I've entitled this message, Christ
and the Soldiers. Christ and the Soldiers. Now
he was mistreated by the servants of the high priest, and now he's
brought to another place to be abused by the soldiers. And I
must admit that I am afraid in preaching this message. I've heard so many messages where
men talk about the physical sufferings of Christ to try to move people
to pity and a response. And I fear doing that. Let me give you an example of
what I'm talking about in verse 24 of chapter 15. And when they had crucified him. That's all that was said. And
when they had crucified him, and I've heard so many detailed
messages about the physical sufferings of Christ, and I would not in
any way lessen the importance of that, but I do not want to
bring a message where I'm trying to tug on people's feelings of
being sorry for Christ with what he had to go through. One thing
the Lord does not need is my or your pity. He said to the
daughters of Jerusalem, don't you weep for me, weep for yourselves
and your children. So you pray for me as I try to
attempt to bring this message that I won't bring it in such
a fleshly way as I know I will, if the Lord doesn't prevent it. Christ and the soldiers. Verse 15, so Pilate, willing to content the people,
released Barabbas unto them. These people cried out, crucify
him. That's what we want. And Pilate
was willing to satisfy them. So he released Barabbas unto
them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. I would like you to turn to this
passage of scripture because I want you to read it and see
it in the word of God. It's Isaiah chapter 50. I have
it written down in my notes, but I thought I'd rather everyone
to just look at this with me. Isaiah chapter 50, verse five. Remember how he was scourged?
That means he was beat with the cat of nine tails before he was
crucified. Look at this scripture in Isaiah
chapter 50, verse five. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear. Now that's a reference to him
being a willing bond slave. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave
my back to the smiters and my cheeks To them that plucked off
the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Now this
is the Lord Jesus speaking of his time on the cross. And this was written some 700
years before it took place. Now the Lord had already been
physically abused by the priests. We read in Mark chapter 14, where
they had mocked his prophetic office saying,
prophesy thou Christ. They blindfolded him and then
began to hit him and say, prophesy, tell us who hit you. This may have been when the beard
was pulled out by the handfuls because that's not recorded in
any of the gospels. The only reason we know it took
place is because of that passage I read in Isaiah. And now the
soldiers are going to mock Christ in his kingly office. Verse 16,
and the soldiers, these are Roman soldiers. These are not the men
who were servants to the priests and the Jews. These were Roman
soldiers. And these men were very brutal
men. Now, Rome had a large empire
and they needed these soldiers to keep everybody in line. And that's exactly what they
did. Everyone was afraid of these Roman soldiers. They were cruel.
and brutal men. And they were used by the Roman
government to keep all these conquered people in line. And the soldiers led him away. I couldn't help but think about
Isaiah 53. He's led as a sheep to the slaughter. He's led. Well, the soldiers
were leading him. And the soldiers led him away
into the hall called Praetorium. That was the hall where the Roman
governor stayed. This is where Pilate was. And
they called together the whole band. Now, all the soldiers that
were stationed at this time were going to participate in this
cruel event. I suppose they found it to be
entertaining. Now, remember, they had all heard
of the idea of a Messiah that was going to come and deliver
them from Roman bondage. And they were thinking, this
is the Messiah. Well, let's show him what we think of him. We
don't have any fear of this man. And they clothed him with purple
and planted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head. Now we know from Matthew's account
that he was stripped naked at this time before they put this
purple robe and crown of thorns upon him. And I'm sure there's
never been one as modest as the Lord Jesus Christ. and his clothes
are stripped off and they want to give him a proper coronation.
I'd like to read from Matthew's account, Matthew chapter 27,
verses 28 and 29. And they stripped him and put
on him a scarlet robe. And when they had placed, or
when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his
head and a reed in his hand. And they bowed the knee before
him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit on him, and took
the reed, and smote him on the head." Now they want to give
the king a proper coronation. Now his back was already lacerated
from that scourging. And I don't know what this garment
was made of. It's interesting. I tried to
read some things on this and everybody seemed to know what
kind of material it was and how rough it was and how much it
must've hurt. Maybe, but the Bible doesn't tell us. I don't
know what kind of material it was, but I know his back was
lacerated and it must've been painful as they robed him in
his kingly garments. His head was already bloody and
swollen by the blows to his face and pulling out his beard. And
then they make a crown, a crown of thorns, the emblem, I'm sure
they didn't know this, but this is the emblem of the curse, isn't
it? Remember, thorns and thistles are the ground bear because of
the curse. And you can be sure that that
crown was not placed on his head gingerly, but was pressed down
so he could feel the pain. A king needs a scepter. They
gave him a reed as the symbol of his authority. They're going to let this supposed
Messiah know, they heard he claimed to be the Christ, We have no
fear of you. And Matthew's account said they
bowed the knee before him. And I believe that's when the
spitting took place in the original. The verb spit is in the verb
tense that says it was a repeated action over and over. And I believe each one of these
soldiers bowed down individually and said, hail King of the Jews. And then they got up, cleared
their throat and spit in his face to show their utter contempt
for him. And all this was done that the
scripture might be fulfilled. You know, Isaiah also tells us
his visage was marred more than the sons of men so that you could
not recognize his face. And that's the brutal treatment
that the scripture points out to us that he received. Now, Luke is silent about what
Matthew and Mark both tell us of Christ's treatment at the
hand of the Roman soldiers, but John tells us something that
the other three gospels do not. And I want to turn to the gospel
of John, beginning in chapter 18. Verse 38, and Pilate saith unto
him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he
went out again unto the Jews. and said unto them, I find no
fault in him at all. But you have a custom that I
should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore
that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they
all again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was
a robber. Then Pilate therefore took him
and scourged him and the soldiers. This is what we just read about.
And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head.
They put on him a purple robe and said, hail, king of the Jews. And they smote him with their
hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them,
behold, I bring him forth to you that you may know that I
find no fault in him. Now, I believe that this was
done so he could perhaps invoke the pity of the people when they
would see him in this condition and perhaps they would feel sorry
for him and not want to go through this crucifixion. I believe that's
why he brought him out like this again. And verse five, then came
Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,
and Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man." Jesus Christ, who is God, is man. His favorite title for
himself was the Son of Man. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. And Pilate says,
behold the man. And you can imagine what all
they saw as they looked upon this man, Jesus Christ. was and is a real man. Now, what I want us to think
about for just a few moments is why did the Son of God become
a man? That's a good question, isn't
it? Why did the Son of God become flesh? Why did the creator of
the universe, Why did the sovereign over all things? Why did the
holy one of Israel? Why did he who is omnipotent
and omnipresent and omniscient and independent and immutable
and in whatever else you want to say with regards to him? Why
did he become a man? Now he did. God was manifest
in the flesh, and there's no more important question that
you and I can consider than this. Why did Jesus Christ become a
man? Why did the Son of God take on
flesh? And the answer is very simple.
Man-sinned. Man-sinned. Man must die. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. Man sinned. Man must die. Now, I wish we wouldn't think
harshly of the Lord, thinking, well, why couldn't he just forgive
people? Why couldn't he just forgive people? Why does man
have to die? Why can't he just forgive man? When we even think
something like that, what we demonstrate is how we have no
understanding of sin. Now, sin is not, yes, it's what
you do, but more than that, it's what you are. It's more than
what you are, it's who you hate. That's what sin is. Sin is a
desire to murder the Son of God. Now, if you die without Christ
and you stand before God in judgment, here is what you're going to
be accused of and condemned for, the death of the Son of God.
What about all my other sins? Well, they're included in all
that, but nothing compared to this sin. the death of the Son
of God. You would have killed him, I
would have killed him if left to ourselves. Men have no love
for the Son of God. Man sinned, man must die. But there's a problem with man's
death. A man can never satisfy God for killing his son. Satisfaction can never take place. Man sinned, man must die, but
man can never satisfy God. God's holy, God's glorious, and
he must have satisfaction for the death of his son. If someone
murdered your child, even on a human level, you'd want satisfaction.
YOU'D WANT IT. WELL, THIS IS INFINITELY MORE
SO THAN THAT. THIS IS THE MURDER OF THE SON
OF GOD. MAN CANNOT SATISFY. THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SATISFY
GOD IS GOD. HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MAKE
SATISFACTION. YOU CAN'T DO IT. THE REASON HELL IS ETERNAL. AND
IT IS ETERNAL. DON'T KID YOURSELF. THERE'S NO
SUCH THING AS ANNIHILATION. It's eternal. It will last forever. And the reason it's eternal is
because no man can render satisfaction to God for his crime. God can
never say I'm satisfied with that punishment. It goes on and
on forever. Man can't satisfy. Only God can
satisfy. Here's the quandary. God can't
die. Man cannot satisfy. God cannot die. The God-man did both. That is the gospel. That is why
he took upon himself flesh. He completely satisfied God by
what he did. Now, like I said, This story
of the cross, as gruesome as it is, it's not given to try
to evoke our pity and try to make us feel bad. It's to let
us know that Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son of man, there's
such glory and infinite power in his person that when he died,
he made full satisfaction to God. And now God is satisfied. I want you to think about that. Can you imagine God being satisfied
with you, looking at you, looking at you and saying, I'm satisfied
with him. I'm satisfied with her. I'm not
looking for, they're perfect. Nothing else can be desired.
That is what Christ accomplished on Calvary's tree. That was his
purpose in coming. Now all the, gruesome, horrible
treatment he had at the hands of men where he took my place.
The fact of the matter is all that I deserve, all that you
deserve. But Christ came as a substitute. That's why he became a man. And
Pilate says, behold the man. Verse six. When the chief priest
therefore and officer saw him, they cried out saying, crucify
him, crucify him. This didn't evoke their pity.
They wanted him dead. They looked at him and said,
nail him to a cross. Pilate saith unto them, take
ye him and crucify him for I find no fault in him. Then Jesus answered him or the
Jews answered him and we have a law and by our law, he ought
to die because he made himself the son of God. Now, pilot was already afraid. He didn't want anything to happen
to Christ. He did everything he could to deliver him. And
you will remember that his wife had a dream and sent somebody
during these proceedings to warn him about this dream. She said,
have nothing to do with that just man, for I've suffered many
things this day in a dream because of him. And you can be sure that
affected Pilate. And then to hear that he made
this claim, that he's God, the son, the son of God, God was
his father. He was not a mere human being,
but the God man, God, the son. Now, Pilate is confused to say
the least. He's scared. He doesn't know
what to think. He didn't know what to say. So
when Pilate therefore heard that saying, verse eight, He was the
more afraid. He was already afraid, but now
he's even more afraid than he was when he heard this statement
regarding what Christ said of himself, that he's the son of
God. And he went again into the judgment hall and saith unto
Jesus, whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. I love the silence of Christ. What power he demonstrated in
his silence. You know, he'd already told them
where he was from. He said, I'm from above. I came down from heaven. Everybody
heard those claims, but at this time, Jesus gives him no answer. Verse 10, then Pilate said in him, speakest
thou not to me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee? And I have power to release thee. As we've brought up several times
in the last several messages from this, he wasn't gonna remain
silent to that. He looked at this paper king
and said, you have no power at all over me. I'm in control of
this. I'm not your victim. I'm here
according to my will. You have no power at all over
me, except it be given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered
me unto thee hath the greater sin. From thence forth Pilate sought
to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
if I let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. Pilate saw himself
to be in a position that he could not win. If I let him go, they
can accuse me of being against Caesar because this one is against
Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat. I think that's so ironic. He
sat down in the judgment seat in a place that's called the
pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. Gabbatha means a high
place. Now, as Pilate sits down in the
judgment seat, the place where judgment is to be meted out,
this is the most unjust thing to ever take place. The murder of the son of God,
nothing but false accusation. nothing but political interest
being involved. This is the most unjust thing
to ever take place. And it's also the most just thing
to ever take place. Gabbatha means high place. This
is not talking about the high place of Pilate. He's nothing
but the pawn of Christ. This is the high court of heaven,
judgment taking place. The Lord said for judgment, I've
come into this world and this is him making the way for God
to be just and justify the ungodly. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, verse 14. And about the six hour noon,
and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king. I don't know what all was going
on in Pilate's mind at this time. I don't know if this is speaking
in contempt of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know if this
is him just hating the Jews and saying, behold your King, trying
to rub it into them because he had no love for the Jews. But
here he says, behold your King. Now, whether you acknowledge
it or not, whether I acknowledge it or not, he is your King. I love that passage in Romans
chapter 14 verse 9, for this end Christ both died and revived
again that he might be Lord of the dead and the living. Now what that means, if you're
dead in sins and an enemy of Jesus Christ, he's your Lord. Somebody says, no, he's not.
Yeah, he is. You might not know it, but He is. You are in the
hand of Him who is Lord of lords and King of kings. And He is
King, He is Lord to all of His people. Oh, we love His Lordship. Now, it was the preparation of
the Passover, about the sixth hour, and they said, behold,
your King. But they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, and
they answered this truly. This is how they really felt.
We have no king, but Caesar. Now this was a high crime for
a Jewish man to make a claim like this. The Lord is supposed
to be their king. But they say, we have no king
but Caesar. And during all this time, Christ
is silent. Now, we know he was silent because
the Bible said he would be. He opened on his mouth according
to Isaiah 53. Now why didn't he open his mouth?
There's only one reason for that. He was guilty. He didn't try to defend himself.
Guilty as charged. No attempt to defend himself. He is The expression of Romans 3, 19,
we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. And the mouth of the Lord Jesus
Christ is stopped at this time because he stands guilty before
God. Now, We've all been accused of
things that we're not guilty of. Every one of us have suffered
at one time or the other through false accusations. And for the
most part, it's better to make no attempt to defend yourself.
A couple of reasons that's true. Even if you didn't do what you've
been accused of, you've probably done something worse. Isn't that
so? You know it's true. Number two,
if you need to be defended, the Lord will defend you. The best
way is to not try to defend yourself, not try to justify yourself,
not try to vindicate your position. Don't try to defend yourself.
I tell you what, if I was in the Lord's position, getting
ready to be nailed to a cross for something I didn't do, I'd
be trying to defend myself. Why did the Lord not defend Himself? Because He was guilty. He bare our sins in His own body. They became His sins. And I'm amazed at His willingness
to go through all of this. Here's how willing He was. He
was the one who was directing all this. That's how willing
he was. He wasn't just willingly submitting
himself to this. He was causing it all to happen.
That is how willing the Lord Jesus Christ is at this time. He was willingly obeying his
father's will. He was willingly saving his people. I love that scripture. Don't
much understand it, but I love that scripture. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him, endured the cross. All these things we've
been talking about, he willingly endured. Why? For the joy that
was set before him. When his father said, you go
to that cross, he willingly obeyed. He did what he wanted to do. Oh, the joy of obeying his father. The joy of doing his father's
will. The joy of saving me. You put your name in there if
you're one of his people. He knew you then. names of the
elect were engraven on his hands just like the tribes of Israel
were graven on the breastplate and the shoulder pads of the
great high priest. You were known at that point
when he was doing that and he got joy from that. I'm struck not only by his willingness
but I'm struck by his faith. He trusted his father at that
time and at no time did he quit trusting his father. Everything
he was going through he trusted his father. When he was forsaken
by his father He trusted His Father. He never quit believing. His Father trusted Him to save
His people, and He trusted His Father, and this gives us some
idea of what it means to be justified by the faith of Christ. We're
justified by the faith of Christ. You know, my faith. I'm justified
by His faith, His obedience, His never doubting His Father.
Somebody had to believe God perfectly. He did. And that's why the scripture
points out we're justified by the faith of Christ. Not by faith in Christ, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ. He trusted His Father completely. I love that scripture in John
chapter 13 verse 1 with regard to all of this. Having loved
his own, which were in the world, he loved them to the end. And that's demonstrated so clearly
in this glorious work of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet
for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be rich." Now, you and I will bow before this
king. Either now, in thankfulness for
his grace, or before he casts us into hell, but bow you will. Because he said, every knee shall
bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Lord, we don't much know what
to say other than thank you for willingly taking our place. Thank you for. Making this world
so you could die on the cross and completely glorify your father. And completely save all your
people from their sins. We give thanks. In the glorious, lovely name
of Thy Son, we pray. Amen.