We looked a couple of weeks ago
in the first part of this chapter about Christ coming to the Garden
of Gethsemane. There were some things that happened
between verses 11 and 12. At night they came in the garden
and they arrested our Redeemer here in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And they hurried him along back across that road, across that
brook of Kidron, and remember I said that David went through
like David did, and David crossed that brook, and it says he came
across, he came weeping. And that brook Kidron was to
that and to which all the filth from the temple ran down that
brook. And our dear Savior walked through
that black stream as though he were some foul and filthy thing. He was led into Jerusalem through
the sheep gate. The gate through which the lambs
of the Passover were always led. Little did these men understand
that they were fulfilling scripture and they were leading Him, the
Lamb of God, to the slaughter. That's what's going on. The Lamb
of God. God's Lamb. Many times they tried
to take Him and they could not. His hour was not yet come. But
this is their hour, the hour of darkness, the time when the
Son of God would be made sin. You said, explain that preacher.
I can't explain it. I just believe it. Not made to
look like sin, was made sin. When God laid all the elect every
sin that was ever committed, David or anybody else's, and
he put them on the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute, as
our representative. They were all laid on him. In
verse 12, I just thought it would be good
for us to read this. We're going to be getting over into chapter
19, but it says, then the band that had led our Lord And the
captains and the officers of the Jews, they took Jesus and
bound him. In the Old Testament, you remember
the man that, I think his name was Uriah, who lifted his hand
up when they were bringing in the ark on the cart, and he reached
up and he touched the ark, and God killed him. They're binding the ark of God. He's the mercy seed, and God
allows them to touch. the Son of God. And they bound
him and led him away to Annas first, for he was father-in-law
to Caiaphas, which was high priest that same year. And Caiaphas
was he which gave counsel to the Jews back in chapter 11 verse
50 that it was expedient that one should die for the people
and that not the whole nation should be destroyed. And Simon
Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple
was known to the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the
palace of the high priest. And Peter stood at the door without,
then went out that other disciple, which was known to the high priest.
And he spake unto her that kept the door, and she brought in
Peter. Then saith the damsel, Thou that kept the door unto
Peter, are not Thou one of this man's disciples? And he said,
I am not. And the servants and officers
stood there, who made a fire of coals, for it was cold. And
they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus
of his disciples and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I speak openly
to the world, I ever told in the synagogue and in the temple.
Whether the Jews always resorted, and in secret have I said nothing.
Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me. What
have I said unto them? What I have said unto them, behold,
they know what I said. When he had thus spoken, one
of the officers which stood by, struck Jesus with the palm of
his hand, saying, answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered
him, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well,
why smitest thou me? Now Annas had seen him bound. He goes from Annas to Caiaphas,
the high priest. And Simon Peter stood and warmed
himself. They said, therefore unto him, are not thou one of
his disciples? And he denied it and said, I
am not. And one of the servants of the
high priest, being his kinsman, whose ear Peter had cut off,
said, did I not see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied
again, and immediately the caught crew. Then led they Jesus from
Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early. And they themselves
went not into the hall, the judgment hall, lest these poor old religious
people should be defiled. Now they can plot a man's murder,
but they dare not go into this place where they'll be defiled,
that they might eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto them,
these religious people, And he saith, what accusation bring
you against this man? They answered and said unto him,
if he were not a malefactor, we would have not have delivered
him unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, take
ye him and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore
said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death,
that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled. which he spake,
signifying what death he should die. He can't be killed by stoning. He has to be crucified. That's
right. That's why this is fulfilled.
All this is happening according to the sovereign purpose of God,
but all these people are doing exactly what they want to do,
want to. Verse 33, then Pilate entered
into the judgment hall again, and he called Jesus and said
unto them, said unto him, art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus
answered him saying, sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did
others tell it of thee? Pilate answered, am I a Jew?
Thine own nation and thy chief priests have delivered thee unto
me. What hast thou 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
to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore
said unto him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest
that I am a king. To this end was I born. Now what's this? To this end
was I born. And for this cause came I into the world, that I
should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the
truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, what is
truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again to the Jews and saith unto them, now watch this.
Here's what Pilate said. I find in him no fault at all. But you have a custom. that I
should release unto you one at the Passover. Were ye therefore
that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they
all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. And Barabbas was
a robber. Chapter 19, verse 1. Then Pilate
therefore took Jesus and scourged him. Why would he scourge an
innocent man? Pilate therefore took him and
took Jesus and scourged him. Now some of y'all that don't
know what that is, the Jews were required under the law, if a
man was to be punished, he could be beaten with 39 stripes, one
minus 40, because they considered 40 enough to kill a man. Sometimes
they used what was called a cat-of-nine-tails. It was a whip. It had nine pieces
of leather out on the end of it, and it would have bone or
glass or something in the end that was tied to the end of the
string or whatever it was, and when they put that around a man's
body, it would rip flesh every time it hit him. Now, these Roman
soldiers, these are barbarians. They have no regard for life
whatsoever, none. And Pilate just says, this man,
I find no fault in him. He takes and he gives Jesus to
these men and you take him and scourge him. You beat him. And that's what they did. They
show no mercy, no mercy. And the soldiers planted a crown
of thorns. and put it upon his head. And
they put on him a purple robe. And they said, hail, king of
the Jews. And they smote him with their
hands. In the other gospels, it said,
they actually, and in Isaiah, they actually jerked the beard
off his face. They actually hit him with their
fist. And then they all cleared their throat and spit in his
face. That's what's going on here.
That's what's going on here. Pilate therefore went forth again
and saith unto them, behold, I bring him forth to you that
you may know. I find no fault in him. This is the second time he makes
that statement. You know why? He's the Lamb of
God and the Lamb of God had to be perfect. He had to be without
fault in thought, motive, or action. And Pilate looked at
him and said, I find no fault. Why would you kill this man?
Well, why would he have him scourged? Why would you do that to an innocent
man? Now, we know why. But that's what they did. Verse five, then came Jesus forth
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith
unto him, Behold the man, when the chief priest, and therefore
an officer, saw him, they cried out, saying, crucify him, crucify
him. Pilate saith unto them, take
ye him and crucify him. And he said it again, I find
no fault in him. The Jews answered him, we have
a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself
the son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that,
saying he was the more afraid, and went again to the judgment
hall, And saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But he gave him no
answer. And saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not to me?
Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have
power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst
have no power at all against me, except it were given from
above. Therefore he that delivered me
unto thee hath the greater sin. And from henceforth Pilate sought
to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. What I want you
to see here also is no matter how hard Pilate wanted to release
him, he wanted to release him. He said, I find no fault in him.
He still served the purpose of God and sentenced him to death. God's will overrules everything. But what I want you to see is,
I want you to look at verse 5 again. I want you to read it and read
it slow. Does everyone know why words in your Bible are initalicized? Does everybody know what that's
there for? That means that they were not in the original scriptures. That means that those words were
put there to make the verse read a little more clear. Those words
were added by the translators and most of us carry a King James
Bible which was translated by King James in 1611. Don't you
see this as we read this verse? Now sometimes they help and sometimes
they don't. Then came Jesus forth. Pilate's
bringing Jesus forth. wearing the crown of thorns and
the purple robe." And what is that next word? Pilate is in
a talus eyes. So it should actually read, then
came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
robe, and saith unto them. Hawker said, in essence, it was
Christ that said this. Behold, the man, standing here, probably unrecognizable. They
didn't care what they did to him. It's only a miracle that
he survived. That's right. And he stands before them, blood
all over him, with a purple mockery of a robe. And he says, before
these religious ungodly people whose hands are dripping with
his blood. Behold, the definite article
thee. Behold thee, man. And when you look at it in that
light, it makes a whole lot of difference. He says, he says,
We mentioned this some even in the Bible class, but this is
what I want to look at today. Behold the man, the perfect man. Like you remember Goliath said,
send me a man. God took upon himself human flesh
and he said behold the man. Behold means to look with wonder
and amazement. Christ was crowned with this
crown of thorns. He was the only one to wear a
crown like this. The thorns are a picture of the
curse. He was crowned with the curse,
Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. As I got to thinking about that
word curse, I just typed in this morning on the internet and said,
well, what does the word curse mean? What does that mean? You wouldn't believe the answers
that were on there. Sometimes you forget just how bad it is.
They said, you know that God's a good God and we're not under
the law anymore, we're under grace and it's just like a father
telling his children not to do something wrong and they go right
ahead and do it according to their own free will. You know,
He doesn't want them to do bad. If they do bad, well, if they'll
come back, He'll forgive them. Let me tell you this. God is a perfect God. God is not like us. They think
God's like us and He's not. This is God's Son. The perfect,
immaculate Son of God, who never did one wrong thing. Who was tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. And they did this to Him. Why? That's justice. The curse. This earth, when Adam's sin was
brought under the curse, and now the curse falls upon him. Every bit of it. He's crowned
with it. Our Lord was made under the law.
He stood in their legal place instead and having the sins of
all God's people imputed unto him. That means that they were
put to his account. And when we believe and God gives
us faith to believe in Christ, what happens? His righteousness. which is not of any part of heirs,
was put and imputed to our account. We not only look righteous, we
are righteous. He not only looked like sin,
he was made sin. Made sin. He was made a curse. Cursed it is written, every one
that hangeth upon the tree. God charged him with our crimes
and he cursed him for them. He was treated as such by the
justice of God, even by our father who spared him not. His sword
awoke against an injustice against him and gave him up into their
hands. And they did exactly what they
wanted to do. One gospel, it says he delivered
Jesus over to their will. And what did their will do? This
is exactly what it did. Don't talk to me about free will.
Don't talk to me about a man accepting Jesus. He just, oh,
if he'll just do something good. Oh, no, this is what we all do.
We would have everyone took our fist and just beat him in the
face. Said, no, we won't. Oh, yes, we would. Oh yes we
would, and oh yes we do. That's who we are. That's exactly
right. We're like those religious people,
oh we wouldn't dare go, we wouldn't dare defile ourselves, but we'll
plot his murder. They knew he was an innocent
man. They knew he was an innocent man. They knew it. They hired
false witnesses. Everything they said about him
was true. He was, he did say was the son of God. He was the
son of God. He was the king of the Jews.
They just didn't like it. And that's our problem. We just
don't like it. We want to be God. We want to
be king. But what I want us to look at, why did he become a
man? Why did God take upon himself
human flesh? Why did God do that? Why did
he do that? He had to. God cannot die. And man cannot satisfy. But man
can die and God can satisfy. And he did both. Turn with me back to Genesis
chapter 3. You find out how we got in this mess. how we got
under this curse. Genesis chapter 3. God made man and put him in the
garden and he took the woman from Adam's side. And it says
in verse 6 of Genesis 3, Satan comes to our mother Eve and when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant
to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She
took of the fruit thereof and did eat. And I want to stop right
there. God commanded him not to partake
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And God said that in
the day that you do, you shall surely die. Eve partakes of the
fruit and nothing happens. Do you notice that? Nothing happens.
You know why? She's not the representative.
Her husband is, Adam. And I read something this week
which also blessed my heart on the other side. When she did
this, nothing happened. And we being in Christ with our
representative, when we sin, nothing changes. Isn't that good? Nothing changes. When she ate,
nothing changed. And she gave unto her husband,
and when he did eat, Then both their eyes were opened. Why? God only deals with you in two
men. Now listen to me, either in Adam
or in Christ, in those two men. And you're in one of those two
men. We're born in Adam. When he sinned, death came. Now, I don't understand all this,
and I don't understand what all happened, but I know Lucifer
was the first one to sin, and God kicked him out of heaven.
Him and the other fallen angels, they were kicked out, and Satan
comes to Eve in a form of a serpent and tempts her to get her and
get them to sin, because when they sin, what happens? Death
comes in. Death comes in, and it says,
He that has the power of death who is the devil. How does he
have power over them? Through sin. Now they're going
to die. Now they didn't die right now,
but they died spiritually. But it was all in because Adam
sinned. Listen, wherefore is by one man
Sin entered into the world and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men for all men have sinned in Adam. Why were you born with a sinful
nature? Well, you say, well, I got it
from my mother and father. That's exactly right. And they
got it from theirs. And you trace it all the way
back to the garden and you trace it back to Adam. God told Adam. Adam is the representative. That
means he represents all the human race. And they die in him. When he died. For if by one man's
offense, what's this? Death reigned by one. Much more,
they that receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the
offense of one, by one man's offense, Adam's, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation, even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification. For
as by one man, one man, listen, one man's disobedience, One act of disobedience brought
death, didn't it? One man's disobedience, one act
of disobedience, not Eve's, his. When Adam ate, Eve died. When Adam ate, death came. As soon as he ate, death came. For by one man's disobedience
were many made sinners, watch this, So by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous. So if it was by the disobedience
of one that everybody was made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. And everybody from Adam all the
way down are born disobedient. Disobedient. David said, in sin
did my mother conceive me. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies. I had a mate willingly and knowingly,
and when he died, when he sinned, death came. Their eyes were open. Now listen. They were not open
to advanced knowledge, nor to things pleasant and profitable,
but to things distressing. Here's what they basically saw.
It was a tree of knowledge of good and evil. They knew what
good was and had no power to perform it. They knew what evil
was and had no power to resist it. And they saw it. They have
no power. They knew that they were naked.
They had felt things they'd never known before, such as shame.
guilt, fear, and hate. When God had come to Adam and
said, Adam, where are you? You know the first thing Adam
did? He pointed the finger at his wife and he said, that woman
that you gave me. He not only blamed the woman,
he's blaming God for giving her to him. That's what happened. Why'd all
this happen? Sin. The curse changed him. Changed everything. The whole
world changed. Watch this. Over one man's disobedience. Ain't that right? Changed the
whole world? Yes. Changed everything? Yes. They began to try to cover themselves.
They began to sow fig leaves and try to cover up their nakedness.
And Adam's fig leaves could not cover up his shame and his guilt. He had lost his favor with God. And he could not cover it up.
But I want you to see this. But before God announced, the
first one he announced the curse on was the serpent. He said,
you'll crawl upon your belly and you'll eat dust the rest
of your life. And before he pronounced the curse on the earth, or Adam,
or Eve, or anyone, God made a promise. In verse 15. The very first promise
God ever made. I will put enmity between thee,
talking to the servant, between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed. And it shall bruise thy head.
The woman's seed shall bruise thy head, the serpent's head,
and thou shall bruise his heel, causing his humanity to suffer. But you know what? He said that
woman's seed is going to bruise your head. Why did he say the
woman's seed? Every child that's ever born
is the seed of that man. The seed comes from that man,
not the seed of the woman. But Christ was born of a virgin. He's the seed of the woman. And
this is amazing, and this is a blessing, if you'll get hold
of this, before he pronounced the curse on Adam, before he
pronounced the curse on Eve, before he pronounced the curse
on the earth, God made the promise. There's gonna be a man come who's
the seed of that woman, who's gonna undo everything just happened. That's why he had to be a man.
Do you see that? Let me read on. And to the woman he said, he
spoke to her first, I will greatly multiply thy sorrows and in thy
conception. And sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over you. And to Adam he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not
eat of it, Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat of the herb
of the field. The earth would now bring forth
thorns and thistles, and is that not what they crowned
him with? The curse. God, he had been rightful in
killing Adam and Eve, both right there and destroying them. But
you know why he didn't? That everlasting covenant we
spoke about earlier, before the world was made, God determined
that Jesus Christ would pay for their sin. The seed of the woman
will bruise the head of the serpent. God slew an animal and made coats
of skin and covered their guilty bodies. The first blood ever
shed upon earth was shed in sacrifice to cover man's sin and provide
a robe of righteousness for him. And God taught him the gospel
right then, the seed of the woman. And from that moment on, everything
that happens from Genesis through the end of Malachi points to
this right here. Cain and Abel. Why did Cain kill
Abel? And it says, when Cain was born,
you know what Eve said? I've got the man from the Lord.
She thought he was the seed. Cain killed Abel. That enmity
between that seed and her seed. But God gave him, gave her Seth. And so through Seth, you trace
it, comes that line through the tribe of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, All the rest, down through David, all the way till Jesus
Christ would be born, the seed of the woman. The woman seed. Why? He had to
have a human nature. He had to be a man. He didn't take on himself the
nature of angels. Did you know if God had wanted
to, he could have made Christ and give him the nature of an
angel? And he could have some way died
for those fallen angels and redeemed them? He didn't. What happened
when they sinned? No sacrifice, no perpetuation,
no substitute, and no representative. None. He passed them by. He was made a little lower than
the angels, crowned with glory and honor, and took upon himself
our nature. Listen to what it says in Hebrews
chapter 2, beginning in verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same. Why? Why did he do that? Now
here it is. Now listen. That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime, all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. And he is able to succor them
who are tempted." And you know what he says? This man's coming. And he says, behold the man. God said, behold my servant,
in Isaiah. And our Lord said, behold me,
behold me, I come. And what did John the Baptist
say? When our Lord was baptized, or when he was coming down there
to be baptized, he pointed and he said, behold the Lamb of God
that takes away the sin of the world. This is him. You remember when Abraham was
going to offer up Isaac and he took Isaac up and he laid him
down on the altar and he had him tied and he had the knife
in his hand and he meant to sacrifice him. And God said, don't touch
that child. And he turned around and it says,
behold, In a thicket was a ram caught by his horn, and he took
that ram and slew that ram in Isaac's place. But where was
that ram caught? In that thicket, which is a picture
of our Lord. Behold the man. Behold, wonder
the man. See, everything that fell on
him should have fell on you. You see that? That's what I want
you to see. Everything that fell on him should have fell on you.
Before God pronounced any curse, He said, that seed of the woman
is going to bruise the head of the serpent, but he's going to
bruise his heel. That's the only thing he can
reach is his heel. He's going to bruise his humanity. And Bruce, he did. We could spend
all day, and this is all the world talks about, is his physical
sufferings. But this week, I'll give you
a reading assignment. I like giving reading assignments. You
go read Isaiah 53. He said God made his soul an
offering for sin. Your soul is who you are, and
you make your soul an offering for sin. It pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. And you know what it says? He
saw the travail of his soul. You know what travail is? Travail
is what women go through. because of the curse. He said,
I'll greatly multiply thy conception. And in conception you bring forth
children. I guess you come as close to
death as anything as when you bear a child and bring it into
this world. And he said he saw the travail of his soul and he
was satisfied. You know what he was doing? When
the curse was laid upon him, he was bearing all his children. He saw the travail of his soul,
and he was satisfied. You know what that's saying?
There's nothing no more joyous. I've never been through it, but
women that have, and they have a child, it's when they lay that
child in her arms. And she said it was all worth
it. But there wouldn't be any joy if they laid that child in
her arms and it was stillborn. Let me tell you this, they won't
be any stillborn children of God. All for whom he died will be
set free. Why, this seat of the woman shall
bruise the head of the serpent, and you behold the man. Connie, it should have fell on
me. But it didn't. You know why? It fell on him. It fell on him. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. A mediator is a
go between someone who speaks on both behalf. He's God and
man. God, he brings God to me and
me to God. He takes both hands. He is Jacob's
ladder. Listen 1st Corinthians 15 21
for since by man came death By man by man also came the resurrection
of the dead For an Adam all die In Christ all that are in Christ
will be made alive. No, I want you to I want you
to get this I pray if the I pray you at least get it in your head
and then make God may seal it to your heart and all for whom Christ died. If
he had died for everybody that ever lived upon this earth, nobody
would go to hell. If he died for everybody that
had ever lived, nobody would go to hell. Why? Because justice
was satisfied. If he bore their sin and their
guilt, they're paid for. There would be no need for hell.
But when he died, there were people already in hell. He didn't
die for all men, but thank God he died for somebody. He stood
in somebody's place. You know what? He's my representative.
We send people to Washington and we call them representatives.
They don't represent us. Most of those people, they were
born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They never had to work
for nothing. How can he represent me? I was
brought up, most of you didn't have nothing. And how can he
represent me? Here's one that was born with
nothing. He was tempted like as you are.
How does he know what temptation is? He went through it. How does
he know what hunger is? He went through it. How does
he know what death is? He went through it. You see what
I'm saying? He represents somebody and all
for whom he represents They're gonna be set free. They're gonna
be turned loose. You know why? Behold the man.
Behold the man. Stand in wonder. Wonder. Behold him. Religion tells you
to look at yourself. The gospel says behold him. Clothed in your guilt. Your shame. Going back to the custom where
Pilate said, you have a custom on the Passover that we'll release
one prisoner. OK, you've got Jesus and you've
got Barabbas. You've got this man. I've told
you that he's innocent and I find no fault in him. He's not guilty. But you have this man. He's a
robber. Everybody knows he's a robber. Everybody knows he's
guilty. Which one do you want? And you know what we said? And
then notice I said, what we said? We said, we want him. We want
Barabbas. And you know who they killed
in Barabbas's place? They killed the Lord Jesus Christ. There
was three crosses that day. He died between two thieves.
That third one should have been Barabbas's. That's right. That
third cross should have been yours. That third cross should
have been yours. If you ever, God ever lets you
see what substitution is, it'll break your heart. When you see
what you should have got and what he endured, Paul, he knows. Daddy, he knows. And when I come
to him, he knows. He's able to succor them. He's
able to help them. He's able, he, listen, he understands. I don't understand. You don't
understand. But boy, he does. Why? Behold the man. As a man, as a man, he grew weary. As a man, he thirst. As a man,
When he fell in the Garden of Gethsemane, this was a cold night
because Peter warmed himself by the enemy fire. He was in
such agony, his sweat became as great drops of blood. That's what I'm talking about.
And he did it willingly. He did it lovingly. No man took
his life. Every one of us, if you knew
that you was going to face something like that, every one of us would
have run the other way. But not him. The disciple says,
no, don't go to Jerusalem now. The last time we were there,
they tried the key. He says, no, we're going. He set his face
like a flint. He was a lamb done before his
shearers, and he opened not his mouth. As they beat him, as they
spit in his face, and as they scourged him, he never uttered
a word. Behold the man. Turn with me,
I want to finish by reading it over in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. You know, I guess everybody has favorite
passages of scripture, and to me, I guess this is one of mine.
The book of Hebrews sets forth Christ as superior to all the
sacrifices, all the priests. He's after the order of the Melchizedek,
not after the Levitical priesthood. And it says in verse 1 of chapter
10, for the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not
the very image of the things, can never would those sacrifices,
which they offered year by year continually, make the comer thereto
perfect. They could never make the person
perfect. If they could, then would they have not have ceased
to be offered, because if the worshipers once purged, should
have had no more conscience of sin. Your conscience. That's who you are, your conscience.
Have no more conscience of sin. No more guilty conscience. But
every year they're saying, well, we've got to go do it again.
Because it could not take away, it couldn't purge your conscience.
Couldn't. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. You know what
you did? You remembered them. You know
what we want to do? We don't want to remember them. But God did it in such a way
that you were made and you were reminded of what? You're a sinner. And I tell you this, a sinner
don't mind to be called a sinner, like a dog don't mind to be called
a dog. If he sees himself, it don't
bother him. But those who think themselves righteous, they don't
like to be called sinners. Let me read on. Verse four, for
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sin. You say, well, preacher, I read
in the Old Testament all they did was went to the temple, they
offered up sacrifices, they offered up lambs and turtle doves and
goats and did all these things. Did that not take away any sin?
Nope. Never removed one sin. Never removed one. It just pointed
to the one that would. And you say, how were they saved
in the Old Testament? They're saved the same way you
are, by looking to the one that that pictured. Faith in Christ. Let me read on. For when, wherefore,
when he, now who's this talking about? Wherefore, when he, find
out who the he is. When he cometh into the world,
he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body
hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, I was talking about
this the other day, Paul. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. In the volume of what book? In
the volume of the book it is written of me. He died according
to what? The scriptures. In the volume
of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God, above
when he saith, Sacrifice an offering and burn offerings and offering
fruit for sin thou wouldest not neither had us any pleasure therein
which are offered by the law What does the law say it's got
to be perfect? To be accepted it has to be perfect
the law demands it Then said he lo I've come to
do thy will O God he taketh away the first and that he may establish
the second. Sure, that's why we're not under
the law. He taketh away the first. We don't need any physical sacrifices. And let me tell you this, the
most blasphemous thing that was ever conjured up out of the pit
of hell was somebody going to a priest and him putting a little
wafer in their mouth, and they actually say that they crucify
Christ all over again. Isn't that right? He taketh away
the first. And anybody that's under the
law, they're still under the curse of the law. If you're trying
to be righteous in your own efforts, you're under the curse of the
law. And it will never ease your guilty, guilty conscience. But
he taketh away the first. Another law. And he establishes
the second. What does that mean to be established?
You'll never be done away with. By the witch will, verse 10,
we are sanctified. What does the word sanctified
mean? It means you're set apart. What does that also mean? Jeff,
it means that you're holy, sanctified, isn't it? It's not something
that happens after you get saved. It's not something that you're
justified and then later on you get sanctified. God knows, God
declares you sanctified. You're sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. once for all. And every high
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin. Did you see that word
it say? Which can never take away sin. But I thank God for
the next verse. But this man, after he had offered
one Sacrifice for sins forever set down on the right hand of
the throne of God. What the law couldn't do, God
prepared him a body. He came to this world to fulfill
the law, to satisfy the law, satisfy the demands of the law,
and he established a second. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. And you know what happened when
he came and did his work? You know why he's sitting down? It was D-O-N-E done. The high priest in the Old Testament,
they stood and ministered oftentimes the same sacrifices that could
not take away sin. And here's what happened. When
the Lord Jesus Christ died, they took his body and they buried
it. Why did they bury it? He's dead.
He's dead. They came to him and they were
going to break his legs to speed up the death and they didn't
because it was prophesied that not a bone of his body should
be broken. And what did the man do? The Roman soldier took a
spear and pierced his side in his heart. He's dead. He's dead. And what do they do with anything
that's dead? They bury it. They buried him in a new tomb. But he didn't stay dead. Why
didn't he stay dead? Now listen to me. If he had not
been perfect, he'd have stayed dead. If he had not been immaculate,
he'd have never come out of the grave. He's dead. Why did he
have to die? The soul that sinneth, it must
die. Isn't that right? The soul that sinneth, it must
die. But then that first Sunday morning, God raised him from the dead. Why? He was delivered for my
offenses, my crimes, my sins, but he was raised again for my
justification. And God looks at every believing
sinner now as perfect and justified in his sight. Why? Every sin's
been paid for and every sin's been put away. Every sin, every sin. Why didn't
God kill David when he sinned? Every sin's been put away. Okay. Are you beholding this
man? Don't you see, behold this man.
And this man lived on the earth for about another, I think it
was 40 or 50 days with his church. And they saw him. Remember what
he said to Philip? Philip says, I don't believe that's him. He
said, reach forth a hand, Philip. He said, unless I see the print
in his hands and touch his side in his body, that same body. And when Jesus went to glory,
they said, that same Jesus that you see going away is coming
again. Well, where's he at right now? He's seated at the right hand
of the father making intercession for us as the God man. The only reason
any other man, woman, boy or girl goes to heaven is because
he's there. And he is there right now. And
he prays for his church and he prays for his children. They
may be, he prays for all of his sheep. They may be lost sheep
and he prays that they come and they come. God help us this morning to behold
the man sitting at the right hand of the Father making intercession
for us. And what the law could not do,
and nobody else did, He did. He satisfied it. And you know
what? There is therefore Now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit.