Our Lord Jesus endured such sorrow
all his life long while he lived on this earth that he is well
described as the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His sorrows didn't begin when
he began to cry in Gethsemane in agony, sweating blood. But there we see the beginning
of his anticipation, that is at least as much as is made known
to us by the Spirit of God, of his anticipation of suffering
in our room instead. And from that moment through
until he cries, it is finished, There is nothing recorded about
him except sorrow and grief. He is arrested in the garden
as a common criminal, treated roughly, with not the least courtesy
or the least concern given to any man. They led him away to
the high priest's house, and there as he was mocked and derided
Peter denied him and denied him and cussed and denied him again
all his disciples have forsaken him no man stands with him and
then the Jewish Sanhedrin the priest decided to go take a little
nap and they left him in the hands of the temple guards. And
these men in the house of Caiaphas the high priest, in the dead
of night, take our dear Redeemer and treat him with the utmost
cruelty and abuse. His enemies were so anxious for
his blood. Remember this man who had never,
not once, said or done anything with any human being except good. They're so thirsty for his blood,
so anxious to condemn him, that as soon as he is brought to the
high priest's house, they begin tormenting him. They blasphemed
him. They mocked him. And then early
in the morning, these old men got up early because they had
important work to do. The Jews called the Sanhedrin
court together, which by the way now was a totally illegal
court in Rome. They had no right to gather the
court, no right to condemn any man, but they gathered their
court together in the name of God to murder the Son of God,
to find an excuse for putting him to death. Let's read verses
63 through 71 in Luke chapter 22. Luke 22 verse 63. And the men that held Jesus mocked
him and smoked him. And when they had blindfolded
him, they struck him on the face and asked him, saying, Prophesy. Who is it that spoke thee? And
many other things blasphemously spake they against him. And as
soon as it was day, the elders of the people And the chief priest
and the scribes came together and led him into their counsel,
saying, Art thou the Christ? Tell us. And he said unto them,
If I tell you, ye will not believe. And if I also ask you, ye will
not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of Man
sit." Quite literally, hereafter, when this day is over. When this day is over, the Son
of Man shall sit forever on the right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou
the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say
that I am. And they said, What need have
we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard of
his own mouth. Like enraged beasts, savages,
The men that held the Lord Jesus mocked him and smote him. They vented their utmost hatred
upon the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His tormentors had
no pity. Their hard, calloused hearts
gave no sympathy. There was none to vindicate his
character, none to plead his cause. No man stood with him,
but alone he bears their torture. What gross cowards they must
have been. Cruelty is always an indication
of cowardice in men. Who can ever forget the picture
of Saddam Hussein Crawling out of that rat hole. Perhaps the most cruel tyrant
we've seen in our generation. Scared to death, hiding in the
dirt, terrified. These cowards, the very men who
just a few hours earlier had heard the Lord Jesus answer their
question when they said we seek Jesus of Nazareth and he said
I am. Quite literally one word and
they fell away as dead men before him. Now they think they have
him in their power and they are emboldened by their foolish imaginations
and treat him with utmost cowardly cruelty. He stands before them
as sheep before her shearers, and they're determined to be
as cruel as they can. And yet, even this is written
in the Scriptures for our learning, for our consolation, that we,
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have
hope. This is one of those passages
I have spent a long time studying and reading, meditating on, trying
to discern, Lord, why are these things written here? I know,
I know, I hope you know, they're not written merely to give us
a historic perspective of the torture of our Savior. no sir nothing in this book is
written just to answer curiosity nothing in this book is written
just to give historic data nothing in this book nothing in this
book and I cry spirit of God whose word we now open be our
teacher and show us wondrous things in your word and I've
seen some wondrous things today The first thing I see is God
Almighty in great, indescribable, unimaginable humiliation. As is customary when it gets
close to these pagan holidays, folks get all excited about Christmas
and Easter and such as that. The History Channel on TV and
Movie channels are showing pictures about Jesus. We want to discover
the historic Jesus. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't going to happen. No. You see, there are strange
things written in the religious books of all false religions. Buddhism, Islam, there are strange
things. If you want to read about strange
things, read about Islam. That fellow who started the thing
must have been an absolute bonkers nut. I mean, ready for bedlam. And I realize that's going to
upset some folks. Let it upset them. That's just
the way it is. That is a strange thing. But everything that is
written in religious books that are considered Bible by some,
about men, about their God, about their Savior, I could have thought of that. Yeah, I could have dreamed that
up. But no human being conspiring
together with all the most brilliant human beings could ever have
figured a way to draw out the character of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. Here is God Almighty When Paul
says he humbled himself, look at the humbled God. What a great, infinite, giant
step of condescension he makes. God in human flesh, the God-man,
our mediator, here is tortured. by wicked men and he does nothing to stop it
says nothing to prevent them nothing I won't attempt to paint
the picture no artist brush could do so and no man's tongue could
describe it but here God the Holy Spirit with eloquence unimaginable
The eloquence of utter simplicity describes the scene before us. In fact, all the time I was preparing
this message, I kept crying in my soul, Lord, why have you written
this record so calmly? Nothing is overstated and that's
a horrible understatement. Nothing is stated even as we
know it was. Nothing. There's no emotion,
no drama, no exaggeration of any kind. When the scriptures
talk about our Lord being mocked, These people stood before Him,
and spit in His face, and laughed at Him, and derided Him, and
mocked His every claim, and mocked His every word, made jokes of
Him, and cussed Him as they passed by, stuck out their tongues,
and wagged their faces at Him, and they mocked Him. We talk
about them beating Him? They didn't just beat Him with
a stick, or beat Him with their staves. They beat Him. He took their claws, their fingers
like claws and dug into his face and pulled off the flesh and
jerked out the beard. And blasphemed him. Blasphemed
him. Declared his every claim, his
every word, his every action to be hellish and evil. And yet the Holy Spirit Says
the men mocked him and smote him, blindfolded him, struck
him, asked him to prophesy to us, blasphemed. And he hereby calls our attention
not to the tormentors, but to the tormented. You see,
Christ is the only one in the whole picture that's significant. The only one in the whole picture
that means anything. I want you to behold Him. God give us eyes to look with
the eye of faith into the high priest's house on that dark,
dark, dark night and behold God our Savior as He is tormented
before men and by men. What do you see? Let me tell
you what I see. I see here omnipotence held captive. This is God omnipotent. Omnipotent. That's a big, big
word. All powerful. the Creator of
Heaven and Earth. Here He is, that One by whom
all things were made, without whom was not anything made that
was made. He who holds every man's breath
in His hands. He who gives life and breath
to all men and takes it as He will. God Almighty, that One
whose will is irresistible even before the powers of hell. God
Almighty omnipotent. The Spirit of God says, the men
hailed Jesus. Is omnipotence bound by the cords
of men? Yes, he was. Yes he was. Surely there is something
wondrous here. The omnipotent God who can create
and destroy according to his good pleasure and always does
took upon himself our nature and in that nature he sunk so
low that he became subject even to the very utmost cruelty of
man. The omnipotent God allows himself
to be bound by men and never proves himself more omnipotent
than when he does. They came into the garden and
said, who are you? Who are you seeking? And they said, we seek
Jesus of Nazareth. He said, well, let me tell you
who I am. And they found out real quick
who he was. He's bound and led away as a prisoner. Why? Our omnipotent God became the
captive prisoner of wicked men. That wicked men held captive
by their own sin and by their own guilt. held captive by Satan
himself, held captive in darkness and in bondage, not physically,
but inwardly in their souls, in their hearts, in their very
nature. He makes himself the captive
of men that he might set the captive free. He was led into
captivity. that he might leave captivity
captive, and that he did. Behold the man, looking steadfastly
on him, I see glory mocked. This is not just the mockery
of men toward a man, but the mockery of glory itself. You see, Jesus Christ The incarnate
God, our crucified Savior, our substitute, our Redeemer, is
not just one in whom the glory of God shines, though that's
true. You read Exodus 33 and 34, and
you'll find out He is Himself the glory of God Almighty. Moses said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. He said, well let me stick you
in a rock, now let's see a little bit. And Moses was shown the
glory of God. He was shown how that God Almighty
can be just. Fully just. And still justify
sinners. How that God Almighty can be
righteous. Perfectly righteous. and yet
be merciful. How that God Almighty can punish
your sin to the absolute full satisfaction of justice with
no mercy and yet deal with you in nothing but mercy. And that can't be done but by
one way and that is for God to assume flesh. and He who is God
in our nature to be made sin for us. And by infinite merit
and the infinite worth of His own divine person, this One in
whom resides all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, suffering
all the terror of God's holy justice, now justice is satisfied. And God Almighty looks on Him
and pardons me because it's right. Did you hear me? The judge of
all the earth must do right and he won't forgive your sin at
the expense of doing right. He won't pardon iniquity at the
expense of doing right. He won't be merciful at the expense
of doing right. Only by the crucified Christ
can God be just and justify the ungodly. And now, since Christ
has died, it's a matter of justice for him to forgive those for
whom Christ died. It's a matter of justice. God
cannot, and I use the word advisedly when I use the word cannot with
reference to God. God cannot act contrary to justice. God cannot punish one sinner
to any degree for sin in time or eternity for whom Jesus Christ
has satisfied His justice. It cannot be done. These men
take Him who is the glory of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth, and mock Him. Mock Him. Now, most kind of mitigate what's
happening here by saying the men didn't know what they were
doing. I'm going to show you in just a minute. They understood
exactly what the prophets referred to when they spoke of Christ,
the man, the son of David, the Messiah. They understood exactly
what the prophets were. The problem was they hated this
man who is the revelation and the embodiment of God. This man
who would not allow them. Remember John chapter 7? He would
not allow them to make him their king on their terms. That's the
problem with the whole religious world. It ain't that they don't
understand what this book teaches, though they don't. The problem
is they hate everything they do understand. They hate God
Almighty. Everybody wants God. If they
can use Him as a rabbit foot, hold Him in their pocket, He
doesn't get in the way. Everybody wants God like that. Everybody
wants God who will be there for them when they need Him. Everybody
wants God on their terms. You too. That's our nature. That's our nature. And man, if
he can't have God on his terms, would rather kill Him than bow
to Him. And they mock the Savior. There are some subjects, when
I start to try to preach on them, I just feel utterly dumbfounded,
amazed, overwhelmed. And that's why I am here tonight. Who can describe the amazing
things he has set before us? And yet, there he is. He who
made heaven and earth. He who sustains these men in life, even now. They pick up their hand to hit
him. and they can't do it without his strength. They clear their throats to spit
in his face and they can't do it if he doesn't put water in
their throats. Even now he upholds all things
including them by the word of his power and they are utterly
filled with hatred and mock his glory. Why? His glory was mocked. That we might be glorified together
with Him. We who have horribly mocked His
glory. I am indignant when I read of
these men and their actions. I am indignant. When I read or
hear the mockery of others with regard to the things of God. Charlotte and Merle were telling
Shelba this morning on the way here, some religious group had
no idea who they are. It doesn't matter who they are.
If it was you or your brother or sister, I'd say the same thing.
If it was my mother or daddy, I'd say the same thing. Got three
crosses, men actually hanging on them. as if to act in spiritual
communication to men. What a mockery! What a mockery! I hurt for the poor fool so ignorant,
but what a mockery! What a horrible mockery! And
yet, I have a greater indignation for myself and not mockery of
the glory of God. What is sin? The sins of which
we have been horribly guilty in the days of our rebellion
and the sins of which we are guilty with every breath we draw. What is sin? But the mockery
of God's glory. What is sin? but the attempt
of a arrogant man to rape God Almighty and rob Him of His glory. Behold the man again looking
upon my Savior as He is there smitten by the hands of men,
beat by men. I see goodness, perfect goodness,
infinite goodness, indescribable goodness, smitten, assaulted,
bruised, assailed. The men that held Jesus mocked
Him and smote Him. To smite wickedness even with
the sword. To smite wickedness is an act
of justice, but to smite goodness is an act of abomination before
God. Turn back to Proverbs 17. Hold
your hands there. Proverbs 17, verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to the Lord. If ever there was a man who is
the embodiment of goodness, and indeed there was just one, it
was this man, Christ Jesus. His holy heart burned with such
love that many waters couldn't quench it. His soul was the embodiment of
mercy. He came here to set up a kingdom
of righteousness and peace and joy, yet he is still He lived
on this earth before God and before men in perfect righteousness,
absolutely fulfilling all things written in the book of the law.
Never was goodness so good as when our Savior, the good and
the just, was not just smitten of men, but smitten of God for
us. You read Proverbs 17? Turn to
1 Peter 3. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, both are an abomination to God.
Both are. Yet here in 1 Peter 3.18, the
Spirit of God says, Christ also hath once suffered for sins the
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh. Did God Almighty commit an act
of abomination? God forbid. Perish the thought. No, sir. But the scripture says
he died the just for the unjust. How can he who is goodness be
punished in justice by the God of truth when he is nothing but
goodness? It would never happen. Never. Never. Not if ten thousand worlds
should live and exist and die after being here for millions
of years. It'd never happen. Well, how
do you understand this? What's the meaning of these passages?
He who is goodness, who knew no sin, was made sin for us. All our guilt, all our corruption,
all our sin, all our iniquity, all our transgression. He was
made everything we are. And when God saw His Son sin,
in justice He cried, Awake, O sword, against one that is my fellow,
smite and slay the shepherd. And he killed his son. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He became everything we are. that we might become everything
he is in the perfection of his glorified humanity now that's called substitution That's called grace. That's called
redemption. Oh, what great goodness is here.
He was smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed. Take another look. Back here
in Luke 22. And when they had blindfolded
him, they struck him on the face. Excuse me. And asked him saying, prophesy.
You say you're a prophet. Everybody tells us you're a prophet
come from God. Even one of our own Nicodemuses
acknowledged that you're a prophet come from God. You're that prophet
that should come that Moses spoke of. Let's see if you're that
prophet. Who was it that hit you? Who
was it that hit you? It doesn't say one of them hit
him. It says they hit him. They ganged up with hellish delight
and beat him. And then they said, now tell
us who hit you. Who hit you? The Son of God, the omniscient
God, is blindfolded. Pastor, omniscience can no more
be blindfolded than omnipotence can be bound. I know that. Brother Scott said, I ain't coming
home back in my cabbage truck. I know a little bit. I know that.
I know that. But what's he telling us here?
They blindfolded him? Men, you and me included, commonly
treat our God as if he cannot see and does not know. God forgive us. But I see more
than that here. When I read this, I tried to
get some understanding. What's meant here, I have to
acknowledge I don't have any idea what the full meaning of
these things is. But if you'll turn back to Numbers
chapter 23, I'll show you the text that immediately came to
my mind and left up in my heart. Numbers 23. Verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in
Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
darling son, has so thoroughly and absolutely blotted out our
transgressions. and removed our iniquities and
taken away our sins, that the omniscient holy God is blind
to it. Blind to it. We were talking
in the office. I'm sure we haven't begun to
imagine anything close to the reality of the believers' oneness
with Christ, the union of God's elect to Jesus Christ. We are from eternity by covenant
grace, by divine decree, by the purpose of God, by the will of
God, according to the will of God. Every sinner loved of God
from eternity is loved of God in Christ. Only in Christ. Chosen of God, in Christ. Only in Christ. Accepted of God,
in Christ. Accepted from eternity, in Christ. Only in Christ. Blessed of God.
Blessed with all blessings from eternity, in Christ. And in time,
when He had borne our sins and satisfied justice, when He, with
His own blood, entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us, and He sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty, O High." You mentioned it tonight, Alvin.
We sat down together with Him. Not we're going to, we did. So
really and truly, one are we with Him, who is the God-man,
our Mediator, that the union with Him is vital both ways. He cannot exist as the Mediator,
and we cannot exist as His body if even one should be harmed
in any way. Now God looks on him. And he sees Don Fortner. And he looks on Don Fortner. And this is just too much for
some folks. And he sees Jesus Christ, his
son. Oh, glory. Wondrous grace. With his spotless garments on, I am as holy as God's own Son. Our iniquities he has cast behind
his back. Did you ever try to see what's
behind your back? He hath not beheld iniquity in
Israel. And yet I do see something about
man here. I see here the indescribable
depravity of humanity. Men these days love to talk about
the will of man. News commentators, politicians,
religious folks, everybody brags on the will of man. Everything
hinges on the will of man. Some fools, and I use the word
some just as loosely as it can be used. Some fools, you find
them everywhere, even talk about the free will of man. Free will. Free. Well, let's see what man's
free will is. Here are these men. Not any men. Very religious men. These men
are temple guards. You don't get to be that just
any old way. You got to be pretty good. Got
to be pretty devoted. Sometime go over to the Vatican,
if you can find out, talk to one of those folks who are one
of the temple guards of yonder. Same kind of folks. Find out
what they had to go through. Find out what they had to go
through to get to be temple guards. These are good men. Good religious
men. Fundamentalist religious men.
Conservative religious men. You'll find them marching against
abortion, and marching against pornography, and marching against
almost anything you can be against. They just get everything. Good
men. And they are in the darkness
of night. Nobody around to urge them on. Nobody to manipulate
them. Nobody to force them. They're
motivated and inspired by no law. The Sanhedrin had already
gone to bed. And they left this prisoner in
the hands of these men. And they had no responsibility,
no charge, no order, except to hold him. Just keep him here
for the morning. We'll take care of this in the
morning. That's all. They've got nothing but liberty and freedom. That's all. That's all. and with
nothing but their own wicked, depraved, corrupt will they began
one after the other to spit in his face tear off his skin rip
out his beard beat him What is man? You and me and every
human being depraved to the core. I get so sick of listening to
political savvy preachers trying to sneak up on folks backside
and get them to say alright to the things concerning the gospel
of God's grace while they still hate God. When we talk about
depravity, we're not saying that man's as bad as he could be.
Oh yes, we are. You're just as bad as you can
be. Just as bad. There's not any
prostitute on the streets of any city any worse, no child
molestered, no pedophile, no rapist, no murderer, no torture
of men any worse than you and me. The only difference is, sometimes
God lets men be and do what they will. And what do they do? They act with more cruelty than
any mad, wild animal ever acted. Have I overstated anything? A
wild animal that has gone mad won't commit such tortures as
man does to man, let alone as man did to the God-man when he
had him in his hands. Why? Because the human heart,
every human heart is enmity against God and hates Him. But here, if you read on, I've
got to quit, I've preached too long. In the latter part of the
chapter, these men ask the Lord Jesus, they say, are you the
Christ? If you are, tell us plainly.
And the Lord Jesus says, if I told you, you wouldn't believe. They not only have him standing
in front of them, they are intimately familiar with all his words and
works performed publicly for three and a half years, not in
a corner, but openly and publicly before thousands. And the Lord
Jesus said, if I stood right here and told you, look here,
I am God the Son of whom the prophet spoke, who should come
as a man. You wouldn't believe me. How
come? Because faith is the gift and
the operation of God. So depraved is the human heart,
so corrupt and vile the human will. so utterly depraved and
ignorant and blind is human nature that no man, no woman, no child
has ever, will now, or can ever believe on the Son of God. Their obstinance and unbelief
and rebellion is so great that they prefer and choose willingly
To believe that which is directly contrary to everything they know
to be true. Rather than bow to God's revelation. Until God Almighty gives them
faith. Until God Almighty reveals His
Son, not just to you, but in you. I see one more thing here. I see love in labor. Through all this our Lord Jesus
is triumphant. His enemies, his foes, Neither
the priest, nor the Sanhedrin, nor the scribes, nor the Pharisees,
nor the soldiers, through their torture, through their craftiness,
through their cunning, through their deceit, not one of them
ever forced him to say a word he didn't want to say. Speak
a thing he didn't desire and purpose to speak. Do one thing
he didn't intend to do. And they didn't do anything to
keep him from going on to accomplish that for which he came into this
world, the redeeming of our souls by the sacrifice of himself.
You ladies can identify with these things better than men
can in some ways. When I speak of his love in labor,
A woman who is about to give birth enters into travail and
sometimes with great, great, great pain. Indescribable pain. And she does it willingly. Willingly. Because she has something inside
her. deep, deep, deep down inside her that nobody can explain or
understand except that woman herself. She has deep, deep,
deep down inside her the wondrous, glorious, indescribably happy
prospect of giving life. And when she puts that baby on
her breast she looks down and wipes away the tears and smiles
and laughs with joy because now she sees the satisfaction of
her travail this is what the book says about him he shall
see of the travail of his soul and shall be He's going to have all for which
he suffered and be delighted. What does that mean, preacher?
That means the cross of Jesus Christ shall never be discovered
in miscarriage. He's going to have his people,
everyone of them, with him in glory. And you read it just a
little bit ago, Roger. And we who were all the days
of our lives called forsaken, shall no more be called forsaken,
but Heavens above. My delight is in her. He shall be satisfied with you
and me. When I stand with Him in glory, I will look at Him and forever
declare from the depth of my soul, Thou, O Christ, art all
I want. He's all I want. shall look on me and declare
from the depth of His being, Don, you're everything I wanted. Everything I wanted. I've made
you exactly like me. Amen.