I want you this evening to turn with me to Matthew 27, and I want you to read our text with me. I want you to read it with deliberate thought. This is a short but very solemn description of the scourging, the mockery, and the shame inflicted upon our Lord Jesus Christ by the Roman soldiers before he was crucified.

Now, let's read these lines with reverence and meditate upon them with deep gratitude, realizing that what our Redeemer here endured at the hands of wicked men, he endured in our room, in our place as our substitute, in order that he might bring us unto God, that he might redeem unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The Lord Jesus Christ endured these things by the hands of wicked men, that he endured them according to the purpose and will of God, for he had come here to do the will of God in the accomplishing of our redemption.

Matthew 27, verses 26 through 32. Then released he Barabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet When they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross.

The Lord of glory was humiliated, scourged, and mocked by men that we might be exalted, embraced, saved, and honored by God. And as I read this passage, I want to let you know now that I'm going to take a little time. We've been moving through Matthew very rapidly, I wanted to do so deliberately, but I want us to take a little time with these verses of Matthew 27, dealing with the crucifixion. And I'm almost reluctant to even give an outline of the passage or to outline it for you, but in order that you can, if you want to take notes, you can follow along a little easier. In order for you to retain what you hear, I will divide the passage up into three divisions.

First, in verse 26, we will look at the scourging of our Savior. And then in verses 27 through 31, the sport of the soldiers, and then in verse 32, the First, then, look at verse 26. Here is the scourging of our Savior described. Then released he Barabbas unto them. We have seen already that Barabbas was released and the Lord Jesus took his place as his substitute. Barabbas was released and the Lord Jesus was crucified for him. He was scourged in his place and then nailed to the tree that was intended for him. This vile criminal, guilty and worthy of death, condemned and awaiting execution, is a very good picture of you and I. You and I, by nature, like Barabbas, are rebels, guilty, condemned, and awaiting execution by nature. And the Lord Jesus Christ came by an act of divine mercy, by an act of infinite grace, and took our place. He took our place under the scourging whip of God's law, under the sword of God's justice, and satisfied the justice of God on our behalf. That is the glorious central theme of Holy Scripture. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had no sin, was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Substitution is the heart of Holy Scripture. It is the heart of the Gospel, and that's the theme that's constantly portrayed, illustrated, and explained throughout the Old Testament as well as the New, and here Barabbas stands as just one example of substitution.

Just as Barabbas must go free because the Lord Jesus hung upon the tree in his stead, So every one of God's elect for whom Christ died at Calvary must go free. The justice of God demands it. Justice wants satisfying. Cannot require a double payment for sin. If Jesus Christ took my place, if he bore my sin, if he satisfied the wrath and justice of God for me at Calvary, then like Barnabas, we must go free. You understand that? That's substitution.

Now Luke tells us that Pilate tried to appease the Jews by offering to scourge the Lord Jesus rather than crucifying him, in Luke chapter 23. You'll remember that Pilate, he recognized the Lord Jesus to be an innocent man. And he was fearful because of his wife's dream, and he wanted to release him, but this spineless politician simply offered to the Jews, let me scourge him, and then I'll turn him loose. And the Jews said, no, crucify him, crucify him. And so we read here, after Barabbas was released, when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

I can't begin to describe with graphic enough detail what the scourging was like in order for you to appreciate what our Lord endured. This act of scourging was almost as cruel, almost as inhumane, almost as barbaric as crucifixion. It was done, this particular word for scourging here implies it was done not with rods, but rather with a whip, with a multi-stranded whip, a whip made out of something like rawhide. with knots tied in it, and each strand of the whip had bone fragments tied in it, so that when a man's back was beaten with a scourge, as the execution of the haunted punishment would drag that whip across his back, literally he would plow furrows in the man's back.

Our Lord Jesus Christ endured this scourging, and when I think about it, just imagining what the scourging is like. I would think that one lash with those bones dragging across, cutting your back to the bone is indescribably painful. Our Lord took 39. He took 39. And he did so in order that the scriptures be fulfilled.

Now as you read the gospel narratives, always bear in mind that what these wicked men did, they did according to their own wicked wills, because that was their pleasure as wicked men. But they did only that which God from eternity ordained must be done. Hold your hands here and turn to the book of Acts. Let me show you. Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 13. I want you to look at this. Don't ever imagine that somehow things were out of control. Don't ever imagine that somehow these men somehow got an advantage over the Lord of Glory, and somehow God's purpose was in jeopardy. Not at all. These men fulfilled the prophets, and they fulfilled the scriptures exactly. The Lord Jesus was delivered into the hands of wicked men who crucified him. He was delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's what Peter says in Acts 2.23.

Here in Acts chapter 4, little verse 27, For the truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together for to do," you see that? "...for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Look in chapter 13. Acts 13, verse 27. For they that dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets, that is, they didn't understand the prophets, though they read them every day, every day, the voices which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they pilot that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher."

Now let me show you the scriptures that were fulfilled. When they lacerated his back, when they plowed up his back so that he was beaten beyond recognition as a man, this is what the scripture said in Psalm 129.3, "...the plowers plowed upon my back, and they made long their furrow." written in the Scriptures. Our Savior said, I gave my back to the spiders in Isaiah 50 verse 6. Isaiah 53 verse 6, verse 5 rather, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace, that is the beating by which we obtain peace, though the chastisement alone was not enough, yet the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Our Lord Jesus himself had spoken earlier in Matthew 20, if you want to turn there for just a second. In Matthew 20, verse 19, he said, And they shall deliver him up to the Gentiles, to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him. And on the third day he shall rise again. So when they scourged him, they were but fulfilling the strictures so that our Lord gives us a clear evidence that this one who died at Calvary, who was crucified by Pilate's order at the hands of Romans to satisfy these bloodthirsty Jews, that one is indeed the Christ of God of whom the Old Testament prophets spoke.

The discouraging of Christ. Though it is an emblem of the scourging and strokes of divine justice which he endured in his soul and in his body as our servant, when he was stricken, smitten, afflicted of God by the sword of justice, this scourging is not itself enough to satisfy justice. Scourging is not enough to put away sin. Even had he been scourged unto death, that would not have fulfilled the prophets. The Lord Jesus must be slain, and he must be slain in a manner that specifically identifies him as one who is cursed of God. So if they had beat him literally to death, that would not satisfy the types and prophecies of the Old Testament. He must be slain by being hanged upon a tree as the object of God's curse, and he must suffer the full vengeance of God's holy wrath upon the cursed tree as our substitute. And so when they had scourged him, they did that in preparation of the crucifixion, not instead of the crucifixion. Pilate delivered him then to be crucified after he was scourged.

No peace, what you read a little bit ago? No peace could be made except by the blood of the cross. That's what Paul declares in Colossians 1 verse 20.

Now, let's look at the sport of the soldiers in verses 27 through 31. Notice the first word in verse 27, then, then. The Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to write just that way for a specific reason.

Normally, when a man was condemned, after he was scourged, whatever scourging he would have, there would be a time of reprieve, a few days at least, usually ten to fourteen days, in which he would be allowed to receive visits from family or sympathizers who would come and seek to comfort him, a time in which he would be allowed to contemplate both his crimes and his condemnation and the death that he would face. But our Lord Jesus Christ, as soon as He was scourged, Beloved was released, the Lord Jesus was scourged, and then they took Him away to crucify Him.

Even in this barbaric time, these times when men were without compassion, without humanity, it seems, even in these times, there was a lot of little space between condemnation and execution. But our Lord Jesus Christ was immediately hurried off by the soldiers to a place in the common hall, that is, a place in Pilate's palace, a Pilate's house. And he was delivered over to the hands of these men to be crucified, and they gathered together a group of soldiers.

Notice verse 27, Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. got together to make a, make a sport. These, you've seen pictures, especially older ones who, who saw movies like Spartacus and such things like that, you've seen pictures of these gladiators in the fighting, and having been made sport in bloodshed in those days. These Roman soldiers were crusty, hard men. hardened with a lifelong career of bloodshed, hardened with a lifelong career of spending nothing except their time in battle. And now, a whole band of them are gathered together to make sport with the Son of God, to make sport with Him as they prepare Him for execution.

There's a few hours here, before the time comes when the place from God's office here would be made ready, a few hours when they would torture him, a few hours when they would extort him, and they gathered a whole band of soldiers. Now, that means there was a minimum of 500 of them, a minimum. maybe as many as 1,200 or 1,300 of them. The whole band of Roman soldiers were gathered together to make sport with the Son of God.

And these barbaric, hard-hearted men were gathered together here and they did specifically seven things which the Holy Spirit here describes for us by Matthew's pen. First in verse 28, they stripped. They stripped. If I read the scriptures correctly, the only thing our Lord, while he walked on this earth as a man, owned, the only thing he possessed, were the clothes on his back. The only thing. He had no place to lay his head, no place to call his home. He had no dearth to shelter himself. This man owned nothing except the clothes that he wore, and they stripped him even of that before he was executed upon the tree.

They stripped him of his clothes, and there, in shame and in nakedness, the Son of God stands before a band of barbaric soldiers. You see, the shame of nakedness came into the world with sin. And therefore, when Christ came to be made sin for us, to satisfy the justice of God on account of our sin, to put our sin away, He was stripped naked before men, made to be a public shame and a public spectacle. stripped naked, put to shame that we might be given honor, stripped that we might be called with white lament, the white lament of his righteousness, made to be, to be shamed and stripped naked so that we might stand before God, ultimately loathing his righteousness, honoring to God himself.

He was stripped. And then second, they put a scarlet robe on him. You see that in verse 28? They put on him a scarlet robe. We're not told where it came from, but being as how this was a band of Roman soldiers, probably, probably, it was an old soldier's worn coat, which was typically worn by the, a red garment. Perhaps it was just an old red blanket that was cast over him as a robe. But they took this old coat of one of the soldiers, this old blanket, and draped it over Emmanuel. And they draped it over him in utter mockery.

You see, they knew that he had claimed to be a king. They knew that he had said that he is indeed the Son of God, the King of the Jews. And thus they derided him, putting on him this old red garment, this old red cloak in derision. But in doing so, they fulfilled the will of God. and the Word of God. They didn't go back and look in the Scriptures to see what the Scripture says concerning him, but we know what the Scriptures say. And he who is now made to be humiliated and shamed by these soldiers, them putting this red garment on him, is the one of whom the prophet declares he was red in his apparel. Isaiah chapter 63. He is that one who washed his garments in wine. Our sins are described as being both scarlet and crimson, and thus the Lord Jesus Christ, who was about to be made sin for us, our Lord Jesus Christ is here providentially draped over with a red garment, representing our sins and representing him as the sin-bearer.

Then next, in verse 29, they plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. continuing their mockery, continuing to mock him and his claims as being the king, the king of the earth, the king of Jerusalem, the king of all things, the Messiah of Israel. They made a crown of thorns. They made a crown of thorns. And when they made their crown of thorns, they shoved it on his head. But this crown of thorns was made and shoved on his head. according to the purpose of our God.

You see, thorns are the result of sin, Genesis 3.18. Wouldn't be if sin hadn't come into the world. And when God makes all things new, there'll be no more thorns. These thorns were the result of sin, a part of God's curse upon the earth. Therefore, when Christ was being made a curse for us, and would remove the curse from us, he wore an emblem of the curse, thorns. This was a fulfillment of the typical sacrifice that Abraham described in Genesis 22. You remember when Abraham and Isaac went up to Mount Moriah according to the commandment of God, and Isaac said, Father, we have the fire and we have the wood for the burnt offering, but where is the lamb? He knew you couldn't come to God without a blood atonement. And Abraham said to Isaac, My son, God will provide himself a lamb. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who comes as the Lamb of God, and here he is, like that lamb that Abraham saw, you remember? He was about to slay Isaac, the knife was in his hand, and behold the lamb caught in the thickets. Our Lord Jesus is here, taking the Lamb of God with the thicket of sin and curse upon him, and thus the Scripture is fulfilled.

These thorns drew forth blood as they were shoved into his brow, and the blood trickles down the face and over the beard of him whom is our great High Priest, as a holy ointment with which he is consecrated to God."

And then, fourthly, they put a reed in his right hand. Here he is with his crown and his robe, and they give him a bamboo shoot. Give him a bamboo. Put it in his right hand. As if to say, you claim to be king? You claim to be ruler of everything? Here's what we think of your kingdom. It is just as a wing shaken in the wind, shaking, as we're about to do a little here, king and kingdom both. Little did they understand that his kingdom is forever and forever. The Lord God said, Set thou at my right hand, and reign until I make thy foes thy footstool. Thy kingdom, O Lord, is a kingdom that shall last forever and forever." A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom, but they give him a bamboo sheet and call that a scepter for him.

And then they bowed the knee, verse 29, they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, king of the Jews. The derision, the mockery, the scorning, all of it seems obvious as you read the passage. Like Joseph's brethren, these Roman soldiers speak to him and say, shalt thou impede reign over us? They knew nothing about him. Like multitudes today, they mock His claims to sovereignty. They mock the claim that He has of His righteous dominion over all things. But man's mockery will not last forever. Oh, hear me now. You will bow beneath the Son of God. You will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, like it or not. He's your Lord, like it or not. Bow to Him, all men must. This is what the Scripture says. Thou hast given Him power over all flesh. and giving him power over all flesh, God has exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, every one, and every tongue confess, a thanes in heaven, a thanes in the earth, and a thanes under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Everybody shall bow to him. Every knee shall bow to him.

But these soldiers mock him. They say, Hail, King of the Jews. Before long, they shall say indeed, Hail, King of Zion. And then they spit upon him. I read this 30th verse, and I'm astonished. I'm utterly astonished. I know what I have done before God saved me by his grace when some fool would have the gall to spit in my face. I don't know what I would do right now should that happen. And I don't know which is most astonishing. That wicked should have the audacity that they should bear, clear their throats, and spit upon the Son of God, for that Emmanuel, God Almighty, who is rich in glory, that God Almighty should condescend to willingly give His face for men to spit upon Him. They spit upon him. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Father, so poor that he stands before men as the target of their spit, that you might be made rich. He became poor! He spoke to the depths of humanity that we might be made to possess all the riches of grace and glory in him. And then they took the reed, that bamboo reed, and smote him on the head. They beat him on the head while he was wearing that crown of thorns, inflicting all the pain they possibly could upon him. Why? Because they're vile, barbaric, beastly men.

Why was all this done? Why did the Lord of Glory submit to it? For us. The Son of God endured this misery. Misery that none of us would endure if we could help. He endured this shame, the shame that not one of us would endure if we could avoid it. He endured this torture, the torture that we cannot even imagine, much less describe. That he might purchase for us everlasting life. That he might win for us eternal joy. That he might obtain for us that peace that passes understanding that shall ultimately find its perfection in heaven's glory.

But these things still, I say, were not sufficient to save us. These torments could never satisfy the justice of God for us. The Son of God must be crucified. And therefore we read in verse 31, After that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Let me read a passage to you. In Deuteronomy chapter 21, this is what God says in his law. If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou shalt hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in anywise bury him that day. For he that is hanged is accursed of God. He that is hanged is accursed of God. Here in Galatians 3 verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And therefore when they had scourged him, they led him away to crucify him.

First they put his own clothes back on him, so that as he went through the streets, Those later who might report this incident could not say that they sensitized somebody else, that this was another man. They didn't really do this to Jesus of Nazareth. But everyone would recognize that woven garment, that seamless garment, his own clothes put on him as they lead him away. And everybody recognizes they're leading away Jesus of Nazareth to crucify him. They led him as a lamb to the slaughter. to crucify Him outside the city gates. Let Him out there, beyond the gates, to the place where there's an evident declaration that there's contamination, uncleanness and sin. Let Him out to Golgotha, to Calvary, to Jerusalem's garbage dump, the place of death and destruction, the place of corruption. And there, He who must be made sin is set forth outside the camp, outside the camp, crucified for us. let us therefore go unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. He bore this for us, what shall we not bear for him?

Now look at the service of Simon as it is described in verse 32. And as they came out, came out the gates of the city, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, What honor God puts upon those who commonly are despised by men. Someone mentioned to me before we left here last week, after one of the scripture readings, I forgot who it was, the genealogy of Matthew, how did our Lord identify himself deliberately with sinners in his genealogy? The only women mentioned in his genealogy is one guilty of incest, another one guilty of adultery, and another one who was a Moabitess, a daughter of Lot. so that the Lord Jesus identifies himself with sinners. And here is a man from that area of the country, Cyrene, commonly, commonly, suffer and die in this world. Those who are looked upon by others as being the offscouring of the earth, the Lord Jesus has taken and identified himself deliberately with such things as men commonly despise, such things as we are.

This man, Simon, was one of the Lord's disciples. We know that from Mark chapter 15 and Luke 13. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. This man, Simon, was apparently known to be one of the Lord's disciples. Whether or not the soldiers knew that, we do not know. But he was compelled to carry the Master's cross, because they feared that the Lord Jesus might somehow, in weakness and weariness, fall beneath the load, and then they would be robbed of their last ultimate sport. They would be robbed of nailing him to the tree, be robbed of watching him hang up and die that cursed death. And so they compelled Simon to carry his cross.

There are some spiritual lessons to be learned from this as well. If we would follow Christ, We must take up his cross in daily life. I've said this to you so many times. Every day, every day, we're confronted with decisions that must be made. Either God's will and God's glory and obedience to him, Larry, or our will and our purpose and satisfaction of our flesh. Every day. his disciples, we must day by day deliberately take up his cross and follow him. That's what he said. That's what he said. Believers do. And yet, I know that we will not by nature do so. This taking up the cross and following Christ, this This sacrifice of our lives to his dominion, our sacrifice of our lives to his glory, to his will, is so contrary to our flesh that we will not do it unless we are compelled by the grace of God to do so. And so the scripture says they compelled Simon to carry his cross. I suspect Simon naturally revolted from doing so. Not only the cause of the personal reproach that he would be involved with, and the difficulty involved with it, but he would have nothing to do with that which would cost his Savior such a sacrifice. And yet he was compelled, contrary to his own desires, to do so. And certainly you and I are compelled, contrary to our flesh, by the grace of God, to take up our cross and follow him.

And in the light of these things, I urge you once more, my brothers and sisters in Christ, give yourselves to him in unreserved devotion. In unreserved devotion. Remember your baptismal profession. Thirty years ago, This is what I said to God, to the kingdom of God, and to the world. I'm dead with Christ. I'm buried with Christ. He's come to snatch me out of death and raise me up to the power of his Spirit. And now, by God's grace, I'm resolved, henceforth, to walk with him in unison with him. For Christ's sake, do it. Such a small thing. that we should do for his honor when we consider what he endured when he was just preparing to suffer for us when he was just preparing to die for us renew your commitment to him daily I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is just your reasonable service.

Let's stand together for prayer. Spirit of God, be pleased to take these words and use them for the edifying of your people, the comfort of your saints, and the salvation of those who hear the message. Those who hear have heard it and those who shall hear it in other places. God be pleased for the glory of Christ, for the good of your people, to bless your word. We thank you from the depths of our souls. We thank you for Jesus Christ who loved and gave himself for us. We acknowledge our sin. Now we ask for grace that you will indeed compel us, everyone, to take up our Redeemer's cross and His cause and bear it day by day for His namesake. We again ask your continued blessings upon the vast ministries you've trusted to our hands. Thank you for every open door of utterance for the gospel. We ask that you will continue to open your way before us, make your word effectual to the hearts of many.

As we prepare for our conference, we ask that you will make us, Father, to be zealous in our preparations and prayer And we ask your special blessings upon the preaching of the word. And we pray, our Father, for our sons and daughters. We recognize that they are but sinners, like all other men, deserving of nothing but wrath and judgment and condemnation. And for that reason, we bring them to you and ask God be merciful. Restrain the evil that's in them. Keep them from the corruptions of their own hearts. And for Christ's sake, grant them life and faith by your abundant grace. We ask for wisdom to minister to the young ones who are yet under our care. And we ask for grace to trust you and commit to your hands. Those who have left the shelter of our homes and the discipline of our homes, we ask that you will be pleased, our Father, for Christ's sake, to have mercy upon them. Amen.