Who's In Charge? - [Matthew 20:17-19]

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Turn with me tonight before we come to the Lord's Table to Matthew chapter 20
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Matthew chapter 20 Jesus is closing in rapidly at this point on the last of his earthly ministry
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He has just given this great parable about the laborers in which he has driven home the point that it is
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The one who hires the one who owns the vineyard who determines?
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The rewards that is paid to each one of the workers whether they was hired early or hired late
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But as he goes on if we start looking at verse 17 It says this and Jesus going up to Jerusalem Took the twelve disciples aside along the way and said unto them behold we go up to Jerusalem and the
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Son of Man shall be betrayed under the chief priests and under the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and Shall deliver him to the
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Gentiles to mock him and to scourge and to crucify him and the third day
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He shall rise again Let's pray Our Heavenly Father as we turn to this brief passage of Scripture May the
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Holy Spirit apply it to our hearts. May the Holy Spirit show us what you have for us as We consider the sufferings of Jesus Christ who died in our place.
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We would ask this in Jesus name. Amen This is
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Jesus last prediction of his coming death He has predicted this before but this is the last time he's going to predict his death and And Throughout history there have been popular views of what
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Jesus death means. How did it come about? Why was
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Jesus crucified? All of these things and and among among those perhaps One of the most popular is that Jesus was a well -meaning but rather naive visionary
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Who got caught up in events that were greater than he was and he was just sort of swept along and he got sucked up In this great thing that involved the
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Romans and the Jewish Leaders and so forth and so on and he got put to death and isn't it tragic?
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Another view would be that Jesus was actually a would -be conqueror that he actually did plan to conduct some kind of coup and That failed and He got what all such individuals would deserve.
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He was taken before the bar of justice by the authorities and executed
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But in the view of the scripture neither one of those views or several others
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Fits what scripture tells us about the view of Christ's death. What was
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Christ's death? Well, first of all Christ's death was not an accident Christ's death was not an accident
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Peter at his first sermon Where he's preaching he said
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Jesus who was delivered up by the predetermined counsel of God It was pre -planned.
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It was a pre -planned event. Now. He didn't let anybody off the hook He says you took him and you crucified him, but it was
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God's plan that was being unfolded so it's not an accident and Secondly the death of Christ is not a result of miscalculation
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He wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time In fact as we'll see here in just a minute.
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The disciples are saying Jesus. We might not want to go to Jerusalem I mean they're out to get you and we're not being paranoid.
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They really are out to get you and So maybe we shouldn't go there But he went there he went there specifically
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To be taken and to be tried and to be crucified The death of Christ was a predetermined event predetermined from eternity past before creation
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The whole plan of God was set down in place Prior to the first speaking of let there be light and so none of this surprises
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God Things are marching ahead Exactly on time exactly as it was planned in eternity past before any of this began
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It's moving along in fact the death of Christ was the purpose of Jesus being here on earth.
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Why was he here? He was here to die Popular view he was well, he was a good example
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No, Jesus did not come to be an example He certainly sits an example for us, but that's not his purpose to be here.
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He did not come to teach us how to live Although he certainly did that his life is certainly one that we can follow and model our life about He did not come to bring peace and To shed love all around in fact,
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Jesus actually said he said I'm gonna bring a sword I'm gonna bring a sword to families because you know
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Somebody in the family is going to follow me and when they do that, they're going to be cut off from the family and this of course resonated in particular with the
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Jews of that time that the Jewish members because if If you went off in another path
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You were in effect Excommunicated from the synagogue and if you were cut off from the synagogue you were cut off completely from society
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You had no support of society at all. And so Jesus comes and he says hey,
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I am going to divide families right down the middle and You know following me is going to cost you
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He said to the people This is not something easy. It's not something cheap and finally
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The things that he did not come to do at least not at this time. He did not come to establish and or his earthly kingdom
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He was not here to establish an earthly kingdom and this is what the disciples bless their hearts kept getting wrong
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This is exactly what they thought he was here to do. You know, he's going to throw out the bad guys he's going to restore
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Israel to its former place of glory and everything is going to be great and That's what they kept looking for him to do.
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And even though he kept saying I'm not here to do that That's still what they were looking for.
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It's still what they were looking for. So what did he come for? He came? specifically to die for sinners
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What did John say Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world
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Now we won't get into a definition of the word world
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We'll talk about that at some other sermon, but he came specifically to die for sinners He came to die in their place
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To take the punishment under God's wrath that they deserved So that they might have eternal life.
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That's what he was here for. That's why he came And so we see the plan begin to unfold and Jesus says behold we go up to Jerusalem And he lays it out the
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Son of Man shall be betrayed They shall condemn him to death So there's no room for the disciples to be surprised
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I mean, he's told them over and over again, and he's just told them again. What's gonna happen? so there's no room for them to be surprised and Yet the disciples jump right in and they start raising objections to this, you know
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Jesus maybe this is not the best plan that we could have because it's dangerous
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And it was dangerous the Jewish leaders were indeed sworn to kill him and the disciples were afraid and They had good reason to be afraid you know a little fear is a good thing it makes you keeps you alert and So they were afraid and and and with good reason and The disciples are amazed it says that he's going to do this he's going to do this and And Why are they amazed well
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Jesus makes Jesus actions do not make sense Giving their presupposition
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Which is what that he's going to come and establish Kingdom Why would you go right into the lion's den?
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If your object if your objective was to set up a kingdom and that of course means you have to be alive to do that and all of this and so The disciples are simply not intellectually or emotionally up to the challenge of what
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Jesus is presenting to them He's telling them what's going to happen in plain in plain
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Greek or whatever. He was speaking to them almost said plain English, but you know
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But they're just not up to it and so what happens Thomas bless his heart
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Good old Thomas He says well if Jesus is going to go up there and die let's go with him and we'll die too
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You know Thomas gets a lot of bad press Thomas takes a lot of knocks because you know
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Thomas is kind of the Eeyore of the disciples But in in this particular case, you know bless his heart, you know, he's saying all right, look if Jesus is going to die then kill me too because You know,
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I really don't want to be around in a world that doesn't have Jesus in it and so he hasn't caught on yet to all the part about the comforter coming and all of that and so What happens here?
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What happens here is I have a page out of order. So what's
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Jesus doing? First of all his actions fit perfectly into the culmination of the redemptive plan of God Everything that's going on is fitting into the plan at exactly the right place at exactly the right place as Peter said this is the predetermined plan of God that is unfolding
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Jesus knows exactly what he is about and So much so many of the actions that he is about to take and things that are going to happen are all in fulfillment of prophecies
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Prophecy says none of his bones will be broken. That's Exodus 12 46 He's going to be pierced.
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That's Psalm 22 16 and Zechariah 12 10 Psalm 22 18 predicts that lots will be cast over his garments
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Psalm 69 21 predicts that he will be given vinegar to drink on the cross
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Psalm 22 1 predicts that he will cry out in pain on the cross Psalm 16 10 predicts that he will rise from the dead
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Psalm 110 1 predicts he will ascend into heaven Zechariah 9 9 predicts he will enter
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Jerusalem on a colt and He entered Jerusalem on a colt on the exact day that had been prophesied
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Over 400 years before Right to the day God keeps excellent time
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Zechariah 11 12 predicts. He will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver and Zechariah 13 7 predicts that his disciples will scatter and abandon him, but everything's planned
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Jesus knows what he's doing Nothing is out of his hands You know the
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Jews the Jewish leaders think they're in charge The Roman governor thinks he's in charge only
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Jesus knows who's really in charge and it's him Everything is going on exactly according to God's plan and so we see principles of redemption unfolding here because it said that the blood of Christ is the scarlet thread of the scripture and What does
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Hebrews 9 say that blood must be shed for the remission of sins? Blood has to be shed and this goes all the way back to Genesis Where God himself is dealing with Adam and Eve So to clothe
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Adam and Eve something has to die Blood has to be shed and so and God himself must provide the sacrifice.
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They cannot provide their own sacrifice The sacrifice that they provide will be unacceptable
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God has to provide the sacrifice Genesis 22 14 and what does Abraham say to Isaac?
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God will provide the sacrifice an Acceptable sacrifice must be unblemished.
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That's Exodus chapter 12 and Sacrifice is inherent in every act of true worship
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Sacrifice is inherent in this and so Jesus goes towards Jerusalem to sacrifice himself
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To be the permanent sacrifice all of the sacrifices that have gone on before this have all been temporary
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They have all been types. They have all covered sin once a year
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Since all the way back to coming out of To coming out of Egypt Once a year the high priest has taken blood.
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He's gone into the Holy of Holies He sprinkled it on the mercy seat and once again for another year the sins of the people are covered
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But they're not taken away They're not taken away all of those sacrifices
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Do nothing but symbolize what Jesus is about to accomplish
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And if you think about it at the time of Passover, which it was in Jerusalem and right about this time
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This was an incredibly bloody place the Temple Mount I mean blood ran in these gutters that they had
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Because You can just imagine what it must have smelled like and the flies and all the rest of it you know, this was not a pleasant thing that was going on and Yet Jesus is coming in the midst of all of this to be the sacrifice that's going to take away the sins of the world
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And so as we enter Jerusalem The disciples the disciples are thinking lion
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While Jesus is thinking lamb But the disciples are thinking lion.
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The disciples do not understand the Old Testament and what it taught about the Messiah The disciples do not understand what
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Jesus himself has repeatedly told them about his purposes Several commentators have made the point
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We'd looked a couple of Sundays ago at the actions of Mary who you know broke the broke the the oil over his feet
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It's been commented that perhaps Mary alone Among all of his followers understood what he was saying.
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She got it Because what did Jesus say? What did Jesus say says let her alone against the day of my burial has she done this?
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Mary knew that he was going to die She understood that nobody else did Nobody else got it
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At least not until later, but even after the resurrection The disciples were fairly slow on the uptake.
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I mean they they still didn't get it until a few weeks went by and Jesus had reappeared to them and taught them some more and a few things
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But we shouldn't bash them too much because Paul has to remind the Corinthians of this very thing
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Why did Jesus die and The fact that his death was according to the scriptures
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It was not some tragic accident you look at 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verses 3 and 4
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He lays out the gospel in those two verses right there that Jesus died was buried and rose again
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And this was all according to the scriptures. It's not accidental Peter reminded his readers the same things go to 1st
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Peter Chapter 1 verses 10 and 11 same thing you know, so Jesus death and Resurrection were not only in God's plan.
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They are central to the plan of God They're the central thing to the plan of God consider what
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Simon or what Simeon said? When Mary and Joseph bring the baby Jesus into the temple said this child is set for the for the falling and the rising of many
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And When John the Baptist sees Jesus, what does he say? Behold the
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Lamb of God. He did not say behold the Lion of Judah If he'd said that the congregation would have known immediately what he was talking about, you know
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Davidic Kingdom That's exactly where they would have gone, but he didn't say that He says behold the Lamb of God and the
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Lamb is what a sacrifice He says the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and so Jesus knows exactly what what he's about He knows exactly what's going to happen
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He knows that he's going to be delivered to the chief priest and the scribes He knows that they will try him quote -unquote and condemn him to death
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He knows that they will take him before the Roman governor To get permission to execute him because they did not have the authority to execute him.
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They could condemn him But the Roman government did not permit any of the countries that they occupied to exercise capital punishment independently of them and So he would take him before Pilate He also knew that Pilate was going to cave
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That Pilate by his own admission was going to say there's there's nothing guilty in this man I find no guilt in this man whatsoever, but he's going to cave below the before the political pressure and so He knows that both the
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Jews and the Romans will mock him and beat him and there will be public humiliation There will be all kinds of physical and mental sufferings that he is going to undergo
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And that he is going to be crucified Which is perhaps the most physically painful form of death and execution ever invented
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But the worst sufferings will be mental This is all laid out in Isaiah chapter 53
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Disloyalty he's going to face disloyalty He's going to be betrayed by one of his own someone who has walked with him daily for three years is
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Going to betray him and not for very much either for 30 pieces of silver
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You know in this modern day we would say chump change and Not only that all the rest of his his disciples the ones that didn't betray him are all going to abandon him
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They're gonna take off. I Mean Peter's gonna deny him so that when it comes that he's actually hanging on the cross
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You know Only one of them's there And that's John.
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He's going to be rejected his own people will reject him He has been preaching to the
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Jews for three years now and they have rejected him Some of them say great guy, you know, he fed us free meal
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But when it comes right down to it, yeah, they wanted the free meal. All right But they did not want him as their king on his terms
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He's going to be humiliated in public and in private both. He's going to be mocked by Jew and Gentile alike
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He is going to be unjustly accused And that's a pretty bad thing when it happens
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To be unjustly accused it's one thing to be justly accused But to be unjustly accused
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Jesus is not guilty of anything Jesus is not guilty of anything and yet he is going to bear the guilt of many
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He's going to suffer the pain of physical injury even before they get him to the cross You know, he's going to suffer things that would have killed most people even before they got there
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And then he's going to have the pain of death both physical death and Spiritual death and then comes the worst thing he is going to be separated from the father
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Jesus has never been separated from the father never
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Not an eternity past at no time during his earthly ministry. Has he ever been separated from the father?
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I And my father are one he kept saying this over and over again and yet Jesus is going to die spiritually
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He is going to be Separated from the father and for the first time in this entire incredible ordeal that he is going to go through he will scream
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He will scream out loud You know, it's the Bible we don't get the real impact of it from the description in the
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Bible It says he says my god my god, why has why has thou forsaken me? No, he's screaming at the top of his lungs
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At that point and so This whole thing is going to happen and it's going to happen by the predetermined plan of God And this is what the service tonight reminds us of We are not recreating his death
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But we are being reminded of it because his death is not the end If his death was the end
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Maybe we should go, you know Watch a football game or something, but the death isn't the end
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Jesus is going to rise in three days Again, exactly as Scripture has predicted.
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He's going to rise in three days. And this is the source of the believers hope because He died we don't have to die
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He died in our place. He died as our substitute That was the thing sin came into the world
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Somebody's got to die and it's either going to be us or it's going to be somebody dying in our place
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And that's what Jesus is. He died in our place He took the punishment that we deserve that was rightly ours it belonged to us and In return we get his righteousness, which does not belong to us.
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It is not ours We have no claim on it And we call that grace we receive his righteousness which fits us to stand before the
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Father and Then Jesus rose again and because he rose again we have all the confidence in the world that we also will rise again and That is the believers hope