I invite you to take your Bibles tonight and turn to John chapter 19, John chapter 19. And tonight we will be looking at Christ being delivered up to be crucified. I was reading a comment the other day by a pastor who said there's a great gulf between the Christianity that wrestles with the decision whether to worship or to face, by going to worship, persecution, and possibly death, or the choice to go to the soccer game and worship. It's an entirely different Christianity, this author says. I think it's important to recognize that the cross is the answer to a sort of superficial Christianity. The cross takes us to the depths of, as we look at it, what Christ actually did for us, wanting us to think about, contemplate, meditate upon the depths of his sufferings for us, what he endured. It gives us detail for that end so that we would be humble before him and that we'd receive this gift with understanding and with thanksgiving. And that's the goal tonight to look at John chapter 19 and verses 1 through 16 to consider what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. And that's such a wonderful truth that is set before us tonight. So let's give our attention to John chapter 19. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him, and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus came out wearing the cross of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, we have a law and according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from? Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on, Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews 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 him down on the judgment seat at the place called the Stone Pavement in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, Behold your king. They cried out, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. There will end tonight the reading of God's Word. Well, I want you to think of something beautiful that we confess in our Heidelberg Catechism, something that is so precious to us, the great truth of why Jesus endured and went through the crucifixion for us. And this question is given, is it significant that he was crucified instead of dying some other way? And the answer is yes. By this I'm convinced that he shouldered the curse which lay on me, since death by crucifixion was cursed by God. Well, why did Christ have to suffer death? Because God's justice and truth require it. Nothing else could pay for our sins, nothing else, except the death of the Son of God. I'm convinced that the more we meditate on that great truth and think through that great truth, think about the passion, what we call the passion of Christ, the death of Christ, and what he endured for us, it actually has a strengthening effect upon us. This is the heart of preaching the gospel. This is the heart of making known the person in the work of Christ. This is the fulfillment of all that the scriptures talk about, and it helps us to have a confidence that God loves us, that God's favor is upon us. The cross, said Martin Luther, the cross itself, what we're studying tonight, going to be crucified, the cross itself is evidence, said Luther, that we do not choose God. It's evidence itself that God chose us, and that's what I want to show you tonight for who would put themselves through this. It's evidence God chose us. Think about those who have faith and believe in this truth. Think about you who all have come together tonight because you believe this great truth. This is a wonderful truth. It's a declaration to you God chose you, and let me show you how he chose you. That's something I think that John chapter 19 helps us with. So what I want to do tonight is very simple, is have us think about the crucifixion, that it would lead us to do one thing, and that is to praise him and to thank him for such a gift as this. I want to look at it and conclude on that. This is evidence of God's love for us, that he would deliver his son, God who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not freely with him graciously give us everything? Jesus is in this particular section in the second round of trials. The first was by the Jews. It was sort of the religious trial, if you will, the trial over the doctrine, and it was full of hypocrisy. The whole thing was full of hypocrisy. It's a sad case in studying what we've been looking at in Matthew, the external religion of the Pharisees that would wash the outside of the cup, but their hearts were murdering the Son of God on the inside. They have held the trial of Jesus at one in the morning. So if this were today, most of us were sleep. Pressuring him with lies and blood money to incriminate himself. The question, they questioned him viciously about his doctrine, what he believed, what he was teaching. And after being before Israel's corrupt leadership, Annas and Caiaphas, he has now been led away to the praetorium. Jesus is now before Pilate himself, the governor of the southern half of Palestine, And the rigorous questioning has begun. You'll notice here the issue with Pilate. There is one concern that's driving Pilate. This is the only reason this case has made it this far. The Jews knew exactly what they were doing. It had the goal because they said Jesus, the charge against Jesus was that he was claiming to be king and that he was a threat to Caesar's throne. Romans did not mess around with that. So Pilate has to question him. Pilate's job is on the line if some insurrectionists were common. So in verse 38, we have this statement that Pilate found no fault in him at all. That's the thread through the whole thing. Pilate never finds fault in him. He's not a threat to the throne of Caesar. He's not promoting insurrection. He's not promoting rebellion. That's Pilate's conclusion all the way through. But Pilate made an offer to the Jews, since it was the custom to release a criminal at the feast, that they could release Jesus, and their rage was so fierce against our Lord, they instead preferred, remember, Barabbas, the thief and the murderer, to be released and Jesus to continue to be crucified. So here we are. This is the moment of the decision. you sort of have the arraignment and the charge and the verdict, just like a court case we would have today. When crimes were committed, the Romans took this very seriously. They had rules about how this was to go. According to Roman law, no one could be put to death until he had been brought to trial. And he had to be arraigned and confronted, and he had to have the charges read, and he had to have the opportunity for giving a defense. So this is exactly what's happening here. Pilate knows there's nothing against him. Pilate actually, through this whole thing, is looking for a way of release. Pilate knew there was something about Jesus. There was something about Jesus that troubled him. There was something about Jesus that he knew was not right. And in some ways, Pilate feared Jesus because he wanted to get to the determination of who Jesus is. That's what's on his mind. What should a just ruler do? When you know somebody is not guilty, you should release him. That's what a just ruler would do. It's almost as if everything in this section is working against the death of Christ in some ways with Pilate. Except the Jews. So that here we notice he was taken by lawless hands and crucified would be the message that the apostles would take out as they first spoke the gospel to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. He did not deserve this. He in himself was innocent. He did not do anything worthy of any of this. It's a big point that the authors always make when they preach the gospel. But what happens here? Well, this is where we pick up tonight. Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. Verse 1. That's nothing to read over quickly. It was an awful form of torture to be scourged. Jesus spoke of it this way. The Son of Man, when he constantly referenced what he would go through, He would constantly say, the Son of Man has to be scourged and then delivered over to death. This was a horrible thing to go through. The flagellum was a whip that had many strands, and it was about three feet long with the strands as it had a wood handle. And they were weighted, the strands were weighted with lead balls and pieces of bone so that when it struck your back, it tore in. It was designed to lacerate. And the church historian Eusebius records this, and he says, when people would come to watch a scourging, the bystanders were always struck with amazement when they saw them lacerated to the inmost veins, so that the hidden parts of the body were shown through this. Both their bowels and their members were even exposed. They would take the criminal, they would strip him of his clothing, they would beat him with these things until he's covered with blood. It was awful pain. It often killed those who received it. So the first here is that what's mentioned is the lashing of the body, and then comes the shame that was intended for Jesus. In verse 2, the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and they put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. I remember they're in the courtyard of the praetorium, so apparently Pilate had ordered, in addition to the scourging, that a crown of thorns be made, and that it be twisted, and that it be the long piercing thorns that it would dig into into his head. They then would take a purple robe, which represented royalty, and they would dress it over his scourged body. John doesn't add this, but we know from the other Gospels that they put a reed in his hand as a scepter to hold, so they would make him appear as a king, mocking him in the worst sort of way. What kind of king, if he were a king, would take this? And then comes something unimaginable. What begins to happen in the courtyard is that the soldiers get in ranks, you'll notice here, and they begin to march. And they give a hail coronation to the king, you'll notice. Hail the king of the Jews, verse 3. And as they marched, they all began to punch him with their hands as they marched in mockery, saluting him as the king. They were taking blows to his face, giving blows. This is a horrible scene. How do you communicate as a pastor right now who this is? This is the Son of God who took on humanity for us. This is the one through whom everything was made. He's enduring this? I mean, I think we're meant to be aghast at this. Who is this? Think of all that we confess about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the one who had glory with his Father before the world was. verse 4 Pilate went out again and said to them behold I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him in doing this Pilate was hoping one thing that if he could humiliate Jesus enough if he could shame Jesus enough, the entire mob would calm down, and Pilate would not have to execute a man he knows is not guilty. So he brings him out, verse 5, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate says, behold the man, here he is. You know what Pilate just did. The judgment halls were constructed in such a way that it faced the street, and Pilate would have a seat, he would take, he would render his judgments on this platform and this terrace, and all the peoples would gather under, and they would hear the render of the judgment of Pilate when he came out in court session to render the judgments and give the ultimate judgment. Well, Pilate brings him out, and can you imagine the sight of this? Here is Jesus covered with blood, on his head is a crown of thorns, he has a robe of mockery, he's been scourged, and he's holding a reed to mock him as if he held a scepter and you would expect from his own people compassion at this point here's the man mercy somebody from the crowd mercy we love the scene if you've ever watched Braveheart the scene where when he's on the chopping block the ladies are all yelling out mercy mercy not one person says it you see what he just did though Pilate look at him is this enough I've dealt with him i've dealt with him and you read the most ominous words words in verse six that when the chief priest saw officers saw him they cried out crucify him crucify him not enough. We want you to give him the most painful death possible. We want you to take his body and we want you to nail him to that cross, put him there as a common criminal, and you keep him there until he suffers the long, slow death so that we never see him again. John wants us to see how bad human depravity is here. It's just, it's not enough. It's not enough. Isn't this something? When we render the judgment, what is our judgment? That's not enough. Of course, we would criticize God for his judgment. Death. You give him death. Here's God's gift to the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And after the flogging, and after the beating, and after the mockery, the rage was so fierce. Give him the worst death possible. The charge is the arraignment. The charge, Pilate needs a charge, verse 7. The Jews answered him, we have a law according to our law. He ought to die because he made himself the son of God. Pilate hears that, and now he's deathly afraid. That one scared him. The Jewish charge was, of course, this man makes himself the son of God. That's the charge. Pilate had no knowledge of the true God. Pilate was in the pantheon of Roman gods. He bowed to many gods. But he did believe, as they believed in the Romans, that one of the sons of gods would often come down as beggars. Pilate was concerned about something else. Here's what Matthew says. As he's sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, this is Matthew, saying, have nothing to do with this just man, for I've suffered many things today in a dream because of him. Yeah, that probably freaked me out a little bit. Where are you from? I want to know. What a question. What a question. You know, what a question. He just prayed about the glory he had with his father. This is the eternal son of God. Where are you from? By the way, if we were to die like this unjustly, we would disclose anything we could to get out of it. Wouldn't we? What do you read in the next line? But Jesus gave him no answer. Who are you? They're saying you're the son of God. Do you know that I have the power to crucify you and the power to release you? You better answer me. Now this might have scared me more than anything if I were Pilate. You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has committed the greater sin. Pilate, you were given this power. You were given this power right at this moment. At this point, it's over for Pilate. He doesn't want to touch this man. He wants nothing to do with this man. But the Jews level what we see the charge now is that brought the final conclusion to the matter. The Jews knew just what they were doing. They say in verse 12, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. That was it. That's all they needed to do at the end of the day. Pilate, if you release him, we will tell Caesar that you are sanctioning a rebellion, that he was sanctioning rebellion against Caesar and you did absolutely nothing about it, you would be disloyal to your emperor. And Pilate knew, had that charge come, had that been investigated, and he'd find out that he let Jesus off, he would be outed himself. So the verdict happens in verse 13. Then Pilate, when he heard therefore that saying, brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat in the place called the pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Notice this, he's on a terrace facing that public street. This is where Pilate ruled. So he sits down, and he sits down in the position of the judge, and he's presiding now. The judge has presided. All take their seat, and here the verdict is rendered. In Gabbatha, in Hebrew, it's a raised place. It's a lofty place of judgment. So Pilate judges. Behold, he says, you're king. But they cried, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate says, this is almost last-ditch effort. Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, listen to this, of all the history of Israel culminating right now, from the beginning when they asked for a king and they wanted Saul and they didn't want the Lord as their king, We have no king but Caesar. That's the Jews. What a tragic thing. They never wanted the Lord to rule over them. Does anyone really want the Lord to rule over them? We read in Matthew that Pilate took water and washed his hands before them. I'm innocent of the blood of this man. And the people said, his blood be upon us and our children. That's the blood of the covenant. Blood of the covenant's for us and our children. Pilate renders the judgment, though it's not stated here. It goes like this. This Jesus from Nazareth, since this Jesus of Nazareth has set himself up as king of the Jews and is a seditious rebel against the imperial crown Caesar, I sentence him to death on the cross that he be punished and hanged on the cross as a rebel. And our text ends by saying he was delivered over to be crucified. Now, I wouldn't do justice to any of this tonight without closing this by giving us some deeper meaning to it. Everything the scriptures foretold is happening according to the predetermined plan of God. Keep this in mind, none of us would be here. None of us would be here tonight. We would all be under the judgment of God had Pilate pulled it off to get him off that cross. You have to look at this with the spiritual eyes that John's gospel is often using when it speaks of spiritual things. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. God did that to his son, put him through that for us. Christ is wearing a thorn-filled crown. He's become the curse. If you've ever thought what Judgment Day is going to be like, it's going to be awful. We don't hear about it much. It's going to be awful for those who don't believe. remember what Adam did in the garden, first thing when God's presence came down after that time, it wasn't a stroll in the garden, Adam ran as fast as he could, and hid himself, and he tried to clothe himself, his shame, Jesus is being stripped here, open, facing the judgment of God, If you're a believer tonight, this is your judgment day. This is it. This is when it happened. You see what's happening? He's been scourged. He's wearing the crown of curse. He's been openly shamed. He's been ridiculed. He's been exposed. Here is your Savior who became one of us. What's he doing? Flogged for your sin right now. For your sins. Every one of those sins you do, and you continue to do, and you continue to run to. You know all that carelessness that we give? He did it. He took it on. And God wants you to understand something tonight. He's put on trial before a civil judge, as our Heidelberg says, to teach us about the true judgment, that this was a legitimate judgment, but that there was a greater judgment of one who took his seat that day. Crucify, crucify him, but I find no fault in him. There was no fault. That's the point of the gospel. He was without fault, but you were of fault. And what we see tonight, beloved, is the Lord stepping into our place and standing before his Father who loved him who took the seat of judgment who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. He wore our shame. He took our lashes. Most of all, he endured the cross. And something happened on that cross that no writer could describe. He suffered in his soul the wrath of God for you. It was poured out upon him. He bore it. He took it on. And he sustained in body and soul the wrath of God. He freed us, as our Heidelberg says, right then and there from the severe judgment of God. what is to be the effect? How did the apostles preach? Well, there was a gravity to the message. There was a weight to the message. They wanted people to take this life pretty seriously. They wanted people to realize there's a judgment to come and there's a way to escape that. So, when they preached, they said, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and the righteous one and asked for murder to be granted to you, and you killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead. And you think any of the sins you've ever committed, that sin is captured right there, and what are the apostles offering to all sinners? The forgiveness of their sin. him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God you have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death whom God raised up having loose the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it and today he calls all men to repentance believe the gospel turn to him look to him he will wash you of all your sins Now, isn't that the best news that I could possibly give tonight? He went through that for you. Now, as Luther, think about Luther's comment. You want to know about election? You want to know the cross is evidence that God chose you and that you did not choose him. Don't you see why? Because we did all that while we were enemies. He died for us. So the response is, believe it, and come to the table tonight with access and with boldness, knowing if you've repented and believed in Jesus Christ, God is for you. There is no more condemnation. AD 30, he took it, and that is your greatest joy in this life. Let us be believing, dear flock. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for such a gift. Thank you for your favor. Thank you for your mercies. thank you for so rich a gift we can barely begin to understand it, the depths of your love. Give us believing hearts, O Lord, and let us trust you, all that you've done for us, that we might have certainty of your steadfast love that you've given your son, and he's done all necessary to relieve us and forgive us and set us free in the joy of this comfort and in that comfort we thank you tonight for our Lord Jesus Christ's passion and death. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.