The Wickedness of the Crucifixion, Part 2 A

And to show you how deeply committed they were to their lifestyle, here they are hanging on a cross in the hours of their own death and they're still firing insults to one who claims to be the Son of God. They're blasphemers of another sort who mock Jesus because they have a greater love for the things of the world than they do for the things of God. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Imagine you were there 2,000 years ago on that hillside watching the nails pierced Jesus' hands and feet, an onlooker to the crucifixion. What would your thoughts be? What would you make of all that Christ endured and the things he said? Well, obviously you can't go back to that pivotal moment, but John MacArthur will show you the responses of those who were in attendance and what these messages might reveal about you and how you should respond to the death of Christ. It's all part of his series titled The Murder of Jesus.

And with that, here is John now with today's message. Open your Bible with me to Matthew chapter 27. It portrays for us the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. By way of introduction, may I remind you that Jesus said in Matthew 16 4 that his generation was a wicked generation. He said the leaders of Israel in Luke 11 39 were full of wickedness. When they approached him in Matthew 22 18, he perceived their wickedness. And Paul, identifying unbelieving Christ rejectors in general, says that basically they are filled with all wickedness.

Romans 1 29. All of this is true because of what Jeremiah identified as the heart of man being desperately wicked. One thing is made abundantly clear throughout the pages of Holy Scripture and that is that man is wicked, that he is sinful, and given over to his own devices unrestrained will perpetrate crimes beyond imagination. Now the wickedness of man is no more clearly seen nor does it reach a higher apex than it does in the execution of Jesus Christ. The crucifixion of the Savior is the greatest expression of human evil in history.

The epitome of demonstration of the depth and comprehensiveness of the sinfulness of human nature. It seems to me that this is Matthew's particular concern. While John seems to want to describe the crucifixion from the standpoint of fulfilled scripture and God's viewpoint, Matthew says nothing about the fulfillment of scripture and seems to approach the crucifixion from the standpoint of the wickedness of men.

Yes, the crucifixion was the greatest act of love on the part of God and that seems to be John's focus and even more the emphasis of Mark and Luke, but it was also the greatest expression of human evil, which seems to be Matthew's particular interest under the direction of the Spirit as he writes. So as we go through the passage in Matthew that describes the crucifixion, we see just unrelenting evil. David Thomas wrote, For thousands of years wickedness had been growing. It had wrought deeds of impiety and crime that had rung the ages with agony and often roused the justice of the universe to roll her fiery thunderbolts of retribution through the world.

But now it had grown to full maturity. It stands around the cross in such gigantic proportions as had never been seen before. It works an enormity before which the mightiest of its past exploits dwindle into insignificance and pale into dimness. Wickedness crucifies the Lord of life and glory.

End quote. And as we have seen in this passage and the ones prior, wickedness is not content just to execute Jesus Christ. It must torment him also in the process. It must taunt him in the process. It must heap on him all imaginable evil. It cannot just kill him. It must slap him and punch him and stab him and spit on him and defame him and blaspheme him and keep that up all the time he is dying.

Inconceivable. But such is the cruelty of the human heart when fully exposed. Now we should not be shocked at this sorrow which our Savior bore because he was indeed a man of sorrows as we read in Isaiah 53. That was the mark of his life. His suffering sufferings were great.

They were too great even for us to fully understand or comprehend. I suppose to get some kind of information or to get some kind of a grasp on it, we could say that he suffered more sorrow than any man who ever lived. Yes, he suffered more sorrow than all men who have ever lived combined.

Years ago, Greek Christians used to beg God to give them mercy for the unknown sufferings they might have caused Jesus Christ. And they realized that they themselves could not even conceive of all the suffering that he endured. Now as we come to the scene before us in verses 27 to 44, we see his suffering at the hands of wicked men. We see his suffering due to the evil rage of Satan. We see also his suffering because of the wrath of God against the sin that he will bear. And it all reaches its high point. And this seems to be Matthew's high point. For a long time now in Matthew's gospel, he's been emphasizing the rejection of the king, hasn't he?

It's been mounting and mounting and mounting and now it reaches its epitome as he presents the crucifixion. To help us see the wickedness of the scene, I want to draw to your attention four different groups that appear in the scene. Let's call them the ignorant wicked, the knowing wicked, the fickle wicked, and the religious wicked. And I want to suggest to you that every person in the world who does not come to faith in Jesus Christ, every Christ-rejecting person fits into these groups.

They are constant. They were there at the cross. They're around today.

And everybody fits somewhere in these four groups. Now last time we looked at the ignorant wicked who were illustrated to us by the callous soldiers in verses 27 through 37. And we looked at that portion of the Scripture.

We saw that the callous soldiers basically were Roman legionnaires stationed in Caesarea, no doubt with Pilate. They didn't really have first-hand information about Jesus. They were not very well apprised of who he was.

They may have had a very limited smattering of information. They basically are ignorant. To them, Jesus is another criminal and a somewhat deranged one at that. There seems to be no legitimate criminal act that he has done. He seems to be more a maniac who thinks himself to be a king but by any definition they know of a king is not a king at all. They no doubt think him to be somewhat deficient intellectually and mentally and through all the tortures that they bring upon him.

He never says a word which probably confirms their suspicion. They are the ones who have him as we come to verse 27. They have scourged him, that is they've tied his wrist to a post, his feet suspended from the ground, his body taut and they have taken leather thongs attached to a piece of wood and in the end of the leather thongs are bits of stone and bone and metal and they have lashed him until his flesh is ripped off and his internal organs are laid bare and exposed and blood rushes from out of his body. They have then clothed him again. They brought him back into Pilate's hall and they start a little game under the watchful supervision of Pilate and that little game is to make Jesus to appear as a king.

And you will notice what happens in verse 28. They stripped him, they took off his own robe which had been placed over his open wounds and they put on him a scarlet robe, that's the heavy outer robe worn by a Roman soldier, no doubt causing excruciating pain to those open wounds, a mock royal robe and then they braided a crown of thorns and put it around his head, put a reed in his right hand representative of a crown and a scepter. They bowed their knees before him and mocked him saying, hail king of the Jews and as they rose from the ground they spit in his face. Then they took the reed out of his hand in a mocking gesture of snatching away his pitiful sovereignty and smashed him in the head with his own scepter. In John 19 3 it says, they kept on punching him. He is a fool, he is a clown, he's a buffoon, he is an object of mockery, this one who claims to be a king, what a farce, what a joke, how ridiculous and the soldiers with joy and glee trained in the art of killing and maiming people and joy to the very fullest, their leisure expression on Jesus Christ at his expense.

By the way, this is the second time he has been punched and spit on. The Jewish leaders did it back in chapter 26 verses 67 and 68. There they spit on him because he claimed to be a prophet, here they spit on him because he claimed to be a king. Little did they know the king that he was and long will they know it in hell and eternity. Little did they know that indeed he was a king and indeed he will wear a robe and a blood spattered robe at that. In Revelation chapter 19 in verse 13 it shows Jesus Christ coming in second coming glory out of heaven and he is indeed wearing a robe of royalty and it is a robe spotted with blood but it is not at that time his own blood but rather the blood of his enemies and indeed someday he will wear a royal crown. It will be far different from this crown, not a Stephanos, not a crown made of some earthly thing, but a Diadema, a Diadem, a royal regal crown. Yes, Revelation 19 12 says he will wear many crowns for he will not only have his own but he will wear the crown that once belonged to every other sovereign in the world for he alone will be king and someday he will wield a scepter and it'll be no reed. It'll be according to Revelation 19 15 a rod of iron with which he will bring instant judgment on the unbelieving world and then it will be no joke.

Then it will be no laughing matter. In fact the tables will be turned and according to Psalm 2 it says God shall laugh at them and hold them in derision but for now in humiliation Jesus is the laughingstock. His face is swollen beyond recognition from the many slaps and punches that he has taken to the face. It is covered with spittle mixed with blood that is running down from the thorns that pierce his brow. The blows from the reed which was heavy enough to cause a painful blow to the head are added and more bumps and bruises appear.

His body is dripping with blood oozing from his pores. The lack of sleep, the anguish of sin has contorted and twisted his face so that he is hardly recognizable as human let alone as Jesus of Nazareth and he is thought to be nothing more than a fool. Dressed as a mock king, Pilate then according to John 19 takes him back out to the Jewish crowd and says isn't this enough?

Haven't you had enough? He has already stated on several occasions that Jesus is innocent. He has given the findings of the court when he said I find no fault in this man. He really doesn't want to execute a man he knows to be innocent. His wife has warned him against that and his own conscience has done the same. But he is being blackmailed into a corner by the Jews and he thinks maybe he can satiate their thirst for blood by showing Jesus to be such a foolish foolish looking person that they will understand him to be little threat to Rome or to Israel. And so he brings Jesus out and says behold the man and they scream them more for his blood and say if you don't kill him we'll report you to Caesar. And trapped for the fear of the loss of his position he indicates that Jesus is to be crucified and so it is determined. In verse 31 then after they had finished their mockery they take the robe off him they put back on his own garment and they lead him away to crucify him. As they leave the city in verse 32 they conscript a man by the name of Simon who is from Cyrene and this man as we saw last time is to carry the cross of Christ.

They then verse 33 come to a place called Golgotha meaning skull place named for the shape of the hill. They give him vinegar to drink actually wine, oinos in the better texts. They give him wine to drink and it's mingled with bitter herbs that's a general term.

Mark tells us the bitter herbs were in fact myrrh and myrrh would act like a sedative. This was provided by Jerusalem women. There was an association of women who provided this for people who were to be crucified as an expression of the fulfillment of Proverbs 31 where it says that strong drink is for those who face death.

These women did it out of kindness. The soldiers appreciated it not because they wanted to show kindness but because it was easier to crucify a drugged victim so it accommodated them as well. He tasted it and wouldn't drink it because he wanted to go to the cross with all of his senses acute and alert and so they crucified him. As you know they parted his garments by casting lots. The rest of that verse which does appear in the authorized version really is not in the better manuscripts and has been taken from John's gospel and found its way into Matthew's but Matthew really doesn't have any relationship here to prophetic scripture in his original intention.

As I said, his is not to focus on scriptural fulfillment or God's viewpoint but rather on the wickedness of men and so they crucify Christ. Rather coldly gambling to see who gets the elements of his clothing. Each of the four soldiers in the Quaternion would take one of the five pieces. They would gamble then for the seamless inner robe that he wore and verse 36 says, sitting down they guarded him there. They just sat down and watched him so that no one would come along and try to relieve his pain or no one would come along and try to do anything that was not to be done.

They were on guard. I'm so amazed at the fact that the crucifixion itself is passed over with such brevity. In fact as I told you in the Greek text it actually says that having crucified him once parted his garments.

It almost throws away the crucifixion in the original text and we really don't have anything given to us about the details of it so we need to kind of fill in just for a moment. The cross would be lying on the ground. The victim would be placed down on the cross and first his feet would be extended. His toes pulled down and then a large nail would be driven through the arch of one foot and then the arch of another foot and then his hands would be extended allowing his knees to flex a little bit and there would be great nails driven through his wrist just below the bottom part of his hand the heel of his hand because there is the place where it would hold in the middle of the hand it wouldn't hold it would pull through the fingers. Once the victim was nailed there the cross would be picked up and dropped into a hole and when it hit the bottom of the socket of course it would rip and tear the flesh and send the nerve impulses to make explosions in the brain in regard to pain.

The victim is now crucified. Slowly he would begin to sag down more and more the weight being placed upon the nails running through his wrists. Excruciating fiery pain would shoot up the arms and into the mind. Pressure put on the median nerves would be beyond almost the ability to endure. The Lord then would try to push to relieve the pain and so he would push with his feet and be pushing on the two wounds in his feet and the same thing would happen an hour after hour this wrenching twisting torment of the body back and forth trying to relieve one and then the other the hands and the feet. It would become very impossible after a while to do any pushing upward because of the pain and the sagging would put the greatest weight upon the hands. Dr. Truman Davis writes at this point another phenomenon occurred as the arms fatigue great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles knotting them in deep relentless throbbing pain with these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward hanging by his arms the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act air can be drawn into the lungs but it can't be exhaled Jesus fights to raise himself to get even one short breath finally carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the bloodstream and the cramps subside he would grasp short breaths of air hours of limitless pain cycles of twisting joint rending cramps intermittent partial asphyxiation searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down the rough timber a deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with scorum and begins to compress the heart this leads to death what agony the callous soldiers they sit there and watch they've seen it over and over and over and over do they know who he is no there's a sign in verse 37 they said over his head an accusation because it was required that a man who was crucified be crucified for some criminal reason and there was no legitimate criminal reason to crucify Christ pilot wanting to make his statement of the innocence of Christ and also wanting to affirm his his despising of the Jews puts over the head of Jesus this is Jesus the other writers tell us he put this is Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews and in all three languages of the time so everyone could read it and the Jews posted and protested and said we don't want that up there we want he said he is king of the Jews and Pilate said what I have written I have written and thus in cynical sarcastic words he mocked the Jews by saying to the whole world there's your king there's your king you despicable people you deserve such a king Pilate's mockery spoke the truth he was the king but the soldiers were ignorant of that if they knew anything they knew very little they demonstrate many people in all times and all periods of history who are really ignorant of who Jesus Christ is he may be someone but they're not too sure who he is and they really aren't too interested in who he is frankly it's an unnecessary ignorance because Christ is the light that lights every man that comes into the world John 1 9 says and for all who seek God will reveal the reality of his saving son but they have no interest in that they are the ignorant wicked and the world is still full of them the world is still full of people who reject Jesus Christ out of ignorance it is a willful ignorance it is an unnecessary ignorance but it is nonetheless that they are ignorant they just don't know and many don't seek to find out don't care to know but there's a more wicked group than that group and that's the one we come to in verse 38 let's call these the knowing wicked they're not ignorant they know now they don't know everything but they do know something then were there two robbers crucified with him one on the right hand and another on the left now of course this is another way to dishonor Christ to defame him to put him in the middle of a couple of of robbers a couple of as Luke calls them malefactors which means evildoers criminals put him up there and thus dishonor him and shame him by his association with them so he is with the wicked in his death so there he hangs with these two the Greek word is less tie there are a couple of words in the Greek language that have to do with stealing one is less time the other is kleptai kleptai is a word from which we get klepto klepto maniac someone who's a petty thief who snatches things who grabs things but lest I is a different word it is the word used here and basically it means a bandit or a plundering robber a brigand to use an old word not a petty thief these are robbers these are robbers who who kill who are serious about what they do they don't sneak in and walk away with something they come thundering through the door guns blazing if you will the worst of criminals and very likely they were associates of Barabbas who was intended for that middle cross before the crowd wanted Barabbas and Jesus crucified in his place they knew something of the claims of Jesus they knew something about it as is evidenced by the future record of what they say we find that in verse 44 the lest I the robbers also who were crucified with him and the authorized has cast the same in his teeth actually what the text says is heaped insults at him they heap the same insults at him the same insults they were hearing from the Jewish leaders who were saying if you're the king of Israel come down you say you trust in God let God deliver you you said you were the son of God so forth so they knew some of the claims of Jesus they were familiar because they were a part of the Jewish society with perhaps the work of Jesus Christ may have been familiar with this person may on occasion have heard him in a crowd we don't know that but obviously they knew something about him something more than the Roman legionnaires would have known who had nothing to do with life in that part of the world even if they were Syrian legionnaires which is an area from which the Romans recruited many of their soldiers because they wanted them to speak Aramaic in occupied Palestine they still would have not been as familiar as these men were with Jesus who moved about in their country they know but they are also wicked they heap insults at Jesus they revile Jesus they rebuke Jesus just like the soldiers did and they do so with more knowledge than the soldiers had it isn't only the ignorant pagans who reject Jesus Christ who have pleasure in his execution but also these crass materialistic bandits for them life revolves around possessions materialism loot they have no thought about righteousness truth justice honor godliness they have no concern for morality they have no concern for messiahs and kingdoms they're just out for the loot there's still people like them they know about Jesus they may not know much but they know a little but for them life is all revolving around the loot life is all concerned with material things they have a little regard for righteousness little regard for truth they live for self-indulgence and they pay a great price for it and to show you how deeply committed they were to their lifestyle here they are hanging on a cross in the hours of their own death and they're still firing insults to one who claims to be the Son of God they're blasphemers of another sort who mock Jesus because they have a greater love for the things of the world than they do for the things of God that eye-opening look at the crucifixion is from John MacArthur on grace to you John's lesson today is part of a series titled the murder of Jesus well as resurrection Sunday approaches I'm sure many of our listeners are anticipating spending time with unbelieving friends and family members perhaps friends and family who don't know the Lord will even join you at church or maybe you'll be sharing a meal with them and so as we contemplate those opportunities John let me ask you what are some practical ways that believers can make the most of the evangelistic opportunities that Easter provides yeah I think it's just the perception that this is a universal event and while there are bunnies and eggs and spring and hats and flowers and all of that that are competing for attention it's still true that everyone is aware of the resurrection of Christ and I think you can find your way into a conversation kind of like you do at Christmas what do you think you could say to someone what do you think of the birth of Christ or you could say to someone what do you think of the resurrection of Christ I mean that's an open-ended question I would suggest when you're sitting around maybe at the feast you're having on Easter or one of those social elements one of those social occasions that finds its way into your home that you drive the conversation and in the direction of the resurrection and and ask people an open-ended question what do you think about the resurrection of Jesus Christ you have at that point touched the greatest sign for the deity of Christ and the accomplishment of salvation the resurrection the father raised him from the dead in an act that validated his accomplished redemption the father raised him from the dead because he had offered a sufficient sacrifice for sin for all the elect the father raised him from the dead seated him at his right hand gave him a name above every name the name Lord every knee bows to him and all of that focuses on the resurrection so there's a lot to talk about it and you know the Bible is pretty clear Romans 10 says if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved so find a way to talk about resurrection even general resurrection from the resurrection of Christ you can go to the fact that the Bible says appointed unto men wants to die and after this the judgment what does that mean that means that death is not the end there's going to be a judgment and the Bible even talks about the fact that there will be a resurrection of the unjust brought before the tribunal of God for final judgment so there's a lot to talk about that Easter and I suggest you find your way to the resurrection of Christ to begin with that's right Thank You John and friend if one of those conversations leads to someone's salvation or if you're benefiting from John's current study on the murder of Jesus or any recent series like delivered by God we would love to hear about it be sure to jot a note and send it our way you can send an email to letters at GTY dot org that's our email address letters at GTY dot o RG or you can drop a note in the mail addressed to grace to you box 4000 panorama City California 9 1 4 1 2 and be sure to visit our website GTY dot org where you're going to find numerous ways to take in John MacArthur's verse by verse teaching you can listen to radio broadcasts that you may have missed you can download the study Bible app and you can search John's entire sermon archive by date by book of the Bible or by topic that's 3,500 sermons from 54 years of John MacArthur's pulpit ministry all of it free to download and listen to or to read in transcript format you can also purchase a variety of Bible study tools including the MacArthur study Bible the MacArthur New Testament commentary series or dozens of books by John and all of that and more is available at GTY dot org now for John MacArthur I'm Phil Johnson reminding you to watch grace to you television on Sunday it will encourage you and your family check your local listings for time and channel and also be here at the same time tomorrow when John continues his series the murder of Jesus with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on grace to you