Father, we acknowledge before you that this Bible text that we have just read
has been used by sinful men and women to unleash dark forces from within to hurt many people.
And we acknowledge before you, Father, that we are reading a story of spiritual leaders
who read and studied your word, yet got it completely and utterly wrong.
Lord, we ask that you would have mercy upon us, that the Holy Spirit would move with might and power
and deep conviction, that we might search your scriptures and that we might humbly and hungrily
understand them in the way that you intended. And so live gripped by the gospel and living for your
glory. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your son and our savior. Amen. Please be seated.
It sounded like my... I'm broadcasting all right? Okay, perfect. So, you know, as we all know,
the behavior of Christians can make the gospel look ugly. And the behavior of Christians can make
Christianity look unbelievably unattractive. And the text that we are going to be looking at today
is on one hand a very powerful text about... that touches a common human problem. And the common human
problem is that no human being lives without tragedy and brokenness in their lives. And it's a common
human desire that in the midst of tragedy, in the midst of evil, in the midst of terrible things that
happen, that there could be some type of amending of that which has been broken. And this Bible text,
on one hand, is a very, very powerful text that speaks into this. Yet at the same time, this very
powerful and wonderful text that speaks into the problem of how we human beings address tragedy and
brokenness and how the gospel speaks to it, is also a text that has been one of the main texts used to
justify violence against Jewish people and the murder of Jewish people for centuries upon centuries.
It is a text which has been used to justify horrendous evil and has also been used to justify horrendous
abuse of power by politicians, by kings, and by those in positions of authority. It's very,
very interesting that the same text which has been used to perpetrate horrors is also actually a text
which describes a profound horror which is absolutely essential for the mending of the world and the
mending of creation and the mending of relationships. And so let's look at it together. John chapter 19,
beginning at the first verse. John chapter 19, beginning at the first verse. And just before we start to read it,
as you turn to it in your Bible, what we're reading is we're reading one of the four ancient biographies,
eyewitness biographies of Jesus. There's only four ancient eyewitness biographies of Jesus. This is one
of them. And the way that John, the author of this biography, has chosen to write it, he spent some time
sort of introducing who Jesus was, described his miracles, and then out of all the writers, he spends the
longest amount of time on what Jesus said to his disciples privately in an upper room after Judas
had left the disciples and left Jesus to get the soldiers and capture Jesus. And that's already
happened. John then describes in sort of a summary a very key meeting between the spiritual leaders of
the land and Jesus. And then last week, we looked at the beginning of how Rome, the imperial power, the emperor,
that great pagan empire, how that empire begins to deal with Jesus. And actually, it's not going to be up on the
screen. You'll just have to have it in your Bibles. If you just look at 18, chapter 18, verse 38, there's a phrase
there which is very, very, very important to set to help us to understand what's going to be happening
in this chapter, which is the ongoing attempt by Pilate to deal with Jesus and with the spiritual
leaders. And Jesus has said that he's come to bear witness to the truth. And Pilate famously in chapter 18,
verse 38 said, Pilate said to him, what is truth? What is truth? And it's very, very interesting.
This is the power of story, is that when we are gripped by the story, it helps us at a sort of a
very emotional and imaginative level to enter into truths that we might have a hard time articulating
in words. But Pilate says to Jesus, what is truth? Sounds just like a university professor, sounds like
most people you would meet in a Starbucks or a Tim Hortons for that matter, most newspaper writers,
what is truth? And then Pilate doesn't wait for an answer. If you look what happens next, and after
he had said this, he went back outside to the spiritual leaders and told them, I find no guilt in
him. So Pilate knows that Jesus is completely and utterly innocent of any Roman law. He hasn't violated
any Roman law. But then, and here's the terrible, heartless cynicism of Pilate, verse 39,
but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to
release to you the king of the Jews? And they cried out again and again, not this man, but Barabbas.
Now, Barabbas was a robber. And we know in other places that he was an insurrectionist and a murderer.
And we didn't look at this very much last week, but what happens here, it's a very, very powerful
thing to understand is that if truth does not exist, then justice does not exist.
Right? Because that's what happens here. I used the example last week to try to bring it home. It's as
if the soldiers came in and said, let's just grab Anne, you know, innocent.
I'm sure she has a tongue on her, but basically harmless. And what the heck? We'll just compare
Anne to a murder and see who the crowd wants me to kill. Like, that's what Pilate just does.
That's what he's doing right here. A person that he knows is completely innocent, but he then says,
oh, I'll just throw it out, see a bit of a lottery as to who the crowd's going to pick. It's
unbelievably cynical. And so what the story is helping us to imaginatively understand
is that if truth does not exist, then justice does not exist. And all that is left is a desire for power,
whether it's by the individual, the party, the tribe, or the nation. Long before Nietzsche,
the Bible nails it. Long before Nietzsche, long before postmodernism, and both of those get all
sorts of other things wrong in a very profound way, the Bible nails it. As we lose the belief
that truth exists, we will lose the belief that justice exists. And when truth is gone and justice
is gone, all that is left is the clenched fist. Whether it's my clenched fist, the party's clenched
fist, the tribe's clenched fist, or the nation's clenched fist, that's all that's left.
It's all that's left. And what also happens is that when we lose the belief in truth and lose
the belief in justice, we start to live a very, very unbalanced and incomprehensible life.
We start to not be able to understand ourselves, our own actions. And that's what's going to explain
what's going to happen right now with Pilate. Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent. He's given
up on truth. He's created this opportunity where the crowd can pick Barabbas, or they can pick
Jesus. What's going to happen? Verse 1 of chapter 19, then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.
He flogged him. He whipped him. He whipped him. He whipped him. They would have taken the clothes
off his back and whipped him and whipped him and whipped him. And Jesus would have stood there
bloodied and battered inside the praetorium. And verse 2, and the soldiers twisted together,
that's the Roman soldiers, twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and arrayed
him in a purple robe, a purple robe. It would have just been some old piece of rag that they had
kicking around the guardhouse. And purple is the color of royalty. And the crown of thorns would
look like the type of crown that a Roman emperor would wear. And they came up to him saying,
Hail, King of the Jews! Which is actually mocking, because the normal cry of the Roman soldier would
be, Hail, Caesar! And hail means live long and prosper, basically. Is that the Vulcan war cry?
Whatever. It's one of those Star Trek things. Live long and prosper. King of the Jews that we've just
whipped and put a filthy robe on and a crown of thorns on your head. Head wounds bleed.
And not only that, they continue on, and they struck him with their hands. In the original language,
they struck him again and again and again. Pilate went out again and said to them, oh, sorry,
just pause here. Oh, yeah, keep going. So Pilate has done this. So he has an innocent man. He has him
whipped. He doesn't necessarily know that the soldiers are going to mock him, but it wouldn't surprise him
either. He would know his troops. And he would know how they deal with the conquered people,
and they would deal with somebody that, from the eyes of the troops, if the spiritual leaders have
picked Jesus over a guy who's a terrorist and a robber, then obviously Jesus is a bad guy,
and they treat him appropriately. In verse 4, Pilate went out again and said to them, and that is the
spiritual leaders, see, I am bringing out to you, bringing him, that's Jesus, out to you, that you
may know that I find no guilt in him. What probably is happening here is that Pilate is probably hoping
that the severe flogging of Jesus and this complete and utter humiliation would quench their lust for death.
Verse 5, so Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them,
behold the man, the man. And when the chief, the chief priests and the officers saw him, that is the
spiritual leaders, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves
and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. And just sort of pause there for a second. If you go
back and you'll see that within a very few number of verses, because chapter 18 only has 40 verses,
and it's in verse 38 that Pilate declares that Jesus is innocent. In verse 4, he declares that Jesus
is innocent. And in verse 6, three times, Pilate declares that Jesus is innocent. Three times.
Pilate declares that Jesus is innocent. And yet the response of the spiritual leaders is to demand
the crucifixion of Jesus. The Romans, during that first part of the first century, crucified literally,
according to non-Christian historians, according to Jewish historians, crucified literally thousands
upon thousands of Jewish people. Crucifying another Jew is no big thing for Pilate.
Because he's crucified lots. And he will crucify lots after this. And he has the power to let
Jesus go. The spiritual leaders demand that Jesus will be crucified. Literally, when Pilate says,
behold, the man, it's actually sort of a famous phrase. And he probably just means, look at this
pitiable guy that I've just beaten up. Like, he's no threat to me, he's no threat to you. I've just beat
him up terribly. I've just flogged him. Like, he's like a gnat that I can just flick off. Like, what threat
is he? But in John's language, Jesus is more than just a miserable man. He is the man. As we will see
in a moment, he is the one who can die for all human beings and represent all human beings. Pilate speaks in a
sense in a prophetic way that he's not aware of when he makes that statement. And the other thing which is
so interesting about this is that Pilate and the spiritual leaders are working hand in hand, one's weakness
and the other's desire for his death. They're working hand in hand inadvertently to fulfill a prophecy of
Jesus. It's a great irony. These human beings with all their power, if Pilate had said, listen, I'm just
going to give you permission this one time not to crucify him, but just to deal with him your own way.
I'll turn a blind eye. You go and deal with him yourself according to your law, and I'll make sure the
troops are all somewhere else. Then Jesus would have died by stoning, because that's the way that the
Jewish people carried out capital punishment. But Jesus had prophesied that he would die by
crucifixion. And it's very, very interesting. It's the enemies. If Jesus doesn't do anything to
fulfill his own prophecy, it is his enemies that act unwittingly to fulfill the prophecy that Jesus has made.
Amen.
And then there's this very, very puzzling thing. The Jewish people, the spiritual leaders actually
here make a tactical error that almost means that Jesus is going to be let go. And look at what
happens in verse 7. The spiritual leaders answered Pilate, we have a law. And according to that law,
Jesus ought to die because he has made himself son of God. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even
more afraid. He entered his praetorium again and said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him
no answer. This is a very interesting clash of worldviews. Remember, what you have to remember when you're
reading this is that all the smart people in the world agreed with Pilate. The Jewish people in that
ancient world, they weren't smart people. They were the dumb people. They didn't believe that there were
lots of gods, which every smart person, the old, the first century equivalent of the Globe and Mail,
the National Post, the CBC, the University of Ottawa, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge.
They would have all agreed with Pilate because that's what all the smart people just knew was true.
To disagree with it, they'd go like, duh. So Pilate's operating from his point of view. And from his point of view,
the spiritual leaders have just said, this guy claims to be son of God. And from Pilate's point of view,
he understands his mythology. And in his mythology, the gods sometimes have sex
with human women. And a demigod, the son of a god, walks the earth. Or a god, or goddess himself or
herself would walk the earth. And the spiritual leaders have just said that this guy claims to be God.
God. And Pilate's already trying to puzzle over why they're so incensed upon killing him. And Pilate
now, all of a sudden, is a good pagan, knowing what all the smart people know. By the way, you know,
I'm saying that on purpose because we can be, I can be so overawed by what all the smart people know.
And it's so easy to forget that in 20 years, people will mock what all the smart people know today.
Not even 20 years. All the smart people will think something different.
So that's one of the reasons why, as an aside, the Bible is not a conservative book. The Bible is
perpetually radical and revolutionary. It keeps pointing us to a truth that comes outside of the
flow of history that's always true. Anyway, so Pilate now is terrified. Have I beaten the son
of a god?
Now, it's in this question and answer period that we come to the very part of the story that has justified
anti-Semitism and the murder of, to be honest, by those claiming to be Christian literally throughout
history, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Jewish people.
Look what happens here in verse 10.
So we'll go back to verse 9 again.
Pilate entered his praetorium again and said to Jesus,
where are you from?
That's a smart question to ask if you think, like, are you, he's trying to figure out where,
like, which god, like, how, like, where are you from?
It's a pagan question.
But Jesus gave him no answer. Jesus is silent.
So verse 10, so Pilate said to him, just remember here, Pilate has crucified many people.
He has had many people beaten, many people whipped.
Pilate, he would be very, very used to a person crying and soiling themselves and making all
sorts of promises if Pilate would just relent and let him go.
He has had many beaten men and women before him.
And Jesus is silent.
So Pilate, in verse 10, is exasperated.
He says, you will not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.
Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
And just to be clear, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.
When in John chapter 3, if you go back and you look, you must be born again.
You have to be born from above.
Jesus is referring to the fact that the authority that Pilate has has come from God.
Hence, this becomes an important text for those who believe that the Bible and that Jesus and Christianity justifies the power of tyrants.
And then the next bit.
Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
And at a linguistic level, he's referring to the Jewish people.
He's referring to the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people.
Jesus has just said the ones guilty of the greatest sin.
The first thing that he who did is to be born again.
And you can see how this is fueled.
Murderous hatred of the Jewish people at different times throughout Christian history.
So we just have to pause to think about this text a little bit before we get to the real heart of it in terms of our hearts.
But once we're aware of this, we can't just ignore it.
The first thing about this text actually is that it has a very deep irony about it.
Pilate is claiming that he has all this power.
Yet the fact of the matter is in this story, he doesn't have power, does he?
Jesus, just by saying nothing, has completely and utterly flummoxed all of Pilate's power.
And Pilate's being pushed around by the crowd.
Being pushed around by the crowd.
Pilate can go like this and the Roman soldiers could scatter those people.
And Pilate can do whatever he darn well feels like and yet he doesn't.
In fact, everything about this story.
Remember I said that when you lose the sense of truth, you lose the sense of justice.
And all that's left is this.
But this is profoundly unstable.
And what ends up happening is that you have no principle, no way of knowing true north.
No way of knowing where to go and your life becomes chaotic and driven hither and yon.
And that's actually exactly what you see happening to Pilate.
Let's deal with the power first.
One of the things which people misunderstand about the text is that what Jesus is not saying,
what Jesus is saying is this, God never relinquishes sovereignty over human beings.
Okay, this is not, once again, a political comment.
It might very well be.
I don't know who's going to be in power.
I'd say the exact same thing now as I would if I was in PEI and it was a green government,
or if I was in BC and it was an NDP government,
or if I was in the future when eventually the conservatives win,
and then the liberals will win after that.
But the fact of the matter is, is what Jesus is not saying,
Justin, I give you a blank page.
I give you a blank page.
Write whatever you want on it.
Do whatever you want.
And by the way, I'm going to give you a blank check.
You just fill out the amount.
I'll give you all the resources.
You can just do whatever you want.
That's not what's happening.
If you understand that the Lord has never relinquished sovereignty over the earth,
when Jesus says that people have authority because it's been given to them,
the military understand instantly what this means.
They've been given a commission.
Authority has been given a commission by God.
And therefore, God can judge them for whether or not they fulfill their commission.
And it's very clear from the commission, as you look throughout the whole of scripture,
that at the heart of the commission is the preserving of life.
At the heart of the commission is seeking the flourishing of the people.
At the heart of the commission is a developing and deepening of the basic institutions of the society,
like the family, that the concern for truth and justice is the very heart of that commission.
And so what Jesus is actually saying is he is calling Pilate to repentance.
You have been given not a blank sheet and a blank check, carte blanche and a blank check.
You have been given a commission.
You will stand accountable.
The sermon series that we're going to do after this is we're going to do Jonah
and then we're going to do Nahum.
And the importance of both of those books is it shows God's concern for pagan nations
and that God holds all human beings accountable and responsible,
even empires that would not acknowledge the Lord is Lord at all.
What about the anti-Semitism?
Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.
You know, it's very tempting for me to want to be able to...
There's two temptations, right, if we're honest.
And one of them is a very, very modern Canadian thing.
I could apologize right now for all the bad things previous people have done.
You know what?
That is so cynical and arrogant and self-congratulatory
for me to go ahead and say,
Oh, yeah, I feel bad about what Irish people did like 150 years ago.
And it's actually to me, and I think to the gospel, it's sickening.
Very easy for me to confess my dad's sins.
Very hard for me to confess my own.
And so I could just say, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know,
Christians have done all these things.
I apologize to my Jewish friends.
But that's not the way to go.
The other thing that I could do is just say that they're so-called Christians.
But that would be wrong, too.
I'm sure some of the people who've permitted,
perpetrated those horrors will be in heaven with you and me.
What we just have to acknowledge is that one of the easiest,
one of the hardest things for Christians is to not have the gospel
and not have the Bible become just a religion,
that we use the Bible to justify our fears, our insecurities,
our paranoia, and our hatred,
that we study the Bible not to understand the Bible
and to be converted and humbled by it,
but we use the Bible in a means to justify ourselves.
And this is yet another example,
not of how bad the Jews are,
but it is yet another aspect of God's profound critique of all religion.
Because who are the Jews?
One of the things which is so interesting is the Bible doesn't say,
if you go back and read the Old Testament,
the Bible doesn't say,
I've chosen the worst people in the world to be my people.
No, the Bible says that God chose the least people,
a small, insignificant group of people.
Why?
Because in all things,
it's always to display the glory of God,
not human glory.
It would be very easy if you chose the Roman Empire
with its might and everything,
but God chooses the weak of the world to shame the wise,
the despised to shame those who are powerful,
and God chooses the least of the people.
And the importance of this text
is that what the Jewish people had
was the best religion in the world.
All the smart people thought that the pagans
had the best religion in the world.
But we read the Bible
and know that God himself spoke to the Jewish people,
and the Jewish people end up turning
God's declaration of freedom from slavery
as command to be a blessing to the nations,
that what they did is they turned God's word
into a religion in the same way that it is possible,
and we have seen it too often,
and it sometimes speaks too deeply into our own heart
to take the New Testament
and turn it not from a proclamation of news
of what God has done for us
to make us right with him
in the person of his son,
but become a book by which we can feel better than others
and superior than others
and look down our nose on others
and justify ourselves.
And what is happening
is that the best of religion
falls short.
The best of religion
falls short.
And the New Testament goes beyond that
because it's very clear in the New Testament.
This is why all anti-Semitism is wrong.
The New Testament is very clear.
There are covenant promises made to Israel
that have not yet been kept by God,
but they will be kept by God.
God is not finished with the Jewish people.
Jesus is Jewish.
John, the writer of the biography,
is Jewish.
And if you read the book of Acts,
one of the things you see several times within there
is how many priests become Christians
after the resurrection.
Because the New Testament message is not,
look at the Jews, aren't they terrible?
But the message is,
for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God.
The greatest empire,
the greatest religion,
they fall short of the glory of God.
For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.
It's the memory verse for the week.
Let's bring this particular part of the story to a close.
Let's see what happens next.
After Jesus pronounces these things to Pilate,
verse 12,
from then on,
Pilate sought to release Jesus,
but the spiritual leaders cried out,
if you release this man,
you are not Caesar's friend.
Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.
So when Pilate heard these words,
he brought Jesus out
and sat down on the judgment seat
at a place called the Stone Pavement
and in Aramaic,
which is the common language of the time,
Gabbatha.
Just remember,
Jesus spoke at least three languages
and maybe four.
He would have spoken Aramaic,
which was the language of the day.
We know that he spoke Hebrew
because he could read it.
He almost definitely spoke Greek
and he might have spoken Latin.
He was at least trilingual,
maybe spoke four languages.
And here we have this little insight
that in the,
what the locals called the spot.
And now this is a very significant part of the story
because now the judgment is about to come.
Pilate has been doing all sorts of things,
you know,
because that's just the way the rule worked.
At the end of the day,
you know,
there's laws,
but there's power
and often power trumps law.
It's been that way then,
can be that way today.
It's a common human problem,
but now there's the time for the judicial,
so to speak,
decision made by the one
who has authority in that area.
Verse 14,
that was the day of the preparation of the Passover.
And what that literally means,
the Passover is the time
that celebrates God's deliverance
of the Jewish people
from bondage of slavery in Egypt.
That's what the Passover is about.
It's celebrated for seven days.
And in that seventh day,
of course,
the very first day,
especially holy,
but another exceptionally holy day
is the Sabbath day
in the Passover week.
And what the text is saying
is that at the same time
that the spiritual leaders
have begun to take the spotless lamb
and kill the spotless lamb
as part of the special celebration
of God's deliverance
of the people
from bondage and slavery.
And they're remembering
as well
how God created the world
in six days.
And on the seventh day,
he rested.
And they're remembering
that the Sabbath day
is a holy day to the Lord,
a holy day to the Lord
in a holy week.
And the beginning
of the sacrifice
of that lamb
happens
at the middle
of the day.
And it is that time
that Pilate
is about
to make
his judgment
on Jesus.
And after the judgment
is made on Jesus,
Jesus will be immediately
taken out
to be crucified.
Verse 14,
it was the day
of preparation
of the Passover.
It was about
the sixth hour,
the middle of the day.
He said to the spiritual leaders,
Behold,
your king.
They cried out,
Away with him,
away with him,
crucify him.
Pilate said,
Shall I crucify your king?
And now the spiritual leaders
are guilty
of great blasphemy.
Because if there's one message
of the Old Testament
it's that the Lord is king.
He is their sovereign king.
And the spiritual leaders
answered,
We have no king
but Caesar.
And so Pilate
delivered Jesus
over to them
to be crucified.
One of the things
which
it's a very,
very powerful text
and one of the things
about this text
that touches
a very human problem,
a separate one
from the problem
of law and truth
and justice
is the fact that
in this life
we have disasters
and we have calamities.
We have terrible things
that are done
to human beings.
And the fact of the matter
is that in a country
like Canada
we don't really know
what to do
when terrible things
happen to human beings.
Book written on
why do bad things
happen to good people.
Sort of a wrong,
it's a good cry
of the heart
but a wrong way
to understand.
I was just sharing
with a fellow
the other day
how
that the Christians
don't divide the world
between good people
and bad people
because we understand
that the difference
between goodness
and badness
goes right down
the middle
of every human being.
It's not a Christian idea
to divide the world
into good and bad
but we are familiar
with the fact
that terrible,
terrible things happen.
And the fact of the matter
is
is that
sometimes
bad things happen
and they don't happen
just,
it's not just
a terrible day
but a terrible week,
a terrible month,
a terrible year,
a terrible decade
and then comes death.
And for parts
of our culture
we get fixated in that
and for most of the rest
of our culture
what we do
is we amuse ourselves
so that we don't think
about such things.
But at the same time
that we know
that there's terrible
things that happen
we have a sense,
every human being
has a sense
that there must be
some way to mend
that which is broken
to make sense
out of that
which is broken
to have meaning
out of that
which is broken
to have hope
in the face
of that which is broken.
And I would suggest
to you
that only the gospel
answers that human longing.
Only the gospel.
See,
the reason we read
this story
is that we know
well I'm going to tell you
another important part
of it in a second
but we know
that on Sunday
Jesus rises
from the dead.
We know
there will be
resurrection.
And the Bible
is not making
a case
that
the different
broken things
that have happened
in our lives
will be mended
on this side
of the grave
and it's not making
the case
that all we have
to do is just
endure terrible
terrible things
on this side
and it doesn't matter
because eventually
we'll die
and go to heaven
and it will make
all things right.
Although it does say that.
It says something more.
It says that,
you know,
part of the problem
for modern Canadians
is we might have
a vague hope
that we go somewhere
better when we die
but fundamentally
we know that we have
no real basis
to believe that
other than hope.
But Jesus shows
that death doesn't
have the final word
and by showing
that death doesn't
have a final word
he holds out
before us
the fact that
when we put
our faith
and trust
in Jesus
there isn't
just a self-declared
meaning that I make
in the face
of tragedy
which is completely
and utterly
dependent upon
my strength
but we see
that the very
creator of the universe
because Jesus
is introduced
as in the beginning
was the word
and the word
was with God
and the word
was with God
before all
through him
all things
were made
and without him
nothing was made
that was made
and we see here
the very creator
of the universe
dying the death
that we deserve
and rising
on the third day
the very same
God
who creates
all things
is the God
who in the form
of Jesus
fully God
and fully man
has died for us
and rises from the dead
and there is this sense
not just by my self-declaration
but by God himself
that there can be
meaning to our life
and purpose to our life
and a goal to our life
and a presence
and power
of the creator himself
in the midst
of our tragedy
and our turmoil
to bear up
under the tragedy
and to have a sense
that it will be well
with my soul
not because of the strength
of my willpower
which is very weak
but because of what Jesus
has done for me
on the cross
could you put up
the first point
Andrew
some of you will see
right away
that I'm referring
to Genesis chapter 50
they devised evil
against Jesus
but God intended it
for a good purpose
it's a very
if you go back
and read Genesis 50
it's a story
of how
the
Jewish people
originally come
into the
into the land
of Egypt
and we see
that Jesus
Joseph's 11 brothers
do terrible
horrible things
to Joseph
and
but Joseph
through God's
providence
if you read
the book
of Genesis
you see
that Joseph
ends up
becoming
the second
most powerful
person
in the empire
he ends up
being the means
by which
his family
his extended
family
is able
to survive
a famine
and when
Joseph's father
dies
the 11 brothers
are worried
that Joseph's
now going to
take vengeance
on them
and kill them
so they go
up to
Joseph
and they lie
and say
just before
our father
died
he privately
met with us
and he wanted
to make sure
you don't do
anything against
us
and Joseph
has this
very very
powerful phrase
Genesis chapter
50 verse 20
he says
you meant it
for evil
but God
meant it
for good
and that's
the commentary
and everything
that we've
seen here
Pilate
meant it
for evil
the soldiers
meant it
for evil
the spiritual
leaders
meant it
for evil
there's no
illusions
about that
but God
used it
for a very
good purpose
to bring life
if you could
put up the last
point
only two
Jesus
was declared
worthy of death
that you might
be made
worthy of life
it's this
great exchange
that we are
to receive
by faith
Pilate
was declared
Jesus
was declared
worthy of death
by the spiritual
leaders
he was declared
worthy of death
by the custodian
of what all
the smart
people knew
by the empire
and he was
declared
worthy of death
but he was
declared worthy
of death
that by his
death
when we receive
what he has
accomplished for us
by his death
and his resurrection
that you and I
might be made
worthy
of life
you see
Adam and Eve
sought to wear
a crown
of deity
so Jesus
wore a crown
of thorns
to deliver
the sons
of Adam
and the daughters
of Eve
from death
Adam and Eve
chose death
when they rebelled
against God
so Jesus
would die
so the sons
of Adam
and the daughters
of Eve
would live
Adam and Eve
were ashamed
to stand naked
before God
after they
had rebelled
against him
so Jesus
first wore
a robe
of shame
before he
himself
was naked
that by faith
in him
we would one
day be able
to stand
completely
and utterly
transparent
before the Lord
Jesus was
declared worthy
of death
that you might
be made
worthy of life
Jesus wore
a crown
of thorns
that you
the guilty
might wear
a crown
of glory
Jesus wore
a robe
of shame
that you
might be
clothed
with his
spotless
robe
of righteousness
Jesus stood
condemned
that you
might stand
innocent
Jesus bore
contempt
that you
might receive
praise and
glory at the
last day
Jesus was
delivered to
death
that you
might be
delivered
from death
Jesus was
declared guilty
that you
might be
declared
acquitted
Jesus was
ridiculed
that you
might taste
the love
of God
Jesus was
beaten
that by his
wounds you
might be
healed
Jesus was
disfigured
that by him
you might
be remade
Jesus was
despised
that you
might know
the Lord's
great affection
for you
Jesus was
rejected
that you
might be
accepted
as God's
child by
adoption
and grace
Jesus was
led to the
slaughter
that we
might be
led back
to God
Jesus was
deemed
insignificant
that you
might become
God's
precious
possession
Jesus was
punished for
what you
had done
that you
might live
before God
in his
presence
on the
basis
of what
Jesus
has done
for you
Jesus
was declared
worthy of
death
that you
might be
worthy
of life
I invite you
to stand
Jesus offers
a great
exchange
if you
have never
received that
there is no
better time
than now
to say
to Jesus
I did
not know
what you
have accomplished
for me
on the
cross
it did
not come
home
until my
heart
till now
Jesus
take me
and be
my savior
and my
lord
and never
let me
go
there is
no time
better than
now to
say that
prayer
to Jesus
and he
will hear
you and
receive you
and for
each of
us
it is a
holy time
to be
remembered
to remind
it once
again
of what
Jesus
has done
for us
and to
cry out
to him
that these
truths
would grip
our memory
our imagination
our longings
and our
yearnings
our mental
categories
our affections
bow our heads
in prayer
father
thank you
for Jesus
thank you
for what
he accomplished
for us
on the
cross
thank you
father
that the
only weapon
in his
kingdom
is the
truth
thank you
that all
that he
did
fulfilled
true
justice
with nothing
left over
and yet
in his
death
upon the
cross
your
mercy
and grace
triumph
over
judgment
so that
all that
put their
faith
and trust
in this
our
crucified
messiah
might know
your mercy
and grace
in this
life
and day
by day
with greater
depth
until we
see you
face to
face
bearing an
eternal weight
of glory
that is not
our own
but comes
from seeing
Jesus face
to face
and becoming
like him
all by your
grace
all for
your glory
father
grip us
with the
gospel
that we
might live
for your
glory
and all
God's
people
said
amen