1. "There's always an opposition between those who view language as a matter of truth and those who view language as merely a means to their own power."

2. "On this memorable morning, it's as if Jesus is being introduced to all the various authorities to give all of them religious and secular, Jewish and Gentile, ownership, buy-in of the decision not to recognize Jesus for who he claimed to be."

3. "Beware of Pilate's example of trading justice for popularity. That is exactly what Pilate is doing here. He is listening to the people around him tell him to do bad things, and he's giving in. He's following the crowd to do wrong."

4. "Unjust authority is always terrible, and this is the worst of all, a politician who chooses to obey people when the people are disobeying God. Truth is never decided by a majority vote, not of a court down the street, nor of a party, nor even of a nation."

5. "When God Himself finally comes down and is among people, what would we do? Kill Him. Could our rebellion be any clearer? The truly guilty one is freed, and yet Christ, the truly innocent one, is killed."

6. "Barabbas is a precursor of us, guilty and yet freed through the death of Christ."

7. "The condemnation of the innocent one by the guilty ones is the high-water mark of the long rebellion of the sons of Adam against God."

8. "The surprise in this passage is not what's hidden, it's what's obvious. The surprise in this passage is that the Son of God, the Messiah, the innocent one, would be treated like this."

9. "The depth of Christ's punishment shows the seriousness of your sin. The way God takes our sin. And the death of Christ shows the payment he was willing to make in order to bring us forgiveness and restore our fellowship with him."

10. "When the chief priests of the temple act to kill the Lord of the temple, then you know the time of temple worship is done."

Observation Questions

1. According to Luke 22:66-71, what specific question did the Sanhedrin ask Jesus, and how did Jesus respond regarding His identity as "the Son of Man" (v. 69)?

2. In Luke 23:4, 14-15, and 22, what verdict does Pilate repeatedly declare about Jesus, and how many times does he make this declaration?

3. What happened when Jesus was brought before Herod according to Luke 23:8-11, and how did Herod and his soldiers treat Jesus?

4. According to Luke 23:18-25, who did the crowd demand to be released instead of Jesus, and what crimes had this man committed?

5. In Luke 23:34, what did Jesus pray for while being crucified, and what reason did He give for this request?

6. According to Luke 23:44-46, what three significant events occurred at the time of Jesus' death (the darkness, the temple curtain, and Jesus' final words)?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Jesus was examined by multiple authorities—the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and Herod—and found innocent by all of them, yet still condemned to death? What does this reveal about the nature of His death?

2. How does the exchange between Jesus and the two criminals on the cross (Luke 23:39-43) illustrate the sermon's teaching about salvation by faith rather than works?

3. What is the theological significance of the temple curtain being torn in two at the moment of Jesus' death (Luke 23:45)? How does this connect to the sermon's explanation of what Jesus accomplished on the cross?

4. The sermon describes Barabbas as "a precursor of us." In what ways does the release of guilty Barabbas and the condemnation of innocent Jesus picture the gospel message of substitutionary atonement?

5. Why does the sermon emphasize that Jesus "chose to lay down His life" rather than having it taken from Him? How does this understanding change the way we view the crucifixion narrative?

Application Questions

1. The religious leaders used language as "merely a means to their own power" rather than as "a matter of truth." In what specific situations this week might you be tempted to shade the truth for personal advantage, and how can Jesus' example of speaking truth even at great cost guide you?

2. Pilate surrendered justice to peer pressure from the crowd. What voices or pressures in your life (at work, in your family, or on social media) tempt you to compromise what you know is right? What practical step can you take to resist that pressure?

3. Jesus prayed "Father, forgive them" for the very people killing Him. Is there someone who has wronged you whom you have not yet forgiven? What would it look like this week to begin praying for that person's good rather than holding onto resentment?

4. The sermon noted that Jesus' disciples were "nowhere to be seen" while the women faithfully followed Him to the cross. In what ways might you be tempted to distance yourself from Christ or His people when following Him becomes costly or uncomfortable? How can you prepare yourself to remain faithful?

5. The thief on the cross had no opportunity to do good works, yet Jesus promised him paradise. How does this truth free you from trying to earn God's acceptance, and how might it change the way you share the gospel with someone who feels they are "too far gone"?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 53:1-12 — This prophecy, quoted in the sermon, describes the Suffering Servant who would be "numbered with the transgressors" and bear the sins of many, directly fulfilled in Jesus' crucifixion.

2. Psalm 22:1-18 — This psalm, referenced in the sermon regarding the dividing of Jesus' garments, prophetically depicts the mockery, suffering, and forsakenness experienced by the Messiah on the cross.

3. Hebrews 7:23-28 — Cited in the sermon's conclusion, this passage explains how Jesus serves as our perfect, sinless high priest who offered Himself once for all as the final sacrifice.

4. Hebrews 10:19-25 — This passage expands on the significance of the torn temple curtain, explaining how believers now have confident access to God through Jesus' blood and encouraging faithful community.

5. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 — This passage elaborates on the doctrine of substitutionary atonement illustrated by Barabbas, explaining how God made Christ "to be sin" so that we might become "the righteousness of God."

Sermon Main Topics

I. National Tastes and the Gospel as "Good News"

II. The Trial Before the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66-71)

III. The Examination Before Pilate (Luke 23:1-5)

IV. The Examination Before Herod (Luke 23:6-12)

V. The Choice of Barabbas and Pilate's Surrender (Luke 23:13-25)

VI. The Journey to Golgotha (Luke 23:26-31)

VII. The Crucifixion and Mockery (Luke 23:32-43)

VIII. The Death of Jesus and Responses (Luke 23:44-49)

IX. The Cross as God's Pulpit of Love

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Detailed Sermon Outline

having lived overseas for a few years, I think there may be something national to taste. So in England, humor can run to irony. The French seem to like their entertainments straight, even including dark humor and even despair. Germans sometimes are wondered whether or not they have any humor at all.

Americans seem to like things very straightforward. We like good news. In fact, the whole genres of literature are particularly American, so Horatio Alger in the late 19th century made his living by writing rags-to-riches stories of street boys who were born in poverty and worked their way up to respectable middle-class lives.

Well, when we come to the Gospels in the New Testament, we call them Gospels, we call them good news. Tom, how early were these books called Gospels as things? Do we know? I mean, they say the gospel like it's in Mark chapter 1, but do we know this kind of book was called a gospel?

So by the second century, so very early on, and that word gospel just means good news, good news. But if you've been following along in Luke's gospel, you know, with the passage we just got to, the news seemed to be not quite as straightforwardly good as we would think. This does not seem to be a sort of born in a manger in Bethlehem, poor, and now has made it good. I mean, it looked like that for a while. You know, he starts out at 30, he travels around the country, he's getting to be known, he's respected and honored.

But now, all of a sudden, in the passage we came to last week, the things that he's been saying that seemed dark and not really understood well by his followers, Those things seem to be coming true. There seems to be a turn. And so we saw last week when He was praying, He was actually arrested and taken away. We picked that narrative up this morning then as we look at Luke's recounting of the good news of Jesus. Our passage is a long one.

It's found on pages 883 and 884 in the Bibles provided. Luke, chapter 22, verse 66. Through chapter 23, verse 49. This morning we will simply walk through the passage in order. I just don't know how to make this clear enough to you people.

This morning we will simply walk through the passage in order.

That's the best I can do, all right? Visitors, our congregation is very used to having sermon outlines, and when the outline is not clear to them, conversations are had at the door about what the outline was. But just making it clear, today, you know what? We're going to walk through the passage just in order because it is so filled with significance that contributes to the overall theme that I couldn't think of a better way to do this. You could look at our passage in two halves.

The first half finds Jesus in a trial, really multiple examinations and questionings as the night of His arrest turns into the morning of His appearance before various officials in the crowds. So the trial is really what's going on from chapter 22, verse 66 over to chapter 23, verse 25. And if you're not used to looking at a Bible, the larger numbers are the chapter numbers and the smaller numbers are the verse numbers. The main character is, of course, Jesus. As I say, he's been teaching all over the country for a few years now, and at last he's come to Jerusalem, the national capital, at the national celebration of Passover, when they celebrated God bringing his people out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan, which had been promised by God to their forefather, Abraham.

But here Jesus, the prophet from Galilee who had just spent the week teaching great crowds in the temple precincts in Jerusalem, here tonight for the first time, he is brought face to face with the official leadership of the Jewish nation. The council, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, the Sanhedrin. Look there in chapter 22, verse 66. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council, and they said, 'If you are the Christ, tell us. '

But He said to them, 'If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.' so they all said, 'Are you the Son of God then?' and He said to them, 'You say that I am.' then they said, 'What farther testimony do we need? We've heard it ourselves from His own lips. ' Friends, this whole passage really turns on who Jesus really is. Early in the morning, it says, it's day now, maybe 5:00 a.m. Jesus is being questioned before the Sanhedrin.

If you are the Christ, tell us. Oh, if they had only asked that in a different spirit. Can you imagine if the leaders of Israel had turned to the Messiah and with open hearts asked them that question? Jesus here in verse 69 was claiming to have unique and exclusive oneness with God. Jesus honestly identified Himself there in verse 69 as the Son of Man.

And He had finally gotten to the time of His enthronement. But from now on, He says in verse 69, and so the ages change, the types of Bulls and goats, the shadows of chief priests, are just about to be swept away as the one truly innocent priest is about to offer himself as the one truly atoning sacrifice. The council understands what Jesus is saying. In verse 70 they hurl the truth at Jesus as if it's an accusation. So they all said, 'Are you the Son of God then?' and He said to them, 'You say that I am.

Whatever the exact force of Jesus's response, the absence of a denial means that the counsel has enough from Jesus. In their view, he convicts himself. And so they make the crucial decision. Then they said, what further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.

So the elders of Israel decide to reject their Messiah. They're making a deliberation to that end.

Jesus here is being judged. When Jesus affirmed his divinity to the Jewish elders, the council of elders concluded that Jesus was guilty as charged. Jesus told the truth about himself and his future at God's right hand, but so blind were the guardians of truth that from Jesus's mouth that very thing seemed to their eyes to condemn him. The ironic tragedy here is the judgment that the very ones who heard couldn't hear what was being said to them. And those who saw couldn't see the one who was standing before them, whose law they had spent their whole lives studying and teaching.

But we've got to keep going because now Jesus will finally meet face to face. The most powerful man in Jerusalem, at least in an earthly sense. You see the Sanhedrin didn't have the authority to do away with Jesus, so they had to go to those who did, and that meant the occupying Romans and their governor, Pilate. Now of course Pilate is not going to care much about a theological claim, but he would about a political one. And so they don't come telling Pilate that Jesus claims to be the Son of God.

No, they come telling Pilate Jesus claims to be the King of the Jews. That sounds like rebellion. Having been condemned for blasphemy before a spiritual court, the chief priests and other rulers now wanted Jesus condemned for treason before a political one. So look at chapter 23 at the beginning. They take Jesus to Pilate.

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King. And Pilate asked Him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?' and he answered him, 'You've said so.' Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, 'I find no guilt in this man, but they were urgent. Saying, 'He stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.' When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

So the point of this passage is to document that Jesus was innocent of anything deserving death. And that the Romans could see it. Right there in verse 4, Pilate says that he finds no guilt in this man. The first reader of Luke, Theophilus, is being shown again and again from the sources that the Romans investigated Jesus and found him innocent.

The religious leaders lie about Jesus' position on paying taxes. They well knew that's not what Jesus taught. But then these teachers seemed like they never were very constrained by concern for the truth of what they spoke. They cared more for its effect. Do you know people like that on the Hill?

There's always an opposition between those who view language as a matter of truth and those who view language as merely a means to their own power.

These religious leaders also complained about Jesus' popularity. And there in verse 5 they mentioned Galilee. Pilate hadn't realized Jesus came from up north. Galilee was Herod's territory. Herod was in town for Passover, so Pilate sent Jesus to Herod to further the examination.

There's no downside to it. It would show respect to Herod. It would help have a better examination. Maybe Herod would find some things that would be useful. And in case they needed to take some action against Jesus, it would make it more palatable, because then you have somebody else on the hook with him.

So, the religious leaders here take him to Herod. On this memorable morning, it's as if Jesus is being introduced to all the various authorities to give all of them religious and secular, Jewish and Gentile, ownership, buy-in of the decision not to recognize Jesus for who he claimed to be. So now for the first time, Jesus is brought face to face with Herod. Look down in verse 8.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see Him, because he had heard about Him. And he was hoping to see some sign done by Him. So he questioned Him at some length. But he made no answer. The chief priest and the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him.

And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

Well, like Pilate, Herod didn't find anything guilty in Jesus. Pilate says as much, summarizing to the crowds down in verse 15, Herod's finding. And that was even with, as we see in verse 10, Jesus being vehemently accused in his presence. But Herod was used to dealing with religious leaders accusing him. He was criticized all the time.

Herod clearly found in Jesus nothing deserving death. And yet that didn't mean that Herod believed in Jesus. It didn't mean he recognized Jesus for who He really was. Verse 11 shows a kind of mock honor that Herod gave Him that morning. But whatever their guilt for that mockery and derision, the point here is that again, as well as Pilate, Jesus is shown to have been examined and yet again to have been found righteous, perfectly innocent, pure.

As opposed to Pilate and Herod who found in their mutual mistreatment of Jesus that fellow feeling in sin which you can experience with those when you share in wrong.

And so it will be back to Pilate that Jesus goes. Now to have his story put up against someone who really was guilty of the kind of insurrection that the religious leaders were lying to convince Pilate that Jesus had been guilty of Barabbas. Look down to verse 13. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people and he said to them, you, brought me this man as one who was misleading the people and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us.

Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him. But they all cried out together, Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas! A man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.

Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, Crucify him! Crucify him! A third time he said to them, Why? What evil has He done? I have found in Him no guilt deserving death.

I will therefore punish and release Him. But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that He should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. There in verse 22 Pilate summarized his findings, found in Him nothing deserving death. He is declaring Jesus to be innocent of all the charges that is someone who is in that sense righteous and just legally compliant, religiously holy, and this is why Pilate is motivated to present a way out. There was this custom of releasing a prisoner during the Passover time.

It was like the way the conquering power Rome through a crust to the conquered power. I'll release one captive, one during your national celebration. How bad could one release be?

And especially when it's of someone that Pilate himself has examined. Jesus was such a popular rabbi, all right, I'll offer to release Jesus. And we know he's harmless. How good would that be? But harmless was not what he got.

Instead, his plan to offer them the popular rabbi Jesus didn't work. The crowd shouted for Barabbas, a real anti-Roman terrorist. So what would Pilate do? Look down at verse 24.

So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.

He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. Is that not the most craven act ever recorded in Scripture? The ruler, for the third time, publicly testifies to Jesus' innocence. The more Pilate examines Jesus, the more Jesus' innocence seems to show itself. But the crowd shouted there in verse 21, Crucify, crucify him.

Can you imagine the sounds of the crowd yelling that? Crucify, crucify him. Some sounds are so memorable they just stick in your mind. I wonder what sounds you have like that. Those of us who were here 20 years ago remember the sounds after 9/11 of the low jets overhead, day after day, week after week after 9/11 just circling.

A low, ominous sound. I wonder if the people who were there that day always remembered the sound of those crowds insistently shouting, Crucify! Crucify Him!

So what does Pilate end up doing? He releases a man who is known to be guilty. And condemns Jesus, sentencing him to be crucified. That verb that's used there in verse 25 is delivered. Luke says, Pilate delivered Jesus over to their will.

That's the same kind of language we find in the Old Testament when Israel delivered up their enemy, was delivered up to their enemies because of their sins. Mark and Matthew here and John all say that Pilate delivered up Jesus to be crucified, which is true. But Luke summarized it by highlighting the guilt of the people. Pilate delivered them over to their will.

Beware of Pilate's example of trading justice for popularity. Kids, you know how your parents tell you not to give in to peer pressure? Don't be around the bad crowd that will want you to do bad things.

That is exactly what Pilate is doing here. He is listening to the people around him tell him to do bad things, and he's giving in. He's following the crowd to do wrong.

Unjust authority is always terrible, and this is the worst of all, a politician who chooses to obey people when the people are disobeying God.

Truth is never decided by a majority vote, not of a court down the street, nor of a party, nor even of a nation. And this disobedience is the lowest and worst of them all. When God Himself finally comes down and is among people, what would we do?

Kill Him.

Could our rebellion be any clearer? The truly guilty one is freed, and yet Christ, the truly innocent one, is killed.

I bet I know one person that day who would have understood the idea of the substitutionary nature of Jesus' death, Barabbas. Jesus quite literally died in His place. The guilty one was pardoned while the truly innocent one would be sent to execution. But Jesus would die to bring a greater freedom than what Barabbas got. You see this, don't you, that Barabbas is a precursor of us, guilty and yet freed through the death of Christ.

Oh friend, if you want to understand the gospel, here's a little picture.

Of it for you, an illustration. The long history of God's prophets being mocked by God's people was coming to a climax. Jesus, the Messiah, would be rejected by the religious authorities and by the secular, by Romans and by Jews, by high and by low. Jesus was tried and the result was that He was found innocent again and again and again. And sentenced to crucifixion as if he had been found guilty.

Pilate surrenders justice to hate, hands an innocent man over to a bloodthirsty lynching mob. Even worse, he gives this mob his unique power to execute. Pilate delivers a man he has three times declared innocent to death. And the leaders of God's own people insist on Jesus' execution. Could our rebellion be any clearer?

The condemnation of the innocent one by the guilty ones is the high-water mark of the long rebellion of the sons of Adam against God. That's the first half of the passage, the trial.

The second half is now the execution. This is from verse 26 on to verse 49. Normally once the sentence of execution was handed down, the one to be crucified would carry his cross beam from his place of sentencing to his place of crucifixion. It was part of the punishment. And in this case it would be a trek from the middle of Jerusalem, the governor's palace, to just outside one of its main gates.

Where Jesus would be crucified in full view of the entering and exiting pilgrims, an example for all who would see what happens to those who dare contend with Rome for rule. But Jesus was weakened from lack of sleep, from being beaten earlier that morning. So now Luke's account follows Jesus along the way from the governor's palace to Golgotha. Look at verse 26. And as they led Him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus.

And there followed Him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for Him. But turning to them, Jesus said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

The note there in verse 26 is interesting, showing us not only what bad shape Jesus was in, but also it kind of confirms the historicity of the account. Though Jesus' own disciples were nowhere to be seen taking up their crosses as He had exhorted them to be, and as they had pledged they would be, the authorities seized Simon of Cyrene. Simon of Cyrene was in North Africa, and it's interesting, Mark's Gospel at this point mentions that Simon was known as the father of Alexander and Rufus. So known family in the church at the time these Gospels were written a couple of decades later. Just another little historical note of the veracity of these accounts.

Clearly, he and his family became known among the first generation of Christians. Even as he's led away, Jesus keeps fulfilling his great prophetic calling of telling God's people the truth. Verse 30 is a traditional prophetic warning about the horrors of the coming judgment, and the contrast in verse 31 is saying that if it's bad now, what do you think it's going to be like later after I'm gone? Jesus receives the care of aliens. And in turn the care of women who were still following Him when the men were long gone.

But Jesus was also accompanied by the Roman soldiers, you see. Look verse 32.

Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' At verse 26, really the cameras turn away from the halls of the great where they've been since Jesus' arrest that previous night. The chief priests, Pilate, Herod, they're no longer the players.

Now, it's only some soldiers on detail, some mourning women, and condemned criminals. We turn from the urgent affairs of state to the grim, dirty work of the executioner. But this type of execution is far more torturous than ever was the rope or the guillotine, the sword or the gun. Now, the cross was made to be publicly and ostentatiously cruel. Crucifixion was understood in the Greek and Roman world to be the cruelest of all punishments and generally reserved for the rebellious, for vassals, for usurpers.

It had long been used. The Phoenicians had originated it, from what we can tell. Alexander the Great had used it. Crucifixion was normally a political and military punishment, especially used for those who rebelled against authorities. Like Barabbas in our passage, he would have been natural to be crucified.

But crucifixion was also used on people who had no rights among the Romans, the dangerous or the disposable. It was used against those whose lives were considered worthless when they transgressed the law. So here in verse 32 we have three convicts, two nameless criminals and the third, Jesus. Being led out to a place just outside the city wall, Jesus was being numbered with the transgressors. He was being shamed.

Remember the night before Jesus had reminded the disciples that the prophecy from Isaiah that Jen read earlier would be fulfilled. That prophesied the shame that was coming for him and for those who would follow him. Back up in chapter 22 verse 37.

We read, For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in Me, and He was numbered with the transgressors, for what is written about Me has its fulfillment. The Lord prophesied in Isaiah 53:12, He poured out His soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors, yet He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. Friends, the surprise in this passage is not what's hidden, it's what's obvious. The surprise in this passage is that the Son of God, the Messiah, the innocent one, would be treated like this. If you didn't know this story, if you weren't so familiar with it, if you were hearing it for the first time, And you've read throughout who Jesus is and what He's like, and you were empathizing with Jesus.

When you get to this point, you're surely going, no, no, it shouldn't be this way. Friends, that's what happens in this story. We read here of the terrible work of the Roman soldiers. I mean, could Jesus have been rejected any more fully? And yet in verse 34, as they were literally killing Him, What was Jesus doing?

He was praying for them, literally while they were killing Him. John Gill comments that the way Jesus prayed here suggests that some of Christ's own elect were among His crucifiers that day. Were probably saved when Peter preached at Pentecost a few weeks later. Theirs was not the high-handed opposition to Jesus. Of the chief priests.

They didn't know the prophecies or that Jesus was the Messiah. Ignorance is not the basis of Christ's intercession. But it may describe those that God has chosen to set His love upon. I love how J.C. Ryle put it, None are too far gone in sin for His almighty heart to take interest about their souls. He wept over unbelieving Jerusalem.

He heard the prayer of the dying thief. He stopped under the tree to call the tax collector Zacchaeus. He came down from heaven to turn the heart of the persecutor Saul. He found time to pray for his murderers, even on the cross.

After all, this is the one who had taught back in Luke 6, Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. In verse 34 we see they divide up his clothes, fulfilling more of the picture of forsakenness predicted, prophesied in Psalm 22.

Jesus was the suffering servant that Jesus pointed to, and His suffering continues there. Verse 34, Look, in the middle of the verse, they cast lots to divide his garments, and the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, His chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, if you're the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him: this is the King of the Jews.

Friends, even that little bit at the end of verse 34 about them casting lots to divide his garments, this was a little part of it, but part nonetheless, and it epitomized the ruin, the obliteration, the crucifixion. The crucifixion was to someone. The crucified wouldn't be needing its clothing anymore. And so it could be taken. It could be sold for a pittance, but some extra remuneration for the work that they have gone through in the crucifixion.

Crucifixion really represents the uttermost in humiliation. So those being crucified were stripped naked. They were left no clothes to hide their bodies writhing or to give any final protection to their dignity. So too, this would all take place in a prominent location simply because it increased their humiliation. One of crucifixion's most important roles was as a deterrent.

So it was always done publicly, not merely in any public location, but especially normally in a prominent one. The authorities wanted spectators before whom the crucified would be humiliated.

And they got them here. Look there in verse 35, it says, the people stood by watching. That may seem grotesque, but friends, you've seen photographs of lynchings. You've seen photographs of the hangings just down the street where the Supreme Court is now, where they hung the Lincoln conspirators, hundreds of people standing around watching. And this was the day of the Coliseum and the gladiator.

They were used to that kind of public blood.

Even in our own day, our generation becomes steeled against the impulses to decency. And to help those we see as our entertainment increasingly is composed of not actors, but reality TV, as the staged sorrows of other people become mere entertainment for us. According to the Law of Moses, anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You can understand why, can't you? I mean, this is being cursed.

He saved others, verse 35, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, His chosen one. The irony of it. Calling Jesus to prove His Messiahship by saving Himself. When he was actually fulfilling his messiahship by staying there and dying for the salvation of all those who would turn and trust in him. Friend, if you're here today just with a family member at Thanksgiving, they convince you to go to church with them.

This is the good news that Christianity brings. It may have come strangely packaged, not what you were thinking of, not a bright, happy story. But friends, the depth of Christ's punishment shows the seriousness of your sin.

The way God takes our sin. And the death of Christ shows the payment he was willing to make in order to bring us forgiveness and restore our fellowship with him. If you will trust in Christ today, if you will have faith in him, you can be forgiven of your sins. If you want to know more about that, talk to the family member you came with. Talk to one of the the pastors at the doors on the way out.

We would love to help you understand more of the good news that all of this is for us as Christians. Crucifixion was an horrendous way to die, much more so than most others people have conceived. It was occasionally used in medieval France, even in 19th century Japan, but the practice largely stopped when Constantine outlawed it in 315 AD. Back in the ancient world when crucifixion was depicted in fiction, the hero would usually be threatened with crucifixion, but then would be freed just in time. It was practically inconceivable that the protagonist of a story, somebody you're supposed to sympathize with, will himself be crucified.

Thus the interest that Luke and Luke's readers have, not just in the fact that Jesus died, but also particularly in this method He died like this. He died being crucified. This is an unheard of story, let alone one to be called good news, that this favored one, in whom there is no fault, this special representative of God himself would die and die like this. The people, the rulers, the soldiers all mocked him. Even when Jesus had been nailed to the cross, the abuse didn't stop.

Those who knew Him best, who should have known who Jesus was, most clearly rejected Him. Brothers and sisters, if you would follow this One who was so mocked and rejected, you must be prepared to be mocked and rejected as well.

At work, at home, and you must be prepared to be forgiving as Jesus forgave here. We as a church are a community of forgiveness, imperfectly, but really and committedly, because we understand what it means to be forgiven. Which brings us to these two thieves. Look there at verse 39. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, 'Are you not the Christ?

Save yourself and us!' But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.

Even in this extremity, it's Jesus' mission to save. He is saving. Jesus is crucified between two thieves. One clearly knew something of Jesus' teaching and believed, and he received such a sweet promise there in verse 43, didn't he? Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.

Oh, go find a good Spurgeon sermon just on that verse and enjoy it this afternoon. Today you will be with Me in paradise. Salvation is clearly not based on our works. He had none. Based on Christ's righteousness.

Remember the old comment about the two thieves at Calvary, One was saved that none might despair, and only one that none might presume.

Jesus came to save sinners, and that's why we sing and pray and testify as we do. And evidently from this assurance of salvation of the one of them here, his sacrifice would work. God gives a gift of faith to the most unlikely people.

Friend, if you're hearing my voice, are you really a less likely convert than this thief in the process of being executed?

In verse 44 we come to the end, including Jesus' prayer there. Verse 44, It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' and having said this, He breathed His last. This last expression of Jesus' life was His trust in His heavenly Father. Jesus had taken the cup of His wrath against the sins of His people and He had drunk it to the dregs.

He had exhausted it. One way you can tell that is that detail in verse 45 about the curtain of the temple being torn in two. The curtain of the temple symbolized the separation of holy God and sinful man. The curtain being torn in two symbolized that that separation had now been breached. The glory of Jerusalem, as they would call the temple, was being judged because they were rejecting the one who truly was their glory.

When the chief priests of the temple act to kill the Lord of the temple, Then you know the time of temple worship is done. The ripped curtain bore silent, though eloquent, testimony that God was done with that. And it visually showed the way to God was now unhindered and opened because of the death of Christ.

We read in verse 46, Jesus breathed His last. His final expression was to quote Scripture, testifying of His trust in His Heavenly Father. Note even here in His final words in verse 46, Jesus addresses God as His Father and He sovereignly directs His Spirit even in His final breath.

The last three verses of our passage detail some responses to Jesus' death. Look there in verse 47. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God saying, 'Certainly this man was innocent.' and all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle when they saw what had taken place returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. The centurion, the leader of the Roman troops at the cross, declared Jesus innocent.

Righteous, just. It's interesting, Mark and Matthew here record him as calling him a Son of God. I think Jesus is seeing Jesus' identity and Jesus' innocence go together. To understand who he is is to understand that he's innocent. To understand his innocence is to understand something vital of who he is.

These soldiers can see and say that Jesus was like this Though that very morning when the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders, had made such language about Jesus a charge against Him. But here we see the surprising recipients of God's grace. The Gentiles praise Him. His own people lament His death. His disciples watch at a distance.

So the Son of God would become a man, pour out His soul to death. And be numbered with the transgressors, so bearing the sin of many. This is what was going on at the cross, the staggering cost of our rebellion met by the overwhelming ocean of God's loving provision in Christ.

Our text is over.

What else do we need to say in understanding it? We read in Hebrews 7 verse 26, For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all time when he offered up himself. Do you remember Jesus had taught, I lay down my life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

In Luke we do see Jesus being crucified, but we also understand that Jesus was choosing to lay down his life. He could have prevented this in so many ways. But Jesus offered up Himself in love for us to save us from our sins. Augustine said, the cross was a pulpit in which Christ preached His love to the world.

It's only because of Christ's substitutionary death that we can sing, My sin, not in part but the whole, has been nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. That hymn was written by Horatio Spafford, a successful businessman in Chicago who lost much of his wealth in the Chicago fire of 1871. In the months that followed his wife and his health deteriorated.

So as a means of emotional and spiritual recovery, Horatio Spafford booked a passage for him and his family to Europe on one of the most luxurious liners of the time, the French liner Ville de Havre. At the last minute, he had some pressing business that he needed to take care of, so he sent ahead Anna and their four daughters planning to join them on the next ship after he finished his business. This past week was the 150th anniversary of the tragedy that interrupted Spafford's plans. Early in the morning of November 22nd, 1873, the steamer, Vilda Hav, collided with a British sailing vessel, the Loch Earn, and sank within 12 minutes. In the disaster, over 200 lives were lost, including all four of the Spofford children.

Spofford received a cable from Cardiff Wales from his wife in which she had these words, saved alone. The ship had sunk. Mrs. Spofford had survived. Their four daughters had perished. Horatio followed his family across the ocean as soon as he could book passage.

When they got to the exact spot where the tragedy had occurred, the captain pointed it out to Mr. Spofford. He penned these simple words, It is well. And later, reflecting on them, wrote this hymn. It's a hymn you find on page 17 in your bulletin.

It's a hymn not about his daughter's lives lost, but about the life of the Lord Jesus, lost being nailed to the cross.

And because of Christ laying down his life for his sheep, being numbered with his transgressors, he bore our sins on the cross. So that we no longer have to. That's what Jesus was doing, dying on the cross like He did. That's how the cross becomes, as Augustine says, a pulpit of God preaching His love for us in Christ. That's why Jesus came to be crucified.

Let's pray together. Lord God, we pray that you would teach us the truth of the Lord Jesus and His sacrificial love for us. Teach us more of who Christ is and of what He's done. Sanctify our hearts and lives, we pray, with that love. We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.