Passover Sufferings of Christ

I'm going to give the sermon regarding the suffering of Jesus Christ. I want to preface it, first of all, in preparing for this sermon, which is a difficult sermon to prepare on an annual basis. It's certainly a difficult sermon to give because of the suffering of our Lord and Savior Christ. I rely upon my own research over the years and certainly a lot of prayer. Also, from sermons that I've heard on the subject. I'll send those of you that are on the internet there. I sent you a very powerful sermon, a removing sermon, given by Scott Ashley on the sacrifice of Christ. Why did he have to suffer was the title of the sermon. I sent you a link to that. Also, he gave another one two weeks later and he's given some outstanding sermons on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what Christ has gone through. Also, I watched a video from an ER trauma surgeon on the medical facts surrounding the crucifixion. So, I just thought I would give, if you hear some new material today, then I just want to give credit where credit is due.

I'm going to start, first of all, in 1st Pentecost, Chapter 11, which is certainly the heart and the core of our understanding. This is certainly the most serious and sobering and really the most important time of the year because, as has gone, your preparation for Passover, as far as examining yourself, going through the scriptures, and as you have been preparing for it and what you will be partaking of tomorrow evening, that will roll out. You know, the rest of the Holy Day season will roll out in accordance to the seriousness with which you are approaching the Passover. So, in 1st Corinthians 11, 23, for I received from the Lord, writes Paul, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take and eat, this is my body which is broken for you. And I want to emphasize the word broken because that really does, again, emphasize what Christ actually went through. We know because of the prophecies, none of his bones were broken, even when they drove the nails through apparently his wrist bones, that he did not break any bones. But his body was certainly broken for us and that is a word to focus on, that is a word to pray about and think about. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. We proclaim the Lord's death until his very return.

Let's now go to Luke 22 and take a look at his scripture here. Luke 22 chapter.

And we'll look at verse 19. A similar thought as what we have just read. Luke 22 and verse 19. And he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given. Now let's focus on the word given. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So both words, I mean they're different words, but they really connect. He gave a body to us that was broken. And that's something to really think about. The body that was broken for us. The body that Christ gave to us. Matthew 26 and verse 28. Matthew 26 and verse 28.

Matthew 26 and verse 28. We read this. This is the taking the cup and giving thanks, which is interesting too. Verse 27. Christ was giving thanks. This is Matthew 26 and 27. Christ was giving thanks for his being able to give his life in sacrifice to us. He gave thanks for what he was about ready to do. He thanked his father that he could be our savior.

That's something to really think about. He thanked his father that he could be our savior. And he said, drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Now he doesn't say all. It's said for many, but not all. Now Christ intended that every human being drink of the blood, which is the wine of course, which symbolizes his blood. But some would not and some will not. Some will choose not to partake of the Passover sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Some will walk away from the most precious gift of all, which is the acceptance of his life, his death, you know, life teaching, his death, and his resurrection. Some will walk away from that. For example, Judas refused to be a part of the new covenant. He wanted no part in the new covenant. And so he refused, at least at that time. We always hope for, you know, a better time in the second resurrection. But we don't know for sure. We don't know for sure. We do know there will be some who will sadly choose the lake of fire over the new covenant sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That's a terrible and awful decision. But some people will make that fatal mistake. I'd like to read from a newsletter we get on email once, about once a week, and some of you get this as well. This is very important reading because tomorrow evening is a very, very important evening. As we enter into the new covenant, a person must be circumcised in his heart, as Romans 2 and 29 states. But he is a Jew who was one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. Again, that's quoting Romans 2 and 29. Then, I think it's Mr. Cubic that writes this, only those who have entered into the new covenant through repentance, baptism, and the laying out of hands for the receiving of the Holy Spirit should partake of the New Testament Passover.

Yes, it's a free gift, but there are things we must go through first. Repentance, baptism, the laying out of hands. Prior to receiving the Holy Spirit, we have to be humbled by God, and have our hard carnal hearts humbled to be circumcised in heart. Now, those of us that have been humbled know that we've been humbled. We have experienced it. It's not something we just read on a page. It's something we have gone through. It's not easy to truly be humbled. Only those who have been spiritually circumcised and have been placed into the body of Christ by the receiving of the Holy Spirit should participate in the symbols of the Passover. And so, this is a great principle that we must go through a process which God starts of repentance, being humbled by God. God has to humble us. He has to bring our hard carnal hearts to a state of humility. So we repent, we're baptized, have hands laid upon us, and then we receive God's Holy Spirit. And it is only those who should participate in the symbols of Passover. Now let's look at the meaning of the New Covenant in just one short verse. Romans chapter 11 and verse 27. Romans 11 and verse 27. For this is my covenant with them, said God, and Paul was quoting, when I take away their sins. So we enter the New Covenant. Of course, we know it's going to get bigger and better when the kingdom is here, but we enter the New Covenant when God takes away our sins. He takes away our sins by, again, repentance, baptism, receiving of the Holy Spirit. Now, I want to read from Robin Weber's letter that he wrote to us. I'm not sure if this is on the table, but maybe we can make copies for it, if not today, maybe for the first Holy Day have some copies. This is dated March the 20th by Robin Weber, and would certainly appreciate your prayers for him, because he not only is the chairman of the council, but since Mr. Dennis Luker's death, he's also the acting president. So he's kind of full load, and I know he would appreciate your prayers on his behalf. So he talks about the New Testament Passover, and it does the what a privilege he says we have to observe the New Testament Passover to renew our covenant relationship. We are renewing a covenant relationship that we started with God when we were baptized. So we're renewing this relationship with the Heavenly Father through the ultimate sacrifice of his dear son, Jesus Christ. It reminds us that each one of us has been truly forgiven, reconciled, and fully restored into God's presence. And then he talks about the fellowship that we have with the Father and the Son. We do have fellowship with the Father and the Son, 1 John 1.3. And then he said, as we partake of the bread and wine and renew our holy covenant with God, let us not listen to lesser human voices that swirl around us or give room to our personal doubts that can paralyze our personal witness that Christ lives in us.

So I want to just emphasize that as we approach Passover, it's almost here, that we are not to listen to lesser human voices, sometimes our own voices in our head.

Our own thoughts, maybe I should say, that our own negative thinking that would swirl around us and give room to personal doubts about where we stand with God and where we stand within our fellowship with God in Jesus Christ. So then he does quote Romans chapter 8 verses 31 through 39, if God be for us who can be against us. That is something we really can hang on to.

So I won't read the rest of this, but this was a very, very inspiring letter until that time, or until the Passover, or actually talking about until the kingdom, let us hold steadfast in our faith before our Heavenly Father, and that His Spirit will never lead us to where His grace cannot keep us, preserve us, and certainly protect us. So we are, brethren, to look at the Passover, if we've gone through these things, to truly look at the Passover and considering it, that we are to keep it in faith.

Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 28. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 28, and speaking here about Moses, by faith He kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest He who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. So then on the church of God, we've had a tough year. We've had people, friends that we've known, had meeting untimely death a few weeks ago.

Our beloved Dennis Luker died very suddenly and caught us all by surprise. But we can still, brethren, keep the Passover in faith. You know, to not discern our Lord's body might be to suggest we don't think His suffering is big enough for us. And of course His suffering is quite big enough, quite sufficient for every one of us.

In John chapter 3, and someone had said long time ago that John chapter 3 verse 16 is indeed, you know, the golden text of the Bible. And I would certainly agree with that. John 3 and verse 16, He tells us here, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. There's that again, that word give. That Christ gave His sacrifice to us. God gave His only begotten Son, John 3 and verse 16, That whoever should believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but He who does not believe is condemned already because He has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So, brethren, it's not a matter of coming to Passover, just showing up, just going through the ritual, the routine, and that's all. I mean, it's a matter of believing from the heart what Christ has done for us.

You know, believing from the heart that we are going to be saved eventually by His life, as the Scripture says. We must believe that it's not just a matter of, and it's an important matter, to root out sins of the flesh, to root out sins of the mind, thoughts of the mind, but we must concentrate on the faith aspect as well. The Passover is also an ordinance of faith, faith in what Christ has done for us.

Let's turn to Romans chapter 4 and take a look at verse 1 and just go through some Scriptures here, and some people have been maybe puzzled or confused by Romans the fourth chapter, but let's just stay up front. Paul was not doing away with God's law. Paul was not doing away with the Ten Commandments.

Paul said in John, I should say in Romans 7 and verse 12, the law is holy, just, and good. Paul was a Sabbath keeper. He was a Holy Day keeper. He commanded the Corinthians, you know, let us therefore keep the feast. So that's all been established. We know he was a commandment keeper, but he has something here very important to say here in Romans 4. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God.

In other words, if we could be justified by works, Christ would not have had to die. He would have had to die if we could be justified by works. Over here in verse 3, I'm just going to point out some key thoughts here. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. His faith was accounted to him for righteousness. Let's go down to verse 5. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith, here it is again, is accounted for righteousness.

Just as David also described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. Verse 7, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

Down to verse 9, does this blessedness then come upon only the, you know, the circumcised only, only the Jews, or upon the uncircumcised, also the Gentiles. For we say that again, faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. Faith was accounted to him for righteousness. Dropping down to verse 11, and he received the sign of circumcision, a steal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all of those who believe. We often say that Abraham is the father of the faithful, and this is where, you know, this is where that, you know, that scripture, that thought comes from. Now let's drop down here to verse 13.

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Once again, we've already established lawkeeping. We've already established the Ten Commandments. Paul was a commandment keeper, but he was also saying, and he was also describing, the righteousness of faith. The point I'm trying to say is it's not just a matter of just showing up tomorrow evening, kind of hoping for the best, going through the motions, without really believing that Christ is renewing his promises to us. And every single one of us have been given some very precious promises. We do have to keep the Passover in faith.

John chapter 6 and verse 40. Christ had already worked some miracles, the miracles of the fish and loaves of bread. He had just walked across the water and, you know, he was working miracles in John 6 and verse 40. And this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the sun and believes in him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.

Do we believe in our Savior, our Lord and our Savior? Well, the Jews were murmuring and they didn't quite understand it. And then verse 42, well, he's just the son of Joseph. You know, we know his father, we know his mother. Why is he saying he came down from heaven?

And so let's drop now over here to verse 47. Because, brethren, this is something you and I have been chasing all our converted lives. Ever since we were baptized, and even before that, we did some thought and prayer, repentance, that we wanted to chase after eternal life. We wanted to be given eternal life. Most assuredly, verse 47, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread. Speaking of himself, this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. Brethren, at the Passover service is a renewal of the promise of eternal life. It's renewal of the promise of eternal life. I am the living bread, verse 51, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I give, that I shall give, is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

Now, the Jews were quarreling, and they didn't understand, and they got all confused and frustrated. But, brethren, you and I sit down tomorrow evening and partake of that little crust of bread, and we drink that little bit of wine. We are remembering the promise that Christ gave to us of eternal life. We're remembering that promise. Of course, we're remembering the commitment we made to God. And we say, I repent. You know, I repent of breaking God's laws. I'm going to keep God's commandments. Yeah, that's a very important renewal. But we're also, according to the Scripture, I give this for the life of the world. It's a promise of eternal life.

Most assuredly, I say to you, said Jesus in verse 53, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

Now, the flesh, of course, that we eat is the bread, okay? And the blood, of course, is the red wine. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. So we go through this process of conversion. We repent, baptize, have hands laid upon us. And then every year we have a renewal of those promises we made to God at baptism. And that renewal is, you know, the blood, the flesh, the bread and the wine.

And we have eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. That's really what we're after, is it not? For my flesh is food indeed, verse 55. And my drink, and my blood is drink indeed. And he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. And I will raise him. And I would take that back to 1 John 1 and verse 3, where it says, we have fellowship, we abide, or we have fellowship with both the Father and the Son, says John in 1 John 1.3. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live eternally, eternal life, because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your Father's eighth of manna. That was, you know, that was just physical food. It had a spiritual origin, of course, but it was, it just had calories, it was physical. It ate the manna and our dead. He who eats this bread, speaking of himself, will live forever.

Well, we know the rest of this particular story. Many of the disciples, verse 60, didn't get it. Maybe didn't want to get it. I don't know. Maybe they should have stayed around longer.

But it does say that, verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more, and they turned to the 12, verse 67. Do you also want to go away? And Simon Peter, who I'm real sure he admit he didn't get it all, but he got a lot of it, he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. The words, I get part of it. You've just said bread, wine, you know, flesh, blood, eternal life. You have the words of eternal life. Peter wasn't interested in his fishing business anymore. He was interested in the words of eternal life. So, brethren, that Passover means a lot of things, but the one thing I want to emphasize on it is a reminder from God through Christ to each one of us, the promise of eternal life.

The promise of eternal life. So, let's go now and look at some of the things that Christ went through on our behalf, Isaiah 50, Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 5. And we see some of the horrible things that Jesus Christ went through for us, for me, for you. That's why we take this whole process of conversion, baptism, repentance, conversion. We take Passover very, very seriously. The Lord, God, has opened my ears, as I say, at 50 and verse 5. So, Christ is speaking. I was not rebellious.

He did not turn and run from this tremendous sacrifice. Nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those who struck me. Now, on that video that I watched, maybe some of you watched it too, on the medical facts of Christ's crucifixion. And they were interviewing, or maybe they were just, it was a, like I said, a trauma surgeon, a man who deals with traumatic injury.

And he was explaining from a doctor's point of view just what this all means.

And he said that this horrible scourging, Christ gave his back to those who struck me. It would break through the epidermis, the dermis, then into the sinews, the tendons, the muscle, and then down to the bones. Because Christ said that he could see his own bones. He could see his own bones. Those evil, demonic, demon-possessed soldiers stripped his flesh right down to the bones.

I gave my back to those who struck me. The physician said that this was such a brutal beating or scourging that he, that by itself would have killed him through loss of blood and dehydration, loss of blood, loss of moisture, and also infection. I mean, he didn't use the word infection, but we know that that infection would have set in as well.

So let's go on. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. So Christ, you know, undoubtedly had a very nicely trimmed beard, and he allowed these demon-possessed ants, you know, they just, I mean, next to God were just less than ants, but he allowed them to pull out the hairs on his face to pluck out and yank out his beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. They spit in his face, the Scripture says. They spit from our Savior's face. But let's look at the word shame. I did not hide my face from shame. Okay, we'll just stop there for a moment, but then we'll go on in verse 7. You know, we're talking about shame for a moment here. But now in verse 7, for the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Shame? Disgraced? Well, was he disgraced? Well, let's go a little further.

Therefore I have set my face like a flint, absolutely determined to go through this horrible suffering. I know that I will not be ashamed. Well, was he disgraced? I mean, let's talk about these three words. Shame, disgraced and ashamed. All kind of the same words.

You know, there's one type of disgrace, meaning, or it's exemplified by someone who chooses to ruin their life. They just ruin their life, or they ruin someone else's life, and they end up in disgrace. That's really, you know, the ultimate of failure. Ruining your life, ruining, you know, just maybe living a life of sins of the flesh that finally break down your character, your morals, your spirit, and you end up in terrible condition. You end your life in disgrace. Judas is an example who ended his physical life by hanging, by suicide. He ended his life in disgrace. Pilate tradition says, history says, within 10 years and maybe less, he committed suicide. So here Pilate was trying to extend his governorship, you know, because they were going to cattle on him. Oh, we're going to cattle on you. If you don't kill Christ, we're going to go tell Caesar. Oh, well, I don't want Caesar to find out. So, but at any rate, he ended his life in disgrace. And Herod, who also could have set Christ free, he ended his life in exile. So these three individuals who were prominent characters in this situation, they really ended their life in disgrace. Now, this was not the kind of disgrace that Christ felt. Now, Christ's human dignity was shamed. They really shamed his human dignity. He was humiliated. He was ridiculed. But he was never disgraced to the point of failure. He was never disgraced or exiled to the point of failure. His shame and his embarrassment worked for our good. Now, brethren, if there's anything I hate, and I hate to be embarrassed, I hate to be ashamed, and yet Christ, maybe you're the same way, I don't know, but yet Christ was willing to go through this ultimate human indignity for my sins and for your sins. He was willing to go through shame and embarrassment.

And we'll be reading a scripture in a few minutes where he prophesied of his suffering, and he used three words. He said, the Son of Man will be mocked, the Son of Man will be scourged, and he will be crucified. So, all this horrible pain he put in three words, being mocked, being scourged, and being crucified. So, now let's go to Isaiah 52 and verse 13. Behold, my servant shall deal prudence and be exulted and extolled, and be very high, just as many as were astonished at you. His visage, and that just simply means his form, his form was marred more than any man. Now, in Psalm 22 and verse 6 is a very similar phrase where Christ, and Christ was probably, undoubtedly, reciting Psalm 22 while he was dying on the cross, and he said, but I am a worm and not a man.

I'm a worm, he said, and not a man. His visage was marred more than any man. And Mr. Ashley brought out a point that I was not aware of about why did Christ call himself a worm. There was actually a worm in those days, that part of the Middle East, that was a bright red worm. So you kind of know what the story, you've kind of figured out the story already. A bright red, bright red worm, or scarlet colored worm. And in those days, they didn't have the chemicals that we have, so they would use whatever they could find to color cloth with. For example, we all know the story of Lydia, who, Acts 16, who was a seller of purple. And where did they get the purple from? Well, from some kind of a shell or a mollusk, which they would grind, and they would somehow extract the liquid, which apparently came out as white, but as soon as it hit the sun, it would turn into this deep royal purple. And they would use that to dye cloth with. Same way with this Middle Eastern grub or worm, they would grind it. And even when they made parts of the tabernacle, or from the cloth for the tabernacle, that was where they got that color red from. So we understand what Christ was saying. His visage, or his form, or his appearance, was now, by the time he was hanging on the cross, was he was cut open with a thousand, or thousands, of wounds. And he was bleeding from the very top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He looked more red than flesh colored. That's what he's saying. He looked more red because blood was coming out of him from all over his body. His visage was marred more than any man. His form more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations or startle many nations. Many nations will have a wake-up when they see Christ returning. Kings shall shut their mouths at him. Let's drop down to verse 2 of chapter 53.

He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He looked less like an average Jew of the day. He wasn't 10 foot tall or 9 foot tall. Goliath, you know. He was just an average looking Jew. I'm sure he was though striking. I mean, he was a son of God and a son of man. He is despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows acquainted with grief. And these refer to these nouns and the Hebrew refer to physical suffering which he was willing to bear.

We hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised. We did not esteem him. You know, how many people really appreciate Jesus Christ? How many people really do appreciate what he's done for humanity? Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. Well, that literally means, brethren, he was chastised so that we could have peace of mind. You know, a lot of us are troubled by, you know, guilt, sin, whatever bothers us. But God says, no, the whole point of it is for us to have peace of mind. Us to have peace of mind because of the chastisement that he went through by his stripes. We are healed. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord God has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. God the Father laid upon Jesus Christ. Everybody sins, all of our sins. Christ's shoulders carried them all. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. He opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep to be before his shearers as silent. So he opened not his mouth, and we see this prophecy fulfilled in his appearance before, you know, Pilate and before Herod when the normal average guy would be grumbling at their feet, oh, have mercy on me, don't kill me, don't torture me, don't do it. And Pilate was astonished. He was not offering any defense. He says, are you a king? He says, yes, I'm a king.

And he said, don't you know I have the power to release you? He said, you're in big trouble by my father, but he said, Christ said, he who delivered you, who delivered me to you has the greater sin. And that makes Pilate even worried, more worried. But Pilate and Herod were both amazed that he didn't try to get out of it. He didn't try to, you know, beg his way out. So he was silent. He was taken from prison and taken from judgment. There was no judgment there. They had to make up lies, and even their lies, you know, didn't agree with each other.

For he was cut off from the land of the living, for the transgressions of my people he was stricken. They made his grave with the wicked, and that's a prophecy of him dying between two thieves, one on his right and one on his left. Christ was never a thief or a sinner or whatever at all, but he was crucified there with the wicked, but with the rich at his death. In other words, Joseph of Arath the man was a rich man and loaned Christ his tomb. Because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.

Or the Hebrew has to crush him. God didn't want to see his son go through this, but there was no other way to pay for our sins. So let's go down to verse 11. He shall see that travail of his soul and be satisfied, and by his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many.

For he shall bear their nickelies, therefore I'll divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many. Again, not everybody. Some people will make the fatal, the eternally fatal mistake of not accepting our Savior on behalf of their sins. And he made intercession, or prayers, fervent prayers, for the transgressors.

So let's go back now. Let's go to Matthew chapter 20. And earlier I had talked about, you know, the shame that Christ had to go through. Not the shame, and not the disgrace of failure, but the shame of losing his dignity, or giving up his dignity. And just like he said, no man can take my life, but I give it to humanity. And I'm sure he gave up his dignity, and allowed himself to be shamed. Matthew 20 and verse 19, and this is how Christ describes it. This is the third time he's predicting his death and resurrection. So in Matthew 20, 19, and, you know, they'll take the Son of Man, he said, and they will condemn him to death in verse 19, and deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify. And the third day, he will rise again. So Christ is talking about, and breaking it down into, that once he was delivered over to the Gentiles, they would mock him, scorn him, ridicule him, you know, put him through great humiliation, and then they would scourge him, and then they would crucify him.

Now, Christ had a great plan. God the Father in Christ had this wonderful plan to pay, you know, give us eternal life, but the process would be to pay for our sins by his death.

But to get to this point of death, being turned over to these evil men, he was tortured, and humiliated, and shamed. You know, certain cultures of people cannot stand to lose face, they call it. They just, they cannot stand to lose face. They would do anything to avoid being embarrassed or humiliated, sometimes even going to the extreme of committing suicide, rather than being shamed. But to bear our sins, to finish his work, Christ was willing to go through this horrible shame, this horrible mocking, this horrible humiliation.

You know, our sins that we've done, they deserve death, we deserve, we deserve shame, right? We deserve to be embarrassed, we deserve death. But Christ comes along to pay our way out.

He came along to pay our way out. In Psalm 103, in verse 10, I'll just read this from the King James, He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. He's not dealt with us after our sins, He hasn't rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Never say, I just want what I deserve in life. Never say that, because what we deserve in life is death. That's what we deserve. So God does not reward us according to our iniquities.

Let's turn over to Matthew chapter 26 and take a look at, starting in verses 37 or 38, book of Matthew here. So Matthew 26 here and verse 37. He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, his three closest friends, because he wanted support, he wanted encouragement, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. He was very anxious, very distressed, very nervous. It says in Hebrews 5, he put strong cries and tears before God. It was heard in that he feared. So he went through, again, horrible mental anxiety, mental and emotional anxiety. And he said to him, then, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

Stay here and watch with me. So he was so distressed, deeply distressed and sorrowful. Even to death, he said, stay here and watch with me. And he went a little farther than fell on his face, just flat on his face and prayed, saying, Father or O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them asleep and said to Peter, what could you not watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray. Verse 41, lest you enter into temptation, the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away a second time and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. That's, of course, even we find that even in the Lord's Prayer, you know, thy will be done. And so, he prayed these things again. And the third time as well in verse 44. Let's go now to Luke 22.

Luke 22 and verse 44. Luke 22 44. And it says, and being in agony, he prayed in the first sentence, and it's what became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Falling down to the ground. And both Mr. Ashley has good comments on this, and as well as the ER, the surgeon, the medical surgeon. It's a condition called hematridosis. Hematridosis. And it is an addition where the capillaries in and around the sweat glands will burst, and they will mingle with perspiration. And the process itself is very painful.

And people can pass out from that. And it was documented in history when the German bombers would come over in World War II to England. People would literally sweat blood. I'm sure when the American bombers went over Germany, same thing was happening there, probably. People literally would sweat blood, and people would pass out. People would faint. It was documented by at least one soldier going into battle. This hematridosis, sweating blood. And of course, here it says great drops of blood. So Christ was in agony. In agony. He wasn't just pretending to be in sorrow. He was really the son of man was suffering. He was suffering horribly, even before the, you know, he was arrested. So here we have in Matthew 22 and verse 47, while he was still speaking, behold a multitude, and he was called Judas, one of the twelve went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss him. Now, I'm sure that Jesus, the way the Garden of Gethsemane was set, that he could have probably heard the troops, I'm sure heard them marching, stomping through the you know, the trail, maybe even saw them from a distance, maybe saw the torches. Now, I'm sure they probably had a few torches. It was nearly a full moon, so probably a very bright evening, but maybe they had a few torches as well, and he could maybe see the procession from far away, and he knew the area well enough to escape. If he would have wanted to, he could have escaped had he chosen. But anyway, Judas had said to the Roman soldiers and the priests and so on, one I kiss is the one sees him, and the kiss was a sign of loyalty. And this even took Christ back because he said, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? And again, you know, the idea is that, as Mr. Ashley was pointing out, that you never betray your rabbi. You never betray your rabbi. Your rabbi is closer to you, supposedly, than your own family. I mean, you love your rabbi, and that's what Judas would, he's a Hail rabbi. You love your you love your rabbi, and you want to be just like him. And so to betray your rabbi is an unthinkable crime, and yet Judas was willing to do that. I started to read a little bit about Judas, and I stopped because the dictionary I was reading was getting into what I call the psychological state of mind. I said, I don't want to go here. I mean, you know, I don't want to go here, because his mind really became, well, it became so perverted, and then he gave himself over to actually being not only demon possessed, but possessed by Satan. And so he did evil and terrible, terrible things. And of course, God says the Bible reveals he was a thief. But even Christ was shocked, you might say, that he was betrayed by a kiss. Let's go down now to chapter 26 of Matthew. Let's go back to Matthew 26 and look at verse 67. So now they have arrested him, and then they spat in his face and beat him. Now, I would have lost my temper at this point.

I would have, you know, but Christ didn't lose his temper. He couldn't, I mean, you know, he couldn't lose his temper. He would have lost his temper. He would have sinned. If he would have sinned, there, you know, there goes our Savior. But they spat in his face and beat him, and others struck him with the palms of their hands, saying, prophesy to us, Christ, who is the one who struck you?

So here they are, spitting in my Savior's face, and ultimate mocking, ultimate humiliation.

Let's go to chapter 27 and verse 15 and read a spiritual life lesson for you and I. Matthew 27, 15. Now, after feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. Now, this was a tradition that the Jews insisted on. And the reason why they insisted on it, because the Jews, when you said passover, they said freedom, you know, passover, freedom. That's what they said. Because what passover means to these people, means that to us to write freedom from our sins. Well, to the Jews, it meant freedom from bondage, freedom from slavery in Egypt. And so to commemorate freedom, they struck a deal with the governor to release a prisoner who was destined for death. And he was called a notorious prisoner. He was also a robber, he was a murderer, he was a sinner. His name was Barabbas. And this is where the spiritual life lesson comes in for us. Barabbas is Aramaic, and we all know that bar, b-a-r, means son, like Simon Bar-Jonah. Well, Simon, son of Jonah. Bar means son. And Allah means dear father.

Abba father, dear father. So here we have a man called the son of the father. The father, of course, being God. Here we have this notorious prisoner actually called the son of God, or the child of God. So the life lesson, brethren, is he is us. Now he is us because male or female, we are sons and daughters of the great God. That's what the Bible says. We are sons and daughters of the great God. We are the ones who mess up. We are the ones who break the commandments of God. We are Barabbas. Barabbas is us. And so therefore when they gather together, Pilate said, well, whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas? This notorious lowlife? Or Jesus who? I can't find any fault in the man. And he knew that because of the end of it they had delivered him.

So while he was sitting even on the judgment, his wife sent him a note and said, had nothing to do with this just man. I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. He really should have listened to his wife. But the chief priests and elders, it says, that persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. So, and again, we see, again, this is another lesson because, because Satan always works his way, does he not? He poisons one or two people. And then those one or two will poison a dozen. And then those dozen will poison a hundred. And then those hundred will poison the multitude. So the crowd is crying out for, you know, for the blood of Jesus Christ. So they ask for Barabbas and they destroy, and they are going to destroy or kill Jesus Christ. So we have the innocent one, Jesus, going to his death, and the guilty one's, us, being set free. That's the lesson of Barabbas. The innocent one goes to his death, the guilty ones get to go free. He bears our sin. He bears our shame. And we get to go free.

In Matthew 27, 26, he, then he released Barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus, which we've already covered, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus to the governor's quarters and gathered the whole garrison around him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. So this whole thing is they're mocking him. They're shaming him. They're ridiculing him. This is what they were doing. The scarlet robe, and I don't know where they got it from. Was it this robe from a soldier? I don't know.

Very likely could have been one, although I'm sure it would have been a very bloody robe once they had put it on him because he had already been scourged. And then they twisted a crown of thorn. I think there's even a lesson in that word twisted because everything they did to our savior came from a twisted mind. Came from a twisted mind. I think there's a lesson even in that particular word there. A crown of thorns. And again, the ER surgeon had a few thoughts about this.

This was these were thorns of an inch, inch and a half, two inches in length. And they wove it into a crown to mock him because he said he was the king, king of the Jews. And they shoved it on the scalp. And the doctor says that on your scalp you have more blood vessels there in close proximity to each other than anywhere else in your body. And you're going to bleed profusely. And the doctor said that he had actually seen people die of head wounds. Die of head wounds even less than what Christ had because of the enormous loss of blood. So the crown of thorns, they put a reed in his hand, in his right hand, a reed being a mockery of, you know, a royal scepter that the king would have his royal scepter. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him just like God, just like Christ said, it's going to happen. Hail king of the Jews. And then they spat on him. There's that word again. They took the reed and they struck him on the head. And then when they had mocked him, there's that word again. Shame and disgrace.

They took the robe off of him and put his own clothes on him, which they also stole from him just an hour or two later. And they led him away to be crucified. So we see this. And again, the doctor was bringing out that the scourging would have killed him. The scepter was a little the crown of thorns could have killed him because of the tremendous loss of blood. In Mark 15, 21, we see another incredible story here. Mark 15 and verse 21.

He said they can and again, there was this multitude watching the spectacle. And again, in those days, that was part of the evil devilish mind of the Romans. The Romans wanted as many people as possible to see the crucifixion, you know, because they wanted it to be a warning. This is what happens when you go against Rome. So there was a crowd, a multitude lining the streets all the way up to Golgotha. And some of them were loyal to Jesus Christ. And some of them were mocking and blaspheming him and maybe spitting on him as he went by, as he crawled by or struggled by. And he came to the point where he could no longer carry the cross. So they compelled a certain man, Simon of Cyrenion, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear his cross. And I want to talk to this Simon one of these days.

And maybe I don't want to talk to him, but, you know, was he cheering?

You know, was he making... was he in the crowd to laugh at Jesus Christ? Or was he in the crowd to support Jesus Christ? You know, we don't know. Maybe he never wanted... maybe we don't need to know.

But at any rate, they grabbed him and he helped bear the Savior's cross. And it ended up not only, first of all, very, very sad thing to do, but in the long run, what an honor to help our Lord and Savior at that point, when our Lord and Savior was to the point of irreversible exhaustion.

And so he was a common man, and he went home, and he told his wife what happened, and he had at least two children, Alexander and Rufus. And the story doesn't end here. Let's just go to Romans 16 and verse 13. And Romans 16 and verse 13, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. So Rufus became, probably heard his daddy's story and thought about it, and became converted, and became a child of God as well. Let's go back to Matthew 27 and verse 34. Matthew 27 and verse 34.

They stole his clothing. Next verse.

Verse 39. And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads. And so it was a whole troop of people, probably from all walks of society, the priests, the scribes, the pharisees, all that, chief priests, mocking, and so on. That's verse 41, mocking again. But other people as well were ridiculing our Savior. Let's go to Luke 23. So again, when Christ said he will be mocked, he will be scourged, he will be crucified, that pretty much summarizes the pain that Christ went through. Luke 23 and verse 27. Luke 23 and verse 27.

And a great multitude of the people followed him, and women who also mourned and lamented him. And again, it is noted in the Gospels that many women were there to support him, who mourned, who lamented, who were there right there as he was dying on the cross. And so it is noted that there were many women who were being loyal to him. And he told them, and I won't take the time to read verses 28, 29, 31, but he basically said, daughters of Jerusalem, don't weep for me, but weep for this city, because Jerusalem was going to be conquered by the Romans in 70 AD, and Jerusalem again will fall to the Gentiles before Christ returns. The book of Zechariah makes that very plain. So there's a lot in that particular prophecy of Christ here, but I won't take the time to go into that. So there were others, criminals led with him to be put to death, and when they come to the place called Calvary, this is the only place in the Bible where we find this Latinized word, Calvary. It is from the Greek cranium, where we have the word cranium, our head, our skull, and other parts of the Gospels use that word, the place of the skull. They crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and Jesus said, and the tense in the Greek indicates it was more than once. He was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Remember, we read earlier in Isaiah that Jesus, it says Jesus made intercession for the transgressors. He made intercession for the transgressors, and that's what he's doing here. He's making intercession for the transgressors. They divided his lot and cast his lots. The people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, sneered, mocked, sneered, scoffed. He saved others, let himself, let himself, let himself save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine. So while they're mocking him, while they're sneering at him, while he is dying in horrible pain, he's praying for them and asking the Father to forgive them. Well, at least one man got it right. Actually, you know, one of the criminals did get it right.

So did the centurion a little later on, but one of the criminals, verse 39, blasphemed him, saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself, save us. But the other answered, rebuking him, saying, do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation.

We indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, we get what's coming to us. But this man has done nothing wrong. And they said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you, I say to you today, I'm telling you right now that you will be with me in paradise. We know there's a long story to that, because Christ did not go to paradise. And you know, at that moment, he went to the grave for three days and three nights. But there is a coming resurrection when this man will be in the kingdom with and under Jesus Christ. So there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. The sun was darkened. The veil of the temple, verse 45, was torn in two. And then Jesus cried out with a loud voice. He said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last and he died. Let's turn, brethren, to Hebrews chapter 12 and a couple more scriptures here.

Hebrews chapter 12. And verse 2 here. Looking unto Jesus, the author, that's what we are to do, brethren, we are to look unto Jesus in complete faith, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy, what joy? That's what it says. The joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. He knew in advance how much shame he would have to endure. How much, not only the pain of the cross and the scourge of it, but the shame he'd have to endure. He just despised it. He disregarded it. He loved us so much. He was willing to disregard the shame, the mocking, the sneering at the hands of sinners. And he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Let's end by going to Romans chapter 5 and we'll look at verse 6. Romans 5 and verse 6. For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. He died for sinners. For scarcely for a righteous man, Romans 5-7, will one man die, yet for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But verse 8, Christ demonstrates his own love towards us that while we were still sinners, while we were still enemies, Christ died for us, much more than having now been justified or made right by his blood and by, brethren, by faith in his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life. Brethren, we do not have a dead man hanging on a crucifix. We have a living Savior. We shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. So thank God for his unbelievable mercy that he has given to every one of us. Certainly we ask for your very fervent prayers that the weather will be good enough tomorrow so that we can have Passover right here at 7.30.