Good evening, tonight we're in Matthew chapter 27 and the Bible reads, when the morning was
come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him
to death. When they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to the Pontius Pilate.
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought
again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that
I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast
down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. And the
chief priests took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury
because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field
to bury strangers in, wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day.
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took
the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel
did value, and gave them to the potter's field as the Lord appointed me. And Jesus stood before the
governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Are 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 sent
Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to
a never word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Now at that feast, the governor was wont
to release unto the people a prisoner whom they would. And they had then a noble prisoner called
Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said unto them,
Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus, which is called Christ? For he knew that
for the 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 have suffered many
things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude
that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them,
What of the twain will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them,
Which shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? And they all said 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. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but that
rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying,
I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it? Then answered all the people and
said, His blood be on us and on our children. Then release he Barabbas unto them. And when he
had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they
stripped him and put him on him a scarlet robe. When they had plaited a crown of thorns,
they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him,
and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit upon him, and took the reed,
and smote on his head. And after that they had mocked him, and they took the robe off from him,
and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found
a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were coming to a
place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of the 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 sitting there 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 that passed by reviled him,
wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroys the temple, and buildest it in three
days, save thyself. Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the
chief priests 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 save 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 from the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And then about the ninth hour
Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli lama sabachthani, that is to say, my God, my God,
why has thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there when they had heard that said,
This man called for Elias. Straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar,
and put it on a reed, and gave him his drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will
come to save him. Jesus when he had 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. And the graves were open, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto
many. And when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake,
and those things that were done, they feared greatly saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
Many women were there beholding afar off which followed Jesus from Galilee ministering unto him,
among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of
Zebedee's children. When the evening was come there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph,
who also himself was Jesus's disciple. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus,
then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered, and when Joseph had taken the body he wrapped it
in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own tomb which he had hewn out of the rock,
and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed. And there was Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulcher. Now the next day that followed the
day of the preparation the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate saying, Sir,
we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive after three days I will rise again.
Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by
night and steal him away and say unto the people he is risen from the dead, so the last error shall
be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch go your way make it make it as
you can. So they went and made the sepulcher sure sealing the stone and setting a watch. Let's pray
dear Lord God thank you for this time of thanksgiving where we all could come together Lord and
just hear the preaching of your word Lord just fill pastor with your Holy Spirit as he preaches
unto us and just bless the whole aspect of the service bless the fellowship and just bless this
whole night we pray this in Jesus name amen. There it is all right we're in Matthew 27 tonight.
I was debating whether to preach a thanksgiving sermon or just continue with the book of Matthew
but I thought to myself you know Matthew 27 is such a powerful chapter regarding the crucifixion
why not talk about it during thanksgiving because it helps us to reflect upon the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that he made for us and really that's what thanksgiving is all
about just thinking upon obviously there's many things that we can thank God for but the main
thing is obviously Jesus Christ the fact that he paid for our sins and resurrected and the fact
that he's our savior and so what a great chapter here I'm going to cover as much as I possibly can
before my stomach starts rumbling and then I feel like I have to land the plane and then we'll go
with the dinner here but let's go ahead and start in verse number one here in Matthew 27 it says
when the morning was come all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel
against Jesus to put him to death and when they had bound him they led him away and delivered him
to Pontius Pilate the governor now what's taking place here obviously leading up to this point
is the fact that Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane and we know that Judas has betrayed
Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver at this point Satan has already entered into Judas
to betray him and when he's in the garden of Gethsemane and Judas approaches him with all
of the soldiers it's at that point that all the disciples forsake him the smite the shepherd and
the sheep shall be scattered that was fulfilled right at that point and of course they end up
arresting Jesus and the chief priests and the elders had already taken counsel prior to this
that they wanted to kill Jesus Christ which is why they were able to covenant with Judas to turn him
in order to kill him and obviously they can't do it themselves because of the fact that they're
under Roman law right so they have to try to convince the Romans specifically the governor
Pontius Pilate that this man is guilty of a crime that is worthy of death and that's essentially
what's taking place here in chapter 27 is they're going to bring up railing accusations against
Jesus Christ they're going to lie about him and deceive seek to deceive Pontius Pilate in order
to sanction his death now look at verse number three it says then Judas which had betrayed him
when he saw that he was condemned I want you to notice this repented himself now one of the other
reasons why I love Matthew 27 is because it's a great chapter to prove that repenting of your sin
cannot get you saved and the reason that's important is because of the fact that today
you have people that will ardently say hey you have to repent of your sins to be saved
and when you try to ask them what is it that you mean by that specifically
you know you'll get different answers you have people to say we have to turn from your sin you
have to stop sinning you have to change your actions right and then when you clearly show
them the bible doesn't teach that they'll come back with well you have to at least feel sorry
for your sin or something but in this particular case we have both we have Judas not only feeling
bad for what he did but actually changing his actions repenting himself yet we know according
to the bible that he still split hell wide open because of the fact that according to John chapter
six he didn't believe from the beginning and so what does that teach us it teaches us that
salvation is only by believing on Jesus exclusively by believing on Jesus Christ
not by repenting of sin and here's the proof Judas Iscariot verse 3 when he saw that he was
condemned repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and
elders saying I have sinned and that I have betrayed the innocent blood and they said what
is that to us see thou to that and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed
and went and hanged himself so a couple things we can learn from this is the fact that Judas
Iscariot obviously didn't necessarily do this because of the fact that you know he really
felt bad for Jesus Christ or bad that he's betrayed him it's because he knew that he was
condemned right it's essentially realizing that he's condemned he understands that he's going to
be punished for this and so he repents himself he returns to 30 pieces of silver but they don't
care about that and a secondary application that we can gather from this is the fact that
obviously Christians aren't can be compared to Judas in any other extent but in this particular
instance you know when you think of the chief priests and elders we can liken them unto Satan
right who will often try to get us to kind of sell ourselves out to the devil to sin to whatever
it may be and then it turns out that when you commit sin or you do that which is not pleasing
unto the lord you know he kind of rubs that in your face and he's just like what is that to us
because of the fact that you know we know that sin is pleasurable for a season however when
sin is committed to bring forth death and more often than not Christians when they commit sin
it's afterwards that they feel bad about it right it's like oh man what have I done or oh man I
can't believe I committed that particular sin and it's almost as if the devil's like well what is
that to us see thou to it when before that you know Satan is enticing you he's tempting you he's
throwing those temptations in your face and then once you commit the sin it's just like what have
I done and Satan is just like what is that to me see thou to that so we see here that he ends up
casting the silver he leaves the temple he departs and the first thing he does is he hangs himself
why because of the fact that he is cursed and the bible tells us the cursed is every man that
hangeth on the tree and what what we see here within hanging himself is the fact that it
essentially speaks to the fact that he rejected Jesus Christ because in essence instead of him
hanging on a tree Jesus already is about to hang for him right he's essentially the one who's made
a curse for us he was going to be crucified and hang on a tree but instead he decided to pay for
his own sins and he ended up becoming a reprobate and he hanged himself and when you look at the
parallel passage or what happens thereafter in Acts chapter 1 we see that his bowels burst out
and I believe what it's referring to in Acts chapter 1 is that when he hangs himself that
rope ends up essentially breaking and he essentially falls and he bursts asunder
he hits some sort of stone and his bowels gush out it's very graphic but you know it's it's
it definitely merits that and so Judas deserves not only this dishonorable death but he deserves
the lowest hell for betraying Jesus Christ and so we see that here that that is the end of Judas
Iscariot and it's funny because when I present this proof here that repenting of your sin does
not get you saved people make all kinds of excuses right it's like well you know that doesn't count
you know he's Judas Iscariot and you know this is a different scenario this is a different situation
no salvation is the same for everyone okay and it's not like God makes an exception for one
person or the next based upon where they're located on the chronology of the bible whether
it's old testament new testament salvation has always been the same and people will always bring
this up and say well the bible says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand or repent and
believe the gospel as their proof texts to say that you have to repent of sin and turn from sin
but you know they're essentially adding to God's word and what are they adding of sin and it boggles
my mind when I bring that up to someone and I say where does it say of sin and they repeat the same
exact verse they're like well repent for the kingdom of heavens at hand where does it say of
sin right there repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and it's just this strong delusion
that people are under to the point that when you when they read that verse
they insert that phrase of sin so what does it mean then when it says repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand because obviously if it's saying that then obviously the repentance is in
the bible and also let me just say this is that don't let anybody tell you that we don't believe
in repentance right yeah because people will often uh they'll construct this this straw man
argument to say oh these people don't believe in repentance but that's false of course we believe
in repentance repentance is in the bible but in what context are we talking about here though
okay and in fact we even believe in repentance regarding salvation we just don't believe you
have to repent of sin for salvation because of the fact that the bible does not teach that
that would be considered a works-based salvation because repenting from sin is at work and the
bible says therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds deeds means
what works of the law not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy
he saved us and there's a plethora of verses that we can go to to prove that you're not saved by
your works he said that what does it mean when it says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
well you have to compare what he means in matthew 3 when when it's when he states that
to mark chapter 1 and even to hebrew chapter 6 because in matthew 3 he says repent for the
kingdom of heaven is in hand but in mark chapter 1 it says repent and believe the gospel
well in hebrew 6 it actually says repent from dead works and faith toward god so dead works
isn't referring to sin it's referring to what you're trusting in for salvation okay so when
he says repent in matthew 3 and in mark chapter 1 well the bible doesn't contradict itself so
if we were to interpret that based upon hebrew 6 he means repent from your dead works and then
he says for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and believe the gospel so that would match up perfectly
because when he says in mark chapter 1 repent and believe the gospel what is he saying repent from
your dead works and believe the gospel he said what about the whole kingdom of heaven though is
at hand well kingdom of heaven in my opinion is just another way of saying salvation
you say well that's kind of a stretch though you know how are you going to say the kingdom of
heaven is just talking about salvation well if you're to study the context in every single time
the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of god is mentioned in the bible it's often more often than
not referring to the millennial reign right the kingdom the physical kingdom that jesus christ
will establish one day in the future but the only ones who get to inherit that kingdom of heaven
are saved people so in order to even see the kingdom of heaven you have to believe on the
lord jesus christ however the bible says that it's at hand so why does it say that well because of
the fact that the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth so that salvation and the ability the
privilege to see that kingdom of heaven is nigh into the even in thy mouth how is that because
if you call upon the name of the lord you shall be saved and at that point the kingdom of heaven
is as luke says is within you so how can the kingdom of heaven be within you by believing
on jesus christ calling upon the name of the lord that's why it says repent ye for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel repentance from dead works and faith toward god
okay and so and let me say this is that repentance the concept of repenting of sin
is in the bible but it's always directed towards believers who are already saved okay it's never
directed towards unsaved people because unsaved people cannot repent of their sins to be saved
no one can repent of their sins to be saved but especially unsaved people because they have to
believe on jesus christ that is the stipulation however god does command for believers to turn
from their wicked ways to repent of their wicked deeds when they're backslidden when they're not
right with god not for salvation but so that we avoid being punished by god or avoid the
consequences of our sin okay so the bible is not only about salvation it's about living
righteously as well it's about getting right with god and repenting of our wicked ways as christians
not to maintain salvation because we already have it and the bible tells us the bible tells us that
jesus christ maintains that salvation for us he maintains that through the power of god and of
course we want to do that because of the fact that we want to please god and so great example here to
use when someone tells you that you have to repent of sins to be saved point to judas discaria and
judas discaria is a great example because we see here that he repented and he he still went to hell
because the bible says that he is the son of perdition meaning he's a son of hell and also
the fact that john chapter 6 says that it was based upon the fact that he did not believe
from the beginning okay so he sealed his fate as being the one who would betray jesus christ
and essentially become a reprobate it says in verse number six and the chief priest took the
silver pieces and said it is not lawful to put them into the treasury because it is the price
of blood and they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in
wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day and i want you to notice
verse number nine it says then was fulfilled that which was spoken by jeremy the prophet saying
and they took the 30 pieces of silver and the price of him that was valued whom they of the
children of israel did value say what's the significance of verse number nine well if you
study the bible and if you've read the bible from cover to cover you will see that that verse is not
found in the book of jeremiah because jeremy is referring to jeremiah and this is something that
people who are who are proponents or opponents should i say of the bible will often bring up
and say see here's a contradiction in the bible because this verse is not found in jeremiah it's
actually found in zechariah okay and they'll try to bring this up to say there's errors in the
bible and how are you going to place your faith in the bible because there's errors and it's man-made
and man wrote the bible and therefore your sky daddy doesn't exist and it's just like
why do you spend so much time talking about him if he doesn't exist if he's a figment of
our imagination apparently he's a figment of yours because you keep talking about him
but folks we know that the bible doesn't contradict itself we know that the word
of god is perfect it's inerrant without error and you say well then how do you explain verse
nine then well i want you to notice that it says then with then was fulfilled that which was
written by jeremy the prophet no it actually says spoken and a great uh example that we can use is
what the book of jude that quotes enoch not something that was written by enoch but something
that was prophesied by enoch which is a verbal prophecy you understand and these are often
passages that people will go to to either try to validate apocryphal readings or in this
particular case to try to you know take away credit from the word of god as being perfect
and what's interesting is that when i did that interview with the guy who was an advocate of
the book of enoch we talked about some of the contradictions in the book of enoch because
there's a ton of them because it's not written by god there's a ton of contradictions in the
book of enoch and he actually brought up this verse right here he said well you know matthew 27
verse number nine you know it says that jeremiah wrote it but it's actually a verse that's found
in zechariah but he's wrong because of the fact that it doesn't say that jeremiah wrote it says
that he spoke it okay and even when you look at the uh parallel passage or the quote that supposedly
zechariah is writing it doesn't really match up perfectly not saying that he's not quoting that
because another explanation for this would be that jeremiah prophesied of it and then
zechariah later on wrote it down so even if you were to say jeremiah spoke of this prophecy
and he writes down what zechariah stated in his book it's still accurate to say that jeremiah
prophesied of it because that's exactly what happened and so there's instances in the bible
where something is prophesied but it's not written down until further down the road in the
new testament it happens multiple times and even within the new testament because in the book of
acts you have peter uh or paul excuse me quoting jesus christ a verse that's not found in the
gospels it's more blessed to give than to receive you can scour matthew mark luke and john all you
want but you're not going to find that verse but it doesn't mean that he didn't say it and for us
as new testament believers we can say well it is written down because it's in the book of acts
you understand and so this is very important because people will try to pull up these verses
to try to discredit the bible and cause people to lack faith in the word of god but we need to
just look at it for what it says and if it says spoken it was something that jeremiah spoke but
did not pen down and possibly was penned down by zechariah and then of course quoted here as being
accredited to jeremiah who actually prophesied of it who didn't write it down but it's still true
and it matches up with other portions of scripture look at verse 10 and it gave them
for the potter's field as the lord appointed me and so that is the end of judas's life
is the fact that you know he had the word of god in the flesh for three and a half years he's with
him he's possibly sleeping in his in close proximity to him close quarters he's feasting
with him he's doing ministry with him i mean the word was nigh unto him even in his mouth
yeah i mean wouldn't say that of judas iscariot that the kingdom of god was nigh unto him and yet
he didn't get saved and i believe this is what hebrew six is also referring to that judas is
scared essentially tasted of the heavenly gift i mean he was the closest a person can get to
salvation per se because he's like right there with jesus christ for three and a half years
and in spite of all the miracles in spite of the word of god being preached by the word of god
himself he's still going to get saved what a scary place to be in right and you can liken
that into someone who possibly is in church for years on end they are hearing preaching
every single week they possibly might even be participating in the evangelism work and
they have people talking about salvation all the time and talking about the bible
and just refuse to get saved so that person will actually be punished more than the individual who
maybe heard the gospel once or doesn't hear it at all in its clearest interpretation because of the
fact that more knowledge is given unto that person and judas is not only going to be punished or is
being punished as we speak for his rejection of jesus christ but also because he was in such close
proximity to the truth because to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required
and so that is the end of judas iscariot he didn't start off right in the gospels it's not like he
had good intentions when he first joined the ministry he started with the most evil of
intentions he was a covetous person he was a thief and he essentially saw the ministry as an
opportunity to essentially steal money and fleece the flock and make merchandise off of the flock of
god and he ended up literally betraying jesus christ for 30 pieces of silver it's uh it's
ridiculous and so but you know what we have false prophets today who do the same and in fact i think
i just saw a clip of someone this is false prophet this prosperity gospel preacher who literally got
up and said you know why jesus christ has not returned it's because people aren't giving
i mean he literally made that statement it's one of these kenneth copeland types
those old people you know what i mean you know what i'm talking about the south has like a lot
of old really old prosperity preachers these silver hair types and this guy got up and he's
like i know why jesus christ hasn't come back it's because people god's people aren't given
i mean what a wicked thing to say
blasphemous jesus christ is not returned because of the fact that the anti-christ
has not yet been revealed okay has nothing to do with money or anything of that nature
and jesus christ is not returned because of the fact that he still wants people to be saved
the lord is not slack concerning his promises that some men like him account for slackness
but he's long suffering toward us we're not willing that he should perish but that all
should come to repentance look at verse 11 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 so this is a really good uh
principle here that jesus christ is exercising he's obviously bearing witness to the truth because he
is the truth right so when he asks him are you the king of the jews he's like thou sayest it in other
words like yeah i mean it's exactly as you're saying it that's who i am however when he when
they bring up the accusations of the jews he just kind of remains silent because it's not worth even
addressing per se right then said pilot unto him hearest thou not how many things they witness
against him and he answered him to never a word in so much that the governor marveled greatly
why is he marveling because he knows that his life is at stake at this point but obviously he
doesn't care to defend himself against railing accusations he knows that this is part of prophecy
look at verse 15 now at the feast the governor was want to release unto the people a prisoner whom
they would and they had then a notable prisoner called barabbas therefore when they were gathered
together pilot said unto them 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 now a couple things i want to
point out here first and foremost the jews already had a bad reputation back then
so we're not giving jews a bad reputation the jews have already had a bad reputation even since
that time and even the romans understood the governor understood the reason they're doing
this to jesus is because they're envious of jesus so they're already characterized by
envy by covetousness even by the political rulers of that day now what is paunches pilot trying to
do here is he a righteous person no i don't think he is however the bible tells us in the book of
john that essentially the jews the chief priests and elders actually have the greater sin than
paunches pilot now it's not excusing paunches pilot for what he's going to do which means that
he's still guilty for his actions in sanctioning the crucifixion of jesus christ however the people
who deliver jesus christ who paunches actually have the greater sin because even in this instance
uh paunches pilot is still essentially trying to release jesus because he's thinking to himself
well if i compare jesus to barabbas and essentially see like which one do you want to release
surely they're going to say jesus because barabbas is an insurrectionist he's a murderer he's a really
bad person but god's people which are not god's people at this time are choosing the insurrection
is the the murderer over jesus christ in spite of the fact that jesus is an innocent man
and barabbas is a wicked person now where am i going with this particular story here
well what's interesting is that barabbas literally means son of the father
and i believe this speaks to the clear rejection not only of the jews
but just essentially apostate christians in general because of the fact that in the future
someone is going to come in his own name referring to the son of perdition referring to the anti-christ
and they're not going to want jesus they're going to want the anti-christ
right god's people and we're i'm using that term loosely here okay because when we're talking
about the jews in this particular instance they're not saved people many of them are not saved
they're still considered god's people but they're essentially on the brink of apostasy right
they're going to choose barabbas the insurrection is the murderer the murderer from the beginning
who abode not in the truth because there is no truth in them they're going to choose the
anti-christ over jesus christ fact okay and here's a clear example of that because they don't want
jesus they're gonna they're literally going to choose someone who's been involved in probably
war crimes in the future because he's going forth conquering into conquer and he's not doing it
peaceably okay he's going to be killing a bunch of people and you say come on man do you really
think he's going to be out there you know blowing up like hospitals and stuff like that and you know
just going to war and do it i mean they're doing that now and who do you have backing them up
apostate christians and unfortunately even some safe christians who obviously don't read the bible
and whatnot but you know we shouldn't side with barabbas we need to go with jesus right
but we see here that they still want barabbas to be released and uh it's a picture of the fact that
not just apostate christians but even jews in the end of days will choose barabbas will choose the
anti-christ will choose the son of the father which is not god the father it's the father
referring to satan over jesus christ it says in verse number 19 when he was set down on the
judgment seat his wife sent unto him saying have down nothing to do with that just man for i have
suffered many things this day in a dream because of him but the chief priests and elders persuaded
the multitude that they should ask barabbas and destroy jesus now we obviously know that even
though ponchus pilate had his own will and volition to condemn jesus christ and it's his
fault he does share some of the responsibility you know obviously there's prophetic things that
are taking place here prophecy is being fulfilled and even though he's not a christian he's not a
believer that authority is still given to him by god okay and so prophecy is being fulfilled there
here jesus christ still has to die and it says here but the chief priests verse 20 and elders
persuaded verse 21 excuse me the governor answered and said unto them whether of the 20 we eat that i
release unto you they said barabbas pilate said unto them what shall i do with jesus which is
called christ they all they all say unto him let him be crucified now i want you to just keep in
mind that the people are saying let him be crucified were literally just a few days ago
literally saying you know hosanna in the highest blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord
so these same people who are saying crucify jesus christ were literally just saying a few days ago
there was praising jesus christ when he was coming into jerusalem so this speaks to how fickle people
can be right if they're not grounded in the word if they're not saved if they're not grounded in
the word they will go with what the crowd wants and so we see at one moment it's just like oh
man they're gung-ho for jesus christ but once they realize that jesus is not bringing in a physical
kingdom he's not going to usurp the roman government they're like oh crucify him then
i mean it's wicked
that's why you know jesus didn't really pay no attention to them when they said
hosanna in the highest i mean they're they're bearing witness to the truth because he is the king
but he understood what was in man and he obviously knows because he's god that they're a couple days
later gonna say crucify him which is crazy verse 23 says the governor said why what evil
hath he done but they cried out the more saying let him be crucified so it's not like like you're
even giving a legitimate reason they just want him dead and this is often a tactic that wicked
people liberals will use they just like want the punishment it's just like for what reason it's
just like because he's so bad and you can use this as an example for as christians but even
when it comes to like conservatives versus liberals this happens a lot and i'm not
republican or democrat because i'm not into that stuff some of you might be into that i'm not but
i do enjoy your casual video of liberals being destroyed okay on occasion when i want to relax
a little bit with a cup of coffee and have a good laugh but i've seen videos where it's just like
you know and i'm not this is not uh uh i'm not campaigning for donald trump here because
again i'm not republican or or democrat but you know i've seen videos where people are asking
liberals they're just like who are you for donald trump or or biden they're just like
we hate donald trump he's so evil he's like name one evil thing that he's done they're just like
he's just evil and they're just like can you name one thing that he did that was really bad
and they're just like i don't have time for this they're just like
because they really can't you know what i mean now obviously if we were to really dig down deep into
his character we probably find some really wicked stuff but politically it's like they couldn't pull
anything out because at the end of the day they're just following some narrative that the liberal
mob is giving to them and they don't really know what they're talking about they're just kind of
going with the crowd right and it's the same thing with the jews here the jews are just and
i'm not comparing please don't misunderstand i'm not comparing donald trump to jesus christ at all
what i'm comparing here because they're very very far from one another okay one is god the
other one is just as wicked as hell okay because he's a man what i'm comparing are the crowds here
and the ideologies and the attitudes of the crowds and how easily a crowd can be swayed into
parroting a narrative with no evidence to back it up which is exactly what the jews did because
as long as the crowd was saying hosanna everyone would say hosanna but once everyone said crucify
them they're like oh yeah crucify them and so i think at this time you know the jews aren't
necessarily all reprobate at this time and the proof of that is the fact that jesus christ even
says father forgive them for they know not what they do now the leaders for sure were reprobating
the chief priests elders who are going out of their way to try to get him killed and they're
lying about him they're deceiving the nation of israel those people are reprobates anybody
who claims to be a spiritual leader and is teaching some of the most blasphemous things
known to mankind and they're just ardently going after jesus christ to crucify him okay reprobate
but those who are being deceived by the reprobates aren't necessarily reprobates themselves
until of course they begin to embrace those ideologies and make them their own convictions
at that point they're they're going into reprobation as well so he says here in verse
24 when pilot saw that he could not prevail nothing but that rather a tumult was made he
took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying i am innocent of the blood
of this just person see you to it well that water didn't do anything just as water baptism doesn't
do anything to anybody who believes that baptism can save you i mean he's like washing his hands
and he's just like i'm innocent and it's just like no you're not
you just washed your hands is what you did
but this is how people like treat salvation though sometimes they're just like oh if i
could just do just just one good deed or i could just get baptized and just sprinkle myself i am
innocent no you're not there's none that do with good no not one and so i believe that ponchis
pilot died and went to hell unfortunately and you know he's going to be spoken of for many years to
come and and his actions are literally recorded for all of eternity when he could have literally
just released him and he had the power to do so but he chose not to because he feared the people
this is the verse 26 then release then released he barabbas unto them and when he had scourged
jesus he delivered him to be crucified scourge meaning they beat him and of course this is a
fulfillment of prophecy as well because he was bruised for our iniquities right by his stripes
we are healed and he received such a a terrible scourging here that the bible says in the old
testament that his visage was marred meaning he was so beat up and and and beaten and uh abused
physically that his visage referring to his facial expressions were marred he couldn't really tell
if it was like a man obviously we know people knew that he was a man but they couldn't really
tell because of his face because he was so beaten and and destroyed and scourged that his visage was
marred meaning he was just completely just decimated i mean what a terrible thing to do
to a person but this is what he's doing for us and just keep in mind that everything that's
happening to jesus i guess essentially what we deserve right and then some verse 27 says then
the soldiers of the governor took jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band
of soldiers and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe now don't don't just like breeze
over that verse it's like oh man that's that's crazy you know they stripped them and put on
a scarlet robe you gotta keep in mind that he's just been scourged and when you're bleeding and
you have flesh hanging and you're you you have all this uh these wounds you bleed and then it dries
and if someone were to remove you think of like a band-aid for example it's a very you know it's
not the best illustration to give but you know you tear off a band-aid it hurts especially if there's
a wound but now think about your whole body and you have clothing on your body and someone just
strips you of that of that garment essentially reopens that wound again she's going through
some of the most terrible experiences here and they put a scarlet robe why are they doing that
because they're mocking him because the scarlet robe signifies kingship because he's the king of
the jews so the romans are essentially mocking him they're putting a scarlet robe on him it's
like oh he's the king of the jews so they're just essentially making fun of him verse 29 and when
they have plated a crown of thorns they put it upon his head and a reed in his hand and they bow
the knee before him and mocked him saying hail king of the jews then they spit upon him and took
the reed and smote him on the head and after they had mocked him they took the robe off from him
and put and put his own raiment on him and led him away to be to crucify him I mean terrible
so what are they doing to put a crown of thorns upon his head which aside from just the wounds
that he has from the scourging obviously just adds to that it's not like it's just on his
head I mean it's piercing his his head it's piercing his skin they give him a reed they
smite him and they spit upon him and again they take the robe off of him reopening those wounds
again and keep in mind these are the same people that Jesus says father forgive them for they know
not what they do that's hard that would be a hard thing to do especially if you're God and you know
you can have just legions of angels come and defend you or if you're Jesus you can just
zap them out of existence like right then and there he spoke everything into existence I'm
sure he can speak people into just damnation but he didn't
he was as a sheep before shears is done the Bible says he opened not his mouth
and so when he says father forgive them for they know not what they do it's a powerful passage to
remind us that we are to love our enemies right we're not talking about reprobates here we're
talking about enemies and in the Romans at this point are the enemies of God not excuse me are
the enemies of Jesus and we know that Jesus Christ is God but they don't believe in Christianity
they don't know about all who he is and the fact that he's the son of God I mean these people are
they're pagans and they're following orders and obviously they're doing it in a wicked manner
but they don't know everything that the Jews know about Jesus Christ they haven't heard all the
preaching they haven't heard all the truths and that's why Jesus Christ later on when he's
crucified says father forgive them for they know not what they do and so it's a reminder to us
that we need to be merciful to people and you know what maybe some of you have had family
members and friends co-workers who have made themselves enemies to you but they're not
necessarily enemies of God you know we should think upon that and say father forgive them for
they know not what they do we should be people who are slow to anger slow to wrath to be kind
and merciful and have the mentality of Jesus Christ that we're willing to forgive people in
spite of what they do against us right and sometimes it's hard to distinguish whether
they're reparated or not right especially if they're if they're persecuting us for righteousness
sake we have a tendency to more err on the side of maybe these people are haters well yeah they
are haters we just want to put them in that category because it's easier to hate those who
hate the Lord right and to just write someone off as being a hater of God but at the end of the day
you know we probably have more enemies of ourselves that are persecuting us than enemies
of God who are persecuting us understand and so when it comes to your family members who don't
like you because of your Christianity they criticize you you know the the model should
always be father forgive them for they know not what they do when you have friends and co-workers
who mock you and and and maybe they don't spit upon you physically but maybe in a spiritual manner
they do they disdain you they don't esteem you they mock you whatever it may be you know the
model should be father forgive them for they know not what they do that should be a model
like I don't know if I can handle that well Jesus Christ handled a lot more than that
and so he and and the Bible tells us that he despised the shame by the way
and so you know he was obviously a man of like passions he was a man who understood our
infirmities so it's not like he didn't feel the way we would feel if this was done unto us because
the Bible literally says that he despised the shame for a king I mean just for an earthly king
to go through something like this would be despicable and shameful how much more like the
king of kings than the Lord of Lords who created the very beings who are doing this to him
right and the Bible says that he despised the shame but he still went through this for the
joy that was set before him okay verse 32 says and as they came out they found a man of Cyrene
Simon by name him that compelled to bear his cross and when they were come unto a place called
Golgotha that is to say a place of a skull they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall
but when he had tasted thereof he would not drink so Simon's Simon the Cyrenian is a picture
of essentially in my opinion believers who God calls to suffer with him to take up his cross
with him right because the Bible says if any man come after me let him deny himself take up his
cross and follow me and here we see that they compel one Simon to bear his cross with Jesus
Christ essentially to help Jesus Christ to bear that cross and if you're to get that picture of
that cross you have those two sides there Jesus Christ on one end Simon on the other and if you
have that piece of wood going across that would look like a what like a yoke right and so when
we're yoked up with Jesus Christ because you know the Bible says take my yoke upon you
it's not just like a life of just ease and pleasure and no problems and no suffering
nobody says take my yoke upon you it's like take that persecution take that suffering with you
suffer that shame with Jesus Christ amen so Simon pictures the believer who is being compelled
to bear the cross you know on a day-to-day basis when we read our Bibles the Holy Spirit is
compelling us also to take up our cross with him right to suffer with him the Apostle Paul said
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering
fellowshiping with Jesus Christ yes it comes with sweet communion when we read the Bible
but it also comes when you suffer with him you suffer reproach for his name's sake
when you're on the other side of that cross yoked up with Jesus Christ suffering because you are a
Christian and you know obviously that suffering can come in different degrees
some it's a bombing for some it's it's lawsuits for others it's just people disowning you
as your as family members because they don't like you for who you are because of your beliefs I
mean that is a form of persecution and I would I would think that maybe in the crowd that we're
looking at tonight we've all had at least one person who we were really close to separate
themselves from us because of Jesus or criticize us because of Jesus or is that that relationship
is no longer the same because of Jesus that's a painful experience when you're close to someone
when you grow up with them they're your family friends brothers sisters uncles cousins whatever
it may be you have someone you're close to and then they essentially you get saved you believe
the bible and it's like it creates that wedge between you and them and that relationship is
never the same just never the same you know why that is I'll tell you why it's because you chose
to be under that yoke and that does divide people it separates people from others and Simon is
separated in this passage of scripture as being the one who was compelled to bear the cross
and took it and went to Golgotha the place of a skull in other words going to die right
verse 35 says 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 sitting down they watched him there and they 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 the other on the left and as they passed and as they excuse me and
they that passed by reviled him wagging their heads and saying thou that destroys the temple
and buildest it in three days save thyself if thou be the son of God come down from the cross
now this is such a stupid saying here because Jesus Christ never said that it's a railing
accusation he never said he was going to destroy the temple and and and and and you know rebuild
it in three days he never made that claim he was talking about his body and they're
about to see like they're about to eat their words in three days
likewise also the chief priests 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 wrong no they wouldn't the one rose from the dead they would not believe the bible
says so they're even making a greater accusation to say well if he comes down from the cross then
we would believe him well hold on a second he does more than just that he just comes out of
the grave after three days and you still lie about him because at the end of the chapter they're just
like or at the end chapter 28 they're like paying off people right they're paying off the Romans and
they're trying to secure them and just like they create this lie about him that the disciples came
by night and stole his body i mean talk about desperate here so it's obviously false it's not
true verse 43 says he trusted in god let him deliver him now if he was if you will have him
for he said i am the son of god now i want you to notice verse 44 the thieves also which were
crucified with him cast the same in his teeth now why is that significant well because in the book
of luke one of the thieves is a prominent one that's known for believing on jesus christ who
jesus christ says unto him today thou shalt be with me in paradise he says remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom and jesus says today thou shalt be with me in paradise but yet we see
here that prior to that that same thief is mocking jesus christ now what does this teach us here
teaches us here that people can have a change of heart my friends so don't lose hope for that
person that's been mocking you that person who's been casting the same in their teeth
could still be a person who ends up getting right with god and then they get saved i mean the thief
did it and i have hope for even people that i know in my personal life who have mocked me for years
for being a christian and don't agree with me you know i don't think they're beyond the hope of
salvation yet it's possible that they can be like this thief and people always want to bring up you
believe that people can just believe at the very last moment when they die well we have an example
here of someone who did that and in fact i mean right before he got saved he's criticizing jesus
christ i mean we're talking about one of the worst sins a person can probably do you know they're
like blaspheming they're going along with the crowd they're mocking him they're repeating
everything that the chief priests and the elders are doing and yet one of the thieves get saved
one of the thieves they get saved so yeah it kind of shows us that someone can believe at the very
last minute does it happen often i'm not sure but it does happen and we obviously have a clear
example of someone who did it may this give hope to you that person you're thinking about
you know what that person you're thinking about may not this may not happen to them it might even
happen sooner than that what i'm saying is that someone who's clearly you know rejecting you
they're mocking you they're mocking christianity they can come around with a little bit of prayer
a little bit of love a little bit of investment you just never know what might happen
they might come around and they might get saved ah show us another example well how about the
apostle paul who was like literally involved he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees he's going around
arresting christians the bible says that he was injurious he was a blasphemer i mean this guy was
bad news he's going out of his he's like getting legal documents to permit him to go arrest
christians in other cities i mean that's pretty bad and yet he got saved as well because he did
ignorantly in unbelief and i'll share something with you that i i hope for you know i hope some
of those people that protested us a couple years ago i do hope they come around those
who aren't reprobate what a powerful testimony that would be you know i hope that maybe some
of them weren't reprobate who are just kind of going along with the crowd will come around one
day and get saved and believe on the lord jesus christ and by the way one of them has and they
weren't part of the protest but they're part of criticizing me when all that was taking place
they were mocking me they were criticizing me they were condemning me but after the bombing
they came around and they apologized and they got right with god and they've even been in our church
a couple times visiting it can happen my friends i'm gonna stop right here um i'm gonna cover this
next portion next week but you know what can we take from this from the first part of this chapter
well take away the fact that you know jesus christ is obviously very long suffering he's very
forgiving even in the midst of the most horrendous pain that he can ever experience and we need to
kind of exercise that same amount of long suffering and patience as well it's not easy it's not and
i'm telling you personally it's not easy i know that it's not easy okay because we like to defend
ourselves and we like to just write people off but at the end of the day we just need to realize that
there's some people out there that just kind of go with the crowd they criticize you because
everyone else is criticizing you they're just kind of on that bandwagon and we need to view
those people not as haters of god but just as people who need to be forgiven for they know
not what they do and so and hopefully some of them will become like that thief
on the cross who ended up getting saved later on and so thank god for what jesus christ went
through for us the fact that he himself bore our own sins on his own body on the tree the fact that
we can sit here tonight and enjoy a meal and not have to worry about man am i saved or not
you don't understand this but you may not understand but you know there's people out
there who actually fear for that every single day they don't know if they're saved they worry
if they have eternal life they don't know if they're in in the truth they don't know if they're
going to go to heaven when they die they constantly doubt i mean the vast majority of us in here don't
suffer from that at all we're dealing with other problems we got we were dealing with other issues
that we were worried about but one thing we're not worried about is our salvation and in fact
we can have a meal tonight thanking god for the salvation that is securely in the hand of god
that we can never lose thank god for that today thank god for your parents thank god for your
church thank god for your children thank god for your wife thank god for your husband thank god
for me i'm just kidding thank god for each other you know today should be a day you just kind of
go through the list go down the list and say lord you've been good to me you know i have so much and
and this chapter alone shows me that like jesus christ went through so much so we can have eternal
life and not just have life but have it more abundantly because let's just be honest if he
just stopped that salvation it would be enough but let's just be real honest we've got way more than
salvation right i mean talk about a cherry on top let's just be honest and so let's pray for the food
and we'll sing one last song and then we'll follow those those those really thorough instructions
that i gave you guys remember all right let's pray father we thank you so much for the
crucifixion of jesus christ and what it means to us lord may we never lose sight of that and and
think upon that what you've done for us lord and um we're so thankful that you loved us so much
that you're willing to take on uh human flesh the word of god became flesh and dwelt among us
and jesus christ sacrificed himself to pay for eternal life and we're so thankful for that lord
may we think upon that and all the blessings that you give us on top of that that you've loaded us
daily with benefits may we never have a heart of of murmuring and complaining and when we do lord
help us to fix our hearts help us to fix our disposition our perspective in life and recognize
that if all we had in this life was salvation that would be enough but thank thankfully we
have way more than that i pray that you bless our meal that we're about to have and for the
bountiful blessings that you've given to us and bless the fellowship and all there is lord we
love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen thank you sir