SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: In 1773, a group of people named the Sons of Liberty rebelled against the authority of the British Parliament to tax the tea coming into the Boston Harbor.
SPEAKER_01: That act, that we know as the Boston Tea Party, is often connected to the beginning of the American Revolution.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to use your imagination with me for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's early, but we can do this.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to imagine for a moment that the British King and the British Parliament were right and that the colonies were wrong.
SPEAKER_01: What should the king and his government do toward rebellious colonies mocking their authority?
SPEAKER_01: Again, we're imagining, no matter which side of the isle you're on, or isles, imagining that the king of the British colonies and his parliament were right, and the colonies rebelling against their authority were wrong, in that case, what should the king and his government do toward rebellious people and their mocking action?
SPEAKER_01: Of course, we're not here this morning to talk about a parliament or a human ruler.
SPEAKER_01: Our subject is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The king in all his beauty and his rebellious creation.
SPEAKER_01: What should the king in all of his glory do?
SPEAKER_01: When his creation rebels and mocks him.
SPEAKER_01: Our text for this morning is Matthew chapter 27.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in verse 27, we're going to look through verse 44 together, again, beginning in verse 27 of Matthew 27.
SPEAKER_01: We'll make our way through verse 44 if you would like to follow along.
SPEAKER_01: I will read that text.
SPEAKER_01: I'm reading from the English Standard Version this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And it says that the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters.
SPEAKER_01: So we probably should back up to understand, a little bit like Tim did earlier.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 26, it says that Pilate had already released Barabbas to the crowd, and he had Jesus scourged, delivering him to be crucified.
SPEAKER_01: And then, after the scourging, the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.
SPEAKER_01: And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.
SPEAKER_01: And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand.
SPEAKER_01: And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
SPEAKER_01: As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name.
SPEAKER_01: They compelled this man to carry his cross.
SPEAKER_01: And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall, but when he tasted it he would not drink it.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
SPEAKER_01: And they sat down and kept watch over him there.
SPEAKER_01: And over his head they had put the charge against him, which read, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.
SPEAKER_01: And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.
SPEAKER_01: If you're the Son of God, come down from the cross.
SPEAKER_01: So also the chief priests, with the scribes and the elders, mocked him, saying, He saved others, but he cannot save himself.
SPEAKER_01: He's the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: He trusts in God.
SPEAKER_01: Let God deliver him now if he desires him.
SPEAKER_01: Or he said, I am the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
SPEAKER_01: May the Lord bless his word to our hearts and minds and enable us to grasp what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: This account is riddled with mocking, with taunting, contempt, disgrace, and humiliation.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew represents a contemptuous king who is taunted and humiliatingly mocked.
SPEAKER_01: But this is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Emmanuel, the King of kings, the Son of God, the one whom we've purposely gathered to worship this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So our challenge is to wrap our minds around the glorious and awesome eternal King suffering the worst of contempt from rebellious sinners.
SPEAKER_01: We must picture the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords as contemptuous, disgraceful, and humiliatingly exposed.
SPEAKER_01: The great king was despised and rejected by men.
SPEAKER_01: The great king was blasphemed, denied a throne, led outside the gates of his own royal city and mockingly executed.
SPEAKER_01: Now Matthew's shown us that Jesus possesses the right, the authority to rule as Israel's king.
SPEAKER_01: He's the Son of David, he's the promised Messiah who came in the fullness of time to save his people from their sins.
SPEAKER_01: He is God the Son who set aside his eternal glory to die to ransom sinners.
SPEAKER_01: And Matthew calls on all of us who hear this to believe in him, to take up our cross and to follow him.
SPEAKER_01: We've just read of the king of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: Creation bows at the sound of his voice.
SPEAKER_01: The mountains crumble at his approach.
SPEAKER_01: But in this moment, two thousand years ago, his creation rebelled.
SPEAKER_01: This is all historical narrative.
SPEAKER_01: That is, it tells us what happened.
SPEAKER_01: There are no directives here, there's no explicit application.
SPEAKER_01: But if we hear how Matthew presents what occurred, we will understand how we ought to respond.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to consider five rebellious actions toward Jesus, the Messiah King.
SPEAKER_01: But it would be wise of us to remember that merely because of the small number of disciples after three years of ministry, we would most likely be among the mocking rebels that day.
SPEAKER_01: These are actions, too, though, that those who rebel against Christ today still do.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me first at the fact that rebels mock Christ's kingship.
SPEAKER_01: Pilate had Jesus scourged in verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus was handed over to the whole battalion.
SPEAKER_01: And Matthew seems to take some pains here to describe that it's the entire battalion.
SPEAKER_01: It's the entire group of 600 men gathered together to mock this king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has already been flogged, so he's weakening.
SPEAKER_01: And now he is forced to stand before a group of foreign soldiers who would enjoy the sport of mocking a condemned Jew claiming to be a king.
SPEAKER_01: And then they changed Jesus' clothes.
SPEAKER_01: As a sign of their importance and their position, some higher-ranked soldiers wore a cheap red cloak.
SPEAKER_01: There were others of greater importance who had more financial means who would sport the more expensively dyed clothes in brilliant reds and even purples, but the cheap faded red robe would suffice to mock a condemned man.
SPEAKER_01: So they wrap Jesus' bloodied and torn body with this dingy soldier's cloak.
SPEAKER_01: They wrap it around the body of the king along with a crown of thorns.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way we often think of it, but it's more likely intended as a parody of Caesar's crown.
SPEAKER_01: Caesar's crown had spikes coming out of it, and those rays extending from the royal crown symbolized the light emanating from the emperor's head, much like we would see on the Statue of Liberty's crown.
SPEAKER_01: So the crown of thorns is first and foremost a mockery of Jesus' kingship.
SPEAKER_01: Then they also gave him a bamboo reed as an imitation royal scepter that children might pretend with.
SPEAKER_01: And kneeling before him, they mock him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: Probably meant to parallel the Ave Caesar or Hail Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: Then in further insult, they spit on him.
SPEAKER_01: Then they they take the symbol of his rule that that reed and they they beat the crown of thorns into his head.
SPEAKER_01: How does this happen?
SPEAKER_01: How does God the Son go from the holy, holy, holy of Isaiah's vision to this?
SPEAKER_01: And how do we ever follow such a king?
SPEAKER_01: It happened because God knew that the only way for his justice to be satisfied against human sin was if the eternal God condescended to take on a body, becoming the God man and to die a death that only God could endure.
SPEAKER_01: It occurred because it was God's definitive plan.
SPEAKER_01: It only happened because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that the ones who believe in him might receive life and he receive their destruction.
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget, don't forget that Isaiah not only saw the high and holy God lifted up above all things, but he also saw that same God as the suffering servant who was despised and rejected by men, who was wounded for our transgressions, who was crushed for our iniquities, whose by his stripes we are healed.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah saw the holy, holy, holy God who was oppressed and afflicted, yet opened not his mouth.
SPEAKER_01: And Isaiah saw him because it was the will of the Lord to crush him.
SPEAKER_01: But we must not forget that the mocking of the great king had its cause in our sin.
SPEAKER_01: For we reject the true king.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, in our natural state, like these soldiers, we want nothing to do with the king of the universe who commands us to obey his authority, who commands us to believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: And we naturally rebel against his rule over us.
SPEAKER_01: We even rebel against his rule after claiming him as our king.
SPEAKER_01: Think of it, Jesus can't be a king in their minds because they can't see it.
SPEAKER_01: The man before them, beaten and bloodied, humiliated and contemptible, looked and acted like no king they had ever seen before.
SPEAKER_01: So why not enjoy the moment and participate in a little mocking fun at his expense before he dies?
SPEAKER_01: The one greater than any this world has ever seen or known was showered with disgraceful mocking abuse.
SPEAKER_01: It's one thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's one thing for a person without knowledge of the scriptures to mock Jesus like this without feeling any guilt.
SPEAKER_01: We might be able to understand that.
SPEAKER_01: Remember how scriptures say that we understand a thief who steals food because he's starving to death.
SPEAKER_01: You kind of get that.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't necessarily make it right, but you understand there's a reason.
SPEAKER_01: We understand if people who know nothing of the scriptures and nothing of God's plan and purpose for his creation, mock and beat the king in this kind of way without feeling guilt.
SPEAKER_01: But how much worse is it when we, those whom he has ransomed and now claim to be his children and his subjects, refuse to obey his commands?
SPEAKER_01: Do we not also mock the kingship of our Lord when we know to do good but do not do it?
SPEAKER_01: Do we not mock his kingship when we know not to lust but we do it anyway?
SPEAKER_01: When we know not to covet, but we desire anyway?
SPEAKER_01: When we know that we are to come and to worship authentically with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but all we do is go through the motions?
SPEAKER_01: Do we not mock him when we follow him with lukewarm hearts, pointing fingers at everybody else instead of examining the filth in our own hearts?
SPEAKER_01: The hymnist was right.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, for hearts tuned to sing his praises rather than mock his rule over us.
SPEAKER_01: We are rebels who mock his kingship.
SPEAKER_01: We also see that rebels mock Christ's glory.
SPEAKER_01: The soldiers removed the red robe, put Jesus' garment back over his bloodied body, and they led him away to the place of the skull.
SPEAKER_01: Romans crucified the condemned in public areas, generally alongside roadways, well-traveled roadways, so that people could see and understand what happens to those who oppose Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is too weak to carry his cross.
SPEAKER_01: He's been scourged, he's been bleeding, he's been beaten.
SPEAKER_01: So the soldiers conscripted a passerby named Simon to carry his cross.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus and Simon are driven through the streets of the city as people stare and gawk at the bloodied and beaten king, already already bearing the weight of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: They're taken to a place called Gogotha.
SPEAKER_01: It's a name borrowed from the Aramaic language that means skull place.
SPEAKER_01: Either from the location's appearance, the way it looked, or or because of what so often took place there.
SPEAKER_01: Those who were educated and spoke the Latin of the Roman educated, they called the place Calvaria.
SPEAKER_01: And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
SPEAKER_01: And they sat down and kept watch over him there.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss what don't miss what Matthew doesn't say.
SPEAKER_01: So often in Scripture, some of the most important nuggets that are there is not what is said, but what is not said.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew is not like Hollywood that loves to sport the blood and the gore.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew just glosses over the pain and the agony of the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: There's no gore, there's no painful details.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, we see at the cross the glory of heaven, the majesty of the universe, and the light of the world treated like a petty criminal whose life meant nothing.
SPEAKER_01: But in God's eternal plan, the king in all his beauty became unrecognizable and unidentifiable so that you might become a daughter or a son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew mentions the division of his garments among the soldiers.
SPEAKER_01: The property of the crucified belonged to the crucifixion detail.
SPEAKER_01: Generally four soldiers.
SPEAKER_01: Clothing couldn't go to all of them, so they used some form of dice to determine who would receive the soon-to-be dead man's clothes.
SPEAKER_01: Do you grasp what Matthew doesn't say?
SPEAKER_01: The sovereign ruler, clothed in unapproachable, glorious light from all eternity, was beaten and bloodied and stripped naked so that people would turn their eyes away from him.
SPEAKER_01: The gracious one who performed the very first sacrifice so that Adam and Eve could be clothed without shame of nakedness was himself thoroughly shamed in nakedness by his creation, so that he might bear our shame.
SPEAKER_01: The Son of God, whom Peter, James, and John saw full of glory, radiant glory on the mountaintop, was hung upon the wood he created by his command, hung as a hideous curse was laid upon him, even as he upheld the ground that held that cross by his own omnipotent hand while his body is sagging upon the nails.
SPEAKER_01: The glorious king, before whom Isaiah felt as though he would die, is showered with shameful disgrace, contempt, and humiliation.
SPEAKER_01: He, the glorious one, took the shame of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: He became our sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: He bore our curse.
SPEAKER_01: He bore Peter's shame.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, you remember?
SPEAKER_01: Simon Peter.
SPEAKER_01: The same Simon Peter who said to Jesus, Lord, I will never, ever do anything negative towards you.
SPEAKER_01: I will never deny you.
SPEAKER_01: I will never go, I will die for you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure you will, Pete.
SPEAKER_01: Did you notice that Simon Peter is nowhere to be found?
SPEAKER_01: The Simon who declared that he would die for Jesus before he would deny him is nowhere to be seen as Jesus died for him.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of Simon Peter carrying his cross and following Jesus, a different Simon is compelled to carry Jesus' cross.
SPEAKER_01: Stripped of all glory and the dignity even of a human being, the King of Kings was lifted up to die a mocking, wretched death.
SPEAKER_01: Do you get a sense of the blasphemy that took place here?
SPEAKER_01: Our sin makes us rebels who mock his glory.
SPEAKER_01: But it pleased God to crush him so that your sin could be atoned.
SPEAKER_01: You can only grasp the full depth of this picture once you understand that ought to have been you.
SPEAKER_01: It ought to have been me.
SPEAKER_01: This ought to have been us paying the price for our sin.
SPEAKER_01: God declared the wages of sin is death, and the price must be paid.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, the cross is an incomprehensible reversal where God the Son had his eternal glory mocked as your substitute.
SPEAKER_01: If you are not brought to utter embarrassment that measureless glory would pay such a price for a worm like me, you still stand in your rebellion against him today.
SPEAKER_01: You must come to him and in faith cast your sins upon him, receive him as your substitute, and follow him in awe and obedience.
SPEAKER_01: Those walking by in this public place, Matthew says, derided him.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew uses the Greek word for blaspheme here.
SPEAKER_01: It can mean derided or mocked, but Matthew uses this word purposely to show us how their scorn and mockery blasphemed the God of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: They blasphemed him by turning his words against him in a biting and vicious kind of way.
SPEAKER_01: You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01: Save yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Come down from the cross if you're the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus did say that, didn't he?
SPEAKER_01: He did say that.
SPEAKER_01: But he didn't mean the actual temple.
SPEAKER_01: We're told he meant the temple of his body.
SPEAKER_01: Because his body is where God has come to dwell.
SPEAKER_01: So they mock his word, they mock his declarations, and they mock his intentions, and the mocking is even turned into a temptation.
SPEAKER_01: It is.
SPEAKER_01: Do you hear an echo of another voice in that statement?
SPEAKER_01: If you are the son of God, come down from that cross.
SPEAKER_01: Do you hear an echo of another voice?
SPEAKER_01: It sounds a little bit like a slithering voice.
SPEAKER_01: A snake.
SPEAKER_01: Said, if you're the Son of God, just do this.
SPEAKER_01: The challenge is for Jesus to prove who he is.
SPEAKER_01: Just come down from the cross, Jesus, and that'll prove to us who you are.
SPEAKER_01: But proving his identity in this moment would be sin because it would be giving in to the temptation to disobey the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Giving in to this temptation to come down from the cross would end the salvation plan.
SPEAKER_01: No one would be saved.
SPEAKER_01: Remaining on the cross displays his deity, for only the perfect one can refuse forever the temptation of the pride of life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus obeyed in the most painful moment of temptation.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember how just hours before this, the disciples couldn't even endure temptation for an hour to pray?
SPEAKER_01: They couldn't stay awake.
SPEAKER_01: Never let yourself believe that the Lord Jesus doesn't understand your temptations and your weaknesses.
SPEAKER_01: He understands better than you do.
SPEAKER_01: And yet he endured the cross and despised its shame and is now a compassionate high priest who intercedes for us.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you find yourself giving in to temptation, remind yourself of the one who didn't give in to temptation.
SPEAKER_01: And then cast yourself upon the one who refused temptation for you.
SPEAKER_01: And when you fall, fall to the cross.
SPEAKER_01: For he is faithful to forgive.
SPEAKER_01: How shameful is it that even then when we fall to the cross and we confess our sins and he is faithful to forgive, that we still tend to mock his word.
SPEAKER_01: We question whether or not he really meant what he said.
SPEAKER_01: Or we we twist his words to fit our comfort.
SPEAKER_01: Or we we ignore his words because it might cause us discomfort and carrying our own cross.
SPEAKER_01: We tell ourselves lies and then we believe the lies just like Eve did in the garden.
SPEAKER_01: He hasn't given me all that I need.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's holding back something from me.
SPEAKER_01: He's not worthy of my trust.
SPEAKER_01: He's left me all alone.
SPEAKER_01: My friends, when Jesus remained on that cross, when he endured the temptation and he refused to give in to the temptation, his remaining on that cross reveals all you ever need to know about his trustworthiness.
SPEAKER_01: Refuse to buy in to the serpent's lies telling you otherwise.
SPEAKER_01: We need to teach ourselves this truth because the next temptation is to rebel against him by mocking his power.
SPEAKER_01: The account now turns from the soldiers somehow needing to keep watch to the leaders of Israel, to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 41.
SPEAKER_01: They also mock him.
SPEAKER_01: How easy for them to do this.
SPEAKER_01: While Jesus is helpless and defenseless on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: How easy to say the suffering servant cannot be your king when he hangs upon that wretched cross.
SPEAKER_01: And that's their point.
SPEAKER_01: He saved others.
SPEAKER_01: Sad, isn't it, that he can't save himself.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, he's the king of Israel, so let him come down from the cross, and then we will believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: They refused to believe that Jesus possessed the power to save himself, much less anyone else in that moment.
SPEAKER_01: You see, they evaluated Christ's claims against his position on the cross, and they concluded they canceled each other out and he had no power to save himself, and so they mock his power.
SPEAKER_01: We question his power anytime we question his power to aid us, to provide for us, to save us, to sustain us, to care for us.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, if Jesus comes down from the cross, then they'll believe.
SPEAKER_01: So many of us have said we will believe if God rescues us from our foolishness.
SPEAKER_01: But Matthew says, no, look look to that man on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And believe in him as he hangs upon that cross.
SPEAKER_01: You see, in the in the irony of God's plan, the chief priests and the scribes and the rulers are right.
SPEAKER_01: They're right.
SPEAKER_01: They mistakenly got their theology right.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus cannot save himself.
SPEAKER_01: But we have to finish that sentence.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus cannot save himself and still accomplish the salvation of others in God's predetermined plan.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus saves himself, then we are still condemned.
SPEAKER_01: But with eyes of faith, we begin to see that it has nothing to do with power or ability or strength.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus possesses all power.
SPEAKER_01: He possesses all authority, and he could come down from that cross.
SPEAKER_01: Did he not say, I have legions of angels at my command?
SPEAKER_01: One thought, and he's off the cross.
SPEAKER_01: But he could not come down from the cross and still accomplish the purpose of God.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he chose to die so that those who were consigned to death because of sin might live by faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: He revealed his power in his weakness so that his power might be evident in us who are weak.
SPEAKER_01: There's a fifth element of rebellion here.
SPEAKER_01: And that is rebels mock Christ's deity.
SPEAKER_01: He trusts in God.
SPEAKER_01: Let God deliver him now, if he desires him.
SPEAKER_01: For he said, I am the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's intentional or not, the Jewish leaders were quoting from Psalm 22.
SPEAKER_01: Very fascinating element of this passage.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 22 was composed by David.
SPEAKER_01: It's a morning song.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a choral piece.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning of Psalm 22 says, to the choir master, to the tune of Doe of the Dawn.
SPEAKER_01: So there's this image that you're out early in the morning and you see a doe feeding along the green pastures.
SPEAKER_01: And David, the shepherd king, composes a song for the choir to sing.
SPEAKER_01: What a beautiful moment.
SPEAKER_01: Beautiful opportunity for composing.
SPEAKER_01: And then we read in verse 1 of chapter 22 of the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: My God.
SPEAKER_01: Why have you forsaken me?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_01: We're getting ahead of ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: That's a future sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, let's start in verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: But I am a worm and not a man.
SPEAKER_01: Scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
SPEAKER_01: All who see me mock me.
SPEAKER_01: They make mouths at me.
SPEAKER_01: They wag their heads.
SPEAKER_01: He trusts in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let him deliver him.
SPEAKER_01: Let him rescue him, for he delights in him.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: They say, Listen, you say that God delights in you.
SPEAKER_01: You're the Son of God, so He's got to love you.
SPEAKER_01: So if he really delights in you, if He really loves you, then He's going to step into this situation.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to rescue you from it.
SPEAKER_01: You can't be God because if you were God's Son, then He would rescue you from this painful situation.
SPEAKER_01: He would not forsake you.
SPEAKER_01: He would not leave you alone.
SPEAKER_01: They take Jesus' deity and they slap him with it on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: They could not believe that Jesus is God the Son because of his presence on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: They could not believe that that was true of him because of the suffering that he was enduring and the mocking that was being thrown at him.
SPEAKER_01: His presence on the cross defied anything they ever knew or believed about the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Not much has changed in 2000 years.
SPEAKER_01: People mock Jesus in much the same way today.
SPEAKER_01: A crucified criminal?
SPEAKER_01: Is the Lord of glory?
SPEAKER_01: Really?
SPEAKER_01: That's what you believe.
SPEAKER_01: How could the eternal God be a despised slave?
SPEAKER_01: If you don't catch that clue, it comes from Philippians chapter two.
SPEAKER_01: His atoning, satisfying death is inapplicable to us.
SPEAKER_01: It does not apply to us if we refuse to believe that he was God the Son, even as he hung upon that cross.
SPEAKER_01: Christ cannot save if he is not the second person of the Godhead, even while hanging upon that cross.
SPEAKER_01: And if we refuse to believe that, we are without hope.
SPEAKER_01: That is the essence of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That is the essence of our message.
SPEAKER_01: We dwell in a sin-cursed world whose only hope rests in a contemptible king held on a Roman cross.
SPEAKER_01: And in an incomprehensible irony, all creation stood still as its maker died for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_01: We all stand there.
SPEAKER_01: Broken and condemned creatures, looking up at a cursed man on the middle cross, hurling insults, mocking abuse at his kingship, at his glory, at his word, at his power, and at his deity.
SPEAKER_01: We hurl our sins at him and our rebellion at him, saying, take this, take that.
SPEAKER_01: But there is glorious hope for rebels at the foot of the cross.
SPEAKER_01: For the one who hung in mocking contempt and scorn, full of shame, said, If I be lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.
SPEAKER_01: And like those in Moses' time who rebelled against God and looked up to the image that God told Moses to stick up on a piece of wood, even now, today, rebels who look to Jesus, God in the flesh, remaining on that cross, can be saved from their sins.
SPEAKER_01: In the end, rebels mock Christ because they cannot see him as he truly is.
SPEAKER_01: They only see him in his humanity.
SPEAKER_01: But those who trust in him, looking with eyes of faith, they see him as their king.
SPEAKER_01: They revel in his glory.
SPEAKER_01: They obey his word.
SPEAKER_01: They believe in his power.
SPEAKER_01: And they trust in his deity as the God who saves.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, may we hear your word and believe.
SPEAKER_01: Take away all of the lies of the evil one, all of the lies of our world, and open our eyes to truly see you and not just to see you, but to be moved.
SPEAKER_01: So that we at your cross might not be absent like Simon Peter, but might be present like Simon of Cyrene.
SPEAKER_01: May we be found to be those who take up our cross and follow you because you are our King.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, may you give us boldness to go from this place after we fellowship together and encourage one another and pray with one another.
SPEAKER_01: May you give us boldness to speak of you to those who still stand in rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: And so you be glorified by saving yet more sinners.
SPEAKER_01: For your glory.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.