go into the holy place of the temple.
Only the high priest could only go into the most holy place once a year with the blood
of the lamb that they shed once a year on the Day of Atonement.
He would go in with that blood once a year, he would sprinkle the blood seven times, he'd
walk out of there, and he would change all his clothes and wash his clothes, a very sacred
event that happened once a year.
Well, between the most holy place and the holy place was a veil.
It was a curtain that was made of blue and scarlet and fine twine linen, and they made
this big thick veil.
And that veil separated it so that no one could see the holy place inside there.
Well, the book of Hebrews goes into this in a great deal of detail in Hebrews 7, 8, and
9, and 10.
But what happened is when Jesus died on the cross, that veil, the moment that he died
and gave up the ghost, the Bible says that veil was just rent and twain.
And this has everything to do with my sermon on Sunday morning about the priesthood of
the believer.
See, in the New Testament, the Bible says that we have access to the most holy place,
so to speak.
I'll read this for you.
Let me find my place in the book of Hebrews here where it says this, and I'll close with
this.
The Bible says in Hebrews 10, it says, and every priest, and this is talking about the
Old Testament ordinances, and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which could never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand
of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he had perfected forever them that are sanctified.
And the Bible says, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he
had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, say
it the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them,
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which he had consecrated for us, through the veil, now watch these
next words, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.
And having high priests over the house of God, see here is what the Bible is saying,
that when Jesus died on the cross, and remember in the New Testament we are all priests, if
you were here on Sunday morning, we believe in the priesthood of the believer, the Bible
makes that clear, he is saying in the New Testament, no longer is there that wall of
partition the Bible says, no longer is there that veil, that veil represented the body
of Jesus Christ.
Remember Jesus said, this is my body which is broken for you, you remember that, at the
last supper when he is breaking a bread he said, this is my body which is broken for
you and when Jesus was broken body on the cross, it says that he read the veil in twain
and the Bible says now there is no more offering for sins.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus.
We don't have to worry like, see the high priest, he can only go there once a year to
that most holy place and out of that he didn't have boldness, I mean he had to wash his clothes.
The Bible says that if he had any alcohol in his body, if he had any uncleanness about
him that he had not cleaned up and gotten right, if he had anything wrong and he walked
into that veil, the Bible says he would die immediately, I mean God would kill him.
And so he had a garment on when he would go into the holy place and the Bible records
this that all along the bottom of the garment he had a bell and a pomegranate.
Virginia brought me some pomegranates before the service but, a bell and a pomegranate,
a dried pomegranate, so it made noise because of all those seeds rattling around, right?
So they had a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate
and so when he would walk in you could hear him, you know, shaking around and if he went
in there and died they could tell that he was dead because they didn't hear the movement
of the bell and the pomegranate anymore.
Because if this guy had, you know if he was some kind of a wicked sinner in his heart
and he had been doing wrong and uncleanness or if he had not followed the rituals properly
that God said where he was supposed to, you know, wash his clothes and bathe his flesh
in water and be prepared to go into this holy place because he's representing the high priest
Jesus Christ.
When he did this he would go through that veil with the fear and trembling once a year
with the blood of that sacrifice and put the blood on the mercy seat but the Bible says
no Jesus is our high priest now.
The Bible says having a high priest over the house of God he rent his own body for us which
opened up the way for us to go into the holy place and the Bible says having therefore
a brethren boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living
way which he had consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and so the
Bible says let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.
He says we don't have to worry about sacrifices.
We don't have to every time we say and we have to take an animal down and sacrifice
it.
Whatever your sins are paid for you've been perfected forever by the blood of Jesus Christ
by what offering is perfected forever then that are sanctified he said you can just boldly
come to the most holy place of God and just walk into God and just ask of him whatever
you want.
He says your sins have been paid for the separation between you and God the Bible says your sins
have separated between you and God in the Old Testament and Isaiah he says sin puts
a wall of separation between you and God he says when you get when Jesus Christ died on
the cross he broke through that wall of partition he tore the veil and now we can just walk
in and just talk to God like he's our friend just like Moses talked to God friend with
friend that's how we can talk to God.
Can you imagine the privilege of going from being a wicked sinner like Barabbas condemned
to death in jail rightfully so to being able to just waltz in to God's throne room and
just to demand of God what we want ask and you shall receive just to be able to confidently
say I know I'm going to heaven through the blood of Jesus Christ glory to God but you
know what it's not cheap grace my friend on our end it's free grace and on his end it
costs him his own life it costs him his own blood and you know what the truth of the matter
is I can't do it justice in the sermon at all but I'm going to tell you something Jesus
paid an awesome price for our salvation we can't even comprehend it I mean it wasn't
just the beating and that was bad it wasn't just the crown of thorns and that was bad
it wasn't just the bones being ripped out of joint and the nails through his hands but
it wasn't just the fact that he was paying eternal damnation in hell I mean we can't
even understand it I mean he did everything for us his body was broken his soul went down
to the bottoms of the mountains what it what can we do to ever pay him back I mean if we
were to just give a whole life to Jesus Christ and say I'm going to spend my whole life serving
God nothing else matters it wouldn't be enough and I'm going to tell you something if Jesus
never did another thing for us as long as we live I mean if he never did anything for
us financially if he never did anything for us in our family if he never blessed us in
this life at all he doesn't owe us anything because he's done so much for us that can't
even be comprehended and we owe it all to him and I think it's going to be the most
glorious day when we die someday or if we make it to the second coming of Jesus Christ
and we can see Jesus Christ and meet the one who paid this awesome price for us who loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood oh happy day that's going to be let's
bow our heads and have a word of prayer God I'm sorry that I couldn't do justice to this
great chapter but Father I just pray that you would please just help us to somehow comprehend
the awesome price that you paid for our sins and help us to someday be able to at least
say thank you in a small way at least if we could just do