Amen. Right, so Matthew chapter 27. We're nearly through the Gospel of Matthew but there's
a lot to get through, isn't there, in this chapter. We're going to split it into two
like we did with Matthew 26 as well. And last week we were in the second part of Matthew
26 and we read about Judas's betrayal. Remember how he was still calling him master with the
band of men behind him, wasn't he? We saw Simon Peter cut someone's ear off but was
told that Jesus didn't need that. He didn't need that physical fight. He was able to command
twelve legions of angels had he wanted to but that's not what was going on there. He
was ultimately giving his life, wasn't he? And there was a lesson there, wasn't there,
about the battle. Our battle is spiritual. It's not a physical battle that we're called
to and the spiritual battle it seems that the odds are in our favour, right, but when
it's a physical battle, well, we're a bit outnumbered, aren't we? And there was a lesson
there and we saw the God haters seeking false witnesses and then how many came. Do you remember
that? They sought false witness and many false witnesses came but it seemed that their lives
didn't agree with each other. They then changed what he said about destroying the temple eventually,
didn't they? Got him to admit to being the Christ, the Son of God and then accused him
of blasphemy before sort of slapping him around, spitting at him, punching him and I mean it's
just amazing, isn't it, when you read through that and see what Jesus Christ, what the Son
of God went through at the hands of these wicked men. Finally, we looked at Peter's
famous denial and remember initially it was to some, basically girls, young ladies, wasn't
it, and that was, you know, one minute he's cutting off ears, when there's abandonment
the next thing he's denying Christ to some young ladies and sadly that's probably, you
know, similar to many, many men of God's spiritual lives, isn't it, where they'll eventually
probably ruin their spiritual life because of some young ladies. So we saw that and in
Matthew 26 and verse 75 finish with this, and Peter remembered the words of Jesus which
said unto him before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and he went out and wept bitterly
and that was a pretty low moment for Peter there and then we go into Matthew 27 and verse
1 because if you think the cocks crowing sort of around about just before morning time and
then we've got when the morning was come, Matthew 27 and verse 1, when the morning was
come all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put
him to death. I'd like to pray before we continue with this. Father, thank you for, well a great
chapter of the Bible here, a chapter with so many points, so many discussion points
here, you know, you can preach many sermons out of this, please help me to preach the
right sermon tonight, a sermon that your church needs, you know, that the people here need
to listen to, just guide my words, guide everything I say so it's just, you know, according
to your will and that everyone here has just got open ears, please and just fill me with
your spirit, please help me to just preach exactly what's needed now, in Jesus' name
for all of this, amen. So it said in verse 1 when the morning was come, as it said, all
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
This is how bad what was remaining of God's nation had become, okay, this is how bad this
so-called nation of God, these people, these chief priests and elders which are meant to
be God's chief priests, God's elders, had got to the point where all of them took counsel
against the son of God to put him to death and the reason I say that is because you've
got these absolute clowns, we're going to be looking at that a bit tonight, who think
that, who come out with these stupid statements like God's not done with the Jews yet, you
know, and God's people and all this sort of rubbish and we've got all the chief priests
and elders are seeking, sorry, at least taking counsel against Jesus to put him to death
and this is after obviously Matthew 21, 43, if you want to flick there you can, Matthew
chapter 21, just a couple of chapters back, verse 43, where Jesus said, therefore say
unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth
the fruits thereof. Okay, so Jesus made it clear that the kingdom of God was to be taken
from them, we see that that's to go ultimately to a spiritual nation and that's what's going
to happen there but here they're all taking counsel and it's no wonder that the kingdom
of God is eventually taken from them. Now, what was the council about? Well, they had
to persuade the governor because it wasn't lawful for them to put him to death, so they
couldn't just kill Jesus Christ themselves even with their blasphemy, blasphemy, he's
worthy of death nonsense, so they're taking counsel, right, how are we going to persuade
the governor, Pilate, to put him to death? So they're taking counsel, they're conspiring
and we talked about, this is a big conspiracy, wasn't it? In John 18, 31, you don't have
to see, turn there, but we see it clearly revealed where it says, then said Pilate unto
them, take him and judge him according to your law, the Jews therefore said unto him,
it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. So that was the point and that's why
they're conspiring because they need to find a way of persuading Pilate to put him to death.
The whole goal was to kill him, okay, and they need to persuade Pilate to do that, that's
their goal to destroy, to kill the son of God. So verse 2 then says, and when they had
bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Now turn
to Luke 23 which shows us the result of the accounts together, we are going to be flicking
a bit here and there to some of the other gospel accounts and if you don't want to,
you don't have to or if you want to make notes of these pastures, you're welcome as
well, it's up to you, but this is Luke 23 and this is why they took counts because Luke
23 says this in verse 1, and the whole multitude of them arose and led him unto Pilate and
they began to accuse him saying, we found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding
to give tribute to Caesar saying that he himself is Christ the King. I mean, just an out and
out lie, isn't it? Forbidding to give, because when he was asked in Matthew 22 21 about that,
they said unto him, Caesar's, when he asked, you know, whose superscription is this? Then
saith he unto them, render therefore unto Caesar things which Caesar's and to God's
things that are God's. So they tried to catch him out with that, he didn't fall to their
tricks yet they're just lying, just out and out lying and funny that they're trying to
accuse him of something that they tried to get him to slip up with and he hadn't given
into and this is obviously what they conspired to, they conspired like, how are we going
to get Pontius Pilate to agree to put him to death so they just come out with this?
And this is the sort of wickedness we're talking about. These are the sorts of people that
just have no qualms about lying. I mean, just about a man in general, just conspiring, a
group of people to just go, right, if we say this, if we do that, I mean, that's messed
up enough to get your head around, let alone when it comes to Jesus Christ, the sinless
son of God. Unbelievable, isn't it? But again, and we talk about this a lot because it's
so hard to get, our natural inclination is to try and get in the heads of people like
this. It's almost unbelievable because we don't want to just take the Bible for what
it says, that there are wicked people whose consciences are seared, who are given over
to this absolute wickedness. So we find it very hard, but when you look at things like
that, how else do you do that stuff? How else do you behave like that? It's unbelievable,
isn't it? Verse 3 then says, then Judas, which had betrayed him when he saw that he
was condemned, repented himself and brought again the third piece 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 piece of silver
in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. Now, this can be confusing for many.
You get those that will go, see, there was some good in Judas, wasn't there? Some will
claim that he must have got saved at this point. Now, that's ridiculous because he's
called the son of perdition, destruction, hell. Yeah. OK, so that's not what it's what
we're seeing here. And this could confuse you because you could go, well, isn't his
conscience seared? So wait a second. Why is Judas repenting if he's like the Bible describes
these people? He's a Judas. He's a false prophet. He's he's a you know, that's where the Judas
comes from, isn't it? He's an infiltrator. But but these people, if you think about it,
look, these types of people are regularly repenting of things, aren't they? I mean,
think about the if you think about just the work salvation is false prophet who's constantly
that's what their whole goal. Oh, I've repented of this. I've repented of that. And obviously
it's got nothing to do with salvation. OK. And Judas's repentance here has got nothing
to do with that. And that's not the sort of repentance we're talking about. But some it
might be because of their belief in a work salvation or for many it's to display a form
of oneness. So whether or not it's because they think they believe in a work salvation,
they believe they've got to keep repenting and everything else, or it's because because
they want to prove to other people they're holy, that doesn't suddenly. Oh, well, aren't
these people meant to be full wicked yet? People can still claim and show some form
of repentance. It doesn't mean they're good people. And don't forget that Judas has just
publicly betrayed him, hasn't he? If you if you remember, he's a son of Simon and and
I'd imagine his family, friends, people around him are fully aware of that. Let's put it
this way, because you look, for example, some some wicked, you know, sexual abuser hangs
himself in prison. Do you go, oh, they must have been a good person deep down? Do you
go, oh, well, they must have just really felt guilty? No. A lot of the time it's because
their life's kind of over now. They're done. It's not like, oh, I've just got this real
crisis of conscience now. I better just go and hang myself because I feel so bad. I feel
so bad. No, Judas hanged himself because really his life is done now, wasn't it? OK, it's
not because he's just feels so bad now. He repented himself. Yeah, he he he changed his
mind about what he'd done. But I don't believe that Judas suddenly just got this real like,
oh, I just wish I hadn't done that. You know, poor Jesus and everything else. Now, I believe
he's, you know, could be one of many reasons like these. And his life is probably ruined.
His family are probably like, what on earth? And here's the thing as well. He brought back
the money, didn't he? He brought back the money. Why did he bring back the money? Well,
it was useless to him now, wasn't it? But he did bring it back to a lot of wicked people
that were conspiring to kill Jesus Christ. So it wasn't that he suddenly turned good
and went, oh, I'm just going to bring the money back to people. Why didn't he give it
to the poor? His indignation about why was not this spikenard sold and given to the poor
was false, was it? It's fake. So what's he doing? He brings it back. Why is he bringing
it back? Well, and by the way, he could have brought it to the disciples, couldn't he?
Gone for some burial costs or to go out and spread the word because I've repented and
everything else. No, he brings it back to the chief priest, probably because he wanted
some sort of public recognition for bringing it back. He wanted to show, well, actually,
you know, I'm not taking the money now, whatever else or, you know, whatever that reason. And
look, they weren't interested, though, were they? They were like, see to that, they're
not interested. We don't want the money back. And it says here in verse six, the chief priest
took the silver pieces, said it's not lawful for to put them into the treasury because
it is the price of blood. They're like, what are we going to do with this? So funnily enough,
they're still trying to appear to be holy, aren't they? Oh, and it's the price of blood.
We better not put that in the treasury. While these people are plotting and planning to
make up lies to persuade Pilate to kill him. Yeah. And again, this is so again, you can
see this sort of mentality. So that it may be with Judas, he's trying to appear to be,
oh, I'm holy now. I've changed my mind and everything. You've just you've just plotted
against the son of God to get him killed. You wicked devil. And verse seven, it says,
and they took counsel brought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in wherefore
that field was called the field of blood until this day. And and obviously to this day being
when Matthew wrote his gospel. And then verse nine says, Zen was fulfilled that which was
spoke by Jeremy, the prophet, saying, and they took the 30 pieces still, the prize of
him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value and gave them for the
potter's field as the Lord appointed me. Now, we're going to look at that in a second. But
last last bit on Judas. Judas Judas not only hanged himself, but, you know, he burst asunder
in the midst as well, according to Acts one. OK, he had a terrible end and he's he's burning
in hell. OK, no doubt about that. He's a son of perdition. He's a devil. He's a false
prophet. Judas is is done. OK, there's there's no like Judas suddenly, you know, turned to
Christ or any of that. There's no mention of that, is there? OK. He repented himself
for one of whatever reason you could hazard a guess at. And and but what he didn't do
is get saved. OK, just in case there was something like that, some bizarre, bizarre views when
it comes to Judas Iscari. OK, based on that as well. But it is an interesting thing as
well. He repented himself and he didn't get saved, did he? Because repenting yourself
in terms of repenting of that sin for whatever reason, it's got nothing to do with salvation.
OK, anyway. OK, but let's look at this, because this passage has confused some as well. This
bit about Jeremy the prophet. Anyone ever wondered about this before and noticed or
heard the criticisms about this? No. So this is one of these so-called attacks on the King
James. They try and call it an error because there's no mention of 30 pieces of silver
in the Book of Jeremiah. So they're like, wait a second, because the Book of Zechariah
mentioned 30 pieces of silver. This must have been, I saw someone try and claim that this
must have been a scribal error. You know, I don't have any scribal errors in my King
James Bible. So I don't know what what Bible they're looking at. OK, so so what what is
the issue here? Well, like I said, in Jeremiah, we don't see 30 pieces. But bear in mind,
firstly, it does say spoken by the prophet, not written. But turn back to Jeremiah 32,
because it is very interesting. And what is the point of this? Why? Why in Matthew's gospel
is it talking about a fulfilment of something spoken by Jeremy the prophet where it's not
actually that clear? Well, you're going back to Jeremiah 32, which, like I say, I believe
this is the original prophecy. And it's when Jeremiah is in prison. It says in verse six,
Jeremiah 32 in verse six. And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
behold, Hanamiel, the son of Shalom, thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, By thee
my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanamiel,
mine uncle's son, came to me in accord to the prison, accord to the word of the Lord
and said unto me, By my field I pray thee that is in Anathoth, which is in the country
of Benjamin. For the right of inheritance is thine, and redemption is thine, buy it
for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. And I brought the field
of Hanamiel, my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, seventeen shekels
of silver. So he's given the price of the field as the Lord appointed him. Yeah. Notice
how it's seventeen shekels, not seventeen pieces, by the way. Who knows? Perhaps that's
the same. I don't know. I think it probably is. But keep a finger here and turn the zekirah
eleven, which is where we see the thirty piece of silver mentioned. So this is why
most people would point to zekirah eleven and go, well, this is clearly what it's talking
about. Well, we have seen him talk about giving the price of the field that we just saw in
Matthew twenty seven there. Zekirah, zekirah chapter eleven, zekirah eleven. And we're
going to look from verse twelve. Zekirah eleven twelve says this. And I said unto them, if
ye think good, give me my price, and if not forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty
pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, cast it unto the potter. Remember, they bought
the potter's field, a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty
piece of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. So this is, you
know, this is zekirah here giving this example of the price of himself. So no mention of
the field. However, this is, like I said, the price now of zekirah. And it's a thirty
piece of silver and is then cast away. And as with sort of, you know, as Judas cast away
his right. So you can see why people are going, but this is zekirah isn't it? So for me, zekirah's
prophecy is building upon Jeremiah's original prophecy. Okay, so you've got Jeremiah's prophecy,
which you wouldn't understand he's referring to this until we get to the New Testament.
And here, well in Matthew's Gospel, he's referring to the original prophecy of Jeremiah back
in chapter 32. Go back to chapter 32 and see why zekirah for me builds upon this. But there's
a reason why we're being pointed to Jeremiah 32, isn't there? Okay, for something that
we wouldn't necessarily have realised was the prophecy here. The chapter begins with
Judah surrounded by Nebuchadnezzar, as it's called here, and we know of Nebuchadnezzar
and the armies of the Chaldeans. Jeremiah is imprisoned because he's prophesied of the
victory of the Babylonians. He buys this field and the point of it is this. Verse 14 says
this in Jeremiah 32 and verse 14. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, take
these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed and this evidence which
is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. For thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed
again in this land. Now, regardless of the coming destruction, the carrying away the
razors of the city, one day God's people will return. Okay, that's what it's talking about
here back in Jeremiah 32 and this is talking about obviously the destruction that's coming
from Babylon, okay, from Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. Now, Jeremiah then prays
unto God and it's like this prayer of praise and then God replies this in verse 27. Behold,
I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Therefore, thus
saith the Lord, behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand
of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take it. Now, by the way, at this point
in Matthew's Gospel, if you're starting to see the similarities here, history's repeating
itself. We're seeing the second fulfilment of this prophecy. Jerusalem is about to be
destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, okay, and this is now the kind of the second fulfilment,
okay. Look at verse 29 and the reason we're being pointed here. And the Chaldeans that
fight against this city, and now we can say the Romans, shall come and set fire on this
city and burn it with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal
and poured out drink offerings unto other gods to provoke me to anger. For the children
of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth. For
the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands saith
the Lord. For this city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fury
from the day that they built it, even unto this day that I should remove it from before
my face. Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah which
they have done to provoke me to anger they, their kings, their princes, their priests,
and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they
have turned unto me the back and not the face. So I taught them, rising up early and teaching
them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations
in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it. And they built the high place
of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters
to pass through the fire unto Molech, which I commanded them not. Neither came it into
my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin. And now therefore thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the city, whereof ye say it shall be delivered
into the hand of the king of Babylon, by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger,
and in my fury, and in great wrath. And I will bring them again unto this place, and
will cause them to dwell safely. Now this, Jeremiah 32, an old pastor of mine used to
say, Jeremiah 32, see, God's not done with the Jews, is what he'd say, and they're going
to return everything else. And obviously the brainwashed by Zion and dispensationalist,
Zionism, sorry, will say, look, the Balfour Declaration, that's a fulfilment of this prophecy.
This is it. This is what we've seen. But who is God talking about gathering? Is it a load
of Ashkenazi converts some false religion? Is he going, I'm going to gather anyone that
converts en masse, some bunch of nomads, someone who converts en masse to this false religion,
I'm going to bring them back to, is that what he's talking about here? I mean, you've got
to have rocks in your head to honestly believe this nonsense, haven't you? But this is believed
by mainstream Christianity all over the world. This is believed by saved, it seems, Baptists
who seem to believe the right Gospel, who somehow have been hoodwinked into thinking
that that's what it's talking about here. That a load of converts somewhere, of which,
I mean, and I don't even think this is debated by these people. Most Jews, as we know them
out there, would go, yeah, like most are Ashkenazis. It's just some wicked false religion. So,
no. Who's he talking about gathering? Well, even if they could somehow trace percent,
so even if, let's just say, okay, let's just say this passage of scripture, okay, let's
say he's talking about a physical people, yeah, even if they could somehow trace their
genetics back, and let's be honest, most people probably could trace their genetics back to
here because genetics has been pretty mixed up over the last couple of thousand years.
But even if so, in 1 Timothy 1.4, Paul told Timothy, neither give heed to fables and endless
menialogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith. So
do. So he said, don't give heed to any of that. So how does that work? How we all apparently
should all be going, yeah, yeah, these guys are back and God's not done with the Jews
because they claim to have some genetic inheritance, which most of them admit only goes back to
the Ashkenazi conversion, this big conversion back in sort of the eighth century AD. Well,
turn to Galatians three, I'll tell you why we know it's a load of nonsense because there
is no more physical nation. There is no more physical nation. It's a hoax. It's nonsense.
It's absolute nonsense propagated by the same people that claim to have some sort of inheritance
of a land which they don't. And Galatians three and verse 26 says, for ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It's not by faith in a God, it's faith in
Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ, there
is neither Jew nor Greek. I mean, these are famous verses, aren't they? Which people are
probably like, talk about the male or female bit or something else to take that out of context.
But no, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise. So back in Jeremiah 32, if you go back there,
what is the second fulfilment? It's the millennial reign. That's what we're waiting for, isn't
it? That's the fulfilment, converting to the wicked Christ-rejected religion of Judaism
and stealing land and houses off some poor Palestinians is not part of the prophetic
calendar. Okay, that's not what any of this is talking about. Not talking about going
over and going, oh, yeah, we're, you know, what do they call it? They're settling. Oh,
we're building more settlements. Basically, we're going to kick you out your home, steal
your land, because we converted to some wicked Christ-rejected religion at some point in
my family history. It's absolutely ridiculous. It is ridiculous. Yet, sadly, how many seemingly
serious men of God seem to believe this junk? It's madness. Okay, no, what's next? What's
next in God's prophetic calendar? The tribulation. It's the tribulation. That's what's next.
Then we've got the wrath. Then we've got the millennial reign. And that's what it's talking
about here, where he says in verse 38 of Jeremiah 32, and they shall be my people and
I will be their God. No, he's not talking about the Christ-hating religious people of
Judaism. And I will give them one heart and one way, yeah, because we are all, all of
us, yeah, one in Christ Jesus, aren't we? And one way, and they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them. Okay, definitely not those head-banging
Jews over in Israel, okay? Verse 40, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
And this is what they've got to go, see, it's an everlasting covenant. Go, look, look, God's
not done with the Jews. That I will not turn away for them to do them good, but I'll put
my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. Well, what's the everlasting
covenant? Hebrews 13 and verse 20 says, now the God of peace that brought again from the
dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do as well, work ye in you that which
is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen. The everlasting covenant through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the blood
of the everlasting covenant, right? It's no longer a physical nation, okay? It's done
from this point, they're done. He's taken it away, the kingdom of God, and given it
to a nation of being the fruit so of. Okay, it's now a spiritual nation. And that's what
it's talking about Jeremiah 32 and verse 41. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them
good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
For thus saith the Lord, like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will
I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them, and filled shall be brought
in this land. This is a point of this, sorry, brought in this land, whereof ye say it is
desolate without man or beast, it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men shall
buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land
of Benjamin, and in the place about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities
of the mountains, in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south, for I will
cause their captivity to return, saith the Lord. The whole point of directing us back
here, the whole point in Matthew's gospel direct us to Jeremiah 32, to the more obscure
prophecy by Jeremiah, is to show the second fulfilment of the whole prophecy, and to give
those people, especially of that day, bearing in mind that people are reading, like as this
is being written, it's kind of just before, not long before, we get to then 70 AD, and
people are getting, like the whole place getting burnt down, and it's to remind them that even
with them buying that field, it's to remind them of the prophecy of Jeremiah 32, and this
being the second fulfilment that eventually one day, God's people, yeah, who are his people
by faith in Christ, will one day return. Okay, they will one day return. It's to remind
the millennial reign to come, and you know, and why the end of the physical nation is
there forever, because this is a reminder, even then, he's going, okay, but one day they'll
come back, and then we just see wickedness, wickedness, wickedness, and then eventually
it's taken for them, but God's people will one day return. And it wasn't, you know, it
wasn't obviously contradicting previous prophecies, because as Romans 2 28 29 says, since the
New Testament, it says, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men,
but of God. Okay, and that's the point now, if you go back to Matthew 27, and the point
in that beginning passage, and where we're pointed to that, and point to that original
prophecy of Jeremiah 32, is just another reminder, another reminder that, yeah, it's been taken
for them, but ultimately God's people will one day return, and where are we going to
rule and reign with Christ from in a millennial reign? From Jerusalem, right, that's where
the headquarters are going to be. So anyway, back to verse 9 in Matthew 27, where it says
this, then was fulfilled that which spoke by Jeremy the prophet, saying, and they took
the third piece of silver, the prize of him that was valued, whom they of the children
of Israel did value, and that's what that original prophecy was about as well, and gave
them for the potters filled, as the Lord appointed me, and Jesus stood, and then repeated obviously,
and given more death by Zechariah, 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 is accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said
Pilate unto him, here is thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered
him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Because anyone else would
have been begging for their life here, wouldn't they? Yeah, they would have been begging for
their life, pleading, trying to persuade him that they had the wrong man, that it was wrong,
you know, he obviously is seeing through this already, as we see, he knows why they
delivered him, and Jesus Christ isn't, not denying the accusations, he's not trying to
persuade him, because Jesus' life wasn't really in the hands of Pilate, he said that he could
have no power, except God had given it to him, and really he gave himself willingly,
didn't he? So, obviously, he doesn't need to be doing that, he's not there to plead
for his life. Verse 15 says, now at that feast the governors want to release unto the people
a prisoner whom they would, and they then, they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas.
Now you'd have to tell them, Mark 15 says, and there was one named Barabbas which lay
bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the
insurrection. So, what we see from Mark's Gospel account is that this guy is a rebel
and a murderer, okay, Barabbas is a rebel and a murderer, he's not just a notable prisoner,
it says in verse 17 here in Matthew's Gospel, therefore when they were gathered together
Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I release unto you Barabbas or Jesus which is
called Christ? Now, there's a couple of pictures here, if you remember back in, we're not going
to go there, but back in Leviticus 16, there's a scapegoat being released and the other one
sacrificed, and this is, that's what that was a picture of, so they do this sacrifice
and they get these two goats and they let one go, that's a scapegoat, and then the other
one sacrificed, and there's that, obviously that's fulfilling that picture back in Leviticus.
And there's a couple of other things here, and we'll talk about them in a second, verse
18, before we do, says this, for he knew that for envy they had delivered him, and I just
want to hit this quickly, did it say he thought that for envy? Did it say he thought that
for envy? No, he knew, okay, that's the Holy Spirit saying he knew that for envy they had
delivered him, but wasn't it because they were false prophets? Wasn't it because they
were doing the devil's bidding? Because I think, again, it can be confusing this sort
of thing. Yes, but for them the overriding emotion was envy, and Romans 1 29 says that
these types of people are full of envy. So, yes, yes, they're doing the devil's bidding,
but the devil, I think, uses just the wickedness of sin for them to then do his bidding. So
these people are just full of envy, and murder, debate, deceit, and the rest of it, malignity,
whisperers, back by to say to the God. However, these people here, it's the envy that's ultimately
used to do his will, which is to kill the Son of God, but what was it that they envied
then? Is it that they just envy that he's the Son of God? Do they think they're going
to somehow become the Son of God? No. Is it that they think that they're somehow going
to do some of his miracles? No. It's the people. They want the people. That's what false prophets
want. They want the people. Acts 13 45 says, but when the Jews saw the multitudes, they
were filled with envy. Okay, this is with Paul. When they saw the multitudes, they were
filled with envy, and spake against those things which are spoken by Paul contradicting
blaspheming. Okay, yes, they're wicked, okay? Yeah, they're wicked people. They're easy
used by the devil, but it's through their wickedness, and with this particular point,
it's the envy. They just envy the leading. They envy the people following him. They want
that for themselves, and they hated it. They hated the fact that Jesus Christ had been
following because they want their own following. They want their own people. It was for envy,
and Pilate could see this himself, couldn't he? Okay, just saw it clearly. It was for
envy that they had delivered him, and sometimes when people are envious, you can just see
it, can't you? And you just know them. Pilate, he's astute enough to just see them, and this
is envy all over. I mean, the eyes literally sometimes go green with people, don't they,
when you've been around people like that. Yeah, then verse 19 says, when he was set
down on a 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. So Pilate
is given a chance here. His wife warns him, but ultimately he still fails. Then verse
20 says, but the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask
Barabbas and destroy Jesus. So there's, look, there's a couple of pictures here, okay? So
first, like I said, he's fulfilling that scapegoat. Now, there's the one just obvious picture,
which is you've got this guy that's a murderer and a rebel, and then you've got Jesus Christ,
and he's basically released because of the sacrifice of Christ, yeah? And you could say
that just pictures every sinner, doesn't it? Okay, you got every sinner there whose picture
being released because of the death of Jesus Christ, yeah? That's all it comes to. However,
there's another picture here that I think I might have talked about before maybe when
we went through the Gospel of John, but you've got this rebellious murderer, and who does
that also picture? The devil, okay? So you've got the devil who rebelled against God, who
was a murderer from the beginning, yeah? And then you've got the sinless Lord Jesus Christ,
and they're the two options presented to the people, aren't they? So you've got the devil
picturing the devil, Barabbas is picturing the devil, the rebellious murderer, and then
you've got the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God, and they're the two options, and
what are the Jews, the synagogue of Satan, doing? Verse 20 says, but the chief priests
and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Do
you know what they're doing? They're persuading the multitude to choose the devil instead
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I tell you what, nothing's changed. Nothing has changed in
a couple of thousand years, has it? They've carried on persuading the multitude to choose
the devil instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we look at it now, we look at the kind
of modern, you know, media, and we can see just as clear as day now, but I think this
has always been the case. I think that, you know, the Bible's been for every generation,
and I think that these people, we were talking about this a little while ago, when we see
in the book of Acts, they're constantly following around, they're following around Paul, they're
persuading the multitude, persuading the people, they, for example, they get them lewd fellows
of the basisaur, they're constantly getting a multitude together in uproar, they persuade
the, what does it describe them as? I think it's the just men and the, I'm trying to remember
the name for the women, but basically religious women, it says in the book of Acts as well,
and they're constantly persuading the people to hate on Paul and the Gospel and ultimately
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when they do this, it seems that they start to get higher and
higher with the people they're persuading, so in some areas they're persuading some pretty
high-end people, yeah, I think it was the honourable women, okay, or the honourable
men and the, I'm trying to remember the description, but however, point being that these people,
they seem to be going higher and higher, persuading the higher ends of the society
that Paul's going to, and I don't think anything's particularly new here, these same people,
this same synagogue of Satan, because if you think about it, Satan's a small g god of this
world and he works through people, doesn't he? These people have been in the upper echelons
of society ever since, and they probably worked their way up in the Roman society, if you
think it just, it degraded into pure debauchery, didn't it, by the end? Open, rampant sodomy
and the rest of it, and maybe they've just continued to pull the strings ever since,
maybe, maybe through all these weird secret societies, and some of that's true, yeah,
some of it maybe is hyped up, but there's stuff, there's weird stuff that goes on, okay,
there's weird stuff, and look, these people, what do they do, what do they ultimately and
what are they trying to do? Trying to persuade the multitude to choose the devil, and nowadays
how do they do that? They do that through just the deceitfulness of sin, through just
pushing it and promoting it, pushing and promoting all this weird occultic stuff, pushing and
promoting filth, mocking the Lord Jesus Christ in one way or another, constantly trying to
criticise the evidence for the Bible, the evidence for God, constantly promoting other
false religions, and nothing's changed, and these, it's the same people, it's the same
people and you go, you must be racist, no, they're not a race, they're a religion, they're
a bunch of Christ-rejecting, Babylonian, Talmud-following, religious nutters, okay, and yep, I hate
that religion, yeah, through the precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every
false way, yeah, and that is probably the ultimate false way, isn't it, because they
have rejected the saviour and now they spend their time trying to persuade the multitudes
and the people to choose the devil instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, and nothing's changed
there, has it? The synagogue of Satan, yeah, that's what they are, and that's what they're
doing here, I wonder how they did it here though, what do you think they did? I mean,
lies about Jesus to the multitude, they're quickly just coming out with all these lies,
probably glamorising Barabbas, aren't they, how cool he is, how much fun it is, you know,
the devil's way is so great, and he's, you know, straight away, they're probably like,
oh, Barabbas ain't so bad, he's just a bit more laid back, you know, a bit less uptight
than everyone else, I don't know, they probably come up with something, didn't they, same
sort of stuff that they do now. Verse 21 says, the governor answered, said unto them, whether
of the twain were ye that I release unto you, they said Barabbas. Now, I think here,
we're now talking about the multitude, Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with
Jesus which is called Christ, they all say unto him, let him be crucified, so they clearly
persuaded the multitude, didn't they, and they do that to this day, and they do it through
their media, they do it through their wicked, filthy Hollywood, through all their wicked
music industry, through all the publishing companies with their wicked literature, their
wicked books, it's all the same, it's all the same stuff, and back then they would persuade
the multitude and they've carried on doing it since. And the governor said, why, what
evil have ye done, but they cried out the more, saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate
saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tombolt 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 him. Now, again, you know, certainly, John 19 and 11, it says, Jesus said, thou
couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above, therefore he
that delivered me unto thee had the great sin. Right, he wasn't innocent, okay, Pilate
wasn't, he might, he could wash his hands a hundred times, he could wash his hands with
all sorts of industrial soap, you know, the best ones out there, they still use Swarthiga
now, don't they, when I was young, it was like, any problem, get the Swarthiga out,
yeah. He could have got the Swarthiga all over his hands and everything else, but I
tell you what, he still wasn't, he wasn't, was he, it says here that he that have delivered
me unto thee had the great sin, okay. Look, Pilate wasn't innocent, however, they had
the great sin, okay, and I say that just because, again, we have this kind of weird, I don't
know if you call it a rhetoric, where they try and claim that it's a, it's a Romans that
killed Jesus, you know, had nothing to do with the Jews, you must be some sort of racist
if you talk about that, didn't they, didn't they get really upset with Mel Gibson when
he did his Passion movie, because he, I mean, it wasn't, I mean, it's still a load of Catholic
nonsense, but just because he actually had the Jews going crucify him, like the Bible
says, like the Bible says, yeah, they're like, oh, he's a racist, he's anti-semitic
and everything else, and, you know, you know, no, they, they delivered him, they have the
greatest sin, right, it wasn't just the Romans, they use the Romans to kill him, but, but
yeah, but still, Pilate still, still chose to allow the crucifixion of the Lord, and
why did this governor, this politician choose to allow, because that's really what he was,
because of the tumult, because the people were worked up, and again, we see that tactic
nowadays as well, where, and of course a lot of the time it's just now bribery and it's,
you know, getting them into all sorts of wicked sexual sin and stuff with politicians, but
also it's, they fear the people, so they work up a tumult through the media, through the
press and things like that, I mean, a lot of the time it's funny, they'll, like, something
will have just, someone said something, they'll get some statement by someone that they want
to attack, and then this is what the press will do, they'll go, you know, outrage at
this, or there is, like, calls for the, calls for the sacking of this person, something
else, it's like, it's only just happened, no one said anything, the press prints that,
and then all the more people just go, yeah, everyone's calling for it, I'm joining in,
but no one actually was, it was just the idiot that wrote the article, and that's how they
put pressure on politicians as well, it's a fear of the people, the tumult of the people,
and obviously he just, it says here, when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but
that rather a tumult was made, and he's like, right, I'm washing my hands, you know, like
the politician, it's not my fault, it's the people, you know, it's the people, you chose
to do it, Pilate, anyway, then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and
on our children, that is a strong statement, isn't it, his blood be on, God's not done
with the Jews yet, it just, you can't make this, you can't make it up, can you, but,
they will have you believe the mainstream that it was evil Romans, yeah, that's what
most Christians, you go, so what happened to Jesus of Romans, crucified him, yeah, yeah,
who called for the crucifixion of him, who forced them, who forced Pilate's hand,
these people that then said, his blood be on us and on our children, okay, pretty clear,
then released he Barabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified, now, what was the scourging all about, what's scourging, whipping, wait a second,
I don't remember that bit, like what, as in, why did you have to do that, Pilate, I thought you
just had to crucify him, Mark 15 and 15 says, and so Pilate, willing to content the people,
released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him to be crucified, so,
not only did he give them up to be killed, but he's just now trying to butter up the people,
he's just playing to the people that the Jews have whipped up, the multitude, and now,
he's just like, oh yeah, we'll whip him as well, we'll whip him, we'll scourge him, and then we'll
crucify him, is that going to get me any extra brownie points, and again, what a piece of filthy
is as well really, isn't it, and look at verse 27, 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, and 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 him on the head, and after
that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment upon him, and
led him away to crucify him, now for me, look, I'm sure there were some wicked people in the army
there, yeah, and I'm sure there were some some vile god-hating reprobates in there, because they
kind of get everywhere, however, for me, this is just the far-reaching influence of these wicked
people, isn't it, okay, they've just seen all of this, they've got Pilate already scourging him as
well before crucify, he didn't need to do that, and now these guys are doing the same, and they're
mocking and scourning, like what on earth has that got to do with them, why are they doing all that,
because people are just so easily influenced, because they've just heard it all, this is exactly
by the way what was going on before, when they had him in, you know, in the, sorry, before they took
him to Pilate, at the chief priest's house, and they're beating him, and slapping him, and spitting
at him, and everything else, and now we're seeing the same thing being repeated now by these people,
and no, they're not Jews, no, they're not, yeah, they are the Romans, yeah, however, they delivered
them unto the Romans, the Jews did, however, it's the same stuff, because the people are just
morons, and they're so easily influenced by these people, people are, aren't they, all these people,
you go, and look, it's not, because it's not just the reprobates, it's not just the real god-haters
that mock Jesus, that scorn him, that, that basically spit at Jesus Christ in one way or another,
that, that will, you know, that will act like these guys are here, and they're so easily whipped up to
behave like that, aren't they, and we see that out there, you see that when you knock, just because
you're knocking a door, and someone's mocking, it doesn't mean they're a reprobate, does it,
it doesn't mean that there's some Christ-hating Jew, it's because they're so easily influenced by
the Christ-hating Jews, as they're known of as today, at least, yeah, and, and, and that's what we
see, don't we, and, and it's sad, and it's, it's, it's real, it's really pathetic, really, isn't it,
I mean, the amount of people here, we had it today, and you are getting more of this now,
I remember before I used to say, look, I don't really come across that many people that go,
something along the lines of, I believe in the science, or I'm, I'm a bit too much of a scientist,
to believe that, there was quite few and far between, because I remember talking to a friend
that, that I got saved a couple of years back, and so it was only that long ago, and he's saying, oh,
how do you deal with that, I said, I'll be honest, it's not that often, it's not that common, and I
don't think it was, I think that's increased recently, because I am finding it more, maybe
again, it's because we're doing a bit more local area stuff, and the prideful sort of more middle
class in this country will generally try to hide behind the whole science angle, won't they, but
we had a couple tonight, didn't we, we had one, I think, earlier on with you, I had another later,
just, just the whole, I mean, I had a kid doing it, he's like a teenager, you know, after,
yeah, I believe in science, and when you look at, you know, and I said, is there anything I could
show you that changed your mind, no, I mean, amazing, isn't it, but point being that, that,
what is it really, they're just easily influenced, just morons, they're just scorning Jesus, mocking,
saying it with that smug look on their face, like somehow they're too clever to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and here these Roman soldiers have just been so easily influenced by these same
Christ hating people, right, and, but aside from all of that, and aside from the, what we see there,
and the, and the examples of people today, what's it really, it's just another reminder of everything
that Jesus Christ went through, and it's not just the death, and I don't want to use the word just,
but it wasn't, you know, only the death alone, it wasn't the burning in hell for three days and
three nights, it wasn't that he tasted death for every man, it's also that the God of this world
came and got just abused and mocked and slapped about and spat at and everything by just a bunch
of absolute idiots, and, you know, what power he had to not just open his mouth and kill them all
with the word of God that comes out of his mouth, what power he had to put up with that to, I mean,
all of us, every single person here, if you had the power that the Lord Jesus Christ had,
you wouldn't have put up with five seconds of that, would you? Really, why? Because of our own ego and
pride, because you wouldn't, you'd just be like, what? Yes, let alone if you're the God of this world,
yeah, how humble is he, the humility and the suffering to just, to just, to do all of that for
us, to just not even open his mouth, you know, like a lamb done before the shearers, he opened
not his mouth and then he allowed them to do all of that, to suffer for us, to give an example for
us as we go through persecution and tribulation and to die for us, absolutely amazing, isn't it? And
again, for me, the timing right now to be reading this as we come up to the Lord's sufferers, we come
up to Easter, you know, it's good timing, isn't it? And just to remind us everything that Jesus
Christ went through for us, that's the end of part one of Matthew 27 and we'll be doing part
two next week, on that, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, well, just, just
the many truths that we got out of that first part of, of the, you know, Matthew's Gospel in chapter
27 there and, wow, just amazing truths there and things that have never changed, you know, your word
is timeless, it can teach us so much about, you know, what we see in this day and age and,
you know, it was, we see so many, so many similarities, so many pictures there, so many
truths there, we thank you that, well, that we, we, you know, that middle wall of partition has
been broken down, that there are, there is just one, one people now, you know, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor female, male nor female, you know, we're all one in Christ
Jesus, we thank you for that, we thank you that we are your people, that we're your nation,
help us to never have our heads turned by the sort of lies and nonsense out there, to, to not
be able to take hold of those promises that you've given to all of us here as your people,
as your nation, Lord, thank you for that, thank you that, you know, that you saved us, thank you
for that salvation, thank you for everything that the Lord Jesus Christ went through for us, thank
you for, you know, for, for everything that, that you've done for us, please, please just bless our,
bless our weeks now, bless, bless our journeys home, help us get home safe, help us to
return here on Sunday, for another day in your house, in Jesus' name, for all of us, Amen.