Invite you tonight to open with me your Bible to Gospel of
Matthew chapter 27. We're going to be reading
through that entire chapter, so if you don't have your Bible,
there are Bibles in the Pew in front of you.
Encourage you to get one into your hands.
It'll be a bit of a different version to the one I'm reading,
but you should be able to follow along as I indicate which verses
we're looking at tonight. This Good Friday 2026, we're
looking at the cross of Christ. It's the title of the message.
If you were to go out and you were to take a poll of people
and to ask them. What do you know?
About the cross, what what do you think is significant about
the cross? Probably the most common.
Answer would be that, well, it symbolises Christianity.
It's something that we'll see on top of a church.
It's something that people will wear as jewellery around their
neck, or it might be something that we see on on top of a
tombstone. So yeah, like any other
religious symbol, the cross is the symbol for Christianity.
Another response might be that those who know their history
would say, well, cross was a means of capital punishment that
was invented by the the Persians, but kind of perfected
by the Romans, and that the Romans would use it as a means
to to shame and to display to those that they'd conquered.
Here's what will happen to any who go against the law of Rome.
It's a brutal death, crucifixion, what the Christian
believes, because this is what the Bible teaches.
And what we're going to consider tonight as we look at the cross
of Christ, is that the cross? Is the greatest display of love,
the Bible tells us. In the book of Romans chapter 5
verse 8, these words God demonstrates his love for us.
In this it goes on and says. While.
We were still sinners. Christ died for us all.
The apostle who wrote those words in Romans said about his
own life in the book of First Corinthians that the cross of
Christ was his entire focus. He said that I have determined
to know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified.
Christ and Him crucified. He identified with Jesus so much
that in another. Book called Galatians, Paul
writes, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
William Barkley, maybe some of you have heard that he said
this. The cross is the proof that
there is no. Length to which God?
Won't go to win the hearts of men.
It shows how far God will go to bring us to Him.
Let's take our minds from 2000 years ago to the Jewish mind,
and the events that we're reading are in the 1st century
AD. The time of Roman occupation of
this area of Judea. And for the Jewish mind across
it's unthinkable. That their Messiah, their
promised one, their expected political Messiah, is how they
mostly thought of the one who was to come, That he would die,
would be crucified and on a cross of all things.
Because the Jewish. Nation expected a a political,
military, kingly ruler to come as the fulfilment of their
Messiah prophecies, one who would come and set them free
from the Roman dominion that so oppressed their daily lives.
Would overthrow all of their enemies and set up Israel again,
hacking back to the days of King David, restoring the former
glory. To a future glory now of Israel,
so that when a. Fellow called John the Baptist
arrived on the scene and started uttering these words.
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Wow, that got people's attention.
Could it be now? Could this be?
What we've been hoping and longing for at hand, he said.
And then just a few weeks later, Jesus himself comes onto the
scene with a similar message. He says the Kingdom of God is at
hand and the people's hope within them begins to rise.
And then Jesus starts going around preaching and teaching
and performing miracles and people recognise, wow, this
could be could be the promised one, this could be the Messiah.
And a crowd began to gather around him.
We're told that in the area of Galilee where Jesus spent the
majority of his time in John chapter 6.
That they actually sought to take Jesus by force on this
occasion and make him a king. And then finally, just a few
days for those of you who are here on Sunday and we looked at
the events of Palm Sunday. When many thousands, hundreds of
thousands, possibly even in the million, were gathered there in
Jerusalem and they were crying out the prophetic promises,
Jesus rode into Jerusalem. On a donkey and they shouted
out. Hosanna.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of
Israel. And the crowd went, to put it in
colloquial terms, nuts. They went ballistic, they went
wild. They thought this is it, it's
happening. Before our very eyes, and it
reached fever pitch, the expectations surrounding Jesus
that he would be the Messiah. And so they did not expect what
we're here to remember on this Good Friday, the crucifixion.
They did not anticipate the cross of Christ.
Even his disciples. Did not, though he'd mentioned
the need for him to suffer and to die.
But soon they would understand and they would be corrected.
We have the record. Their thinking was amiss because
Jesus first before he would become King.
And he will, don't mistake. Me.
He must first be the Saviour. That's what the Angel predicted.
We've been studying through the Gospel of Matthew on Sunday
nights and we looked at the birth of Jesus not too long ago,
and the Angel told Mary and Joseph this before his birth.
About Jesus you will. Call His name Jesus, for He will
what save His people from their sin.
In other words, first Jesus must deal with sin.
This is what we're going to consider as we look at the cross
of Christ tonight. That's what.
The cross is all. About saving his people, that's
you and I from their sin. And then soon and very, very
soon, he will come again, and he will rule, and he will reign
here on this earth as king of all kings and.
Lord of all the Lords. So chapter 27 begins, and
tonight we're going to walk slowly through the events of
Matthew chapter 27 and let the T text speak for itself somewhat.
But as we do, I want us to see these events that we read
through through 5. Clear lenses that the Bible
itself gives to us about what was happening here.
We're going to see the problem of humanity that we have a sin
debt against a holy righteous God.
We're going to see the plan that that God aware of this even
before the foundation of the world was laid, planned
redemption set in motion this. And that's why Jesus came to
fulfil that purpose and to accomplish that mission, to be a
Saviour before he is King, in order to accomplish.
That there is a punishment, the full penalty of sin being paid
by him in his body, being fully human, but also fully God able
to pay that substitutionary penalty in full.
And so we have finally the propitiation or the pardon and
the peace that comes out of that.
It's what we receive when we acknowledge and enjoy Jesus.
Finished. Work on the cross.
So keep these phrases in mind as we read.
They'll help us to understand why the cross is so significant,
is so much more than just a symbol of Christianity, is so
much more than just a means of capital punishment.
But it is about the deliberate, loving climax of God's story of
redemption here on earth. As we jump into the text in
verse one, Jesus has already been arrested by this point in
time out of the Garden of Gethsemane.
He's been tried on some Trump charges by the Jewish leaders
taken through the evening and into the early hours of the
morning. He's been beaten, he's been spat
upon, he's been falsely accused. And now it's early morning.
And when morning came, verse one, all the chief priests and
elders of the people plotted 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.
You see, only the Roman government could exercise
capital punishment. They'd taken away that right
from the Jewish leadership many, many years prior to this.
And so the leaders of Israel take Jesus before pilot they.
Have a mission to see Jesus dead.
And they need to get to the man who can make that happen in
Pilate. He's the governor.
But Pilate, we'll see through this.
He won't be interested in debates over religious doctrine,
though. So they they take the route that
will pique the curiosity and interest of Pilate.
And they present Jesus as this revolutionary, as this political
enemy of Rome. We told people not to pay taxes.
And he makes claims to be a king and of the Jews.
So be careful, Pilate. You need to do something about
this man. Of course, those who have been
paying attention to Jesus life and his ministry and his words
and his actions would know nothing could be farther from
the truth. And Pilate discovers that in his
investigation of Jesus, Jesus had.
No plans to build and open up a palace to erect a flag and
declare himself as king on earth, though that is a future
promise, but here he's. Dealing with something else, the
salvation of humanity. But before we get to that, we
learn what happened with Judas and verse 3.
Then Judas is betrayer, seeing Judas is one of the 12 disciples
of Jesus. Seeing that he had been
condemned, was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of
silver to the chief priests and elders.
Verse 4 saying I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.
They said what is that to us? You see to it, just a day or so
ago, these men were so happy to encounter Judas who had come.
To them seeking to betray Jesus. And how much would you give to
me to make that happen? And now that they've achieved
their purposes, they're done, they're through with him.
It's sad, but unfortunately that's often how the world is,
isn't it? To use people to accomplish
their means and their ends and. They'll let you in for a time
and then when you're no longer. Helpful.
Just spit you out, cut you off. Happens to us.
We do it to others as well. We get caught up in our own
agenda and leave others to sort out their own mess.
And this is Judas experience. But consider Judas here with me
for a moment and his words that he says I have betrayed innocent
blood. Innocent blood.
Don't you think that Judas, having spent three years with
Jesus, being one of the disciples, part of those many
intimate moments and seeing behind the scenes, that if any
fault, if any ounce of hypocrisy, if any sin or any
gossip, any lying, any stealing on Jesus, part that Judas would
have known, would have seen and would have been able to fuel?
And confirm his actions in betraying Jesus.
But no, he declares, I have betrayed innocent blood.
Judas realises he's on his own, he's disposable and now he's
desperate. So verse 5 we read what he does.
He threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and
departed and went and hanged himself.
If you know the story, and I think that many of you do, Judas
betrayed Jesus. We've read of it.
It's interesting that anytime a listing of the disciples is
given through the record of scriptures, that Judas name is
mentioned last. The first disciple often
mentioned is Peter, and you'll know that Peter denied Jesus
three times before that rooster. Crowed in the early.
Hours of the morning. And he did so vehemently.
He did so with cursing, bring up all of his his words that he no
doubt used and employed out on those fishing boats those many,
many years ago. And he denied knowing Jesus and
both men, Judas and Peter. Turn their backs on Jesus in
different ways. Both men, we read, regretted
later what they had done concerning Jesus.
But their stories, if you know it, have two totally different
outcomes. We read of Judas here.
Judas. He went back to men, he went to
the chief priests, he went to those he'd obtained the money
from, and he looked for a way out and there was none.
Peter. Peter looked at Jesus and wept
bitterly. And Judas found no help.
For his troubled soul and committed suicide as we've read
Peter. Would rejoice later when he
hears that Jesus is risen from the dead and is eventually
restored. So how do we get 2 totally
different outcomes in Peter and Judas?
As you've probably experienced, there's two types of sorrow we
see. There's worldly sorrow that the
Bible speaks of. There's the sorry.
About this situation kind of words.
I'm sorry what's happened to you and how you're feeling.
I'm sorry for for hurting you. Then there's the sorrow that
says I don't ever want to do this again, please help me to
change. May that never be something that
happens in my life. And the two can look very
similar, but there's a critical difference.
One is called worldly sorrow and the other godly sorrow, and it's
godly sorrow that leads to repentance.
The Bible says. Now regret that we see in Judas
is not the same as repentance. It's good to feel sorry, and
it's a natural and a right thing indicative of a conscience at
work. But.
If all you do is feel and never repent, if you never ask God to
help change and transform and and fight and kick and scratch
against that for the sake of change, then it's only a matter.
Of time before you fall right back into that which you're
sorry for and do it again. But if you take the path of
Peter and not only feel bad, but repent, that is, go to Jesus,
find forgiveness, declare your allegiance to him, then then.
Then He will help you resist temptation.
Then He will help you break habits.
Then He will help you with those patterns of sin in your life to
destroy them and become the man or the woman that He desires for
you to be. It won't always be easy, but it
can happen. You can be restored.
You can change. Tonight, don't follow the path
of Judas. Take your burdens to Jesus, as
Peter did. Not people like this verse 6.
But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said it's not.
Lawful to put. Them into the treasury because
they are the price of blood. I think this to be so ironic
because don't you think that they obtained those 30 pieces of
silver? Out of the very.
Treasury that they're saying they don't want it returned to.
For the purpose of what it's now achieved.
But again, this is what you find in the world.
Isn't it, though? Most people, haven't you
discovered, have very flexible ethics depending on what they're
trying to accomplish. And we may have the highest
standards one minute and the greatest of excuses the next.
Just have to watch how the AFL conducts itself in the public
sphere. It all depends what's at stake.
So these men are having a moment of twisted morality.
So verse 7, now through to 10. Here's what happens they
consulted together and bought with them the Potters field to
bury strangers in. Therefore, that field verse 8
has been called the field of blood to this day.
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet
saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the value of
him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced
and gave them for the Potters field, as the Lord directed me.
What was the Potters? Field.
There's a place where they would.
Mine the the red clay dirt that the Potters would use to craft
their wares and to sell them. So consequently, the area of
this field would be mined and dugout and create these cavities
and holes and caverns and look very much like a quarry site.
And additionally, some suggest that after that field had been
exhausted of its resources, that when a Potter would work and
discover cracks or their inferior work and destroy it and
the chips that throw their marred vessels away, and they
would often be gathered together and placed in a field such as
this. So consider consequently the
combination of those this field mined and then possibly being
filled with broken pottery. As we're reading, nothing could
grow here barren. Desolate, good for nothing, no
other purpose except to be utilised as a cemetery here for
those who had no other place to be laid.
And consider this also that the blood money for Jesus was used
to buy the place where broken pottery and dead bodies would
be. And that's just what we are
tells us in Genesis that God took from the dirt and made
Adam. And why it is that we say at a
funeral, Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
And we were just that, shattered, dead in sin, good for
nothing. And the blood of Jesus was to
pay for us all. But note here we see the problem
in full Living Colour, betrayal. We've looked at regret without
repentance and the blood money that could only buy a field for
the broken and the dead. And that is all.
Now back to Pilate verse 11 to 14, when Jesus stood before the
governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Are you the King of
the Jews? Jesus said to him, it is as you
say, while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders,
He answered nothing. And then Pilate said to him,
verse 13, Do you not hear how many things they testify against
you? But he answered him not one
word, so that the governor marvelled greatly.
Pilot asked the question. You are you the King of the
Jews, And I think that's how he asked it because before him he's
expecting something different as a king.
No doubt he's not looking at any royal regalia here and the one
before him in Jesus. But consider a a beaten at this
point in time, bedraggled. Peasant, after all, from
Nazareth. Pilate knows Caesar is a king.
Pilate knows Rome is a Kingdom with armies and power and might
and glory. But you are you, the king of the
Jews, Jesus before him. There's a prophecy that some of
you would know out of Isaiah 53 says that like a sheep before
its shearers is silent, so he. Opened not his mouth.
And pilot pilot, he's used to criminals begging for their
lives and pleading their case and their cause and blubbering
and tears and and confessing and weeping and convulsing before
him. But Jesus here has no defence to
make, no excuses to give. And think of Jesus power being
fully God, omnipotent. Jesus could have spoken and
obliterated all of the enemies. Before him.
Think of the intellectual capacity that Jesus possesses.
He could have defended himself with the greatest defence that
any lawyer could muster. But Jesus uttered not a word.
He chose to remain silent because there's a purpose to
fulfil. And even in his silence here,
Jesus is busy about fulfilling the purpose that the Angel
announced at his birth. He will save his people from
their sins. Verse 15 to 19.
Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing to
the multitude 1 prisoner whom they wished, and at that time
they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.
Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said
to them, Whom do you want me to release to you?
Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?
He knew that. They had handed him over because
of envy and while he was sitting in the judgement seat, his wife
sent to him saying had nothing to do with that, just man.
For I've suffered many things today in a dream because of him.
Barabbas is presented. His name means this son of the
Father. Interesting.
It's interesting that history also indicates for us that his
first name is Yahshua. Jesus, Jesus Son of the Father,
Barabbas, or Jesus the Christ of Nazareth.
Who do you want, people? The crowd chose Barabbas.
We want Barabbas, we want Barabbas.
And Barabbas was an insurrectionist and a murderer,
and they chose him over the real Son.
Of the father and pilot's wife warns him of a dream that she
had. Dreams are common throughout the
scriptures. In the first chapters of the
Bible, we see them to the last. That doesn't mean that every
dream is a way that God communicates to you.
It could be the hot cross buns or the chocolate, but this one
certainly is. And she warns her husband
Pilate. Now verse 20, the chief priests
and elders. Persuaded the multitudes that
they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
And the governor answered verse 21 and said to them, Which of
the two do you want me to release to you?
They said Barabbas Pilate said to them, verse 22 What then
shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?
And they all said to him, let him be crucified.
And then the governor said, verse 23, Why?
What? Evil has he done, But they cried
out all the more, saying let him be.
Crucified Pilate here. We've just read us a question
that is a question for every human being to consider and to
answer. What shall I do then with Jesus,
which is called the Christ? That is a question that you must
ask and answer. If you have not already, then do
so tonight. For really, Pilate thinks that
he has got Jesus on trial, but it's not Jesus that is on trial.
It is Pilate on trial before Jesus who is ultimately the
judge of all humanity. And what Pilate determines about
Jesus now on earth will echo for all of eternity.
Have you answered that question tonight?
What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called the Christ?
Back to the passage, the gathered crowd made their
decision. Crucify him, they shouted out.
Pilate, Why? He's taken aback by their
vehement response to see Jesus die.
The crowd cries out all the more.
Crucify Him, crucify Him, let him be crucified.
Verse 20. 4 When Pilot saw that he could not prevail at all, but
rather than a tumult was rising, he took water, washed his hands
before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this
just person. You see to it when Pilot sees
that he cannot prevail at all against the crowd gathered and
their words crying out. He took water.
He washed his hands before the multitude, saying I'm, I'm
innocent. Of his blood, this person now
you see to it, it's interesting pilot constantly at odds with
with the Jewish religious leaders and the customs and
practises of the day. He now seemingly follows a
Jewish practise all the way back in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse
six, that it's about if someone were discovered being murdered
out in a field outside a city, then the nearest city and the
elders and they didn't know who was responsible.
For such a murder were to take a heifer and sacrifice it and then
over that heifer wash their hands as an act of displaying
their innocence. Of that, there's some things we
need to know about Pilot. He's the governor, he's a
political appointee of the emperor of Rome for the area and
his job is to keep peace in this colony and he needs the support
of the high. Priest and the Sanhedrin, who
are the religious leaders, yes, but they also have a lot of
political clout and he'd gotten off to a bad start with them.
A few years ago and those things had never improved.
There was always a thing like being on tenterhooks, walking on
on. Shards of glass before them and
anything could just cause an uprising.
In fact, he'd eventually lose his job because of another one
to come future. And now he makes a deadly
compromise trying to placate the peace and to delegate
responsibility. It was 2526 and all the people.
Answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children, and
then he released Barabbas to them.
And when he had scourged, Means whipped Jesus.
He delivered him to be crucified.
Now we have historical documents that outline this process of
scourging, of whipping that the Romans employed.
It was brutal. Scourging involved the tying of
the prisoner. To a post stripped of their
clothing, beating them with something called a flagellum, a
leather whip with metal studs and bits of bone knotted into
the straps, and the beating would begin.
There'd be two soldiers on either side, with the first
blows often causing welts on the exposed skin that would
eventually cut open as the metal and the bones would grip into
the flesh. And.
The whipping would tear open the prisoners back, ripping the skin
apart, wrapping around the body, digging in to the sides into the
stomach, ripping off the flesh, reducing the flesh to a
consistency of like mincemeat, exposing the internal organs.
And after such a beating, the accused would be cut down, their
body falling to the ground where they would lay in a pool of
their own blood. Many would die from the beating
alone. And the trauma, usually if they
survive this, shorten the amount of time that they would hang
upon the cross, accelerating their death.
This is the punishment that Jesus took.
But the scriptures say that by his stripes we are healed.
This is what is taking place, the wages of sin being.
Poured out, not on the guilty, but on the only one who had
never sinned. And then it escalates.
Verse 27. And the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole Garrison
around him. And they stripped him, put a
scarlet robe on him. And when they had twisted a
crown of thorns, verse 29, they put it on 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 spat on him.
Stop there. The whole Garrison is gathered.
This is what's called the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem.
There's around 600 men, soldiers who are in.
Jerusalem as a part of this Garrison.
Here to keep the peace, maybe not all, but majority are now
gathering around Jesus for sport, to mock, to ridicule, to
bow down falsely before him, to hail him as the King of the
Jews, to hit him, to beat him. And they placed a a crown of
thorns upon his head. And the symbolism here, and that
is profound because as many of you Bible students know that the
thorns are the sign of the curse.
Way back in the garden that resulted from sin in Genesis and
in mockery. Now Jesus is bearing the very
curse upon him, symbolised in his brutal fashioning of the
crown. But they're not done yet, we
read at the beginning of verse 30.
Now they. Spit on him.
Have you ever been? Spat on.
It's the most vilest thing to happen to you.
I have. They spit on him.
They took the Reed out of his hands and struck him on the
head, the crown of thorns no doubt penetrating even further
into his brow. And when they had mocked him,
they took the robe off him, put his own clothes on him, and led
him away to be crucified. As they came out, they found a
man of Cyrene, Simon by name him They.
Compelled to bear his cross, Jesus has LED away.
He's carrying his own cross heavy, He's exhausted, he's
spent. He's gone through such an ordeal
already. And they command a fellow in
Simon to carry the cross for Jesus now.
Remember that the Romans are occupying Israel here and they
had the right to compel anyone. Under their authority to assist
with any task you remember a story earlier when Jesus spoke
about if a a Roman soldier asks you to carry their robe or their
their gather belongings than to go the extra mile and that's
where we get that phrase from and.
They could force someone to carry a load for them, but only
for one mile. Now, Simon does this.
He's from Cyrene and a large city in Libya in the north of
Africa, and he's most likely here in town to celebrate
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And he might very well have saved up for years to make this
trip into Jerusalem. And it's interesting that when
Mark and his gospel tells this story and he indicates Simon, he
says that he is the Father. Of.
Alexander and Rufus, it's as if they were known to the audience
that Mark is writing to. And it seems that this fellow in
Simon later became a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and that
his sons were well known and active in the early church.
So think about this shift for Simon that at first, no doubt
he's bothered and he's annoyed and he's irritated and he's
feeling the shame of I'm not a criminal, why am I being asked
to? Carry this and he's singled out
for this distasteful thing by the Romans.
He's just been going about his day and now he's dragged into a
crucifixion. But later, when he understood
who Jesus really was and what had happened, I believe Simon
became born again and he must have looked back.
On this event with a totally different perspective, verse 33
when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say
place of a skull, they gave him sour wine mingled with gold to
drink but when he had tasted it he would not drink this drink
was intended to intoxicate the prisoner to deaden the pain of
the crucifixion to come. You know, think of the soldiers.
They. Hate being in this posting in
Judea and another criminal comes before them waiting hours,
possibly days for them to die on the cross and hearing them moan
and carry on. But it was also a means to
prolong the suffering as well, to keep them hanging out there.
But to try and minimise the dead and the annoyance of it.
But Jesus refused it. He took all that this death
entailed. He took it upon himself.
The totality of it all. For.
For you and. For me, that's His purpose, why
He's doing what He's doing. Verse 35 They crucified him,
divided his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by the Prophet. They divided my garments among
them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Sitting down. They kept watch over Him.
There they put up over his head the accusation written against.
Him. This is Jesus, the King of the
Jews. It simply says they crucified
him. And then the signage, they
construed it to be a political crime.
The reason? And Pilot puts that up in
writing. Jesus was most likely crucified
on the traditional cross like we have here, the T shape, not the
X shape, and certainly not a single stake as could also have
been done. With his arms outstretched.
Him hanging a few inches to a few feet off the ground and in
crucifixion the prisoner was stripped bare, often times tied
to the cross with ropes around the upper part of their body and
in Jesus case pierced with nails.
Consider unable to swat away any of the the insects now attracted
to the open wounds in the sun, and the body's own body weight
would pull down on the shoulder sockets, make it increasingly
difficult to raise the chest enough to breathe.
It was a death by asphyxiation. The shoulders would most likely
pop out of their sockets. The muscles spasming, lungs no
longer operating and functioning properly, the prisoner's feet
were placed on a foot stand so they could raise themselves up
to assist with breathing. And in Jesus case, there's a
nail that is driven through his feet causing excruciating pain
every time he would try to to lift himself up to gain a
breath. And sometimes, as with the men
crucified next to Jesus, the soldiers would smash the
prisoner's legs, breaking the bones and taking away the only
means that they had to draw a breath.
To press up either way eventually.
The. Prisoner, the criminal, the
person being crucified would give out and death by
suffocation would take place. Weakened by numerous other
injuries, it was again designed as a sickening, horrific, shame
filled, monstrous way to die. So much so that a Roman
statesman and philosopher, Cicero, declared it to be the
most. Cruel.
And terrible punishment. Jesus was crucified if it's. 38
to 44. Then two robbers were crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another.
On the left and those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their
heads, saying, you who destroyed the temple, build it in three
days, save yourself. If you're the Son of God, come
down. From the cross.
Likewise, the chief priests, also mocking with the scribes
and elders, said He saved others himself.
He cannot save. He's the King of Israel.
Let him now come down from the cross.
We will believe him. He trusted in God.
Let him deliver him now if he will save him, if he will have
him. For he said I am the Son of God.
Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him
with the same thing. I want to point out here that
these are human beings doing this.
This is how we treat each other. It's an extreme example.
Of course. But we've all looked down on
someone, We've all made fun of someone, we've all laughed at
someone, we've all mocked them. We've all wanted to hurt someone
or to see them hurt. There's a darkness in the human
soul that's evidence of the depravity in the human heart and
mind. You can't deny that it exists.
You can only debate what to do about it.
But they did this to an innocent, perfect man.
Someone who never harmed others, never spoke poorly of others,
never desired anyone's harm, only wondered what was best for
them. Jesus was the light, but men
loved darkness and they called for him to demonstrate his power
come down from the cross. It's interesting this is what
the world still wants today. The world can seemingly tolerate
Christ, but not Christ crucified, not Christ on the
cross. What do you mean Israel?
The world is happy with a Jesus figure, a Christ consciousness.
People might even talk about a cosmic spirituality, a harmonic
convergence, a Jesus as a teacher, gentle Jesus, meek and
mild, of of love and of a guru, and of some stories about a good
man, but not Jesus on the cross. Come off the cross.
Why? Because Christ crucified on the
cross means that we have to acknowledge something that the
world does not like to talk about at all.
Sin. That we are sinners in need of a
Saviour. And if there's no sin, then
Jesus can be a hero, but he can't be the Lamb slain for the
sins of the world. Come off the cross, Jesus, Come
down. From the cross they cry out.
Verse 45 to 53. Now from the 6th hour until the
9th hour, so this is from 12:00 until 3:00 in the afternoon, in
the middle of the day there was darkness over all the land.
And about the 9th hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice
saying Eli, Eli Lama sabak, the night that is my God.
My God, why have you forsaken me?
And some of those who stood there, when they heard that,
said, This man is calling for Elijah.
Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with
sour wine, put it on a Reed, and offered it to him to drink.
The rest said, leave him alone, let us see if Elijah will come
to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a
loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
And then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top
to bottom and the earthquake and the rocks were split and the
graves were open. Verse 52 And many bodies of the
Saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of
the grave. Notice after his resurrection.
So this is still a few days ahead.
Verse 53 they went into the holy city and appeared to many
miracles were associated with both Jesus birth things of like
the star coming and drawing the wise men from the east to
Bethlehem and miracles are now associated.
With his death and. These miracles, they're
interesting, they raise some questions from us, but they're
overshadowed by the greatest miracle of all, his resurrection
to come on Sunday. We do need to take note of the
splitting of the temple. Veil though, and I want to draw
your. Attention to that, and this is
important because the curtain in the temple there's a curtain
that separated a holy righteous God from sinful humanity, but
now it's been torn from top to bottom as if God himself has
torn it upon Jesus passing. There's there's no longer any
need now for an earthly priest who was only able to go in once
a year on the Day of Atonement to on the mercy seat, sprinkle
the blood and the incense. Now the final offering had been
made, and God. Himself has removed the
separation. The price was paid, the veil was
torn. The way is open to God.
It's it's now like an open house in the temple.
Come on in. And in that moment, what's
called the? Propitiation is complete, the
price is paid, the barrier is removed, and peace with God is
now possible. It was 54 so when the centurion.
Those with him, do you think that they knew about death?
Do you think that they'd seen a few in their years regarding
Jesus? Saw the earthquake.
And things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying
truly, this guy's different. This was the Son of God.
Many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to
him, were there looking on from afar.
Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and
Josephs, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea
named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and
then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him.
Joseph, who were introduced to of Arimathea, is a prominent
man, part of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious rulers, a
parliament of sorts, says that he's a secret disciple of Jesus,
and many people often criticise Joseph for that.
Another fellow called Nicodemus, we're told of in in other gospel
accounts who was also involved in this.
But you know, for this criticism that's levelled against them,
it's interesting that none of the famous ones, none of the
more prominent disciples were here in this moment.
They'd all fled and run except for John.
And perhaps you, as a disciple of Jesus, feel like you don't do
much. Unlike the more prominent
disciples, I haven't walked on water lately, I haven't healed A
leper, I haven't spoken, and thousands have come to Christ.
I don't sing up the front. I'm not very vocal at work.
But like Joseph and Nicodemus, you'll have your opportunity.
And make sure in that moment, you take that which is available
to you and use it for God's glory.
And Joseph did that. Roman custom was to leave the
bodies of the crucified criminals hanging in full view
until they'd rotted away as a testament, a message to all and
sundry about here's what not to do.
And they were displayed on public roads for travellers out
to sea. But Joseph wanted to give Jesus
the burial of dignity that he deserved.
And Joseph, he wasn't a pastor, he wasn't a a missionary.
He didn't lead a Bible study. He was a wealthy man and a
politician, but he used what he had as an act of service and
worship to God. His status gave him access to
pilot that perhaps no others had.
His real estate holding enabled a place to put Jesus body in.
And now as we just about finished verse 59 to 61, when
Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen
cloth, laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the
rock, and he rolled a large stone against the door of the
tomb and departed. And Mary Magdalene.
Was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the tomb.
Ladies were the last to leave Jesus tomb after his death and
the first to be there and we come to it on Sunday.
That's important to note. You have to remember that this
is not a culture where there were female pilots, where there
were female pH, DS or prime ministers.
Women were not highly regarded by the Jews, nor the Romans.
And yet, throughout the Gospels, you'll find women are drawn to
Jesus again and again. Serving Jesus, helping Jesus,
often in very practical ways. And they weren't just servants,
they were also students of Jesus.
They would sit at his. Feet and hear his teaching and
worship him and honour him, and he let them, and in fact he
encouraged them to do that. We read over here.
And now lastly, 62 through to 66 on the next day, which followed
the day of preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees
gathered together to Pilate, saying, So we remember while he
was still alive, how that deceiver said, after three days
I will rise. They even knew what Jesus was
promising. Therefore command verse 64 that
the tomb be made secure until the 3rd day, lest his disciples
come by night and steal him away and say to the people, he's
risen from the dead, so the last deception will be worse than the
first. Pilate said to them, You have a
guard temple soldiers go your way, make it as secure as you
know how you deal with it. And so they went and made the
tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
Pilot stands his ground, he says.
You deal with it, you've got. Your own soldiers.
I'm done. As we finish brutal chapter 27.
Brutal. The cross of Christ.
This is where we pause the story until Sunday morning.
We come and gather again. If you only come on this Good
Friday, you're missing out on the best part.
Easter Sunday We take things up a notch on Sunday, but let's
take a moment to consider what was this all about?
Before we leave tonight and before we leave the foot of the
cross, let's ensure that we understand what God was doing.
The problem humanity has a sin problem against a holy and
righteous. God.
From all the way back, Adam and Eve, in the very beginning,
every one of us, we have turned to our own way away from God's
decrees and His law, and we've broken His law, and we have
earned upon us the wages of our sin, which the Bible says is
death, Death and separation from God.
But there's the plan. Before the very foundation of
the world, God had already established this plan of
redemption. The Lamb was slain in mind and
the purpose of God long before he was slain on Calvary one.
Peter chapter one verse 18 to 20 puts it this way.
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the
empty life you inherited from your ancestors.
And it was not. Paid with mere gold or silver
which lose their value. It was the precious blood of
Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
God chose him as your ransom long before the world.
Began. But now in these last days he
has been revealed for your sake, the purpose.
That's why Jesus came to this earth with 1 clear mission.
Again the Angel told Mary and Joseph His name will be called
Jesus. He will save his people from
their sins. Before he would be a king, he
would be a saviour. He took the punishment on the
cross, the full penalty that we deserved.
He was scourged. He was whipped so that by his
stripes we might be healed. He was condemned, though
innocent, so that we could be declared innocent.
Though guilty, he became a curse for us.
The just suffered for the unjust.
And then the. Propitiation, that the pardon
and the peace that comes from that, because the price has now
been paid in full. God's wrath is satisfied.
That's what propitiation means. Our sins are forgiven and
forgotten. That's where the pardon comes
in. And now we who trust in Jesus as
the Christ have the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding, guarding our hearts and minds.
The veil is torn. The way is open.
And we are welcomed. Home tonight we have seen in
this passage Jesus scourged, whipped so that we might be
healed, crowned with thorns so that we might wear a crown of
glory, stripped naked so that we might be.
Clothed with the righteousness of God.
Mocked and humiliated so that we might be honoured forever.
And put to death so that we can now live for all of eternity
with him. Because where sin abounded,
grace has abounded much more. The atoning work of Jesus on the
cross that we remember tonight is sufficient, is completely
sufficient for your salvation tonight.
And so let the cross of Christ stir up in your heart two
things. A deep hatred.
For sin and an earnest. Joyful love for the Saviour who
paid the price. And if you have never trusted in
Jesus as the Christ, as your Messiah, the same question that
Pilate faced with Jesus before him is now one for you to
answer. What shall I do with Jesus who
is called the Christ? The answer that brings pardon
and peace is simple. Repent and believe in Him.
He has already done everything necessary.
The way is possible. The veil is torn.
Will you come home to God tonight?
Just to know you my sweet friend, my friend.