John chapter 19, verse 5, will serve as my text. Then came
Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, the curse, a symbol
of the curse, and the purple robe, which they're
mocking Him as a king, that crown of thorns and that purple robe
marking him as a king. And Pilate saith unto them, to
that mob, and this is a powerful statement, and I hope God enables
us tonight to do this, behold the man. The man. What was it Eve said
when she had the first son came? I have gotten the man from the
Lord. Well, she didn't. She didn't. But this is the man. This is the man from the Lord. Now, it's no accident that Pilate
examined Him, and examined Him, and talked to Him, and examined
Him. Because I assure you, He was
looking for a reason. He wanted a reason to put Him
to death, because He was delivered of the Jews for that reason,
and He was trying to satisfy them. And it's interesting, after
doing all this examination, three times he says, I find no fault
in him. I can find no fault in this man. And the reason why he could find
no fault in him is because he is the sinless man. You cannot
find fault where there is no fault. Oh, he said, I find no fault.
There was no fault found in him by God, by man, or by Satan. He says, Satan hath come and
hath found nothing in me. There was no sin in him for Satan
to get a hold of. But one of the reasons Pilate
says this, It says that for us, number one,
God has this written down for us, his people. This just rings loud to us. I
find no fault. There's no fault in this man.
But Pilate wanted to let him go. He wanted to let him go. He knew that there was something.
Listen, I can only imagine him sitting in that judgment hall.
And here stands the Lord of glory. Here stands the perfect man. Here he is. And Pilate took notice
of the way that he conducted himself. And the way he did not
speak, he didn't accuse the Jews of any wrongdoing. He didn't
open his mouth. He made no accusations. He had
no complaints. Anybody that's been accused wrongfully
and they've been brought before the judge, one of the first things
is the complaint. There's no complaint here. He's
quiet. You know why? Isaiah 53 said
He opened not His mouth. Number one, He's fulfilling Scripture. And I'll tell you the second
reason He didn't open His mouth. Because all those things are true against me and you. He's our substitute. He's our
substitute. You know, whatever judgment there
is against me is true. I mean, I've committed everything,
either spiritually, in my heart, or outwardly. I've done it, and
you've done it. So he stands there, and he does
not try to justify himself, because he's standing there for a guilty
people. The just dying for the unjust. That's what's going on here.
But Pilate knows there's something different about this man from
all other men. You know how many men have stood
before Pilate and been condemned? How many criminals have stood
there? This man is totally different. No man like this man. So in order to try to win the
sympathy of the religious leaders, that is the leaders of the mob,
Pilate has him scourged. Whipped. Whipped. And you know what that whipping
was like with those, that whip that had all that bones
on the end of it and had glass tied to the end, and they would
just rip the flesh off of you. Just rip the flesh off. And he
does this hoping to win the sympathy of a crowd. That crowd has no
sympathy. God is allowing man to be man. And this is us. You want to see
true humanity, you want a real insight into true humanity, just
go back to the cross. Go back to the judgment hall.
Go back to the place where He was scourged by Romans who hated
the Jews. They're like, oh man, this is
a good day for the Romans. And they took it out on him.
They took their hatred of the Jews out on him. But Pilate was hoping this would
win the favor of the people, the sympathy of the people. You
can't win sympathy where there's not any. And as I said, he was
scourged, and he was scourged under Roman law, which was as
long as they wanted to. You know, I was reading this,
that many of them, many people, they scourged before they crucified.
Many of them died before they were ever crucified. They died.
They didn't make it to be crucified. But our Lord said this, no man
takes my life from me. No man. It is written in Isaiah
52, His visage, His appearance was marred more than any man.
They whipped Him until He was unrecognizable. unrecognizable. He is beaten mercilessly. Then
he's brought before that crowd and Pilate says, behold the man. This really happened. What I'm
telling you this evening, what you're now reading, this happened
2,000 years ago. This went on, this event. Now
some suggested that this is Christ making this statement, because
if you'll notice in that verse, Pilate is added by the translators. It says here, Then came Jesus
forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and saith
unto them, Behold the man. Some believe this is the Lord
speaking, and it could be. It could be the Lord speaking.
I don't know. I have no doubt that Pilate,
doing what he did to the Lord, was trying to win their sympathy.
He was trying to win their sympathy. Now, what did Pilate see? When he beheld the man, Christ
Jesus, he had several hours. You know, this didn't go on for
a few minutes, this went on for several hours. He was back and
forth in the judgment hall with him and talking to him. What did he see? I mean, I'm
trying to get into his head. I'm trying to put myself in his
place. What did he see? Well, here's what he saw. First
of all, a very, very real man. He did not see an image or a
spirit. He saw a real man, flesh and
bone. He saw a man bleeding, bleeding,
hurting, beat up. I'll tell you what else
he saw. He saw an innocent man. I find
no fault in him. This is the only man who lived
out his life on this earth with no sin. Adam was created innocent. Adam knew no sin for a while,
a short while, I believe. And then he fell. But not this
man. This man was tried in the wilderness for 40 days and 40
nights. Satan came and tried him when
he was at his weakest as a man. He hadn't eaten. Hadn't eaten
anything, drank anything. Forty days, forty nights. Then
Satan comes and tempts him. Turn these stones into bread.
He had real hunger. You know, I've gone for a day. I've gone for a day without eating,
and I'm like starving. He went 40 days and 40 nights. And Satan says, Turn these stones
into bread if you're the Son of God. You can eat. Do it. He didn't do it. In all the trials
that our Lord went through, He never failed one of them, did
He? Not one. He saw a real man. He saw an
innocent man. Pilate said, I find no fault
in anyone. We can find fault in anyone, can't we? But he couldn't
find it in this man. Couldn't do it. And the reason
he could find no fault in this man is for this reason. This man is the man of God's
providing. This is God's man. This is the
God-man. I'll get to that. Hebrews 10.5,
and I've got a lot of Scriptures I have written down. That is one of the blessings
that I have found in learning how to type. is I can copy and
paste and write all these Scriptures down and not try to quote them
and remember how to quote them, but I can write them down right
here in front of me. Hebrews 10.5, Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. That body,
that man, that soul was created of God in the womb of a virgin. You see, the child is born because
the child is created. The Son's not created. The Son
is eternal. The Son is God. But that child,
that child is born. And He's perfect. He's the man
of God's providing. God provided this man. I'll tell
you something else He saw. He saw a mysterious man. He saw
a mysterious man. Pilate couldn't figure him out.
Who are you? Where did you come from? He knew
there was something different about this man. Even his wife
had a dream. And she said, don't have anything
to do with this just man. She called him a just man over
in Matthew 27, 19. Don't you have anything? I've
suffered many things this night in a dream because of him. Don't
touch him. That added to Pilate's dilemma,
for coming and saying that to him. Listen, 1 Timothy 3.16,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Here's this mysterious man, and
you know what's so mysterious about him? He's God. You can't say that about any
other man. He is God. He's God. Now what did the high priests
see when they beheld Him? You see, Pilate looked at Him,
and Pilate brings Him out. Well, they even tried Him, then
they brought Him to Pilate. And Pilate brings Him out. What did
they see? Well, here's what they saw in
their minds, in their hearts, here's what they saw. An imposter. A blasphemer. This is how they
thought of Him. Someone said this, there is no
bigotry like religious bigotry. There's none to match it. None.
No greater enemy to the truth than religion without Christ.
They saw what they believed to be an imposter, even though He
made it so evident that He's the Son of God. Would an imposter
raise the dead? Lazarus came out of that grave. Would an imposter be able to
give eyesight to the blind? Enable a lame man to walk? You reckon an imposter could
feed 5,000 more than once? But they were so blinded by their
own willfulness. They were willfully blinded.
They didn't want to see. They didn't want to see. There's
none so blind as those who will not see. And that's what they saw. To
them, he was just an imposter. He was just a blasphemer. That's
what they called him. Now what did the crowd see when
they saw him? You see, you've got the high
priest here stirring up the crowd. They are stirring up this crowd.
And this crowd beheld Him as He's standing there, mutilated,
crown of thorns, purple robe, one of those robes that one of
those high-ranking soldiers probably took off and put on Him. Here's what they saw. And listen,
this is the same crowd who cried Hosanna just a few days earlier. Same crowd. But here's what they
saw. When they looked at Him standing
there, they saw a weak man. A weak man. They saw a mutilated man. They saw a disappointment. They
thought He was the Messiah. They were ready to make him king.
They were ready to make him king. What do lost people see? When
they hear the gospel preached, what do lost people see? They
see a historical man. They believe there was a man,
because you can't deny it, history has his name, he's written in
history. Jewish history especially. Josephus
speaks of him. But they see a historical man. You know, a lost person here
can hear me talking about Jesus Christ, and they don't really
think of Him as living right now. Right now. Ruling and reigning. They can't think of someone who
lived 2,000 years ago. They see a historical man. I'll
tell you another thing a lost person sees, a tragedy. They
don't see redemption. They don't see redemption. You
who believe, you see redemption. They see a tragedy. That's what
they see. Or some see a good man. They think he's a good man. They
get good qualities about him. But they see just a man. That's
all they see, just a man. But what do you who believe,
what do you and I see? What do we see? Behold the man. What do we see? Let me give you
a few things that the believer sees. The first thing we see,
and this is not in order, don't think these are in order. But
we see this, the Scripture fulfilled. Right there, standing. is the
fulfillment of the Word of God. In Genesis 3.15, "...I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her
seed." Right? There stands the seed of the
woman, promised all the way back into the garden. There it is. There's the seed of the woman.
We see that. We see that Scripture is fulfilled.
Listen to Zechariah 6, 12, 13. And speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is
the branch. There's the branch. I think Jason read it and it
said, The branch shall grow out of the root. This is the branch. Listen. And he shall grow up
out of his place, and he shall build the temple. The temple
of the Lord. Now don't think about the temple
of Jerusalem being built over there, or a temple being built
over there in Jerusalem. It's the church. This man is
building the church, which is the dwelling place of God. He's
building it. He shall build the temple of
the Lord, even He shall build the temple of the Lord, the church
of the Lord, and He shall bear the glory." This man shall bear
the glory, but before he bears the glory, he's got to go to
the cross. He's got to be crucified, he's
got to die, then he's got to rise again, and then fulfill
the Scripture. "...and shall sit and rule upon
His throne." When? When shall he do that? Right
now. He's doing it right now. Boy, that thrills me. I can't
tell you how much that thrills my heart to know the Lord is
ruling right now. I can go to sleep at night because
of this. I can literally sit down at night and I'm not tore
up because of this. The Lord ruleth right now from
His throne. And He shall be a priest upon
His throne. Not only is He ruling from His throne, guess what He's
also doing? Interceding from His throne.
He's interceding for us. I desire your prayers. Pray for
me. Seriously, pray for me. This
is a serious calling. But I sure do desire His above
all, His intercession for me. And He shall be a priest upon
His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. Isaiah 32. He's the hiding place. And a man shall be a hiding place
from the wind and a cover from the tempest. What tempest? God's
wrath. That man standing there is this
man's hiding place. There's no greater place to hide
from God than in God. And that's who Jesus Christ is. There's no safer place. He's that tender plant spoken
of in Isaiah 53. He's the child born and the son
given and the government's on His shoulder right now. Right
now. This man is the high priest.
He's the only mediator between God and man. This man is God
in human flesh. He is Emmanuel, God with us. This man is God incarnate. There
stands God. There stands God Almighty. The disciples asked, they asked
one time, when He calmed the wind and the sea, they said,
what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey
Him? He's the God-man. It was said of Him, never a man
spake like this man. That's because there's no other
man who's God but this man. That's why. When He spoke, He
spoke with authority, because He is authority. You and I have
a little authority given to us. He is the embodiment of authority. He said when He says go, He goes. When He says come, He comes.
He says to the devil, get out, and he gets out. That's authority. This man is the creator of heaven
and earth. All things were created by him
and for him. This man did it. This man, Pilate. Behold this man. What else do
we know about this man? This man standing there with
a crown of thorns on his head, a purple robe, beaten with his
visage marred, this man is a representative man. Romans 5.19, For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. I died in a representative, I
live in a representative. And this is so. God has dealt with the whole
human race in two people. The first Adam and the second
Adam. The first Adam represented all
of humanity. And all of humanity fell in one
man. That's the wisdom of God. Because
this way, all whom God saves, the many whom God saves, are
saved in one man. By one man's obedience, many
are made righteous. I died in one and I live in one. I was buried in sin. I'm made alive in his righteousness.
Oh, he's the representative man. And then this man is truly a
righteous man. This man is what man was made
to be. This is what man was made to
be. Love God with all his heart. Worship God in spirit and truth.
He said, Thy will, my meat, is to do the will of Him that sent
me. This is what man was made to be. And this is what we are
going to be when we leave this earth. We are going to be just
like this man. Conformed to the image of Christ.
He was truly a righteous man. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For he hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. He knew no sin. Hebrews
4.15, For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmity, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin. A truly righteous man. Here's
something else the believer sees. The Passover Lamb. Here He is. Started back there in Exodus
12, when that Passover was instituted. We come all these years later,
and there He stands. John's ministry, John the Baptist,
his ministry, it was this. To say unto Israel, Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1.29,
the next day, John says, Jesus coming unto him, and says, Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Here
is that Lamb that God provided. Perfect Lamb. It says in 1 Corinthians 5.7, Purge
out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as
ye are unleavened. For even Christ Our Passover
is sacrifice for us. And this man is the all-sufficient
man. I'm not sufficient. I lack in
a lot of areas. I lack in all the areas that
are really important. Love, kindness. I lack in those areas. I mean,
you can go on, the fruit of the Spirit, all those areas I lack
in. But this man is the sufficient man, listen, Colossians 2.9,
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God was in Christ. reconciling
the world to himself. This man is all-sufficient. He lacks nothing. This man is
all that God is. He's all that God is. And then
this man, this man who is the Lamb, this man who is righteous,
this man who's representative, this man who's all-sufficient,
is a tried man. He's the tried stone, isn't he?
Tried stone. I need to put that down there.
He's a tried stone. We have not a high priest, Hebrews
4.15, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Have you ever felt like the Lord just cannot identify with you
and what you're going through? Tempted in all points like as
we are. All. Whatever it is. I cannot
explain the depth of that. But there's nothing you'll ever
be tempted with that He wasn't and overcame it. And overcame
it. Matthew 4.1, Then was Jesus led
up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, to
be tried of the devil. What do you think would happen
if the Lord allows the devil, the devil, to try me and you? What do you think would
happen? Well, we'd fall just like that
if he doesn't stop it. And we will. But here is a man
in this wilderness being tempted, tried, by Satan
himself. You know, Satan... I mean, what are we to him compared
to Christ? Compared to Christ, what are
we to him? I know he'd like to bring us
down because of Christ, to take away the glory of Christ. That's why he wanted to take
Job down. But Christ was his aim. Christ is the one he's shooting
at. I was trying to think of that
one that says, fight with neither small or great save the king
of Israel. Get him. Satan wants to get at Christ. That man. That's why he said,
let me have Job. I can take him down. I did Adam. He never took this man down.
Tried and tempted. He can identify with us. And
this man is the just man dying for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. That's why he's standing there
with that crown of thorns and that purple robe and beat up,
lacerated all over. There's the just one right there.
God in the flesh. There's the just one dying for
this unjust one. that He might bring me to God
and present me faultless before His throne and before the presence
of His glory. And then this man, and I'll close
here shortly, this man is the risen man. He's the risen man. Yes, he died. Crucify him! They did. He bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. But he's not dead. He's not dead. That man's alive forevermore.
And he's seated at God's right hand. In Matthew 28, verse 6,
the angel said, He's not here. He's not here. He's risen. As He said, Come and see the place where
the Lord lay. Come and see. He's not there. Don't have to
take my word for it. Walk in here and look. In Romans 4.25, Christ who was
delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. He's not dead. He's the risen
man. And this man is the resurrection. This risen man is the resurrection. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. I'm it. I'm already raised. You believe God, you're a believer,
you believe God. You're already raised from the
dead. God's already raised you when
He raised His Son. This man is all my salvation. Behold the man, behold all your
salvation, standing right there. Standing right there. He's all
my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. As it says in
Colossians 2.10, and ye are complete in Him. I'm complete. I don't feel it. But I am. God said I am. I take God at
His Word. And this man, this man, last
of all, is the judge of the quick and the dead. For the Father
judges no man but has committed all judgment to the Son. John
5.22 Acts 10.42 And He commanded us to preach unto the people,
and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to
be the judge of the quick and the dead. This man is the last
man you and I are going to deal with. This man is the last man
you and I are going to see. This man. Everybody's going to
do it. Everyone's going to deal with this man who is the judge
of the quick and the dead. Behold the man. Oh, that God would enable us
to do it by faith. By faith. Behold Him by faith.
Because there's a lot of them who looked at Him, a crowd that
looked at Him and never did believe on Him. They just thought, what
a tragedy. What a tragedy. What a phony. He's not a phony to us, is He? He's God's man. He's the God
man. He's all my salvation. Jesus
Christ is all my salvation. And I'm going to hang my life
on that. Alright.