So we're continuing in our series of messages from the gospel according to Matthew. And this morning we are still in Matthew chapter 27. Our text for this morning will be verses 27 through 44. I think you'll find that on page 991 of your pew Bibles, if that's what you're using. And please use those or your own copy of the scriptures to follow along as we read and also keep it open before you as we work through it. If you are able, would you stand with me out of reverence, respect for the reading of God's infallible, inerrant, and inspired word. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him, and they stripped him. and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand, and kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit on him. And they took the reed and struck him on the head. 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. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. 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. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down. and kept watch over him there. And over his head, they put the charge against him, which read, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 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. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself. He's the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the son of God. And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. This is the reading of God's word. May he add his blessing to our hearts because of it in Christ. Please be seated. So as we've been working through the passages recently, we have watched as Jesus has been unjustly and wickedly arrested, put on trial, charged with blasphemy simply for declaring who he truly is, and mocked. We heard earlier that he had prophesied that in Jerusalem he would be delivered over to the Gentiles, he would be mocked, he would be scourged, and he would be crucified, only to rise again the third day. Some of that mocking has already been done, following the trial before the Sanhedrin as they blindfolded him, slapped him, spit on him, And then we saw last week that he was not only delivered over to the Gentile governor for judgment, but once that judgment had been offered by Pilate that he was condemned to be crucified, he was delivered over by Pilate to the Roman soldiers in order to brutally scourge him in preparation for his crucifixion. And so as we read the text today, we see that that wicked process continues and even intensifies. Keep in mind, Jesus would have been stripped before in order to be scourged. They would have taken the clothes off of him and they would have flogged his back until it was laid open to the bone. Brutally, brutally torn open. And it would seem that following that he had been dressed again. And again, think about what that clothing would feel like going on that back that had been so lacerated. And now that the sentence of crucifixion has been handed down by Pilate, his soldiers now take him to lead him away to be crucified, but they decide that they now have the opportunity to have some fun at Jesus' expense. After all, he has said that he's the king of the Jews and that's what he's going to be killed for. So a large number of the soldiers, the ESV says a battalion, the word there means up to 600 soldiers, although likely it wasn't that whole number, but still likely a good high number of soldiers take Jesus into the courtyard of the governor's headquarters. And what we find them doing is cruelly enacting a mocking enthronement ceremony for this would-be king. Understand, this is intended as absolute, complete humiliation for him, beginning by stripping him again. There is in some ways, there are probably greater methods of humiliation, but it is one of the most standard methods of humiliation when you get prisoners of war or anyone else, you strip them naked to put them in a most shameful position. And as you think about that, think about how pitiful Jesus must look now after this savage beating that he's undergone, how severely weakened he would be. There are men who die just from the flogging itself and never make it to the cross. And as he stands there, they take a royal, a mock royal robe, probably one of the short scarlet to purple colored robes that the soldiers wore, probably an old worn out one that had been cast aside. And they take it and they thrust it onto his back, wrap it around him again, all over that back that is so painfully wounded. And then some of the soldiers go and take thorns and weave them into a crown. Probably this is a mocking, representation of an image of Caesar that appeared on some of the coins of the time who had sort of a wreath of laurels on his head. Oh, so you want to be the king of the Jews? Let's give you a laurel crown like Caesar would have. And they take thorns instead and twist them and place them, we can imagine, not very gently onto his head. Again, extremely painful. They place a mock scepter. A scepter is intended to be seen as a symbol of power and authority in the hand of a king, in his right hand. They place in his right hand his scepter, but this scepter is nothing more than a cane reed or rod standing in the corner of the headquarters. And now that they have their king with his robe and his crown and his scepter, probably seated on a mock throne, they now proceed one by one to come before him and to take the scepter out of his hand, to spit on him and to hail him as the king of the Jews and to take that cane rod and beat him repeatedly over the head with it, each one of them in turn. Again, that's where the thorns are. hitting the cane reed on top of the thorns on top of the head and driving them even deeper. You can imagine at this point the blood that is running down his head, the tremendous pain that he's enduring as a result of it, and ever more weakened as each one of these soldiers takes his turn to give hail and glory to this king of the Jews. And finally, after all of this mocking, they strip off the robe from him, and they again dress him, again, not gently, we would assume, and they lead him away to be crucified. Now we look at this, and this is horrendous, right? If you have a heart that's sympathetic at all, your heart's already breaking for the man who has to endure this. But we have to understand that all of this so far, It's only a very small part of the cup that the father has set before Jesus that he must drink on this day. It was now customary for the condemned prisoner to carry his cross from the city out to the crucifixion site. Generally, it's believed that the upright for the cross was already fixed in place out at the site, and what they carried was the heavy cross beam to which the hands would be securely attached And it would seem that Jesus is so weakened from the treatment that he's received that he's unable to carry it any further than the city gate. And as they are trying to leave the city gate with him to go out to the site of execution, he's unable to carry it anymore. And so they use the right they have as Roman soldiers to commandeer help from the people. And they literally grab a man from the crowd whose other gospels tell us is just coming back in from the countryside into the city, a man called Simon who is from Cyrene. and they compel him to pick up this heavy wooden beam that belongs to Christ and to carry it for him to the site of execution. One of the commentators, I think it was R.T. France, notes that it's interesting that Simon Peter has been unable to keep his promise to Jesus that I will remain faithful to you even if I have to die with you, I will never turn away from you. Well, Simon Peter is nowhere to be found as Jesus is carrying his cross to the execution site. And it's interesting that in our Father's incredible providence, he provides another Simon who will take Simon's place and carry Christ's cross for him. There's also some speculation, by the way, that this Simon of Cyrene and his family may have become Christians. Mark, in his gospel, in chapter 15 and verse 21, identifies him as Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus. It would seem that Alexander and Rufus, and maybe even Simon, are well known to the people that Peter is writing to in the church, and Peter is making sure they understand this is their father that was called on to do this service to Christ. And so finally they come to the execution site, Matthew informs us it's called Golgotha. It means the place of the skull. Not likely because it looked so much like a skull, but more likely because it was the place where people went to die. And the skull is ever a representation of death. By the way, our word Calvary comes from a Latin word that also means skull. This site where the crucifixion is going to take place would be intentionally located in a place where many, many people would pass by. The Romans didn't do this out in a desolate place away from everybody. They did it at the most highly trafficked place you could get for two reasons. One was to further shame the condemned man who was hanging on the cross. And the second was to serve as a deterrent to anybody else who would think about committing the same kind of crimes. This can happen to you too. And so there would be all kinds of people moving past this site. As Jesus arrives there, we're told by Matthew that he's offered a drink. A drink that was wine mixed with, the word used is gall. That usually means like bile. It's obviously probably not literally bile. It can also refer to a very bitter herb, something like wormwood. Some people assume that maybe women who were there at the crucifixion site who cared for Jesus were giving him this drink which has something in it that was more like a narcotic, a painkiller to help subdue the pain and make him more comfortable. I would ask you first of all whether you think Roman soldiers who have been crucifying people day in and day out through their career and their responsibility is to make sure they die, and by the way, crucifixion is intended to be one of the most painful, humiliating, extended ways to kill a person that the Romans could come up with. Do you think those soldiers would actually allow some friendly family member or friend to come by and give him something to kill the pain when they've been intentionally trying to increase his pain all the way up to the cross? That doesn't seem to make any sense. The soldiers are in charge here. And clearly, they've not shown any inclination toward kindness toward him or lessening his pain. There are some who, based on Psalm 69, where this refers to that the word there sometimes can mean poison. There are some who suspect this was poison. But again, why would the soldiers poison him and hasten his death when the whole point was to drag his death out as long as they could? See, I think possibly what this really was was just wine with something mixed in it like wormwood that made it so bitter. And it's probably part of the cruel joke that they've been playing with Jesus all along, right? See, by the time he's made it all the way from the city after being scourged so brutally and going through the whole mocking ceremony and walking all the way out here, having carried the beam part of the way, he is probably ravenously thirsty. been losing blood the whole time. He probably is desperately thirsty. And as he gets out here famished for something to drink, somebody comes up and says, oh, here, have a drink. And the idea is when you're so thirsty, you take it and just throw it to your mouth and gulp it down. And probably what this is, is a drink that is made so bitter that when you drink it, it will make you even more thirsty and increase your suffering. But Jesus sips it first, tastes it. And when he realizes what it is, he refuses it. Now Matthew doesn't dwell on the cruel and terribly painful details of the crucifixion. He doesn't talk about that very rough wood of the cross which would have been rasping across that lacerated back as Christ was nailed to it and as he would push himself up and let himself down to try to breathe every time he had to take a breath. He doesn't talk about those nails being hammered through his hands and his feet. The agony that that would involve, let alone then having that beam lifted up and hung up on the upright to leave his body sagging from it. And again, having to push with his feet to get up to where he could breathe and then collapse down where the process would start all over again. He doesn't dwell on that. It's almost as if Matthew sort of just mentions it and passes over it in order to focus on other details. And we'll talk about that more in a few minutes. Notice that Matthew then tells us that they divide his clothes among them. These are the soldiers now. This part of the passage where they is mentioned as the soldiers. They divide his clothes. This part of their right now, they get the prisoners clothing and they can scatter them out among them. And so they cast lots in order to decide who gets which piece. All the while Jesus is hanging above them in agony, watching it. happen. But then Matthew tells us that they, the soldiers, sat down and they kept watch over him there. Now obviously this is part of their duty, right? They're there to not only put him on the cross, but they're to make sure he stays on the cross and dies there. No rescues are allowed here. But I think there's also a significance to this statement by Matthew that they sat down and watched over him there, that is much more important than that. See, these soldiers have been part of Jesus' journey to this cross from the scourging, through the mocking, through the journey over to the crucifixion site and now actually crucifying him and putting him up on the cross. And now they're going to sit here and watch him all through his crucifixion and eventual death. They're going to be acute observers of all that happens from this point forward. They're going to be witnesses, if you will. And we'll talk more about that as we come to the passage, Lord willing, next week. We read next that Pilate had the soldiers put a sign above him with the charge that was against him. And the sign literally declared him to be the king of the Jews. Jesus, king of the Jews. We know it was saying that because Luke, no, John tells us that the chief priests actually protested to Pilate about this because they didn't want it to say he is the king of the Jews. They wanted it to say only that he claimed to be the king of the Jews. Not that he really is our king. We wouldn't have him for our king. Caesar's our king. And then we're told, it seems after Christ was crucified that two, the word used here is the same one that was used to describe the insurrectionists that were in the prison, in Pilate's prison when he was offering Jesus, either Jesus Barabbas or Jesus of Nazareth, violent insurrectionists, people who have been involved in committing murder. These are likely the followers of Barabbas. The three crosses that are prepared here probably were for Barabbas and the two of them. And now that Barabbas has been released, Jesus is taking the place of this wicked man, the sinless one, taking the place of the wicked man in punishment. And notice the emphasis. It doesn't say that Jesus was crucified in the middle. Notice how Matthew specifically says, He had two of these men crucified, one on his right and one on his left. Again, we'll mention that again later, but I think it's something to keep in mind. I think there's a point there being made. And now in verses 39 to 44, we see this mocking resumed. Jesus had prophesied that he would be mocked. And in a sense, I would argue that we even see the mocking escalated here because of who it's coming from. It's not now coming from callous, foreign soldiers, this mocking is coming from Jesus' own people. As I said earlier, this location is intentionally set in what we would call a very high traffic area. People would be passing by here constantly, all the time. And I think what Matthew wants us to see here and understand here in this description is that Jesus here is being mocked, despised, rejected, and reviled, not by every single Israelite. Yet the mocking and reviling and rejection is coming from a representative sample of all the people of Israel. After all, it begins with those who are passing by, just the common people. Nobody in particular, nobody special, just the average everyday Israelite on his way into or out of Jerusalem. And as they're passing by, Matthew tells us that they derided him. The word actually used there is blasphemed him. It also can be translated as they reviled him. And notice as Matthew describes that they are wagging or shaking their heads back and forth as they do it. Exaggerated movements to exaggerate the mocking nature of it. And in effect what they're saying to him is this, anyone who is the son of God and who has the power to destroy and rebuild this temple of ours in three days doesn't need to be dying on a cross like this. If that's who you are, Come down off the cross and you don't have to do this. We'll believe you. If, notice how they put it, if you are the Son of God. If you are. And next we see representatives of the three parts of the Sanhedrin. The chief priests, the elders and the scribes, notice that they weren't satisfied with just getting Pilate to condemn Jesus to be crucified and see him flogged and sent off for it. They have literally followed along with it so they can come out to the site and when he is crucified, they want the enjoyment, the pleasure of being able to stand in front of him and mock him and revile him as he's dying. Notice the way they do it. Matthew, it may be words slightly different than the ESV, but basically it says, and in the same way, as also, in the same way as the crowds, the passerby were mocking him, these men mock him in the same way. Notice what they say. First of all, they admit the power. of his ministry of healing and exorcism and even probably even of raising from the dead. Notice he saved others. Don't forget Lazarus just not very long ago had been raised from the dead and they wanted to kill him too because people were believing in Christ because of it. He did save others, but remember they attributed that power of his not to God, but to Satan, to Beelzebub, the prince of demons. That's why he can cast out demons. They won't accept him for who he is and who the evidence is, the signs prove that he is. Let him save himself, they say. If he saved others, he should be able to save himself. After all, the king can't be king if he is dead. So he better come down off the cross if he's going to be the king. Let him come down and notice, and we will believe in him. Notice Jesus has to do what they think he needs to do in order to earn their belief. He doesn't have to do what God says he has to do. He has to do what they think he needs to do. He has to satisfy them to be believed. And of course they are not intending any belief. They don't ever intend to believe in him. They go on, he trusts in God. So if God really desires him, if God really cares for him, if God really loves him, Surely God will come and save him now. After all, God wouldn't let him go through this if he really loves him, would he? After all, he said, I am the son of God. What father would allow his son to go through what Jesus is going through? Surely God would save his son and not make him go through all of this. And so in their mocking, you hear the same mocking question as the crowds in a sense, right? If you are the son of God, and you see the crowds don't believe he is, and the religious leaders don't believe that he is. And then Matthew concludes this passage by telling us that this despising and rejecting, this reviling of Jesus here is so comprehensive, not only all the common average people in Israel, not only the religious leaders in Israel, but now even the two violent, murderous insurrectionists who are suffering the same agonies of crucifixion with him, while they're hanging on the cross, also in the same way, Matthew says, join their voices with all the others to deliberately revile and mock and reject and despise him. It leads you to wonder, where are the followers of the king? The son of God, where are they in order to sympathize with him in his agony and in his death? Where are they to comfort him? Where are they to encourage him? Now it's true, the other Gospels do tell us that there were some, primarily women, there at the cross quietly standing by. But you notice Matthew doesn't address that. Matthew seems to want us to take from his presentation that this is a wholesale rejection of Jesus by Israel. Top to bottom, leaders, common people, even the people who are dying with him. Everybody mocks and reviles him. Now you can imagine that when these soldiers took Jesus to scourge him and then to crucify him, this was something that they had done over and over and over again. It was a regular part of their duty as soldiers there. And I'm sure that as they started doing this and started going through the process of this, that they thought that, well, true, apart from the extra fun they were going to get to have in mocking and torturing this pitiful wannabe king of the Jews, I'm sure that they thought this was just going to be nothing but just another routine, ordinary crucifixion. Another day, same thing. Just like so many others they'd done. Well, their perspective on that is going to change. We'll hopefully come to that as we move into the next passage. But I hope you understand here that Matthew is not just telling us a story about how awfully Jesus was treated and how brutal people were to him and how mean they were to him and how ugly his death ended up being because of that. That's not Matthew's point here. If that was his point, he would have spent a lot more time talking to you about the actual crucifixion itself. Matthew wants us to understand that this is anything but just another ordinary crucifixion that is happening here. Anything but that. What he is writing here is for those with eyes of faith who believe in and love God's word, he is telling us a story that tells us so much more. than just the physical things that are happening here in Jesus' death. He is continuing to show us that Jesus is the one sent by God, the Son of God sent to be the Messiah, the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy. If you were to go back to Isaiah chapter 52 verses 13 and 14, you would be reading in that chapter about the servant of God who is beloved by God, who is being sent by God, favored by God. But in those verses 13 and 14, he talks about how this servant is going to be highly exalted. But then all of a sudden in verse 14, he turns around and says, except first his appearance is going to have to be marred beyond human recognition. Does that sound like what's happening to Jesus on this day? Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3 through 5, where we're told that he was despised and rejected by men, that we believe that he was stricken and smitten by God, that he's not God's servant, but he's being punished by God. continues to say that he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, his chastisement, his beatings that he received were for our peace and that it is by his wounds that we're healed. Can you see all of that in what Matthew is telling us here about the scourging and the mocking and the crucifixion? This is atonement. This is substitutionary atonement. It is one man taking the place of his people and suffering for their sins so that their sins can be forgiven and he takes them and takes the punishment for them. One who stands in the place of sinners in order to redeem them as he takes Barabbas's place on the central cross. Back in Genesis 3.18, as God is pronouncing the curse on Adam and Eve and on actually all creation as a result of their sin, God highlights thorns prominently. That thorns are going to represent his curse on Adam and on creation, and those thorns were gonna cause Adam's labor. Remember, Adam is the representative of all mankind. Those thorns are gonna make his labor hard and painful. And here is the last Adam. having what placed on his head? A crown of thorns that cause his labors to be what? Very hard and very painful. This Adam will not fail though. And this Adam is carrying those thorns on his head. Psalm 69, 21, again, is a psalm about God's servant who is suffering unjustly because of his loyalty to God. And in verse 21, he complains, because they've given me sour, bitter wine to drink. Again, exactly what happens with Jesus. Psalm 22, verse 18, we read through this psalm. They divide my garments among them, and from my clothing they cast lots. How much more literal can you get? Psalm 22 verses 6 through 8, but I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind, despised by the people. Notice that, despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. And notice what they say in that psalm. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him. You see the chief priests and the leaders were deliberately taking this psalm and mocking Christ with the very words of God, which predicted him and what he would do and go through. Psalm 22 verses 16 and 17, for dogs encompass me, a company of evildoers encircles me. They've done what? Pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me. Not just the mockers and all who are passing by, but the soldiers who are sitting at a thief, doing what? Staring and watching over him. And this whole idea of a thief on his right hand and a thief on his left hand. Well again, Isaiah chapter 53 verse 12 says that this suffering servant who is going to receive all of this on behalf of his people is going to be numbered with the transgressors. You can't be more numbered with transgressors than when you're on the cross in the middle between two violent murderous people being put to death for their sins and you're being put to death for a similar thing. But I think it might actually hint at, point us back to something maybe even as important as that. Do you remember a day not so long ago when James and John with their mother came up to Jesus and said, we've got a little favor we'd like to ask you, Lord. When you come into your kingdom, I want you to put my son, one of them on your right hand and one of them on your left hand when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus says, you don't even know what you're asking for. The Father is the one who decides that. But I have to ask you something. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to have to drink? And what was their answer? Immediately. Oh, yes, we're able. Well, guess what? He's drinking the cup. Where are James and John? They're not on his right hand. They're not on his left hand. Instead, he has two violent murderers on his right and on his left. And that repeated question that keeps coming up at the cross, if you are the son of God, have you ever heard that before? Does that sound familiar? It's been a little while, but all the way back in chapter four, remember when the spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for his temptation and Satan personally came to tempt him. And what was the thing Satan said to him? If you are the son of God, You can take these stones and turn them into bread. You don't have to starve. Your father surely wouldn't want you to starve. You've been a good boy. Go ahead. Use your power and make the stones turn into bread. If you are the son of God. Now we were told whenever Jesus finally told him to go away, that Satan left him for a more opportune moment. Here he is hanging on the cross and all of his agony and physical weakness and Satan sees another opportunity. Let me keep driving the point home. Do you really think you're the son of God? If you're the son of God, do you really think you should have to put up with all of this? And even Psalm 69, before the verse about having to drink the sour wine, the psalmist says, I looked for pity and I looked for comfort And I found none. Does that describe Jesus as he hangs there on the cross looking down on everyone? This isn't just any old routine crucifixion. This is the crucifixion of the son of God, the savior of sinners, the one who stands as the atoning sacrifice for his people. See, everything that those soldiers did in mocking Jesus, everything that they did is and will be absolutely true. Do you understand that? They thought they were making a ridiculous mockery of this wannabe king when in fact they were actually pointing forward to exactly who he is and what will happen. Because yes, he is going to be seated at the right hand of power. He is going to be sitting on the throne of God. He is going to receive a divine crown that will follow and replace that necessary crown of thorns that he has to wear for the time being. He is going to receive a scepter. It won't be just a cane rod this time. It is gonna be the scepter of ultimate divine sovereign power over everything. Remember, all authority has been given me in heaven and on earth. See, the thing that nobody understands here except Jesus is that humiliation is what leads to exaltation. It's what he said to the disciples that were on the road to Emmaus, remember? When they were so dejected, Don't you understand that it was necessary that the Son of Man would first have to suffer before He comes into His glory? Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53. Actually, Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 to 11. I've got Isaiah 53 and the Philippians passage in your bulletin there. Jesus humbled himself by taking the form of a servant, becoming one of us, and he humbled himself so completely that he humbled himself even to the point of death, and not just any death, but what? Death on a cross. On a cross. And these soldiers, every one of them, but not just them, along with all mankind, are one day going to actually bow before King Jesus, and they are gonna hail Him. They won't spit on Him. They won't strike Him with their measly little cane rods. They will instead kneel before Him and hail Him as the Lord to the glory of God the Father, as Paul says in Philippians 2, verses 10 and 11. You see they're mocking him and in reality what they're doing is pointing to exactly who he is and what will be done. The sign, he is the king of the Jews. So why does Jesus have the thorns on his head? He has the thorns on his head because he has been sent by God to remove God's curse from us and from creation, and the thorns represent that curse. Where are the thorns placed? They're placed on his head. He bears them on his head, and he bears them for us. The fact that he was crucified on a wooden cross, on a tree, is absolutely essential to this story. Matthew isn't passing over it. He mentions it for us. It's essential. Why? Because Deuteronomy 21, 23 says, the one who is executed for a crime and is put to death and is hung on a tree is under God's curse. And that isn't just for the Old Testament time, by the way, because the Apostle Paul recognizes that truth. And he recognizes it in what's happening to Jesus here and he teaches us what it means in Galatians chapter 3 verse 13. Listen to what Paul says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? By becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. That should have been us. Should never have been Christ. except for God's great love for us, and Christ's great love for us, and the Spirit's great love for us. The Apostle Peter was also profoundly impacted by this scene at the cross, by the repeated and overwhelming reviling that Jesus endured so silently as he hung on that cross, and it led him, in a sense, to the very same conclusion that led the Apostle Paul. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter 2 again, verses 23 and 24. When he, Christ, when he was reviled, He did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to the one who judges justly. He himself, listen, this is what Peter says, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, our sins, his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. by his wounds you have been healed. You're looking for healing from your spiritual wounds? It's found only in Christ and his wounds for you on that cross and leading up to that cross. And finally, just going back to that mocking by the chief priests and the leaders back in chapter, in verse rather 42, the first part of verse 42 and going on into verse 43. He saved others. He cannot save himself. The only thing they have wrong there is they left it in the past tense. He saved others. He was saving others as he hung on the cross. That's why he couldn't save himself. Far more important than anything he had done in his healing ministry on that cross, he was literally saving the millions of people who would be brought the saving faith in him to the glory of God the Father. And if he had come down from that cross as they wanted him to, we would have all perished in our sin and spent eternity in hell. He couldn't come down from the cross because he was the son of God. And a son, especially the son of God, obeys his father and does his father's will in everything. Nevertheless, not your will, but mine be done, even if it means drinking the cup. How terrible this has all been for Jesus. And yet I hope you realize, it's hard for us to imagine, but I hope you realize that the worst for him is yet to come. The worst has not even fully hit yet. We'll look that again next time. But I want you to finish this sermon, this message from this Gospel of Matthew, understanding that this is your Savior. This is not some fake wannabe. This is the literal Son of God come and humble himself in the form of man, taking your place and hanging on the cross and suffering the punishment for sins that were not his. They were yours. Willingly drinking the cup of God's wrath to its very dregs for you. To pay for your sins. How will you respond to him? Will you bow before your King, humbly at his feet, thanking him for what he's done for you and acknowledging him as the God over all that he is. Let's pray. Father, we come to you and we are shocked, stunned even to a degree. at what Christ endured for us. And yet we haven't even come to all of it yet. Pray that you would use this passage to break our hearts all over again. With love for a savior, who John tells us having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. a Savior who endured so much at the hands of sinners for us. We pray Your Spirit would lead us to heartfelt repentance and faith and would draw many to the name of Christ. In His name we pray. Amen. As we continue in our worship, let's turn to our final hymn of response, hymn number 173. And we will sing together, Praise Him, Praise Him. Praise Him. Please stand. Praise Him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim. Hail Him. Hail Him. Highest archangels in glory, strength and honor, Give to His holy name like a shepherd. Jesus will guard His children in His arms, He carries them all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus, the crucified, sound His praises. Jesus, who bore our sorrows, love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with Hosanna's ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet and priest and king. Christ is coming. over the world victorious, power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. And now we'll receive the presentation of our tithes and offerings and sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above you, heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness, your steadfast love toward us, the fact that you have given us every good gift and the greatest gift you've given us is yourself and the sacrifice of your son for us. We pray that you would take a portion of the things you've given us as we return them to you this morning, asking you to use them to continue to extend the work of the kingdom of heaven in this world, that we might see the last of your people brought to faith in Christ, that we might see his return in power and glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. And now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be very gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. Go with his blessing.