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He Would Not Come Down The Suffering Servant, Part 3 There is great warrant for us to pause and consider very carefully the sacrificial, substitutionary, death of Jesus Christ that satisfied the holy demands of God. The death of Jesus was not an accident, and Jesus was not a mere martyr who was dying for a good cause. The death of Jesus was not merely an example nor was his death meant to merely demonstrate God’s love for the world. Jesus died a sacrificial death on the cross in order to bear the sins of the world in His body on the tree and also to satisfy the justice of God and the Law of God. Jesus was determined to suffer for the sins of the world. Charles H. Spurgeon said, Jesus Christ came into the world to suffer, and that because the myrrhed cup would have prevented him from reaching the lowest step of misery, “he received it not.” I shall have to show you, first, that this was very frequently the case throughout his life, that he would not take a step which would have diminished his miseries, because he was determined to go the whole length of suffering. Luke 23:38 Letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the Jews. Matthew 27:37, This is Jesus the King of the Jews. Mark 15:26, The King of the Jews. John 19:19, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” 1. Those Who Said Come Down A. The MISQUOTING (MIMICING) Passer-bys, Matthew 27:39,40, Mark 15:29,30. It seems Jesus was crucified beside a road that those traveling passed by upon. Look at their insensitive, ignorant behavior! They reviled him. The word in the original is “blasphemeo.” They wag their heads at Him. This is a way to sneer and mock at the Savior. They communicate with a gesture of the head: “You are getting what you deserve!” Where did they get their misquote from? From the liars who gave false witness at Jesus’ mock trial. They quote the misquoting false witnesses at Jesus’ trial: They repeat the words that the lying witnesses said at his religious trial before the Sanhedrin. The lies about Jesus followed him while he was on the cross. “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself.” They are mocking Him as both PROPHET AND SAVIOR. They are accusing Him of weakness in both WORD and DEED. Your words are empty and your life and useless! If you are going to fulfill your words, come down from there and destroy the temple. Are you too weak to do what you said? You will not live up to your word unless you come down from there! What a deceitful twisting of His Words! By ADDING and CHANGING the Words Jesus used they accuse Jesus of being a possible terrorist against the Temple. What an amazing thing this world has ever done to the Word of God! They twist it and turn it to mean what they want, so that they can rationalize their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They MISQUOTE IT AND MOCK His word, and therefore MISUNDERSTAND it so they can deny HIM, and do you know what they end up doing? Fulfilling it! They misquote His Words that He had given early in His ministry. Jesus had said, John 2:19, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Jesus did not say I WILL or I AM ABLE TO destroy this temple. Jesus was speaking of HIS CRUCIFIXION at the hands of hateful men; he is misquoted and charged with possible TEMPLE DESTRUCTION. Then Jesus spoke of RESURRECTION, not CONSTRUCTION of the temple! Of course he spoke of His body. They were talking about bricks. He was prophesying of the fact that He would be crucified at the hands of wicked men and that He would raise himself up on the third day! Jesus did not say he would REBUILD the temple, but RAISE it up. He was not talking about brick and morter, wood and stones, but LIFE! They missed the point of His crucifixion and resurrection and talked about destruction and construction of the temple! They said our Lord said something He never said. They misrepresented His Words and convicted him on their MISQUOTE. Therefore, they missed the very reason of His coming, that He would suffer for sin and rise again for their justification. He was sentenced through this misrepresentation, now He is rejected by those who have misunderstood His Word. What an example of how men are blinded to the Gospel message. They cannot see that Christ had to die for their sins and rise again. They twist and pervert His words that relate to His very death and resurrection and end up fulfilling them! They demonstrate their own arrogance by adding to His Words, twisting His words, and therefore missing the meaning of His Word. The world through their greed is not able to grasp the Word, and bring to pass the very word of God they do not understand. They hardly knew him, yet had contempt for him. They hardly know him, yet they blaspheme him. Is this not an indictment upon those all around the world. Oh, they have heard of Jesus and yes, they have heard that he is a Savior, but they do not seek him. They do not hunger to know more about him. The uninterested parrot the misquoted and misunderstood words of the lying world. Many people are told the Bible has contradictions in it, so they parrot that back to those who believe the Bible. People are very good at misquoting the Bible, or quoting some phrase OUT OF ITS CONTEXT They also quote the Devil, who said If thou be the Son of God at His temptation. They say the exact same thing to Jesus that the Devil said! See how people pass by Him who is the way, the truth, and the life, without care and without concern. So close to the truth, yet so far! You, there, why are you passing by. I am busy, I have just bought a new piece of land, and I want to survey it. Why are you passing by? I have to go see my father, he is sick and about to die. Why people are too busy for the Lord: They have to pick up someone from the airport. They have to get their rest for the week of work ahead. I am tired! I am busy! I have to visit family! I have to go to the airport! B. The MOCKING Religious Men, Matt.27:41-43, Mark 15:31,32. (Luke tells us they also said, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.”) These are the same men who made up the Sanhedrin. These are the men who condemned him to die. They mock Him, jesting, treating him like a child. Insult and ridicule. How do they insult and ridicule him? Luke 23:35 tells us they deride him which means to hold up the nose in derision. They mock His miracles, They did not say that the miracles He had performed were false or were a prank. Amazingly, even the chief enemies of the Lord Jesus knew that the healings He performed were authentic. Everyone knew that Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter were dead and Jesus raised them to life. Everyone knew that the blind did see, the lame did walk, the deaf did hear, the dumb did speak! They never questioned the power of Jesus to actually, really heal! Now that is an amazing thing. It shows their real problem with Jesus was one of envy. My problem with the so-called faith healers today is that their healing is phony and false. They are charlatans and cheap imitators of the Savior. On the other hand, Jesus was never accused of staging a false healing or of fabricating a hoax. They knew he had the power to heal and did heal and save, yet they refused to believe in Him? Why? Envy, a love of their own position and power, and pride. They mock his lack of power: They proudly say, "Himself he cannot save!" They see Jesus dying as a sign of weakness. Crucified! To the Jews this is a stumblingblock. How wrong they were. How wrong they still are. The truth is, Himself He WOULD not save. Only one word of difference. He COULD do whatever He would like, but He WOULD not come down. He was determined to lay His life down. Is it not hateful hypocrisy that they thirsted for the blood of Jesus and yet now say, Come down from the cross! They sought to sink Jesus into shame; they wanted to bury his name into the grave of forgetfulness. Imagine, they thought that by crucifying Jesus He would be forgotten! Herein lies the reason many Jews have rejected the Savior. First, the official rulers of the Jewish nation rejected Jesus from the very start. Second, they looked for a man of political power who would first SAVE HIMSELF. They looked for a man who would deliver the nation from Roman bondage. “If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.” Look at the conditions attached to their faith. It was an impossible condition that would have caused their faith in Him to be useless, for if Jesus did come down, they would have no atonement for their sins. They wanted a Savior who did not die for their sins. That is the kind of Savior the Muslims have. They say Jesus did not die on the cross. What conditions have you set up in your mind? I will believe if … WHAT? You will never be saved with your silly, humanistic, fallible conditions. You cannot establish your own man-made conditions for faith. Jesus had said the only sign they would see is the sign of Jonah. He will rise again in three days. Will they believe? What is amazing is they nearly quote the exact words that David prophesied they would say when the Messiah was dying on the cross, Psalm 22:8, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in Him. C. The MIMICING Thieves, Matt.27:44, Mark 15:32b, Luke 23:39 The thieves also heard what was being said to Jesus and “cast the same in his teeth.” They are mind numb repeaters. They hear what others say and say the same thing. One of the thieves, Luke tells us, said, If thou be Christ, save thyself. Luke tells us that one of the malefactors railed (blasphemeo) on him and said, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and US.” (Luke 23:39) Sad but true, many people do not think for themselves but think only of themselves. They hear what their church says, or their friends say, or what some newspaper says, and believe it at face value. These are the lawbreakers, the ones who really need a Savior, yet they are saying, come down for one reason, then get us down. They wanted to extend their lawbreaking life for a few more days. They cared only for physical deliverance. Thieves look for ways to break out of jail. D. The MACHO Soldiers, Luke 23:36,37 “And the soldiers also mocked (empaizo) him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.” These rough, tough soldiers wanted to see a display of strength. They too were blind to their need for a sacrifice for their sins. They were macho men, manly men, and so they say, show us your stuff. Prove you are the Messiah and come down from there. Make our day. We are bored. Yes, some mock God to inject some excitement into their boring lives. 2. Why Christ did Not come Down from the Cross A. His death was foreordained from the foundation of the world. The Blood of Christ was shed in principle from the foundation of the world, According to Revelation 13:8, He had to die, for it was something He was foreordained to do. Revelation 13:8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Acts 4:27,28, Thou hast anointed thy holy child Jeus, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. B. The Death of Jesus was prophesied in the Tenach, Isaiah 53. We can trace the death of Jesus throughout the entire Hebrew Scripture. His death was pictured in the sacrifice of Isaac upon Mt. Moriah, in the Passover Lamb, the entire Levitical system of sacrifice. His death was prophesied in the Psalms by David and in the Prophets like Isaiah. What is amazing is that the Apostle John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene did not say, COME DOWN FROM THE CROSS. That took great faith to not enter into the chants of the crowd. They knew they needed a Savior. C. His death gives victory over death and hell, Yes, through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blood He shed, we receive victory over eternal death and hell. 1 Corinthians 1:18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:23, But we preach Christ crucified ? 1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Some may object that it is immoral for God to punish an innocent one and that Christ’s death is morally reprehensible if indeed He was harmless and innocent. However, “Christ is God incarnate, God Himself, and it is not unjust for the Judge to pay the penalty Himself.” (Systematic Theology, Thiessen, p.323). Jesus did not suffer compulsorily but voluntarily. D. His death demonstrates the power and wisdom of God, 1 Corinthians 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, …unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. It is through the preaching of the cross that God has ordained to make His wisdom and power known. God gives us victory over sin as we reckon ourselves dead with Christ and to the world. Galatians 6:14, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. E. His death leads us to experiential knowledge and intimate fellowship with Him. God wants us to know Him through the matchless sufferings He endured to cleanse us from sin. Paul said in Philippians 3:10, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. As we contemplate the suffering of the Savior on the cross, we know our God in a way we never could if Jesus did not suffer. We know God’s love, God’s mercy, and grace. We know His justice, holiness, and truth. Through the cross we can be made conformable unto his death. We are to die to ourselves. |