John 19, John 19, title of the message, I find
no fault in him. I find no fault in him. We are told in Psalm 76 10, Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. Never was there a display of
wrath and human wickedness than when the Jews and Gentiles scourged
and crucified the Lord of glory. You would think that when the
Creator came into the world, the world would rejoice. The
Creator, the One who gives us all that we have, and yet His
reception is rejected, despised and rejected of men. That's what happened in the fall
of Adam. That's what we became, despisers of God. And you could
ask someone if they despise God, and they're going to tell you
no. But Christ said, He that's not for me is against me. There's no middle ground. There
is no middle ground. Now, this man is no ordinary
man. This man standing before this
crowd, this man who has been scourged Whipped, as the old
saying goes, within an inch of his life. His vision was marred
more than any man. He was unrecognizable by the
time they got done with him. By the time they got done scourging
him, you couldn't tell who he was. It was that marred. His
face was so marred and his body so mutilated. I believe any other
man under the same circumstances, with the same scourging, would
have died. But he said, no man takes my life from me. No man
takes my life from me. His life wasn't in his body,
his life was in God. Just as our life is, our life
is in Christ and God. But this man is God incarnate.
I can't even try to grasp that. God in all His greatness, in
all His glory, God in... you think of who God is, the
creator of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth,
the Creator of all that is, all principalities, all powers, God
who is infinite in wisdom, who makes such variety work in such
harmony, is standing there being scourged by His own creation. That's just phenomenal. This man who went about doing
good, he did nothing but good, never had an evil thought pass
through his mind. No fault could be found in him. But because
of their hatred of God, they took out their hatred on his
son when they had the opportunity. Here's the opportunity to show
what you think of God. Here it is. And they hated him. Crucify, crucify, is all that. You know that same crowd earlier
said, Hosanna, when he came riding in the town on that donkey, That
same crowd was crying out, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. That same crowd is now saying,
crucify, crucify, the same crowd. The high priest stirred them
up. They stirred that mob up to cry for him to be crucified. Don't let people stir you up.
Don't get caught up in someone else's trouble. Now if they need something to
eat and that's trouble, yeah, feed them. Don't let somebody get
cross ways and try to pull you into it, just like the high priest
did, they pulled them into it. It's like it says over Matthew
21, 38, this is the heir, come let us kill him and let us seize
on his inheritance. That's what's going on here.
It's amazing what men will do in the name of religion, thinking
they are doing God of service. More harm has been done throughout
the ages through religion, false religion, than anything else.
Just look at history, look at history. In John 16, the Lord
said, They shall put you out of the synagogues Yea, the time
cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God a service. He's doing God a service. That's
what Paul thought when he stood there at the death, the stoning
of Stephens, and he held the clothes, the coats of those who
stoned Stephens. He thought he was doing God a
service killing that man. And that was God's servant. Stephen
was God's servant. And Paul thought he was doing
God a service. by putting him to death. And they think they're
doing that here also. They think they're doing God
a service. Well, in verse 1 here, Then Pilate
therefore took Jesus and scourged. Scourged. No doubt he thought
that a good scourging would soften their hearts and they would have
pity. I'm sure that's what he thought.
There's no more pity in the human heart than there is in a devil.
if God leaves it alone. Don't be fooled by what you see.
The sovereign hand of God constrains the human race. The sovereign
hand of God constrains the demons of hell. They would destroy everything
and everyone if they could. God's sovereign hand rules over
all. And every now and then God lets
us have a sight of it. You let something break out here
and there and you say, that's awful. That's humanity. I'm telling you the truth. That's
humanity. I know this. I know this. The last thing I
want God to do is turn me loose. The worst thing God could do
for me is let me be me. My natural self. It's let me
be my natural self. I know what it was in my teenage
years. And God constrained it then. It was under constraint
then. Pilate in doing this, in having
him scourged, did not know that he was fulfilling the Scriptures.
The wrath of man shall praise thee, and the rest of the remainder
of thou shalt restrain. By his stripes we are healed. This has to happen for us to
be healed. Every stripe had our name on it, who believed, now
I'm not talking about every son of Adam, but those who believed,
those whom the Lord saves, every stripe had your name on it. Every stroke purged us from our
sins, every stroke. The substitute is taking our
place, this is our place. Stand and watch, stand and watch,
this is you, this is you before God, this is you being scourged.
This is what ought to happen to you, but He took our place. The substitute taking our place.
What we see here is the fountain being opened for sin and for
cleansing. The fountain is being opened.
That's what he says over in Zechariah 13. Listen here. In that day
there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."
This is the fountain right here being opened. Jesus Christ is
the fountain. His blood is being shed for our
cleansing, our atonement, our salvation. Now this was a gross abuse of
power on Pilate's part, seeing he found no fault in it. Politics
has always been dirty. He found no fault in him, but
because of his political position and wanting to hold that political
position and remain and keep that power, he knowingly took
an innocent man and had him crucified. He knew it. He knew that man
was innocent, but he couldn't stop. You know why? Because God
said, this is how he's going to die. Christ said, the Son
of Man must suffer and be crucified. And Pilate, three times, three
times he says, I find no fault in this man. And yet he could not get the
backbone to say, I'm not going to do that, he's innocent. Instead,
he gave him over. He gave him over. You know why?
Because God purposed him to be crucified. That's how we are
saved. Jesus Christ, listen, and Him
crucified. He's the substitute. And the
soldiers now, the soldiers, these Roman soldiers, they hated the
Jews, they hated them, and Jews hated the Roman soldiers. There was a real animosity between
these two people. And so they take him and someone
has this bright idea. He said, let's make a crown of
thorns. He says he's king. Let's make
a crown of thorns. Let's make a mockery of him.
And they make his crown of thorns and they put it on his head.
And over in one of the other gospels, they had a reed they
put in his hand. They took that reed and they
mowed it on top of the head. They drove that crown of thorns
down on top of his head. You see, He must bear the curse
in every way. When God pronounced the curse,
He said, the earth will bring forth what? Thorns and thistles.
And that curse was a symbol, a symbol of the curse was laid
right on top of His head. Our head, now listen, our head
bore the curse that the body could be set free. You and I,
the body of Christ. This is the ram caught in the
thicket in Genesis 22. When Abraham was going to offer
up Isaac, and just as he was about ready to plunge that knife
into him, God stopped him and showed him a ram caught in the
thicket. Well, here's the ram. Here it is, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's that ram caught in that
thicket, our substitute. And then they mock him with a
fake worship. Just as they do today, I mean, there's so much
fake worship going on, it's pathetic. But God knows, He knows them
who worship Him and those who don't. He knows that. He knows whose heart is engaged
and whose heart is not engaged. He knows that. And they said,
Hell, King of the Jews! And they smote Him with their
hands. You know, in one place, they
blindfolded Him, smote Him, and said, Prophesy, tell us who did
it. See, they mocked him in all three of his offices. They said,
if thou be the Christ, save yourself. They said, tell us who did it,
your prophet? And they slapped him, they said, tell us who did
it. And now they do it here as a king. They're gonna mock him
as a king. I'll tell you what, they're gonna
bow to him as a king too. But right now, the mock, right
now is the hour of darkness. It's like you got your, here's
your shot. Here's your shot. The soldiers not only mocked
Christ as the King of the Jews, but you know, they mocked the
Jews by addressing Him as a King in such a manner. They was mocking
them also. But I thought, what insults men
are willing to suffer in order to fulfill their evil deeds?
They were willing to suffer that insult just so they could put
Him to death. And Pilate says to them, verse
four, and the Lord, I tell you, the Lord makes it evident that
this man is innocent. This man has no sin. You know,
God said, this is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. God
recognized, God the Father recognized his purity, his innocence. Pilate
says, I find in him no fault. Our Lord says, Satan has come
and found nothing in me. Satan couldn't find anything
in him. There was no sin in him. It's made so evident throughout
the Scriptures. And it's interesting how God used Pilate to confess
the innocence of Christ, the Lamb of God. Well, you're talking
about being without excuse. Those Jews there, they have no
excuse because three times they've said, this man's innocent. He's
innocent. I find no fault in him. He's
the perfect man. This man is the perfect man.
And this is really, this is of the utmost importance because
it's written, it's written in Leviticus 22, 21, it shall be
perfect to be accepted. If he's not perfect, God's not
gonna accept him. Our substitute, our representative,
our federal head has to be perfect to be accepted. God will not
accept anything short of perfection. That's why God himself had to
provide the perfection that he accepts. We can't do it. He did. It is written in 2 Corinthians
5 21, For he hath made him to be sin who knew no sin. Christ
knew no sin. I can't even imagine what that's
like. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You know, in order to keep the
law, in order to keep God's law, you know, listen, in order to
do that, there first has to be perfection of character. You can't say, I don't like this,
but I'm going to do it anyway. That doesn't work. You know,
it says over in the Psalm, it's the Lord speaking. Oh, how I
love thy law. None of us love the law like
he loved the law. He loved the law perfectly. Christ
is the only man who magnified the law, made it honorable. And
they continued to mock him as a king. In verse five, it says
here, then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and a purple
robe. And Pilate said to them, behold
the man, behold the man. All that crowd saw was a beaten,
mutilated man. They saw a defeated man. They
saw an imposter who was getting what he deserved. That's what
they saw. To them, that's what they saw. What do you see? That's
what's important. What do you see this morning? Here's what I see, and I know
you see this who believe. This is the promised man spoken
of in the Garden of Eden, the promised seed. Here he is. This
is God manifest in the flesh. We see God's Passover Lamb. This
is God's Lamb. This is the Lamb of God's provided.
This is God's Lamb. We see our hope, our pardon,
our freedom from the curse of the law. This is what we see.
We see this. We see our prophet, priest, and
king. We see our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
This is what we see. This is what we see. We see the
second Adam from above, who's the Lord from heaven. This is
what we see. When we behold the man, this
is who and what we see. They just saw a defeated, beat
up man. No. No, but when the chief priest,
therefore, and officer saw him, they cried, crucify, crucify. Pilate said, take him yourself
and crucify him. I find no fault in him. If there was ever an
act In which this whole world was united. It was in the crucifixion
of Christ If Jesus Christ came here today this Christ of the
Bible if he came here today, we crucify him again He's no
more loved today than then back then I'm telling you the truth
He's only loved by those whom he saves and he gives them a
heart to love him because the love of God is shed abroad in
their hearts That's why we love him. We love him because he first
loved us and And listen here in verse seven,
the Jews answered him, we have a law. Oh boy, don't you ever,
you have a law, but you don't hear it. We have a law and by
our law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God.
Now the real reason comes out. You see, at first, Pilate said,
why is he here? Why did you send him to me? You
know, he's trying to find out why. And they said, well, if he wasn't
a malefactor, if he wasn't a criminal, we wouldn't have brought him.
Well, now they're so mad, they finally, God makes them admit,
this man makes himself the son of God. That's why he's here. We have a law, but you don't
hear the law. You don't hear the law. Did you
hear this law? The soul that sinneth shall surely
die? You hear that law? You hear the law that says if
you're going to be saved by it, you've got to keep every jot
and tittle of it? You hear that law? Same law. No. When Pilate heard that saying,
he was, he says, the more afraid. You know, they believed in many
gods. They believed in many gods. He thought, well, this man, he's
a son of God. You know, would he be the son
of Zeus? Hercules, Zeus had a relationship with a woman, and then they end
up with Hercules. I mean, that's the kind of stuff
they believed. They believed all kinds of gods. They believed
in all kinds of... And he's thinking, well, maybe
he is a son of a god. No, this ain't the son of a god,
this is the son of God. That's the son of a god. And I'm sure Pilate's thinking
of a god, which one? And so he went into the judgment
hall and he said to Jesus, where are you from? Where are you from? But the Lord gave him no answer.
And the Lord, you know why the Lord gave him no answer? He didn't
owe him one. He didn't owe him an answer.
The Lord never opened his mouth. Because Isaiah says he opened
not his mouth. He's fulfilling the scriptures
by keeping his mouth shut. You know, it says over in Job
9, 12, Behold, he taketh away who can hinder him, who will
say to him, what dost thou? He's not going to answer you.
He's not going to answer me when I say, what are you doing? Has
God ever answered you when you say, what are you doing? What's
this trial about? No, he does what he does. And Pilate, he has a real misgiving
here of his power. As most of the world and the
leaders of the world, they have such a misgiving of power. Pilate said to him, Speakest
thou not unto me? Knowest thou not I have power
to crucify the empire, to release thee? Don't you know that? Have
you lost your mind? I could turn you loose right
here, just talk to me. And the Lord said, You don't have any
power at all except God give it to you. The leaders of this
world have no power. You go over in China, North Korea,
any country, this country, there's no power except God puts them
in that position. And God will put them in that
position either to bring that nation down or to raise it up.
One or the other. One or the other. All powers
of God. We see, and I'm going to close, We see here in these scriptures
what man really thinks of God. You wanna know what men think
of God, this world? The world is, the unbelieving
world I'm talking about. You wanna know what the unbelieving world
thinks of God? Go to Calvary. Look at that mutilated body hanging
on that tree. There's what man thinks of God.
Here's what your neighbor thinks of God. Unless God has saved
him, this is, I'm telling you the truth. Unless God saves your
children, this is what your children think of God. Is that too hard? I'm telling you the truth. You
want me to tell you the truth? I'm telling you the truth. This is
what I think of God until he saved me. The natural mind is
enmity, hostile, hostile to God. And when God pulls back his hand
of restraint, as he said, the rest I'll restrain, when he pulls
that back, we get to see a little bit of what human nature is.
You see a serial killer and you think, how can he do that? God
takes his hand back and lets us see this is what humanity
is. Unless we are saved by the blood
of the crucified one, this is us, and God's going to deal with
that. He's going to deal with it. We see in the Scripture what
man really thinks of God and His Christ, and it's not any
different today. The world would still crucify. It would. And I would stand there,
except by the grace of God, I'd stand there in that crowd saying,
crucify, crucify. You watch these old westerns,
they're going to hang somebody. They come out on Sunday to go
to meet and close. All of them gather around so
they can watch you hanging. Brought their kids so they can watch
you hanging. You know, I've seen on television
when they've showed, they didn't show the actual execution, but
they show the outside where people have signs, kill him, you know,
and all that stuff. And even though some people have got to
be put to death, that's just, some people have to be. But I
always think that could be me. That could be me, except by the
grace of God. All right.