Matthew 27:27-44

[0:00] Well, good morning, Shoreline. I'm Justin, and as Dave said so eloquently, I am not an elder here at Shoreline Community Bible Church. Like the majority of you, I'm just a layperson in a congregation.

[0:13] However, this morning, I have the unique pleasure of bringing the treasures of the words of Scripture to you. We're going to begin our time together in the 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, in accordance with our walking through the Gospel of Matthew over the last two years.

[0:27] Before we get there, I'm going to just pray really quick. Heavenly Father, would you send your Spirit to show us your Son.

[0:39] As he is mocked and scourged, as he prepares his way to the cross, may we see Christ as for the treasure he is. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.

[0:51] So like I said, we're going to begin our time together in verses 27 through 44 of the 27th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Let's read together.

[1:01] 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.

[1:18] And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit on him, and took the reed, and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, and put on his own clothes, and led him away to crucify him.

[1:34] As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they had came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall.

[1:48] 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.

[2:05] Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who had passed by derided him, wagging their heads, and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself.

[2:17] 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 is the King of Israel.

[2:28] 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.

[2:39] And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. The title of this message, This is Jesus, King of the Jews.

[2:50] For those of you who are not a part of Shoreline or are joining us for the first time, welcome. For those that are watching, also welcome on the live stream. I'm going to attempt to recap what's been happening in Matthew's Gospel up to this point.

[3:02] But before we get there, I think it's really important that we cover two things. One, the overall narrative of Scripture and Matthew's underlying themes, because I think you're going to see today that those two things fit very well into today's passage.

[3:19] Today we're going to see Christ take his final steps to the apex of all of history. For these last two years, we have been seeing the rising action, and now we are on the precipice of the climax, his death on the cross.

[3:33] We will see Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Lamb of God, take his final steps to Calvary. Before our very eyes, we will witness God's plan of redemption.

[3:44] The reconciliation of man to himself through the work of this same Jesus. And the direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. So that's the overarching theme, God's plan of redemption.

[3:57] However, before he gets to the cross to accomplish his purposes, he's going to be mocked and scourged in accordance with Psalm 22. And that is where we find ourselves in Matthew's Gospel this morning.

[4:10] I also want to remind you of the central thesis of the book of Matthew, that Jesus Christ is the promised Jewish Messiah, the anointed one, or Savior, and the true King of Israel.

[4:22] Today's passage explicitly exposes these same themes. If I could take a moment to help you frame today's passage, I would frame it in this way. Verses 27 through 44 show us, the readers, the fullest expression of man's rejection of Christ's deity, his kingship, and his message.

[4:44] I think it's easy for us, especially those that are followers of Christ, to see the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the obedience of Christ. And those aspects of Christ's ministry are certainly here.

[4:57] I think what's harder to see, examine, in our own hearts, and recognize is the wickedness of man. The depth of depravity inside the human heart is on full display for us this morning.

[5:10] Okay, so that's the overall. Matthew 27. Up to this point, we have seen Christ betrayed by one of his own, his confrontation with Pilate, and the release of Barabbas. The 27th chapter is quite interesting because we get to see three different typecasts of sinners.

[5:27] Let me explain what I mean by that. We see Judas, Barabbas, and then everyone in this passage this morning as typecasts or symbols for types of sinners.

[5:37] We see the sin and subsequent remorse of Judas leading to death. We see the substitutionary atonement in the release of Barabbas. And we will see man's ultimate rejection of Christ in our passage this morning, with the overall story ending with his crucifixion.

[5:53] Before we get to our actual passage, I know I'm getting there, let's go back to verse 11 of chapter 27 to help us set the stage this morning. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?

[6:09] Jesus said, You have said so. Pilate directly asked Jesus if he is the king, and his response is clear. You have said so.

[6:19] Before Christ is going to take the place for Barabbas, an actual and violent criminal like we saw last week. If you haven't had a chance to listen to Jordan's sermon from last week, there's more on that.

[6:31] What I want to emphasize, though, is clear to the Jews, the scribes, the crowd, that Christ is claiming to be the king that he is. He's the king of Israel and the promised Jewish Messiah.

[6:42] Therefore, our first point this morning is the king rejected. The king rejected. What we see here is the unrestrained hatred and rejection of the true king of Israel by literally everyone there.

[6:58] How do we see it? We see it in the mockery and the humiliation of Jesus. It was not sufficient for the soldiers or the crowd to simply want to crucify him.

[7:10] In the most torturous fashion known to man, they had to once again put themselves over God through mockery and shame. Now, you're probably sitting there wondering, where does all this animosity come from?

[7:24] Why would they hate a prophet or a man of God so much? That's the rub, isn't it? He didn't just claim to be a prophet, a healer, or a good rabbi.

[7:35] He claimed to be the son of God and the king of the Jews. We'll see that very clearly as we continue on in this passage. And just so everyone is clear, when I say son of God, I mean sent of God or from God.

[7:49] That's what it means. Though Christ, being in one essence with God, takes on the form of a man, comes to earth to redeem his people, to fill them with joy forever.

[8:03] Throughout his three-year ministry, Christ claims to be the deity he is on many occasions. He refers to himself by using the phrase, I am.

[8:15] The Jews would likely remember from Moses' burning bush a total of 23 times. You see, a prophet speaks with the authority of God, but Christ claimed that he was the very authority which the prophet spoke.

[8:27] The crowds, and thus everyone's animosity, stems from their rejection of God himself. Let me explain. In claiming to be God, Jesus is rejected.

[8:41] In claiming to be God, the Jewish leaders want him gone. In claiming that man is sinful, everyone wants to shut their ears. Jordan explained this really well last week.

[8:52] So if you haven't had a chance to listen to his sermon, please take some time this week. Again, this should not surprise us. What does the Apostle Paul tell us about man's heart? If you turn your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, you'll notice there's a little monologue there.

[9:09] I'll give you some of the highlights. All have turned aside. No one seeks for God. And their feet are swift to shed blood. Do you see the recurring themes? All have rejected God, and no one wants anything to do with him.

[9:24] Christ will tell his disciples of this impending rejection on a few occasions throughout his ministry, and neither they nor the Jews understood. The Jews likewise throw out their Savior King they have been longing for.

[9:40] How does man reject his authority in this passage? Let's look to the text. The soldiers place on him a scarlet robe, a crown of twisted thorns, and place a reed in his right hand.

[9:55] They kneel before him to mock him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. The soldiers take the reed and strike him on the head with it. All of these items clearly show that they knew he was claiming to be their king.

[10:11] It was not a secret to the crowds or to the soldiers, to anyone. In fact, everyone was so bent on rejecting Christ, they claimed that Caesar was their true king.

[10:23] Look to verse 19, sorry, verse 15 of John, this 19th chapter of John. What did the crowds cry? It's not captured here, but in the Gospel of John it is.

[10:34] We have no king but Caesar. What a joke. Caesar was a ruthless ruler and not a friend of the Jewish people or anyone they conquered.

[10:45] And yet they want him to be their king. They want him to rule over them. Someone who doesn't even really like them. The Jews have a history with bad kings, don't they?

[10:58] You would think they would look back in their history and learn something. Just to be clear to everyone, this is not just a uniquely Jewish issue, by the way.

[11:10] Everyone would and does act in the same way in their rejection, as we previously observed. Nonetheless, you would think they would want their savior king to rule over them.

[11:21] They don't. When he finally shows up, they reject him. We reject him. To the rational and logical mind, this makes no sense. Therefore, we must conclude that humanity's rejection of Christ is spiritual.

[11:36] It's internal. It's unjustified. How can we explain this rejection? The king was rejected because the people loved their sin and did not want to admit their ways were wrong.

[11:49] They did not want to see their need for Christ. To put it into more biblical terms, again, I'll turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 20. Listen to the word of the Lord.

[12:01] How different are we today? How do we react when we look to the scriptures and compare our lives to it?

[12:17] Do we get defensive and angry? Do we repent? How does the verse end? I hope you see the difference this morning.

[12:35] Now, the crowds, the chief priests and elders, and the scribes all recognize that Jesus was claiming to be their king. If this passage this morning had a thesis statement, I would point to verse 37. This is Jesus, king of the Jews.

[12:48] That is their overall charge. That's what they put above his head on the cross. However, our next point, we'll look at the specific charges brought against Jesus.

[13:00] Point two, the charges against the king. The charges against the king. Verses 40 through 44 summarize the charges brought against Jesus and his deity.

[13:14] The crowds, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, all of them, bring a total of six charges against Jesus. Charges are as follows. One, that Christ would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

[13:27] Two, he claimed to be the son of God. Three, he saved others. Four, he's the king of Israel. Five, he trusts in God. And six, he is the son of God.

[13:38] Many of these same words are written for our comfort in the stanzas of Psalm 22. We don't have time this morning to look at those verses specifically. However, I would encourage you this week to take a look at Psalm 22.

[13:52] Anyway, yes, you heard that right. Two of the six claims are identical. In fact, two people say the same thing about Jesus, which tells me one thing.

[14:04] Well, really two things. One, they knew his claim to deity. And two, they did not believe it. As we saw in point one, Christ claiming his sonship and kingship was no trivial matter.

[14:16] Let's look to what the charges show us about the heart of the people. Christ claimed during his ministry that he would destroy and rebuild the temple.

[14:26] We know from the gospels, from other gospel accounts, that he was referring to his body. But yet again, the Jews are seeking for a miracle. For students of the Bible and frankly, the gospel of Matthew, this should not surprise us.

[14:40] From the onset of Jesus' ministry, they've been looking for demonstrations of his power. The apostle Paul writes, For Jews demand signs in the first letter to the Corinthian church.

[14:51] Earlier in Matthew, Jesus reprimands the Jewish people by saying, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Christ was sharply reminding them, and thus us, that their motives, their desires, their passions were wrong.

[15:10] He was exposing, like he does in such glorious fashion, their unbelief in his claims and message. Humanity always wants a savior to meet their own wicked desires.

[15:22] They certainly don't want Jesus. In John Calvin, the great reformer's commentary on these passages, he describes how the crowd wanted a God of a dictation of their own minds.

[15:32] They wanted a Christ, a God of their own imagination. Again, does any of this sound familiar? This is like my third shout out to Jordan's sermon last week, but it really connects very well.

[15:45] What did he tell us? He mentioned how we create idols that we want to worship. How often do we create idols of who God is in our own minds?

[15:57] When we pray? When we sing songs of worship and praise? We must submit to the God of the Bible, not of our own minds. It's interesting because the consequences of having a God of their own minds actually leads the crowds and the Jews to want Jesus to abandon the Father's perfect plan of redemption for their own selfish desires.

[16:24] Even Peter, the apostle, told Jesus not to go to Jerusalem. He was afraid that he would die there. And Jesus rebuked him saying, Get behind me, Satan. I hope you remember that.

[16:36] God's plan of redemption, hidden in ages past, is now crystal clear to us. We have the unique pleasure on this side of history to see God's plan with crystal clarity.

[16:47] In fact, no one could have predicted how God was going to accomplish his purposes. The apostle Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians when he writes, Think about that for just one second.

[17:11] No one could have used their imagination to come up with God's plan to sacrifice his only son to redeem his people. God doesn't do things according to your wishes.

[17:24] He does things after the counsel of his own will. And he does all that he pleases. Praise God. That's awesome. That's great news. Our God is merciful and gracious, and his plans bring him glory and benefit us.

[17:38] In this instance, we see the wisdom of God and how God's plan was far superior to man's. Man wanted to crucify Jesus because he claimed to be God.

[17:50] How did God respond? God crushed him to redeem those same people. We're going to come on that. Stay with me. What else did the people charge Jesus with? Look again to the text. Verses 42 and 43 show us the people wanted Christ to come down from the cross because then, then they would believe in him.

[18:08] I'm not convinced. You might be thinking that would have shown them their error. Like, that's logical. It's just not correct. Christ performed so many miracles, all the books couldn't be filled with them.

[18:20] Hundreds of people saw Jesus with their own physical eyes and did not believe. We can better think of these requests for him to come off the cross, to save himself, to heal others, as rhetorical taunts.

[18:33] In their hearts, they did not believe the claims that he made about himself, nor did they believe that he could do the things that they were asking him to do. It's a way of mocking Jesus.

[18:46] Even the robbers next to him mock him. What foolish people. I think what's important to recognize in this scene, no one gets it. They don't. We see a complete, overarching rejection of Christ and hatred without a cause.

[19:03] Everyone in this scene has, like, little to self, to no self-awareness of the state of their own hearts. They cannot and will not see that Christ is dying for their very sins that they're committing right now.

[19:15] How different are we today? Okay. The charges brought against Jesus the king were in direct opposition to his deity, his claim to be son of God, his kingship, the king of Israel, and ultimately his message.

[19:30] Now what? Okay, I have all this information. What do I do with the brother Justin? That's a great question. Our final point this morning deals with the applications of the truth we have discussed.

[19:42] Point three, response to the king. The response to the king. There can only be two responses to the Savior of the world.

[19:52] Submission or rejection. What will you do with this king? Will you join in the mockery? Will you see him as a fool or treasure?

[20:04] Can you trust in his work on the cross? To those who are not disciples of Christ this morning, I say repent. Repent of your wicked ways and turn to Christ in faith.

[20:18] The mockery we see in these passages describes the state of our own hearts and drives the inescapable conclusion that we are no better than they.

[20:31] My heart, before it was changed by the Spirit and Christ, was no different. In your heart and in mine, we are no better than they.

[20:44] We are just like them. If you are sitting here this morning thinking, I have no feelings about Christ. I honestly couldn't care less. You might even be apathetic in your outward actions.

[20:56] If you were there when Jesus was walking to Calvary, you might have just watched as Christ walked by, saying nothing. However, if you were confronted with your sin, would you get defensive and angry?

[21:09] All it would take would be a few questions. You might quickly realize that your apathy turns to antagonism towards Christ. Christ's very life and message directly confront our shortcomings.

[21:24] And no one likes being told they are wrong. Most of all, me. Similarly, I will often have discussions with people that I work with or people that are in my sphere of influence about past events.

[21:40] Everyone claims they would have done the right thing. They're like, oh, I wouldn't have been calling for the crucifixion of Jesus. Or I wouldn't have eaten the fruit in the garden. I could obey one command. Not true.

[21:52] Sorry, not true. Everyone sins and everyone loves to sin. It is our nature. Given to us at the fall and continuing to this day. Wait a second.

[22:03] Wait a second, Brother Justin. How can you hold people accountable who are by nature sinful and thus slaves to it? Does not the Bible say those who sin are slaves to it?

[22:16] Yes, it does say that. It says they are slaves to a sin nature apart from the work of the Holy Spirit and the imputed righteousness of Christ. That is true. However, the problem is twofold.

[22:29] Everyone is bound to a sin nature and they also find pleasure in one sin or another. Thus, the responsibility of the individual is not removed.

[22:40] In my community group, we've been going through the book of James and it's been really awesome. It's been really helpful. In the first chapter, James gives us a little bit of insight into our own hearts as well.

[22:54] James 1.14 says, Now you might be wondering what I'm talking about.

[23:06] You might be wondering what I'm talking about. This sin thing. Sin would be falling short of God's expectation of perfection. You heard that right. Perfection. You see, God doesn't use your standard of righteousness.

[23:19] He uses his. We have seen throughout Matthew's gospel that God's standard is perfect righteousness. If you're looking for a citation on that, turn to Matthew 5.48.

[23:32] That is his standard. It does not change. Why does it not change? It does not change because God does not change. No one can meet that standard of perfect righteousness.

[23:45] You nor I. Only by trusting in Christ's perfect, righteous life, his work, his merit, can you meet the requisite amount of righteousness required to be reconciled to God.

[24:01] That is what I mean when I say to trust in the work of Christ. Your good works will never suffice. Even on our best day, we have not loved the Lord our God with all of our heart for one millisecond.

[24:18] Therefore, there is no hope apart from Christ. Only Jesus' sacrifice on the cross can adequately appease God's wrath, God's righteous wrath for sin.

[24:31] Unfortunately, as you can see in our hearts, you and I are no different from the crowds. You and I would have been calling for the crucifixion. Of Jesus. Examine your heart this morning.

[24:43] Jesus, in the beginning of his ministry, reminds us that God judges the hearts. Just because you haven't killed someone doesn't mean God will not hold you accountable for the hatred you have for your brother in your heart.

[24:55] He's going to hold me accountable to that same standard. The standard of perfect righteousness. Ask yourself this morning, do you love Jesus more than your sin? Turn from your pleasures of sin to the pleasures of knowing Christ.

[25:09] When we submit to Christ, we get to enjoy the love that the Father has for his Son. And we saw that earlier in the Gospel of Matthew. Don't wait this morning. Submit to Christ.

[25:21] Again, to those who are apart from Christ this morning, I warn you that Christ is coming again. And this time, he's coming in judgment. He will judge you with no more chance of redemption.

[25:34] Right now, while it's still day, with one hand, God is holding back his righteous wrath for sin. And with the other, he's reaching out in invitation to come to him and to repent.

[25:51] But when you die or when Christ returns, whichever happens first, both of those hands will fall and there will be no more chance. His righteous wrath will be unleashed and his people will be rescued.

[26:07] Do not mistake God's slowness for him not taking sin seriously. Do not mistake his humility and meekness in his first advent for weakness.

[26:18] What you see in your everyday life is God's mercy, not apathy. When Christ returns, he will come for his church and to judge the wicked.

[26:30] Take that seriously this morning. Now to the believer, to those that are connected and united to Christ, we must follow in the example of our Lord we see in this passage this morning.

[26:42] We must carry on Christ's suffering with joy. We are commanded to love those who persecute us and cry out like Stephen the martyr, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

[26:54] You're thinking that's impossible and you're right. We cannot do this through human effort or will, but only by the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.

[27:05] We must likewise run to him for mercy and ask for help. Just like the sinner, we must also submit to Jesus Christ.

[27:16] On a real practical level, that means we must know God's word. And like a man looking in a mirror, compare our lives to it. We need to ask ourselves, are we living according to God's law?

[27:30] Spoiler alert, you're going to miss the mark. But that's the point. Our only hope is Christ and to ask the Holy Spirit to change us into his likeness.

[27:42] Church this morning, look to the Messiah, who like a sheep was silent before his shears. He trusted in God's sovereignty and so should we. I want you to think on this.

[27:56] When man and Satan thought they had their greatest victory, God accomplishes his purposes. God always has the last word. God is so powerful and the true master of everything that he can use people's decisions, even sinful ones, to bring about his purposes.

[28:16] Incredible, isn't it? What a God we serve. He is not surprised nor dismayed at the working of evil. He is working all things together for his glory and our good.

[28:29] He is the King of Israel and he's the King of kings. What will you do this morning? Will you reject or submit to the King? Let's pray.

[28:43] Heavenly Father, Father, would you do a work in all of our hearts to see Christ for the treasure he is. Would you help us see those areas in our lives where sin remains?

[28:56] I pray that we would cry out for mercy. Father, would you pray that we would trust in your sovereign plan and wait for the consummation of your church.

[29:12] Father, would you send the Spirit to do this mighty work in our lives? Lord, we pray that we would pray for the Lord. Lord, we pray that those that are apart from Christ this morning would submit to him. I pray that the church would awe and wonder at Christ.

[29:26] And likewise submit to him. Lord, we're thankful for your word. Sanctify us in your word. In Christ's name I pray.

[29:37] Amen.