Go with me back to John 19. A man named Annas, we've been
going through this and we saw where a man named Annas sent
our Lord to a man named Caiaphas. And Caiaphas sent our Lord to
Pilate. And after a very strict examination,
Pilate said at the end of chapter 18 verse 38, he said, I find
in him no fault at all. No fault at all. Our Lord Jesus
Christ was the perfect sacrifice. He was the perfect and sinless
sacrifice. No sin in Him. Not only could
Pilate find no fault in Him, there was no fault in Him. Absolutely
no fault in Him. God the Father spoke out loud
and he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. There was nothing in him worthy
of death. It was what was in us. What was
in us. That is what made him worthy
of death. We were the guilty, not him. not him, it was us. Verse 39
said, but you have a custom that I should release unto you one
at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release
unto you the King of the Jews, the spotless one? Verse 40, then cried they all
again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a
robber. The just for the unjust. That's what happened. A substitute
for a sinner. That's what happened. So Barabbas
is set free. They come and they get Barabbas
out of his cell and they unlock that cell and they said you're
free to go. on Barabbas's death day. And Barabbas said, why? They said, you see that man right
there? He's taking your place. So Barabbas now is set free and
he leaves. Chapter 19 verse 1 says, then
Pilate therefore took Jesus instead of Barabbas. This was all prepared
for Barabbas. But it says, Then Pilate therefore
took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited, and
that means braided, intertwined. 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. Behold the man standing there
after he had been scourged, a bloody mess, crown of thorns in his
head, an old ragged soldier's robe thrown around him, reed
in his hand. And he brings him forth and he
says, Behold the man. Before we partake of the Lord's
table, Let's behold the man. That's what we're going to do
for just a couple of minutes. We're going to behold this glorious
man. Let's just take a good look at
him, this man. In Isaiah 65, he himself said,
behold me. Behold me. That's what he said.
He said, I'm found of them that sought me not. I said, behold
me. In Isaiah 42, God the Father
said, Behold my servant. Look at him. He shall not fail. Behold him. Take a good look
at him. And in John chapter 1, John cried,
Behold the Lamb. That's what he told everybody.
Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. The first thing I want us to
see about him is he truly was innocent. He truly was spotless
and without blemish. This is amazing. I'm grateful
for what the Lord gave a man named Arthur Pink. This is amazing. God gave us seven witnesses of
the fact that this Our substitute truly was the spotless lamb. Seven witnesses. Turn with me
over to Luke chapter 23. God made seven. That's the number
of perfection. Seven. Seven sinners confessed
with their mouth that he was indeed spotless. Seven sinners. Luke 23, look at verse 13. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priest and the rulers and the people, said
unto them, you have brought this man unto me as one that perverted
the people. And behold, I, having examined
him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those
things whereof you accuse him." Just like in our text, we're
reading this in our text, here is the record of Pilate saying
there's no fault in him. So he's the first one of these
seven we'll look at. Pilate said, I've examined him. There is no
fault in him. All right. Verse 15, nor yet
Herod. Pilate sent the Lord to Herod
and Herod examined him. And then he sent him right back
to Pilate. And he said, I cannot find any fault in him. Not at
all. So verse 15 says, no, nor yet
Herod, for I sent you to him and lo, nothing worthy of death
is done unto him. Herod sent him right back to
Pilate and said, I cannot do anything with him. There is no
fault in this man, none whatsoever. Now look at verse 39, Luke 23
verse 39 says, And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ,
save thyself and us. And the other Gospels say both
of the male factors were railing on him. Both of them. But he
said, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other,
answering, rebuked him, saying, Does not thou fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done
nothing amiss." Nothing amiss. The transgressor
that he was numbered with, Isaiah 53 said he's going to be numbered
with a transgressor. And the transgressor he was numbered
with, railing on him, and railing on him, and railing on him, all
of a sudden, God made him witness. There's no fault in this man.
He's done nothing amiss. We indeed justly, not this man. He's perfect, spotless. Now look at verse 46. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly, this was a righteous
man. This was a righteous, righteous
man. No doubt about it. He said certainly. That means verily. Of a truth
of a truth. Pilate said it. Herod said it. The thief hanging right next
to him said it. The centurion that hung him on
the cross said it. All right, now turn with me to
Matthew 27. Matthew 27 verse 1. When the morning was come, all
the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against
Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him,
they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed
him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and
brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priest and
elders saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, what do we care? Before he hung himself, Judas
himself witnessed unto this man. He's innocent. He's absolutely innocent. Verse
17, here in Matthew 27, verse 17 says, Therefore when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto
you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is
called Christ. For he knew that for envy they
had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment
seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to
do with that just man? For I have suffered many things
this day in a dream because of him. Pilate's own wife told him,
this is a just man. Don't do this. Don't do this. He is spotless. He is righteous. He is holy. He's just. Matthew 27 verse 54. Here's number
7. Now when the centurion and they
that were with Him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and
those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
truly, this was the Son of God. All those that were with Him,
all those that were there watching Jesus, all who were there, Some
were there whenever He was put on trial. Some were there whenever
they hung Him on that cross. But when they were there watching
Him die, all who were there who stayed to watch Christ die, they
all said, every one of them, God made them all witness, truly,
that was the Son of God. That was the innocent, just,
righteous Son of God. Almost everybody involved in
the great transaction had to admit he's innocent. Isn't that
something? Judas had to. Pilate had to.
His wife had to. Herod had to. The thief had to.
Everybody who watched had to. And whoever I missed. They all
had to admit. Everybody involved had to admit
he's innocent. Everybody. But in spite of his
innocence, the scripture says, he was led as a sheep to the
slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so opened
he not his mouth. That's amazing. Now go with me
back to our text in John 19. Verse 1 says, then Pilate therefore
took Jesus and scourged him. A man named J.C. Ryle said, the cruel injury inflicted on
our Lord's body, the cruel injury inflicted on our Lord's body
was probably far more severe than an English reader might
suppose. It was a punishment which among
the Romans generally preceded crucifixion and was something
so painful that the sufferer, I missed, I didn't write a word,
something so painful the sufferer sometimes died under it. Not
always, but a lot of times they had this scourging that they
would go through. And a lot of times the sufferer
would never even make it to the cross. He died under it. He went on to say, this man Josephus,
a Jewish historian, and this is a man that John Gill quotes
all the time. If you ever read John Gill, he's
always quoting this man Josephus. He said, Josephus, the Jewish
historian, particularly mentions that male factors were scourged
and tormented in every way before they were put to death. The culprit
was stripped, stretched with cords on a frame, and beaten
with rods. All right, after that, verse
2 says, And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it
on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. A scarlet
robe is what one of the other gospels says. We wear the robe
of his righteousness because he wore the robe of our sins.
They put this old ratty robe on him and every bit of it was
laid on him and he appeared before the people, before the judge, wounded for me. Wounded for me. As we read what
happened to him, let's never forget that was supposed to be
me standing there. That was supposed to be me. That
crown of thorns that they pressed into his head. It is so disgusting
what those soldiers did to our Lord. It is so absolutely disgusting. Stripped him naked, stretched
him with cords on a frame and beat him. But as we take this table right
here, We need to remember that our sin, our sin is what created
those thorns in the first place that they pressed into his head.
It was our sin that created that in the first place. We are the
reason for every bit of this. Because of our sin, God said
in Genesis 3, verses 17 and 18, cursed is the ground for thy
sake. It's because of you. He said,
thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. Those thorns were supposed to
come to us, but Christ took them for us. He wore them for us. Verse 1 says, 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. What truth? Behold the man. They said, Hail, King of the
Jews, and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore
went forth again and said 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, that crown that
my sin made. They intertwined this crown of
thorns. Can you not see those thorns
dug deep into his head? They didn't just set it on top.
I can see those soldiers just pressing it into him, dug deep
into his head. We have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points All points, every one of them.
Tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Verse 5 says, then came Jesus
forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate
said unto them, behold the man. Behold his innocence. Behold
his suffering, everything he endured. All of His suffering
is our substitute. Behold what salvation we have
in Him. What redemption. He paid it all. Every bit of that was owed to
us. He paid it all. I want to close this with Isaiah
45. Turn with me over to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 verse 20. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. That's what we're reading about
right now. A just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. So he
said in verse 22, look unto me and be ye saved. All the ends
of the earth for I am God and there is none else. Look unto
me, behold the man. If God has given us eyes to truly
behold the man, and if God has given us a heart to look unto
him and be saved, then let's remember him together. This great,
great transaction. Let's remember what it took for
him to accomplish this salvation, all right? Brother Caleb, you come.