(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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