 Amen. So keep your place there in Matthew chapter 27. What we're going to do this evening is we're going to go over the event of Jesus at the moment that he gets in front of Pontius Pilate. We're going to look at the situation from the time that he meets Pontius Pilate until the time he is crucified and died. So we're going to focus down at verse number 11 in Matthew chapter 27. And let's look at the timeline. Let's look at the details of what happened. We'll bounce around to some different Gospels. One of the nice things about the Gospels is that they give us a different perspective. Gospels fill in the gaps where other Gospels do not tell us the full story. So we'll look at some of that this evening as well. But let's get a full picture this evening of what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ on this day. Look at verse number 11 of Matthew chapter 27. And Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked him saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and the elders he answered, nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Here is not how many things they witness against thee. So right away they bring Jesus to the Roman governor to Pontius Pilate to use him as a tool to kill Jesus. They want to kill Jesus. We looked at this last week. They're not able to execute a person under Jewish law. So they're going to use Pontius Pilate and they're going to politically pressure him to execute this innocent man who by the way Pontius Pilate knows hasn't done anything worthy of death. And he tries to stop this situation several times. But look at verse number 14. And he answered him never a word. And so much that the governor marveled greatly. So here Pontius Pilate is just a man. He's a man that loves power. We'll talk about this at the end. But he's a typical man who's on his upward path in his political life. He wants to keep his position. He's looking at this guy who's been supposedly falsely accused of something. And he marveled because he's like, why is this guy not trying to get out of this? Why is this guy not begging for his life? Why is he not coming to me? Look, if somebody's falsely accusing you and you're standing in front of the judge, you would think you'd be like, hey, they're lying. It's not true. But Jesus says nothing. He says nothing to Pontius Pilate. Now look at verse 15. We'll talk about that at the end, why that is, and why Jesus was different than any other man by any other power, any other leader, any other king, any other ruler that's ever lived throughout history. And the way God chose to do this, Jesus is demonstrating it right here. Look at verse 15. Now at that feast the governor was want to release unto the people of prisoner, whom they would. Now at that feast, now this is something that the governor would do for the Jewish people. The feast he's talking about is the feast of the Passover. We'll get into that in more detail later. And they had a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus which is called Christ. So Barabbas is this insurrectionist, he's a murderer. And he's like, surely they will want this guy released into, you know, back into the population. For they knew that for envy they had delivered him. For he knew that for envy they had delivered him, delivered Jesus. When he was sat down at the judgment seat his wife said unto him saying, Have nothing to do with that just man. For I have suffered many nights this day in a dream because of him. But the things, I've suffered many things, sorry, this day in a dream because of him. So even his wife knew that Jesus was a just man. Look at verse number 20. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. So the priests of course want to kill Jesus but they even convinced the people to let this murderer back into the population and not Jesus. And the governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas. Now of course this has a lot of parallels to Leviticus chapter 16 with the two goats. I don't like to really get too much into this because Jesus obviously encompassed both goats in Leviticus chapter 16 as far as the day of Atonement. If you remember they would pick two goats and one goat was a scapegoat. And one goat was to have like the sins of the people confessed over the goat and then they would let the goat go into the wilderness. And then the other goat would become the sacrifice, the blood sacrifice, the blood that was put on the mercy seat. So of course we know that Jesus, his blood covers his, he died for the sins of all mankind and his blood was also spilt for the sins of mankind. Jesus encompasses two goats but it's interesting we do see a picture of one let go and one being sacrificed here. Look at verse 22. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? And they all said unto him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why? What evil have he done? But they cried out the more saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather at Tomalt was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it. So this is the first, the first decision where Pilate kind of gives in and says okay just crucify him. There's twice that this happens, at least twice that we're talked about. Look at verse 25. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. Ouch. That's quite a statement right there. If you've ever wondered why the Jewish people have had such a tough time throughout history in the last, you know, several centuries since this, this is why right here. You might not be a popular thing to say but they're literally cursed. They're literally cursed. And look, they need to be saved just like everybody else needs to be saved. The Jew today is not special to God. The Jew today needs to be saved just like the Muslim needs to be saved. The Jew today needs to be saved just like the Buddhist needs to be saved. Just like every other religion out there, you can only get to heaven through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, through trusting only in Jesus Christ. He is the only way. And this is what the, you know, the Jewish leaders and the Jewish people they convinced here got themselves into. Look at verse number 26. Verse number 26. Then released He for Abbas unto them. And when He had scorched Jesus, He delivered Him to be crucified. So He went and He has Jesus whipped here in verse number 26. Then something else happens. Okay, so He has Him officially beaten, whipped, scorched by the Roman soldiers. But then look at verse 27. The Bible says then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers. So now they kind of took this thing a little further than Pilate asked them to do. They scorched Jesus, they whipped Him, they beat Him, you know, as they were, you know, as He was delivered by Pontius Pilate as a sentence to be carried out. But then these soldiers just get together and just start torturing Him. Look at verse 28. And they stripped Him and put on a scarlet robe. And 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. Every single time I see a rose bush or something at any kind of landscaping place or anywhere in the woods, I always think of this. You know, they literally took, and they, I mean, how sadistic is this? Is they just made something to just put Him through pain and mock Him and make, you know, they're mocking the fact that He says He's a King. And they spit upon Him and took the reed and smote Him on the head. Now turn to John chapter 19. So John, John chapter 19 happens right between verse 30 and verse 31 of Matthew chapter 27. Go to John chapter 19. Go to John chapter 19. So basically in John chapter 19, let me turn there myself, Pilate tries one more time. So what's happened so far? Pilate tries to get him out of it. He says, you know, Jesus isn't saying a word to Pilate. You know, Jesus in other places says, you have no power over me. You know, you have no power over me. And Jesus says, people that delivered to you to me, they're in way more trouble than you are. He's like, you're just a tool. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. You're just a tool to carry out this plan. You know, God's playing 4D chess here. God is having Satan and Satan's minions, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, Judas Iscariot carry out His perfect plan here. Look at John chapter 19. Pilate therefore took Jesus and scorched him. And then we see the soldiers again, torturing him. This is the same story that we just read in Matthew 27 saying, Hail, King of the Jews. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and a purple robe. Now this is what happens between verse 30 and verse 31 of Matthew 27. Pilate again appeals to the people. He's like, look what they've done to him. Look, they've to beat him. He's almost dead. Just look at him. And he says, he's like, he says to him, he says, he's like, Hail, you know, look at your king. He says, and Pilate said them to behold the man. The chief priests, therefore, and the officers, they cried out, saying, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, take ye him and crucify him, for 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. And of course, then they put the political pressure on on Pilate here saying that, you know, we're going to tell Caesar on you. And then Jesus says, you have no power over me. And finally Pilate is just like, I'm done. I can't, I can't appease these people. Go back to Matthew chapter 27 and verse 31. Back to Matthew chapter 27 and verse 31. So the point I'm trying to get at here is in John chapter 19, the Bible talks about, you know, Jesus being crucified at the sixth hour, which would be noon. So everything, you know, when we're talking about the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour here, everything is measured from six a.m. Okay, so basically, we talk about the third hour, we're talking about nine a.m. When we talk about the sixth hour, we're talking about noon, we talk about the ninth hour, we're talking about three in the afternoon. Okay, now look at, look down at Matthew chapter 27 and verse number 31. Matthew chapter 27 and verse 31. The Bible says, and after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify them. So the Bible says in John 19 that at the sixth hour, Jesus was crucified. And then everyone says, oh, Mark 15 says at the third hour, Jesus was crucified. But the point I want to try to make to you this evening is, first of all, the timelines of the hours is when Jesus was crucified. I'm trying to point out with these details is that there was a lot that was happening here. It's not that Jesus was just guilty. And then he was put on the cross. He was taken and he was scourged. He was taken and he was beaten by, you know, a whole gaggle of soldiers. He was mocked. They made a crown of thorns. Look, this was a, this was an ordeal that was going, that he was going through here and it took hours. So the first time that Pontius Pilate, you know, said, fine, crucify him, was probably somewhere around 9 a.m. And then somewhere between 9 a.m. and noon, Jesus was put on the cross. But during that time, Jesus was going through all this torture and beatings and the crown of thorns and being whipped and being mocked and tortured by these Roman soldiers, which is interesting because turn to Luke chapter 3, which is interesting because literally Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus to be scourged. He ordered him to be whipped. But he didn't order all this other stuff to happen. This was just these Roman soldiers going, this was just them doing this on their own. They were just, you know, getting together and having, you know, fun with this situation in a sadistic way. But look at Luke chapter 3. It's interesting what John the Baptist said to a Roman soldier way before this happened, years before. Look at verse number 12 of Luke chapter 3. Then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him, talking about John the Baptist here, Master what shall we do? And he said unto them exact no more than that which is appointed to you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying, and what shall we do? And he said unto them, do violence to no man. You know what the definition of violence is? It's causing physical harm to someone who doesn't deserve it. It's causing physical harm to an innocent person which is exactly what the Roman soldiers are doing to Jesus. They're committing violence against him. They're not carrying out any just sentence. They're just going out of their way personally to commit violence against the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, do violence to no man. Neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages. Go back to Matthew chapter 27. I just found that interesting that of the, you know, look, the Roman soldier was, I mean, you don't have to know too much history to know that the Roman soldier was extremely violent. The Roman society was extremely violent. As far as, you know, the next hundred years, you know, Christians were put into this violent situation. They were put into games at the Coliseum, all these things. It was just a violent society. And we see this with the Roman soldiers with Jesus Christ. Look at verse number 32. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross. Now he's actually being led to be crucified after he's gone through all of this torture. And when they were come onto a place, he was tortured so much, he couldn't even carry the cross himself. He was, I mean, I don't know how close to death he was, but he was beaten to the point, and we'll look at that in a little bit, he was beaten to the point where he could not carry anything on his own. So they had to have this man carry it for him. And when they were come onto the place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mixed with gall, mingled with gall. And when he had tasted therefore, he would not drink. And they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. Psalm 2218 repeats the same verse. And sitting down, they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, king of the Jews. Then there were two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and the other on the left. And they that passed reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroy us the temple and build us it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross, more mockery. Likewise, also the chief priests mocked mocking him, with the scribes and elders said he saved others himself, he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. Is that true? Is that a true statement? As Jesus literally rose people from the dead, and these people, they never denied that he rose someone from the dead. They never said he's doing trickery, they never said that, they said we have to kill him. After he rose Lazarus from the dead, they try, we've got to get rid of this guy. He healed, he healed people right in front of them. But the Bible says, Jesus says at this point, it's like they could not believe, they couldn't believe. There's nothing that the Pharisees at this point, and these scribes, these people that deliver Jesus to be killed, there's nothing that they could see that would allow them, because the Bible says that God did not want them to believe anymore. These people were rejected by the Lord at this point, and it's possible, it's possible to be rejected by the Lord before you physically die. That is a proof of this right here, there's many proofs in the Bible about that. Look at verse number 43, he trusted in God, let him deliver him now, and if he will have him for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land onto the ninth hour. So now, I believe that Jesus was put around on the cross, this is just my personal opinion, the Bible doesn't specifically say this, but I believe that Jesus went through torture for two or three hours, and I believe the point he was put on the cross was the sixth hour when it got dark. I believe that's the time that he was brought up on the cross, and the ninth hour is when he died. So he died at about three o'clock in the afternoon, but at noon, imagine this, at noon it became dark, at noon it became dark, and people got saved at this, not at this time, but people got saved because of these miracles that happened during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So what was the timeline? Turn to Mark chapter 15, turn to Mark chapter 15. People are a little bit confused by the timeline here, because of Mark 15, 25, because the Bible says in Mark 15, 25 it says, and it was the third hour, and they crucified him. So as I said, I believe after, I believe that was the first decision that Pontius Pilate made. Then he took him to get scourged, then he was tortured by the soldiers, then he brought him back and said, look at your king, or look at the man, and then he decided, he finally just gave in again, I believe by the time that Jesus was put on the cross, it was at noon. Look at verse 33 of Mark 15. So nine a.m. to noon, Jesus was going through this physical torture under the hand of the Romans. Look at verse 33, and when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, and at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Elioli, Elioli, Elioli, Lama subactini, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by when they heard it said, behold, he calleth for Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge of vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink saying, let alone, let us see whether Elias will come and take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost, that's when he died. And the veil of the temple was rent in from the top to the bottom. So we see that he died at the ninth hour. But look, the point I'm trying to make is from 9 a.m. to noon, where whenever he was put on the cross, he had already he had already been beaten to the point where he couldn't carry his cross, turned to Isaiah chapter 50, turned to Isaiah chapter 50, the beatings, the humiliation, the crown of thorns, the whole thing. Turn to Isaiah chapter 50, turn to Isaiah chapter 50 and look at verse number six. Let's look at some prophecies of this situation that give us even some more detail. Isaiah 50, look at verse number six. This is a messianic prophecy in Isaiah 50 verse six, and I gave my back to the smithers and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. This here is saying that he was beaten on the back, he was whipped on the back. It's like his beard was pulled out of his face. Look at Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 14. Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 14, these prophecies give us more detail of what happened in these three hours that Jesus was being beaten in portrait. Look at verse 14 of Isaiah 52. And as many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man. That means his face. His face was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. The Bible here is saying that his face was so damaged, it was more than any man's face had ever been damaged before. And his body was so marred that it was just, his body was wrecked at that point. This is why he couldn't carry his cross and they had to get somebody else to carry his cross for him. That doesn't happen through crucifixion. That's what happened in that three hours, that two hours, whatever it was, that he was in the hands of Pontius Pilate being scourged and the Roman soldiers beating and torturing him. Turn back to Matthew chapter 27. Turn back to Matthew chapter 27. It's a gruesome scene. It's a gruesome thing to read through. Look at Matthew 27 verse 46. And the Bible says about the ninth hour. This is 3 p.m. About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, Lama, suboxone. My God, my God, why is that forsaken to me? And they got in the vinegar and again they said the same thing and then it says he cried again with a loud voice and yielded up the ghost. And verse, go to John chapter 19. Let's look at a couple of things that he said right at this ninth hour, right before he died. Because it says he cried again with a loud voice in Matthew 27. But John 19 tells us what he said when he cried with that loud voice. Look at verse 30 of John 19. Verse 30 of John 19. The Bible says when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. That's what he cried. That's what he said. The Jews therefore, because it was a preparation, that's important by the way, that it was the preparation. That the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath day. For that Sabbath day was in high day. We saw Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. So there's a lot of, like, there's a lot of debate out there on like what day Jesus was crucified. You know, the Catholics think it was Friday which makes like no sense at all in any way. The only day that makes the Bible fit together and everything in the Bible match is Wednesday. So everyone knows that the Passover of that that time, that year, was Wednesday. The next day after that, being the 14th day of the month, would have been the first day of unleavened bread. So that is the Sabbath day that they are talking about here. They're saying that Jesus was on the cross on a Wednesday. The, and it's interesting because turn to actually turn to Leviticus chapter 23. It's the only way that it fits the Bible account because Jesus, he said in Matthew 1240, for his Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, socialed the son of man three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Look, Friday to Saturday night Sunday, early Sunday morning is not three days and three nights, no matter how you do math. Okay, so right away that it wasn't Friday, but you know before or after the Sabbath is a problem, but here's the thing. It was a high day Sabbath. We're talking about two Sabbaths. The typical Jewish Sabbath was Saturday, but there was also a Sabbath on Thursday which was the first day of unleavened bread. Are you in Leviticus chapter 23? I'll prove it to you right here. The Bible says in Leviticus 23 it says, and the Lord spoke unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord, which he shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall thou work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest. This is the Sabbath day. This is Saturday that the Jews would have the Sabbath day. And holy convocation, you should do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord and all your dwellings. Then he says, these are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations which he shall proclaim in their seasons. In the 14th day of the first month, this is what we're talking about right here. Of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover and on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You should do no servile work therein. It's a Sabbath is what he's talking about. So on the 14th day they kill the Passover. Okay, the 14th day which was the Wednesday, it was the 14th, they kill the Passover lamb and then the next day is the first day of the feast of unleavened bread which is a Sabbath day. So what they're saying is we have to get Jesus, we have to get these people off the cross because we can't have these bodies on the cross on a Sabbath day which is the first the first day and it proves it in John 19 where it says a Sabbath day and then it has in parentheses it was in high day. It wasn't just the Sabbath of rest, it was a high day. It was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and it's interesting also because turn to John 1828. It's interesting also because who's the Passover? Who's the Passover? The Passover is always killed the night before the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. So when was Jesus killed? When did Jesus die? He died in the afternoon in the evening of the same night that the Passover is killed and Jesus in 1 Corinthians 5, 7 is our Passover. He encompasses just like he encompasses everything in the day of atonement both goats the blood sacrifice the the scapegoat he encompasses everything the priest garments everything is encompassed in Jesus Christ he encompasses everything in the Passover. He's the Passover lamb. Okay look at John chapter 18 and look at verse 28. I could go on all day about this but let me just prove it to you a couple places. Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas under the hall of judgment. So this is right before that Caiaphas the high priest is bringing Jesus they're from him to Pilate right before we started our story this evening under the hall of judgment and it was early and then themselves went not into the judgment hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the what? The Passover. They didn't want to be defiled because that night they wanted to eat the Passover themselves proving that this was the day of the Passover and the very next day was the day the first day of Unleavened bread which was a Sabbath day Thursday okay so we're talking about the high day the Sabbath day of Thursday now go back to I go to mark chapter 15 in verse number 42 mark chapter 15 in verse number 42 let me give you one more one more right after Jesus dies in mark chapter 15 look at verse number 42 this is right before Joseph of Arimathea is going to buy the rich man's going to buy the tomb and give the tomb for Jesus look at verse 42 it says now when even was come that means evening evening time so Jesus died at 3 p.m and you know some time goes by and he says when even was come because it was the preparation that is the day before the Sabbath it was the preparation of the Passover the day before the feast of Unleavened bread started so it was that that was the Sabbath that high day you know why is it so important a lot of people and look I'm not like if you think it was Saturday or something I'm not mad at you okay but the point is you know why is it important it's important because Jesus Christ completes the picture of everything that we see in the Old Testament the Old Testament if it has any point at all it is to just paint the picture of the coming Messiah and Jesus is the Passover it makes sense that he would be killed at the exact time that the Passover is killed Wednesday okay which three days and three nights it's perfect Thursday day Thursday Thursday night Friday Friday night Saturday Saturday night you got it okay it just makes perfect sense everything fits together with that go to Colossians chapter 2 so you know what about the Sabbath let me just say this about the Sabbath day of Saturday versus Sunday okay first of all we don't have a Sabbath day the Sabbath day was abolished in Christ so don't get all excited about Sabbath days because the Sabbath day was abolished in Christ Colossians 2.16 says let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days so Sunday Sunday we have church on Sunday not because it's a Sabbath because it's the Lord's day because it's the day that the Lord you know rose from the dead so Sunday is not our Sabbath okay which is ridiculous to think that it would be our Sabbath because that means like none of us could leave our houses we can never bake anything you couldn't buy or sell anything I mean Christians just met on the first day of the week in the Bible it's proven Acts chapter 20 and verse 7 upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread 1 Corinthians 16 verse 2 upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God had prospered him look the Sabbath day was abolished with Christ okay the Sabbath day was abolished and it makes sense because Jesus rose before the early morning on the first day of the week go back to Matthew chapter 27 I'll just read for you Matthew 28 verse 1 in the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week so now this is the actual Sabbath this is Saturday at the end of Saturday it could read as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week Sunday came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepiculture and of course it was open Jesus was gone okay now go back to Matthew chapter 27 Matthew chapter 27 in verse number 51 so all that to say this from 9 a.m I mean even before that when Jesus was arrested he was being smacked around you know in the priests you know between you between Herod and Caiaphas and all these places Jesus went through a major ordeal here before he even got to the cross by the time he got to the cross he couldn't even carry the cross he was marred more than any person had ever been marred look at verse number 51 of Matthew chapter 27 Matthew chapter 27 verse 51 and behold the veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent that must have been quite a sight but that right there is the beginning of the New Testament right there the veil of the temple was rent if you remember Leviticus chapter 16 and all of Leviticus that the holy of holies was separated by a veil turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2 turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2 and only the high priest could go in there but now with the death of Jesus Christ the veil is rent and the high priest is no longer needed look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 in verse number 5 for there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus this is why you don't need a priest that you need to go to to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ you can get down in a closet on your knees and pray directly to Jesus Christ because the veil is rent and Christ is the mediator between our heavenly Father and us and that's what he did it's ironic that Caiaphas is sitting there and he's you know claiming that you know this guy's claiming he's the Son of God what Jesus could have said to him if he was you know a troll or whatever is just like hey man you're going to be irrelevant in about six hours in about nine hours you're going to be irrelevant your job is the high priest not that he was a proper high priest anyway but your job as a high priest is going away because now as believers in Christ we're all kings and priests this is the priesthood of the believer right here look at Matthew chapter 27 in verse number 52 and the graves were opened did you know many people were raised from the dead when Jesus died people were resurrected and walked around there was this huge earthquake rock slides everywhere graves were open and many bodies of the saints which slept the rose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many and it was such a sight that people got saved here a Roman soldier gets saved and when the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done they feared greatly saying truly this was the Son of God I mean if more people could just fear greatly more people would get saved today but here this guy they saw this huge event not just the renting of the veil but the earthquake the rock slides people rising from the dead and going into the city and proclaiming Jesus Christ and people were getting saved including this centurion and all the people that were with him look it was quite an event I mean the darkness from noon when somebody gets you know raised up on the cross and it immediately goes dark and it's the middle of the daytime I mean you know people are going to take notice to that that's why I like that Jesus is going to come back and nobody's going to notice I mean it's just it's not biblical that's not how God rolls here all right God's going to come back like like lightning from the east to the west nobody's going to miss that so what's I mean this was quite an event this was quite an ordeal that Jesus went through it was you know maybe you could argue that it was the hardest thing that any man has ever gone through just this torture this horrible death that he went through but what's what's the application what can we take from this today from this evening so Christ God the Father he went through a lot to pave the way for our salvation or the chance for man to have eternal life but look here's the thing I think about this a lot he could have done it in many different ways I mean he's God he can do whatever he wants right he could have he could have secured salvation for mankind in many different ways I mean look he could have been an earthly conqueror isn't that what everybody was looking for everybody was looking for King David part two you know everybody was looking for this conqueror to come and like free them from the Romans and just be this just restore the nation of Israel but instead God chose this way God chose this terrible way turn to Luke chapter 9 he chose this way he chose this way that was literally it was it was nothing it was it was through Jesus's life all the way through to his death it was all sacrifice the whole thing turn to Luke chapter 9 in verse 58 remember the the guy that wanted to follow Jesus that was like hey this would be pretty cool can I join up with you and look what Jesus says to him he says foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not word of lay his head he's like I don't even have anywhere to sleep he's like you think this is going to be fun he's like look man you know what he was telling this this guy he's like this life is all sacrifice this thing that I'm doing here is all sacrifice is that true for us that's not true for us oh yeah we try to be good Christians we try to go out and give the gospel to as many people as you is your life all sacrifice our lives aren't all sacrifice give me a break our lives I mean we try to jam as much for us into our lives as we possibly can there was nothing for Jesus his life all the way through to this extreme death was only hardship and only suffering why why do it this way I mean God could have done it any way he wanted why not be a conquering king why not be a champion I mean isn't that America don't we love a champion don't we love a winner in this country I mean we love to win even though we don't anymore maybe we should pay attention to that the fact that we have powerful armies and we haven't won a war in 70 years but that's not the point of the sermon but God instead God became a servant here God became a servant and a servant unto death and this is how he chose to redeem us why here's why because it was the perfect way because it was the perfect way many times I have said I've said it at the door I've said it to you I've said it from the pulpit that there are two religions in the world you say what we talk about there's hundreds of religions in the world no there's two there's two there's what the bible says that salvation is free that salvation is a gift and all you have to do to get this salvation is put your trust on this one right here Jesus Christ this person that suffered for everything and sacrificed everything in his life all the way to his death and then we'll talk about his resurrection on Sunday if you can trust only in that it's free you have it just like that that's one religion that's what the bible says then there's every other religion you have to do your you have to work your way to heaven it's every religion all others are just works they're all the same thing Catholicism 1.2 billion Catholics in the world today it's just working your way to heaven that's all it is Hinduism 1.2 billion Hindus in the world today what is it it's just working your way to heaven that's it that's all it is what do you say about you know Muslims Islam there's 1.1 Muslims in the world today what is it it's working your way to heaven that's all it is how about Buddhism there's 500 million Buddhists in the world today what's that one about it's about working your way to heaven that's it or to nirvana or whatever that is what their definition of heaven is look not only are all these religion they're all works based which is the devil's religion because every single one of those flavors of workspace religion will send every single one of those people to hell every one of them but guess what not only are they all works based not only are they all works based but did you know that none of their leaders none of the leaders or the founders of those religions even claimed to die for the world they didn't even claim it they didn't even claim it they never claimed to die for their followers much less actually do it Jesus actually did it he didn't claim it he did it it's probably the most documented event in the history of the world what we just studied tonight but none of their leaders if it's such a good idea how come they never claimed to do it they never claimed to do it and they certainly didn't do it but instead you know what the leaders of these religions did you know what the founders of these religions did they enjoyed the fruits of this world you know what they did they used they used their leadership and their power for wealth money lust what about me what about what about the catholics go read upon the popes go read upon the popes if you have a stomach for it the all they did was they used their positions for wealth for money for power for lust natural and unnatural what about Muhammad Muhammad same thing money power land lust same thing what about Buddha it's just a spoiled rich kid just looking for every possible pleasure in this life and he couldn't find happiness through just pursuing every pleasure he could find in this life so he goes and makes up a religion he denied himself nothing money power land lust it's all the same story not one person not one leader of all these other religions in the world even claimed to live the life of sacrifice especially a death of sacrifice it's the same with all the false gods which is funny because who made who made false gods Zeus and and Mars and Athena who made all these false gods well mend it so what are the false gods all about the false gods lowercase g they're all fake what are they all about they're all money power lust it's all the same thing the Greek gods the Hindu gods it's just the pursuit of pleasure and power that's all it is that's all it is it's all the same line of thinking but the god of the bible the one true god is the only god that even claims to have sacrificed himself for the world the made up fake gods they just did what man would do see Jesus he did nothing for himself his one purpose was to come here and sacrifice himself for the sins of the world and he didn't take any easy roads to do it you say why because here's why the method proves the miracle that's why because if he wasn't who he said he was no one would ever do that it had to be god redeeming the world that is the only thing that makes any logical sense why anyone would do this the method proves the miracle it proves that he said he was who he said he was there was nothing in it for him was he rich he had a bunch of wives some great life he didn't have a place to sleep and all we have to do I mean it just keeps getting better all we have to do you think about that that god came and did this he lived this life of all sacrifice to this extreme extreme death of sacrifice and all we have to do is trust in what he did and we get eternal life it is so tragic that most people won't be saved I mean when you think about how simple that is when you think about how simple the gospel is it is a tragedy that most people are going to go to hell in this world and for us I mean for us I mean we talked about the Lord's Supper I mean let's talk about us we're saved we're saved but I mean for us it's ridiculous it's ridiculous that as we look at Jesus Christ it's ridiculous that as we're prepared for the Lord's Supper tonight to remember this sacrifice that we find it so hard to have mercy in our lives that we find it so hard to purge sin from our lives when here we had somebody like Jesus who was all mercy and Jesus who was completely without sin yet we find it so hard to do in our lives it should put us to shame as we remember this so let's remember this this evening let's remember you know the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and the uniqueness of how God redeemed the world let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer