We're in Matthew, the first book in the New Testament, chapter 27.
We're in the second to last chapter now.
!
Lord, we ask that you do that this evening.
Help us incline our ears and to open our hearts to your word, to the word of the gospel.
Of the cross of Christ, of the blood that Jesus shed, that sinners like us might be cleansed.
Restore to us, refresh the wonder, the joy, and the worship before you as we ponder these
weighty truths this evening.
Guide us now.
Speak to us in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Please, if you are able, stand with me to honor God as we read from his word.
Matthew, chapter 27, verses 1 to 26.
When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against
Jesus to put him to death.
And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought
back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I've sinned by betraying
innocent blood.
They said, what is that to us?
See to it yourself.
And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged
himself.
But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, it is not lawful to put them
into the treasury since it is blood money.
So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.
Therefore, that field has been called the field of blood to this day.
Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, and they took the
30 pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of
Israel.
And they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me.
Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, are you the king of the
Jews?
Jesus said, you have said so.
But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.
Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you?
But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom
they wanted.
And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.
So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas
or Jesus, who is called Christ?
For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.
Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing
to do with that righteous man, for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you?
And they said, Barabbas.
Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?
They all said, let him be crucified.
And he said, why?
What evil has he done?
But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified.
So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took
water and washed his hands before the crowd saying, I am innocent of this man's blood.
Seat to it yourselves.
And all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children.
Then he released for them Barabbas and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Please be seated.
You may have read in the news this past week about Jason Arday, the former Cambridge University
professor who was found dead in his home this past week.
After numerous media outlets reported of inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the biographical and academic
affiliation claims as well as multiple excerpts taken from other research papers without proper
attribution, he resigned from his post at Cambridge and then was found dead a few days later.
And most people suspect that he killed himself because of the circumstances.
We won't know for sure until the coroner's report comes out.
And whether it was a series of sloppy mistakes or blatant fabrication and plagiarism, he seems
to have deemed that his reputation is irreparable, that his life is irredeemable.
Many in the past have come to the same conclusion about their lives.
John McAfee, I don't know if you guys remember him, of the namesake McAfee antivirus software,
which was the first of its kind.
He also hanged himself while embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit and imprisoned for tax
evasion and fraud.
And then you, I'm sure you've all heard of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier, who hanged himself
while imprisoned for sex trafficking charges.
Much like Judas Iscariot, who hangs himself after betraying Jesus because he's overwhelmed
and stricken by the guilt.
Most of us haven't been in this kind of extreme situation, but we can all, in our own way,
relate to how they felt.
Even with smaller offenses, we can have a tendency to catastrophize, to give in to despair, to say,
my life is over.
I can't possibly recover from what happened.
My offense is too great.
I've fallen too far.
No one will forgive me.
My offense will never be forgotten.
Like stubborn blood stains that refuse to come off our soiled clothes,
the stain of some sins feel to us like permanent marks on our souls.
And for the most part, that is true.
Sin is a stubborn stain.
And there is only one way to get it out.
And that's my main point this morning.
The blood of Christ alone can wash us of our blood guilt.
I'm going to talk about our blood guilt.
And in a second, we'll talk about the blood atonement of Jesus.
We see in this passage three wrong ways to deal with guilt.
That we have, that we feel.
First is the denial of the chief priests and the elders.
The second is the deflection of Pilate.
And the third is the despair of Jesus.
And let's take a look at these three reactions in turn.
First, the denial of the chief priests and the elders.
In chapter 26 already, that Steve and Ed preached on this past couple weeks,
Caiaphas, the high priest, and the elders have already put Jesus on their own trial under Jewish law.
And in this rigged kangaroo court, they have already come to the conclusion that they had predetermined
that Jesus is someone who deserves to be killed.
That he's a blasphemer deserving of death.
And in chapter 37, verse 1, however, tells us that when morning came,
all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
Having spent all night trying Jesus, having already come to the conclusion that he is a blasphemer that must be put to death,
why do they need to, in the morning, take counsel yet again to figure out how they can put him to death?
Because as Jews under Roman jurisdiction, they did not have the authority to execute capital punishment.
They did not have the authority to put Jesus to death.
And because of that, they needed to figure out a way to bring these charges against Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate,
in a way that can convince him that Jesus deserves to be put to death.
The charge that they put on him is blasphemy.
And that's a religious charge that will hold no water under Roman court.
It would be much like when Paul was accused by the Jews before Galio, the Roman consul, in Acts chapter 18.
He dismissed the Jews summarily, saying,
This is a matter of your own Jewish law and your own people.
Go deal with it yourselves.
It is of no concern to me.
That's exactly what the chief priests and elders don't want to happen when they bring their case about Jesus.
So they strategize.
They plot.
They counsel together.
And we see what they came up with in verse 11.
When Pilate asks Jesus,
Are you the king of the Jews?
The chief priests and the elders have decided to frame Jesus as a political threat to Rome.
Luke 23 records in greater detail what the chief priests said.
We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar
and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.
He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.
That man claims to be a king.
The king of the Jews.
But there's only one king, Caesar.
That man is creating civil unrest.
He is popular.
People are flocking to him.
Aren't you, Roman governor, in charge of upholding Roman rule?
You can't leave him alone.
But look at verses 20 to 24.
Who is undermining Roman rule?
Who is riling up the crowds?
Who is creating civil unrest?
It's not Jesus.
Jesus is silent as the Jewish leaders clamor and bring these charges against him.
Twice it says in verse 12 and verse 14 that Jesus gave no answer.
He is silent.
Which greatly amazes Pilate.
And Pilate concludes that Jesus has done nothing wrong and tries to let him go.
But the crowds will not be pacified.
In fact, they get quite violent.
Twice they insist, let him be crucified.
And why are they so insistent on this capital punishment?
Because it says in verse 20,
the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
It's the chief priests and the elders who are riling up the crowd and creating civil unrest
and trying to force Pilate's hand to kill Jesus.
So it says in verse 24,
Pilate senses that a riot was beginning.
And he decides to turn a blind eye and to condone this unlawful lynching.
So the chief priests are the ones that are shouting.
They're the ones that are threatening a riot.
And yet they are in complete denial of their own wrongdoing.
And what they're doing to Jesus is no mistake.
It's no accidental manslaughter.
They took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
It's deliberate, thought through, premeditated murder.
And yet these murderers refuse to put Judas' 30 pieces of silver into the temple treasury
because they say it's not lawful since it is blood money.
You catch the irony of that?
It's like imagine someone, a hit-and-run driver,
just ran somebody over, killed somebody,
and then he just keeps driving.
And then later that same day, he parks his car,
and the meter on his car expired,
and he acts like he's having a crisis of conscience.
Oh, no, that's not lawful.
I must put money in the meter.
You just killed a man.
You ran over somebody.
And that's what you're concerned about.
It shows the rampant hypocrisy of these Jewish leaders.
They're in denial.
They shed innocent blood,
and yet what they're concerned about is putting blood money into the treasury.
They're grave, guilty sinners,
but their self-righteousness and pride lead them to denial,
blindness to their own sins.
If you're here this morning or this evening,
sorry, I'm so used to saying morning when I preach,
and you don't think of yourself as a sinner,
if your default mode of thinking is,
well, I'm a pretty good person,
certainly as good as any of the normal people around me,
certainly better than that lot of people over there,
then you might fit into this category.
This old way of thinking can still affect Christians to varying degrees,
and a telltale sign of this delusion is the quickness with which we notice
and point fingers at others' sins and perceived sins,
and the slowness with which we notice and confess our own sins.
The chief priests and the elders took counsel to get rid of Jesus,
whom they falsely accused of blasphemy,
and yet they were blind to their own envious, hypocritical, and murderous hearts.
With the blood money, the chief priests and the elders
buy the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.
In Acts 1.18, Luke records that it's Judas Iscariot himself who buys this field,
and that discrepancy is probably due to the fact that,
well, even though the chief priests and the elders buy the field,
they're using Judas' money,
and so they function, serve as his executor, using his money.
The potter's field refers to the meeting place,
the valley where the Kidron Valley and the Hinnom Valley meet,
and it's called the potter's field because potters, actual potters,
tossed their ruined and broken potsherds there.
And Jews, of course, didn't want to be buried in a garbage heap,
and so the potter's field became the place to dispose of unwanted bodies,
the burial place for people who didn't have means to find another place to be buried.
During a major feast like the Passover,
there will be tens of thousands of pilgrims in Jerusalem,
and sometimes during the long feast, some people will die.
There will be accidents, some people pass away,
and they would have no family around, no relatives around that can bury them,
and so they decided to use the blood money to buy the potter's field
so that they can dispose of those bodies.
Even with the price they paid for Jesus' life,
Jesus provides a resting place for strangers and aliens.
And all of this, even the purchase of the field,
happens in accordance with the Scriptures.
Matthew's quotation in verses 9 to 10,
he quotes, he mentions Jeremiah,
but it's actually a splicing together of two different prophecies.
First is Zechariah 11, 12 to 13,
which spoke of a messianic shepherd who would be betrayed by his own people
and sold for 30 pieces of silver.
And then in Jeremiah 19,
the prophet acts out a prophetic parable, Jeremiah.
Standing at the Hinnom Valley,
at the very field of blood that these sheep priests later purchase,
he denounces the people's sins.
And one of the sins that he specifically points out
is that they shed innocent blood,
exactly like this situation here with Jesus.
And having pointed out their sins,
prophet Jeremiah shatters an earthen pottery vessel
and then says that God will shatter you for your sins
because of your unrepentance and your idolatry and your sins,
in particular the sin of shedding innocent blood.
By selling Jesus the Messiah, the shepherd king,
for 30 pieces of silver
and then for shedding his innocent blood,
the Jewish nation,
Israel at the time, God's own people,
will be shattered.
Their temple will be destroyed.
Their capital, Jerusalem, will be sacked.
And this will happen within the few decades of Jesus' death.
To avoid God's righteous judgment,
sinners must come out of denial.
They must acknowledge their sins,
repent, turn from their sins,
and trust in Jesus as their shepherd king.
If we can describe the chief priest's response as denial,
and then we can characterize then
Pilate's response to his blood guilt as deflection.
Pilate, the Roman governor,
can see through the flimsy pretense of the chief priests and the elders.
He knew, it says in verse 18,
that it was out of envy that they had delivered Jesus up.
They're not seeking righteousness or justice.
They're merely trying to stamp out a rival
so they could shore up their own position and power.
Not only that, it says in verse 19,
that while Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat,
his wife sent word to him,
saying,
Have nothing to do with that righteous man,
for I've suffered much because of him today in a dream.
God has sent to Pilate's wife
a prophetic dream to reveal to her
that Jesus is indeed a righteous man
and that her husband should have nothing to do
with his innocent blood.
So by his own political judgment
and by the prophetic insight of his wife,
Pilate knows that Jesus does not deserve this punishment.
Knowing this,
Pilate brings out Barabbas on the one hand
and Jesus on the other
as candidates for the customary governor's pardon or amnesty,
which they apparently practiced during Passover.
One person,
the Jews can ask for one person,
a prisoner under Roman custody,
to be released,
to be pardoned.
But the crowd has already been prejudiced
against Jesus by the chief priests
and to ask for Barabbas.
Prior to this point,
if you remember,
as we've gone through the Gospel of Mark,
the crowds have been very favorable toward Jesus.
They have acclaimed Jesus.
They have followed him
and they have witnessed his debates
with the Pharisees and the Sadducees
and how he's won those debates.
They've acclaimed him.
And yet,
because the chief priests and the elders
have been busy at work persuading them,
now they are out to destroy Jesus.
Now that their highest Jewish authorities
have denounced Jesus
and have officially condemned Jesus,
now they think of him
as a dangerous,
heretic,
blasphemer,
and carried along by the fever
of this frenzy crowd
that people demand violently,
let him be crucified.
Let him be crucified.
And once again,
Pilate tries to restrain them.
What evil has he done?
Why?
In verse 23.
But even though he knows
Jesus is innocent,
he's a shrewd politician.
He doesn't want a riot to begin.
So in verse 24,
he took water
and washed his hand
before the cross saying,
I'm innocent of this man's blood.
See to it yourselves.
This is a cop-out, of course.
It's an evasive maneuver,
a deflection.
He's deflecting his responsibility
and shifting blame to others.
Pilate, you are the Roman governor.
You're the one that's seated
on the judgment seat.
You're the one that has the authority
to mete out capital punishment.
And ancient historians
Josephus and Philo
note that on other occasions
that's recorded in history,
Pilate didn't have much concern
about offending Jewish sensibilities
and causing riots.
This whole Jewish affair, however,
was not significant enough
for that kind of risk.
According to Pilate,
his flawed judgment.
So he gets out of the way
and literally washes his hands
before the crowd
as a symbolic gesture
claiming that
I'm innocent of this matter.
I have nothing to do with this.
But in shedding the innocent blood of Jesus,
Pilate is certainly not innocent.
Can water wash away blood guilt?
What are some ways
that you try to deflect away your guilt?
Maybe you engage in some kind of
blame shifting,
as Pilate does here.
I wouldn't be such an angry
and furious person
if my husband weren't so infuriating.
I wouldn't have to engage
in this dishonest business practice
if it weren't for my unethical boss.
I wouldn't be so selfish
and stingy
if people didn't take advantage
of me all the time.
I wouldn't be so lustful
if these women
dressed more modestly.
Maybe they are infuriating,
unethical, demanding,
and immodest,
and they need to address those things,
but for you.
Nonetheless,
these are merely
the context of your sin.
They're not the causes of your sin.
The cause of sin,
the root of sin,
is always the sinful desires
of your own heart.
As Jesus made that abundantly clear
in Matthew 15, 19,
for out of the heart come
evil thoughts,
murder, adultery,
sexual immorality,
theft, false witness, slander.
It doesn't come from other people.
Pilate's compromised integrity,
his fear of man,
his self-serving cowardice
all flow out of his own sinful heart,
and no amount of water
can wash away that blood guilt.
What are the ineffectual waters
that you turn to
in vain attempts
to wash away your guilt?
Maybe you do some yoga
and exercise
and then try to forget about it.
Think positive thoughts.
Maybe you think
doing some good deeds
can wash away your guilt.
You donate money to charity
or give money even to church.
You think that your positive actions
can balance out past mistakes
and create good energy
for the future.
Maybe you turn to idols,
to false religions.
Every other religion
besides Christianity
will tell you
that you can perform good deeds
and somehow offset
or outweigh your evil deeds.
But that's a false promise.
It's like water
that can never wash away
the blood stain.
Your guilt remains.
Deflection does not work.
Both denial and deflection
are wrong ways
to try to deal with guilt.
And the third wrong way
we see here is despair.
When we see
in Judas' response,
he says in verses 3-4
that Judas saw
what was happening.
He saw that the Jewish council
had condemned Jesus
of blasphemy
and that they
had delivered him
to Pilate
and that they're going
for the jugular.
They're going for the kill.
They're not going to settle
for any less punishment.
At this point,
he says that Judas,
seeing that,
changed his mind
and brought back
the 30 pieces of silver
to the chief priest
and the elders saying,
I've sinned
by betraying innocent blood.
But the chief priest
and the elders respond
callously,
what is that to us?
See to it yourself.
Judas is so stricken
by guilt
and overwhelmed
in his conscience
that there's nothing
he can do
to reverse
the wrong he has done.
He simply throws down
the piece of silver
in the temple
and then he goes away
and then hangs himself.
Luke records
in Acts 1.18
that he died
by falling headlong,
that he fell headlong
and then he burst open
in the middle
and all his bowels
gushed out
and some people note
the discrepancy
in the description.
It appears that Judas
first hanged himself
but eventually
the branch
or whatever he hanged himself on
broke from the weight
of his body
and then his decomposing body
fell and he broke
and his bowels
gushed out.
It's a gruesome death.
And it fulfills
Jesus' prophecy
in Matthew 26.24
The Son of Man goes
as it is written of him
but woe to that man,
Judas,
by whom the Son of Man
is betrayed.
It would have been better
for that man
if he had not been born.
Are you familiar
with this foreboding
and overwhelming
sense of despair
that Judas
surely experienced?
My life is over.
I've gone too far.
No one will forgive me.
But this raises
an important question.
It says that Judas
changed his mind
about what he had done
with Jesus.
Isn't that what
repentance is?
Interestingly,
even though the basic meaning
of repentance
is a change
of one's mind,
the Greek word
that's used
for Judas'
change of mind
here is not
the same word
that's translated
as repentance
in the rest
of the New Testament.
It's not the same word
that Jesus used
earlier in Matthew 4.17
when he preached,
repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
And this is intentional.
2 Corinthians 7.10-11
distinguishes
between godly grief
and worldly grief.
Godly grief
produces change.
It produces a repentance,
a turning of
the reorientation
that leads to salvation
without regret.
Repentance entails
a turning from sin
and turning toward God
from idols
to serve the living God.
It's a change
in belief
that changes,
that leads to a change
in behavior.
For the sake of simplicity,
we might say
that Judas
regretted his betrayal
but he did not
repent of it.
Regret is sorry
for the consequences
of one's wrongdoing.
Repentance is sorry
for the wrongdoing itself.
Regret is sorry
for getting caught
in the act.
Repentance is sorry
for the act itself.
Judas sees
the situation
spiraling out of control
after his betrayal.
He knows
that his life
will never quite
be the same again,
that he will never
overcome his guilt.
He feels sorry
for the consequences.
Regret
merely dreads
the punishment.
Repentance
dreads the sin.
Regret
is self-focused,
focused on one's
own pain
or guilt.
Repentance
is other-focused.
focused on the pain
that one has caused
first and foremost
to God
and to others
affected by your sin.
You can see
the self-focus
in Judas' response.
Judas goes back
to the chief priests
so that he can
return the money
and dust off his hands
and then be off.
He never goes back
to Jesus
whom he sinned against.
He never goes back
to Jesus
to confess his sins.
Regret
is without faith.
Repentance
is always
accompanied by faith.
Regret
comes to
the edge
of a cliff
and sees nothing
but the great
chasm of despair
that you cannot cross
and then
fall right into it.
But
repentance
on the precipice
of that great chasm
sees by faith
that Jesus Christ
provides
the bridge
by which we can
cross that chasm
between us
and God.
are you familiar
with the depths
of despair?
Have you come
to the end
of yourself?
Do you feel
that your life
is over?
Do you feel
that forgiveness
a fresh start
is out of reach?
There is another
path than taking
your own life
which is a
self-serving act
of defiance
against God
who gave you
your life.
This haunting
scene
this passage
is full of blood.
The word is repeated
five times
word blood
in this passage alone
innocent blood
blood money
field of blood
it speaks of the guilt
that stains
guilt that cannot be
washed away.
The chief priests
and the elders
try to deny it
and that doesn't work.
Pilate tries to deflect it
and it doesn't work
and Judas falls
into despair
and of course
that doesn't work
either
and we are all
guilty of that same
charge.
Look at how the crowd
accepts responsibility
and culpability
for Jesus' death
in verse 25.
He says that
all the people
answered
his blood
be on us
and on our children.
Matthew doesn't
accept anyone
from this.
All the people
it's not just
a few rowdy
ruffians
but all the people
as Acts 2
36
says
all the house
of Israel
crucified Jesus
the whole
Jewish nation
is culpable
and not only
the Jews
either
Acts 2
23
says that
Jesus was
crucified and killed
by the hands
of lawless men
meaning
Gentiles
who are not
under the Jewish
law
Jews and Gentiles
are guilty
all are implicated
we are implicated
even now
here in the 21st century
why?
Because Isaiah 53
5 tells us
that Jesus was
pierced
for our
transgressions
he was crushed
for our
iniquities
upon him
was the
chastisement
that brought
us peace
and with his
wounds
we are
healed
the wrath
and the punishment
that we deserve
were unleashed
on him
and that means
if it weren't
for us
Jesus would not
have been
crucified
the pardon
that Barabbas
receives
and the
condemnation
that Jesus
receives
is a picture
of how
Jesus
serves
as a
substitute
of sinners
on the cross
Barabbas
was a
notorious
prisoner
in Mark
15
7
notes
that he
had
committed
murder
in the
insurrection
the name
Barabbas
means
son
of a
father
and
Jesus
of course
is a
son
of
God
the
father
certain
ancient
Greek
manuscripts
of
Matthew
27
17
actually
adds
that
Barabbas
name
was also
Jesus
which
intensifies
the contrast
the name
Jesus
means
God
saves
and
Pilate
asks
the crowd
whom
do you
want
me
to
release
to
you
Jesus
Barabbas
or
Jesus
who
is
called
Christ
it's
an
amazing
picture
of
substitutionary
atonement
man
by his
rebellion
and sin
inserted
himself
in the
place
of
God
he
tried
to
be
God
but
God
in
his
grace
and
mercy
inserts
himself
where
only
sinful
man
deserve
to
be
Jesus
took
on
human
flesh
upon
himself
and
then
he
died
on
the
cross
and
he
was
raised
from
the
dead
so
that
he
can
pay
for
our
sins
and
redeem
us
for
God
this
is
how
God
saves
and
this
is
why
Jesus
so
deliberately
and
resolutely
goes
toward
the
cross
look at
verses
11 to
14
with
me
Jesus
is
being
interrogated
by
Pilate
and
the
chief
priests
and
elders
are
hurling
all
kinds
of
accusations
and
insults
at
Jesus
but
it
says
Jesus
gave
no
answer
not
even
to
a
single
charge
Jesus
why
don't
you
say
something
defend
yourself
you're
innocent
you're
blameless
say
something
can
cannot
the one
who shut
down
the
Pharisees
and
describes
the
lawyers
the
Sadducees
in
debate
over
and
over
again
can
he
not
do
it
with
the
chief
priests
and
the
elders
of
course
he
can
of
course
the
word
incarnate
can
shut
up
the
haughty
mouths
of
men
and
leave
them
to be
silent
in
dust
and
ashes
of
course
he
can
of
course
the
blameless
lamb
of
God
can
establish
his
own
innocence
and
expose
!
the
wickedness
of
these
hypocrites
so
Jesus
say
something
why
are
you
silent
because
it
says
in
Isaiah
53
7
he
was
oppressed
and
he
was
afflicted
yet
he
opened
not
his
mouth
like
a
lamb
that
is
led
to
the
slaughter
and
like
a
sheep
that
before
it
shears
is
silent
so
he
opened
not
his
mouth
Jesus
does
not
open
his
mouth
because
he
knows
he
knows
he
is
a
lamb
led
to
the
slaughter
Jesus
has
accepted
his
destiny
at
the
garden
of
Gethsemane
Jesus
already
did
all
the
talking
he
needed
to
do
at
the
garden
of
Gethsemane
he
did
all
the
talking
with
the
only
person
who
has
the
authority
and
the
power
to
alter
his
fate
his
own
father
there's
no
more
talking
Pilate
can
do
there's
nothing
the
chief
priest
and
the
elders
can
do
Jesus
is
submitted
to
and
surrendered
to
the
sovereign
will
of
his
father
because
he
knows
he
is
the
lamb
of
God
who
takes
away
the
sin
of
the
world
and so
he
endures
silently
what
insult
to
injury
that
Jesus
whom
we
saw
in
chapter
25
is
the
Lord
who
will
sit
in
judgment
over
all
of
humanity
the
living
and
the
dead
that
he
now
stands
trial
while
Pilate
sits
on
a
judgment
seat
what
insult
to
injury
that
Jesus
compared
to
whom
all
the
treasures
of
the
world
can
be
counted
as
rubbish
is
priced
like
chattel
at
30
pieces
of
silver
but
Jesus
endures
all
these
indignities
he
suffers
and
dies
so
that
he
might
ransom
us
for
himself
not
with
perishable
things
such as
silver
and
gold
but
with
his
own
precious
blood
like
that
of
a
lamb
without
blemish
or spot
because
he
knows
that
only
his
blood
can
wash
us
of
our
blood
guilt
I've
shared
this
story
with
some
of
you
before
four
years
ago
in
the
book
The
Insanity
of
God
author
Nick
Ripken
recounts
his
travels
to
various
parts
of the
world
where
Christians
are
persecuted
for
their
faith
he
interviews
them
and
one
chapter
he
entitles
the
toughest
man
I
ever
met
this
man
was
in
such
an
intensely
persecuted
part
of
the
world
that
he
agreed
to
meet
Ripken
under
strict
conditions
in a
secure
non-public
setting
where he
would not
even be
able to
see
his
face
and
or
attempt
to
learn
his
name
and
he
would
remain
in
the
corner
in
the
shadows
and
talk
to
him
the
whole
time
during
the
interview
he
told
Ripken
of
his
testimony
of
how
prior
to
coming
to
know
Christ
he
was
a
zealous
Muslim
and
he
made
it a
sport
to
hunt
down
infidels
Muslims
who
apostatize
and
he
would
most
of the
time
he
would
kill
them
and
he
used
to
keep
count
of
how
many
infidels
he
killed
and
he
stopped
counting
he
stopped
tracking
after
a
hundred
and
often
he
would
slit
their
throat
and
let
the
blood
wash
and
drip
over
his
hands
as
an
offering
to
Allah
after
some
time
however
he
began
to
have
a
recurring
dream
a
disturbing
dream
over
and
over
again
of
spots
of
blood
on
his
hands
and
over
time
that
dream
the
blood
spots
grew
larger
and
larger
until
eventually
the
blood
was
running
down
and
dripping
off
his
arms
and
the
man
knew
that
the
blood
on
his
hands
were
the
blood
of
the
people
that
he
had
killed
the
recurring
dream
was
bothersome
enough
but
then
he
started
to
see
blood
on
his
hands
and
arms
while
he
was
awake
and
then
he
really
began
to
suspect
that
he
was
going
insane
but
then
no
matter
how
hard
he
tried
to
scrub
it
off
he
would
use
pumice
this
volcanic
rock
that's
rough
on
the
surface
that can
be
used
as an
abrasive
to
scrub
things
he
would
scrub
himself
and
get
layers
of
skin
off
and
the
blood
will
still
be
there
he
would
keep
having
these
dreams
but
eventually
the
dreams
changed
and
there
was
an
additional
!
scene
at
the
end
where
a
man
in
white
clothing
appeared
who
had
a
scarred
head
he
also
had
scarred
hands
a
scarred
side
and
scarred
feet
and
the
scarred
man
said
to
him
I
am
Jesus
the
Messiah
and
I
can
get
the
blood
off
if
you
will
just
find
me
and
believe
in
me
so
the
man
began
searching
it
took
him
over
a
year
to
find
a
copy
of
a
Bible
and
then
it
took
him
even
longer
to
finally
understand
what
is
said
occasionally
he
would
run
into
people
who
explain
pieces
and
answer
some
of
his
questions
and
finally
he
came
to
faith
in
Jesus
Christ
and
the
man
said
that
when
he
gave
his
life
over
to
Jesus
in
his
own
words
I
got
the
blood
off
Jesus
took
that
blood
onto
himself
his
nightmare
stopped
immediately
and he
became
the
infidel
himself
that he
used to
make
a sport
of
killing
by
putting
his
faith
in
Jesus
and
becoming
a
bold
witness
for
him
have
you
put
your
faith
in
this
blood
this
blood
that
alone
can
wash
away
your
sins
let me
conclude
with
this
classic
hymn
which
said
would
you
be
free
would
you
be
free
from
the
burden
of
sin
there's
power
in
the
blood
there's
power
in
the
blood
would
you
over
evil
a
victory
win
there's
wonderful
power
in
the
blood
let's
pray
father
thank you
for
making
a way
for the
cleansing
of our
guilt
of all
our
stains
thank you
that
Jesus
blood
is
more
powerful
than
any
of
our
sins
the
sins
that
we
dare
not
name
sins
from
long
ago
that
we
that
no
one
knows
about
sins
that
we
haven't
confessed
there's
nothing
hidden
from
you
and
there's
nothing
that
the
blood
of sins
cannot
wash
the
blood
of
your
son
Jesus
Christ
can
wash
away
Lord
we
praise
you
for
that
we
thank
you
for
that
help
us
to
live
in
light
of
that
every
single
day
help
us
to
put
our
trust
in
Jesus
alone
in
Jesus
name
we
pray
amen