John 18, verse 38. We'll be reading through 19, 6. Pilate said to him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no fault in him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews? Then they all cried out, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe. Then they said, hail, king of the Jews! And they struck him with their hands. Pilate then went out again and said to them, behold, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him. And Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, behold the man. Therefore, when the chief priest and the officer saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to Then you take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. As far as the word of God. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Amen. Let us pray. Oh Lord, our God, as we are assembled before you, we come needing the living bread. We come needing the wellspring of the waters of life that flow forth from Christ. Lord, bless us. with your word by your spirit. Bless the proclamation of the word and the hearing of the word. And then as we go from the place, the doing of this word will be magnified with the preaching of your word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Last week, we began to look at the trial of our Redeemer before the Roman governor, Pilate. We will continue to make our way through that event today as we continue with what John has recorded. We'll be even doing so over the next couple of Sundays as we work our way through to the end and even then to the crucifixion. For many of us, these events are very familiar. A number of you have grown up hearing of the crucifixion of our Lord and perhaps to become so familiar that we disconnect from them is one of the tendencies we tend to have. This morning let us look at them with a refreshed interest. Today we will be looking at the key figures in the trial and particularly look at what these three Individuals, or three groupings, tell us about the human condition, sin, and its effects upon mankind. Indeed, on all mere men, women, boys, and girls, we are all affected in this way. The doctrine of what we call total depravity, whereby Adam sinned, we all sinned in him and fell with him, and we are completely in sin and unable to do any good. And that sin manifests in a number of different ways. We will see that in these men. It's important that young and old listen and welcome the word preached, to hear the word of God, to search us and try us. Children, children, I say to you, this text speaks to you as well as to the adults. This is a time to take heed for you too are numbered amongst the sinners in the world in need of a savior. Last week, we looked at Pilate, the governor, and the Jews. We saw in them two things that are in our hearts also. We use the label of pragmatism. Children, what that means is that we do whatever we want in order to get what we want. Now, we also saw the problem they had of considering truth to be relative. They manipulated the truth in order to get out of a situation the outcome they wanted. Children, even as young as you are, you know what this is. Mason to play with the truth you you're in trouble for something you've done your your parent your mother your father's come into the room where perhaps there's been an argument a fight maybe somebody's hit someone and Your parent wants to know what's happened What's a tendency? Even you adults do this in situations, right? You you tell just enough or you tell the pieces that make you look best or you just I don't know fabricate a lie. I It's lying. It's sin. It's for this reason Jesus came into the world to save sinners who are liars. We will see that everyone in John's telling of what took place at Jesus' trial, sin. And they sin in many ways. We will look at three individuals or three groups. We're going to look at Pilate. We're going to look at the Jews. As John's referred to the chief priests, the Sanhedrin, the elders, he's referred to them as the Jews. We're going to look at the Jews, and we're going to look at Barabbas. We will see ourselves. We will see how sinful we truly are. We will see how much we need a Savior. And then we're going to look at the Savior. We're going to look at Christ. We'll see that He alone is without sin. He is the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And so we follow those as our headings, our main organizing points. A look at Pilate, a look at the Jews, a look at Barabbas, and behold the man, a look at Jesus. Our theme then is we will see that everyone is a sinner and really needs someone to save them. And then we will see that Jesus is that someone, the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So begin with a look at Pilate. We begin looking at him. We noted last week he's a pragmatic man. He holds this office that requires that he's to make judgments. His judgments should be just. People become irritated when there's injustice from those governing over them. In verse 38, we just heard it again, that Pilate says, I find no fault in him. That isn't Jesus at all. Pilate is sure of Jesus' innocence, and he acknowledges that. As a matter of fact, in the course of the trial, seven times, Pilate acknowledges that there's no guilt in Jesus. He finds no fault in Him. There's nothing worthy of condemnation. Isn't that remarkable? This is an unrighteous man, an unrighteous judge, a mere man, and yet he recognizes what we know to be the case, what God has revealed to be the case. Christ is spotless. In all His ways, He's perfection. He's the sinless Son of God who came into the world to save sinners. Well, Pilate sees something of that. He sees that certainly Jesus has done nothing worthy of death. Luke records that Pilate desired to release Jesus. He was willing to let Him go. You can read that in Luke 23. And later, he says, I will let Him go. John 19, 12, a little later on, where we'll come to in another week or so, where you read that Pilate sought to release him. And then Luke records in Acts 3.13, Pilate was determined to let him go. There's something commendable about this, isn't there? He recognizes that Christ is not guilty. Pilate understands that it's because of jealousy that the Jews had delivered Jesus up to him. He understands that. And so Pilate recognizes about Christ. It makes it all the more severe when he proceeds, as we shall see that he does. Pilate also had his wife urging him, have nothing to do with this man. I've been troubled much in my sleep because of a dream. She refers to him as a just man. John 18, 31, we read that Pilate urged the Jews to take him and judge Jesus themselves. Pilate wants to be done with this. Luke tells us that Pilate sent Jesus to King Herod when he heard that he was from Galilee. And Herod was in town in an effort to free himself of the responsibility. But Herod, likewise, not wanting to take the responsibility, turns and rounds and sends him back to Pilate. Finally, Pilate tried to convince the Jews. to request that he set Jesus free. We saw that right at the end of the text. It was the custom at the time of the feast that he would release someone to them, a prisoner to them. What's interesting is we don't know where this custom began. There's nothing in history that tells us how it started or who started it or why it was started, but nonetheless, it's a custom. And John records here. Pilate recognizes it. And Pilate even says there in verse 39, do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews. Now, he's disrespectful. He doesn't recognize Jesus as a king. He recognizes he's not a king that's a threat to him or to Pilate, even as Jesus has told him, my kingdom is not of this world. And so Pilate's not alarmed. If indeed he was an insurrectionist and a rebellious citizen seeking overthrow the government, then Pilate would have proceeded swiftly to put him to death. But he sees that's not the case. And he's suggesting to the Jews that he released them. Pilate even goes so far as we'll see to use cruelty to convince the Jews to release him. So what do we see thus far? We see that Pilate has a fear of man. He's a coward before the people. He wants to avoid irritating. He knows that these people are riotous. There's been events that have taken place with uprisings that he's had to put down. He's a man who just wants to get what he wants and he's willing to ultimately be unjust to attain what he ends. Pilate's heart is hard in sin. He hears the righteous Son of God before him but he's hardened against him even though he recognizes that he's innocent. Yet, he proceeds ahead. He's hard-hearted. Jesus even addressed Pilate's conscience. If you look back just above where we read in verse 37, Pilate said to him, therefore, you are a king then? Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. And then what does Jesus say? Everyone who is of the truth Here's my voice." There's an appeal in that. There's an appeal to Pilate. He's hearing truth himself. Remember, John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He's appealing to Pilate. Here's Christ speaking to Pilate, telling him, everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. But Pilate, in the hardness of sin, Though he hears with his ears chilled, and he's hearing the voice, sound of Jesus' voice, he's not hearing in his heart. He lacks the understanding that the Holy Spirit alone can bring about within his heart. What else do we see about Pilate? We see that he's a cruel man who is willing to do great harm in order to manipulate the people to get what he wants. Remember, he sees no fault in him. He would release him. He wants to release him. He's made that clear, and yet the people, they're not having it. He knows. And so Pilate, ever the pragmatist, doing what he can to get what he wants, what are we told in chapter 19 verse 1? So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. Where's the justice in that? What he's seeking to do now is he wants to humiliate and humble a bloody and so forth Jesus and then present him to the Jews. Pilate's thinking, if I present him back to them, he's not out in front of the people, the people don't know what's happening inside, but he's thinking if I make him look like a non-threat, weak, humiliated, of no account, perhaps the relentless enough has been done. That's sufficient justice. We're satisfied and Empada can get what he wants. He can let him go free. For whatever reason, he's terrified of the idea of putting him to death. Whether it's his wife's dream, probably playing a big factor in it, but also he just recognizes that this man is not guilty. Pilate also permitted, as John goes on to tell us in chapter 19, he permitted his soldiers to abuse Jesus, to mock him. What are we told? John says that they took thorns and they put them on his head. What were these thorns? There are so many varieties of thorns in that part of Israel, and particularly around Jerusalem. There are multiple different kinds of thorn bushes. Some people say they're these very long thorns. There were other kinds of vines that had just a slew of thorns on them. But what we should notice about that is, what is Jesus wearing? He's wearing a crown of thorns. What was part of the curse for sin in the garden? The earth. will become thorns. It will bring forth thorns. You're going to till by the sweat of your brow and the earth is going to yield thorns. And so you see on Jesus' head, he's crowned with this picture of the curse for Adam's sin. He who is without sin becomes sin and he bears the curse for our sin. Even his picture in the crown of thorns. Now the Roman soldiers, they do this just to mock him. And they were told that they struck him The way this is written in the original, it's clear that it's mocking. They don't believe what they're saying. This is a mockery. They don't like the Jews. They happen to live in this land of the Jews. They're trying to keep these people under control for Caesar's sake. They have no affection for them. And so this man, they feel threatened that he's a king. And so they mock him. And then they struck him with their hands. The language here is they keep on striking him. It's not just that he was struck a time or two. The Roman soldiers most likely line up, all of them having to go and come by and struck him. From the other Gospel accounts, we're told they had a reed and they would smack him on the head, driving the thorns into his brow. And you see the picture beginning to form. What Isaiah writes, he was disfigured beyond recognition. As the blood flows from him and the bruises begin to swell up, this is. our king. But Pilate's purpose is to so humiliate him and disfigure him to make him look is no account and yet God's purpose is Christ is afflicted for our sakes what he's enduring is what we should have endured Jesus is in our place as sinners this is what we deserve. Pilate is using Jesus to mock the Jews He presents them as a king to them. Here's your king. I released you, the king of the Jews, verse 38 or 39. He's mocking them. He has no affection for them. So he says, here's your king. No doubt there's more that we can say about Pilate's sins, but we've seen enough that I think we see ourselves in Pilate. that we're inclined to do things to get our end, sometimes extreme and harsh things, when we want what we want. Children, if you ever have been fighting over a toy, maybe it's a new toy, it's a nice toy, and a brother or sister or some playmate wants it, and you're struggling over it, and just to settle, you just take and you smash it. So nobody can have it. Just make it completely undesirable. That's something like what Pilate's doing. He's just smashing Jesus. So there's nothing attractive about him. That's what we are, sinners. Cruel, cowards, operating out of fear of men rather than fear of God, unjust, doing whatever we can to get the ends we want, knowing what is true and just and yet choosing to do what works best for us. Pilate ought to have released Jesus immediately upon his pronouncement I find no fault in him. That would have been justice. He should have been released. But he knows he's got a group of leaders that will stir up the crowd. He doesn't want to have Jerusalem in an uproar, because Jerusalem is packed. It's a time of the Passover. People have come from all over the Roman realm. They've come for this great feast. And the people, they care about Jesus. willfully, they turn away from him, but he's trying to keep the peace in his realm, whatever he can. What we see is no fear of God, the fear of man. Isn't it amazing that Jesus would suffer such for us? We're the guilty ones. This is what we deserve. And yet Jesus endured at the hands of Pilate. Pilate received a picture of ourself. I want to turn then to the Jews. Pilate's full of fault, but so are the Jews. Consider this. This is their Messiah. Let us remember, as we begin in John's Gospel, it was made clear to us the Jews were anticipating at that time that Jesus came as the Messiah. They were anticipating that the time was right. that he was going to come. And so when John the Baptist came, you know, they're wondering, are you him? And remember, we saw John said, no, I'm not the Messiah. No, I'm not Elijah. No, I'm not the prophet, the one that Moses prophesied that would come from among them, who would be greater than he was. They're always wondering that there's this expectation that the Messiah would come. And here he is. The long expected one. Emmanuel, God with us. God, the Son has come and lived in their midst, walks amongst them for 33 years, the last three of which were very public ministry. What has Jesus done? Amazing things. People have gone out to see him. They've spent days with him, even in remote areas, just to hear him teach. They've come with all their sick, that Jesus would heal them. And yet, you know, the religious leaders, the Jews, as John refers to them, they're demanding a sign. Jesus has performed thousands upon thousands of signs and healed countless numbers of people, including lepers from leprosy, the disease that rots the flesh. He's fed thousands. on two occasions, from just a few loaves and small fish, and with an abundance more than they begin with, taken up everywhere. Everywhere Jesus has gone, he's been ministering, preaching the word, doing good, so that the people, they marvel, says, he doesn't teach like our teachers. This man teaches as one who has authority. All this is born witness to the Jews of who he is. But the Jews, John again referring to the leaders, they are jealous. Jesus is loved. Jesus is followed. Jesus is listened to. Jesus is overturning their man-made laws. He's stripping away all the additions they laid on God's good law given through Moses and bringing clarity back to it. They feel threatened. They are threatened. Jesus is wise. And he withstood their attempts, because remember, they came to him. They're trying to trap him, particularly as we're drawing near the end, as Jesus' hours approach. And they send their best scribes, their best lawyers to throw questions at him, to entangle him, to trip him up. And yet, with all this evidence of who he is, that he's their Messiah, they reject him. They want him dead. They refuse that he could possibly be the promised prophet that Moses spoke of. They wanted Jesus dead because they could not see that he was David's greater son. The king doesn't come from Nazareth or Galilee, which Nazareth's in Galilee. He comes from David's line, Bethlehem. Well, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. If they had done a little investigative journalism or something, they would have put the pieces together like, oh, he is a descendant from David, both his mother who bore him and his adopted and provisional father, Joseph as well. All the signs and wonders did not move them. Isn't that remarkable? Say that to the Pentecostals today who think that they can be winsome with the gospel, if they even own the gospel, by doing signs and wonders through their chicanery. People are not moved by signs and wonders. Jesus did signs and wonders and that's not what changed people's hearts. It was the gospel of good news, even Jesus Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit into the heart of the sinner. When Jesus cast out demons, notice, Donny, there's this upsurge of demon infestation, people who had demons at this time, because the great conflict's on. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent are in combat, in contest, and here's Satan, you know, with his assault against Jesus, and yeah, here's Jesus. He just commands, and they come out. Again, showing the power that he has as the son of God, the authority he has. The demons know who Jesus is. They want to tell everybody, and Jesus tells them to be silent. With all this evidence, what do the Jews say? He's like, well, he's casting out demons because he serves Beelzebub. Therefore, he can do that. He's the servant of the devil, and that's why he can control these devils. What an ostrous thing. And Jesus even calls it out. He says, a house divided against itself cannot stand. And how do you plunder a house? But you come and bind the strong man first. Jesus has bound Satan. He's binding Satan with what? The truth of the gospel, his manifestation of who he is. And thus he's overthrown. But no, their ears are shut. Their eyes are closed to the truth. They refuse to accept Jesus as their Messiah, the Son of God, the fulfillment of the promises and the prophecies. They reject him in everything. Instead, they claim he's a blasphemer because he makes himself out to be the Son of God. Now, if he wasn't the Son of God, that would have been blasphemy, and he would have deserved to die. Under the Jewish law God gave through Moses, he would have been stoned. But God prohibited that because Jesus is supposed to be crucified. That's what the prophets have foretold. Cursed is anyone who hangs upon a tree. He's to die at the hands of the Gentiles. But they rejected him. They want Jesus dead. You know, there's people like that today. They hear the Gospel, perhaps they read the Scriptures, They hear Christ proclaim and they want nothing to do with it. They want him silenced. They want out of their life. They just assume he was dead and gone. They don't want to hear the testimony of Jesus. All this and so much more. They're just like Pilate. They're unjust. Again, look at verse 39. It says, But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the time of the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews? And they all cried, saying, not this man. With all the evidence in place, not this man, but Barabbas. Now, Barabbas was a robber. We'll come back to him more in just a moment. They chose a wicked and vile man who was criminally worthy of death. They chose him over the righteous son of God. The Jews would choose evil. over good. Is that not the nature of the sinner's heart? That's what we are apart from Christ. We would choose to do the evil rather than to do what is good and righteous. And so the Jews came to Pilate with a demand that Jesus should die. They wanted him to hang on that Roman cross to be crucified. Pilate gave them opportunities to back down, to choose justice rather than spite. Pilate understood that these Jews were motivated by envy. Matthew records that, 2718. Now before we go on to a look at Barabbas, some application. Do we not see the same response to Jesus in our day? A rejection of him in spite of all the evidence. Sometimes we would see that in our own hearts. earlier in our service, we heard the law of God, and we confessed our sins. Why? Because we're sinners. Even though we're saved, we're redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we come from a week of living out in the world, living in our homes, and we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so we come. Indeed, we come as God's people when we have chose to do evil. rather than to do good, or we have neglected good that we should do and chosen rather to do nothing, which is evil. Even though we have the Holy Spirit of the living God dwelling within us, this is what we are. And if God had not acted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we would have remained in our sin and continued to reject Him. It's part of the challenge to come on the Lord's Day that we come with an expectation of the goodness of God. Recognize, yes, I come from a week of sin. I know I'm a filthy sinner, but I come to God in Christ Jesus knowing that he will receive and welcome me and refresh me. Maybe some of you hearing this have done that. You've heard about your sin. You've heard about Christ. And like the Jews, you reject him again and again and again. Jesus though, he's still calling to sinners. He says, come, come unto me and I will give you rest. He says, come and welcome to me. Even though your sins be as scarlet, I will wash them whiter than snow. That's the invitation of Jesus even to those who have said no time and again. Perhaps you're a child and you hear Jesus calling you. You hear Jesus saying, come, come to say, save me, Jesus. Jesus welcomes even the little children. Indeed, he encourages us to come with a childlike faith, a simple faith to believe on him. Let's look at Barabbas. We've seen something of ourselves in Pilate and the Jews, but maybe we'll see something more of ourselves in Barabbas. Pilate has found no fault in Jesus at all. He stressed this point of innocence. John tells us that Pilate, in a desperate attempt to set Jesus free, he has suggested to the Jews that in light of the custom that they have, that they should ask for Jesus, the King of the Jews, to be set free. He's yet to bring him out before the people, but they're already saying, no, we want Barabbas. And so Pilate scourged him. The soldiers put the crown of thorns on him. They brought him out. Hail. King of the Jews, I'm bringing him out to you now that you may know that I find no fault in him." And so Jesus represented to them and there's no change. He said, we want Barabbas. They see Jesus as Pilate has dealt with him and they still want Barabbas. It is certain that the people wanted Jesus, wanted the people to choose Jesus, but instead they chose this man, this Barabbas. We're told, John just tells us he's a robber. You know what that is, children? A robber is someone who takes things that belong to other people, steals them, just takes them for himself. That's a wicked sin that even a child can commit. Some of my earliest memories, you know, I think back to my childhood, I can remember that I stole stuff. robber. That's what this Brabus is. We see ourselves in him. But Mark tells us that he also participated in a rebellion. He was part of this group that was trying to rise up and overthrow the Roman government. He was an insurrectionist. Luke tells us he was a murderer, probably in the course of his violent revolt. So he's rebellious, he's a thief, he's a murderer, and the people want him. There's something here that's interesting. You know, we've talked about irony, where something just seems like, wow, that's the case. You know what Barabbas means? Son of the Father. Son of the Father. The Jews have rejected the Son of the Father and chosen one vile man whose name is Son of the Father. They want him to go free. But do you see what God's doing there? He has sent His only begotten Son into the world to save Barabbas' sons of the Father. Who's our Father? Adam. We're all children of Adam. We're son of that Father. It is because of Adam's sin that we are sinners. And the curse of Adam is upon us. And so here we see the Son of the Father, the Son of God coming to the world to save children of Adam. Barabbas is a picture. of us. We are the son of the father, Adam. Jesus is the second Adam who comes to save the children of Adam, to bring them home to the God of glory. Little did Pilate understand when what he was doing when he says, so that he was when he asked, you know, so I let Jesus go free. Really what he's saying, shall the savior of sinners He was presenting to them as they chose Barabbas. So the sinner go free or the Savior of the sinners go free? Jesus is the Savior of the sinners and he's come to save men like Barabbas. He's come to save men like us. You remember the law of Moses that if you had an animal born, you're first born from a clean animal, that that animal is to be sacrificed. A bull, born belonged to God. A reminder of what happened to Egypt when God slew the firstborn of Egypt so that Israel could come free. And so God required the firstborn. But if you had an unclean animal like a donkey, you were to break its neck, it's just been born, and you would break its neck. Or you could redeem the donkey with a lamb, specifically a lamb. An unclean animal could be redeemed with a lamb. And here we have Barabbas, an unclean animal. to be redeemed by the Lamb of God. Barabbas was a wicked man, children. A very nasty man. An unseemly man. Taking what didn't belong to him. Barabbas deserved to die on the cross. Barabbas should have been crucified. Barabbas probably would have been crucified. That's why he was still being held. He's a murderer. The crucifixion was a form of death for murderers. And the people said, we want Barabbas. Crucify Jesus. Did Jesus deserve to die for Barabbas' sins? No, but he came into the world for that reason. Did he deserve to die for our sins? No, but he came into the world for that reason. He came into the world to save sinners. Jesus died in the place of the guilty sinners that the Father had given to him. And here we see that so starkly pictured with this Barabbas, unclean, unwholesome, unseemly, wicked and vile, a sinner of sinners, even as we are. And that brings us then to consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold the man. How little did Pilate understand that. And he's saying it in a mockery sense to the people. Behold the man. Look at what he is now. Look how disfigured he is. Look how humbled and humiliated he is. hoping that they say, okay, he suffered upright, we'll set him free, we're satisfied. But no, they choose that he should be crucified. Who is this one? This one is the one who came into the world to save sinners. This is the one that John announced all the way back in the opening of his book. This is the word of God come in the flesh. This is God come into the world to save sinners. This is the one that John the Baptist announced, he said, amongst you right now there's one who I'm not worthy to even stoop down and unloose his sandal strap. He says, this is the one long foretold. And then Jesus comes and he says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Twice he announces that. That's who stands before us. Hippolytus says, behold the man. Indeed, he does not understand that this is the echo of eternity. Behold, God come in the flesh. Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold, the man who is the God-man. Behold, this is the sinless one. This is the perfect one who has come to be a sacrifice for sinners. God had decreed all this to come to pass. This is what God had foretold. Now, just before we go on further with Jesus, think about this. Pilate wants to do what? He wants to set Jesus free. Seven times he's declared he's not guilty, he's not worthy of death. But God has decreed that his son will die for sinners. That's why he came. And man cannot override the will of God, and yet God Pilate's guilty. The Jews are guilty. All those in this place, they're guilty. They're acting out of their own volition and their own will. They're doing what's in their heart and what God is doing and they are under God, serving God, accomplishing God's purposes, and yet they are guilty. What we see here is what we saw at the end of Genesis. After Joseph's brothers That's where their father, Jacob, died. They're fearful of Joseph. He's the prince of Egypt. There's this authority over them of life and death. They treated him terribly. They sold him when they first determined to murder him, and they sold him as a slave. And Jacob's gone. It's like, we're in trouble. And Joseph weeps. He says, yes, you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. And when we look at this passage we're in, John, yes, these men meant it for evil. All these that are colluding together, they mean it for evil, but God has meant it for good. God is bringing about his purpose. And thus, we have this perfect Lamb of God who came into the world to save sinners. Remember, earlier in chapter 18, we saw Jesus taken by Anna's house. before he went to Caiaphas' palace. Annas is the rightful high priest, and it was his responsibility to prove the sacrifice, and here is the sacrifice for sinners, THE sacrifice for sinners. In God's providence, he goes by Annas' house. In the words of Caiaphas, it was expedient that one should die for the people, and indeed, that's what Jesus is doing, is the sacrifice for sinners. God has declared concerning his son, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. God has pronounced the innocence of Jesus Christ. God has affirmed that this is his son coming to the world to save sinners. That's who Pilate presents to the people. That's who Pilate has permitted his Roman soldiers to strike blows upon blows. Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. the Lamb of God, this disfigured one, this one who was smitten and afflicted, who was struck for our sakes, that we might live, that we might have salvation. Do you see Jesus? They saw a man. When they looked at him, with a blood running down his face, his face swollen from their blows, this mockery of a purple robe. They just see a man. But even the robe is significant. I meant to mention this earlier. Our sins are as scarlet. And the Roman soldiers to mock him as though he were a regal king, as they mock him, they take a purple garment and they throw it around him. Our sins, pictured even in the purple robe, sins as scarlet. And Jesus wore that robe and indeed he bore our sins. He wore our sin and went to the cross and satisfied God's justice for our sins so that he then could clothe us with a robe of righteousness. His righteousness. It is who he is. He is the righteousness of God. He is the holiness of God and all his ways pure. This is the one who stands before the people. Emmanuel, God come in the flesh, God coming for this purpose. Isn't that stunning? It is astounding that God, the Holy One, whom we have offended, who has every right to destroy us with his infinite wrath for all eternity, came into the world to save sinners. And he came in our nature. He came as a man. A man without sin, and yet humanity that could die, humanity that could suffer and be afflicted, humanity that bled, humanity that became weary, humanity that grew thirsty. He is fully man and fully God. There is no other like him. He is the one there on trial before these unrighteous individuals with the cries of the people that he should be crucified like a common criminal. And there's injustice in that, but there's also justice. Because at some point in this process, he who knew no sin became sin. At some point in God's courtroom, at some point, the host of the sins of the people that God had given to his son before the eternity, before earth began, before God created, when God appointed those for salvation, God takes the sins, every one of the sins of all his people And they're placed on Christ. Like that robe that is scarlet. It's as though our sins were placed on Christ. That's a picture of the legal reality. In God's justice, Christ bore our sin. And what did He, who's buried the sin, now condemned and guilty, deserve? He deserved what we deserved. Death and destruction. And so there's justice. God bringing his justice, satisfying his justice in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, as he goes to the cross. The gospel is astounding that God would do this, that Christ would do this, that Christ was so great love for the Father and so great love for his people, knowing this is what was in store for him, that he came into the world to suffer this contradiction of sinners, this vile assault upon the living God of heaven. You want to see what man would do to God if he could lay hold of Him? It happened right there. That's what we are as sinners. If we could seize God, we would seek to destroy Him. We cannot. But here is God in the flesh, and they put Him to death. The people shouted, crucify! Crucify! They can't see it happen soon enough. They want Jesus dead. Behold the man, the God-man. Behold Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. There is no other name under heaven given amongst men by which ye must be saved but the Lord Jesus Christ. We've looked at Pilate, We see something of ourself in this wicked man. We looked at the Jews. We see a lot of ourselves in them as well. We looked at Barabbas. Yes, we're guilty ones. We are vile sinners who deserve to die. And then we looked at Jesus. We see a Savior perfectly suited to save sinners. He's unique. There's no other like him. He alone can save sinners. A Savior who is willing to suffer and die to save His people. Behold the man. What will you do with Jesus? Will you hear His call to come to Him for washing, cleansing, that your sins, though they be as scarlet, He will wash them as white as the snow? Will you heed that call? Even you little children, you can come to Jesus. You say, Lord Jesus, save me. Trust that God's calling you. Just come to Christ. Or you'd be the ones that would join the crowd. Oh, you may not say crucify him, but in indifference, you walk away. You care nothing that he was crucified. You'll have nothing to do with him. You reject him as the only savior of sinners. My friends, if that is your status, if you do not come to Christ, you can be assured there will be a day when you will know what the wrath of God is. It will be cast into utter darkness, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the flame burns on forever and ever. But you don't need to do so. Come to the Savior. Behold the man. Amen? Well, Lord our God, we look to you. What can we say, oh God? We'll consider what you have done. When we consider the one that you've supplied, we put our hand over our mouth. Are there even words to express gratitude for such a God as you are? And so great a salvation as you have secured in your son. Father, we thank you that we were like Pilate and the Jews and Barabbas, yet you supplied one, one fully sufficient, one perfectly suited, the infinite eternal son of God, and yet the God man who died in his humanity. to save us from our sins. Lord, we forever will be thankful, knowing there will be a day when we will be like those we heard of from Revelation 5, who are around the throne, ascribing unto you glory and honor and dominion and strength and power forevermore. Keep us faithful, Lord, until you come. In Jesus' name.