For a Scripture reading this morning, we turn to John chapter 19. Interested, of course, in this chapter because it explains the truth of the Heidelberg Catechism regarding Jesus' suffering under Pilate. Be aware that the previous chapter also speaks about that suffering under Pilate and is the context for what we read here. John 19, then Pilate, therefore took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and said unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him. Crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, take ye him. Crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered, we have a law. By our law he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid and went again into the judgment hall and saith unto Jesus, whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath a greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover in about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, behold your king. And they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two other with him on either side one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother, and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath was a high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a sword pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water, and he that saw it bare record, and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe, for these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, they shall look on him who they pierced. We read that far in God's holy word. This morning we consider the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 15. Wouldst thou understand by the words he suffered that he, all the time that he lived on earth, but especially at the end of his life, sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind, that so, by his passion, as the only propitiatory sacrifice, he might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the favor of God, righteousness, and eternal life. Why did he suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge? that he being innocent and yet condemned by a temporal judge might thereby free us from the severe judgment of God to which we were exposed. Is there anything more in his being crucified than if he had died some other death? Yes, there is, for thereby I am assured that he took on him the curse which lay upon me, for the death of the cross was a curse of God. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the truth of the Apostles' Creed, which the Heidelberg Catechism is expositing, the specific subject of this Lord's Day is the suffering of Jesus Christ, the last few hours of his life under Pontius Pilate. However, by teaching this passage the way it does, the Heidelberg Catechism makes clear that That suffering at the end of his life under Pontius Pilate is representative of the suffering he endured his entire life. That it increased during his life, according to the Catechism, and was his whole life. And in that, it's teaching something very important about the suffering of Jesus itself. It brings to our attention that suffering in such a way that we ought to be amazed that this man even suffered at all. Makes clear. And even then we ought to remember and know that suffering itself is the judgment of God upon sin. That's what suffering is. Would there be no suffering or be no sin, there would be no suffering. But this one is God's own beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. This is God's own perfect, righteous, and holy Son who is without sin. This is an important aspect of the gospel of the cross. This is an aspect of that gospel that is intended to bring peace and comfort. We cannot know or fully appreciate, at least thankfully and beneficially, The work of God there on the cross without understanding also that suffering. And that He endured that suffering on the cross, not for a few hours, but His entire life. And the reason why He suffered. As we mentioned last week, the catechism here is treating this suffering as a part of one of the two states of the mediator, the state of humiliation. If you ask the question, why must he suffer? The answer is, it has to do with the fact that he is in a state of humiliation, and in a state of humiliation because of us. The suffering comes because he simply does not come in the flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, in our flesh. And the particular importance has to do with and is taught by The fact that his suffering under Pilate is representative teaches why his coming in our flesh requires suffering. And to that we pay attention this morning as we consider our faith in Jesus who suffered. In the first place, the suffering of Jesus, the reason he suffered, and the assurance in his suffering. The suffering of Jesus must be understood as a form of his humiliation. If we place our focus simply on the suffering itself, we may imagine to ourselves that that is the only real experience of Jesus in his life. And in fact is the main issue with regard to his life. That is the notion that is really captured when we speak of the Passion Week. That word passion refers to suffering. And of course that word all by itself is not to be condemned. Because the Catechism itself points out how he suffered, especially at the end of his life. But what we must see is that that suffering is simply a particular form of the greater thing that is going on, which is, it's a form of His humiliation. It belongs to that state of His humiliation. That state that begins with His incarnation and ends in His burial. There are Other aspects you must understand with regard to his humiliation, not just suffering, but humiliation in general. There was the poverty of his birth, the poverty of his own parents. There was the subjection of him as a man to all the evils and all the troubles of this life, there was the rejection of men, there was the rejection of him by his own race of people and nation, there was the rejection of his miracles and his doctrine, the gospel. Now, it is very possible to subsume all of those under the title suffering, and in many ways the Catechism does that. But we must understand that the great overarching truth of his suffering is that he was being humiliated and in a state of humiliation. Why is that important? Because it helps us fully, more fully I might say, understand what's going on here. Humiliation is far worse for us to take than simply suffering. And in order to understand the suffering of Jesus Christ, you must understand the humiliation that it was. Maybe I can illustrate here. Maybe especially the younger children and young adults will understand this. The human being will put up with a lot of suffering, even torturous suffering for a cause, for an idea, For even one's own honor, history is full of such examples, even among unbelievers. We will suffer, and we will endure suffering, but one thing we will not endure, and that's humiliation. No one wants to be scorned, and ridiculed, and made to be a mockery. We're too proud for that. There's too much pride in human nature. And rightly, the Scriptures and Reformed theology following the Scriptures and our Heidelberg Catechism also rightly emphasizes that. The two states of Jesus are the state of exaltation and state of humiliation, not the state of suffering. So we must remember that as we cover and consider the Heidelberg Catechism here on His suffering. Our focus may not simply be on the pain of the cross, the pain of being scourged by a Roman whip designed to flay the flesh off the body, or the placing of that crown of thorns not gently on His head, but jamming it onto his head so he bled. The issue isn't the pain of the nails being driven into his hands and his feet. If we put it this way, the greatest aspect of his suffering was he was being humiliated, humiliated before men and before God. Now the specific subject indeed is his suffering under Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate was an Italian. He was appointed governor of the land of Judea for a brief period, ten years, A.D. 26 to A.D. 36. That's how we can date the birth and death of Jesus fairly closely. He was appointed by a man named Tiberius Caesar who reigned from 14 AD to the year after Pilate's removal, AD 37. This suffering of Jesus under Pontius Pilate explains especially two things. Number one, it explains the particular form that Jesus' suffering took at the end of his life. The answer to the question, why must he suffer and die as crucified, is answered by the truth that he suffered under Pontius Pilate. That's what explains the particular form of death. Crucifixion was the form of execution, the death penalty that Rome reserved for those who were not citizens of its empire. It wasn't a form of execution for all. Those who were citizens received a far more humane form of execution. No, it was reserved for their subjects, non-citizens. The second thing that his suffering under Pilate explains is that suffering, even of his entire life, regardless now of the various forms of suffering that his life takes, consider the suffering of his birth. Also is explained by the suffering of Pilate, for Pilate was a Roman. And the reason Jesus is humiliated and suffers there being born in a stable and being laid in a manger is explained by the fact that his parents must go to Bethlehem from Nazareth in order to pay taxes according to a decree of Caesar Augustus. Never forget that. So regardless of what occurs between birth and death, both birth and death are explained by his suffering under Pontius Pilate. The suffering of Pilate, the catechism makes clear, is the culmination of the suffering of his entire life, which is why he is called in Scripture the man of sorrows. Remember that, Jesus. was the man of sorrows. Consider last week or last time when we gathered, we emphasized and taught the incarnation of Jesus and the birth of Jesus under the specific name that Jesus took for himself, the son of man. And we taught what it meant that he's called the son of man. He is the man of men. Well, scriptures call him the man of sorrows. Point being that no one had sorrow like unto his sorrow. And it begins with his birth and the taking unto himself a weakened human nature, the likeness of sinful flesh. Here take note, it's important to take note, that the incarnation itself was not part of his suffering, not as such. And we must take that position because Jesus, Incarnation, as we pointed out last time, was permanent. Jesus still is incarnate. He lives in heaven as a human being in his human body and soul. And if the incarnation itself was suffering, then Jesus could not say on the cross that it is finished. He would still be suffering no matter how glorified he is. The same thing would really be true of us too. We too must suffer in this life. Our suffering is not an atoning or paying for sin, but it is due to sin and living in a sinful life. In heaven and in the new creation we will not be suffering simply because we are human beings. So the incarnation itself as such was not suffering, but the suffering came because of the kind, the nature, of the human nature that he took, which was, the Scriptures say, a weakened human nature, or the likeness of sinful flesh. That is, he took not human flesh, for example, as Adam had when he was first created, perfect and without sin, so that he could live with his wife naked in the garden without even noticing it, did not have a human nature living in the paradise of Eden, But what under the curse of sin, when he was born, his mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes, is as ought to be the case for sinful human nature. He had a human nature that was weakened, that got tired and hungry, felt pain and sorrow and every affliction and evil of human life, sickness and disease. capable of death and every other kind of human suffering in this life. That suffering included his entire life, not only his subjection to every human misery and trouble, including the loss of loved ones. I'd add Jesus suffered also in that regard. He lost loved ones. Not only did he lose loved ones, but he knew these loved ones were going to die because he is the sovereign King and Lord who caused their passing and death. Always remember that. You can get a glimpse of that at the tomb of Lazarus. But it included his subjection to to the lawful authorities such as Pilate and Rome. Never forget that. That's what's being brought out here. He must submit to the Roman government. His parents must submit to that government. His mother was not perfect either, nor his father, for he had to submit not only to the sinful Roman government, but to sinful human parents. You get a glimpse of that too at the age of 12 when he has to remind his mother that he must be about his father's business. You get a glimpse of that also in his first miracle there in Cana of Galilee where the reason his mother wants him to perform miracles is not his own. Consider even the words to his mother there on the cross where he does not and may not even call her mother but woman, and has to break the ties, the earthly ties, the strong earthly ties with his mother. But he submits to the Roman government. And think about this. He is king of kings and lord of lords. He must submit to a government of thieves and robbers, of blackmailers and extortioners. of some of the most vile human beings that walk on the face of the earth and submit to them as lawful rulers of the institution of government that he himself made and created in the beginning. If ever you or I am inclined to use the vileness and the sinfulness and the wickedness of government as an excuse or occasion to withhold our taxes, cheat on our taxes, to rebel and take up arms against the government, be stopped short by the consideration that your Lord and Savior submitted to the state and did so to his own suffering and hurt. And that, even as an innocent man, which of us can be claimed to be innocent like Christ, and yet he being innocent, submitted to all that government was and is. There was the suffering of his public ministry. There was his suffering under Satan himself, consider that. He who created Satan did not make him the monster and the beast that he was. Created him good and right, powerful, And yet, the first act of his public ministry is having to deal with Satan. Satan who tempted him, Satan who tried him, and Satan who appealed in his temptation even to that human nature and all the needs and weaknesses of that human nature. His need for food and drink. fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, and appealed even to his own divine power to turn stones into bread, which would have been sinful for him, because it was not his father's will, as he well knew, tempted him with earthly fame and power, things that all appeal to our flesh, even the need for protection and death. And that didn't just begin in the early part of his ministry, beloved. Remember, Satan was there at the cross. And Satan, being the devious creature that he is, used even his best friends and the elect children of God to tempt him. Remember that? Jesus makes plain to his disciples that he's turning his head steadfastly toward Jerusalem. And he's marching to that cross to give his life willingly for his people. And his selfishness and pride, wanting to reserve Jesus for himself and the benefits of Christ for his own end, said, be it far from thee, Lord. In those words that you and I would probably excuse and we understand quite well, Jesus heard Satan speaking. He heard Satan speaking to him, again tempting him, and had to tell Peter that, get thee behind me, Satan. That was suffering, you understand. There was all the suffering of His ministry. Jesus preaching the truth. Jesus, who knows God as no one else knows God, knows the life of God, knows the life of the Kingdom of Heaven, knows the truth of salvation and the human being of our own sin and depravity, is preaching. And He knows full well much of His audience. cannot stand that word, has rejected that word, despises that word, despises Him who brings that word, has their hope in another gospel, has their hope in an earthly kingdom, and that even when they were filled with joy and praise for Him, oh, how that must have caused Him suffering, knowing that the 5,000 He had fed were just a few loaves and some fishes. that all the accolades and all the praise and all the people traipsing after him so he has to flee across the Sea of Galilee is basically all earthly. You want me only to be your king because you want my bread. You see his suffering and you have a sense of it when according to the Psalms he says about Judas, my own familiar friend, a man who of himself had nothing against me, whom I had treated well, never hurt, never harmed, turned against me, and betrays him to the hating mob. His suffering includes the hatred, not simply of the world, the ungodly, he expected that. He expects to be crucified by a Roman government. They despised all the Jews. He expects hatred from Meharod, who was a descendant of Esau, but the covenant community Those who shared the scriptures with him, those who read and supposed that they were doing justice and righteousness according to those scriptures, those who claimed to be leaders and followers of the law, we have a law, they said, with the greatest hypocrisy that you can imagine, hypocrisy that Jesus saw right through, and they're the ones who shall crucify him, crucify him. Can you imagine the covenant community, that saying, the Psalms, that God is King of Kings, says to Pilate, we have no king but Caesar? Imagine the suffering of that, the unbelief of his own people, even the ignorance of his own disciples who were believers and yet couldn't understand these things, though they be very plain. And then, of course, at the end of his life under Pilate, The emphasis of the Lord's Day is upon the severity of it. You can get a sense of that in the scriptures, where Jesus remarks that even the thought of the cross almost killed him. Quoting Psalm 22 in his own mind, he says, I am a worm and no man, reduced to having another carry his cross, who is omnipotent and working miracles. It's an amazing thing, but to see in there, too, who Christ is, and see if you understand the suffering, then you get a better sense of who Christ is, don't you? Every step he takes into the abyss, every step he takes into the fire, every step he takes into the floods that would overwhelm a mere man, he does fearlessly. He's not ashamed to be ashamed. Think of his own capture. Read sometime again about the event in the garden where they come to take him with their swords and staves in the middle of the night. These pathetically powerless human beings. And he shows that too when they ask, are you Jesus? And he simply answers, I am. Takes upon himself the name of Jehovah God. I am the I am. And they all fall over backwards. Powerless. And yet he allows those proud human beings to gather themselves up, dust themselves off, pick up their weapons, bind him and take him back for trial. Then there's that trial under Pilate. The scriptures emphasize the severe abuse in an attempt by Pilate to evoke sympathy even for Jesus so that he can release him with a better conscience. The mockery, the ridicule, man taking hands that God had made and hands empowered by God's own providence and smiting the Christ. taking him, stripping him of even the meager clothes that he had to parade him around naked and put him there on the cross. Remember too, the cross was the symbol of the rejected and condemned. No place in Rome. No place on the earth. No place in it in the empire of man for the Christ. No place for him in man's imaginations, in man's desires, in man's longings, in man's dreams. Think of the vast great empire and all the glories. Think of what it brings to human life. Under Pilate, it says there's no place for Jesus, no place for Christ. He dies as an excommunicant there on the cross. He dies as the king of the Jews, not just an excommunicant, but one who was rejected as the king of those Jews. One who showed in his ministry that he had every qualification to be king. Remember that we considered that. He was the Christ, their king, as well as king of kings. He's excommunicated as one not worthy to be part of the kingdom. We have a law, and under our law, he ought to die. Besides that, and most importantly, the scriptures made plain early on that that was the accursed death, Deuteronomy 21. Accursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That was his suffering. The reason, what's the reason for all this? The answer is that Jesus is bearing our sins. He's bearing the sins of all His people. According to the Heidelberg Catechism, that humiliation is the form of God's wrath. He sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind. God's judgment was upon Him. God's curse was upon Him. Always remember that. Jesus didn't just happen to suffer. He just didn't happen to fall into bad circumstance. It just didn't happen to be that he suffered, though he was innocent. The fact is, he wasn't innocent, not in the eyes of God. God condemned him. God poured out his wrath upon him. God said, you deserve this. He deserved it. If you're ever of mine and so bold as to raise your eyes to heaven when God does something to you, and you think the thought, I don't deserve this, then quickly say you're sorry, please. And if you want to know what we deserve, then simply look at Christ. See the life of Christ. See what God did to His own beloved Son. He's suffering under the living curse of God. As soon as He's conceived and born, He's under that curse. God is a righteous God. God don't punish the innocent. God doesn't send evil upon the good. He sends it upon the guilty, upon those who deserve it. Now, the amazing thing that the suffering under Pilate brings out is that he did not suffer for his own sins personally. What Pilate brings out, that ungodly man, that reprobate, that man who is supposed to represent the height of Roman justice, which is blind justice, right justice, that which is supposed to be the underpinnings of this great, vast empire. That man sells out Christ out of fear. Fear for another king, his own king, Tiberius. Afraid he will be deposed as an enemy of the state if he approves Jesus as king. Nevertheless, admits repeatedly There is no fault in this man. I, the representative of the world's governments and the world order, says there is no sin in him, nothing worthy of death, no just cause for which he should be removed from the living of this world, to be placed on a cross that's reserved for the dregs and the lowlifes and the scum of the earth. yet puts him to death. God was speaking through that man. God who had put that man there. And Jesus who was conscious that God put him there. You would have no power against me unless it was given to you from above. Which made even Pilate rethink what he was doing. Didn't stop him, but made him rethink it. Further condemning himself. God was speaking. Personally, there is no sin in him. Personally, there is no need for him to defend himself. Personally, there is not one thing that he has ever done wrong and everything that he has done is righteous and holy according to God's own law and in God's own judgment. The only perfectly righteous man who has ever lived is nevertheless condemned to death and condemned justly by God himself. For only one reason, he takes upon himself our sins. Now the catechism says that Jesus was experienced in his body and soul the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind. I don't understand. There's no way possible that that could be every human being that ever lived. There's no way that can possibly be. There's no way that can possibly be because we read in the same catechism that his sacrifice was a propitiatory sacrifice. That means he appeased the wrath of God. By his sacrifice, he exhausted the wrath of God against whatever sins that he had, which means that he paid for, completely, exhaustively, to the end, the wrath of God for all those sins that he had upon himself. Therefore, if they were indeed the sins of all men, head for head, including Pilate, then all would be saved. All would be delivered from their sins. It would be unjust for God to cast them into hell. It would be unjust for God to make them suffer because of their sins in hell. We know that's not true. There's no way that can be true. Notice, too, that the catechism makes clear that it's the cross that explains those for whom he died receiving grace, the favor of God, that's what it means, you can read grace there, and righteousness and eternal life. Now that just confirms what I said. Not only does the propitiatory sacrifice pay for their sins and exhaust the wrath of God, but it earns for those for whom he died grace and righteousness and eternal life, understand, Even grace must be rooted in the cross. That's why there can be no common grace. That's why common grace is a mirage, a figment of men's imagination. Grace cannot be bestowed on someone unless Christ has died for their sins. Understand that. God may be a gracious God, but He's also a righteous God. And notice, too, eternal life. He bestows eternal life on whom? On those for whose sins he paid for and atoned with that propitiatory sacrifice. So not only is it impossible that he died for the sins of all mankind in the sense that it's every man head for head, but there is no such thing as a common grace for the ungodly and the reprobate. The idea, of course, is God where Jesus died for the sins of God's elect, everywhere. Not just the Jew, but the Gentile. Not just those who were part of the Roman system, but people living today, male and female, young and old. And let's not forget this either. The wonder of that phrase, as it sets forth, died for the sins of individuals and people, no matter what sins they've committed, no matter what they've done, or what they've said, no matter how much they have blasphemed God, or harmed their neighbor. Even for those, there is forgiveness in the cross of Christ, if you are one for whom he died. But this, you understand, explains the severity of his humiliation. You see, why could no one suffer like Jesus suffered? And the answer is, well, number one, he's suffering as the Son of God. The one who's pouring out his wrath upon him is God, his own Father. The Father who loved him from all eternity. The Father in whose bosom he has been from all eternity. The great love of the Father. And can anyone love their son like unto God? the Father that brings out poignantly and in a very touching way not only how serious must our sins have been for God to pour out His wrath upon His Son like that, but imagine the Son receiving that from His Father. a Father in whom there is no mistakes, no errors, not in judgment, not in righteousness, dealing with Him that way. Jesus, more than anyone else, more than we'll ever be, understood that every step He took, every stroke He endured, every word of ridicule and mockery, everything that happened there on the cross came directly from His Father. regardless of the role of Satan and Pilate and Jewish unbelieving leaders. Jesus also experienced the wrath of God the way he did and to the extent he did as someone who was perfectly righteous and holy. You know what gets our ire more than anything else? What gets our hackles up? It's usually the occasion for us to perhaps even think about shaking our fist at God, and if not at God, then certainly our neighbor. It's when we suffer for what we consider to be an injustice. And whether that injustice is real or imagined, it adds to our suffering. Consider, if you were thrown in jail for the rest of your life for a crime you know you did not commit, Oh, how it pains us when people accuse us of certain things and say certain names and mock and ridicule for things we didn't do, who imagine thoughts in our mind that we never thought, let alone say. Here's Jesus, perfectly innocent, suffering for sins he didn't commit, but we committed. He suffered too because he sinned, he suffered for the sins of an innumerable throng and innumerable sins among that innumerable throng. It's interesting that if you look at the original language in which the Catechism is written, it puts that word sin in the singular. Sin. The sin. Not sins of the whole mankind, but sin. It's emphasizing there that all our sin is essentially the same, but it's also emphasizing the magnitude of that sin. the people for whom Jesus died. Now consider all your own sins, add them up, and you come up with as close to infinity as you can imagine. Every single one of those sins, one sin, isolated all by itself, is worthy of hell and death forever, eternally. He, in one moment, in one lifetime, suffered under the hand of God for all that sin, all of it, a mountain. And then we somehow imagine that we can pay for our sins with a few good deeds. That's what we do all the time, isn't it? We sin against someone else, we sin against God, and the first thing we think is maybe I can make this better by my own good deeds. That's how we even look at saying I'm sorry. If we can squeak an I'm sorry out of our mouth, which is very hard to do, it's one of the hardest things to do sometimes, right? Just simply saying I'm sorry. trying to make things right, reconcile with a brother, or appearing before God. How easily we say, God, forgive our sins, but one particular sin. We're not going to, we're going to stubbornly persist to that. Jesus forgives all that sin, takes it upon himself, and endures it so that we can imagine, we have a sense of, and we can consider what he's done in the suffering of all that. and deservedly so. We could not endure that suffering. There is assurance and comfort in all this. This is the gospel. Another instance where we focus on Christ so that we might see ourselves and we might consider the good news of the gospel in all this. There's purpose in his sufferings. The catechism mentions three. One, to redeem our body and soul from damnation, to obtain the favor of God, righteousness, and eternal life. It's what makes the Christian life unique. We live in a body and soul that's redeemed, that's bought with a price, so that we are not our own, but we belong to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And he frees us, not only from the severe judgment of God against sin, but the power of sin. First, there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No matter who we are, no matter what we have done, when we believe in Jesus Christ, all of our sins are forgiven us. And there is no condemnation for them. There is, however, the other severe condemnation when you try to pay for those sins yourself. When you imagine somehow you do that. Somehow even saying I'm sorry and repenting is some sort of payment of God. that earns that forgiveness. Thereby I'm assured that he took on him the curse due for me and my sin. This is an assurance too that changes our life. The catechism brings that out. Patience. Patience. So that we may be patient in all the adversity and trouble and trials and toils of life, including humiliation in this world. There is that. Jesus doesn't say we won't suffer because I've taken all the suffering on myself. No, because I have suffered, you will suffer. You are still in your weak and sinful human nature that I took upon myself. You will need patience in that. There is patience that's needed in the suffering for Christ's sake. The servant is not greater than his master. If they mocked and scorned and ridiculed him, what about you who believe in him and trust in him for all your salvation? Out of the cross comes humility. Since he suffered for me, he causes me to know the greatness of my sin and misery. What is that? What ought that to work? Humility, not pride. So I learn to loathe my human nature, humble myself before him in love. In the cross we know We have manifested the great love of God for us, His people. So much that He loved you, so much that He loved me, that He willingly came in our flesh and endured our sin, took it upon Himself, humiliated unto death itself, and the deepest pains of hell. How do you respond to that? What do you think of that? You love Him. You love Him even more and more. You have in that power and the incentive to live and love one with another, to forgive one another, and to live under Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, O Lord our God, we thank thee for our Christ and for his suffering on our behalf. For us, such sinners. Give us love and faith and hope and patience and assurance in this holy gospel. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.