MATTHEW 27 NOBODY LOVES ME MORE THAN JESUS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Matthew 27 Nobody Loves Me More Than Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, this morning as we look at Matthew chapter 27, I've titled the message, Nobody Loves Me More Than Jesus.

Nobody loves me more than Jesus does. And this morning, as we look at Matthew chapter 27, we're looking at this portion in the life of Jesus where he is experiencing the death upon the cross on our behalf. And it's a familiar portion for us. And the concept of Jesus loving us is familiar as well. And yet at the same time, it's important for us to take some time and be refreshed and renewed in this reality.

Perhaps you got to celebrate with somebody this past Friday for Valentine's Day. If you didn't, I'm sorry. There's someone out there for you. Come afterwards. I'll give you a hug or something. But anyways, that's only for the guys. Girls, go to my wife. I wrote my wife a little note on Valentine's Day morning. I leave her work before she's up, and so I put it in her office, and I said, I love you, and I signed my name.

And then later on in the day, she called me. She woke up, she saw the note, and she said, oh my goodness, I'm so surprised. I never knew that you loved me. No, that's not what happened. No, she knew. But somehow there's a need for me to continue to tell her. I don't know why that is. But she wants to hear it. She needs to know it. She needs to be refreshed in it and encouraged in it. And it's good for us.

couples to be renewed in that declaration of love for one another. And in a similar way this morning, although we know Jesus loves us, we're familiar with the concept, I would encourage you to just invite the Lord to minister to you in a fresh way, to give you a renewed sense of awe and wonder at the love that he has for you. And I'd like to remind you this morning, there is nobody who loves you more than Jesus does. And

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 that God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When we're at our worst, the worst of the worst that we could ever be, full of our sinfulness, full of our wretchedness in our hearts, God demonstrates his love by reaching out to us in that condition.

And showing us his love by dying upon the cross and by meeting our greatest need and inviting us close to him even when we're at our worst and most sinful. And so we see the example here of Jesus in the things that he encountered and experienced there leading up to and including the cross. And we're reminded through that of the love that he has for us. Greater love.

than anyone else could ever love us. Greater love than you could ever give to anyone else. Maybe there's some people in your life that you love greatly and intensely. And it's a great reminder that no matter how much you love them, Jesus loves them more.

And he loves you more. And he wants what's best for you. And so we can rest and be secure in the love of Jesus Christ. And so we're going to walk our way through a few different portions here in Matthew chapter 27, considering the ways that Jesus shows his love here in this chapter. So the first way that we'll consider is in verses 11 through 25. Here's the first way Jesus shows his love. It's through his innocence.

His innocence shows me his love. Jumping into verse 11 again, it says, We're jumping into kind of the middle of the day for Jesus. He's been on trial for some time already.

But now he's standing before Pontius Pilate, the governor of the region for the Romans. He's the Roman authority in the area. And the Jews have brought him before Pilate and he is there now on trial. They're seeking to put Jesus to death and they cannot do that of their own authority. So the Jewish leaders turn him over to the Romans in an attempt to have Jesus put to death.

And so they bring forth some accusations. Now in their earlier trials and the things that Jesus experienced in the hours leading up to this, there was trials that took place amongst the Jews and the Jewish leaders and the council that was there.

And they had a hard time coming up with an accusation, but the accusation that they finally landed on was not an accusation that would be considered by Pilate to be something of an issue. It was not, you know, something that was criminal for the Romans. It was something they made up and took offense to, but was not actually wrong or a crime. And so they gathered together false witnesses. They tried to come up with an accusation against Jesus, but

When they finally brought him to Pilate, they had to come up with a different accusation. And so now they bring him before Pilate and says he claims to be the king of the Jews. And so that's why Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Now Pilate

In responding to this, Jesus says, it is as you say, he truly is the king of the Jews. He's not, you know, putting on a show. He's not stealing someone's identity. It really is who he is. And so it's not a crime for him to claim to be the king of the Jews. And Pilate understands a little bit of what's going on here. We find in Luke chapter 23,

In this occasion where Pilate says, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered, it is as you say. In Luke chapter 23, verse four, Pilate says to the chief priests and the crowd, I find no fault in this man. There's no crime being committed here. Pilate, really from the get-go, from early in this trial that is taking place, this investigation or this interview that is happening between Jesus and Pilate, Pilate believes, he comes to the conclusion, he understands that,

This is not for any real crime that Jesus is standing before him. There has been no issue that would, you know, require some type of judgment or rebuke or discipline. He says, I find no fault in this man.

And we see, as we continue on through the passage, Pilate is convinced of and knows that Jesus actually is innocent. In verse 12, it goes on to say, while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things they testify against you?

But he answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. We're kind of getting to see this through Pilate's eyes. He's looking at Jesus and receiving all these false accusations, all of these slanders, all these things that the religious leaders are saying about Jesus. And perhaps Jesus could have refuted many of these things very easily, very quickly.

But Jesus here says nothing. He makes no attempt to defend himself. He makes no attempt to fight back or to correct the record or, you know, set the record straight. He says nothing. And Pilate is watching this. He's marveling at all of these things that are going on. And Jesus is just allowing it to happen. And again, convinced of Jesus's innocence. But here's Jesus not defending himself. Now, although Pilate believes that Jesus is innocent...

He is very careful in this situation about making a clear decision publicly because, well, Pilate's been in a bit of trouble with the Roman authorities above him. And the Jews have not been, he hasn't had good relationships with the Jewish people either. And so he's kind of stuck in between these two. There's a lot of political maneuvering and political tension that is going on in Pilate's life at this time.

And so although he believes that Jesus is innocent, he's trying to get out of this situation without upsetting his superiors, but also without upsetting the Jewish people. He's trying to navigate this the best he can without making a clear decision. And so he comes up with a plan in verse 15. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time, they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release to you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ? And then notice verse 18, for he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. Pilate comes up with this plan. He doesn't want to make the decision. So he thinks, you know what? I do this every year. I give one prisoner back to them. I set somebody free. So I'll let the crowd choose. And certainly the crowd will choose Jesus.

who hasn't done anything wrong, over Barabbas, who is this notorious criminal and has caused so much harm. It was a clever plan, perhaps, but it tells us the motivation. He knew that the religious leaders had handed Jesus over because of envy. Again, Pilate knows Jesus is innocent. He doesn't deserve judgment. He doesn't deserve punishment of any kind. He knows there's an agenda of the religious leaders, and so he's

thinking the crowd's not going to go along with this. The crowd will kind of save me, rescue me from this political situation and ask for Jesus to be released. And then I can say, well, I do this every year. The crowd chose, so it's not my fault to the Jewish people, right? You can't be upset with me and try to get himself out of that sticky situation that he was in. Well, while this is happening,

In verse 19, it tells us he's sitting on the judgment seat. His wife sent to him saying, have nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. So we're kind of following along with Pilate. He knows right off the bat Jesus is innocent. He sees the heart and the motivation of the religious leaders and the envy that they have, and that's why all of this is happening. And then his wife sends him a message. And she says, this is a just man. This is a righteous man or righteous.

You could also say, this is an innocent man. And I've been having dreams about him all day. I've been troubled greatly all day. It's interesting to consider that Pilate's wife is having dreams about Jesus. I would suggest this isn't the enemy sowing seeds or trying to accomplish something, right? This is God. God is, even in the midst of this trial, reaching out to Pilate, reaching out to his wife, giving them opportunity to know him, to hear him, to respond to him.

But here, another testimony comes in for Pilate, and he sees, he can understand, it has been revealed, Jesus is innocent. And so again, he's thinking, now the crowd's going to choose Jesus, and he's innocent, and so we're safe, we're good. I don't have to intervene. I don't have to make a clear statement, a clear declaration that Jesus is the Son of God, or that he is the King of the Jews, or that he is innocent. I'll let, you know, the crowd make that choice for me. Verse 20 says,

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, which of the two do you want me to release to you? They said, Barabbas. And Pilate said to them, what then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? They all said to him, let him be crucified. Then the governor said, why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more saying, let him be crucified.

Here again, we find through Pilate's testimony that Jesus is innocent. As he invites the crowd to give their answer, they say, Barabbas, we want Barabbas to be set free. They were persuaded by the chief priests, by the elders, the religious leaders. And so they ask for Barabbas. And Pilate says, why? Why do you want Jesus to be crucified? Why would you make this choice? What has he done? What has he done? I find no fault in him, Pilate is saying.

He's innocent. He doesn't deserve to be crucified. Why? What has he done? Name a fault. Name a failure. You know, give me a reason. What has he done? But the crowd's not interested in reason. They're not interested in reason. They're just going to be louder then. And they cry out even more saying, let him be crucified.

They don't want to talk about it. You know, they don't want to, you know, have an intellectual discussion. They just raise their voice. They just shout louder, let him be crucified. Doesn't matter if he deserves it. Doesn't matter that he hasn't done anything wrong. The crowd says, let him be crucified. And so here's Pilate in the midst of this situation. He knows that Jesus is innocent, but he doesn't want to upset the Jews. He doesn't want to upset his superiors. And so verse 24, when Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all,

Pilate, looking at the situation, he feels like there's no way out for me. I can't save my career and make a clear decision for Jesus that is right and fair.

So he opts to save his career. And he tries to alleviate the guilt of that to justify himself a bit by doing this symbolic demonstration. He's washing his hands in front of them, saying, okay, this is not my decision. I'm washing my hands. I'm not guilty of this. I am innocent of this man's blood. You guys, you have that responsibility. And the crowd willingly takes it and says, yes, let his blood be on us. No problem. But it's interesting to consider that

Although Pilate makes this declaration that he's innocent, that he himself, Pilate, is innocent, he washes his hands in symbolism, like saying, showing, look how innocent I am. I'm choosing to be innocent in this. It's interesting to consider, would God accept that act? That handling of his authority as a dismissal of his responsibility? Is Pilate innocent as far as God is concerned?

It's something to wrestle with when you have responsibility, when you have authority from God to not make the right decision for the sake of convenience, for the sake of expedience or political tension or whatever it might be. Can you just be innocent by kind of deferring the responsibility or deferring the decision to somebody else? It's something worth considering and wrestling with if you have responsibility and authority.

But here again, even as he's going through this, he declares again that Jesus is innocent. He washes his hands. He says, I'm innocent of the blood of this just person. This just person. It's a righteous person, an innocent man. And so it's clear all throughout this passage, all throughout this trial, Pilate knows there is no crime that has been committed. Jesus is innocent. G. Campbell Morgan says he was convinced of the innocence of Jesus.

He laid that aside. He knew what was right. He knew Christ was right. He knew Christ was innocent. But he went forward anyways because of his own situation.

But even though the trial goes forward and the verdict is not in his favor, the innocence of Jesus is demonstrated throughout this whole time. It's clear. In the trials that happened before, you can look back in chapter 26 and the trials that happened before the Jewish leaders, the innocence of Jesus is clear. Jesus is innocent before God. He is innocent before the Jews. He is innocent before the Romans. And it's a demonstration of

of his love for us, that he is innocent, that he has lived his life in absolute perfection, never a fault, never a sin, never a failure in any regard before God, before the Jews, before the Romans. He has not committed any crimes. He has never transgressed, never failed in any way. Why? Well, part of it, of course, we know the doctrine of Jesus and the reality that Jesus is God who became man. And so

perfection is part of his nature. But at the same time, he expresses something interesting in John chapter 17. There in that lengthy prayer that Jesus prays right before going to the cross. In John chapter 17, Jesus praying to the Father says, sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. Verse 19, and for their sakes, I sanctify myself.

that they also may be sanctified by the truth. As Jesus is praying specifically for his followers, he's asking for the Father to sanctify them. That word sanctify, it means to be set apart, to be consecrated, to be holy, to be devoted to. It speaks of righteousness, holiness. He says, sanctify them by your truth. And he goes on to say, for their sakes, I sanctify myself.

As you think about the perfection of Jesus, the sinlessness of Jesus, know and understand that Jesus says, I did that. I lived perfectly. I made all the hard choices to do the right thing when it wasn't convenient. In contrast to Pilate, right? Who clearly knew the right thing and made the wrong choices. We can relate to that. We can relate to Pilate. We have had many occasions in our lives where we know right from wrong. We know the right thing and we do something different. And here Jesus says, look,

I've never done that. I've never known what is right and did something else instead for you, for their sakes. For your sake, Jesus said, I always kept myself pure. I always kept myself devoted to the plan and the will of our heavenly father. It's for your sake that I've lived this way, that I've been sinless, that I've made the hard choices, that I've endured these things. It's for your sake. Jesus lived a sinless and perfect life for you.

For me, because he loves me as a demonstration, as a way to show the great love that he has for us. Well, moving on to verses 26 through 35, we get the second thing that shows us the love of Jesus. And that is his endurance. His endurance shows us his love. Looking at verse 26, it says, Barabbas now is released.

great injustice being done, the guilty being set free, the innocent being held to be punished. And it says that they scourged Jesus. It's not my intention this morning to dive into the graphic detail of the things that Jesus experienced on this day and the pain that he experienced. There's

value in doing that and you're welcome to spend some time digging into and understanding a little bit more of the the physical side of this and the things that jesus went through but as kind of a brief glimpse the scourging of jesus would have been very intense

It was the whipping where he would be tied to a post and then whipped. And it would be with great intensity because the scourging that would take place before a crucifixion was used as an interrogation method. And so it was incentive. You know, hey, if you confess to things, then we'll lighten the next sentence.

blows and reduce them. And the more you withhold and you don't speak, then, well, the lashes will intensify. And so Jesus, being perfect and innocent and having nothing to confess, experienced the full scourging that one could experience, the full punishment of the scourging that would take place.

It was a gruesome process. Sometimes people died just from the scourging. And so it was not, you know, a little slap on the wrist. It wasn't, you know, something insignificant. Even though it's presented, you know, in such a succinct way, he had Jesus scourged, right? The reality is this was a process that was inflicting great harm and pain upon Jesus.

But that's just the beginning here of these events that are unfolding and the pain that Jesus experienced. In the next few verses, we see the mocking of Jesus. Verse 27, then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. And when they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, hail, king of the Jews.

Then they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to be crucified. So after this scourging takes place, now the soldiers decide to have some fun. And they were pretty gruesome. They were pretty brutal and not very compassionate in the fun that they're having. They're mocking Jesus saying,

In a very cruel way. They strip him and put a scarlet robe on him. And so, hey, you say that you're a king, so kings should have, you know, the color of royalty. They put a scarlet robe on him. Hey, you know what? You're missing Jesus. You're missing a crown. You know, kings should have a crown. And so they make a crown out of thorns and they put it on his head. They give him a reed, but then they take it back and beat him over the head with it to inflict pain with the crown of thorns.

They're mocking him. Hail, king of the Jews. Spitting on him, beating him. It was shameful what the Roman soldiers did to Jesus. An innocent man who didn't deserve any punishment, never committed any crime, never sinned in any way, but he endured this mocking. It took a lot out of him. Verse 32. Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross.

It would be typical for a person who is crucified to carry that cross beam to the place of crucifixion. But it seems that Jesus has become weakened through all these events, and so he's not able to even bear the cross. His muscles now are at the point of failure. They're not able to exert the strength and the energy that is needed to carry the cross. And so they

grab Simon of Cyrene and say, you carry this for him. And so then they continue on the procession to Golgotha. Jesus here is incredibly weak and he's endured so much even before what we've looked at here in chapter 27. Here's a quick rundown of some of the things that Jesus encountered and endured. You might remember going back to the previous chapter. Jesus is in the

His prayer is so fervent leading up to the cross. His prayer is so fervent in the garden that there's actually blood mixed in with his sweat. And that in and of itself would have been a physically traumatic thing to experience, the capillaries bursting in his glands. But there he's arrested around midnight in Gethsemane after that time of prayer. And then he goes through a series of trials. The first trial that happens is before Annas, the high priest,

These are all recorded throughout the four different Gospels. And so looking at all of them together, we...

pieced together this timeline. So the first trial happens before Annas. Then there's a trial before the other high priest of that year was Caiaphas. And then Jesus is mocked and beaten by the Jewish soldiers. And so what we read about here in chapter 27 is the Roman mocking of Jesus, but Jesus also experienced similar treatment under the Jewish soldiers in

during this, or in between the trials that are taking place. Then around five in the morning, there's a third trial amongst the Jewish people before the elders, the Sanhedrin. They come to their decision. They then lead him to Pilate around 6 a.m.,

We don't see it recorded here in Matthew chapter 27, but one of the techniques that Pilate used to try to get out of making a clear decision about Jesus was he said, you know, this guy's from Galilee. Let's send him to Herod and maybe Herod will make a decision and take this responsibility out of my hands. And so then Jesus goes and stands before Herod and then Herod doesn't make any decision. He just sends Jesus back to Pontius Pilate. And so that's what we see happening here in Matthew chapter 27.

Jesus has experienced a full night, probably no sleep. If he had some, it was very little. He's been beaten, mocked, traumatized, falsely accused. The innocent imprisoned. The criminal is released, scourged, now carrying the cross. He's just at the point of failure. His body is broken down, not able to give anymore. Verse 33 says,

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. And so as you kind of picture Jesus kind of experiencing, I mean, it's really hard to understand the depths of the things that Jesus was experiencing at this time. But as we get these little snippets of it, these little previews of it,

Now he arrives at the place of crucifixion and they offer to him this drink. It was a drink that would help him to get through the difficulty, the pain, the agony that he was about to continue to experience. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says it was customary to give a narcotic drink to those who were about to be crucified for this would help ease the pain. Jesus refused this drink.

He did the will of God in complete control of his faculties. The drink was designed to deaden the senses, to dull the pain, to enable the person being crucified to be able to get through it with a lesser sense of the painful realities that they were experiencing. But Jesus, recognizing what it was, said, no, I don't want to reduce the pain I'm experiencing. I mean, obviously he wants to.

but he's choosing not to. I'm not going to reduce the pain I'm experiencing. I'm not going to deaden my senses. Jesus says, I'm going to experience, I'm going to endure the full pain. So he kept control of his senses. He kept control of his consciousness so that Jesus knew exactly what was happening and deliberately chose to endure the pain of crucifixion. Verse 35 says, then they crucified him.

They crucified him. It's just three words here in verse 35. But there's so much into those words, right? There's so much behind them. As you understand the kneeling of the hands and the feet to the cross, as you understand the technique of crucifixion, which was really death by suffocation, but crucifixion

drawn out in the most longest way possible, in the most painful way possible. Crucifixion was such a horrid way to die. It would not be talked about or mentioned in normal society. Like we would talk about crucifixion today, you know, like Romans would not do that because, well, they saw crucifixion. They knew what it was and how horrendous it was. They crucified him.

Being nailed to the cross, every breath would require pulling down on the nails in the hands and pushing down on the nails in the feet and lifting the body up to be able to inhale and take a breath. Actually, to exhale. You'd be in a continual state of inhaling and then to exhale, you'd have to lift yourself up in that way. And it would be a long process of suffocation. The joints would begin to dislocate. Every part of the body would be in pain and experiencing pain.

The crucifixion process. Commentator John Walvoord says, Jesus endured a full night of trials, false accusations, mockings, beatings, scourgings, more mockings, and then crucifixion. Deliberately, with his wits about him, paying attention,

not having the pain dulled, no Tylenol, no Advil, nothing to kind of take his mind off the pain or cause him to not feel the pain. He endured. He pressed on and experienced the fullness of all of it. And we're really just talking about the physical as we're looking at these things right now. But of course, internally, there's so much that Jesus is enduring, emotionally, spiritually. He endured, demonstrating his love for us.

The author of Hebrews in Hebrews 12 too encourages us to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Sometimes we kind of just like jump over the painful part of the process.

As we think about crucifixion, he's at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, we think about the glory and Jesus is in glory. He's at the right hand of God. But he also really did experience every bit of the pain and the difficulty. He endured. And here the author of Hebrews says it was for the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. He endured not to just show like, I want to, you know, demonstrate how strong I am, how much I can take.

He wasn't, you know, just showing off his strength or how much he could endure. He endured for the joy that was set before him. His endurance had a purpose. It was for us. The end result, we'll see in just a moment, the way is open to full fellowship with God and the presence of God as a result of what Jesus endures. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, showing his love, demonstrating his

There's no one else who loves you even remotely as much as Jesus loves you. His innocence shows it. His endurance shows it. And now looking at verses 36 through 44, we see that his restraint shows his love. Endurance by itself doesn't really give the full picture because of course there was many other people who were crucified. Many other people who endured the physical things that Jesus endured also. And people can endure hardship also.

well, even when it's deserved. People can endure hardship well, even when there's nothing that they can do about it. But here is Jesus and what makes him different than, well, we can use the two thieves crucified with him. They endured crucifixion, right? They got nailed to a cross as well. They got their hands pierced and their feet pierced. They experienced those things.

It doesn't specifically say that they were scourged, but that was the normal practice. And so it's likely they experienced scourging. They endured scourging. But the big difference between them was Jesus was innocent and they were guilty. And another big difference between them was they had no choice. They endured the cross, but it was forced upon them and they could do nothing about it. Meanwhile, Jesus, he's the creator of the heavens and the earth. He doesn't have to go through this.

He shows restraint. Verse 36, it says,

If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. Here is Jesus is lifted up on the cross. The Roman guard sits down to keep watch. There was no substitution. Jesus didn't tag somebody else in and someone else went through the cross and Jesus actually didn't have to die upon the cross. That's a false doctrine that works its way through the church sometimes. They're sitting there, they're watching. They put up the accusation, Jesus, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews.

The two robbers are crucified with them. And as this whole event is unfolding, now people begin to pass by. And it says those who pass by blasphemed him, wagging their heads. This was done openly and publicly. Another aspect of the crucifixion was the humiliation of being nailed, stripped of clothing, nailed to the cross with the accusation there for all to read that

and the full punishment and penalty to be on display to all who went by. And so people are walking by. They see Jesus. They see these other two thieves, and they're wagging their heads. They're speaking blasphemies. This is the guy who said he could destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Hey, save yourself, you so-called powerful guy. Save yourself. Hey, if you really are the Son of God, get off the cross. What are you doing up there?

They're mocking and blaspheming Jesus while he's hanging there fighting for every breath. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, It was the Passover. Everybody was coming into Jerusalem.

It was a lot of hustle and bustle. And there in front of everybody, Jesus is hanging upon the cross. And the whole time that he's there, there's this taunting. There's this blasphemy. How do you respond when someone taunts you, right? Especially when you're innocent and they're trying to provoke you, you know, and speaking evil of you, speaking maliciously about you. We know what it's like to have to restrain ourselves, or at least hopefully you restrain yourself when you're treated that way.

But here's Jesus on the cross, excruciating pain, innocent, having endured so much. He really could get off the cross. They said, if you are the son of God, and he really is the son of God, if you are, prove it by getting off the cross. He could have done that, but he chose not to. He restrained himself. He did not use the power that he could have used to deliver himself from this situation.

Again, endurance by itself doesn't give the full picture. Others who were crucified, they had no power to deliver themselves. But Jesus did. He could have escaped it at any time. And yet he endured the pain. He endured the shame and the mockery. Although he is innocent and all-powerful, he stayed there upon the cross and allowed for the blasphemy, the pain, the agony to continue. Verse 41 says,

Likewise, the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and elders said, he saved others himself. He cannot save. If he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, people would challenge him. Hey, do a miracle and then we'll believe. And Jesus did miracles. And well, the religious leaders, at least they still would not believe. But here they ask for one more. This time we'll believe you for real, Jesus. Come down from the cross and we'll believe you.

They didn't actually expect Jesus to come down from the cross because they didn't believe him. And so they're just now taunting, just digging in the dagger, twisting it a little bit, trying to make it more painful. He saved others himself. He cannot save, but Jesus could save himself. He chose not to. He chose not to. They continue on in verse 43 to say, "'He trusted in God. "'Let him deliver him now, if he will have him. "'For he said, I am the son of God. "'He trusted in the Father.'"

He claimed that the father was his father, that he was the unique son of God equal to the father. Now, if that's really true, let the father show it and deliver him. And the reality is Jesus could have been delivered by the father. You rewind the tape a little bit back to Matthew chapter 26, when Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane and the soldiers come to arrest Jesus and Peter pulls out his sword. He's like, fear not Jesus. I gotcha. You know, he's, I'm going to take care of this.

Jesus says, put your sword away. Those who take up the sword, they die by the sword. But he tells Peter, don't you think that I cannot pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? Peter, stop and think about what you're doing here. Don't you understand? If I wanted to get out of this situation, I could get out of this situation. I don't need you to hack off people's ears with a sword. If I prayed to the father right now, if I asked the father, he would send 12 legions of angels to

I would suggest the 12 legions of angels were there already. Like they're on the scene. Like just let us have him. Give us the word, Jesus. Like we'll take him out for you. They were willing. They were available. The power was there. The father would have granted that request. But Jesus said, no, that's not what I'm here to experience the crucifixion. That's why he came. And so he restrained himself.

He restrained his power. He restrained the angels. He restrained the disciples. He restrained the deliverance that could have been. It shows his love. He felt every moment, every instant. And I don't know what that's like for Jesus, of course, but just trying to picture that. Like if you know, sometimes you just kind of zone out, like you just kind of tune out and all of a sudden you realize like, whoa, I didn't realize I was doing that. You know, I didn't realize I was holding that so tightly or so hard, right? Like you just kind of are not conscious of

The strength that you're displaying. Jesus, if he wasn't careful, could have ceased restraining. Every moment, every instant, he restrained. He maintained the course to experience the cross. Meekness is defined as strength under control. And it's demonstrated by Jesus to a great degree here. Strength, all power, the creator of the heavens and the earth, restrained, under control, restrained.

Not going to deliver himself to the point of death. And that's the final point for this morning. His death shows his love. Verse 45. 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.

Here as Jesus hangs on the cross, there is several hours of darkness that comes upon the land. Something supernatural is happening.

The world itself was testifying of the crime that was being committed in this innocent man being crucified. Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? A reference back to Psalm chapter 22. Not just a reference to Psalm 22, but also likely an expression of the emotions and the things that he's experiencing internally. The Father has not forsaken him, but he feels forsaken.

He feels the disconnect. He feels the burden of sin and the separation from the Father. He feels the penalty that he is paying for us on our behalf as he hangs there upon the cross. The people around, they misunderstand. They think he's calling for Elijah. But Jesus is now looking back at Psalm 22, that psalm that is so prophetic and speaking about the things that Jesus endured, the suffering of the Messiah. There's some great insights there if you want to consider it.

Psalm chapter 22, the expression of what Jesus was going through. Then it tells us in verse 50 that he cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. He cried out again with a loud voice. I wonder what that sounded like. There in those final moments, he cries out one final time. What did that sound like? What emotion was conveyed in that cry? What kind of tone did it have? How much pain was expressed? We need to be reminded sometimes that these things are real events.

Jesus really did experience the pain. He really did experience the cross. And he cries out. It's real. It's not fake. He's not putting on a show. He's experiencing. He's feeling. He's going through this in a very real way. And with this final cry, it says that he yielded up his spirit. He held on. He endured. He restrained himself until, it's not recorded here, but in another gospel, he's able to say, it is finished.

And that might be that loud voice that is being referred to here in 50 where Jesus cries out, it is finished. The price has been paid. The work has been done. He held on so that it was full and complete payment for sin and receiving the penalty for our sin. And when that mission was accomplished, when that purpose was fulfilled, then he yielded up his spirit. It was in his power, his control, and he waited patiently

until it was full, until it was complete, so that all sin would be paid for. Jesus says in John chapter 10, therefore, my father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This command I've received from my father. Jesus says, no one takes my life from me. And then he proves it

Enduring the cross, restraining himself, waiting until it's paid in full, and then it's finished, he yields up his spirit. I lay my life down. He makes the deliberate choice. He's a willing sacrifice. And then it tells us in verse 51, then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. A huge sacrifice.

event that signifies the way being opened to the very presence of God, the forgiveness of sins in the holiest of all, the presence of God, the access has been opened to all, no longer just exclusive to the high priest and one time a year. But this is the purpose for which Jesus endured and restrained himself. It's the purpose for which he remained innocent and then died upon the cross.

so that the way to the Father could be opened. Jesus did not just die. He didn't just, you know, lose his life. He didn't just experience physical death. He willingly gave himself to accomplish the life that he wanted to give to those who would believe in him. Jesus tells us in John chapter 15, "'Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.'" Nobody loves you more than Jesus does. Nobody loves me more than Jesus does.

He demonstrated it once and for all in the laying down of himself, yielding himself, surrendering himself, willingly to receive the penalty for your sin and my sin. We see here Jesus loves us greatly. His innocence shows it. He's innocent before God, before the Jews, before the Romans, and yet he endures, showing his love. He endures the scourging, the mocking, the false accusations, the illegal trials, the

The crucifixion. All the while he restrains himself, showing his love. No, I'm going to hang on for your sake. I'm not going to remove myself from this situation. Every moment, every instant, he's in control. He's conscious and aware. He feels it fully, but he wants to pay the price. He wants to finish the work for the joy that is set before him, for you and for me, because of his great love for us. All the way to the point of death, he holds on and then surrenders himself at just the right time

When the payment is complete, God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This morning, we want to allow the Lord to continue to refresh us in our understanding of his love for us. And so we're going to close in a time of worship, and the worship team can come up and get ready. We've also prepared the communion elements here in the table in front of the pulpit.

And so as we close out in this time of worship, we're not going to hand out the bread and the cup, and there's not a requirement that you partake of communion today, but we want to make it available so that as we worship the Lord, as we consider his love for us, as we consider the demonstration that we see reflected here in Matthew chapter 27, as we receive all that Christ has done for us, let's invite the Lord to refresh in us and renew in us an understanding of

Like Paul said, that we would understand the heights and the depths and the lengths and the breadth of his love for us that passes understanding. There's so much we can't quite reach. We can't quite grasp the understanding of how much God loves us. But here at the cross, we get a little bit clearer picture, a little bit better understanding. So let's spend some time worshiping the Lord. At any time during the worship, you feel free. Come on up and partake of the communion elements. As the Lord moves and prompts your heart, you're free to do that.

Let's worship the Lord. Enjoy His love. Be refreshed and reminded of how great that love is.