Excuse me, John 18. I want to talk about Christ's
suffering at men's hands. Christ's suffering at men's hands. You know, man by nature is against
God. By nature he's against God. And
there's some people that the scripture says God's not at all
in their thoughts. And the Bible tells us plainly
that man's natural, his carnal mind is at enmity against God.
And that word enmity means it's furious. It's angry. And men are by nature against
God. And old Scott says, you know,
that men by nature hate God. They really do. They don't hate
the God that they know, the God of their imagination, the God
that this generation believes in and looks to and hopes to
be saved by Him someday. But I tell you, the carnal mind,
the natural mind, don't want nothing to do with God. If it
did, do you know how many people in this world would be converted?
You know how many people be converted? But how few are, because the
carnal mind is enmity against God. And that's what the gospel's
for. It breaks down those barriers.
It breaks down those enmity. It breaks down that resistance. It breaks down that natural power
that's in a man. And the power of God, when it
comes to bear on a soul and on a man's heart, if he sets out
to break a man, that man's going to be broke. But all God's got
to do to let a man perish perish is just not bother him at all.
Just leave him alone. Just let him do what he will
do naturally and he'll never ever come to God. Most of the
times he won't even read a Bible. But I tell you what, it says
over in 1 Corinthians, it says there that the princes of this
world crucified the Lord of Glory. So when men get their hands on
God, you know what they do with Him? always mistreat him always
mistreat him and all of our Lord's life his whole life from the
day he was born to the day he went to glory was one of suffering
suffering suffering at the hands of men
when he was just an infant his mother and father had to take
him into Egypt You know why? Because Herod sent
out an edict. Because he had heard that he
that was born King of the Jews was alive. And he said, there
ain't nobody going to get my throne. So what did he do? He sent his soldiers to go out
and kill every child in Bethlehem and in that area under two years
old, trying to kill the Lord Jesus Christ as an infant. He
said, I ain't nobody's gonna take my throne and that's exactly
the way men feel. Nobody's gonna take my throne.
Nobody's gonna take my rights. Nobody's gonna take and impose
on me. But I'll tell you what, beloved,
they had to flee and go into Egypt to keep our Lord Jesus
Christ because they were so envious of Him and they were so mean
and so cruel that they would have killed Him as an infant
if they could have got their hands on Him. And then you take
the political and religious leaders of his day. They were constantly
and continually plotting to kill him. You go through the Gospels
and look how many times they plotted to kill him. And they
tried to get different people to do different things at different
times. And they spared nothing and they spared no one to accomplish
their end. And they finally accomplished
their end. You know why? Look with me over in Acts 2.23,
and I'll show you why. Oh, they spared no one or nothing
to accomplish their end, but in Acts 2.22, look what it says
here. And oh, here in John 18, I'm
going to stay in John 18 and show you how our Lord suffered
at the hands of men. But it said here in verse 22,
Acts 2, You men of Israel, hear these words. And that's what
God uses. He uses words. And He says, you
listen to the words and I'm going to tell you. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by Him in the midst of you and you yourselves know
it. You were there. You're eyewitnesses to it. Him,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. But now here's where they lay the blame. God turns around. They did what they wanted to
do, but yet they was doing what God willed for them to do and
ordained to be done from the foundation of the world. But
he says, you've taken him. You've taken him. You didn't
know he was the Lord of glory. You said he was a blasphemer
because he said he was the son of God. You have taken him and
you by your wicked hands you have crucified him slain So you
see they took but their own hands they crucified the Lord Jesus
Christ with their own hands But now let's go back over here in
John 18, and I'm going to show you how our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered at different men's hands first of all in John 18 in verse
2 he was betrayed by the hypocrite and Our Lord went over into the
brook seed and went into the garden of Gethsemane. He often
times, and look what it says in verse 2. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, knew the place. For Jesus often times resorted
there with his disciples. And then look what it says down
in verse 5. They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with him. First he was betrayed by the
hypocrite. And here's the thing about Judas.
He was of our Lord's company. He was one of the 12 that our
Lord Jesus Christ chose. He was a preacher. He worked
miracles just like the rest of them did. If he had been acting
any different than the rest of them, said anything different
than any of the rest of them, they would have picked up on
it very quickly. But he was a preacher. He traveled and moved around
with our Lord Jesus Christ, with John, James, Peter, and all the
rest of them. He had the fellowship of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He had the fellowship of the
other apostles and the other disciples. And I tell you, our
Lord Jesus Christ says, you know, in John 13, you must be made
clean. But Judas wasn't made clean.
Look with me on John 13. Our Lord Jesus says, you must
be made clean. But Judas wasn't made clean.
Never was made clean. He was a hypocrite. And everything
that he did, he did it because of the way he was. But oh, look what it says here
in verse 10 of John 13. Our Lord Jesus says to him that
his wash need not save to wash his feet. But he's clean ever
wit. And you are clean, but not all
of you are clean is what he's saying. For he knew who should
be trained. Therefore said he, you're not
all clean. You're not all clean. The blood
hasn't been applied to you. You've not been washed by the
Lord Jesus Christ. You've not had Christ do something
for you. He washed Simon Peter. He washed
the other disciples. But He said, Oh, listen. You're
clean, but not all of you. And He's mentioned Judas by name. He said, knowing who is going
to betray Him. And I'll tell you another thing about Jesus.
This thing's about hypocrites. You know, He betrayed the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he wasn't clean. He wasn't
washed. And that's why Job and Shirley
and I was talking about the other day, talking about hypocrisy.
All of us have got hypocrisy in us. There's not one of us
that every once in a while plays the hypocrite. We've got plenty
of self-righteousness and hypocrisy in ourselves. But the difference
between a believer and an unbeliever is, is a believer don't want
to be a hypocrite. He wars against being a hypocrite.
He's ashamed of being a hypocrite. He don't want to be a hypocrite
and it hurts him when he is. He don't want to be. That's the
last thing he wants to be. He don't want to be an actor.
He don't want to be a sham. He don't want to be a put on. But the hope of the hypocrite,
it'll perish. If he's a hypocrite, he's going
to perish. And look what he said over here in John 12. He pretended to care. He really
pretended to care. And he didn't care. Look what
really happened when it seemed like he's going to care. John
12 in verse 3. Then took Mary a pound of ointment
of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and
wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with
the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples,
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, and every time he's mentioned,
it's about the witch should betray. was not this ointment sold for,
why was not, he said, why was not this ointment sold for 300
pence and given to the poor? Why didn't we sell this and distribute
it among the poor people? This, he said, not that he cared
for the poor, but because he was a thief and he had the bag. and bear what was put in there.
If I get that kind of money in my bank, I'll really be... That's
what he was talking about. He was a thief. He didn't care
about it. That's what he says there. That's
the thing about a hypocrite. People who love money. It's not
money that's the root of all evil. It's the love of money
that's the root of all evil. If you put money above anything
else, and you put materialism above anything else, a man's
just fooling himself. And you know what, beloved? Do
you know what he did? He went and sold the Lord Jesus
Christ for 30 pieces of silver. 30 pieces of silver. So his hope
perished because he went and hung himself. So he was betrayed
by the hypocrite. Look at the next thing down in
verse 10. He was defended by the passionate
in John 18.10. Defended by the passionate. Then
Simon Peter having a sword when they came out to get him drew
it and smote the high priest servant and cut off his right
ear. The service name was Malchus. He was defended by the passion.
I mean, old Simon Peter, he just grabbed a sword and didn't come
out. He just went to swing it. And he just happened to catch
a fellow. I guess that guy moved his head about the time that
he swung that sword. Or else he would hit him somewhere
else. Because he just got an ear. And I guarantee you, he
wasn't aiming at his ear. That's all he got. But I tell
you, our Lord's kingdom is not of this world. And he doesn't
need or use violent means. Here's the thing about Christ.
And you know, this thing about Christianity that wants to force
itself on people and is mean people. And I've heard people
say that all the wars have been started over Christianity. There's
never been a war started over true Christianity. Never been
a war started over true Christianity. We don't even like to argue among
ourselves, much less physically hurt somebody else. So this idea
that Christians go out here and start wars, that's a fallacy
hatched in hell. A man that takes up a sword as
he is a believer and goes out here and takes that sword and
wants to fight for Christ, he's wrong. Wrong from start to finish. And our Lord doesn't need or
use violent means. He doesn't need or use swords. He doesn't do that. And the wrath
of man doesn't. He says, you know, And every
good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of life,
and by his own will begat he us with the word of truth. And
he says, and listen, this works the fruitful peace of righteousness,
but the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
When a man's angry, when a man's upset, it works not the righteousness
of God. I've done that myself. I flew
off the handle, and when I do that, I'm not working the righteousness
of God. I'm letting my emotions control
me. I'm letting my actions control me. Have you ever done that? Have you all ever got real mad
and popped off and said things and reacted ways you ought not
to react? Because the wrath of man don't
work God's righteousness. So the next time you get angry
and start arguing with somebody, get mad at somebody, or walk
out of a situation, remember this, your wrath is not honoring
God, not working the righteousness of God. But God uses words, Christ
uses words, words of power. Words of truth. That's what believers
use. That's what the Gospel uses.
That's what the Word uses. It's made up of words. Words
of power. The Gospel is powerful. The Word
of God is powerful. And it's words of truth. I seen
this morning where they put out this paper that they says the
Bible is the most untruthworthy book in the world. It's contradictory. It's confusion. And I know they
named all the things that it is. Well, if I am, I'm the most
confused fellow you'll ever meet because I believe every word
of it. I'll tell you what, it's in black and white. And that's
the way the Bible presents things to us. Black and white. No middle
ground, no gray matter. And our Lord Jesus Christ uses
words and we use words. Words of power, words of truth. And I tell you, beloved, any
zeal, any zeal that makes us mean, or makes anybody mean,
or ugly, or overbearing, or hateful, or hurtful, or painful, is more
displeasing and more dishonoring to our Lord than about anything. To be mean, to be cruel, to be
hateful, to be overbearing, to cause pain. Oh how displeasing, dishonoring
our Lord. We can use plain speech without
using mean speech. Can't we? And also he was defended
by the passionate. Oh, he cut off Malchus's ear.
He said, listen, I'm going to defend Christ. He went to using
that sword. Our Lord Jesus said, put up the
sword. The kingdom of God's not. If you live by the sword, you're
going to die by it. And then look what he said down
here in verse 19. Let's look at this now. He was smitten,
slapped and smitten by the wicked. John 18, 19. Look what it says here now. The high priest then asked Jesus
of his disciples and of his doctrine. Our Lord answered him, I speak
openly to the world, I taught in the synagogues, always taught
in the synagogues, and I taught in the temple. The place where
the Jews are always at. That's what he's saying. And
in secret, I never got off in secret and said anything. Not
one word did I say in secret. So why askest thou me? Ask them
that heard me. Ask them that heard what I had
to say. Ask them what I speak and what I believe and of my
doctrine. Ask them who heard me my doctrine.
what I said unto them behold they know what I said now watch
this and when he had thus spoken one of the officers which stood
by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand with an open hand
slapped him and said answerest thou the high priest so? oh my
he slapped God he slapped the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus answered him if I have
spoken evil bear witness of the evil But if I have spoken well,
why do you smite me? All my Why do you smite me if
I've spoken evil bear witness of that evil if I've said something
I'll not say bear witness to it You see beloved. It's easier for pride and prejudice
to sneer into smite than to face the truth and Oh, people that's
full of pride, people that has all kinds of bigotry and prejudice. It's better for them to sneer
and to smite than to face the truth. The truth makes a lot
of folks angry. And when they're angry, the only
thing they know how to do is strike out at that. That's the
truth about it. Let me ask you this question.
How few people, how many of you, including me, When they're confronted
with the truth about themselves, some fault of theirs. When they're
confronted with truth about themselves, say, yep, you're right. It's
the truth. How many say that when they're
confronted with truth? And say, yes, it's so, and then
just shut up? Not many of us. No, no. Not many of us. No, no. You know
what we end up doing? Well, I'll tell you what. I'm
not no worse than somebody else. I ain't no worse than this. But
I'll tell you something. Now this is the truth. If I haven't
done it, I've thought it. So whatever you say about me
and think of me, it's right. It's the truth. Yes, it's so. You're a smart aleck. Yes, that's
true. You self-justify. That's true. But they're not able to say that.
Just shut up and say, yes, it's so. They've got to turn around
and go to point to somebody else and what they've done. Somebody's
done this or something that you've done. Instead of just saying,
yes, what you say about me is true. And just let it go. But that's not the way these
folks was. And this man, these people were confronted with the
truth. You want to know what I believe? Ask people that heard
me. If somebody wants to know what
Christ preached and His doctrine, ask me. That's what our Lord
said. You ask somebody that heard me. You know, like Gary said,
if he said, what's Christ's doctrine? We can tell them what Christ's
doctrine is. We've heard Him. And that's what he said, go and
ask them that heard me. They'll tell you exactly what
I believe. Oh, that slapped him. Self-lovers, self-seeking men
are always ready to justify themselves. Even that's what these men done.
Even at the cost of smiting the blessed character of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Even smiting Him. And listen.
Look over here in Luke 16 with me a minute. For a moment here. Let's see what we can see over
here about Luke 16 and verse 13. You know, our Lord Jesus, He never hurt anybody. Never
was mean to anybody. And look what it says here. This
is the truth. Now this man served two masters. When that man smote him, you
know, No man can serve two masters, for he'll either hate the one
and love the other, or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. You can't serve God, and you can't serve man. And the
Pharisees, also which were covetous, heard all these things, and what
did they say? They derided Him. And what did
He say about them that was like this? He said, you are they which
justify yourselves before men. You ain't not interested in being
justified before God. You're not interested in justification
before God. You're just interested in being
justified before men. You want men to think well of
you. You want everybody, you want to be justified in men's
sight. You want to be good in men's sight. You want to be perfect
in men's sight. See, that's what you want. But he said, listen to this,
God knows your hearts. For whatever is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. And our Lord
said, I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I'm
coming in my Father's name and you receive me not. Another come
in his own name and you'll receive him. And so here our Lord Jesus
Christ is smitten by the wicked. but our Lord in his truth has
prevailed and will prevail over men's pride over men's prejudice
and over men's bigotry it will do it it will do it and then
look what else he was denied back over here in John 18 smitten
by the wicked what happens now smitten by the
wicked Denied by the cowardly look down verse 25 denied by
the cowardly And Simon Peter stood and warmed
himself They said therefore unto him art thou not also one of
his disciples he denied it and said I am not and one of the service of the high
priest being his kinsmen whose ear Peter cut off. He was there
when Peter cut his kinsmen, his cousins or brothers or uncles
or somebody's ear off. Said, did I not see thee in the
garden with him? Peter then denied again and immediately
the cock flew. Oh my. Peter was so proud and
so arrogant I want you to see what he said in Mark. Look what
he says about Mark 14. Look what he told our Lord Jesus
Christ. Look what he said in Mark 14,
what I'm going to do. Verse 27, look what I'm going
to do. Simon Peter look what he says
in verse 27 here mark chapter 14 Jesus said unto all said unto
them all you shall be offended me because of me this night For
it's written. I'm gonna smite the shepherd
and the sheep's gonna be scattered around But after that I'm risen. I will go before you into Galilee
but Peter said unto him although all shall be offended and Yet
will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, this day, even in this night, before
the crock throw twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. But listen to
what he said, but he spake more vehemently. If I should die with
thee, I will not deny thee in any way. Likewise said every
one of them. But here he is, he has a chance.
He has the opportunity. He has the opportunity to stand
up for the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, I was with him in the garden.
Yes, I'm the one who cut that fellow's ear off. Yes, I was
there with him. And I'm glad to be as one with
him. I'm thankful that I'm one of
his disciples. I'm thankful that he's the one
who's my Savior. I'm thankful that he's my King.
I'm thankful that he is who he is. And I thank God the day that
he crossed my path when I was fishing and he called me from
fishing. That's what he ought to have said. But once you're
one of them, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wasn't you in that
garden? No, no, no, not me. Not me. Oh, my. He was so proud and so
arrogant and so presumptuous. Oh, listen, I can handle this
situation easy. It's no problem for me. And, beloved, this is speaking
for myself now. I won't say anything about you.
How much has the cause of Christ suffered because of my cowardice? My cowardice. How many times
should I have spoke up for Him when I didn't? How many times
should I have identified with Him when I didn't? How many times
have I stood up and said, yes, I'm a believer. Yes, I believe
Christ. Yes, I trust Christ with my heart,
my soul, and my eternity. How many times have I done that?
And didn't do it. Stand up for His cause. Because
of my characters. Peter denied his master. And
he denied his master with words. I don't know. No, I don't know
him. I wasn't there. That's a lie. He told lies. Not only did he deny the Lord
Jesus Christ, but he lied. I wasn't there. And then he denied
him with his tongue. Denied him with his actions.
And denied him with his conduct. It says there that he kept stood
by the fire and warned himself. Standing with those who come
out to get the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a cold night. And he got
up there, beloved, and he got up close to that fire and warned
himself at the enemy's fire. And said, I don't know that man.
Oh my, God have mercy on me. Oh, don't let me be afraid. Don't let me be ashamed of my
master. Then look what else happened to him. He's shunned by the self-righteous.
Look down at verse 28. Shunned by the self-righteous. Now in verse 28. after Peter
denied him and the cock crew, then led they Jesus from Caiaphas,
the high priest, unto the hall of judgment, where Pilate sat.
And it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall,
lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.
It's all right. to plot against the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's alright to hire false witnesses
against the Lord Jesus Christ. It's alright to hate the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's alright to crucify Him. It's alright to beat Him. But I can't go into the judgment
hall where they're going to judge Him. I'll be defiled. I'll become unclean. That's why he just got through,
one of them soldiers just got through smiting the Lord Jesus
Christ with the palm of his hands. And now this fellow says, I can't
go into the judgment hall. I'll become unclean. And then
I won't be able to eat the Passover. And you know who the Passover
is? The Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover. And they wanted
to have a Passover without Christ. And all night, they got to keep
themselves holy. They got to keep themselves clean
so they can have their ceremonies and have their rituals. And I
personally think, and I think our Lord Jesus Christ would,
because of the way He described the self-righteous, the way He
described the Pharisees in the Scriptures, I think a self-righteous
man are the most wicked of all the wicked. I think they are. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, they
that are righteous think themselves righteous. The self-righteous
despise others. That's the first markup. They
despise others. And what it is, is one worm despising
another worm. One wretched man despising another
wretched man. And I tell you what, Look over
here at Matthew 23. Look what our Master said. You know, when that rich young
ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ and he looked at the law
and he said, then our Lord told him all the things. He said,
Oh, I've done all these. What lack I yet? Matthew 23 and verse 23. What
lack I yet? What don't I lack? If Christ
don't make up all that's wrong with me, there's no hope for
me or you or anybody else. Christ has to make up everything
that's wrong with us. And everything is wrong with
us and Christ has to make it all up. He has to fill it up. He has to make us acceptable
to God. But look what our Lord said about the Pharisees now,
and these self-righteous people. This man said, oh, we can't go
into the judgment hall. We can stand outside and get
everybody in and uproar and say, crucify him, crucify him, but
we can't go in. He said in verse 13, woe unto
you scribes, excuse me, 23. Did I say what I said? Yeah.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe,
you pay ten percent of your mint, of your anise and cumin, and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment! Mercy. Faith. You're interested in paying
your 10%, but you're not interested in judgment. You're not interested
in mercy. You're not interested in faith.
These ought you to have done, but don't leave the other undone.
You blind guides will strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. One, you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, you may clean the outside of the cup and the platter,
but within you're full of extortion and excess. Oh, they wanted everything
to look good on the outside. They didn't care anything about
the inside. They didn't want to be defiled
so that they could keep the Passover. And they kept it without Christ,
who is our Passover. Look what else happened here
now. Here's another one. Here's another way he suffered.
He suffered by all these men. Self-righteous, hypocrites, wicked,
cowardly. One of his disciples betrayed.
But he's questioned by a compromiser. Look down at verse 33. They took
him over to Pilate. Took him over to Pilate. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus. Bring him up here in front
of me. And said unto him, Art thou the
king of the Jews? He asked our Lord three questions.
He asked him three questions. First one of us, are you the
king of the Jews? Jesus answered him this, do you say this thing
of yourself? Do you know this for yourself?
Or did others tell you that I'm the king of the Jews? Do you
believe it yourself or does somebody else have to tell you? Is that
what you think or is what somebody told you? Pilate answered, am
I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? That's
the second question. What have you done? What have
you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is
not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
by the Jews, but my kingdom's not from here. Oh, I'm a king,
but my kingdom's not here among flesh and blood. Pilate said
unto him again, said, art thou a king then? Thou sayest that
I'm a king. To this end, yes, I was born. And for this cause came I into
the world. And what was it? That I should
bear witness unto the truth. And everyone that's of the truth,
listen to this, here's my voice. And Pilate said unto him, down
there in verse 38, what is truth? What is truth? Truth is relative. Truth is what it is to you. And
when he said this, he went out again unto the Jews and said
unto them, I find no fault in this man. I find no fault in
him. I find no fault in him. They called out again and said,
release us Barabbas. Crucify Christ. And then down,
look what else, here's another question they asked him. Down
in verse six of chapter 19. When the chief priest, therefore
an officer, saw him, they cried out. See, the chief priest can
stand out there and say, crucify him. They can't go in. Crucify
him, crucify him. Pilate said, then you take him
and you crucify him. I don't find any fault in him.
I don't find any fault in him. Then the Jews answered him, we
have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made
himself the Son of God. Now listen, what happened to
Pilate then? When Pilate heard that say that
he was the Son of God, he was the more afraid. And again, he
went again into the judgment hall and said unto our Lord,
Who are you? Where are you from? How did you
get here? Are you really from heaven? Are
you really the son of God? Where did you come from? Who
are you? Why are you here? And look what
it says. Jesus gave him no answer. He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter and he opened not his mouth. He opened not his mouth. He was
oppressed and he was afflicted. And he didn't even open his mouth.
And then look what he was mocked. Mocked by the crew. Back up here
in chapter 19. Verse 1. Mocked by the crew. And you know at Easter, here's
something. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scorched him. That means they took his clothes
off of him and whipped him. Took his clothes off of him and
whipped him. whipped him, whipped him on his
back, on his neck, whipped him, went around his belly. And the
soldiers got together and they planted a crown of thorns, planted
them all together there. They laid it up on his head and
they got a purple robe and they put a purple robe on him. and
said hail king of the Jews and they smote him with their hands. This is what man left himself
does. He mocks the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. He mocks God himself. Give him
a little power. Give him a little authority and
he gets worse and worse and worse. And these men of war set the
Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, at naught. They treated
him as if he was nobody. Nobody. Now here they done, you
know, at Easter time, and this is awful. This is awful. People
put up these crosses and they'll hang something purple around
it. Purple around it. Do you think that actually presents the Lord Jesus Christ
and what happened to Him? A wooden stick out in the middle
of the churchyard with a purple scarf around it? Here our Lord Jesus Christ is
a man. He's a holy man, a sinless man,
a perfect man. And He came, beloved, to give
Himself for our sins, to offer Himself a sacrifice to God, to
be our substitute, to bear our sins in His own body on the tree. But you see, while every time
man got his hands on Christ, what did he do to Him? Betrayed
Him? Smote Him? Lied on Him? Slapped Him? And here they are, right before
they take him out to crucify him. Oh, he's a king, let's put
a crown on his head. Let's not put a golden crown
on his head. Let's not put no golden crown.
If he's a king, he ought to have a golden crown with jewels in
it. But oh, he says he's a king, let's put a crown on his head. And I tell you what, he says
he's a king and kings wear purple. Let's put this purple robe on
him. And let's slap him around. One
place it says they put blindfolds on him and said, tell us who
smoked you. Oh, you see to them, Caesar's
kingdom is everything. The kingdom of God's nothing.
Material things are most important. Spiritual things are ridiculed,
laughed at, and mocked. And they took the Lord Jesus
Christ, the old pilot, took him out there and said, here he is.
Here's your king. Oh, write down, say, he said
he's the king. No, he's the king. He's the king. And I tell you,
beloved, go ahead and have Caesar's kingdom. Go ahead and go after
material things. And spiritual things by the word
of, like these people. is ridiculed, laughed at, and
mocked. And the only question for us to ask, which one of these
groups do you or I belong to? Does the Lord Jesus Christ suffer
in our hands? Does He suffer in our hands? Does He suffer with our words? Does He suffer with our acts?
Does he suffer with our spirit? Does he suffer because of our
attitude? Because men, men is the only
people that can mistreat you. Devils can't. Devils do exactly
what he tells them to do. Come out. I'm coming out. Go
in that herd of hogs over there. Go in that herd of hogs. Don't
never say a word. Don't never say a word. They shut up. But what does man
do when he gets his hand on Christ? Eight men. Eight types of people.
And all they did to our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, in the Lord Jesus'
holy and blessed name, we thank you for your mercies, thank you
for your grace, thank you for the truth as it is in our Lord
Jesus. I pray that you'd take the message
today and cause it to be fruitful. Lord, I hope it just wasn't my
voice that men heard, but if it is, Lord, it was the
truth. So I pray that you would use
the truth today to bring glory to yourself. And Lord, help us,
help us as your children, as those you loved and gave yourself
for, help us to never ever cause you to suffer at our hands by
our actions. I know we failed you a thousand
ways, 10,000 ways, a million times in our lives we failed
you. But oh Lord Jesus Christ, God
we long for the day when we'll be perfected. We'll not have
this flesh to deal with. By your grace we'll never ever,
never ever, ever be afraid or be a coward or be a betrayer
or use words or actions that would dishonor you, cause you
to suffer. We ask you, Lord Jesus, to forgive
us of everything that's unlike you. Protect and preserve your
people. Save your people in this place.
We ask you in Christ's name to do that. Amen. Amen. Well, I'll see you tonight,
6 o'clock, God willing.