Father, we come before you this morning thankful for your Son, our Passover Lamb, and the examination he experienced during the last week of his earthly life following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I think especially about Christ as the season of the year comes around, and hopefully we're mindful, despite all the distractions, whether it's the gifts of the trees or the lights, seem to Fill this time and perhaps even fill our minds that we would keep the focus on Christ Why he came into the world to die for our sins help us to be mindful of that truth and and appreciative Really beyond words that we could put together for what Jesus has done for us We come here at this time Lord as an opportunity to worship you thankful for your son and I pray Lord that you would use me to exalt him and that this would be a time that you meet with your people and give glory to Christ. And I pray, Lord, that if there's any unbelievers who have come this morning, we do thank you for their presence here and ask that you'd work in their hearts to grant them to salvation, that you'd open their hearts to the gospel and give them repentance and faith. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, morning, everyone. The title of this morning's sermon is Examining Christ, Our Passover Lamb. On Sunday mornings, we're working our way through Luke's gospel, verse by verse, and we find ourselves at Luke 20, but go ahead and stay in Exodus, because we'll look at some verses here in chapter 12 before going to Luke 20. During ROTC, after we fired live rounds, we had to clean our M16s and then have them examined before we could turn them back in. My freshman year was the first time that I went through this very tedious process. So I would guess that I cleaned my gun for about 30 to 45 minutes. And then I stood up to go have it inspected and then hopefully turn back in. But there was a cadet that was sitting, that was my freshman year, but there was a cadet that was sitting across from me who was a junior. And so this was his third year in ROTC and so he'd probably been to the range and gone through this cleaning process numerous times. And he said, what are you doing? And I said, well, I'm going to go have my gun inspected to see if it's clean enough to be turned in. And he said, well, don't bother. There's no way that your gun is going to be clean enough yet. Nobody gets to turn their gun in until they've been cleaning for at least three hours. He actually told me, he said, even if you think your gun's clean, you might as well just sit here for the next two hours, because they're not going to accept one until that much time has passed. So I can't remember if I brought my gun up at that moment or not, but I do remember that when I did bring it up, it was rejected numerous times before finally being accepted. And sure enough, it did take about three hours, which seemed to be about the average time for anyone to be able to turn in their M16. So I guess I was only off by about two hours, 15 minutes. The cadre, who would be the active duty officers and NCOs who were inspecting the guns, would search every single spot. They'd take the weapon apart into all the pieces. And then if they could pull out their finger, generally their pinkie, the smallest finger that would fit into those spots, or a cotton swab and had even the tiniest black spot on it, then they'd hand you your weapon back and you'd go back to cleaning longer. Now, I've never seen anything in my life examined like those guns until studying this week. I think Jesus faced an even greater examination than those N-16s did. During the last five days of his earthly life, there seemed to be no part that wasn't inspected by the religious leaders. As you can tell from this morning's scripture reading, we're going to begin in Exodus 20. We're going to look at some verses in this chapter before turning to Luke 20. Now, I assume many of you already know this, but even if you don't, it's worth mentioning. We refer so often to the Last Supper as the Last Supper that we can forget that it was actually the celebration of what? It was a celebration of Passover, that's right. So it would actually be more fitting or more biblical to not call it the Last Supper, but to call it the Passover celebration between Jesus and his disciples. So Jesus, follow me on this, he celebrates Passover with his disciples, and then he goes out to be our Passover lamb. And this brings us to lesson one. Jesus is our Passover lamb. First Corinthians 5.7, Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. So every Passover that was ever, or every Passover lamb, let's say, that was ever sacrificed, and there would have been millions of them. I heard that at even just one Passover, there could be up to 250,000 lambs that were sacrificed. So the millions of Passover lambs that were sacrificed over the years, They all served as shadows or types of Christ. So another way to say it is that every Passover that was ever celebrated prefigured or foreshadowed or looked forward to Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. So that's because Passover, like most everything else in the Old Testament, was ultimately or primarily about Jesus. So let me be clear about what's happening in this chapter that we'll be looking at. If you understand that Egypt is a picture of the world, Then the Israelites, God's people, were delivered from Egypt, and it looked forward to us, God's people, being delivered from the world. When the Israelites were delivered from their bondage to the Egyptians, it looked forward to us being delivered from our bondage to sin and death. When the Passover lamb was sacrificed and its blood covered the door so the firstborn sons would not experience physical death, it looked forward to Christ, our Passover lamb being sacrificed, and his blood covering us so that we would not experience spiritual or eternal death. Colossians 2.17 says these things in the Old Testament, including Passover, are shadows of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Hebrews 10.1 says the Old Testament is a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true forms of these realities. So everything dealing with Passover was a shadow of the good or type of the good things to come, but the substance or reality in the language of Colossians 2.17 or Hebrews 10.1 is only found in Christ. And here's why it's so important to see Jesus in the Passover. If you were to read everything the Old Testament says about Passover, if you were to read every Passover celebration that's recorded, but you memorized every single detail, exactly what's supposed to transpire, how it's supposed to occur, but you failed to see Christ in that Passover, then you would be making the exact same mistake that the religious leaders and many other Jews made in Jesus's day, which Jesus condemned them for. So listen to this rebuke he provides. John 5, 39, Jesus says, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me. So the religious leaders, and like many other Jews, believed that they would have eternal life simply by meticulously studying the scriptures. Jesus said they were missing eternal life because they didn't see Jesus in the scriptures they were learning. So eternal life does not come from scripture itself, as important as scripture is. Eternal life comes from knowing the Christ. of the scriptures that we are studying. And that lays the foundation. I want us to keep all of that in mind as we look at these verses in Exodus 12, trying to look past them to see Christ himself, the true and greater Passover Lamb. So look with me at verse 1. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. So the Jewish calendar was established. There was no Jewish calendar up to this point, or whatever calendar they were using was reset. And this month, which is referring to the month of Nisan, was going to be the first month for the Jews, and it was based off of the Passover here, as we will see. So Nisan, just keep that in mind, is the first month of the Jewish calendar. Verse three. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, on the 10th of Nisan, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, a lamb for a household. So on the 10th day of the month, or Nisan 10, families would get a Passover lamb. If you write in your Bibles, you can circle the words 10th of this month, draw a little line, and write triumphal entry. So if you're writing your Bibles, you can circle 10th of this month and then draw a little line and write triumphal entry. By show of hands, does anyone have that circled or written in their Bibles by chance? Okay, I did teach this or mention this some years ago and so apparently we had one obedient person in here, Chris Oswald, that's it, just joking. Yeah, I did share that with you guys probably about eight years ago when looking at these verses that this 10th day of the month does correspond with Jesus's triumphal entry, so just keep that in mind. Verse four, if a household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons. According to what each can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish. A male a year old, you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. So the lamb is to be without blemish. We're gonna revisit that, just keep that in mind. at least the way that that relates to Christ. We can find application for us. There won't be a lot of application in this sermon because it's primarily about Christ, but this is one point we can find application for ourselves. God did not want people bringing animals that had defects or were injured, and that looks to the way that God wants our best from us. Not that our best would save us or not that there would ever be anything that we could do that would save us or even remotely contribute to our salvation, but as saved people wanting to bring our best to God, he doesn't want half-hearted or indifferent spiritual sacrifices for him would be the application. And I know it's challenging. Just this morning I was thinking when we were singing that I was mouthing the words and I was not, my mind was elsewhere, not giving the attention to what we were singing. And so a half-hearted devotion, not bringing my, let's say I was bringing blemished singing to the Lord. It wasn't singing without blemish. Amaziah, king of Judah, came to mind when I read this. 2 Chronicles 25 says, That's interesting. So we're told that he did the right things, but there was some blemish. He wasn't doing it wholeheartedly. And the problem with ever doing something not wholeheartedly is it leaves some part of our heart to be committed or dedicated to something else. God wants all of our hearts. He wants us to bring our very best to him. We want to provide service, singing, worship, in the language of Romans 12, being living sacrifices, living sacrifices for him that are without blemish. But not only do these words reveal what God wants us to do for Him, what I really want you to see is these verses describe what God was willing to do for us. It'd be very easy to look at this and then to say, hey, make sure what you bring to the Lord is without blemish. And that applies. But I think the more significant truth or application for us is it reveals what God was willing to provide for us. It's not so much our unblemished sacrifice for Him, it's more His unblemished sacrifice in Christ for us. He was willing to provide a Passover lamb that was without blemish. It says a male that's a year old. And you can look at that and say, well, this must not apply to Christ, because Christ wasn't sacrificed when he was a year old. That's not really what's in view here. By asking for a lamb that was a year old, it's asking for a lamb that was sacrificed in the prime of its life. Now do we see the obligation for Christ? Christ wasn't sacrificed when he was on his deathbed. Christ was not sacrificed when he didn't have many good years left. He was sacrificed in the prime of his life. 33 years of age. Look at verse 6. their lambs at twilight on that 14th day. So I just want you to picture what this looked like. We need to put ourselves in the mind or let's say in the homes of these early Hebrews celebrating Passover. They bring this lamb into their home on the 10th day and they're gonna keep it until they sacrifice it on the 14th day. What's going to happen between that lamb and that family between that 10th and 14th day? My understanding is that lambs are fairly calm and gentle animals. Does anyone know, is that true? One other reason that they make a fitting picture type of Christ because of his gentleness. So during these days, this lamb becomes like a pet, becomes like part of the family in a sense. People would develop affection for this lamb before it was killed. Why? Why did God do it this way? Why didn't he just have people get the lamb on the 14th day, the day that it was sacrificed? Well, part of the reason is the examination, which we'll talk about, but the other part of the reason is that God wanted a grief associated with this lamb's death. He wanted an attachment, an affection for this lamb. And so when this lamb became part of the family for those days, probably some number of children that would be familiar with this lamb, and then To see this lamb killed could be fairly dramatic for children who then ask the questions, well, why would this lamb that had become our pet or part of our family have to die now? This is the first time it happened. This is the first Passover. And so then parents having the opportunity to tell their children, well, this lamb is being sacrificed for us. It is dying in our place and describing all of the substitutionary atonement, all the ways in which this lamb is looking forward to or prefiguring Christ. Now you can write something else in your Bible. Circle the words 14th day of the month and draw a line and write crucifixion. So you can write 14th day of the month, draw a line, write crucifixion. Where did Jesus spend most of his ministry? I mean, now he's entered Jerusalem, but where did he spend most of his ministry? Up and around Galilee in the north, right? He didn't frequent Jerusalem. We know he went there with his family at 12, when he visited the temple. But for the most part, his ministry was around Galilee. But during the last week of his earthly life, leading up to the crucifixion, he makes the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And to make this perfectly clear, The 10th day of Nisan and the 14th day of Nisan correspond with Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and then his crucifixion. So when Jesus was in Jerusalem, he is like this lamb, or he's like this lamb that's living with that Hebrew or Jewish family, or in this case, in being in Jerusalem, living with all of those Hebrew or Jewish families. And not just those inhabitants of Jerusalem, but if you remember, we talked before that Passover was one of the three holy days mandated trip to Jerusalem for it. So this is the one time when all Orthodox Jews, or all those Jews desiring to obey the Mosaic law or practice Judaism, would have been found in Jerusalem during this time. So Jesus finds himself living among all of them from that 10th to 14th day. And what were they supposed to do? They're supposed to, like that family with that lamb, develop affection for him. They're supposed to become attached to him. They're supposed to grieve when he dies. They're supposed to have conversations, like those families did, about this lamb, the lamb of God, dying for our sins. Had Jesus already been identified as the lamb of God, would this be a new phrase or title for him? No, definitely not. We could even argue that this is one of the earliest titles that was given to Jesus by John the Baptist, right? In John 1, I think it's verse 51, he says, behold the, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So it would not be foreign to the Jews that Jesus is the Lamb of God and that it looks to him serving as that Passover lamb. Now I want to ask you to think about something. This being the first Passover, there's never been another one like it. But not only in the sense that there hasn't been one before, there's never been another Passover when children died when it wasn't observed or celebrated. So there were centuries of subsequent Passovers, but there was no other time that the firstborn sons would die, like at this Passover. And so this Passover was an incredibly unique one. All of the other Passovers looked back on it. In fact, there were decades until Hezekiah's day that the Jews sadly did not even celebrate Passover, which showed how far they had departed from God. Hezekiah was the one who reinstituted it. Do you think that anyone would have would have skipped those Passovers if they would have been losing their firstborn sons. No, and so it just shows how significant or special, unique this first Passover was and that these firstborn sons were dying. And so if you were part of that first Passover and you knew that there's one thing that's standing between you and the death of your firstborn son, and it's that lamb. Now, just consider that. This would have been a terrifying, almost horrifying experience. for those Hebrews thinking about that destroyer passing over their home. And we'll probably talk more about this next week, because I couldn't fit everything into one sermon, so next week will probably be part two about this. But you know that this lamb is the only thing that stands between you and your family and the safety or protection from that destroyer passing over your home versus entering your home and taking your firstborn son from you. So how well do you think you're going to examine that lamb between the 10th and 14th day. How many times do you think you're going to inspect that lamb for any blemish? Do you think there's anything you'll even do on that 14th day before sacrificing it besides looking at it from head to toe, one end to the other, to see if you can find any blemish on it whatsoever? I can tell you if that lamb was in my home, we would all be looking for any blemish on that thing. And I mention this because the way that these lambs were examined before being sacrificed looked forward to or prefigured the way that Jesus was examined between his triumphal entry and his crucifixion, or the way that Jesus was examined by the religious leaders between that 10th of Nisan and 14th of Nisan. And this brings us to lesson two. Christ, our Passover lamb, was part one examined before being sacrificed. And now you can turn to Luke 20. Christ our Passover lamb was part one examined before being sacrificed. Now if you know we've been going through Luke and you're following along each week with the sermons and if you happen to get the newsletter yesterday or maybe just walk in this morning, grab the bulletin and look and see that we're talking about Christ being our Passover lamb. You would ask a very reasonable question. Why are we talking about Christ being our Passover now versus talking about Christ being our Passover later, like when he was actually our Passover? Or why are we talking about this now versus when Jesus is crucified? Or why are we talking about this now versus just when Jesus celebrated Passover with the disciples? Wouldn't it seem to make more sense? If we're gonna talk about Christ being our Passover, to do that when he celebrates Passover, a few chapters later, or actually serves as our Passover, it would seem that way, but the problem is this. Passover didn't begin on the 14th day. When did Passover begin? It began on the 10th day, when the lamb was received and began to be examined. which began in Luke 19 at the triumphal entry. And the examination process begins in Luke 20. So if we wanna talk about Christ being our Passover lamb and being examined, we have to do that now, not later. I love going verse by verse, but there are some themes that you end up missing. I mean, that's what makes it a theme, right? Something is a theme because it occurs repeatedly. And so if it's only in one passage or one account, that's not a theme. To be a theme, it has to occur in multiple passages or multiple accounts. And so as much as I love verse by verse teaching, there has to be some topical sermons that capture those themes, and this is one of them. Warren Wiersbe wrote, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was watched and tested by his enemies during that final week. That's his examination. We'll talk about many, or probably all of these verses, at least the ones in Luke, in greater detail in subsequent sermons. But for now, I just want you to see this theme so you can keep it in mind as we go through the chapters leading up to Jesus' crucifixion. The only way you're going to be able to appreciate how Jesus was examined as our Passover lamb is to jump around among multiple accounts and see the number of times that he was examined. Now, if we use just Luke 20, which is the new chapter that we've reached in our verse-by-verse study through Luke, What do the religious leaders do in verses one through eight? Not a trick question, you can just look at the heading, probably in your Bible. What do the religious leaders do in Luke 20 verses one through eight? They question his authority, so let the examination begin. The triumphal entry was in Luke 19, and the examination begins immediately. In verses one through eight, they question his authority. On one day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple, preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders, they come up and said to him, in verse two, tell us by what authority you do these things, or who is it that gave you this authority? We'll talk about this next week. Next, the religious leaders questioned Jesus about paying taxes in Luke 20, verses 20 to 26. Look at me at verse 21. The examination continues. They said, teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the word of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? When they asked Jesus this, are they asking sincerely or insincerely? They're asking, okay, just to make sure we all understand that, because you guys are like, oh, this isn't a very intense examination. Look how respectfully they're speaking to him. Teacher, we know it's dripping with sarcasm. Their words are here. There's no reverence. They want to murder him. They're trying to trap him, discredit him, humiliate him. Then the religious leaders question Jesus about the resurrection in verses 27 to 40. Look in verse 33. They talk about this woman who'd married all these men, and then it says in the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? Because she's had seven husbands. Seven have had her as wife. So just in this chapter, do you see how much Jesus is being examined as the Passover lamb? Luke's gospel doesn't record what happened next. Turn to Matthew 22. And just while you turn there, Matthew 22, remembering that these four gospels fit together, giving us this full picture of Christ. So Luke 20 doesn't record what's next, but in Matthew 22, If you haven't, we're gonna keep largely elevated views of these accounts. In verses 15 to 22, the religious leaders questioned Jesus about paying taxes. That's what we just read in Luke 20, verses 20 to 26. And then in Matthew 22, 23 through 33, the religious leaders questioned Jesus about the resurrection and that woman whose wife will should be in the resurrection. That's what we just read in Luke 20, 27 to 40. Now in Matthew's gospel, which is not a loose gospel, this examination continues. Look at Matthew 22, 34. When the Pharisees heard that he silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. This means when they heard that Jesus silenced the Sadducees regarding the question that they just asked, the question we looked at in Luke, but is also here about the resurrection, they can't handle this. So they need to find some other way to attempt to trap Jesus. So they question him about the greatest commandment, verse 35. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, again, the hypocrisy of their reverence. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? So they're questioning Jesus, they're examining him, trying to trap him. It goes incredibly poorly for them. Every time they try to trap him, he traps them. They try to humiliate him, he humiliates them. They try to discredit Jesus, he discredits them. Basically, they're trying to make Jesus look bad, he repeatedly makes them look bad. So they're like, I'm not joking, but the religious leaders are like, this isn't working. Every time we try to make him look bad or find reason to accuse him, he's making us look bad. We're gonna need to do something else because this approach is failing miserably. So look at the new approach they come up with in Matthew 26. Matthew 26. The new approach. Matthew 26, verse three. The chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and notice what they do. They plot together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him. So, realizing how poorly their interrogations are going, they now said, we're just gonna arrest him and murder him, because asking him questions isn't working. And the reason they decide to do it, it says, in stealth or secretly or privately, you already know the reason for that. I'll just remind you, you don't have to turn there, but in Luke 19, verse 47, after the triumphal entry, it says, the religious leaders were seeking to destroy Jesus But they did not find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words. So you say, well, why does it say they want to arrest Jesus by stealth? Because he's too popular. They couldn't do it during the day when he was teaching or when he was in public because there were too many people who were hanging on the things that he was saying. And so they said, we're not going to arrest him in the middle of the day where we would look bad. We'll do something, which is actually forbidden in the Mosaic law. We'll arrest him and then try him at night. This is when Jesus's six trials began. Now, I know the trials can be a little confusing, but it really shouldn't be. There's six trials, three Jewish, and then three Roman. So he is examined, Jesus was examined by the Jews and Gentiles. If you got the Jews and Gentiles, you pretty much got everyone. Because if you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. If you're not a Gentile, you're a Jew. And so to say that Jesus was examined or tried by the Jews and Gentiles, three trials by each, is to say that he was fully examined by everyone. If you look on your bulletins, because we're not going to have time to look at every trial, I recorded them there. If you want to look at them as a family or by yourself, you can do that. But let's just briefly review them. So on your bulletins, you've got the first Jewish trial, which began at night, because remember, they arrested him at night when he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane after Judas betrayed him. So this first trial takes place at night before Annas at his court. It's only recorded in John 18. Then the second Jewish trial at night before the Sanhedrin at Caiaphas's house. So he moves from Annas to Caiaphas. And then the third Jewish trial, which was in the morning after being tried all night, was before the Sanhedrin. And then the fourth trial, now he moves to the Roman trials. The first Roman trial, this occurred during the day before Pilate at the Praetorium. And then the second Roman trial, Pilate sends Jesus to Herod. We'll look at this in just a moment. Herod sends, and that's the fifth trial, and then Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate for his sixth and final trial. And then Pilate sends Jesus off with the Jews who crucify him. So turn to Luke 22, just so we can quickly look at the last four trials, because we don't have time to look at all of them. I'm always trying to limit the time you're flipping around because I don't want to spend a lot of the sermon waiting for you to find the right place. I'd rather be preaching to you. So after I get my whole sermon together, I usually try to find the places that are close together that won't require a lot of flipping. And we can see quite a few trials just using Luke 22. Look with me in Luke 22, 66. Luke 22, 66, this is the third Jewish trial before the Sanhedrin or the Jewish council. It's in the morning. It's after the two previous trials at night. In verse 66, when the day came, the assembly of the elders and the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. They led Jesus away to their council. That's another way to refer to the Sanhedrin. And they said, if you're the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they said, Are you the Son of God? And he said to them, You say that I am. Then they said, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his lips. They're thrilled at this omission. There's incredible hypocrisy with the high priest, just to let you know this, because he tears his clothes, which is actually forbidden for the high priest to do, when Jesus acknowledges that he's the Son of God. So the high priest is acting outraged, but what he wanted more than anything was for Jesus to say that he was the Son of God, so that they could accuse him of blasphemy. And so now that the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin believe that they have the accusation against Jesus that they need, they're moving him on to the Romans because they need the Romans' help to execute him. So now that they believe they have the evidence for his execution, they send him to the Romans and their trials before Pilate begin. So this is the fifth trial during the day at the praetorium. Look in Luke 23, Luke 23, it's in verses one through five. The whole company of them arose and brought Jesus before Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give, none of this is true, he actually said the opposite, forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Pilate didn't want to deal with this. He's on thin ice with Rome. He's concerned about another riot or outbreak. He learns that Jesus is Hebrew, or Jewish, and so he sends him, or from Galilee, so he sends him over to Herod, who has jurisdiction, he believes, over Jesus and these Jews. So Pilate wants to be done, wants to wash his hands of Jesus, sends Jesus over to Herod. For now, Jesus' fifth trial, look in verse seven, Luke 23, 7, when Pilate learned that Jesus belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, Pilate sent Jesus over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. Now, if you remember, Herod wanted nothing more than to see a miracle. He was thrilled to have Jesus there. Not because he wanted to repent or believe, but because he'd heard so much about Jesus, now he's in his presence, he thinks he's gonna see a miracle. When Jesus will not, let's say, perform for Herod, Herod wants nothing else to do with Jesus, and he sends Jesus back to Pilate. Look in Luke 23, 11. This is the third and final Roman trial in verses 13 to 25, but just look with me at verse 11. Now Pilate, being afraid of a riot, he turns Jesus over to the Jews, And then the Jews, I would say in the language of Isaiah 53, 7, lead Jesus like a lamb for what? To be slaughtered, right? They crucify, so Jesus looks guilty. I mean, who's going to be crucified except for the worst criminals? He's led away like a criminal, a guilty criminal. To make him look worse or guiltier, he's crucified between two guilty criminals. They can't even put him on the outside of the three, they put him right in the middle to immerse him in that guilt, make him look as bad as possible. But what's interesting is through all of these trials, and I can't say for sure this is what God's doing, but there is constant emphasis on Jesus's innocence. So it seems to me as guilty as man makes Jesus look, this is how I would say it, as guilty as man tries to make Jesus look, God the Father repeatedly shows the innocence or declares the righteousness or justification of his son. And this brings us to the next part of lesson two. Christ our Passover lamb was without blemish. Christ our Passover lamb was without blemish. If you just think about Judas, you don't have to turn there, but what did Judas say when he returned the money? What did he say? I've done what? What did he say? I have betrayed. Do you guys remember that? Judas returns the money. He says, I have betrayed innocent blood. You have even Judas's betrayer declaring, or excuse me, you have even Judas, excuse me, You have even Jesus' betrayer, Judas, declaring Jesus' innocence. Numerous places in the Gospels I could show you where people declare Jesus' innocence, but because we're in Luke 23, let's just stick with this chapter. Look in Luke 23, verse 4. Jesus is before Pilate. Luke 23, 4, Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. So Pilate said, I am examining him. This man is without blemish. That's not enough for the people. Look at verse 13. Pilate calls together the chief priests, the rulers of the people, and he says to them, you brought me this man as one who is misleading the people, and notice this, after examining him. Before you behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Verse 15, neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. So Pilate examines Jesus. He can find nothing that he's guilty of. Herod examines Jesus, can find nothing that he's guilty of. Even Pilate testifies of Herod's examination that Herod found nothing he's guilty of. We are not talking about godly men here. It would make sense for believers to declare Jesus's innocence, but we're talking ungodly men declaring Jesus's innocence after examining him. Verse 22, a third time Pilate said to them, why? What evil? Why should he be crucified? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt. deserving death. For the third time, Pilate told the people that Jesus had done nothing wrong. Jesus goes away to the cross anyway. Look what one of the criminals says about him in verse 41. We indeed justly were receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong, this wretched sinner. crucified with Christ to make Jesus look worse, more than likely. Even he declares Jesus' innocence at this last hour. Jesus dies. Look at verse 47. When the centurion, this Roman centurion, saw what took place, he praised God, saying, certainly this man was innocent. The Roman centurion, probably not personally responsible with crucifying Christ, but at least part of that Roman group or garrison that was responsible with crucifying Christ, personally testifies to Jesus' innocence loudly enough that it could be recorded in the Gospels. There must have been some eyewitness. Luke not personally witnessing the Roman centurion doing this, but we know from the beginning of Luke's gospel that his Luke is a record of interviews with eyewitnesses, eyewitnesses and other eyewitnesses. And so some eyewitness heard this Roman centurion say this, Luke records it for us. So whether it's Pilate, whether it's Judas, whether it's Herod, whether it's the thief on the cross, whether it's the Roman centurion, Jesus' innocence is repeatedly declared. He passed the examination between that 10th and 14th day. And so this is why we read 1 Peter 1 18. We were ransomed, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but we were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb that is without blemish or spot. So Jesus is the perfect lamb of God. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he knew no sin. 1 Peter 2, 22, he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. 1 John 3, 5, in him there's no sin. Well, why would it be so important for Jesus to be a lamb without blemish? Or why would it be so important for Jesus to be sinless? Because if he's not sinless, he can't die for you. He has to die for his own sin. The wages of sin is death. I don't know any parent that wouldn't die for their children. But you can't die for your children. You have your own sins to die for. You can't take punishment for your children's sins when you have to be punished for your own sins. A guilty person can't stand up and take the punishment that another guilty person receives. And so it's that important to Christ's testimony that he be sinless or without blemish or otherwise he couldn't serve as our substitute. Now I want to ask you this. Jesus passed man's examination. I packed into 30 minutes here what we could have spent weeks looking at. In particular, I simply mean the examination. This is an examination that if you look at in detail, the last examination during these days can stretch over numerous sermons as you consider all these different accounts testifying to Jesus' innocence. So we see Jesus pass man's examination here in the very surface reading that was given during this sermon. But whose examination did Jesus really have to pass? Let me say this one more time. Whose examination did Jesus really have to pass? Not man's. He's not the lamb of man. He needs God's approval. He has to pass God's examination. God must be pleased with him. It didn't matter whether man was pleased or even displeased with Jesus. It only matters whether God is pleased with Jesus. And this brings us to the last part of lesson two. Christ, our Passover lamb, passed God the Father's examination. Christ our Passover lamb passed God the Father's examination. I think there's a mistake on your bulletin using the word was there. It shouldn't be part of that last lesson. It should say Christ our Passover lamb passed God the Father's examination. And there's no question that God the Son passed God the Father's examination as our Passover lamb. I'm gonna use just Matthew's gospel. That's one of the other things that's tough with a sermon like this is you have so many wonderful verses or accounts to draw from to make these points. But if I use just Matthew's gospel, consider the number of times we're told that God the Father was pleased with his son at Jesus' baptism. Matthew 3.17, behold, a voice from heaven says, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. Matthew 12.18, which quotes Isaiah 42.1, which doesn't get as much attention as Isaiah 53, but it's still one of the more well-known accounts in Isaiah. And it's one of the prophecies of Jesus being that chosen servant of the Lord. And so Matthew 12.18 quotes Isaiah 42.1, saying behold my servant in whom I have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. Do you remember the transfiguration? the one moment when Jesus allows the disciples to see him in his glory. He sheds his humanity and allows his deity to shine forth, and Peter, as is frequently the case with Peter, unable to be quiet at that moment, starts talking about how good it was for all of them to be there, or at least the three of them, James, Peter, and John, to be there to witness this moment. And God the Father interrupts him, and listen, God the Father interrupts Peter, listen to what he says. Matthew 17, five, Peter was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. So Christ, our Passover lamb, he passed man's examination, but more importantly, God the Father was pleased with him. And I want to conclude with this, and I hope I can strike this balance well. Now, I would never want to minimize the importance of obeying God. I hope you wouldn't have to listen to me preach long to know that I would never want to act as though obedience is insignificant. I would never want to make people feel comfortable in sin. When people have sinned, I would never want to make them feel like they don't need to repent. But because none of us have obeyed God perfectly, because all of us have sinned, because all of us must repent, because all of us will go on sinning, and because all of us will go on needing to repent throughout our earthly lives, there is a temptation that we can fall victim to. And it is the temptation to believe that God is displeased with us. If you can't be perfect all the time, if you know God hates sin and you sin regularly, which all of us do, then you know that God must be displeased with you. And so because of the temptation to be convinced of that, there's another message that we also need to hear. And I would say that it's a message that we need to hear regularly. that God the Father sees us through his perfect son, Jesus, the spotless Passover lamb without blemish. And so God is as pleased with us as he is with his son, not because of anything we've done, not because of anything we could ever do, but because of what Jesus has done for us. And so when we're broken over our sin, when we're grieved over how we have failed God for the umpteenth time in this area that we started to Wrongly believe we're developing some victory in and I don't know if if you how often you feel like that I feel like that regularly that well Lord. I thought I was growing in this area now. I find myself Falling back into it or I thought that I'd gotten victory here and now I've done this this thing that I've done again you must be displeased with me. To remember that God's pleasure doesn't rest on our performance, it rests on what Jesus has done for us. And because of his pleasure in his son, if we have repented and put our faith in Christ, then God has that same pleasure in us because he sees us through that Passover lamb that has passed that examination. If you have any questions or if I can pray for you in any way, I'll be up front after service, and I'm considered a privilege to speak with you. Father, we thank you so much for the Passover lamb that we have in Christ. We thank you that he was examined by man and passed that examination, but even more importantly, that he is examined by you and that you found pleasure in him. We thank you that he was sinless, that he was spotless, so that he could die in our place, that he had no sin of his own. that he had to make atonement for. And so because of that, he could be our substitute. And so I pray, Lord, that over these coming weeks, or really more than likely coming months, as we continue through Luke and build up to the crucifixion, I feel blessed to be at these chapters and have this opportunity to be looking at this last week of Jesus's life. I pray that you bless this time that we have over every Sunday morning. as they come. I thank you for the privilege of being here and digging into your word with this church family, being able to study your word each week and put these messages together. I just pray that you would use all of them to strengthen our faith and affection for Christ, and we pray these things in his name. Amen.