Well, I'm sure that throughout the week, we've been all reflecting upon the Passion Week of Christ's journey to Jerusalem, and which is ultimately Christ's journey to the cross, and being filled with a level of just gratitude, being filled with a level of wonder. And in terms of today, on Friday, there's so much that has happened.

There's a wealth of things to be thinking about and reflecting upon. But today, I'm going to focus in and hone in on one aspect of what Christ did on His way to the cross. I want to introduce that topic by asking you to think about people in your lives who have an incredible amount of patience.

There are these people who rarely ever get riled up. They rarely ever get angry. They never vocalize, you can't see it, you know, in terms of whether it's just even being annoyed. You know, there are people like that. And I remember when I was single and living with roommates, there was a roommate of mine who seriously no one ever have seen him get angry before.

And when you see people like that, you try to troll them a little bit, you know, try to mess with them. We were all gathered together watching, I think it was a sport, probably a basketball game or whatever it may be. And, you know, he just, I could tell like as he was watching, people would get in his way and stuff, but he would never say anything.

So decided to troll him a little bit. And I actually just stood right in front of his view. So my behind was like right in his face and I was pretending like I was talking or like fixated on the TV. And I could see at the corner of my mind, he's just kind of like leaning over to see past me.

So of course, I just move over, you know, like and to block him some more. And sure enough, he'll just kind of scooch over and move. And so sure enough, I just kind of scooch over too. And it just kind of kept going. And after a while, I got frustrated.

I turned around, I was like, "Why don't you say anything, man?" It's no fun when you don't like get riled up. It's no fun when you don't get angry. It's like, "This sucks." And then I just got... It's funny because I'm trying to get a rise out of him.

And in the end, I got a little bit frustrated. See I use that as a means to talk about our God. Our God, interestingly enough, He actually at times burns with anger, right? At times, He gets so angry, He describes Himself as a raging bull with steam coming out of His nostrils, ready to drive His horns into those who are doing abominable things.

Quite the contrast, right? You expected me to say, "Oh, God is so patient," right? But actually, sometimes we think God is like that. No matter what you do, never angry, never loses it. It's true, God never loses it. But He alone is one who has both power, authority, and the right to be wrathful.

And Scripture says so many times in warning through every single generation that's existed, you guys need to understand God is a God of wrath too. And He actually in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses, when he is calling the nation to remember and get ready so that they can enter into the promised land, he says, "You guys remember that on Mount Horeb, God was so angry with you, His anger burned against you.

He burned against you so much so, He said He had to destroy you. He had to destroy you." I want you to take your Bibles please and turn to Ezekiel chapter 22, verse 17 through 22, okay? Book of Ezekiel, book that we don't normally, you know, in our devotion stuff go through.

And I just want to use this verse to scare you, okay? To first get to this point where we're talking about anger, patience, and what I'm saying as a case to you is God at times in Scripture has shown not just annoyance with His people, not just impatience with His people, but He has burning anger towards His people.

Take a look at this, verse 17. So Ezekiel 22, verse 17 through 22, "And the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Send a man. The house of Israel has become dross to me and all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace.

They are the dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord of God, 'Because all of you have become dross, behold, I am going to gather you in the midst of Jerusalem. And as they gather silver, bronze, and iron, and lead, and tend into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it.

So I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there and melt you. I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my wrath on you.'" Wow.

Those are some of the most scariest words I have read in the Scriptures. To think that God is so angry, He describes in vivid detail how He's going to pour out His anger on the people. And I use that as a setup to say, it is this God, it is this God who at the same time, although He has every right to be, although He has in occasion expressed that anger, it is this magnificent, holy, and powerful God who suffers long with His people.

The aspect that I want to focus our attention on is that just like Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, exhibits an incredible amount of long-suffering, a steadfast patience, a kind-heartedness towards His people, and during especially this time of His passion when He is suffering most. This long-suffering, it can be described as an ability to be self-restrained, even in the midst of dire circumstances, to have a control even when your anger is being stirred so that you don't retaliate immediately, so that you don't just blow up in anger, but rather you're willing to and able to withstand with endurance.

It's basically an individual with an incredibly long fuse, so to speak, right? If you would, turn your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21 through 25. This is a passage that has become so dear to me because in our weekday Bible studies, we've been studying this book, and it's talked so much about suffering, and every time it has talked about suffering, it pointed our attention to Christ.

And it specifically pointed our attention not simply to the fact that, yes, Christ suffered, but it pointed our attention to how He suffered, the manner and attitude by which He suffered. So let's take a look at this passage. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21 through 25. And it says, "For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps." And then look at this.

He quotes Old Testament and describes how He suffered. "Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth, and while being reviled, He did not revile in return. While suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously, and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

For by His wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls." So there in that passage in 1 Peter, the aspect of Christ's suffering that Peter uses to encourage the hearts of saints who have been suffering, who have been persecuted, who have been pushed to their limit, was to say, "Look.

Look at the way Christ exhibited such self-restraint and long-suffering, even in the midst of that injustice and persecution. He did not surrender. He did not break in the midst of His circumstances." That's what I want to highlight. So as we come to this Passion Week, I want us to both rehearse the events that happened, but as we rehearse the events that happened, I want to make sure that we're focusing our attention at the pattern by which Christ exhibited in His glory the kind of long-suffering that He alone was able to do.

Please turn your Bibles now to Matthew chapter 26. And just as a forewarning, we are going to flip to many different passages and read a lot of lengthy texts, but I hope in doing so we just see from this biblical narrative the flow of what's been happening in this week.

So reading Matthew chapter 26, verse 36 through 46, and from this passage I'm going to springboard into continually talking about Christ's long-suffering. Verse 36, "Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to His disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be grieved and distressed.

Then He said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with Me.' And He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will.' And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, 'So you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?

Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.' Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and He left them again and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

Then He came to the disciples and said to them, 'You are still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand.'" So here's an interesting aspect that I want to highlight for you.

Again, there's so many things from this passage, but I'm highlighting one thing. Before, when I read the passage of Gethsemane, yes, the main point of it is Jesus is praying to the Father and having this interaction where in truth and reality and in candidness, Jesus expresses His heart, right?

And Jesus essentially wrestles and comes to a point of complete obedience to the will of God. But I want to focus our attention on the longsuffering of Christ. Because longsuffering is essentially, earlier I mentioned, yes, you're willing and able to bear underneath a long time of difficulty, hardship, and oppression.

But what's more, He's willing and able to bear under intense hardship, a mountain of hardship. So there's both the duration and the intensity is what I'm talking about. And here and now, something that was surprising to me is Jesus is describing His prayer. He's talking about a time where essentially it's peace in the eyes of the disciples so that they're just resting, they're sleeping, they're tired.

But there is an invisible aspect to which Christ is suffering in this time. Christ is being distressed in this time, and He is in complete agony. So much so, the way that He describes it to His brothers, His disciples is, "I feel like I'm going to die." Did you ever catch that?

I'm talking about the intensity under which Christ is able to longsuffer. And even in the moment of His prayer, He says, "I feel like I'm going to die." There was a book that I read by a beloved professor of mine. It's called "The Cup and the Glory." And in that cup, my professor makes this case.

In various moments of Jesus' ministry on earth, we don't see it, but Jesus is under so much distress, so much pain, so much oppression, He talks as if He is going to die, and He makes this case. The reason why is because Satan has made it a point to make Jesus the focal point of His unleashed attack.

And I want you to think about that for a moment. My case being that throughout Jesus' ministry, not just here, but throughout the entirety of His ministry, Satan has made it a point to attack Jesus as much as he can in order to what? To break Him. To prevent Him from going to the cross.

To make Him disobey the will of God. I mean, just think about it for a moment, okay? I'm going to make a corollary here. There was a time when Satan made this same strategy on a saint, namely Job. God said, "Look at My servant. There's nobody like Him. Faithful, strong, persistent.

He loves Me. His heart is for Me," right? And then Satan says, "Well, you think He's so good, but just watch. Take away all His protection. Take away all His possession. Take away His family, and we'll watch Him. We'll watch Him curse you to your face." And God says, "Try Him," right?

What's really interesting is by corollary, Jesus comes on scene. John the Baptist is baptizing people in the Jordan River. Jesus comes on scene, and as soon as John the Baptist baptizes Him, He comes out of the water. Do you guys remember what happens? The heavens opens up, right? And God says with a loud, booming voice as the Spirit is coming down in the form of a dove, God says, "Look, this is My beloved Son, whom I'm so well pleased." You know what happens immediately after?

Satan tempts Him. Jesus is pushed into the wilderness. He fasts for 40 days. He doesn't have food or drink. And then in His weakness, Satan comes, and what does he do? He tests Jesus just like he tested Job. But then there's something even more profound to that, is as the time goes on, the intensity increases because even with Job, Satan increased the intensity of his attack.

And Job essentially asked permission from God. Here I'm just going to read the passage to you. You don't have to turn there. It says Job chapter 2, verse 4, "Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Well, skin for skin, yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life.

Here, put forth your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.' So the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, he is in your power.'" Wow. My guess is Satan did it before. Satan can do it again. And his scheme has always been the same.

He will accuse, he will attack, he will tempt with any way possible for you to disobey the will of God. And my belief is that Satan has made it his ambition to attack our Savior, to cause pain and grief. I know because Scripture has said, Satan clearly, just like he attacked the family of Job, Satan clearly asked for permission to strike the disciples.

Jesus says it himself to Peter, "Peter, Satan has asked permission to shift you like wheat, but I pray for you." And so what I'm saying is, Jesus, there is an incredible, amazing aspect of our Lord where we don't necessarily recognize it, but not just here in this week, but what I'm saying is both the duration.

He was attacked from long ago. His entire life coming to the ground, being incarnate, he suffered. He was stricken and that whole journey was his path to his suffering. And so what I see in that is amazing capacity, a willingness and ability of Christ to long suffer for the sake of what God has set before him.

Now to magnify the suffering that Christ exhibited, I want you guys to take a moment. Think about an alternative universe, so to speak. Think about what if scenario, hypothetically. What if Jesus wasn't so long suffering? What if Jesus wasn't so determined? What if Jesus wasn't so restrained? And like many of us, we had a breaking point.

We said, "Forget this." We had a breaking point of our patience. "Forget you." We had a breaking point of the control and restraint that we had and we started to unleash our anger and wrath. Well, as we take the narrative of the stories that happened, turn your Bibles to John chapter 18 and you're continuing on in the story.

First we were at Gethsemane where Jesus was praying. We know essentially Jesus after that point says, "Arise, we must go. The one who's going to betray me is at hand." And we know the story of what happens. Jesus comes, betrays him with a heinous kiss and all this stuff happens where there's this army, there's people with clubs and even Peter who is trying to defend and fight for his Savior comes with the sword and he takes a swing and cuts the ear of his servant and there's this nasty scene and Jesus says, "Put your sword away," right?

And he puts the ear back on. But after that what ends up happening, oh sorry, the Roman cohort takes, sorry, I'm trying to piece together a couple things here. Okay, so right at that scene when Peter does that Jesus puts the ear back on, right? And what's really interesting is as I'm asking you guys to think of an alternative universe, Jesus actually indicates, "Peter, you just swung with the sword but you don't realize alternatively I can do better," right?

You guys are over at John 18 but what I meant to say was Matthew 26. That's why I kind of got lost. Matthew 26. And we're looking at verse 52 to 54, Matthew 26, 52 to 54. Essentially Jesus says to them, Jesus says to Peter, "Put your sword back into its place.

For all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword or," look at this, "or," alternative universe, "do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father and He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way?" So here's what I'm talking about.

In order for us to be appreciative of Christ's long suffering, we think of this alternative universe. What Christ could have done is just simply called upon His angels who are at His disposal. He could throw at them everything He's got and He says He has legions of them. And what's really interesting about them for us is in terms of the long suffering, it makes it even more special so to speak, even more difficult.

Why? It's one thing for you to endure through something that you have no control over. You're just being dragged through the mud and you can't help it. So what do you say? I can't do anything. And so you allow yourself to be pulled through that. But what if you had the power to do so?

What if you had not only the power but the right to do so? What if you had authority and the availability just to say, "Stop! Knock it off!" Right? It would be so much harder for you. So much harder for you to long suffer underneath that. And that's what I'm saying is Christ, although He had every inclination and power to do so, it amazes us all the more that He was steadfast.

So as we continue to go through the various trials, the various sufferings that Christ endured, we're going to keep focusing on this idea. Now turn your Bibles over to John 18. Okay? And one of the things I want to talk about is, as I have you thought about a situation where you have every right to say your peace, you have every right to defend yourself, and yet you exhibit, or you're called to exhibit, a kind of long suffering where you exhibit a patience.

Right? I feel like as I was reading through the story and narrative of what happened on Friday, the scenario of the trials that Christ endured spoke loudly of that very thing. Having a long suffering, even when, alternatively, you can speak up. So as I take a look at this, I want to read to you this section, starting from verse 12.

So John chapter 18, starting from verse 12. He says, "So the Roman cohort and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him and led Him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people." Now that wasn't like, "I believe in the Savior, He's going to substitutionarily die for us to be saved." He says, "We are losing our power and people are going astray.

It's better if this man, this troublemaker, dies." Okay? Verse 15, "Simon Peter was following Jesus and so was another disciple. Now the disciple was known to the high priest and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest. But Peter was standing on the door outside, so the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper about Peter.

Then, the slave girl who kept the door said to Peter, 'You're not also one of this man's disciples, are you?' And he said, 'I am not.'" What's very interesting about this narrative is it's going to jump back and forth from Jesus' trial to Peter's denial. Jesus' trial to Peter's denial.

Why? Because I believe there is a contrast happening here. There is one who is being tried and he's going to exhibit a characteristic which we're focusing on today and then there's going to be one who is exhibiting succumbing to the circumstances and succumbing to the fear of man. Let me keep reading in verse 18, "Now the slaves and the officers were standing there.

Having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves, and Peter also with them, standing and warming himself. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. And Jesus answered him, 'I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews came together, and I spoke nothing in secret.

Why do you question me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them. They know what I said.' When he had said this, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus, saying, 'Is that the way you answer the high priest?' Jesus answered him, 'If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong.

But if rightly, why do you strike me?'" Now as we look at that, what I'm talking about is there is a series of trials that Jesus goes through from here on. And it struck me really just like deeply, wow, there is an ability of Christ to bear under injustice, complete injustice.

So much so, people are wrongly accusing him, people are questioning him, and the entire scenario is upside down. Think about how backwards this scene is. Christ, the Son of God, He who created the world, He who has immense authority and power, He should be questioning this man who was wicked.

Did you know that this man, he's called the high priest here, not because he's the current high priest, because he was a former high priest. He's an individual just like currently in our day, when we have an individual who's president, for example, President Obama or President Bush, their session has passed.

But what do we call them? President Obama, right? But this individual held on to his title and essentially was like a puppet master, reigning the temple. So much so that even Jewish documents like the Talmud would talk about this man, because he is the one who started to really work with the Roman government to corrupt the temple.

And that's why they would call it, Annas' Bazaar. The temple was a bazaar, a marketplace where there was a corruptness, there was selling and trade and swindling people and ripping people off and causing people to come into the temple for sacrifice, but then taxing them, leeching them, taking their money.

And what's profound to me is here's a scene, Jesus comes in, holy and pure, and now he's being questioned and examined. And as soon as he says, "Why are you even questioning me? I was with you all the time." And boom, someone punches him in the face and says, "Respect this man." Who are you to speak to Annas that way?

Everything is so backwards, but did you know, and this is something I learned as I was walking through this. When you read different parts of the gospel, you think, okay, and Jesus was tried and he was given over to Pilate, but Jesus was tried a total of six times.

Jesus will be tried and examined by the Jews and the leaders and the Pharisees, not once, but three times. Then they would turn him over to the Gentiles and then he would be examined again and again. So if you turn your Bibles over to Matthew chapter 26, I'm not going to read the whole thing, but a portion of it, okay?

It says here in this passage that first the father-in-law of the current high priest examined him and he ridiculed him. He mocked him and questioned him. And then he sent him over to the current high priest Caiaphas, and that's why you have these different names. So Matthew chapter 26, verse starting from 57, "Those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

But Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and entered it and sat down with the officers to see the outcome. Now the chief priest and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death.

They didn't find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on, two came forward and said, 'This man stated, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days."' The high priest stood up and said to him, 'Do you not answer?

What is it that these men are testifying against you?'" And then look at this, "But Jesus kept silent."" I mean, talk about the most botched trial ever. I mean, they were doing everything wrong. According to Jewish custom, you're not allowed to have a trial like this in the middle of the night with select people.

And it's so obvious, these Pharisees are like, "Do you have something to say? Come on over. Just say you heard him say this. Just say you heard him say that." And all of it is just coming out and everything is just like, "Oh no." It's just the most ridiculous trial ever and even the stuff that people are saying, people can see right through it.

And so Jesus, in the midst of that, you would think, you would think he would say, "Woe to you, you liars. You hypocrites. How dare you? Do you know who I am?" And that's what I would say. But it's so profound that Jesus would sit there and have what seems to me, what seems to the world like weakness.

"What, you've got nothing to say? You coward." But spiritually what we see is incredible strength, incredible strength and ability to suffer long. And then later on, just for the reference, Luke chapter 22 talks about the next trial where the full Sanhedrin, so what gives the inclination that this is a separate trial is because here you have Caiaphas and then you have these high priests gathered together, but later there's a trial where the full Sanhedrin, the full council of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, everybody comes together and then they start to question him and examine him.

Now as I look at this, can I just speak to you frankly? Remember how earlier I was telling you that like there are people who don't get angry, there are people who don't fend for themselves? And I found that as a pastor, you know, as I counsel people who are younger than me and stuff, sometimes I get frustrated, you know?

I get frustrated like, "Why are you going through all that? You know, why don't you just say this and say that?" Whether it's they feel like they're getting impressed by their boss or whether they're feeling like they're getting impressed by their parents, you know, we have situations in life where people come over you in that manner, you know?

There was a feeling in my heart as I was reading this, I started to get indignant. Like I almost started to be like, "Jesus, you should say something! This is crazy!" And every time they're mocking him and ridiculing him and later on they'll say, "Even the chief priest, these dignified noble chief priests start to spit on him, start to slap him, start to beat him." And I started to feel this like anger, this indignance like, "This is the most ridiculous thing in all the universe!" And there was a moment when even the chief priest in other passages like the Gospel of Mark when they're attacking Jesus, they'll say, "By God Almighty, you need to speak answer us!

Are you? Are you who you say you are? You're the preaching of the Jews, you know?" And I remember reading that thinking like, "Oh my goodness, how dare you! How dare you invoke the name of God! You're profaning him right now! You blind, arrogant, lying!" You know, I just started getting mad.

And then I started getting humbled because it just amazes me. I'm not, I mean, I've never experienced anything even close to this, not even remotely close to this. And I'm willing to guess the vast majority of us in this entire room has ever experienced anything remotely close to this.

But Jesus is exhibiting a kind of strength beyond compare. And I didn't realize that before. He's being tried over and over and over again. I mean, some of you guys are in the legal field, you know there's a law, and even in America, you're not allowed to do this.

There's a law called double jeopardy where you're not allowed to be tried for the same thing and accused and then be convicted multiple times for the same infraction and then you get sentenced and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But here and now Jesus is going to be tried even more.

And so, and I'm not supposed to, but it keeps going. Please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 23, Luke chapter 23. Here and now as the collective gathering of all the Jewish leaders, even those who are political enemies, come together to convict Jesus and say He's worthy of death.

They ultimately then hand Him over to the Roman government and now He stands before Pilate, right? And I made the case that this was profound because He's being tried over and over again and now He's going to experience a series of examinations under the Roman governors. Underneath Pilate in verse 1 through 2, He says that when the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate and they began to excuse Him saying, "We found this man misleading our nation." It's like, "What?

He's not misleading the nation. You are, suckers." Sorry, it's my indignation coming out. And then they start to lie and then He was forbidding to pay taxes. What? Everybody heard Him. He never forbade to give taxes. He actually said, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's." Right? He's saying that He Himself is Christ the King.

And then Pilate starts to ask Him, "Is that right? Is that who you say you are?" And He goes underneath that kind of examination. And then next, Pilate after seeing like, "I don't know." And he turns to the Pharisees and the rulers and says, "I don't see anything deserving of that.

As a matter of fact, I don't think this is even a matter of this court. He's talking about kingship over you guys, your religious kingship. Go talk to King Herod." Right? And so he goes under King Herod and starting from verse, I'm going to read from verse 8. It says, "Now King Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see Him for a long time because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him.

And then he started to question Him at some length, but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing Him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers were threatening, treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate." And you notice what it's saying there.

It's like there is this repeated vehement... That's why I keep talking about these words of long suffering, intense suffering, because you see it even in the examinations by the Gentiles. And then in verse 13, he goes back underneath Pilate and underneath at verse 13, that's what he says, "Pilate says to the chief priests and the masses, 'I don't find fault in Him.'" Right?

So, I'm just going to kind of summarize this section just so that for the sake of time. Okay? What's really interesting is underneath Pilate, Pilate says, "I don't find fault in Him. Herod doesn't find fault in Him. I don't get what you guys are doing." As a matter of fact, what's really interesting about this is Pilate sees through all the facade of the Pharisees.

You come here and you essentially try to like get me riled up by saying, "He doesn't want to pay taxes to Caesar. He wants to overthrow the Roman government." But Pilate actually sees through all their lies. He knows they're just jealous. And he tells them, "I don't see what you guys are doing.

I don't see fault to put this man to death." And you know what's really interesting about this is as he's saying that, the people continue to cry then. They say, "No, we want Him. We want Him. Not those criminals, but this criminal." Right? And so, if you go over to verse 22, we're in Luke chapter 23, and we're looking at, and please look over to verse 22.

"He said to them," how many times? A third time, "Why? What evil has this man done? I have found in him no guilt demanding death. Therefore, I will punish him and release him. But they were," what? "Insistent with loud voices asking that he be crucified. And their voices began to prevail, and Pilate pronounced the sentence that their demand be granted." So we think about that for a moment.

And to me, that's quite profound. Before the incursory reading of this text, I didn't realize how vehemently determined they were to set him to the cross. I mean, Pilate, yes, he goes down in history as the man who sentenced the death, right? In the creeds that we have, he goes down in history as the guy.

But actually, when you see it, three times he tried to convince the masses, "I don't see it. He doesn't deserve this." And then he washes his hands. But it's the crowd who continues to cry out vehemently, so much so he essentially has to give in. He has to give in.

So this is quite crazy in terms of the things that happen. The verdict is in. Jesus then gets sentenced. And essentially, Jesus gets condemned. He's examined, tried, and cursed. Cursed by men, cursed by God. Now I want to move into a section here. So far, I hope you guys are getting what I'm doing.

I wanted to show you that so much in terms of the length, the duration of his suffering was beyond perhaps what we assumed before. And that causes me to feel a sense of like, "Wow." Before I didn't appreciate that every step then, when it's long and hard, and every step then, Christ had to be that much more determined.

But now I want to move into a section going to this repetitive idea of the intensity of the suffering. Because the verdict is in. The sentence is said. And Christ is going to be executed by crucifixion. As I was preparing this sermon, it's already going a little bit long.

And as I was preparing, I hesitated. Because I assumed that perhaps if you have been Christian for some time, then you already probably have heard sermons where a pastor has described in great detail, maybe in gruesome detail, right? The crucifixion of Christ. The details about his whipping, the flogging, and then the cross.

And there was a moment where I hesitated. I said, "Should I even talk about this?" But absolutely we should. Why? Because it's real. Why? Because it's true. Why? Because we have to remember. Why? Because we're actually prone to forget. We're actually prone to not appreciate the cross as much.

Why? Because we don't appreciate the details and the depth, and I'm going to use my key word again, the intensity of what Christ has suffered. And what's more, if any of us, if any of us in this room are struggling, and I want to speak to you guys, if any of you are struggling to find in your heart the sense of like affection for Christ.

If this week, you know, pastors and friends and everybody's like, "Oh my goodness," and they're posting online, all that kind of stuff, and you don't find that same kind of drive, you don't find that same kind of conviction. If perhaps it's hard for you to muster up when you come into service a sense of any emotion, then let this be a time for you to be reminded that although perhaps sometimes our affections are fading, let us remember together the length and intensity of the suffering of Christ so that we would appreciate, yes, the grace of God is free to us, but it costs our Savior so much.

I want to start by saying and remind us that how involved Satan was in all the midst of this. How involved the adversary, how involved the accuser was involved in all of this. Although it was invisible, I believe again that Satan in so many different ways is inflicting pain that we cannot see, but then that pain becomes absolutely visible.

I began by reminding us that Scripture says that as soon as Pilate said, gave the sentence, the soldiers took him away and they flogged him. They flogged him. And what I want to remind us of this is this, that the flogging in of itself, there's a sense in which it was unnecessary.

Why? Because flogging itself was a form of execution. For Jesus to have been flogged and then crucified, it was like a double, a double execution of this individual. As you guys might have heard before, flogging was done by what's called the cat of nine tails, a leather whip that has strands laced with what could be glass or in pieces of metal.

So that when an individual is whipped by that, the pieces would dig into the skin and tear out chunks of flesh. If you guys remember a long time ago, it's already been so many years, like it was produced in 2004, the movie, The Passion of Christ, right? And perhaps you saw a visual representation of what that flogging would have looked.

What's really interesting is if you look into the story behind that, the actor, I believe his name is, I couldn't pronounce it so I wrote it, Jim Cavazzo. Jim Cavazzo. That's how you pronounce it. This actor, he talks about in kind of a testimony of his experience of playing that role.

He says that when they were filming that scene, they were very cautious, obviously because it's incredibly dangerous. Mel Gibson was a risk taker. He was a gambler. So he actually used real whips and he actually used this cat of nine tails and then they had it set out and they used Italian actors in Rome to do it, right?

And what happened was they made a fake piece of flesh on the back and it was a metal sheet that went like a shield over his back. The story goes that Mel Gibson told the Italian actors, the soldiers, right? I want you to really wind up and give it like real gusto as you whip him.

In fact, make it like a bat swing, you know? And I guess the story goes like they didn't have, they didn't know like American baseball, they didn't understand like, "What are you talking about?" And say, "Oh, kind of like cricket," you know? And essentially what they did is, "Okay," and they start going back and they started running and whipped him, right?

Now this force was so strong that the whip wrapped around the metal and it actually caught him. It caught Jim on his side and ripped out a piece of skin and now he has a 15-inch scar and it was like an open gash along his side. And he said, immediately hit the floor and he felt like he was about to die.

That's pretty wild. But the judgment that Jesus Christ received was not one whipping. He was not protected by the metal shield. It wasn't staged. It wasn't drama. He was whipped. Scripture says that what was ordered was that he would be whipped 39 times because by the time people got to the 40th, they would normally die.

Can you imagine? One stroke of that whip would literally rip an individual's back, cause flesh to be teared and he felt like he was going to die. But that flogging would continue 39 times. I'm guessing there was bleeding profusely. I'm guessing he would be falling down. He couldn't hold himself up.

And then he had to carry his beam on which he was to be crucified up the hill. They say some 1500 to 2000 yards up the hill. And so much pain, so much agony was there that he could not carry it and he eventually collapsed. And later on, as he came to the hill, you know the story of the crucifixion, but I want to describe it in greater detail.

As we think about what the soldiers were doing, this was the most gruesome, I want to say barbaric, right? Barbaric torture of any individual. The crucifixion was so heinous that in Norman culture, Roman citizens were not allowed to be executed in this fashion. It was so, I guess, unspeakable that Roman philosophers, it was even recorded by Cicero, that if you were in regular talk and you're in polite company, if you're just regularly talking with anybody, you don't even name that thing.

You don't even talk about that thing. Why? Because it was so shameful. I want to describe the aspects of the crucifixion a bit here. For us, when we think about the crucifixion, perhaps we have images where Jesus is wrapped and at least there's a garment or some kind of cloth around him, around his midsection.

But stereotypically, when an individual was crucified, he was completely stripped naked so that he would be shamed, so that he would be bare, so that he would be exposed. The crucifixion had as its intent that the individual who was being crucified would be a specimen, that he would be an example, almost like an insect pinned to the board.

Jesus was nailed to the cross as a way to say, "Look, everybody look. Look what happens when you go against the Roman government. Look what happens when you sin." It was intent on maximum exposure. It was intent on prolonged exposure, that many of the people who were crucified in their day, they would hang there and then they were left to die for days.

And even if they died, and even if their soul had left, their bodies would there, so that the animals would ravage their bodies, and so people would see and say, "We dare not go against the Roman government. We dare not sin against the law of the land." But if you remember the physical pain, aside from the embarrassment, aside from the prolonged shame that Jesus experienced, there on that cross, the physical pain of our Savior.

I mean, I just only imagine that as He was walking, everybody was still mocking. The soldiers kept punching Him and asking, "You think you're the Messiah? Then prophesy. Who punched you?" They continued to spit on Him. They continued to ridicule Him. And once He gets to the cross, they nail His arms, they nail His feet to the cross.

I don't know exactly 100% how, and as I read the story, there's so many different descriptions of how actually the nailing happens, whether His feet are bound together and then a big nail is just driven, whether it's a platform like the pictures show. And then I realized, essentially, why there is such a discrepancy on how people are nailed to that, is because it was meant to shame.

People were crucified in all sorts of sinful fashion. We know that Peter was crucified upside down. We know people have been crucified with their hands completely up. They were crucified and nailed on that cross, not by way of practicality, but to inflict the greatest amount of shame and pain.

We know that His body, as He's nailed on there, because it's so impossible to carry a weight of an individual on just those nails. His body would continue to collapse. You've heard how there's such a difficulty breathing when your body is stretched out. And when your arms are up and your body is stretched, that your lungs have an incredibly difficult time of breathing.

And especially when your legs are too weak and you cannot hold up your body and your body starts to droop, then you would die of suffocation. Again talking about that story of the testimony of the actor, he would describe how when he was lifted up, again, under controlled environment, under controlled circumstances, when they were filming, he was lifted up.

And when they're on that hill and the wind was blowing and his body was exposed, he said chills ran down his body. And as he was hung on the cross by ropes and by things that weren't seen, still nonetheless the weight of his body actually dislocated his left arm and so much pain was raining down they had to drop him.

And once they dropped him, he was breathing too hard and the doctors came and they wanted to examine him. The doctor said even the short amount of exposure that he experienced on there, he had pneumonia. This is crazy stuff. But as I think about this, I want to now speak to all of you more just specifically at your heart.

When I was reading through the narrative, when I was reading through the story of how people kept ridiculing him, I felt that same sentiment rise in me again. And I don't know when you read the story of Christ, does it rise in you? There is a frustration in my heart.

There is an indignation in my heart. There is an indignation in my heart towards the people. You truly have no idea what you're doing. There's an indignation in my heart towards the soldiers. Stop it. Yes, I get it, this man claimed to be the king and you find that ridiculous, but look at what you're doing.

The scene is gruesome. He's bleeding from every part of his body and he's collapsing. Stop it. I mean, could it be? There are literally thousands and thousands of people in that environment and everybody sees him bleeding, but everybody is that hardened? What's wrong with you people? And then there was an indignation in my heart even.

My Lord Jesus, you could stop this. I read an article. There was an individual commentating about this Friday saying, "We see, yes, the suffering of our Savior and the intensity of the pain that he endured." And that article said, "We shouldn't feel sorry for our Savior. It's not a time just to feel sorry for him." But I'm going to be honest with you.

I don't know how to describe how I felt when I started to rehearse the story and reread the Gospels. Because that's exactly what I felt. I felt sorry for my Savior. You endure so long and so intensely and so hard and nobody gets you. And nobody is willing to stop and nobody is willing to help.

And you truly in this moment are the most alone person ever. I wish there was another way. And just like you pray to God, I wish there was another way for you to save in another fashion. Couldn't there have been? So what do we do? Because I actually was distraught by that.

We shouldn't feel sorry for our Savior. He for the joy set before him did all of this, this lengthy track that we just went on, on all the ridicule, all the persecution. Jesus was so determined to do it. And if by any means I say to him, if I was there, I say to him, "Jesus, there's got to be another way." Then I would be just like Peter.

So how should I feel? And then I started to think about this. You know, sometimes we, because of our arrogance and because we think we do no better, we sometimes hear of how our parents, our previous generation went to such lengths. My parents tell me sometimes, my parents lived in the war generation.

They tell me about times when they ate bark, when they ate tofu and told each other it was meat. When many of their friends were malnourished or they were small, many of them lost their family, all that kind of stuff. And they were in survival mode and so they tell me stories of how they went through such lengths and how they, you know, suffered and how they never took breaks and they worked so hard and they became, you know, workaholics and all of that kind of stuff.

And then there was a part of me in my arrogance said, "Well, you could have done it another way." And maybe even say, "Biblically speaking, you should never neglect your family." And all of a sudden I had all these opinions of how my parents should have done it. But these are the moments when as Scripture say, when we see the kindness of our God, we should be broken.

We should be humbled. We should say, "My God, my God, truly how amazing it is. Truly how beautiful it is." And the way I interpret this, then this is, is I'm not looking at you saying, "Oh, what a pitiful scene." I'm looking at all of this as, "Oh my goodness, what an offer my Christ has given me." "Oh my goodness, what our parents have given us." And feel this level of gratitude in our hearts that goes deep, so deep.

It's not just, "Oh, I appreciate you." It's not just, "I am thankful." It's, "I'm broken. I'm broken in my soul because you love me to this end." When I talk about longsuffering, I am talking about the fact that you did not stop. You did not pull short. You didn't say, "Forget this," but rather to no end, to the very limit, you love those who are your own.

And because of that, I am saved. And I want to speak to every single one of you. In any given room, I believe there are categorically different people. There are people who believe this and they're broken. There are people who do not believe this. And then there are people who are on the fence.

If you are on the fence, realize that you being on the fence is a decision for you to be on the fence. And I want to challenge and encourage you. This is not somebody, this is not a Savior who has given you a hand, a fellowship and said, "Just take my hand." This is not somebody who has just simply opened up their door and said, "Come into my house." This is not somebody who is just benevolent to you and said, "I will provide for you a meal.

I will provide for you your necessities and your finances." This is a Savior who said, "I have broken. I have shed my blood for you. And here is everything that I have for you with no limit." This is the long-suffering Savior who has gone to great intensity and great lengths to save you.

It would be rude to reject a hand. It would be rude to reject an invitation to someone's home. And I am going to tell you, it would be absolutely a cosmic offense for you to hear of the sacrifice of our Savior and harden your heart. Wouldn't it be? This is an offer like no other.

And we have to believe the amazing Savior, the Lord God, has given us in this day such an offer to us. Amen? Let's take a moment to bow our heads and pray. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you so much because we realize that to a degree, to a degree, Lord, that we can never fathom, your patience and love goes so deep.

To a degree, Father God, that we can never fathom, you have paid the cost to redeem us. And so, Father, we want to take this time to agree with you that we are not able, to agree with you that we are weak. Father God, our arms, our feet, our intellect, our hearts are so weak and altogether stained by sin.

There is nothing we could have done. And if it would have been that you would have asked and you would have demanded for us to pay for our sins, God, we would be completely undone. Father, thank you so much that our Savior Jesus Christ has gone to such lengths to do what we could not do and to do especially and accomplish that which we so desperately needed.

Father, we want to pray that you would grant us faith to understand the depths of your suffering, the depths of which your Scripture says you have become our curse and you have paid the penalty that we deserve. Father, I ask that you would help us not to just simply ascend to that or to simply acknowledge that but God, that they would drive deep into our hearts and it would be in the conviction of our souls.

That, Father, it would truly just burn inside of us and cause us to respond to you with great love and great affection, causing us ultimately, Father God, to dedicate our entire lives to you. Lord, we thank you so much. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.