Passion Week / Jesus' Trial before Pilate and Herod // Matthew 26 & 27 // Pastor Josh Evans

When we pray together, Father, God, that's our hearts desire today is for our eyes to be fixed upon you. God, I just want every person in this place, regardless of what their week has looked like this past week, regardless of what is on their heart today, regardless of the baggage, the way of life, the things that are coming up this week, God, the reason why we've gathered here today is for our eyes to be turned to you. And God, I don't know everybody's story in this place, but if somebody's in here today and maybe they haven't considered Jesus and what he has come to do for each one of us, God, I pray that today, before they leave, that they would see a picture of Jesus and how he sacrificed his life for each one of us, not because he was guilty, but because we were guilty. And God, that's our heart, Lord, let our eyes be upon you for the regular churchgoer that's been in church for years and years and have gotten complacent today like so many of us can do from time to time. Father, I pray that today our eyes would just be looking to you, God, that we would see you, that we would feel you, that we would touch you, that we would praise you today, Father, because you're the only one worthy of our praise.

God, we love you. We thank you for this wonderful day that you've given us for it's in your name we pray and all God's people said, Amen. Hey, you can have a seat here today in the presence of God. And man, it's so good to see you here on such a beautiful, beautiful day.

And I'm so glad that you are here. When I got ready this morning, my wife, she said, you're not wearing green. So she told me if you did not know how many of you did not know until today that it was St. Patrick's Day, raise your hand.

Okay. Like how many of you just feel like there's a holiday for every single day of the year and you just can't keep up, right? You see it on Facebook and you're like, man, I had no idea it was sun's day or whatever. And then you feel guilty because you didn't post a picture of it and that kind of thing.

Right. And so listen, when she told me that I said, I said, Well, I don't have any green. And why should I? She said, Well, just be prepared. You're going to be pinched today. And my first response was this. So if you're about to pinch me, I want you to think about what I told her. I said to her, I said, do adults do that? That's what I told her. So I'm just going to tell you that if you pinch me today, you know what I think about you. Okay.

So I'm just kidding. Hey, listen, it is good to see you today. I do want to welcome everybody here, including our guests. Like Pastor David said, we are so grateful that you are here. We understand that you could be anywhere else and you've chosen to worship with us today. And we count that a privilege and an honor. And we're so grateful for that. And so thank you for being here. Make sure you connect with us. And we would love to not only have a record of your visit, we would love to get to know you better, how we can help you, how we can better serve, connect with you.

And then we got a gift that we'd love to get in your hands as our way of saying thank you for being a part of our service here today. Well, listen, it is good to see if you have your Bible. Go to Matthew chapter twenty six, Matthew twenty six. And if you're just joining us, I want you to know we've been in a series entitled Passion Week, the week that changed everything, the week that changed everything. And what we've been doing over the last several weeks is we are looking at the different events that happened during the week of Jesus' death and resurrection. So that week often referred to as Passion Week or you've referred to it as Holy Week, all the different events that encompass that one week leading up to the cross and leading up to the resurrection over the last few weeks, we've been looking at in our series here. And so we started with Palm Sunday. If you remember a few weeks ago, we looked at that day where Jesus enters into Jerusalem and he comes back into Jerusalem and and everyone is just praising him.

And and I want to make mention we made mention of this during our sermon. But if you remember, as he came and as he looked out amongst the amongst the city there of Jerusalem, what happened? He ended up weeping in that moment. You say, why in the world was he weeping?

People were about to lay palm branches and and lay their outer garments down in front of him, praising him for entering into the city as king. The reason why he was weeping is he knew what was lying ahead of him beyond this incredible day. And then we came beyond that.

We looked at the Garden of Gethsemane. And we have looked at that and how he took the cup. Remember, he prayed, hey, if you can take the cup from me, you know, he prayed through that. But he willingly took of the cup of the wrath of God that every single one of us had deserved. And where we're going to be at today is happening on that same night as he was praying in the garden. If you remember that moment, you know, the disciples could not stay awake.

Their eyes were heavy and things like that. It was in that moment where he was actually betrayed and they came. And that's where our story is going to pick up right after that at night. In fact, a lot of what we're going to read tonight is happening in the in the middle of the night, which is significant.

We'll look at that here in a few moments. I want you to know up front that this passage of scripture, just like most weeks that we've looked at in this series, it is a what I consider a little bit of a heavy passage of scripture, just like last week where we watched our savior pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, literally praying as he faced and begin to experience God's face being turned away from him, not because he deserved it, but because he was taking that willingly for us. Today's passage is also heavy for each one of us. In fact, I looked when I was studying this, I was curious that, you know, every time I study a passage, I always listen to a ton of sermons and read a lot about the passage. A lot of people have written about this passage, but there's not a lot of of sermons about the actual trial of Jesus.

There were few and far between. And so this week we are going to look at the trial with with Pilate and with Herod. And then next week we will look at the crucifixion, which will lead us straight into Easter Sunday on the 31st. And so if you have your Bible, Matthew chapter 26, I want to say just in case that you are just joining us, I want you to understand every week of this series, I want you to see the reason why Passion Week was so important. The reason why we have a Passion Week is because it goes way back to the very beginning of scripture back in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter one leading into chapter two, we have God creating the entire world.

Everybody in here knows that and we've studied that and and you've learned about that. But the reason why it's important you don't miss the reason and the purpose behind creation. God created the entire world. In fact, he created not just man, he created everything that we see the mountains, the oceans and all that. And here's the reason why he created it is for all of those to point to him, for everything to shout about the glory of God. And then he created his most wonderful masterpiece, he created man and woman. In fact, he created us in the image of God, every single one of you are created in the image of God. And God created every single one of you for this divine, important purpose, so that he could have a relationship with you. In fact, that's the picture that you see in the Garden of Eden, when they were created, Adam and Eve, they walked with God, and they talked with God.

And that was the picture and the reason for why everything happened. But in Genesis chapter three, when Adam and Eve sinned, what happened to them is so significant for you. And for me, it impacts us, because of their sin, they were cast out of the Garden of Eden.

Think of this, they were cast out of the presence of God. Because of their sin, now, the presence of God, the Garden of Eden, it had on the outskirts of the garden, these angelic beings that God put there, that would guard the garden with a sword. So there was a sin, that was man's sin, there was a sword, that's the judgment of God, because he's holy, and we are not. And because there was sin that led to a sword, the only thing missing to make everything right for us to get back to the original design that God created, for us to have a relationship with God, the only thing missing was a sacrifice.

So in the Old Testament, we know that there was a sacrificial system, you know, we read about that stuff, sacrifice animals, and that would make things right with God, you got a high priest that became the go between and things like that. But Passion Week is the week that Jesus came to this earth, dwelt among men. And this week, we are seeing that he is going to willingly lay down his life and become the sacrifice that you need, and that I need so that we can go not from the outskirts of God, God's presence. But now through his sacrifice, we do not have to endure the sword, we do not have to endure the wrath of God. And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we can now be reconciled, or restored back into a relationship with Christ.

That's the point. That's the reason of why the Bible is there. That's the reason why you're here is so that you can have a relationship with with Jesus. And here in Matthew chapter 26, we're going to see the trial of Jesus. So remember, he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas had already betrayed him. He talked about that at the upper room, we looked at that a few weeks ago, where they were in the upper room, and he told them that one of them is going to betray one of the disciples is going to betray him.

And that was already happening in that moment. Jesus knew that because he is 100% God. And then after that, he goes to the garden, he's praying. And it was right after that moment of prayer, that the soldiers came to arrest him. So think it is at night, they've been there, and they've been together. And now the soldiers are coming to arrest him and, and try him, I want you to know this up front, as we look at this number one, Jesus was aware from the very beginning of his fate of suffering, and the victory that he would experience in this week.

Okay. So as we read through this, I don't want you to ever think that Jesus was not aware of everything that is happening. The second thing that I want you to understand before we jump into this passage is this, is that not only was Jesus aware of everything that was happening, but also because he's God, Jesus is also in this moment fully in control of laying down his life. He was not forced to do this. He willingly agreed and became obedient to his father, even the death of the cross. So he went about this willingly.

He was not forced to do this. Let's pick it up. Matthew 26, verse number 57. And I want you to understand there's a lot of reading today. Okay. So I want you to bear with me. In fact, look to your neighbor and say, get ready because there's a lot of reading.

It is what it is. There's a lot here in Matthew 26 and Matthew chapter 27. There's a lot to these passages and there's a whole lot of details and a whole lot of verses that we're going to look at here today.

So bear with me. If you didn't bring a Bible today, it is going to be up on the screens for you so you can follow along with us. Verse number 57 of Matthew chapter number 26. It says this, and they that had laid hold on Jesus, led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter, listen to this, Peter followed him afar off under the high priest's palace and went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now, if you remember, Jesus told Peter they'd already had this interaction. Jesus told Peter that you're going to deny me three times.

Peter, I mean, he swore to Jesus that that would never, ever, ever happen. And so in this moment, what is happening is Jesus had just been with his disciples, Peter, James and John, and they were in the garden and they were praying. And Peter and James and John kept falling asleep. Well, after a few times of Jesus coming back and waking them up and telling them to be alert and watch with him, the last and final time that he found him asleep, he told them something very significant. He told them, hey, sleep on because the hour is at hand that he is going to be betrayed into, into the enemies.

And so at this moment, it's at night. And so it's happening all at night, they come to arrest Jesus and it's the high priest, the scribes, the elders, they were all assembled together here in this moment. Verse number 59. Now the chief priest and the elders and all of the council, that's the Sanhedrin.

So there's about 70 of them that were together here in this Sanhedrin. They saw, listen to this, false witness against Jesus to put him to death. False witness. Many of them testified falsely. In fact, in Mark chapter 15, and one of the beauties of this is this story is found in all the gospels and every single one of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, every one of them give a little bit of a different perspective or a little bit of a different account. Some of them give a little bit more detail.

Some of them give less detail about certain things. In Mark chapter 14, you can find that many that the Sanhedrin, they wanted Jesus dead. They wanted him tried quickly because, and so what they did was they brought in all of these witnesses quickly on the spot. Now, if you remember, it's the middle of the night.

It's the middle of the night while this is happening. And so Jesus is being tried and they're bringing all of these false witnesses together. Mark chapter 15 says that all these false witnesses, they would get in front and none of their stories were even lining up. So it was kind of this joke, if you would, of a trial with really a preconceived idea of how this was going to happen. So verse number 60, all of these false witnesses are up there and they were all trying to find a way to put Jesus to death.

And here's what happened. Verse number 60, but they found none. Yay, though many false witnesses came yet found they none at the last came to false witnesses. And they said that this fellow said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. Now, Jesus did say that, but as you can imagine, like all of his words were always twisted. The religious crowd was all raised trying to twist the words of Jesus. And I say this again, the religious crowd was always the ones trying to twist the words of Jesus. And what they did, Jesus did say this, but they didn't realize that he was talking about his earthly body. He was talking about that body that yes, it's going to be broken down like the temple because our bodies are the temple.

And what's going to happen is in three days, he's going to rise again. You see, it was a prophecy directly about his resurrection. And they were saying, hey, this guy deserves to be killed because he made this crazy prophecy. They thought he wanted to destroy the temple. And for them, the temple was where they would meet with God. And it was so important to them. Verse number 62, and the high priest arose and said unto him, answer thou nothing.

Now here's what I want you to understand. The high priest was the most important man in the room at the time. And so this high priest, you almost get the picture here in this verse, he's sitting there, he's listening to these false witnesses, you know, false witness after false witness, they're getting up there, their stories aren't aligning.

And they're making all these outrageous claims about Jesus. And Jesus is just sitting there quietly not saying a thing. And you almost get the picture here that the high priest, the most powerful man in the room, he stands up is what the verse says. And it's almost like he's frustrated. And he's saying, aren't you going to answer?

Do you have anything to say to the ridiculous accusations that are being thrown at you? Verse number 63, but Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. In other words, the high priest has got this moment, this interaction with Jesus, he's looking face to face with Jesus.

And he wants to know this. Are you the Christ? Are you the Son of God? Are you the Messiah that we have been looking for and waiting for for all of these years, the ones that the prophets in the Old Testament told us about?

Is that you? And by the way, I want you to know this today. That's the most important question any of us could ever answer for ourselves. Who is Jesus to you? Who is Jesus to you? Verse 64, Jesus saith unto him, thou hast said.

In other words, you said it. Mark 14 says, Jesus responded, I am. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. And the high priest, when he heard this, that's an Old Testament reference that if anyone knew in that moment, he would have understood what Jesus was saying.

The high priest was out of the anguish that he was experiencing. Verse number 65, he rent his clothes saying he had spoken blasphemy. What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. In other words, we are all, everybody, the entire council is now witnesses to the blasphemy that this man of Galilee has been saying. And so he goes on, verse 66, what think ye? They answered and said, he is guilty of death. Then did they spit on his face and buffeted him and others smote him with the palms of their hands saying, prophesy unto us thou Christ, just mocking him.

Who is he that smote thee? I want you to understand before we jump into chapter 27, I want you to see a couple of things here about the trial and how unjust the trial was. Every single one of us were born into the world with something that is inside of us that wants justice.

Every single one of us. If you don't believe me, think of it this way, when you watch the news and you see somebody getting away for something that they did, there's something that swells up inside of you that says, man, they don't deserve that, right? You've seen something like that.

You've watched a movie where there's something, a voice inside your head, something inside your heart. And the reason is, is we all desire justice. We all desire justice in our heart. Well, this trial that Jesus was experiencing here in the middle of the night was anything but just.

It was anything but just. In fact, Jewish law meant that you had to try people in the middle of the day. You know, when this was happening in the middle of the night, it was at the opposite. Many scholars believe this happened between midnight and 3 a.m. And you'll see why in chapter 27, they're going to find and take them to pilot first thing in the early parts of the morning.

And the point is, this was happening at night. You say, why in the world are they wanting to deal with this at night? They wanted him dead before anybody was around to stop them. You see, Jesus had done so many things there in the city of Jerusalem, and he had traveled there entering just a week before this or days before this, in fact, and many people were praising him and the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders there, about 70 of them. They wanted to try him, not giving him a fair trial like every other prisoner.

They wanted to get this thing done tonight before anybody wakes up, before everybody is celebrated the Passover and everything that people are there in Jerusalem for specifically, they wanted this to be done night. So they found enough witnesses in the middle of the night, but their stories weren't adding up. And by the way, in every typical trial it's no different than here. If you were ever put on trial is that you would have your own witnesses that you could bring to your defense.

Jesus got none of that. In fact, they did not want to even be a part of the details. They just wanted to try him and kill him tonight. It'd be like this, and this is a silly illustration, but just say you were accused of something, perhaps wrongfully. It'd be like the police department showing up at your house in the middle of the night, dragging you or one of your family members out of the house and not giving you a trial or nothing and just trying to take you straight to the judge and taking you straight to the judge's house in the middle of the night and just saying, hey, we need to crucify. We need to kill this person today because of something that they did.

Not giving them a chance to defend themselves, not giving them a chance to see a trial that is normal, not even abiding by the law. And you see here, and I want to point this out, all the irony of the religious crowd. Here's the religious high priest, the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, they're gathered together and they are about to sentence an innocent man to death while going against everything that even their own Jewish law told them not to do.

You see the irony there of just what's happening. So drop down to chapter number 17. At the end of chapter number 26, you find Peter who denied Jesus. We're not going to spend a lot of time on that, but Peter denied Jesus and the cock crowed just like Jesus had predicted and prophesied. So now he is weeping as he realized what he had just done, just like what Jesus said. So chapter number 27, the same night after they've been with the high priest, they've been with the religious crowd, they now are like, hey, we're going to get this done tonight.

We're going to get this done right now. And so they take him to the governor's house, which was Pilate. That's where we pick up in verse number 27. When the morning was come, it was early in the morning, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Now this is super important because Jews did not have the authority to commit capital punishment.

They could not put him to death. And so what they had to do in this moment is they had to take him to Rome. They had to take him to a Roman leader, the governor, which this is Pilate.

He'd been the governor for several years before this. And they had to take him and get his approval in order for Jesus to be killed because the only one that could allow something like that is the leader of the Romans. And so if you drop down to verse number 11, what you find in verses three through 10 is you find Judas. And what happens with Judas is Judas, he felt bad for what he did. He felt some of the guilt of betraying Jesus. And so when he's seeing all this unfold, here's what he tries to do. It's very important is he tries to fix what he had done wrong on his own. He goes back to the ones that he sold Jesus for and he goes back to them and says, Hey, I'll give you all of the money that you gave me back to you.

You can have it all today, but it was too late. And because Judas could not fix his brokenness on his own and he could not fix it with his own power and his own abilities and things like that. What he did when he realized that there was nothing that he could do to fix himself, he committed suicide.

He went out and killed himself. We pick up our story in verse number 11. And Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked him saying, Art thou the king of the Jews?

Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest and he was accused of the chief priests and elders. But he answered nothing then said Pilate unto him here is thou not how many things they witness against thee. So this is this conversation that is happening between Pilate and between Jesus. It's happening early in the morning.

You get the picture that this was really early. Pilate was just getting his day started. And here comes all of these Jews. And in fact, Pilate didn't even like the Jews.

He didn't like the Jews. And so here comes all these Jews, the religious leaders come and they bring this man Jesus who Pilate I'm sure had heard about up to that point because Jesus fame had gone throughout the city and throughout the community, and they bring him to him. In fact, if you look at some other gospel accounts, there's a lot that happens here in this interaction with Pilate. In fact, not only the conversation that we're going to look at, but in the midst of this one of the men, one of the Sanhedrin, they actually talk to Pilate, and they claim that this man is from Galilee.

That was super significant. And so Matthew doesn't record a whole lot of this, but some of the other gospels do. When Pilate heard that this man was from Galilee, Pilate felt, hey, I'm off the hook. And the reason is, is his jurisdiction was for Sumerian for Jerusalem. He wasn't responsible for Galilee. So what he told him to do is he said, hey, he told the Sanhedrin, he said, no, you guys need to go before Herod. You need to go before Herod. Herod's responsible for those that are from Galilee. And guess what? Coincidence?

We think not. Herod just happens to be in town. So if you read some of the other gospel accounts, the Sanhedrin during this conversation, they took Jesus and they went before Herod and Herod wanted nothing to do with it.

So they send him back to the governor's house. And so in this conversation with Pilate, Jesus and Pilate are having this conversation and Pilate, the same thing, he's saying, aren't you a king? Are you a king? And you know what Jesus said, John chapter 18 is a good passage for you to read a parallel of this. When Pilate asked Jesus, are you a king?

Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said this to him. He said, is that you that say that?

Or is that somebody that has told you? And Pilate responds. Pilate says back to Jesus, he says, hey, I'm not a Jew. I'm not a Jew. So that's not what I believe.

Of course not. And so Jesus says, I am a king. Now that confused Pilate because he's thinking why in the world would a king be on trial here? And here's what Jesus says. He says, I am a king, but he says something so significant in the Gospel of John. He says, but my kingdom, it's not anything like your kingdom. In fact, here's what Jesus told him. He said, my kingdom is not of this world.

My kingdom is nothing like what your kingdom is like. And Jesus goes on and Jesus actually says this in the Gospel of John. He says this to Pilate. He says, if my kingdom was like your kingdom, Pilate, you know exactly how this would go. If my kingdom was like your kingdom, I would get all of the people with me, all of the soldiers of the Jews.

And what they would do is they would be here right now with me and they would be fighting to get me out of this. In fact, if my kingdom was anything like your kingdom, you know how this would go, Pilate. I would use force just like what you're doing, but he says, Pilate, my kingdom is nothing like any kingdom that you have ever seen.

In fact, my kingdom is nothing like anything on this planet. Verse number 13 of our text, then said Pilate unto him, hearest thou not how many things they witness unto him against thee? Pilate's like, have you listened to them? And verse number 14, and he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And so it was customary for the Jews at Passover, which is why they've all come to gather. Passover was one of those Jewish feasts.

There's one of three feasts that all of the Jewish families had to come to Jerusalem and they had to observe together. And so all of them had come for Passover and it was customary for them to release one of the prisoners. It was very much like in the Old Testament, remember the day of atonement where there were two goats and that kind of thing, and one got released that deserved punishment, but he got released out into the wilderness.

It's that idea. And so what they did was it was very customary for the Jews, they would release one prisoner out back into society. Verse number 16, and they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas.

We'll talk about him a little bit more here in a moment. But therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, all the Sanhedrin, it's early in the morning, they're all there. And he said unto all the people, whom will ye that I release unto you?

You got Barabbas, this prisoner that is very well known, or you have Jesus, which is called the Christ, this man from Galilee. For he knew that for envy, they had delivered him. When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife even sent unto him saying, have thou nothing to do with this just man?

For I've suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. Pilate's even getting from everybody. His wife is coming saying, hey, you need to reconsider this, this man from Galilee. Verse number 20, but the chief priests and elders, they persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. By the way, some of the most religious people are some of the most persuasive people sometimes.

And that's what you see here. They're convincing everybody that is coming and being a part of this trial. They're convincing them that Jesus is worthy of death. Verse 21, but then the governor, Pilate, he answered and said unto them, whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you, they said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ. Pilate, you know, he's there, he's just a weak leader.

He finds absolutely nothing wrong with this man. In fact, because Pilate was from Rome and Pilate hated the Jews because of that. In fact, if anybody wanted to sentence a Jew to death, it would have been Pilate. Pilate got excited about sentencing any Jew to death because he didn't like the Jews because he was from Rome.

He was not Jewish. And so if anybody, but even in this midst, Pilate had all this interaction with Jesus and he found absolutely nothing wrong with this man. He was actually marveling at the fact that this man from Galilee that isn't even defending himself in front of the Sanhedrin and they're just shouting out all these wrong, outrageous accusations that don't even line up with one another.

He finds it and marvels at the fact that he is innocent, but he wasn't a leader to step forward and to go against the crowd. Verse 22, Pilate saith unto them, what shall I do with him? And they all said unto him, let him be crucified.

The governor said, why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out the more saying, let him be crucified. And when Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult, a riot was going to happen if he did anything else but let Barabbas go and give Jesus over to them.

A riot is going to happen here in this moment. So he took water. He washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood to this just person.

See ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them.

And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. There's two things that I want to mention here in this text. And here's what I want you to know. There's a lot that we just read. There's a whole lot to that text.

It's a heavy text. If you're coming for a feel good sermon today where you can leave here with three ways that you can be a successful Christian today, you're not going to get one of those today. I'm just going to be honest with you. But in a few moments I want to show you what Jesus was still. This whole Passion Week series that we've been looking at, all I want you to understand is how guilty you are and how unworthy he is.

And that's the point of the entire series. So if I could for a few moments share with you two things about what was happening here about our Lord and Savior, that's what I'd love for you to do. The first thing that I want you to see is this, is that Jesus did not get sentenced to death because he sinned. He was sentenced to death because we sinned.

I want you to understand that in this moment Jesus was not on trial because he did anything wrong. In fact, last week while he was in the garden, he was betrayed. We learned that what Judas had done and he sold him for a certain amount of money, he was betrayed last week. And here's what you find about our God, our Lord and Savior this week. Last week he was betrayed, this week he was accused for you.

I want you to understand, look at what he went through. Last week the anguish and the thought of drinking of the cup of God's wrath that was going to be poured out to the entire world. The very thought of the Son of God thinking about how God the Father's face would be turned from him. You see, that's what you do for God's face to be turned upon you. But what Jesus did, he took of the cup, the cup of God's wrath and he took of it willingly.

Do you see all of what he went through? I asked this question last week and I think it's worth asking again, is what could Jesus have possibly attained by the cross that he did not have before? What in the world could Jesus, why in the world would any man do this? He's from heaven.

He has a seat at the right hand of the Father. He had full deity. He had full kingship there in the kingdom of heaven. He had everything that he ever needed but yet we find that he came here and he dwelt among us. What in the world could the cross ever give him that he did not have before?

The only answer and the only reason why he was willing to drink of the cup of God's wrath, he was willing to be betrayed for you, he was willing to be accused for you, the only reason and the only thing that he could have ever attained that he did not have before was a relationship with you and a relationship with me. You see, that's the point. That's what you see here. In fact, the scripture talks about this throughout. Remember, the Bible from cover to cover, it points to one narrative.

It's not a bunch of narratives mixed together. It's all pointing to one very important thing that the Messiah has come to take away the sin of the world. You see that in Isaiah chapter 53.

Many of you know this. It says this, surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows and look at what happened. Isaiah, this is years and years before. Isaiah is prophesying about this very thing yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Verse number five, he goes on saying that he was wounded for our transgressions. He wasn't wounded for his, he was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. You see, the point is and what I want you to understand here is that in this brokenness for you always leads to more brokenness. That's the problem with mankind. You see that all the way back in the garden when Adam and Eve sinned. You know what they tried to do at the very beginning? Right when they realized that they sinned, they realized that they were naked.

You say, why is that significant? They realized that they were imperfect before God. They realized when they looked down that they are unworthy to be in the presence of God because of their sin. And so you know what they did? The same thing that you and I have done for years with our sin.

They covered themselves. You say, why is that significant? They tried to fix their brokenness on their own. You know what the problems are in our world?

It has nothing to do with who's in office and things like that. Here's what the biggest problems are is that we live in a society, we live in a world full of sinners and you know what's happening? They're all trying to fix their sin. They're all trying to reconcile their life back to God by working and covering themselves and doing everything that they can do on their own.

And here's what Jesus is saying is that brokenness always leads to more brokenness and there is no way that we can fix their brokenness. In fact, the prophet Isaiah, he's prophesying directly to the nation of Israel and Isaiah. And as he's prophesying, he's talking about all of the problems with the nation of Israel. And I love reading about it because sometimes the nation of Israel makes me feel a little bit better about myself.

So if you're down, that might be a way you can feel a little up. But here's what I'll tell you. The nation of Israel, you read about it all throughout the Old Testament. They would serve God and then it wouldn't, days would go by, they're back doing their own thing.

Right? They've just walked away from God. So Isaiah comes onto the scene from God and he tells them, he said, you know what your problem is?

Jews Israel, your problem is that every time you break away and the brokenness that you are making of your nation, there's judgment that is awaiting you. If you continue down the path that you are heading. And so Isaiah 53 comes along and here's what he's telling them is that all these years you continue to walk away from God. But one day, one day there's coming a Messiah that is going to come and he's going to take away the sin. And here's the good news. He's going to take away your sin forever.

Forever. That's the point. You see, Jesus, he didn't get sentenced to death because he sinned. He was sentenced to death because we sinned. You see, when Jesus was on trial in front of Pilate, in front of Herod, in front of the Sanhedrin, he wasn't there because he did not keep his end of the bargain with us. He was only there because you and I have failed to keep our bargain with him.

That's the point. He wasn't there because he deserved it. He was willingly standing in front of the Sanhedrin, all the religious leaders and the governor of Rome.

He was standing before them all, not guilty, but he was taking your guilt and he was taking all the accusations that you deserved for you. You see, Jesus didn't get sentenced to death because he sinned. He was sentenced to death because you and I sinned. The second thing I want you to see and finally exist, Jesus died so that we could go free.

Jesus died so that we could go free. You see, here in this text, Barabbas, I think, gives us the clearest presentation of what scripture is truly about. The story of Barabbas here in Matthew chapter 27, it gives us this beautiful picture. In fact, Barabbas, he was the first one that evening to say Jesus died not just for him, but instead of him.

He actually saw it in front of him. This man on a middle cross put there in the place of Barabbas. I want you for a moment to think of Barabbas. We don't know a whole lot about Barabbas.

We know this, that some of the other gospel writers mentioned that he caused an insurrection there in the city. He was a murderer. He was a thief. In other words, Barabbas is a guy who's a bad, bad man. He was hated by the Jews.

He was hated by the Romans. But on this particular day, Barabbas, the guilty man that everybody hated and did not deserve to live because of all the nasty things he had done, on this day, Barabbas is the one who walks free as Jesus died. I want you to think for a moment of what this day must have been like for Barabbas. He wakes up that morning expecting to die and think, as you wake up, you know this is it. By sundown, I am going to be dead. This is it.

All the decisions that I have made have led me to this moment. He's in a somber mood. It is over for him. And then in that moment, as he's about to be crucified, the governor of Rome calls him out front at the governor's palace. In fact, the picture is they weren't even inside the governor's house on this early morning. And the reason is if you read all the other gospel accounts and the details, and this just shows the hypocrisy from the religious crowd and all the Sanhedrin, they were not even willing to step foot in the Roman governor's home. And the reason is they didn't want to step across the threshold because it was the time of Passover.

They didn't want to do anything that would cause them a problem because of the time that it was, which it was Passover. So Pilate came out of his house and that's where all of this is happening right there. And so Pilate is there and now Barabbas who thinks it's over for him, he gets called in front of this crowd and there's this man of Galilee who I'm sure, you know, Barabbas had thought about and as he gets called out and Pilate saying, hey, which one should we choose? Which one do you want to go free? I'm sure in Barabbas's mind is like, man, I've heard of this guy and he's healed people, you know, people that couldn't walk, they could walk.

And there's all this stuff that he's done. Man, I do not stand a chance. I'm the one that's going to die. Why am I even out here?

Just put me to death. I woke up this morning knowing that it is going to be me. And during all of this, the people start shouting, let Jesus be crucified and Barabbas released.

And so you wake up one morning knowing that this is it. And now by sundown tonight, perhaps he's eating dinner with his friends that he hadn't even seen because he's been in prison. And as he eats dinner with them and he hangs out and rejoices that he was once a prisoner and now he's free, perhaps that evening he looks up and what the city of Jerusalem is doing is they lift up these three prisoners on a cross. And as Barabbas is sitting there rejoicing in his freedom, perhaps he looks at that middle cross and thinks to himself, that's where he should be. That's where he should be. And so in instead of him, this man from Galilee that embodied perfect goodness, this man that loved and walked and ate with terrible, terrible sinners, he's now hung on a cross that I deserve.

Here's the point. Barabbas represents us. All of us. Barabbas represents all of us. I want you to know if you leave here with anything else, all of us should have been on that middle cross. Every single one of you.

And so if you've come in here today, listen, I'm not trying to make you feel good today. Here's the point is every single one of us were worthy of dying on that cross. Every single one of us because we were all born into this world in sin and it's our sin that separated us from the father. And we all deserved death. In fact, I think the fact that Barabbas representing all of us, it actually shows why Jesus was so quiet throughout this whole trial.

Think about it. Any lawyer would tell you this, that silence, it concedes guilt. Doesn't it? Like any lawyer would say, if you don't want to bring anybody to your defense and you just want to sit there and let all the accusations go and not say anything in return, here's what any lawyer would tell you is that silence concedes guilt. Silence says guilt. Silence says guilt.

But here's the point. This is the most important thing that I've probably learned from studying this personally as your pastor. It's like, man, Jesus wasn't guilty. Like as every accusation was thrown at him and all of the Sanhedrin and all of their false witnesses that were getting up and saying and pointing their fingers, this man said that he's going to destroy the temple. This man did this.

This man did this. And as they raised their fingers to him and Jesus just stood there taking it as all of their fingers were pointing in his direction with so many accusations, here's what I've learned. He was not conceding guilt to their finger pointing at him. He wasn't conceding guilt to their finger that was pointing in his direction because he wasn't guilty of any of those things.

Here's the thing. Behind all of their accusations, behind all of their fingers that were pointing at him, here's the biggest thing that you need to learn from this. There was a much more important finger that was being pointed in his direction.

Our Heavenly Father. You see, the point is Jesus wasn't conceding guilt for all the things that they were accusing him of because he wasn't guilty. He was conceding guilt to the Father's finger pointing directly at him saying, you are guilty not because you've done anything wrong but because all the accusations for Josh Evans and all the accusations for T.W.

Bailey and all the accusations for David Iverson and all the accusations for every single name that is represented in this place. Jesus is guilty because he took all of those accusations, all of the guilt that every single one of you should have experienced. All of that was placed upon him and he was conceding guilty not because he deserved anything but because he was taking what you rightfully deserve for you. That's the point. That's the point of the whole thing and so because of that he pleaded guilty in my place for my guilt.

That's the point. Don't ever get over this and what is crazy and I'll be done with this. What's crazy about this story and I wish we could dive so deep into this.

I have so many questions about this thing. Think about Judas. We didn't read Judas' account in this story but in the midst of this trial Judas sees and he starts to begin to feel guilty because he tried to work himself, tried to make it right with his own strength, trying to go back and hey I'll do whatever, I'll pay whatever, I'll give you every bit of the thing.

What can I do to make everything right? And when he realized he could do nothing to make it right he killed himself. You see Judas did not get it and here's why. The disciples, we remember Peter as the one who denied Jesus but you know what the scripture says? Every single one of the disciples denied Jesus that night. Every single one of the disciples betrayed Jesus. So why are they not all going out of it after this trying to work to make things right and why are they not after this story just killing themselves the way that Judas did?

Here's the reason. Judas did not understand and this is why he is an unbeliever. Jesus did not understand why Jesus came. You see when Judas realized what he had done he felt that he was beyond forgiveness.

He felt that what he had done was too far gone, it was the unforgivable and there was nothing that he could do and so what he did first was he was like okay when I did something wrong I'm going to try to fix it all by myself. I'm going back to the same guys, hey you remember we made that deal? Hey listen I was just kidding. Can I have it?

I'll give you every dime back. I made a mistake. I made a mistake.

What can I do to make it right? The reason Judas did not understand the gospel at all is because he was trying to work to make everything right with God and some of you you're here today and you're thinking just like Judas you've made a complete joke of your life. Your life is broken today. You are living in sin and you've come in here today and perhaps I don't know where you're at today but perhaps you're in here and you're thinking I am too far gone. There's nothing that I can do to ever make things right and here's what I want you to know that Jesus came and in three days from what we're reading about he walks out of a grave with the power to forgive and the power to restore and the power to make your broken life and put your fragmented pieces back together and put you and to make all things new. The question I have is this. Think about this. What if Judas had have waited four days?

What would have happened? And I know I'm reading into the text but just think what if he had have waited just and dealt with that internal anguish of his sin and then he saw that Jesus was who he said he was and that Judas could do nothing to put his broken life back together. Listen for some of you you're going to die one day and it's going to be eternally too late for you. It's over at that point.

You're not going to get another chance but you have a chance today to realize that there is nothing that you can do to fix your life together. Jesus came to die for the whole world. He died for the Barabbas. He died for the Judases. He died for Peter. He died for those who have betrayed him. He's died. He died for those who have denied him. He's died for those who rejected him. So if you're in here today and think man there's nothing that I can do to make my life back with him let me remind you Jesus died for you. He loves you and you are not too far gone. My prayer for you is that you can come to him realizing that you have nothing to offer him. You did nothing to contribute anything to your salvation.

Coming to him with your arms open saying I have absolutely nothing to offer you. All I want to do is trust in what you've already done for me. I am the Barabbas in this story. I am the one that deserves to be on the middle cross. Jesus I trust in you.

Come into my life and save me. And you know what Jesus has promised to do is he's promised that through the power that is in him of God to turn your broken life around. That's the beauty of the gospel and because of what he went through because he was betrayed for you because he was accused for you and taking on your guilt the only reason he did it is so that you could be reconciled back into the original design of having a relationship with him. That's why it happened.

That's why he did it. He did it for you. Would you bow your heads with me? Nobody looking around please stand heads bowed hearts lifted in prayer. I'm just going to give you a moment if you're in here today and you say pastor I don't know Jesus as my savior.

Perhaps you've been working your way to try to make things right with him. Say I don't know Jesus as my savior. I'm here today and if I was to die today I would be alienated from God and eternally separated from him. That's where you're at today would you please look at me or raise your hand high enough for me to see it long enough for me to reconcile long enough for me to recognize it. And then for many of you many of you in here you know Jesus as your savior.

You've heard this story a thousand times. Do you really understand what Jesus went through for you? For some of you you just need to maybe gather at an altar or kneel at your seat and you need to just think and meditate and dwell on what Jesus went through. He was betrayed for you.

He was beaten for you which we're going to look at next week but today he was accused not because he deserved the accusation he was accused for the things that you deserved and he willingly pleaded guilty not because he was but because he was taking the punishment that you deserve. Say pastor I'm in here and I have kind of lost my way but I'm a Christian and I'm just like I just want today to maybe tell God thank you. I'm going to pray and then this the altar is open you can pray where you're at. Father thank you. Bless in this invitation time God thank you for loving us thank you for sending your son to die so that we can call you father today. Bless in this invitation time for it's in your name we pray. Amen. Nobody's looking around maybe some of you need to come and pray today and just say thank you or you need to pray right where you are. I hope that today has given you a glimpse into what you deserved and what Jesus came to do for you.