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good morning to everyone welcome back to free grace Baptist Church and a new welcome if there's anybody here for the first time it's a joy to have visitors with us just a few announcements before we begin our worship this morning first it is the luncheon today our fellowship luncheon so everyone is welcome after the the morning service pastor Butler will pray for the food and then you can go up into the the fellowship luncheon hall there at the back a reminder to line up against the back wall also a reminder if you didn't bring any food this morning you can only eat the baby carrots but uh know everybody's well join us for the you brought food or not feel free to join us for good food and in good conversation good fellowship secondly it is the youth meeting this upcoming Thursday 7 p.m. at the corn maze in Chilliwack again that's this upcoming Thursday 7:00 p.m. corn maze Chilliwack there'll be an email that will be sent out for more details so keep your computers in the prone position ready to receive that email thirdly there are some there's some Tupperware in the fellowship luncheon hall that was left after the last luncheon so if you need it and you want to keep it and you want it to still be yours if you could grab it today that would be good and you can use it and take that home it's in the fellowship luncheon hall on top of the microwave well let's move to sacred things then as we turn to the worship of our great triune God if you'll turn in your Bibles with me to Psalm 18 Psalm 18 for our ulta worship this morning when you get to Psalm 18 we'll begin reading at verse 31 Psalm 18 verse 31 for who is God except the Lord and who is a rock except our God it is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect he makes my feet like the feet of deer and sets me on my high places he teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bowl of bronze you have also given me the shield of your salvation your right hand has held me up your gentleness has made me great you enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them neither did I turn back again until they were destroyed I have wounded them so that they could rise they have fallen under my feet for you have armed me with strength for the battle you have subdued under me those who rose up against me you have also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me they cried out but there was none to save even to the Lord but he did not answer them then I beat them as fine as the dust before the wind I cast them out like dirt in the streets you have delivered me from the strivings of the people you have made me the head of Nations a people I have not known shall serve me as soon as they hear of me they obey me the foreigners submit to me the foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts the Lord lives blessed be my rock let the god of my salvation be exalted it is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me he delivers me from my enemies you also lift me up above those who rise against me you have delivered me from the violent man therefore I will give thanks to you O Lord among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name great deliverance he gives to his king and shows mercy to his anointed to David and his descendants forever more amen well let's stand and sing our first hymn is going to be read Trinity Salter that Psalm 24 - a familiar tune let's stand and sing Psalm for together [Music] let us go to our God in prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we come to you now in prayer rejoicing on this your Lord's day Sabbath that we can gather together in this place to Son and Holy Spirit and truly we pray Lord God that once again your name would be hallowed in this place we pray that you would be the one who receives all friend praise we do pray for this throughout the world Lord God Almighty that your name would be praised that you would be rejoiced in that you would be revered that your people would be found in awe before the thrice holy God of heaven and earth we do pray that you would receive honor and praise that from the lips today of all your saints you would receive much honor and truly we rejoice in you we rejoice in you that one who is infinite eternal and unchangeable and all of his glorious perfections that one who sits in the heavens and casts his eyes as it were down upon this lower habitation of ours to regard the sons of men we thank you that you have condescended to reveal yourself we thank you that we can cast our eyes upon a creation where we see that creation preaching sermons as it were concerning the one who is exalted above the heavens that there is one in the heavens and who has created all things who does uphold all things we thank you that you have revealed yourself specially and peculiarly and particularly in the 66 books of the old and new testaments we thank you that you have made your will known to us and we thank you that in your Holy Word we can find out discover we can explore and land upon those precious truths concerning Jesus Christ that in the Bible page after page chapter after chapter speaks concerning that one who came into the world sinners to save and we rejoice in that truth we rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ our Savior we thank you for what your word discloses that he came that you did send him in the fullness of the times born of a woman and born under the law to redeem those who are under the law and we thank you that Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to save the truly we rejoice in that precious truth and we know that our salvation is not by deeds of righteousness which we have done we know that salvation comes by amazing and victorious grace that it is by your mercy and by your eternal loving kindness by grace that we are saved we thank you that that salvation comes by virtue of the perfect work of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ that he was the obedient one that he was the one who perfected your law that he obeyed your law in the place of all those who believe in his name that he never broke covenant but that he kept covenant for all those who believe in his name we thank you that he bore our curse upon Calvary's cross we rejoice in a cross not of maybe or perhaps but a cross wherein we have full atonement we thank you Lord God that he bore the curse for all who believe in his name that he took upon himself in his own body our sins upon that tree that we having died to sin might live for righteousness by His stripes we are healed and we rejoice in that truth we thank you rotating the third day and that he now sits at your right hand having ascended he sits at your right hand where he ever lives to intercede for all of his people we rejoice in the fact he rules and he reigns over his enemies and that he subdues the hearts of his elect by the proclamation of the word and the power of the sent Spirit of God we do pray Lord God that you'd help us to this day rejoice in our Savior to rejoice in Father Son and Holy Spirit to give you praise we do pray that you would forgive us afresh in the blood of the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ rejoicing each and every one of your people here in this place that we have that fountain opened up for sin and uncleanness and that we can avail of the forgiveness of sins not by virtue of our own deeds in our own doings but by virtue of the perfection the saving work of Jesus Christ our Lord we do pray Lord that you'd be with those who need prayer for physical things as we pray each and every Lord's Day and Lord God for those who are struggling with illness and disease we do just pray that you'd strengthen our dear brothers and sisters who are afflicted we think Lord God of Sioux that you'd watch over her that you'd strengthen and heal her Lord God help her to no gains and strength that you would just heal her of her illness Lord we do just pray that you'd comfort her unable to join us that you would nevertheless strengthen her away from us that you would heal her body and cause her in the midst of suffering and affliction to rejoice in her God and in her Christ we do pray Lord that you be with Dawn Neufeld with this pain in the face we do just pray that you'd strengthen him and give him comfort Lord we do pray that you would continue to bless him that you'd watch over him that in the midst of his ongoing afflictions and physical struggles Lord that you would attend to the inner man and cause him in the midst of those things to rejoice in his God to be resigned to your will in all things and to be found with comfort of gospel reflecting upon the glories of his Christ we do pray for each and every one who is struggling with illness and disease Lord that you'd watch over them you would bring them much help and that again in the midst of these things that they would be anxious not anxious but that in the midst of these they would they would find in you their strength and you their comfort and that they would be resigned to your wise counsel in all things we do pray Lord that you'd be with those struggling spiritually that you'd lift them up that you would strengthen them in the inner man we do pray that each and every one of us in this church that you'd help us to grow in the Grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ that you would help us to be unified in the things of your revelation of your truth we pray that we would be as one man in one spirit striving for the faith of the gospel and that you would rally us around those precious truths of Holy Scripture we do pray Lord God that you would be with those around the world who suffer persecution for the cause of Christ be with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in many nations where would they don't enjoy the liberties the freedoms to gather together as we do we do pray that you'd watch over those who are under the heavy arms and the the violence of governments and and citizens that just daily rail against them we do pray that you'd watch over them and protect them that you'd caused them Lord God to find comfort in you and their risen Christ we do pray that they would be protected by you and we do pray Lord God that you would deal with their persecutors and we pray that you would save many and that you would judge those who remain in opposition we do pray Lord that your name throughout the earth would be vindicated we pray that your gospel would go forth we pray knowing that men's hearts are not changed by law but by the power of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit we do pray for much of this throughout the earth that you would empower ministers of the gospel to proclaim rightly the things of Christ that you would send forth your missionaries and watch over them that they might bring to those in need the gospel of saving grace and Lord that by that grace many would believe in our precious Christ we do pray Lord that you'd be with us now then in worship and we thank you for the fact that we can worship you we pray that you'd be with Pastor Butler as he proclaims your word give him much help in the pulpit we pray that you would be with us Lord as we hear the word proclaimed and as we engage in all of the elements of worship that you would by your spirit strengthen us and help us that you would cause your saints to leave this place having been well fed and instructed and well equipped to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of grace and we pray Lord that your this worship today the proclamation of the word singing the reading of the scriptures all of these things would be attended by the power of the Holy Spirit unto the salvation of sinners that those who entered in outside of Christ would leave singing the praises of his most high name we pray all these things now in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ amen let's stand again and sing as a church then if you'll stand with me and sing one ninety five in the larger Trinity hymnal 195 [Music] you can turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke for our new test scripture reading Luke chapter 1 and Luke chapter 1 we'll read to verse 25 being at verse 1 the Word of God in as much as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us just as those who from the mistahs if misters of the word delivered them to us it seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write to you an orderly account most excellent Theophilus that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instead there was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest knew of the division of Abijah his wife excuse me is what his wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth and they were both righteous before God walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years so it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division according to the custom of the priesthood his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord and the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense and when Zacharias saw him he was troubled and fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John and you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink he will also be filled with the holy even from his mother's womb and he will turn men of the children of Israel to the Lord their God he will also go before him in the spirit of the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the father's to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord and Zechariah said to the angel how shall I know this for I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years and the angel answered and said to him I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings but behold you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not leave my words will be fulfilled in their own time and the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple but when he came out he could not speak to them and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple for he beckoned to them and remained speechless so it was as soon as the days of his service were completed that he departed to his own house now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months saying thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people amen well we begin a new gospel here the Gospel of Luke we have a gospel here written by one who was not one of the direct companions of the Lord Jesus Christ but was a commanding a companion of the Apostle Paul and his missionary journeys and we see here Luke is you probably know this already Luke is the author not only of Luke but also the gospel of Acts Luke is probably writing this year he is writing this prior to the book of Acts Acts was written if you recall the the book of Acts ends with the Apostle Paul in prison so probably around 63 ad so Luke is writing this prior prior to the book of Acts and notice what he is writing here and how he opens his gospel you see Christianity is not a fable it is a fairy tale though the Gospel writers the writers of Holy Scripture not write their their letters in in the tenor of once upon a time it's not filled with you know fantastical language of fairy tale but rapid filled with language that is pertaining to historical events clear narrative notice how he writes here and as much as many of taken into hand to said an order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us fulfilled among us is the language that he used the language that are what he is writing the account of this Christ the account of this squeezes this glorious gospel that he discloses of the one who came into this world sinners to save it is fulfilled these things have been historically fulfilled Agassi writes just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us so this Luke isn't rehashing I'm sort of you know some sort of story or fable or cunningly devised thing but rather he is repeating under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit those given to him by eyewitnesses and ministers and he writes here as well having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first the anguish or the the truth of Holy Scripture doesn't come to us by those who have an imperfect understanding of things but rather and again under the superintending power of the Holy Spirit they come with the perfection of understanding of the things that are given in this orderly account that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed all of that to say Christianity are high in holy religion concerning Jesus Christ the righteous one it is not the stuff of fairy tale but it is the stuff of certainty he opens up the gospel or the gospel the the letter or the Acts of the Apostles with similar language where he says that Jesus Christ appeared to many by many infallible proofs giving witness to the certainty the absolute historicity the veracity the certain truthfulness of this Jesus Christ so we as Christians don't stephane fable and cunningly devised things we rest upon the certainty of God breathe revelation concerning what we came into this world sinners to save and what a glorious story what a glorious with what a glorious thing we have in God's Word sons of men that discloses so great a Christ believe on him and you will have everlasting life let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your truth thank you for your gospel we thank you for our savior the Lord Jesus Christ we do pray that you'd help us to continue in worship rejoicing and Father Son and spirit is singing the praises of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we pray again for the self siree Bible study that you would watch over that work that you would continue with it that be with those who gather and that you would even bring new persons to attend we do pray that you would just be over this work growing it encouraging those who are there we pray that you'd be with Mike as he brings the studies and as we look forward to a January beginning of worship and a newly planted church we do just pray that you'd strengthen our brother that you would watch over him that you would give him a daily strength and endurance in this internship and as well as we look forward to an installation we do just pray that you bless our brother you would keep him steady and that you would watch over him and that Lord God we would see yet again another light in the Lower Mainland added that you would watch over it that you would guide it that you would bring many to that gathering Lord God that you would be honored by the Bible study by the the church that has planted I worship you that they gather there would worship you and Lord God that sinners would be saved and that would this would just be a simple exercise and the growth of your church and the expansion of the gospel and in bringing many people the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ be with us now in worship help us to worship you or write cast-off anything that would intrude upon our thoughts and help us to worship you Father Son and Holy Spirit and we pray in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ amen our final hymn then before the preaching if you'll stand with me is 175 let's stand and sing that hymn together 175 [Music] please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 27 Matthew chapter 27 I'll begin reading in verse 32 now as they came out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name him they compelled to bear his cross and when they had come to a place called Golgotha that is to say place of a skull they gave him sour wine mingled with gall to drink but when he had tasted it he would not drink then they crucified him and divided his garments casting Lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots sitting down they kept watch over him there and they put up over his head the accusation written against him this is Jesus king of the King of the Jews then two robbers were crucified with him one on the right and another on the left and those who passed by blaspheme him wagging their heads and saying you who destroy the temple and building in three days save yourself if you are the son of God come down from the cross likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and elders said he saved others himself he cannot save he is the king of Israel let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him he trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the son of God even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lama sabachthani that is my God my God why have you forsaken me some of those who stood there when they heard that said this man is calling for Elijah immediately one of them ran and took a sponge filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink the rest said let him alone let us see if Elijah will come to save him and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit then behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked and the rocks were split and the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many so when the Centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened they feared greatly saying truly this was the son of God amen let us pray our Father in heaven we thank you for the written word God if it wasn't written for us if it wasn't revealed thoughts we would never believe that God the Son came into this world that he took on our humanity with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof and yet without sin we never believed that he lived in our lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father and he died in the stead of of those who believe and that he was raised the third day how we praise you for this narrative how we praise you for the the truthfulness of it and how we praise you that all those who believe in Him will have everlasting life we pray that today would be the day of salvation Lord God we pray that you would move the hearts of those who are dead in their trespasses and sins to see Christ upon the cross to see the great love wherewith he loved us to see what he went through on behalf of all those whom the father had given him to see him satisfying divine justice in the plays of sinners God we pray that you would open eyes and hearts to these things and that you would cause but sinners to believe the gospel and for believers may we love Christ all the more may we see him is altogether lovely in chief among 10,000 may we see him as that one who is most blessed most glorious wonderful and may we be drawn out and worship and praise in adoration to him who loved us and who gave himself for us forgive us now for our sins and our ungodliness wash us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and fill us all with the Holy Spirit that we may understand that your word and may it indeed affect us for good may you conform us more and more under the image of your beloved son and we pray in his most blessed name amen well last week I pointed out or started off with the quote from the book of Hebrews the Apostle there says looking unto Jesus this is instruction for the believer for the people of God after he has just discussed the several examples of faith in Hebrews 11 he then points us to Christ he says looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame now there was no shortage of shame associated with the cross we remember that Christ is mocked after the trial before the Sanhedrin we remember that Christ is mocked by the soldiers after the trial before Pontius Pilate we remember that there they engage in a mock enthronement scene they they they put a reed they put a reed in his hand they put a crown of thorns on his head they hail him Dave they mock him they engage in that sort of a thing and then the Savior is crucified according to verse 35 so he is enthroned not upon a throne but upon a cross and here while he's on the cross just about everybody gives him more shame or they mock him or they derive or they speak evil of him there are three groups that we want to consider this morning in verses 39 to 44 will note the blasphemy of the passers-by in verses 39 and 40 the mockery of the religious leaders in verses 41 to 43 and then finally the reproach of the robbers in verse 44 it's truly shameful conduct that these persons engaged in just on a human level I mean I think it's the case that when a man is sentenced to die and he's ultimately gonna go into the gas chamber he's going to be hung or he's going to be shot to death or he's going to even get lethal injection it is not typical for persons to mock them it is not typical for persons to deride them or to insult them on a purely human level humanity in all of its sin in all of its sinfulness and wickedness typically doesn't act like this these persons are demonstrating exceeding wickedness at the cross of our Lord it is the Centurion and the soldiers who actually see things properly according to verse 54 truly this is the son of God and that's the particular claim throughout this mockery that is challenged that he is in fact the son of God so let's look at the mockery of the crucified one first of all the blasphemy of the passersby note verse 39 and those who passed by again this was not done in secret it was not done in private it was not done in a in a backroom sort of a thing it was most likely on a thoroughfare it was most likely in a heavily traversed area and the reason for this is because of its deterrent effect remember the charge is written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin they want to publicize this to the Empire they want to declare this all around they want to tell people that if you claim to challenge pilots Authority or Caesars Authority then you too will be crucified you will be treated as an insurrectionist as a revolutionary and you will be crucified to death so it's a heavily populated area and we see that these who pass by they blaspheme him wagging their heads no a lot of translations change the word here I think the New King James is absolutely positively 100% correct but you'll lead for instance and this isn't in but I think it misses what Matthew is doing the ESV tells us they derided him the NIV says they hurled insults at him and the NASB says they hurled abuse at him again all of that is true but you need to appreciate what Matthew is saying all of this or all of this mockery in many respects connects us to the trial before the Sanhedrin it connects us to that particularly Jewish trial and what we find in terms of that connection the mockeries here build up or build upon that Sanhedrin trial notice that Christ is accused of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin and now the one is blaspheme Matthew wants us to appreciate this you see will notice at the end of the message today that what these persons say in mockery and in derision and with insult and with blasphemy what they say is actually true what they say is actually the real deal he does save others he is the king of Israel he is the temple builder and he is in fact the son of God now they speak better than they know just like Pilate before them and Caiaphas the high priest in John chapter 11 the brethren they're mocking they're blaspheming the Son of God himself notice they blaspheme him and they're wagging their heads now all of this has behind the scenes Psalm 22 matthew has taken pains throughout the Gospel of Matthew to show us that Jesus is that Isaiah 53 suffering servant he is that man of sorrows that one acquainted with grief that one upon whom the chastisement for our peace was laid that one who was who was broken and bruised that one in whom we have salvation he is Isaiah's suffering servant in Isaiah 53 but he's also the one who David wrote about in Psalm 22 that Psalm 22 is not about David it's about David's greater son and in Psalm 22 very specifically at verse 7 it says all those who see me ridicule me they shoot out the lip they shake the head now this shaking of the head is probably to be seen as some sort of disdain or it is reproach I think there are two other passages in the Old Testament that connect us with this meaning lamentations 2 15 and then Psalm 69 verse I'm sorry Psalm 109 verse 25 its derision its scorn it is to mistreat it is to look down it is to look with an insulted sort of a a way upon somebody they wag their heads at me and that is precisely what is going on in this particular passage now let's look specifically at their blasphemies they mock him as the temple builder notice they said you who destroy the temple and build it in three days save yourself got to appreciate the way they're thinking here now either they had learned that this was one of the pieces of evidence presented at the Sanhedrin trial from Matthew chapter 26 61 or it was common knowledge remember in John chapter 2 the Lord Jesus said destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up and the religious leader says well it took us 12 46 years to build this temple where you get you gonna raise it up in three days but John tells us he was talking about the temple of his body sorry about his own his own person he's talking about the fact that he is what the temple stood for he realizes and fulfills all that was behind the temple so they knew this and now they say to them to him on the cross you who destroy the temple and build it in three days save yourself you get the mocking right it's like this kids if somebody were to say to you I have the to go down to Home Depot and buy a truckload of supplies and build a house you might suggest to them that they would be able to help you build a Lego house you might say dad if you can build that house in the field over there after having gone to Home Depot certainly you can help me build a house with my Legos if you can do the greater you can certainly do the lesser if you can destroy this temple and you can rebuild it then you can save yourself these Roman soldiers who are guarding you are nothing for somebody who possesses such power and authority these Roman mob or this Roman mob that has put you on this cross if you're able to destroy temples and build them up then you're able to come down off of that cross that's the way they blasphemed that's the way they are mocking him that's the way they're bringing this to him one man says that power over the temple was a Messianic prerogative now the one alleged to have claimed that power is pinned to a cross he's pinned to a cross and they're mocking him with this particular situation notice they go on to highlight in their minds the illegitimate sea of his sonship notice in verse 40 says if you are the son of God come down from the cross now they're gonna say this and the religious leaders are gonna say this if you are the son of God who has said this before them if you're thinking the devil you're right Matthew chapter 4 isn't this what the devil says to the Lord Jesus in the temptation if you are the son of God then then turn these stones into bread if you are the son of God then perform for my satisfaction if you are the son of God then display that real loyalty display that power display that Majesty the devil the passers-by and the religious leaders did not know the Scriptures it's intriguing because the scriptures are so clear Psalm 22 fact the religious leaders take Psalm 22 upon their mouths when they mock crying I wonder at some point in their lives did they ever look back on that day and reflect and say we actually did precisely what Psalm 22 said we do in the presence of this one they're challenging the Savior on the cross if you are the son of God come down from the cross John Gill says as Satan before them they put an if upon the sonship of Christ notice if you are the son of God come down from the cross if he is the son of God or rather since he is the son of God he must stay from the cross there's such irony in this section what they say is true the conclusions and the implications and the inferences they make are absolutely wrong it's just the opposite if you are the son of God then come down from the cross he's on the cross because he's the son of God he's on the cross because he's taking our punishment he's on the cross to fulfill all that the father has given him he's on the cross to demonstrate that he is in fact the son of God and brethren again I think this sort of parallels the the devil's of the devil's temptation you see this throughout the gospel record you see it with the devil you see even with Peter who's rebuked by Christ by uh as associated with the devil anybody who tries to side track Jesus from the mission anyone who tries to keep him from doing what the father has called him to do is wrong so when the devil does it Matthew chapter 4 Christ reproves it when Christ announces that he must go to Jerusalem and die Peter says no it's not going to happen that way and Jesus rebukes him and says get behind me Satan a man he just pronounced blast for having confessed the sonship of Jesus Christ what's the point the point is the Old Testament shows us us suffering servant the Old Testament shows us a king who comes into Jerusalem on the back of a of a Colt it shows us a king who demonstrates his power through weakness it shows us a king who demonstrates his power through this sort of shame and so these persons are trying to derail deicide track in sideline him again a man says the demonic lure has been cast at Jesus again as now the very opponents who had accused Jesus of being in league with Satan themselves parrot the demons proposals if you are the son of God come down from the cross what happens if Jesus complies with that we die in our trespasses and sins what happens if Jesus complies with that we suffer the wrath and fury of God the fact is he must stay on the cross and if you're new to the story here's the reason why because we deserve it we deserve God's wrath and curse we deserve judgment we deserve damnation we deserve hell you may say this morning well I don't i'm a pretty upright specimen of a human being no you're not there is none righteous no not one there is none who seeks after God there is no fear of God before our eyes the best that we do is still taint it we do not obey God the way the Scriptures and join us to it is not perfect it is not entire it is not exact and it's certainly not perpetual this whole modern debate about our works being inclusive with reference to our acceptance before God none of our works as believers fulfill the definition of obedience to God's law anybody in here say you know my obedience is perfect my obedience is exact my obedience is entire my obedience is perpetual no and that's from those who are say saved if you're an unbeliever you're in bad shape you may not like to hear that but I'm sorry my job here isn't to comfort you and your sin it's to challenge you to consider what's happening in our text why doesn't he come down from the cross because he's bearing the wrath that is due for his people God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him up until this point what does Jesus do everything the father commands them at this point what does Jesus do everything the father commands him after this point what does Jesus do everything the father commands him why because we do nothing the father commands the father commands obedience to his law we reject it we despise it we forsake it this morning we're talking about the Sabbath that fourth commandment and I pointed out to the Brethren how there are those within Christianity that really object to the doctrine of sabbath-keeping it's like wow offensive what do you mean you have a fourth commandment still what do you mean you can't go to Tim Hortons today what do you mean you're not gonna go to work today what do you mean isn't that legalism I said or suggested that we ought to frame the discussion in this context we're debating about the nature of receiving a gift God's handing us a gift in terms of a 24-hour period where we get to be in his presence and we don't want it we reject it we despise it we forsake it we say he can have an hour in the morning and that's it brother that's our approach to God's law so Christ obeys perfectly Christ always does what the father commands his obedience to the Old Testament or rather to the Ten Commandments is perfect it is exact it is entire it is perpetual why because he is our representative he is our head he is our surety he is our mediator so in that he complies with the law of God he's delivered up now to the cross why to suffer the wrath of God that is due for our sins he is satisfying divine justice by His sufferings and death such that if he listens to these passers-by and he comes down off the cross then the mission is compromised the mission is jeopardized the mission is futile so by staying on the cross he is demonstrating that he is in fact the Son of God that he is in fact that Isaiah 53 suffering servant that he is the one the subject of Psalm 22 that he is the champion of Israel who has come to save his people from their sins and the way that he saves them is not simply by teaching them some new things go out and be kind go out and be good go out and be jolly but he is saving them by his own life and his death and his resurrection Paul says in Romans 4:25 Christ was delivered up why because of our offenses never make any mistake about it brethren I have shunned I have not shunned laying blame on the parties involved in this passage Matthew does take aim at the religious leaders Matthew does take aim at the Roman Empire Matthew does take aim at the Roman soldiers who mistreated and mocked our Savior Matthew takes aim at all Israel according to Matthew chapter 27 verse 25 27 25 but we're here - he was delivered up why because of the offenses of the Jewish Sanhedrin he was delivered up because of the Roman magistrates offenses he was delivered up because of those wretched accursed Jews in the first century who prayed for God or who asked for God's wrath to be upon it no he was delivered up because of our offenses the hour there are those justified by faith the hour there or those who have been saved by grace it's our sin that put the Savior on the cross he was delivered up because of our offenses that's why he doesn't come down from the cross it's because he must pay the debt it's because he must satisfy divine justice it's because he must undergo this because God must punish sin and here's the deal he either punishes it and the Savior or he's going to punish it in you those are the two alternatives I know we like to talk today about many options for many things we go to the grocery store you know there's a whole aisle full of cereal I mean come on can you make that kind that much cereal or coffee types or will we like variety