If you will, open your Bibles
today to John chapter 19. John chapter 19, reading the
first five verses. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again
and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that
you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith
unto them, behold, the man. For several weeks now, these
last three words have been in my mind and my heart and crying
to be preached from. Behold the man. Behold the man. And I thought now if I preach
from those three words, I'll be preaching from the words of
a man who was lost, the words of Pilate. But then I read Robert
Hawker's comments And he pointed out the fact that the word pilot
is in italics here, if you notice in the text. And he was of the
opinion that it was altogether possible that these were the
words of Christ himself. Behold the man. He wasn't dogmatic about that,
but he did say. if this was so, that it would
be in conformity to the analogy of the scriptures. In the Old
Testament, he, in prophecy, declared, look unto me, and be ye saved. The Apostle Paul, in Romans chapter
10, quotes a prophecy of him from the book of Isaiah, which
has him saying, behold me, Behold me. And then Robert Hawker went
on to say that if these were the words of Christ, then we
have all three persons in the Godhead, all three persons in
the Trinity saying the same thing. God the Father in Isaiah 42 in
verse one said, Behold my servant, mine elect, whom I uphold. And then he said, we have God
the Holy Spirit in John the Baptist saying, behold, the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sins of the world. And here we have God
the Son as the God man saying, behold, the man. Well, my desire is that all of
us here this morning, with God's help and by God's power, will
be enabled to behold the man, to behold him as he was presented,
as he came out that day with a crown of thorns dressed in
a purple robe. That's the way I want us to behold
him. First of all, behold the man
wearing a crown of thorns. You've never seen a person wearing
a crown of thorns, have you? Unless it was a pitcher. Behold,
the man wearing a crown of thorns. And this reminds us of the curse
of sin. God told Adam, after he disobeyed
and ate of the forbidden fruit, these following words, God speaking,
Because thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee,
saying thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for
thy sake. We know that we live in a world
that is cursed. And it is cursed for man's sake,
because of man's sin. All of creation is under the
curse In sorrow, God goes on saying
to Adam, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy
life. Man that is born of woman is
a few days and filled with sorrow as part of the curse because
of sin, because of Adam's disobedience. And the scripture tells us, for
by one man, sin entered into the world. And that one man we
know was Adam, and by his sin, death has passed upon all men. No one comes into this world
that is not a sinner. A sinner by birth, a sinner by
nature, and we are sinners by choice. We recognize that. And God goes on in that verse
saying, thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.
Let me read all of that together without making any comments.
Cursed is the ground for thy sake, and sorrow shalt thou eat
of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee. Thorns are in this world because
of the curse. You don't need to doubt that
if you try to grow a garden. Weeds just automatically grow,
don't they? They just come up. I mean, you
buy some flower seeds or plants, and you plant them, and you try
to cherish them, water them, fertilize them, and make sure,
hopefully, they get the sunshine and everything else they need
to grow. And maybe the Lord will bless,
and they'll grow, and maybe they won't. But you don't have to
fool with the weeds if you want them to grow. The whole world,
the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, that this world
groaneth. That is, that creation itself
groaneth and is in travail. And we know that one day the
Lord Jesus Christ shall remove the curse which is upon this
earth as well. There's going to be a new earth,
a new heaven and a new earth. But the point is that these thorns
The crown our Lord was wearing was the crown of thorns, and
thorns are in this world because of sin and the curse brought
about by sin. Behold the man, in your mind's
eye right now, behold the man crowned with thorns. The man who came to save his
people from the curse of sin. Not only is the curse upon this
earth, upon the natural creation, but we know that the law of God,
which requires perfect, absolute obedience, curses every man,
every woman who does not perfectly obey that law. And none of us
do. None of us perfectly keep the
law of God. And I'm not talking necessarily
about the law that was given on Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments. That is part of the law of God.
But there was a law before God gave that law. There's always
been a law. Man is God's creature, and God
gave Adam a law, and that law was comprehended in that one
statement not to eat that fruit. And Adam disobeyed God and brought
a curse upon himself and a curse upon all of his posterity. Cursed, in Galatians chapter
three, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. Whether you believe this or not,
the law curses you. We come into this world under
a curse. Whether you say, I don't believe
it, it makes no difference. God says it, it's true. Whether
you believe it or don't believe it. You can say, I don't believe
fire burns. Well, just stick your hand in
the fire. and see what you're believing it doesn't burn can
accomplish. This is God's book, God's word. And God said, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law for to do them. But what is this curse of the
law? The curse of the law is a sentence,
just like if a man is taken to court and the jury finds him
guilty, he's pronounced guilty, he's condemned. And the law condemns
everyone. That is the curse of the law.
It condemns us to death. Yes, even eternal death. The wrath of God. Say, I don't
believe in a God like that. Again, I'm telling you the truth,
my friends. Whether you believe it or not
doesn't change who God is. God is a God of holiness, a God
of righteousness. He is of pure eyes, the scripture
says, to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon a man with
favor who is guilty of sin, That curse must be removed. That's
the reason Christ came into the world. That's the reason he came. How did Christ remove the curse? The apostle Paul tells us in
Galatians 3, 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law. How? Being made a curse for us. For it is written, curse it is
everyone. that hangeth upon a tree. Behold the man, behold the man
crowned, crowned with thorns, and know that just as these Roman
soldiers placed that crown of thorns on his head, that's what
it says there in verse two, and the soldiers plaited a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. Just as those thorns were placed
upon his head, the scriptures declare unto us that the sins
of all of God's people were put upon Christ, were laid upon Christ. That's the very word that is
used there in Isaiah chapter 53. He hath made to meet on him
the iniquity of us all, or he hath laid on us the iniquity,
laid on him rather, the iniquity of us all. In Psalm 40 and verse 12, We
hear these words of the Lord Jesus speaking, and they're spoken
in prophecy, of course, awful words, but he said, for innumerable
evils have come past me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
of me so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the
hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. Well, who placed those iniquities
upon Christ? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 21, for he, that is God, hath made him the Lord
Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be made sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. One of the hymns
that we sing from time to time, I really like the verse that
says, he took my sins and my sorrows and he made them his
very own. How did the Lord in that Psalm
say, mine iniquities are more than the hairs of mine head?
He had no sin of his own. He was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners. He didn't partake of Adam's sin. He's the seed of the woman. And yet he said, mine iniquities
are more than the hairs of mine head. Can you imagine all of
the iniquities, all of the sins of all of his people which were
laid upon him? the weight of the sin that was
laid upon him. No wonder he said, therefore,
my heart faileth me. My heart faileth me. I want you
to keep your place here, but look with me in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I just
want to skim through this chapter quickly and show us what the
gospel is able to do. Paul said, For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power
of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth, to the Jew
first, and also to the Greek. For therein in the gospel. It's the righteousness of God
revealed. Notice these few things here
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul and, was it Barnabas who
took the gospel to Thessalonica? They carried the gospel there,
preached the gospel. And the first thing I want you
to notice in verse 5 is that The gospel came to some of those
people in power. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. The Lord has commanded us to
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
People who deny the Blessed doctrine of God's sovereign election,
they sometimes say, well, if I believe that, well, if you
believe the Bible, you would believe that. But if I believe
that, I'd only preach to the elect. As Charles Spurgeon said,
show me who they are, and I'll only preach to them. But otherwise,
we're commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, to
every person. And that's what we as preachers
and missionaries and And all of us witness to everyone. And
to some, the gospel comes in power. It comes in power. Paul was a religious man. You
know, he said in Romans chapter seven, I was alive once without
the law. Are you telling me, Paul, that
you didn't have the law? That you didn't have the law
of God, the Old Testament? Oh, I had that. I knew that.
I memorized that, most of it. But I didn't have it in my heart.
I was alive. I thought I was fine. But then
the commandment came. And that's what we're speaking
of here when the gospel comes in power to a person. It's not
just like water off a duck's back. The preacher's preaching
and God takes that word and he stabs some in the heart with
the word of God. And they can't get away with
it. Can't get away from it, rather. The romance of preaching, it's
amazing. You ask any preacher about preaching,
the thrill of preaching is just knowing what God is able to do. If I depended on what I am able
to do, my abilities, I'd never stand up here again. No. Paul went to Thessalonica
and he preached this same gospel, how that Christ died for his
people, that he died and was buried and rose again. And the
gospel came to some in power and demonstration of the spirit
of God. And notice on in that chapter,
they believed the word, verse six. And you became followers
of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction
and joy in the Holy Spirit. They received the gospel. They
received Christ. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, not
of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, but of God. They received the gospel, not
everyone, everyone in that town, that's for sure, but all of God's
chosen, all of his people. And notice on in verses eight
and nine, how they, how their lives were turned around. For
from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia
and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were
to spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything, for
they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had
unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God. It's not just a system of theology. It's not just a matter of certain
facts that I accept. No, it's knowing Christ. He said,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Come unto
me. He didn't say come to the church
or come to some system of theology. No, come to me. And these to
whom the gospel came in power, they looked to Christ, they trusted
in Christ as their savior, as their Lord, and they turned from
their idols, as that scripture tells us, and they turned to
serve the living God. And I want you to notice in verse
10, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the
dead, even Jesus. which delivered us from the wrath
to come. You see, he was crowned with
thorns that he might deliver his people from the curse of
the law. Paul tells the Ephesians and
tells all of us that we're all children of wrath, even as others. If God gave us what we deserve,
what we merit, We deserve the wrath of God because of our sin. But Christ came and he was crowned
with thorns. He was made a curse that he might
redeem us from the curse of the law. Behold the man. Can you see him there in your
mind's eye now? The man crowned with thorns. crowned with thorns that he might
remove the curse of the law, that he might remove that condemnation
under which we are all born. And then second, behold the man
wearing a purple robe. Why was Jesus wearing a purple
robe? The apostle Paul tells us in
2 Corinthians this about our Lord. He said, for you know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. The Lord Jesus Christ lived the
life of a poor man. He was born in a cave or a stable,
laid in a manger, worked at a carpenter shop, His body was buried in
a borrowed tomb. He lived the life of a poor man. Poor people didn't wear purple. One time he said, foxes have
holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath
not where to lay his head. He lived in this world as a poor
person. And yet here he is dressed in
a robe of purple. As I said, poor people did not
wear purple. They didn't wear purple. Purple
became known as the dress of kings, of royalty. And why so? Because it was so costly. Now
I've read that there's a creature called a mollusk. I guess that's
the way you say it. It's a family like the snails
and the limpets and creatures like that. And this purple dye
came from one of those creatures. They would break the shell and
then in the neck of that small creature there was a certain
gland and they would break that gland and when the fluid in that
gland touched the air, it would turn purple or scarlet. So you
can see why it was so expensive, this particular dye. Poor people
didn't wear purple. And yet here we have, behold
the man, not only crowned with a crown of thorns, but dressed
in a purple robe. Well, he was wearing this purple
robe because we see there in verses two and three, the soldiers,
no doubt they found that robe or saw that robe lying around
the palace there where he was so-called being judged by Pilate. And in order to mock him, we
put this purple robe on him and that's a sign of being a king. Look at him. Look at him, hail,
and bow the knee to him. Hail, thou King of the Jews. It was all because of the mockery that the Lord Jesus Christ experienced,
that he was wearing a crown, a robe of purple. We find in
other places of the gospel, other gospels, that they smote him
with their hands. And Mark tells us they spit upon
him when he came forth that day.
And behold the man, look at him there crowned in thorns, and
look at him there dressed in purple, and that purple robe
is smeared with his own blood. and no doubt the spittle from
the soldiers. And if you could have pulled
back that robe, you would have seen his shoulders also were
probably purple, black and blue, as he had been beaten, scourged,
as that word tells us. That whip of cat of nine tails
that had those small pieces of bone woven in it. And he was
beaten. He was scourged. He was scourged. Behold the man wearing the purple
robe. Isaiah said he was bruised for
our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon him. For me, for you, if you're one
of his children today to have peace with God, to know the peace
of God, he was beaten. He was chastened over and over. If you are to know peace with
God. He was bruised for our iniquities
and by his stripes we are healed. Healed of that most awful disease. The disease of sin. You know,
there's a prophecy, everyone's familiar with Isaiah 53 that
speaks of him as a suffering savior, but there's a verse that
precedes that in chapter 52 that tells us his visage, his appearance,
was more marred than any man. Behold the man. As we behold the man this morning,
I want us to recognize three truths about this. Three very
important truths. Number one, his suffering was
vicarious. He suffered as a substitute. He suffered in the place of others. He didn't suffer for his sins
because he had none. His sufferings are vicarious. His sufferings are penal. That word means punishment. Punishment. He was being punished. All of this that we read about
and think about, it was punishment. He was being punished. Punished
for the sins of his people. And his suffering, number three,
not only was it vicarious and penal, but it was also necessary
in order to save others. Without this, none would be saved.
God's justice must be satisfied. That verse I read at the beginning
of the service in Isaiah 45, I am a just God. I'm glad there's not a period
there. Aren't you? I am a just God and a Savior,
a Savior. Now I want to close with three
questions. Number one, why? Why would men crown this man
with thorns and dress him in a purple robe? Solomon said it
all in Ecclesiastes when he said, Lo, this only have I found, that
God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions. The number of evils which man
may be guilty of is almost infinite. I heard a lady this past week
on one of the news programs, and she made a statement like
this. She had been swindled. She had been beaten out of her
money by some crooks. And she said something like this.
She said, I just don't see, I just don't understand how a person
could do this to another living person. speaking about herself. See, I worked hard for that money,
and they just came along and cheated me, stole it from me.
I just don't understand how a person could do this to another living
person. Behold the man. Behold the man. When they looked at the Lord
Jesus Christ, they didn't just see a good man They saw goodness. He went about doing good, healing
all manner of diseases. Look at Him, and you see goodness. Look at Him, and you see kindness, personified. Look at Him, and you see the
One who is altogether good. How could men do this to another
living person? It's easy to understand when
we see what men, and us included, are guilty of concerning Christ. Number two, why would God allow
this man to be crowned with thorns and dressed in purple? Had God
abdicated? Had He left His throne? Was He
no longer sovereign when men were doing this to His darling
Son? Why would He allow that? Well,
we know there's only one reason. And really these thoughts about
Him being crowned and dressed in a purple robe They all explain
that little word, that little two-letter word in John 3, 16.
So, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. Why would God allow this? Because of His great love for
His people. And the last question, would
God allow this man to be crowned with thorns and dressed in purple
and for it all to be in vain? Would he subject his son to this
treatment and it all to be in vain? And when I mean for it
all to be in vain, allow him to suffer as he did and it not
accomplish his purpose? not accomplish God's purpose
in giving His Son? Would He allow this and He not
see, as that prophecy tells us in Isaiah, see of the travail
of His soul? Don't you know the Lord Jesus
Christ looks back from this experience, those crown of thorns and that
purple robes, and he sees more than that that he suffered. The
desertion there in just a little while of his father, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He sees of the travail of
his soul, and he's satisfied. He's satisfied. Why? Because
everyone for whom he suffered and prevailed in soul is to be
saved, will be saved, will be with him one day in glory. Not one will be missing. And let me close with this final
word. I mentioned the fact that that
robe was dyed with purple. It was a purple robe. Years later, you read about this
in Acts chapter 16, there's a woman, her name is Lydia. And lo and
behold, she was a seller of purple. And she was from the city of
Thyatira. And her business took her to
Philippi. And God's providence brought
Paul and Silas to Philippi. And so they went out there to
Riverside where there were a few women who gathered for prayer. And Paul and Silas, no doubt,
they spoke unto them the things of the Lord. And God opened that
woman's heart. She didn't open her own heart. God opened her heart. Has he ever opened your heart?
He opened that woman's heart, and I'll tell you what happened.
She attended unto the things spoken by Paul. In other words,
she attended to the gospel. I heard a man make this statement.
He said, most people spend more time planning for a two-week
vacation trip than they take planning for eternity. That's sad, isn't it? But it's
true. May the Lord bless us this morning,
help us to behold the man and to behold him in faith, believe
him, Now...