The World Against Jesus - Luke 23 Vs 1-12

Good to see everyone. Have a blessed day today. Praise the Lord Just a couple of mentions first.

We got a new voice magazine in the back. You can find it back there new edition Really good read by the way

Secondly this Monday is Veteran Day. So I just want to give a you know

Basically like a shout out to all all veterans here I know we have a few maybe serving here in the church, but just want to thank you again for your service here

And then next we'll go into announcements leaders elders deacons pastor

Next leadership board meeting is going to be this Thursday. It is at a 6 p .m.

And Then next we have missionary of the month John and Becky Knox whom we recently had the pleasure of having us

Or having them in the church here to tell us about their ministry. Well, we're continuing to serve them as a church

But we just pray that all of their efforts and biblical worldwide ministries is Continued and that it's fruitful

So if you could just kind of pray for those of which were impacted by their ministry and that you know They'll give them also themselves to the

Lord as well as they serve and then lastly we have The ladies

Christmas tree tea. Sorry not tree Big difference.

Yeah but ladies market calendars for December 7th 10 a .m

Other than that, that'll do it for announcements. So if you'll join me in a word of prayer before we head into sermon and worship

Dear Lord, thank you for this day. You've given us today Thank you for allowing us all to be here to fellowship in your name and to worship you

Lord We pray that the words that we're going to hear from pastor Elgin today are going to be impactful in our lives and we'll take that to learn more and more about God's character and how we should respond to that Lord in our in our day -to -day lives

So we thank you for everything you've done for us in your name. We pray in Jesus name. Amen so this morning first song is crown him with many crowns and and I love the way that scriptures use certain words and Images to to help us in our finite limited very flat

Uninspired uninspired views of how things can be but God gives us certain pictures and a crown is one of those pictures of you see royalty you see majesty you see something very very important and The second song is all hail and it's to greet or to welcome in and so we're we're greeting.

We're welcoming We're thanking God for who he is. And so let's sit stand together.

We're gonna sing crown him with many crowns I'll shoot relief was born.

He is Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 through 9 Isaiah chapter 53 verses 4 through 9

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows Yeah, we esteemed him stricken.

She's been in my God and afflicted But he was rooted for transgressions.

He was bruised for inequities The testifies in of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed

Oh, we are like like sheep have gone astray We have turned everyone to his own way and Lord has laid on him the degree of us all

He's oppressed and he was afflicted that he avoided not in his mouth he was dead like as a dam to us just thought

I and As a sheep before it's she she was his silence. So he opened out his mouth

He was saying from prison and from judgment and who's really and who would declare his generation

For he has where he's cut off for the land of the living So I chances of my people he was stricken

And he they made his grave for the wicked But whether it's both with the riches at his death because he has done no violence.

No was any disease in his mouth May the Lord have mercy to his word

There's hundreds of verses that point To Christ coming in and I know sometimes we can not we but New Testament can be overemphasized at the expense of for kind of forgetting what the

Old Testament said The one cannot stand without the other they are God's Word. So Really appreciate that.

Let's stand together. Our next song is as the deer panteth. It's a beautiful song of of how we can

Wait on the Lord Jesus as is our living water and Just as the deer pants for water to be nourished and to be fed we as believers

Can gain our nourishment and our life through the living Sacrifice the living water

Jesus Christ In our last song that maybe some or maybe very few if any have heard this it's

Entitled heaven came down and I appreciate Lauren Selecting this song it was a song we sang in our worship night last week

It's for me personally when I was a young child in my mid -teens and Learning about the

Lord and that's when I came to know Jesus as my Savior this is a song that we sang quite a bit and I remember as a little guy and there was me and George two of us we would just belt this out and It has a lot of personal meaning to me and it's a beautiful song about heaven came down how

Jesus came down and to be our Savior and so Meditate on the words and if you don't know it just I'll lead it along As precious as the

Savior my sins were washed away

As as Dexter did mention If you have served in the military for our nation

I do want to recognize the men and women who have served in the military

If you would like could you just stand up so that we can Acknowledge you or raise your hand if you don't want to stand up if you've served in the military

Yeah, see I I didn't know some of you have served in the military, but any branch

We are grateful for your service We know that the freedom we've enjoyed

Did not come for free And you've risked your lives you've committed your time energy

To serve this country and we're forever grateful for your sacrifice. So thank you so much and we

Guess some of us we get a day off tomorrow, but it's more than that. It's to recognize and remember the

Service and sacrifice of the veterans Who are with us today

And really the u .s. Military is one of the reasons why?

The world has been at peace in This century and I've been in the last one.

So we're grateful. Thank you With that let us turn to Luke chapter 23 verses 1 through 12

Luke chapter 23 verses 1 through 12 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate and they begin to accuse him saying we found this fellow perverting the nation and Forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar saying that he himself is

Christ a king Then Pilate asked him saying are you the king of the Jews?

He answered him and said it is as you say So Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowd

I find no fault in this man But they were the more fear saying he stirs up the people teaching throughout all

Judea Beginning from Galilee to this place when Pilate heard of Galilee He asked if the men were a

Galilean and as soon as he knew that he belonged to Harrod's Jurisdiction he sent him to Harrod who was also in Jerusalem at that time

Now when Harrod saw Jesus He was exceedingly glad for he had desired for a long time to see him

Because he had heard many things about him and he hoped to see some miracle done by him

Then he questioned him with many words But he answered him nothing and the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him then

Harrod with his men of war Treated him with contempt and mocked him arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate That very day

Pilate and Harrod became friends with each other for previously they had been at enmity with each other

This is the word of the Lord Let us pray Father we are grateful to be serving and trusting in a king who died

Innocently Burying our sin and Suffering the wrath that we deserve so that we may be declared

Righteous in him alone Thank you that he is risen. Thank you that he reigns from above Thank you that he prays for us and we pray that our allegiance this morning and on would be to him

Who suffered injustice for our sake so that we may live in him

We ask that you would bless this morning that we would all experience your loving presence

Through your word in Jesus name Amen Here's a claim that may

Not surprise us but the world doesn't really Understand is that Jesus died a sinless man

It was even fitting now Dave and I had a discussion someone he knew believed that Jesus sinned but that is a

Heresy that is a false teaching in which if you believe that Jesus sinned that actually affects your salvation and the reason is

Jesus died sinless because only the perfect sinless man can bear the sin of the guilty so many people were crucified under Roman Empire so many people

Only one person was crucified sinless if Jesus had died guilty there in fact is no hope for us if he had sinned he's just like us and there's no way in which he could have bore our sin and Died the death that we deserved

Jesus was not just retrospectively innocent but declared innocent even before the human court

The passage unfolds in a way that It's almost like a satire

There's no one who no authority who believes that Jesus is guilty yet both

Herod and Pilate Keep him for some reason This is a

Dramatic and drastically unjust Keeping an innocent man to suffer is injustice

But the point is that for our sake for the sin of his people

Jesus suffered God used even unjust rulers like Pilate and Herod and the religious leaders who were pushing this so that Jesus would suffer for our sin on our behalf and Here as I've mentioned it is not just one person to blame

There are multiple Groups coming together who normally would not have been friends

Right. It is in fact the hatred toward Christ that brings the whole world together whether Gentile or Jewish polytheist or monotheist

Religious or political leaders, they're all brought together and they all come against God and his

Messiah in One sense this is Psalm 2 in action Right.

Why do the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth and the rulers

Gather together against the Lord and his anointed Right, that's

Psalm 2. That's how Psalm 2 opens up and in fact on Zion we do see the wicked rulers from all over the world

Gathering together against the Lord and his Christ Messiah and we live in a time where Similar things are happening

We live in a post -christian world in America and Europe there are globalist agenda against Christianity The United Nations and the

WHO World Health Organization promotes abortion and other means of depopulation

Just unjustly wickedly killing people made in God's image

Governments all over the world prosecute and persecute Christians for their ministries even

England is now Criminalizing people who pray outside the abortion centers and that's that used to be the country in which people like Charles Spurgeon and David Martin Lloyd -Jones preached the gospel every

Sunday That's the country in which

The Westminster Confession comes from which is still read by many Presbyterians and Protestants today and Today in even in America Christianity is opposed

If you want to go far in academia criticize scripture You'll get your

PhD You'll be published Just say something was wrong about the

Bible and a publisher will Give you all the money you need to publish that book

Do you want to go far in entertainment make fun of Christians blaspheme

Christ in your movies mock Christ in your shows You want to go far in the music industry

Literally some are just worshiping Satan on the during their concert but minimize

Christ's sacrifice on the cross Make it about yourself They all come together to oppose

Christ If you want to make it in this world Just oppose

Christ and the world will support you However, if you want to be righteous if you want to be

Saved in in the world to come and even now endure

Endure the suffering endure the mockery Endure the trials for the name of Christ Don't give up because in the end

This world's leaders will not be the ones judging you It will be

Christ himself Judging them the main point of today's sermon is text is

Despite Jesus's innocence the world collectively has opposed him Despite Jesus's innocence the world collectively has opposed him first Despite Jesus's innocence the world falsely accused him despite Jesus's innocence the world falsely accused him

Believing their false view is correct. The Jewish religious leaders lead Jesus to the

Roman governor's palace Then the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate Pilate is not a pilot.

That's actually his name Pilate That's a Latin name

Pilate was the Roman procurator over the region procurator is actually a very high political office in which you are appointed by Caesar himself the

Emperor and he was in charge of the finances and justice and That will come into play when the

Jewish leaders accused Jesus of what he did wrong allegedly The religious leaders and pilot here work together against Jesus in the first five verses

One may actually think that it is odd how a pagan governor remember pilot was not a

Jew And Jewish leaders could ever work together in the first century

Rome started choosing the man for the chief priesthood every year

And yes, that was that was that was not really popular among the Jews, but Rome wanted their man

Serving at the temple. So that's what they did Normally under any other procurator

The man would change the chief priest would change every year not under Pilate Pilate who served actually ten years.

That's a very long time to be the governor of Judea Ten years and for ten years.

He had one man and that was Caiaphas So Caiaphas the chief priest is during this time who had been chosen by Pilate handpicked for the ten years

Needless to say they had a great relationship despite the religious Differences Now before pilot they lay out three accusations against Jesus and they begin to accuse him saying we found this fellow perverting the nation and Forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar and saying that he himself is

Christ a king Their first accusation against Jesus is that he perverted the nation of Israel This is deeply ironic because Jesus came from God To restore

Israel back to God It was the opposite of perversion

Yet these religious leaders accused him of doing the exact opposite perverting misleading leading them away from God In fact they themselves were the ones putting roadblocks in front of the

Israelites by burdening the nation with legalism and traditions of men

Second forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar is not only manipulative but also blatantly false as Many of you have been going through this series of Luke for the last couple of years

We know from Luke chapter 20 22

Jesus actually taught to render to Caesar give back to Caesar. What is

Caesars? Hey that denarius that coin the silver coin has Caesars face and his inscription on it

Just give it back. It's okay to pay taxes to Caesar because in the end all authority is under God and of course that claim was

To while a pilot to charge

Jesus with guilt after all he's a finance minister, too and It would be problematic if there is a popular teacher who's calling his students to stop paying taxes

And at this point the religious leaders do not care about the fact of the matter They just need one of these accusations to stick they're just throwing mud at the wall and hoping one time it would stick and That's how desperately they want

Jesus to die and that's how wicked they are Third he himself is

Christ a king This is the only charge that is actually true Christ means the

Messiah and in the Old Testament That means the anointed one the one whom God has chosen.

It has a royal connotation to say the least After all Christ is the

Davidic King. He is the king that comes from King David's line and Because pilot a

Gentile would not understand this connotation The religious leaders spell it out for him

Jesus claimed to be Christ a king right Although true

Jesus was not the king that Rome was trying to squash Rome was more interested in the revolutionaries who violently opposed the

Empire Jesus at no point was an a revolutionary There are modern

Theological books that claim like Jesus was a revolutionary that is not true

Jesus in fact in John 6 Ran away from the crowd avoided the crowd after he fed them because they tried to make him the king that they needed to overthrow

Rome After all if you can just make bread to feed thousands

What's proof what's limiting you from raising up a standing army and Jesus didn't want any of that Jesus was not a

Revolutionary he was a humble king who entered His city on a donkey.

He came to restore peace for his first coming Not to overthrow Rome and out of the three accusations the last one sticks so pilot asks, are you the king of the

Jews and Jesus replies it is as you say and looking at Jesus who stood before him

Pilot was not threatened one bit and you would know that pilot was not threatened because in mockery

Later this chapter. He will put up a sign in multiple languages Jesus the king of the

Jews He didn't believe that he mocked it Now verse 4 so pilot said to the chief priests and the crowd

I Find no fault in this man This is pilots declaration of Jesus's innocence

Pilot did not need all day to enter interrogate this innocent man

Ironically a pagan Gentile can discern what is right better than the religious rulers of God's people

It doesn't take him all the hours of the night that the religious leaders took to investigate

Christ And in their last -ditch effort, they exclaim even more intensely, but they were even more fierce saying

He stirs up the people teaching throughout all Judea beginning from Galilee to this place

They are insistent they are adamant They attempt to portray

Jesus as a rebel against Rome He stirs up the people from Galilee, which is the northern region of Israel and all the way to the south

Jerusalem Ironically, it will be the religious leaders who will stir up the crowd to exclaim crucify him

Just a couple verses later Pilot knows

Jesus is innocent. The religious leaders know Jesus is innocent yet their desire for wickedness trumps their desire for justice and For that reason alone.

Jesus is not freed despite his innocence For us we do need to remember innocence

What truly innocence is? Innocence does not depend on who has the loudest voice

Mob justice is no justice at all Innocence does not depend on who has the most influence

Innocent depends on the truth of the matter according to God's just standard alone

That's what innocence is and before God Jesus was innocent and This passage shows us that Jesus was even innocent before the pagan governor pilot

Jesus was sinless. Although he was sent to the cross Why was this necessary?

why an innocent man Die the death that the guilty deserve.

This is quite important because there's so much controversy regarding why an innocent man had to die and some so -called

Christians the liberal was Denied this doctrine one of the most important doctrines in Christianity The crucial point is

Jesus did not die for his sin, but he died for our sin

Jesus was not crucified because of his guilt, but he suffered for our guilt

That is precisely what Isaiah 53 prophesied. He was wounded for not his but our transgressions yet By his stripes

We are healed. We are restored Only the perfect sinless man can take the place of the wicked sinful man

This doctrine is called substitutionary atonement Substitutionary means that Jesus served as a substitute on our behalf

He died not for his sin, but for our sin Atonement means that he was the sacrifice to appease

God's wrath This is crucial because Jesus lived a sinless life that we all failed to live

But died the sinner's death that we all deserved On the cross

Jesus suffered the wrath of God Although he earned none of it

So that those who trust in him may be spared from the wrath to come only

The perfect sinless man can take the place of the wicked guilty man he was our substitute to cover for our sin and we are placed in his righteousness

When God looks at you, he does not look at your past record. He does not look at your current record

He does not even look at your future record But in his court judgment, the only record he looks at is

Christ's sinless Perfect record and he declares those who believe in Jesus Christ alone righteous

That's the substitutionary atonement Without that the gospel has no teeth

Without that the gospel is not the good news because then what are you actually saved from if not from sin and how are you saved from if not by the perfect God man taking your place of judgment and Him placing you in the place of righteousness

That's how you're saved and This was why

Luke takes the effort to show that before man But even before pagan man, even before wicked man.

Jesus was innocent second The world is united by its enmity toward Christ.

The world is united by its enmity toward Christ out of Everything that was said during this short trial

One word sticks out When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a

Galilean Remember Galilee is the northern region of Israel in which Jesus ministered a couple years before he came down to Jerusalem When he hears that Pilate immediately responds

As soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction He sent him to Herod who was also in Jerusalem at that time

Remember, this is the Feast of Unleavened Bread Also known as the

Passover Anyone who's anyone Ended up in Jerusalem Right.

It's kind of like the Washington. It's the capital Washington DC for the inauguration day anyone who's anyone will be invited there and so Pilate and Herod both ended up in Jerusalem during this time

Pilate being a shrewd politician Decides to share his responsibility with Herod Pilate declared

Jesus innocent, but the Jewish leaders were not satisfied with his ruling So he decides let's have another ruler.

Take a look Right then I can't be held liable whether guilty or not

Let's share the responsibility Although Pilate is the governor of Judea He was massively unpopular with the

Jews Remember in Luke 13 Pilate massacred some Galileans and mingled their blood with the sacrifices

Right, and they were asking were they extra evil sinners that they died this way and Jesus said no unless you repent

You also will die and you'll also will be condemned When weren't working for Rome one thing you did not want was a revolt against the

Emperor an angry summon from Caesar could end

Pilate's career and Pilate knew that he had to be on the Jewish leaders good side and hence that's why he kept appointing

Caiaphas for ten years So although he knew

Jesus was innocent instead of letting him go Pilate sent Jesus to Herod Maybe Herod will do something about it to satisfy the

Jewish leaders About ten minutes away from Pilate's residence.

They escort Jesus to Herod Now when

Herod saw Jesus he was exceedingly glad for he had desired for a long time to see him

Because he had heard many things about him and he hoped to see some miracles done by him Unlike Pilate Herod actually has some knowledge prior knowledge of Jesus After all, we got to see that Herod wanted to see

Jesus and was speculating about who Jesus was ever since chapter 9 and He desired to see just see

Jesus for a long time. And as Jesus is standing before Herod He is exceedingly glad what we need to know is that the desire is not driven by faith

But curiosity He wants to see what Jesus can do for him.

He wants to see the performance not the person What miracles that Jesus will perform for him?

Jesus is a spectacle to behold not the king to bow down to and Verse 9 tells us that Herod questioned for a long time.

This is actually in contrast with Pilate's very short Interrogation Yet this time

Jesus opened not his mouth Presumably Jesus did not need to justify himself because he was innocent

Pilate already declared Jesus to be innocent. What was the point of answering the same thing twice?

After all Pilate was actually on the higher. He was higher ranked right higher.

He was ranked higher than Herod so if Pilate declared

Jesus innocent, then there's really no point of answering Herod and the church historically has seen this as the fulfillment of Isaiah 53 7 through 8 which

Jim read this morning he Jesus is the innocent sacrificial lamb who opened not his mouth, but led to His slaughter and this is very important Even for us personally

Oftentimes when we're falsely accused Our goal is to justify ourselves

Whether true or false whether that accusation is right or wrong. We want to justify ourselves

But true Christians do not have to be bothered By what others think of them

Because they stand justified by Christ alone if Jesus declared you righteous

Because you believe in him What does it matter what a fallible ignorant person thinks of you and a fallible ignorant person is just Anyone who's alive on earth

Jesus didn't feel the need to justify himself before Herod because there was no point

Jesus knew That God viewed him as innocent and that's all that mattered

Now the Jewish leaders again attempts to intensify the trial before Herod and the chief priests and the scribes stood and vehemently accused him

Just they were involved in Pilate's decision. They're also behind Herod's decision these rulers whether pagan or Jewish Fully Jewish or half

Jewish Herod's half Edomite. It didn't matter ethnic differences religious differences political differences

They were all smoothed out in their goal to oppose

Christ Not amused by Jesus's silence Herod entertains himself by mocking

Jesus with his soldiers Then Herod with his men of war treated him with contempt and mocked him arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate They clothed

Jesus with a splendid royal robe in Mockery of who he claimed to be the king of the

Jews The word gorgeous here is also used to describe the angelic appearance in Acts 10 because it is so splendidly bright the angel who showed up before Cornelius and Also, this robe this word is to just used to describe the robe that the glorified bride of Christ wears in Revelation 19

This robe on Christ, however is for ridicule rather than respect ironically through this mockery

We will be wearing the splendid robe not out of ridicule but of honor

After getting nothing of value out of Christ. Herod just sends Jesus back to Pilate Strikingly the two rulers cannot and do not find any fault in Jesus yet.

Neither of them Justly lets him go It's almost like the book the trial by Kafka They can't tell they can't tell him what he's actually guilty of but he's constantly interrogated

Luke tells us what results from this day of injustice That very day

Pilate and Herod became friends with each other for previously they had been an enmity with each other

This is important previous to this interaction Pilate He required

Herod to hang up shields with Roman inscription on them right any sponsors or Caesar's name

They were inscribed on these shields ceremonial shields and of course

Herod's family did not take that. Well, what are you doing trying to design my house?

You're not my interior designer So they send delegates to Caesar himself, right

Tiberius and Tiberius is

Actually not amused either After all he is far away and He cannot risk a revolt by the

Jews who are who have history of revolting against great empires right

So he actually tells Pilate Do not partake in this

Unnecessary controversy remove the shields immediately. I mean after that Pilate and Herod they didn't get along Now Jesus was the perfect opportunity to reconcile not only the

Jewish leaders, but also with Herod All Pilate had to do was to pass an unjust ruling to crucify

Jesus that day Pilate sacrificed

Jesus for political expediency That day political rivalries and religious differences and ethnic diversity were all ignored by these wicked man to collectively oppose

God and his Messiah and Just as hatred toward Jesus brought the wicked rulers together in the first century

Hatred toward Jesus unites the world together Now in the so -called tolerant

West the only thing they are intolerant of is actually Christianity media academia and entertainment all mock

Christ and accuse Christians of bigotry When was the last time you saw the

Prophet so -called Prophet Muhammad mocked on the TV You don't even see him portrayed because that would be a big problem

Why? Do the Liberals? Stand up for Hamas Who would literally kill them if they were to conquer the u .s

Hamas's view of morality and society Directly opposes the liberal view of sexuality and gender.

Why are they all together? The world is not against Hinduism was the last time you heard

Hinduism mocked the world's not against the atheism Yet it is extremely popular to post

Christianity and In the end, this is because Christianity represents

Christ The church is the body of Christ the church the body of Christ Allows for the presence of Christ on earth

We have the prophetic voice to speak into the corruptible and corrupting world

And just as the world united against Jesus during his earthly ministry today

It unites against his followers And we need to remember this when we do suffer for our faithfulness

Our job is not to join the world but to depend on Jesus whom the world rejected

Our church that we used to be a part of in Illinois when I was in seminary

Made a sign and it wasn't even one of those offensive signs. That's that some churches do right?

It was actually a Bible verse God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble

It's it James 4 6 quotes it it's from Deuteronomy God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble after that people who passed by started posting one star reviews on Google Saying how hateful this church is

Just from that one sign from the Bible They've never said their foot in that church.

They've never gathered. They've never met the pastor Just from one Bible verse

God opposes the proud but give grace to the humble. I don't know whether that was they felt convicted by that Maybe they themselves know that they are prideful to reject

Christ But that is So prevalent

Our job is not to join the world but to trust in Jesus whom the world has rejected

So many of so -called Christian leaders want to befriend the world by blunting what the

Bible clearly says They misrepresent our master and Savior Jesus Christ They often say don't mention any sin only talk about love

Don't preach repentance. Just mention grace Don't preach in God's wrath.

Just talk about salvation The irony is that what the world needs most

This morning is pure and honest representation of Jesus Christ from Scripture And how can you talk about love of God without mentioning our sin that was placed on Christ on the cross?

There's no other example that is greater Than an innocent

God man burying our sin when he didn't commit any and Suffering the wrath out of the love for his father so that he may be glorified and out of the love for his people

Who would be glorified? even the most

Palpable and glorious example of love in your life done by one of your beloved family members

Pales in comparison to what Jesus had done on the cross You cannot talk about God's love without Talking about sin that placed in there.

How can we preach grace without the act of repentance? Repentance is turning away from our sin and toward our gracious Savior How can we talk about how loving and merciful

Jesus is? Who would receive anyone who comes to him

John 6 says? Anyone who comes to me I will in no wise cast out.

There's no qualification There is no anyone who comes to me

I will in no wise cast out unless it's this in It's I will in no wise cast out.

I will in no wise abandon you Just come to me But how can you come to Jesus if you can't repent?

If you're not taught to repent if you're not taught to turn around and stop living the way that you're living

Turn around and humble yourself and go to God because he will forgive you And how can we talk about salvation without mentioning what we are actually saved from?

So many cults and false religions talk about the cross yet They do not actually focus on what the cross truly accomplished.

It's vague You're saved from Satan's kingdom of darkness and you're into You're put into Jesus kingdom

Yes, but what are we truly saved from? What did Jesus truly accomplish? When he was on the cross

The very thing that placed us in Satan's kingdom, which is sin

Jesus died for the impending wrath of God for our own personal wickedness

It is our sin that placed him there That's what the hymn says and the hymns right if we can't talk about sin if we can't talk about God's wrath we have we have really diluted the gospel and we need to Stand with Christ and what he has accomplished for us

Even if the world hates it Because in the end where you stand now

Will determine where you stand for all eternity the temporary mockery suffering and trials for Christ's sake

Will be nothing compared to the glory of his righteousness

And his power and honor that you will stand before for all eternity and this morning

Christians need to wake up and Re -evaluate which master we are actually serving Do we want to join the world and oppose

Christ or do we want to join Christ and be opposed by the world? ultimately only

Christ will return wearing the splendid robe and This time not to be mocked but to judge others who have judged him and The question today this morning is will you also be wearing the splendid robe?

Clothed in his righteousness alone Are you willing to endure?

the mockery for Christ's sake Let us pray

Father we are grateful that Jesus died an innocent man and Although innocent although he could have been free although he didn't need to suffer he chose to suffer and stayed on the cross to endure the wrath of God that we all deserved and Thank you that by trusting in him alone.

We inherit his righteousness and his declaration of Innocence Help us to stand by his side