SPEAKER_02: We're not here to skip rocks today.
SPEAKER_02: We need to slow down and let the rocks sink down to the bottom of the pond.
SPEAKER_02: Because he's perfect, he's innocent.
SPEAKER_02: He was born without a sinful uh a sin nature, and he never sinned.
SPEAKER_02: And because he's perfect, because he's innocent, his death is sufficient for the sins of imperfect people like you and me.
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: If you're sitting in this room and you think to yourself, you know what, I've done so much, there's really no hope for me.
SPEAKER_02: That's not true.
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Father, we sing and say Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.
SPEAKER_02: Uh before we sang that, you lived that.
SPEAKER_02: You you came with a redeeming love.
SPEAKER_02: Many of us in this room have been loved by people and it left us feeling condemned.
SPEAKER_02: When God loves us, it's redeeming love.
SPEAKER_02: It gives something in exchange for something.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're going to see in the Bible today how you gave yourself so we can experience this love that we were created for.
SPEAKER_02: It's why the Bible says in the book of wisdom in Proverbs that what a man desires is unfailing love.
SPEAKER_02: We need someone to love us in a way that never fails, never disappoints, never lets us down, never leaves us feeling less than.
SPEAKER_02: Redeeming love makes us feel more than.
SPEAKER_02: And so, God, today we want to get our head and our heart around that, from your word and by your spirit.
SPEAKER_02: We pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat if you've got a Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I invite you to take it open up to John chapter 19.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest today, let me just say welcome.
SPEAKER_02: Uh my name is Neil.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the lead pastor at Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_02: We're preaching to the gospel of John.
SPEAKER_02: We start in chapter 1, verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: We're all the way up to chapter 19.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is fixing to be nailed to the cross.
SPEAKER_02: He's fixed to die on the cross for the sins of humanity.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're up to chapter 19.
SPEAKER_02: And before I go any further, I want to acknowledge somebody that's in our service this morning.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that those who teach you the word are worth double honor.
SPEAKER_02: And so if you live in our city, or you don't have to live in our city, how many of you in this room, if you've ever heard of a church in our city named Sugar Creek Baptist Church, would you say amen?
SPEAKER_02: And what you probably do not know is that the person that God used to make that church a great church is a man named Fenton Moorhead.
SPEAKER_02: Came a long time ago from Denver.
SPEAKER_02: He lived in Denver, Colorado, in Applewood, actually.
SPEAKER_02: And God brought him here.
SPEAKER_02: And back then they had a gymnatorium.
SPEAKER_02: And that's all it was, it was a gym multi-purpose thing.
SPEAKER_02: And God used a man named Fenton Moorhead to kind of grow that church to the point where it is today.
SPEAKER_02: He's in our service.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna ask Fenton if he would to stand up.
SPEAKER_02: He's right over here.
SPEAKER_02: I just again, the Bible says those who teach you the word are worth double honor.
SPEAKER_02: And I just think when there's an honorable person like that in our service, I don't want you to miss, hey, you you you need to know this man right here.
SPEAKER_02: He's walked with God and loved one woman for a long time, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so I want to talk to you this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna read uh in John chapter 19.
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's kind of an interlude.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter 18, Pilate, this guy that's kind of in charge.
SPEAKER_02: He's the Roman potse who's kind of in charge of the city, the legal affairs.
SPEAKER_02: And he's already said, hey, I think Jesus is innocent.
SPEAKER_02: I don't find any guilt in him, but the people will not leave it alone, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever been driving and your your wife's kind of like, honey, do you know where you are?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: I got it, I got it, I got it.
SPEAKER_02: This is just a shortcut.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, okay, you drive a little bit longer, babe.
SPEAKER_02: This doesn't look familiar.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, it's cool, it's cool.
SPEAKER_02: It's God, I know it, you know, and then all about five minutes later, you, sir, have this gnawing sense that I have no idea where I am.
SPEAKER_02: That's Pilate in John 19, verses 1 to 16.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna read these 16 verses, and I want to talk to you this morning about questions we all have to answer about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the great thing about expository preaching, preaching through books of the Bible, it causes you to think about God and ask questions that you by nature wouldn't think about or ask.
SPEAKER_02: John 19, verse 1.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate is lost.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he is, there's no map, GPS is not working, and he's thinking, How do I get back on the road?
SPEAKER_02: How do I get out of this?
SPEAKER_02: Verse 1, then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.
SPEAKER_02: And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.
SPEAKER_02: They came up to him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_02: And they struck him with their hands.
SPEAKER_02: And Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, Behold the man.
SPEAKER_02: When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews answered, We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.
SPEAKER_02: When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
SPEAKER_02: He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, Where are you from?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus gave him no answer.
SPEAKER_02: So Pilate said to him, You will not speak to me?
SPEAKER_02: Do you know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered him, You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
SPEAKER_02: From then on, Pilate sought to release him.
SPEAKER_02: But the Jews cried out, If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.
SPEAKER_02: So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement, and in Arabic, Gabbatha.
SPEAKER_02: Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover.
SPEAKER_02: It was about the sixth hour.
SPEAKER_02: He said to the Jews, Behold your king.
SPEAKER_02: And they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king?
SPEAKER_02: The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.
SPEAKER_02: So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
SPEAKER_02: Questions that we all have to answer about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: First question is simply this Why wasn't punishment enough?
SPEAKER_02: Why wasn't punishment enough?
SPEAKER_02: It's verse one.
SPEAKER_02: Uh the Bible sometimes uses words that we don't normally use in language with which we're not familiar.
SPEAKER_02: This is the case right here, verse one.
SPEAKER_02: Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.
SPEAKER_02: Flogged him.
SPEAKER_02: In this day and age, we won't even speak authoritatively to our children, much less spank them.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, we have no idea what flogging means.
SPEAKER_02: I got flogged, no, I didn't get flogged.
SPEAKER_02: I got whipped.
SPEAKER_02: But when he says he handed him over and he flogged him, well, why wasn't that enough?
SPEAKER_02: You said, What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Pilate is working hard to kind of get away from this because he knows this is a bad idea.
SPEAKER_02: He has that gnawing sense that, hey, that shortcut was not a shortcut, and now I am lost.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: I want to get I want to get away from that.
SPEAKER_02: I do not want this on my resume, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so he does three things.
SPEAKER_02: He sends Jesus to Herod so that Herod would take responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: Herod sends him back.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, dude, I don't want this on me.
SPEAKER_02: Second thing he does, he attempts to release him according to a Jewish custom.
SPEAKER_02: He says to these people, hey, you guys, you have a custom at the Passover where we we release a prisoner.
SPEAKER_02: And so he gets this scoundrel out of prison called Barabbas.
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Hey, you want Barabbas or do you want Jesus to be released?
SPEAKER_02: And they said, Give us Barabbas.
SPEAKER_02: And then Pilate thinks, okay, this will do it.
SPEAKER_02: I'll have him beaten.
SPEAKER_02: I'll have him flogged, is a literal word.
SPEAKER_02: And so we don't know what flogging is, but let's let me just tell you: when a person was flogged, it was a severe form of punishment.
SPEAKER_02: They would take them, strip their shirt off, bend them over like a post, like a tree stump, tie their hands down to where their back was exposed, and they took a thing called a cat of nine tails.
SPEAKER_02: Wooden handle, about 18 inches, had nine straps of leather coming off of that, and embedded in the leather are bits of bone and rock.
SPEAKER_02: And some people would put a hook on the end of one of them.
SPEAKER_02: And so basically they beat this person across the back.
SPEAKER_02: It was so severe that the law limited it to 40 lashes.
SPEAKER_02: That's all a person could take.
SPEAKER_02: Some people didn't even survive because the skin on their back would be flayed open, and some people's internal organs would be exposed.
SPEAKER_02: It was horrible.
SPEAKER_02: So when Jesus comes out, he's got the purple robe on and the crown.
SPEAKER_02: And when Pilate says, Behold the man, he's like, Really, do you want to keep doing?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, look what you're doing to this person.
SPEAKER_02: I have a friend that's really into UFC, ultimate fighting.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: And he he gets pay-per-view, all the fights, you know, call me and say, Hey, you want to come over and watch the fight?
SPEAKER_02: And he goes, Do you like UFC?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I like UFC until somebody gets hit.
SPEAKER_02: And that's his response.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, dude, the goal of it is to hit, not like just a little punch, but when the the first guy that gets just cold cocked and he says, something goes off in me, and I think, don't hit him again because I'm gonna want to hit you.
SPEAKER_02: That's mercy.
SPEAKER_02: That's what that is.
SPEAKER_02: That's why I could never go to UFC because you'd be watching, some of you guys be watching and go, oh, that's my pastor climbing in the ring.
SPEAKER_02: Like last night there was a UFC fight.
SPEAKER_02: Like, who's that bald man?
SPEAKER_02: Okay, looks like the love child of Tim Keller and Pitt Bull.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's my preacher, anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Uh because I it's something the mercy goes off in me and gets militant, like, stop hurting this person.
SPEAKER_02: Uh last night there was a UFC fight, and some guy, he hit the other guy, the guy swung, he backed up and wham, the guy was out on his feet, just falling back.
SPEAKER_02: The referee jumped in and was like, no more, no more.
SPEAKER_02: Can't hit him anymore.
SPEAKER_02: There is no referee to jump in and rescue Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You should ask yourself, why wasn't punishment enough?
SPEAKER_02: Flogging was horrible.
SPEAKER_02: It was, it was, I mean, the people weren't even recognizable when they were done.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate marches him out and mocks him, you're a king, here's your purple robe.
SPEAKER_02: And it wasn't enough.
SPEAKER_02: Why wasn't punishment enough?
SPEAKER_02: There's a simple reason the Bible tells us.
SPEAKER_02: The wages of sin, the consequence for my sin and your sin is not punishment, it's death.
SPEAKER_02: So punishment's not enough.
SPEAKER_02: Second question we have to ask ourselves is was he really innocent?
SPEAKER_02: Was he really innocent?
SPEAKER_02: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate, he's already said it back in chapter 18, the previous chapter, about verse 38, verse 4, Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I'm bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, Behold the man.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, look at this if you can.
SPEAKER_02: This is, you shouldn't do anything more to this man.
SPEAKER_02: When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: It's not enough that you punish him, he has to be put to death.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he's made himself the Son of God.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate heard this statement.
SPEAKER_02: He was even more afraid.
SPEAKER_02: It's this growing sense of, oh my gosh, something's happening here.
SPEAKER_02: So the question the Bible asks us when we look at Jesus is, was he really innocent?
SPEAKER_02: I just say, if you really want to understand the innocence of God, look at all the people who had anything to do with Jesus' death that day.
SPEAKER_02: I'll just list them for you.
SPEAKER_02: Don't try to write them down.
SPEAKER_02: You can take your phone out and take a picture.
SPEAKER_02: First of all, Judas, the one of his disciples that initially betrayed him, he said, This after the fact, I've sinned by betraying innocent blood.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate's own wife said to him, She said, Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate himself said, I find no guilt in him.
SPEAKER_02: Neither did Herod, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: He seemed to Herod, and Herod sent him back.
SPEAKER_02: So he said, Hey, neither did Herod, because he sent him back to us, uh, the thief on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Jesus dies not in a pristine church building.
SPEAKER_02: He dies at a place called Golgotha, where thieves get together and talk smut and and plot their next endeavor.
SPEAKER_02: And he dies between two thieves, two guilty men.
SPEAKER_02: And one of them says to the other one, because the other one's like, hey, if you're really God, save yourself and us.
SPEAKER_02: The thief on the other side of Jesus says, Hey man, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02: We're getting what we deserve.
SPEAKER_02: This guy is innocent.
SPEAKER_02: This man has done nothing wrong.
SPEAKER_02: The Roman centurion who was at the cross said, Surely this man was innocent.
SPEAKER_02: After the fact, when all of a sudden the cloud, it's the middle of the day and it goes pitch black.
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, uh-oh.
SPEAKER_02: The soldiers gathered there and said, Truly, this was the Son of God.
SPEAKER_02: When I say, was he really innocent?
SPEAKER_02: Why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_02: Because he was conceived of the Holy Spirit through the womb of a virgin.
SPEAKER_02: He inherited no sin nature and he never sinned.
SPEAKER_02: Why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_02: Because he's perfect.
SPEAKER_02: His death is sufficient for the sins of imperfect people like you and me.
SPEAKER_02: Now let me just pump the brakes here just for a second so this will settle in on you.
SPEAKER_02: We're not here to skip rocks today.
SPEAKER_02: We need to slow down and let the rocks sink down to the bottom of the pond.
SPEAKER_02: Because he's perfect, he's innocent.
SPEAKER_02: He was born without a sinful uh a sin nature, and he never sinned.
SPEAKER_02: And because he's perfect, because he's innocent, his death is sufficient for the sins of imperfect people like you and me.
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: If you're sitting in this room and you think to yourself, you know what, I've done so much, there's really no hope for me.
SPEAKER_02: That's not true.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because Jesus is innocent.
SPEAKER_02: And because he's innocent, he's perfect, his death is sufficient.
SPEAKER_02: This also explains the crowd's reaction to him.
SPEAKER_02: Because the sinlessness of Jesus, and when you read this, you just think, dude, why do y'all hate on this guy so much?
SPEAKER_02: The sinlessness of Jesus elicits a response from them that is unexplainable.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all like God?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not admitting to that.
SPEAKER_02: How about this?
SPEAKER_02: Do you have people in your life right now that you find it really easy to talk about behind their back?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's a more Baptist form of hatred.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not hating this person.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just sharing with my wife why I find it so difficult to love them.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, these people were just like, ah, I mean, Pilate beats Jesus beyond recognition, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Trots him out to make a mockery of him, kind of like, okay, this is enough.
SPEAKER_02: We've punished him.
SPEAKER_02: Let's all go home.
SPEAKER_02: This is getting off the reservation.
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: Dude, lighten up, drink decaf.
SPEAKER_02: What are y'all doing?
SPEAKER_02: Here's what they're doing.
SPEAKER_02: You have to realize that true righteousness will always elicit hatred from unrighteousness.
SPEAKER_02: True righteousness will always elicit hatred from the unrighteous.
SPEAKER_02: The person, by the way, uh, can I get in your business for a minute?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: The person, by the way, that drives you crazy, you find it easy to talk about, you don't hate them.
SPEAKER_02: You hate something about yourself, and they remind you of that whenever you're around them.
SPEAKER_02: And so instead of facing what's wrong in you, it's easier to talk about or hate them.
SPEAKER_02: That's what we do.
SPEAKER_02: That's why people never change.
SPEAKER_02: They just hate different people.
SPEAKER_02: They just go through life finding someone else to disagree with.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, he's innocent, and you would think that because he's innocent and we aren't, that he couldn't relate.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh man, I just there's no way.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm far from innocent.
SPEAKER_02: Yet the Bible says this in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15 for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_02: Don't think, in other words, because God is innocent and sinless, that he can't get down in the dirt with you and understand what it feels like to be you.
SPEAKER_02: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are, and yet without sin.
SPEAKER_02: Let us then, that's Bible talk for because of this, let's do this.
SPEAKER_02: Let us then, with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
SPEAKER_02: God doesn't triumph over us with this moral superiority.
SPEAKER_02: I remember being in college, I went to college with a girl who was one of the most prideful people I've ever met in my life.
SPEAKER_02: She would come sit at my table, me and my buddies, and there's other girls there.
SPEAKER_02: But every time a girl would walk by, she would tell us uh what kind of person she was and all the things she was doing wrong with her boyfriend.
SPEAKER_02: And one day I just got tired of it.
SPEAKER_02: I just picked my tray up and she goes, Where are you going?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I'm going to sit with sinners.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, What?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I just don't enjoy being around you.
SPEAKER_02: You're the most judgmental person I've ever met.
SPEAKER_02: You're up here, and we're all down here, and it's a little convicting.
SPEAKER_02: She says, Well, I mean, it's not my fault you're convicted.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not convicted.
SPEAKER_02: I want to harm you, and I don't need to do that, so I'm gonna move away now.
SPEAKER_02: Well, if you just can't stand the truth, no, I can't stand you.
SPEAKER_02: I like the truth, I can't stand you.
SPEAKER_02: And so I just went over and set with sinners.
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, I saw we had class after lunch.
SPEAKER_02: Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
SPEAKER_02: She said to me one time, she goes, You think I'm a bad person?
SPEAKER_02: No, I think you're full of yourself.
SPEAKER_02: And I think you do good with all the names of God that need translation, like Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our God who heals, Jehovah Sidkunu, the Lord Our Righteousness.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think you do very well with the plain English title of God, friend of sinners.
SPEAKER_02: And so I don't find any, I don't find a friendship with you meaningful at all.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why, because God doesn't, though he's innocent and perfect, he doesn't triumph over us with moral superiority.
SPEAKER_02: No, his moral perfection achieves for us mercy and helps us find grace in our time of need.
SPEAKER_02: At the lowest point of your life, God is not standing over you going, I'm great, and you're not.
SPEAKER_02: God's standing beside you, saying, Come to me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and you'll find rest for your souls.
SPEAKER_02: The third question that the text asked us today is, What do you see?
SPEAKER_02: What do you see?
SPEAKER_02: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to him, Behold the man.
SPEAKER_02: When the chief priests of the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.
SPEAKER_02: The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.
SPEAKER_02: What do you see?
SPEAKER_02: I see two things.
SPEAKER_02: I see that peace is an expensive thing, and I see this portrait of desperation.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, when you see this kind of response, this kind of hatred from these people, I don't want you to see that, man, these people were violent and Jesus was hated.
SPEAKER_02: What I really want us to see is that you and I are that sinful.
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, what?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: You and I are that simple.
SPEAKER_02: We are not spectators at this, we are implicated in this and by this.
SPEAKER_02: Because they're crying out, crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: If the wages of sin wasn't death, Jesus could have gotten off the hook that day.
SPEAKER_02: But the payment, the consequence for sin is death.
SPEAKER_02: And so somebody has to die.
SPEAKER_02: And this merciful, innocent, holy God said, Hi, I'll die, so these people don't have to.
SPEAKER_02: And so when he said, What do you see?
SPEAKER_02: Uh this is Isaiah 53.
SPEAKER_02: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
SPEAKER_02: Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
SPEAKER_02: But he was pierced for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities.
SPEAKER_02: Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
SPEAKER_02: See, peace has always been an expensive thing.
SPEAKER_02: Upon him was the chastisement, the being mocked, made fun of, punished, beaten.
SPEAKER_02: Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
SPEAKER_02: And with his wounds, we are healed.
SPEAKER_02: All we like sheep have gone astray.
SPEAKER_02: We have turned everyone to his own way.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
SPEAKER_02: Second thing that I see is the portrait of just desperation.
SPEAKER_02: It's verse seven.
SPEAKER_02: Hear it again.
SPEAKER_02: Verse seven, these people are so incensed, they said, We have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he's made himself the son of God.
SPEAKER_02: And you should just hear God over all of this saying, Oh, yeah, God has a law.
SPEAKER_02: I have a law, and according to that law, he has to die because he is the son of God.
SPEAKER_02: The fourth question they ask us is simply this: where's Jesus from?
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 9.
SPEAKER_02: He entered his headquarters.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate did it again, and he said to Jesus, Where are you from?
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you're a thinking person, you're just like, that's a dumb question.
SPEAKER_02: Where he's from, he's from Galilee.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody knows that.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what Pilate's asking.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate has this growing, gnawing sense that, oh my gosh, you, I think you're from heaven.
SPEAKER_02: I think you're really who you've said you were all along.
SPEAKER_02: And if, oh my, this this is the ramifications of being wrong are starting to dawn in him.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever asked yourself this question?
SPEAKER_02: What it would mean for you and your children if everything the Bible says about God and you is actually true?
SPEAKER_02: If you get stuck in a conversation with somebody and you don't know how to make it interesting, just ask them, hey, have you ever pondered the ramifications for you and your children?
SPEAKER_02: If everything the Bible says about God and you and I is actually true?
SPEAKER_02: Because this is what's happening.
SPEAKER_02: This is beginning to kind of dawn in him.
SPEAKER_02: Now, by the way, when I say that, have you ever pondered if the ramifications, if everything the Bible says about you is true?
SPEAKER_02: Most people in this room and in the world, your mind goes to the negative.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh yeah, I am a sinner.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I am a bad person.
SPEAKER_02: Does your mind ever go to the good?
SPEAKER_02: Because the gospel, gospel is a word that means what?
SPEAKER_02: Good news.
SPEAKER_02: So Christianity is not about coming to church.
SPEAKER_02: Becoming a Christian doesn't mean, okay, come to church and be told every Sunday what a pathetic, pathetic, sinful, horrible, bad person you are.
SPEAKER_02: Are.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, I'm in uh we call them D groups here at Grand Park, where it's a discipleship group.
SPEAKER_02: Myself and two other guys meet together.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we meet early in the morning, like this past we met at 7, because apparently Jesus doesn't want you to meet at 7 o'clock at night.
SPEAKER_02: He wants you to get up early.
SPEAKER_02: No, amen.
SPEAKER_02: Shut up.
SPEAKER_02: I come dragging in like, okay, where's the coffee?
SPEAKER_02: Um, we've read through different books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: We read through Galatians, we read through Ephesians, we just read over and over.
SPEAKER_02: Right now we're in book one of the Psalms.
SPEAKER_02: That's Psalms 1 to 42.
SPEAKER_02: And we get together and I just say, hey, what Psalm set your soul on fire this week?
SPEAKER_02: A couple weeks ago, or a month or so ago, we talked about Psalm 8, how the Bible says this is, you gotta stop seeing the bad in yourself and start seeing the good.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus experienced the bad so he could give you the good.
SPEAKER_02: And it is not Christianity just to always go, oh, I stink, I'm such a horrible person.
SPEAKER_02: You don't believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: That's not the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus underwent everything we're reading about today so that you and I could get it right about us.
SPEAKER_02: We looked at how in Psalm 8, David said, Hey, uh man, he says, and what is man that you're mindful of him?
SPEAKER_02: Yet you have crowned him with glory and honor and given him dominion over everything you've created.
SPEAKER_02: And so me and my two friends, uh, somebody said, Who's in your D group?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I'm not gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_02: But what are they like?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, one's a businessman and one's a lawyer.
SPEAKER_02: So, like Jesus, I hang out with sinners, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You know how the lawyers are, they're all on the tank.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, hey, you know what's horrible about a bus full of lawyers going over a cliff?
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, I don't know, an empty seat.
SPEAKER_02: No?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, so like Jesus, I'm hanging out with these people, and then we look at each other and say, are you willing to think about yourself as crowned with glory and honor and dominion?
SPEAKER_02: Because if you are, then you have to ask yourself, does anything have dominion over me?
SPEAKER_02: Is there anything that I'm letting have power over me?
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm created to be a man who has dominion.
SPEAKER_02: You're created to be a woman who has dominion over everything that God created.
SPEAKER_02: This past week we read Psalm 25, 7, which says this, remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions according to your steadfast love.
SPEAKER_02: Remember me and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Exclamation point.
SPEAKER_02: When you read the Bible, read the punctuation, not just the words.
SPEAKER_02: Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.
SPEAKER_02: Can anybody in this room not remember the dumb stuff you did when you were younger?
SPEAKER_02: Some of you right now are seeing pictures in your mind that you wish would go away.
SPEAKER_02: But they don't.
SPEAKER_02: And yet the Bible, David says, Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.
SPEAKER_02: And then he says this, according to your steadfast love, remember me.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever ask yourself, look at me, what is the lens that God looks at you through?
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't look at you and kind of go, Oh yeah, I see you out there, 47-year-old, looking all high and mighty, thinking, everybody thinking you got it all together.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when you were 16?
SPEAKER_02: Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02: Got it right here.
SPEAKER_02: Got it written down.
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
SPEAKER_02: When 16, went to that party, drank a beer, 200 points off.
SPEAKER_02: It was a light beer, 150, okay.
SPEAKER_02: That's the way we think about God.
SPEAKER_02: But right here in the Bible, say, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Gospel is good news.
SPEAKER_02: The good news of Christianity, he says, remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.
SPEAKER_02: On what basis can God forget about the stupid, sinful things you did when you were younger?
SPEAKER_02: On the basis of innocent, sinless Jesus dies on the cross in your place and for your sins.
SPEAKER_02: He says, according to your steadfast love, remember me.
SPEAKER_02: And then he says, For the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: It means three things.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, God has the capacity to forget your past.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, it means that God remembers you as someone he loves.
SPEAKER_02: He remembers you as someone he loves.
SPEAKER_02: And thirdly, it means that your life is for the purpose of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_02: Your life is for the purpose of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_02: Your life is not a man a monument to your badness.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, hell, when I was 21, you wouldn't believe, man.
SPEAKER_02: Me and some friends went to Mexico for spring break and whoa.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: That means that people are to watch you live and think, man, is God good or what?
SPEAKER_02: Is God good or what?
SPEAKER_02: My oldest uh uh and some she texted me.
SPEAKER_02: When she's not sure, she texts me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm a grown man.
SPEAKER_02: Don't text me, call me.
SPEAKER_02: I ain't gonna say here, uh she texted me and said, hey, hey dad, me and some friends are thinking about, we got a cheap flight to Denver.
SPEAKER_02: We're thinking about just going to Denver for the day and dorking around and flying back that night.
SPEAKER_02: I texted back, you irresponsible pot smoking college kid, that's why you're going to Colorado.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I just texted back and I said, Hey, babe, what are the details?
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: What's a cheap flight?
SPEAKER_02: 75 bucks around trip.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I texted back, are you flying in a crop duster?
SPEAKER_02: No, Frontier Airlines.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, eh, okay.
SPEAKER_02: Not southwest, but let me look into this, you know.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and then I'm like, babe, what do you gonna do?
SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna dork around and have fun.
SPEAKER_02: And then I said, Okay, well, call me.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm kind of busy right now.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I said, Who else going?
SPEAKER_02: Well, just me and some friends.
SPEAKER_02: And I just text back, call me.
SPEAKER_02: Question mark.
SPEAKER_02: I said, call me.
SPEAKER_02: So she calls me.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what offends me about my kids, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: You're gonna think, what an arrogant jerk.
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what offends me about my kids.
SPEAKER_02: I'm awesome, and they sneak up on me to submit their ideas, like, hey, hey, like Oliver Twist, asking for seconds.
SPEAKER_02: More.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, hey, babe, what is it?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, Dad, we're just gonna go, we're gonna go to Red Rocks, we're gonna go here and go back.
SPEAKER_02: I said, man, it sounds like a great time.
SPEAKER_02: You want me to pay for the ticket, or you want to pay for the ticket?
SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, I mean, it's only$75.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how much it is, but you want me to pay?
SPEAKER_02: Do you want some extra money to go so you can have fun while you're there?
SPEAKER_02: Those pot dispensaries are expensive.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, dad, dad, come on.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I'm just messing with you, buddy.
SPEAKER_02: I said, here's what I want you to call me.
SPEAKER_02: Never the rest of your life, you're almost 22, never the rest of your life act like I don't have a goodness in my heart with your name on it.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, I know, dad.
SPEAKER_02: I said, okay, don't text me like my dad may not want this.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you're taking on more and more responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: You didn't go with your friends over there.
SPEAKER_02: And so yesterday, my kid got up, they all went in Dallas, piled up in someone's house, got up, caught a five o'clock flight, not God's will for anybody.
SPEAKER_02: And then text, and then took Instagram postings about, we're at Red Rocks, we're here, we're there.
SPEAKER_02: And this is me taking a nap, is what I sent her back.
SPEAKER_02: Flew back to Dallas last night, landed about 11 o'clock.
SPEAKER_02: I texted her, enjoy this now, because graduation comes in May, and with that comes adulthood.
SPEAKER_02: And she texted, why don't you and mom do fun things like this?
SPEAKER_02: And I just texted back, because we have kids.
SPEAKER_02: And they get all our money to go to Colorado with their friends and eat out and sit in coffee shops and take pictures to post on Instagram.
SPEAKER_02: Then finally I couldn't resist.
SPEAKER_02: I just said, This is like a buffet.
SPEAKER_02: Your dad's like a buffet.
SPEAKER_02: Take all you want, but be prepared to eat all you take.
SPEAKER_02: She said, I love you, dad.
SPEAKER_02: I said, back at you.
SPEAKER_02: Well, why am I telling you all that?
SPEAKER_02: Because God is sick and tired when he's undergone so much, not just punishment, but death, to give you his goodness for you.
SPEAKER_02: He's sick and tired of you marinating in your badness.
SPEAKER_02: And God is saying to you, Hey, I got goodness in my heart with your name all over it.
SPEAKER_02: Stop acting like you gotta convince me to be good to you.
SPEAKER_02: The fifth question in the text is simply this Can God be sovereign and people still be morally responsible for their behavior?
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 10.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, oh, I thought we did all the egg-headed stuff last Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: Just a little egg-headedness for this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Can God be sovereign?
SPEAKER_02: That means in charge, in control, and people still be morally responsible for their behavior.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 10 of John 19 says this.
SPEAKER_02: So Pilate said to him, You will speak to me?
SPEAKER_02: You will not speak to me.
SPEAKER_02: Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus answered him, You would have no authority over me at all, unless it had been given you from above.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, in other words, you're not in charge, dude.
SPEAKER_02: God's in charge.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
SPEAKER_02: From then on, Pilate sought to release him.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because Pilate realizes somebody else is in charge here.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, and God's in charge, God's sovereign, and you and I are morally responsible.
SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of people want to cop out and go, well, if God's sovereign and he's in control of everything, then it doesn't matter what I do.
SPEAKER_02: That's fatalism.
SPEAKER_02: That's not good theology.
SPEAKER_02: I love what D.A.
SPEAKER_02: Carson said.
SPEAKER_02: He said, if God's sovereignty capsizes all human responsibility, then it is hard to see why the mission of the Son should be undertaken at all.
SPEAKER_02: Since in this case, there are no sins for the Lamb of God to take away.
SPEAKER_02: When I was studying for today, I read this paragraph that I want to read to you on God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_02: And I just kept going back this past week to get my mind ready for today, and just like a whetstone, just kind of rubbing my mind up against this.
SPEAKER_02: This is a man named John Piper said this.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Sometimes we need to plunge our minds into the ocean of God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_02: We need to feel the weight of it like deep and heavy water pressing in against every pore.
SPEAKER_02: The deeper we go, a billion rivers of providence pour into this ocean.
SPEAKER_02: And God Himself gathers up all his countless deeds from eternity to eternity and pours them into the currents of his infallible revelation.
SPEAKER_02: He speaks and explains and promises and makes his awesome sovereign providence the place we feel most reverent, most secure, and most free.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we need to be reminded by God Himself that there are no limits to his rule.
SPEAKER_02: We need to hear from him that he is sovereign over the whole world and everything that happens in it.
SPEAKER_02: We need his own reminder that he is never helpless, never frustrated, never at a loss.
SPEAKER_02: We need his assurance that he reigns over ISIS and terrorism and Syria and Russia and China and India and Nigeria and France and Myanmar and Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, every nation, every people, every language, every tribe, every chief, president, king, premier, prime minister, politician, great or small.
SPEAKER_02: God reigns sovereignly over every one of them.
SPEAKER_02: A gasoline refinery blows up in Saudi Arabia, didn't catch God off guard.
SPEAKER_02: And he's not morally responsible for it at all.
SPEAKER_02: If Jesus is really innocent, then why does he allow himself to be judged?
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Talk about irony.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement.
SPEAKER_02: Here is man sitting in judgment of God.
SPEAKER_02: In Arabic, Gabbatha.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 14, that was the day of preparation of the Passover.
SPEAKER_02: It was about the sixth hour.
SPEAKER_02: He said to the Jews, Behold your king.
SPEAKER_02: And they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.
SPEAKER_02: Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king?
SPEAKER_02: And the chief priest.
SPEAKER_02: Get this.
SPEAKER_02: This is not the people.
SPEAKER_02: This is the preachers of the day.
SPEAKER_02: The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.
SPEAKER_02: So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
SPEAKER_02: This is what happens when preachers get in bed with politicians.
SPEAKER_02: This is why it's pathetic when Dr.
SPEAKER_02: Robert Jeffries of First Baptist Church goes on Fox News and defends the president.
SPEAKER_02: Get off of there.
SPEAKER_02: It's none of your business.
SPEAKER_02: You don't speak for him, you speak for God.
SPEAKER_02: Look, preachers love to be on camera.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, they just preen like peacocks.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you want my opinion?
SPEAKER_02: No, we don't.
SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
SPEAKER_02: Is your congregation not enough for you?
SPEAKER_02: Go back.
SPEAKER_02: And the answer is no.
SPEAKER_02: No, you've got a camera.
SPEAKER_02: I've got a quote.
SPEAKER_02: And it's been going on since they nailed Jesus to a stick.
SPEAKER_02: Preachers selling out to politicians just to be accepted.
SPEAKER_02: We have no king but Caesar.
SPEAKER_02: The problem with America is the problem back then is that we got people in ministry who have no king but Caesar.
SPEAKER_02: And it's pathetic.
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely pathetic.
SPEAKER_02: But the question remains: if Jesus is really innocent, why does he allow himself to be judged?
SPEAKER_02: One simple response.
SPEAKER_02: Because you and I are gonna going to be.
SPEAKER_02: Because you and I are gonna be judged.
SPEAKER_02: And apart from the rich mercy that flows from the cross, not from a punished Jesus, but from a crucified Jesus, which we'll get to next Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: You don't stand a chance.
SPEAKER_02: Think about this just for a second.
SPEAKER_02: You're smart people.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine being Pilate on Judgment Day?
SPEAKER_02: He sits in the judgment seat and judges Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And then the day's gonna come, the Bible tells us that we're all, every one of us, is gonna stand before this innocent, holy, crucified king.
SPEAKER_02: And he's gonna sit in the judgment seat.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine, Pilate?
SPEAKER_02: See what it was.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you were there.
SPEAKER_02: I tried, I said who, and God is sovereign, and Pilate is morally responsible for his behavior and will be called to an account on judgment day, just like you and me.
SPEAKER_02: And so Jesus is really innocent.
SPEAKER_02: He allows himself to be judged.
SPEAKER_02: And here's why.
SPEAKER_02: So on that day, he can look at a pathetic sinner like me and give me mercy instead of judgment.
SPEAKER_02: And he wants to do the same thing for every one of you.
SPEAKER_02: But that doesn't apply to you.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot claim that unless you have a relationship with him, unless there's ever been a time in your life where you repented and put your of your sin and put your faith and trust in him.
SPEAKER_02: This is why Jesus is innocent and allows himself to be judged.
SPEAKER_02: So when you're judged, you can get mercy instead of justice.
SPEAKER_02: This is the good news of Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a guest, just relax.
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Some questions come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna pray a prayer, and we'll just sit and think for a moment about what the Bible said to us today.
SPEAKER_02: Father, thanks for the truth.
SPEAKER_02: It plows deep because it's sharp.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't need politician or preacher.
SPEAKER_02: It just needs to be unchained and let go.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, let the unchained word of God and the liberating spirit of God have its way with us as we just think and reflect and ponder and consider what the gospel, what the good news has said to us today.
SPEAKER_02: We understand that you're a father who has goodness in your heart for us.
SPEAKER_02: We don't have to sneak up on you and convince you to give it to us.
SPEAKER_02: You long to give it to us.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, just to brood over us while we think in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Father, it makes no sense to say hallelujah for the cross unless we understand the accomplishment that was achieved there.
SPEAKER_02: And so the good news of the cross is that Jesus wasn't just punished, he was crucified.
SPEAKER_02: And so the cutter who cuts herself can stop punishing herself because Jesus was punished for her sin.
SPEAKER_02: For that which dysregulates and disorients him or her.
SPEAKER_02: Enough punishment has been doled out.
SPEAKER_02: So for the person who cuts themselves with knife or blade, with food or drink, we can all set that aside today and just bask in the goodness of our Heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_02: This is the good news of Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: And for that, God, we're humbly grateful.
SPEAKER_02: So we say thank you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being part of our service.
SPEAKER_02: You're always welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a church home, I'd love this to be your church home.
SPEAKER_02: Uh you don't have to have it all together.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to know all the answers.
SPEAKER_02: You and your questions are welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: So please know that.
SPEAKER_02: Uh in just a moment, our service will be dismissed, and myself and some of our pastors will be down front.
SPEAKER_02: If you have a question about anything you heard me say, or you're like, hey, I didn't quite get that, or I disagree with that, come to us.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love to talk to you.
SPEAKER_02: This is not a lecture, it's a dialogue, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh hopefully, if you're a guest and your seatback pocket in your row, there's a guest card.
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully, you've had a chance to pull that and fill it out.
SPEAKER_02: If not, would you do that before you leave and just drop it in the wooden box by the doors?
SPEAKER_02: That's also where we receive our offering.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so if today's a day uh that you have an offering to give, that's where you do that as well.
SPEAKER_02: There's a few things we want to make you aware of by way of announcement, so give your attention to our screens for our video announcements this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: We will be hosting Night to Shine here on our campus on February 7th.
SPEAKER_01: Mark your calendars now, as there are over 200 different areas for you to serve as a volunteer.
SPEAKER_01: To register, go to our website.
SPEAKER_01: Men's Weekend registration is almost closed.
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and register today in the lobby or online so we can see you at the warehouse on October 18th and 19th.
SPEAKER_01: If you are skilled with a camera and enjoy taking high-resolution quality photography, send an email to Clyde at Grandparkway.org as we'd like to give you an opportunity to serve.
SPEAKER_01: Today is a community group Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: If you aren't in a group, find our connections pastor, Travis Dunnoff, and he will get you connected.
SPEAKER_01: If you would like someone to pray with you, or you have a question about anything you have seen or heard today, some of our pastors and elders will be available at the front of the stage after our service.
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so if you stand to your feet, hold your hands out.