The Life of Jesus The..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Once again, brothers and sisters, I want to welcome you to our Wednesday night Bible study. And by God's grace, we are going to be continuing this evening on the topic or the main topic that we've been working through is the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, before we began this topic, We were in the Old Testament because we were meditating and considering how the scripture unfolds the plan of God's redemption for his people. And back then we were looking at the types and the shadows in the Old Testament that really all pointed to Jesus Christ. And the major or the main hermeneutic, the main principle of interpretation was that the whole of scripture finds its center, find its goal in Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of all of scripture. And we know that that's the hermeneutic that Jesus himself has given us. And in particular, what I'm thinking of the text that we have in Luke chapter 24 on the road to Emmaus, if you remember the story, The two unsuspecting disciples are walking along and then Christ, the risen Christ, walks alongside of them and they don't identify with him and they were downcast, they were upset, they were grieved.

Why? Because Jesus had recently died. And they were anticipating that Christ would be this messiah, this victorious warrior king who would assume the throne in peace and reign in righteousness. They weren't seeing him as a suffering servant who would die on the Roman cross. But if you remember the story, Jesus walks alongside these men who didn't identify him And then he.

He says these words, these incredible words that bring to their mind that indeed the whole Old Testament speaks of him. And it brings to our minds here now in the 21st century that indeed as we read the Old Testament, we should have the lens of the New Testament on to see that indeed Christ is revealed throughout the word of God in the old and the new. It is centered upon him. So I wanna start out reading in Luke 24 verse 17. You don't have to turn now.

I'll read. And Jesus comes alongside them. He says to them, what is this conversation you're holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them named Cleopas answered, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem that does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

And he said to them, what things? And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped, we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things have happened. Moreover, some of our women in our company were amazed at us.

They were at the tomb earlier in the morning when they did not find his body. They came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels and said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it was as the woman had said. But him, they did not see. And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And he did this, brothers and sisters. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. You see the point that Jesus is making is that the prophets by inspiration foretold that the Messiah would indeed have to come and he would have to suffer and die just like these two disciples had witnessed. And that would happen in accordance to scripture that Jesus would come and fulfill the will of the Father and the will of the Father is to fulfill the Old Testament scripture that's pointing to the Messiah to come.

You see, the plan of God's redemption, the plan of the advent of the Messiah into this world is not haphazard. It's not random. It's not unplanned. It was all foretold of old. And despite the ignorance of these disciples, and in fact, all the disciples at this point in time, The purpose, as prophesied in Scripture, was primarily to redeem his people, that the Messiah would redeem his people through his suffering and through his death.

Now this might have been a surprise to these men, and indeed the disciples, because we know the disciples, they were behind locked doors, afraid. But Jesus, on a number of occasions, had told them what the plan was. And the scripture, the Old Testament scripture, which they were mostly familiar with, was very clear. that Jesus would need to come into this world, and he would come as a suffering servant, that he will be the savior of the world, but he does so through it, where he imparts the life to the people who believe in him through his sacrificial death. Now, that's gonna be the topic of this evening's Bible study, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In particular, I want to look at the necessity of that death and the fact that God's plan, as I said earlier, was all along that Jesus would come as Messiah to suffer and die in behalf of his people. And this plan was indeed revealed in Scripture. Now, the plan was originally that we would, and we might have announced this to you a few weeks ago, that we were going to, that I was going to teach on the death of Christ and the resurrection at the same time, but I felt that it would be too rushed to go through both of these death and resurrection and big topics. So I decided to split them up into two. So by God's grace, we'll be doing the death of Christ this evening and the resurrection next evening or next Wednesday evening, because the alternative was for us to have a two and a half hour Bible study.

And I think you'd appreciate, we probably would be difficult to keep our attention for that long. So by God's grace, next week, we'll be looking at the resurrection, but this week, we will be concentrating our efforts on the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as you're all aware, we've decided primarily to base our Bible studies, in particular, the earthly ministry of our Lord in the gospel according to Matthew. And so that's where we'll start. So let's open our Bibles together this evening, and let's start by meditating upon the death of our Lord in Matthew chapter one.

Matthew chapter one. Yeah, that's right. Matthew chapter one. I know. I know it's the wrong end of the book because if we're talking about the death of our but we need to start here.

We need to start in the beginning because since Jesus came to suffer and die, since this was his primary reason for the incarnation of the son of God, then we should find proofs throughout the whole ministry or throughout his whole earthly ministry and that proof indeed begins in his birth. So if we open our Bibles to Matthew chapter one, we'll be reading from verse 18 through 25. Matthew chapter one from 18 through 25. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. There you go, the prophecies are being fulfilled even here.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. You see, from the onset, from even before our Lord was born. Already we are being told his birth is a fulfillment of prophecy.

This child is Emmanuel, God with us. And in that, it is the fulfillment of scripture, in particular, Isaiah chapter seven, to be precise. His advent into the world was expectant. The Jews were long awaiting, eagerly awaiting the coming of Messiah. And so Christ's entry into the world would not have been a surprise.

God, in His good pleasure, revealed these truths through His oracles, the writings of the prophets, so that when He does come, Scripture will clearly be seen to be fulfilled, and He will be identified for who He is, the Messiah, the Savior of Israel, indeed, the Savior of the world. But also this passage is predicting the birth of our Lord. Joseph is told to give him a name. And that name is Jesus. Why?

Because in the ancient days, the name was descriptive of the person. The name described the person who held that name, who was titled by that name. God was clearly communicating, even in the name of our Lord, that he is the long awaited Messiah. She will bear a son, he says, the angel tells Joseph, and you shall call his name Jesus for That means for this reason, this is his purpose, for he will save his people from their sins. Beloved brothers and sisters, it is for this reason the Son of God became man.

It's for this reason he became a man in the incarnation to save his people from their sins. And as we think about that, Think about the fact that he came to save us from our sins. Our minds automatically go back to Adam in the garden, right? Is that not where sin entered into the world? Is that not why we need a savior?

You see, Adam was created perfect, holy, and sinless, placed in the perfect garden of Eden to care for it, to cultivate it, with the mandate to be fruitful and multiply under God with the dominion he'd been given over all the earth, but also the bliss The joy, the pleasure, delight was the fact that he had intimate, beautiful fellowship in the immediate presence of God in that place. The whole garden was like a holy of holies with the presence of God. When we did our study in the baptism of Christ, we considered these things back then and I said that Adam was expected to be lovingly, perfectly obedient to God. something not only he was capable of, but would have found immense joy in doing. The garden was paradise.

And the only prohibition that he had in that garden was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know the story. And you remember what God said the punishment would be if he disobeyed, if he sinned, it would be death. For on that day that you eat of it, he said, die, you shall die. And of course, we know the rest of the story.

Adam does, in fact, eat of the fruit. He disobeys God and suffers the consequences of that sin. Consequences not only upon himself, but as the federal head of humanity. His sin plunged all his posterity, that is, everyone from his loins into sin. And with Adam being the first man in creation, those dire, terrible consequences infect all of humanity.

No one, no one, no one is spared. As Paul says in Romans 5 chapter 12, therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. The spiritual death that Adam suffered that day has reached all mankind. He was expelled from the garden. In Adam, we too are all alienated from God, all born spiritually dead.

Sin has totally corrupted our nature, our bodies, our wills, our emotions, our minds, all of us. Our default position in Adam is that we are in enmity with God, enemies of God, unable and unwilling to please Him. We are slaves to the cruel taskmaster of sin. We're in chains to unrighteousness, only able to transgress his law continually. But because of God's grace, there is hope.

Because back then, back then after the fall in the garden, God in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, begins to reveal his gracious plan of redemption. A seed of a woman, that is a man with a human body and a human soul will come and will crush once and for all the head of the serpent with a fatal blow. But that victory, beloved, will come through suffering. because we're also told that his heel will be bruised. So since the fall of man, God's people have been looking forward.

to the seat of the woman. They've been looking by faith in anticipation to this salvation that will come through this anointed, the anointed one of God through the Messiah. Throughout history in the Old Testament, it speaks of this Messiah to come. It's all through the scriptures. There are so many illusions and there are so many direct prophecies in the writings of Moses.

in the narratives, in the Psalms, in the prophets, both major and minor, and we'll look at one this evening. And God's dealing with this covenant people throughout history was all centered upon this salvation that will come one day through man's only hope. This God sent seed of a woman to come. So as the plan of God's redemption unfolds in history, and he brings unto himself a covenant people, a people who would now enjoy his manifest presence, but he does so, if you remember, through sacrifice. So the whole Levitical sacrificial system enabled Yahweh to covenant with his people, to have a relationship with his people.

But the animal sacrifice, the shedding of blood, the death of animals was necessary. And what he did, beloved, was he painted a graphic picture of both the abhorrentness and obscene and the repulsiveness of sin against God. And also it painted a picture to God's people about what that sin actually deserves. You see, these things are no doubt fresh in our mind, even now. Because providentially, we've been in our Lord's Day Bible, corporate Bible reading, we've been now going through the book of Leviticus.

We're in the third chapter and this week will be in the fourth. And we know that the atonement for sin is a bloody ordeal. You see an innocent, spotless animal without blemish, without spot. Here's a picture of the sinless and purity would be slaughtered. It's life brought to a sudden end as a substitute in behalf of the sinner offering the animal as a sacrifice.

And of course, on the day of atonement, on behalf of all the people of Israel, we know that all the people of Israel who by faith drew near, that animal would die in behalf of another. It was vicarious. It was substitutionary. It was one life for another. And it was God's gracious provision.

But beloved, we know that they must have known back then the truths of Hebrews chapter four. My apologies, Hebrews chapter 10, verse four, that where it says, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. We know that the saints of old, they would do these things in obedience to God, but they knew that an animal dying in their stead would not cleanse them, would not provide the perfect atonement for their sin, because their sin is abhorrent before God. It is detestable. It is an abomination in the eyes of God.

And how can it be that an animal simply slaughtered, would redeem them, would actually effectually forgive their sins. We know this as we read through the text of the Old Testament. In particular, the Psalms, we see this over and over again. David in Psalm 51, he says that the animal sacrifices God does not desire, but a broken and contrite heart. A heart of faith is what God requires.

You see, but he's to be approached through sacrifice. You see, the true saint, the one whose heart was circumcised by God, they had faith, not in the sacrifice themselves, but in God himself. The sacrifices were carried out because they trusted in God. They were obedient to him through this mode. They may not have known exactly whom the sacrifices were pointing towards, but nonetheless, they believed that Yahweh would provide an atonement for their sins.

And that sacrifice they knew was a picture, a picture of their substitute. Their lives were spared because the animal's life was taken away. Now, when Jesus is announced, In the very first chapter of the very first book of the new covenant, the New Testament, our Lord is introduced as the one who will save his people from their sins. everything, everything, all the sacrifices, the rituals written of in the scripture pertaining to sin, fine, so and sacrifice, fine, their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He has come to save his people from their sins.

We need to remember this because everything in the New Testament speaks to and is centered upon this ultimate point, salvation through Jesus Christ, a salvation that will be accomplished But despite all that is written in the Old Testament, the disciples could still not come to grips with the fact that Jesus would need to die on behalf of his people. You remember back in Luke chapter 24, that when Jesus walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, you remember what Jesus said to the disciples? He said, oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Our Lord rebukes these disciples, of course, lovingly, because it wasn't that scripture was not clear, but their ears were dull.

The necessity of the death of the Messiah was found in the Old Testament scripture, and this is what they should have been expecting. But up until now, they had not yet perceived that the life that they will enjoy is through the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Up until now, they hadn't put the dots, hadn't joined the dots together. to see how scripture, the tabernacle, the temple, the sacrificial system was all a teaching tool to the atonement that would be perfectly accomplished through the Messiah. But God has a purpose in this, and even if their hearts were dull, When he opens their eyes, he becomes so obvious.

All that is written becomes so obviously pointing to Jesus. And it's in my view that the most obvious of these Old Testament scriptures is found in Isaiah chapter 53, actually 52. verse 52 and through 53. So if you have your Bibles, let's open them up to Isaiah chapter 52. We'll be reading from verse 13 through 53, 12.

Beloved brothers and sisters, this evening we will be doing quite a bit of reading. So I hope your fingers are ready to be going through scripture. We'll be doing quite a bit of reading. This evening, there was so many, as I was preparing, there was so many Old Testament prophecies that point to the necessity of Jesus's death. But I decided really only to focus on this one, to focus on this one, and then we'll move over to the book of Matthew and consider the life of our Lord.

But as we read this wonderful passage of scripture, that has been labeled the fifth gospel because he speaks so clearly and unmistakably to Christ and his cross work. We'll read the whole passage together. But then we'll go back, as I said, to Matthew. Because then when we go back to Matthew, we'll see that what is written here in Isaiah 52, 53 is so fulfilled in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because what we see way back in the Old Testament, some 700 years before the advent of our Lord, is his life, is his death, is his resurrection.

And so we see that this plan of God was not haphazard, as I said before, but planned from eternity past and foretold and revealed, because this pleased God to reveal that plan in scripture. And unlike some people have thought in our day and previous, that it wasn't plan A that failed when Jesus was hung on that cross. It wasn't as though he came to redeem a people and his intention was not to die. No, his intention to come to this earth as we will come to see is that he would come as a suffering servant to give his life on behalf of others. So let's have a look at Isaiah 52.

We'll start from verse 13 and we'll read to the end of chapter 53. Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted, as many were astonished at you. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations, speaking of the salvation not only to the Jews, but to all the peoples of the earth.

Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, or that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up like it grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of a dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look upon him and no beauty that we should desire him.

No pomp. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid their face, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. but he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was a chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. You remember that passage speaks directly to this. Verse six, All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of our soul. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that was led to the slaughter and like the sheep that before its shearers is silenced. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away as for his generation who considered that he was cut out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence.

And there was no deceit in his mouth. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. And his soul makes an offering for guilt. It's a sacrificial lamb offered as a guilt offering in Leviticus 5.

We're not there yet, brothers and sisters. In our corporate reading, we're still in four this week, but in Leviticus chapter five, it speaks of a ram, which is a male lamb without spot or blemish to be the guilt offering, which is spoken of here. This is the picture of the lamb of God to come, who will take away the sin of the world to continue. He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days.

The will of the Lord shall prosper in his land. And it's at this point we must be asking the question, how is this lamb that's spoken of here in Isaiah 53, who is going to be killed, who is the guilt offering, how will he prolong his days? How will he see his offspring? Which means he's the fruit of his labor. Speaks of the resurrection of our Jesus.

He speaks of the resurrection of the lamb of God. Verse 11, out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. Hear that? My servant, make many to be accounted righteous. And he shall bear their iniquities, their sins.

Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sins or the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. See, this is how he will save his people from their sins. This is how he will be that person. that we read of in Matthew chapter one, that Jesus, who will save his people from their sins.

His passage is so rich. He will pour out his human body and his human soul in death as a sacrifice on behalf of his people. He will be their substitute. He will bear their sins in his body, consistent with 1 Peter 2.24.

All the while, he will be despised and scorned by most. but in his death he will bring life, and his righteousness, his righteous life will be accounted to many. They will be seen as righteous because of his righteousness. Oh, if he only had the time to go through this chapter word by word, it is so rich, but we'll end up off topic. So we need to return back to Matthew to consider the sequence of events that took place in our Lord's actual earthly ministry.

to see how it is that he is indeed the sacrifice on behalf of his people, to see how it is indeed that he came in order to die on behalf, as a substitute on behalf of his people. So now, as I said earlier, we've been working our way through the gospel of Matthew in particular, and we've been working through this gospel chronologically, from the Lord's birth in chapter one, and our brother brought us to around chapter 13 last week when he taught us on the purpose and the reason for the teaching of our Lord through parables. Now, at that stage where our brother took us to last week, around chapter 13 or thereabouts, in the earthly ministry of our Lord, we're about two or so ministry, two or so, sorry, years into his earthly ministry, And so not long after that time, not long after that time, we find a pivotal point in this book, a pivotal point in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, because his focus goes to primarily being, or shifts to being, to prepare his disciples to what is to come. You see, there's a point in the Gospel of Matthew where our Lord will begin from that point to emphasize more than anything else to his 12 disciples his suffering and the necessary need for him to go to the cross. But as we all know, Even though they had heard the prophecies and they were with our Lord and heard his teaching for three and a bit years, they still could not quite understand the fullness of the will of God.

Fullness of the will of God for his Messiah, Jesus Christ. Namely, they still, even upon his death, they still could not grasp the need of him having to die. But I wanna show us this evening, beloved, that Jesus made it all crystal clear to his disciples. So let's go to that pivotal point, shall we? Let's open our Bibles to Matthew, Matthew chapter 16, and we'll begin our reading from verse 21.

Matthew chapter 16, and we'll begin our reading from verse 21. Just to give you a little bit of a context, Jesus and his disciples are in Caesarea Philippi. It's about 40 kilometers north of the Sea of Galilee. The place was well known for its temple. King Herod had built a temple in honor of Caesar Augustus, who at this point of time had been dead for about 20 years or so.

And as you well know, that the Caesars, even dead Caesars, were considered to be gods and they were worshipped as such by the Romans. And so it's with this backdrop, in the contrast of a temple, a dead so-called god, Augustus, small g of course, when Jesus asks, these disciples first who others think he is but then he asks them who do you think i am and of course peter the spokesman on behalf of the disciples raises his voice and says you are the christ the Son of the Living God. That's the context. The disciples have at least at this point in about two or so years into the ministry of Christ have come to be convinced that he is indeed the Son of God, that he is indeed the Messiah, that's the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But we'll soon see.

that although they've recognized that very important point, they still don't see him as the sacrificial lamb of God who must lay down his life on their behalf and behalf of all these people. So let's read from verse 21. From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. You see, in Luke 9, we're told that Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem. His stare was directed to his sufferings and death.

And that's a fulfillment with this passage of the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 50 that speaks of the servant of Yahweh fixing his gaze like flint, like stone, like steel, unmoved in obedience to God, to what will come, and that is his death. That obedience will bring him to the death on the cross. We remember Philippians chapter two, that obedience that led Jesus to that death, even death on the cross. This becomes the emphasis of our Lord from now on. He must suffer at the hands of his own countrymen.

And you remember the passage we just read in Isaiah, we were told he was despised and rejected by men and men of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Speaking of Jesus, of course. And as clear as day, our Lord prepares his disciples by informing them in no unclear terms that he will be killed and that he will also rise on the third day. You see, these truths may have been alluded to earlier in his gospel, and we can look back and see that they were indeed alluded to, but this is the first time he directly expresses his imminent death. But even those closest to him were yet to understand this truth.

Because immediately after Jesus tells them these things, listen to what Peter says. Verse 22, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, that this shall never happen to you. But he turned to Peter and he said, behind me, Satan, You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Of course, Jesus is not saying Peter is Satan, but rather anyone who opposes the will of the father that will be accomplished in his son, in the incarnation, and that will would lead him to his death is an enemy of God. It's from the enemy.

because Jesus had come to die. This was a difficult thing for his disciples to swallow. In their mind, Jesus was going to establish his kingdom in righteousness. How will he do that if he was dead? That's why Peter pulled him aside and rebuked him.

I'm sure he meant well. I mean, we know that Peter loved his rabbi. He doesn't want to see anything bad happen to him. He's loyal to him. He's very loyal to Christ.

We know this because before our Lord was betrayed, this disciple declares that he's prepared to even lay down his life for the Messiah. That's a noble thing, at least in principle, but it didn't yet figure out. that before he is able to do anything for his Messiah, his Messiah would first need to lay down his life for Peter. And so our Lord will continue to reiterate his death and his resurrection over and over and over again to his disciples, preparing them to understand that he first needs to be a suffering servant before he can be the conquering king. He needs they need to know this.

They need to learn this at the hands of the Messiah. And so I want us to run our eyes over over the page to chapter 17 verse 9 after the Transfiguration where Jesus was on the Mount and three of his disciples Peter James and John see him transformed into his pre-incarnate glory. Listen to what he says. He says tell no one in verse 9 this vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. He reminds them, I'm going to die and I'll be raised.

Don't tell anyone of this experience until that point. And then further down in verse 12, he tells them, as they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, the son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and they will be raised on the third day. And they were greatly distressed. Again and again, he tells them over and over and reminds them that he has come to die on that cross, but he will rise again. Verse 20, verse 17, as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside and on the way he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and he'll deliver them or deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked.

flogged and crucified, and he would be raised on the third day. Over and over again, Jesus kept coming back to his disciples to inform them that he will, he will go to Jerusalem. He will be handed over to the evil men and he will be crucified. But take heart every time he says, but I will also rise from the dead. In three days time, I will rise from the dead.

And even though over and over he has told his disciples multiple occasions, we know still that he hadn't absorbed into their hearts. Because when he did die on that cross, they were in their room afraid. But in that passage in chapter 20, a little bit further down from the verse I just referenced where Christ did tell his disciples of his imminent death and resurrection. He says something very profound. Just in case his disciples had not figured it out, through all the words, the teaching, the illusions, and all the things that he said that he has come to fulfill in scripture, In case they hadn't figured out that this Jesus, this Messiah that is before them is indeed the suffering servant of Isaiah chapter 53, listen to what he says to them in verse 28.

He says, the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. You see, he said, the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve. That I am the servant of Yahweh. That when you look back in the Old Testament, in particular the book, the prophecies in Isaiah that speaks of the servant of Yahweh to come, that's me, Jesus is saying. And beyond that, I have come to be ransomed, my life.

for many. Now it's interesting because the word used here for ransom in the original is litron translated ransom in our bibles and it's only used here in Matthew chapter 20 and also in the parallel passage of Mark chapter 10. You know, there are other places in the New Testament where the word ransom is translated for us in the English, but it's actually a different word that is used there. This word is only used twice. And, beloved, in the Greek writings, in the general Greek, extra-biblical Greek writings, this word litron is specifically used in relation, to hear this, to freeing slaves.

It's literally liberty money, freedom money, with no emphasis on the recipient of the payment, but rather the price, the emphasis is on the price being paid to liberate slaves from their bondage into freedom. So yes, the disciples have been told on a number of occasions that the Lord will be killed at the hands of evil men. And I've been told also on a number of occasions that he'll rise again, but his death is not arbitrary. It's not coincidental, but rather his life will be laid down and his blood shed as liberty money to be purchased, to be the purchase price of the freedom of many, the freedom of his bride. Beloved, this is the price that Jesus paid to purchase his church.

You remember when we started this evening, We started with you shall call him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins back in Matthew chapter one. This is how he'll do it. He'll save his people from their sins by ransoning his own life. That's the cost. to save his people from their sins.

I love the way Paul puts it when he speaks to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, where he says, pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Here's the point, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood, purchased with the blood of Jesus. And of course, this is further explained by our Lord on the night that he was betrayed. In the upper room with the disciples, as he institutes the Lord's Supper, he says in Matthew 26, 28, the words that we as a congregation at Cornerstone have become all too familiar. These words are familiar to our ears, but I pray, I pray, and I hope that the words will never cease to amaze us although they are familiar may they never cease to amaze us because this is what our Lord says he says and he took the cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood the my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many why for the forgiveness since His blood was the purchase price for the forgiveness of our sins.

His death is essential, beloved. There is no other way. The righteous must die for the unrighteous. And he is the only sacrifice, the only blemishless, spotless, sinless sacrifice that God would accept on behalf of many. But with all the scriptural prophecies and the preparation of His disciples and the explanation that our Lord had given to His disciples in attempt to prepare them for what is to come, it was His will that they would simply have to experience the reality.

And once they've experienced that reality, the Spirit of God will then give them understanding. And we have a perfect example of this. When we're doing our exposition on the Lord's Day on John chapter 2, Jesus says after turning the water into wine, he speaks of the temple and he says the temple will be destroyed in three days. Destroyed and in three days he will build it up again. Of course, he was speaking of his body.

But the disciples, they didn't understand. They couldn't understand this big, beautiful structure, which is so instrumental, so central to their religious beliefs. The whole sacrificial system, the whole old form of worships would come to an end, and he'll build it up. He'll build this temple in three days. They didn't understand it.

But But they did come to understand what Jesus said, but not until he was raised from the dead. Listen to what John says back then in John chapter two, he says, when therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. And so that is the case. That is the case with these disciples. That is the case with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that they could not see in their thinking, in their idea, in their view of what the Messiah is.

They could not accommodate for a Messiah who would die. But once he rose from the dead and the Spirit was imparted to them and their eyes were enlightened and they were able to see exactly, looking back to what Jesus had said in all the Old Testament scripture, that indeed Jesus is the suffering servant, the Lamb of God, that he is indeed the Messiah that wouldn't be laying down his life on behalf of his people, that it was necessary that he would die. But beloved, I also want us to see that Jesus's life was not taken from him. He laid down his life willingly. He was in complete control.

You remember the text that I quoted on Sunday, and it was that he laid down his life of his own accord. He says, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my own accord, John 10. and the Jews did conspire to kill Christ. But the evidence is that when his time had not come, they could not touch him.

How many times do we see that through scripture, through the gospels, that before his time, they could not touch him, they conspired to kill him, they wanted to kill him, but they could not lay a hand on him because his time had not yet come. However, however, when that time had come, where it was time for him to drink the bitter cup, in obedience to the Father, that bitter cup whereby he will die on that cross and bear the sins of all his people, he will declare, my time has come. That's in Matthew chapter 26, verse 18. And then after declaring that his time has come, Judas comes to betray him. And when he does, Jesus says, friend, do what you have come to do.

Up until this point, no one could lay a hand on him. But now, the time has come. He set his gaze like flint to Jerusalem because in Jerusalem, he'll be crucified at the hands of evil men. Now the time has come and he says to Judas, do what you have come to do. You know, it's not as though he didn't have the power and the authority to prevent this from happening.

Of course he did. Because you remember when Judas comes and betrays our Lord? You remember how he comes with the chief priest and the band of soldiers? You remember what happens? Peter tries to, by force, take control of the situation.

So he pulls the sword out of his sheath. And what does he do? He cuts the ear of one of the priest's servants. You remember what Jesus said? He said, Peter, no, stop that.

Put that away, Peter. Because if I appeal to the Father, he will send 12 legions of angels. Beloved, every legion is 6,000 soldiers. He would send 12 legions, 72,000 angels at my disposal. 72,000 angels against a group or a band of men.

Remember, he took one angel of the Lord to slay 185,000 Assyrians when they grouped the late siege of Jerusalem the day of Hezekiah. But it was not the will of the Father, because the time had come when now Jesus Christ would submit to the horrendous sufferings at the hand of evil men, and in his death, beloved, he will crush the head of the serpent, because this is the seed of the woman promised back in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. and through and by crushing the head of the serpent in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection, he will free his people from their sins. Jesus is his name because he will free his people from their sins. So now let's pick up the text in Matthew 27 of the crucifixion of our Lord.

I mean, we can't have a Bible study on the death of our Saviour without reading an account of his sacrifice. Beloved, I was going to expound Matthew 27. I was gonna expound it, but instead I've decided to do what we've done this evening, to give you some background, some Old Testament background on the necessity of Christ being the substitutionary sacrifice, the Lamb of God who would lay down his life. I want us to see that indeed the Scriptures will be fulfilled completely in Jesus Christ. And the Scriptures were very clear that spoke about the Messiah to come to lay down his life.

And I want us to see also that in his life, in his earthly ministry, that on several occasions he made the disciples aware over and over and over again that this was the plan of God. This was the will of the Father that he would walk that bitter, that he would drink that bitter cup that he would die on behalf of many, that he would submit to death, that he would submit to being held and abused and despised and flogged at the hands of evil men in order to bring about the salvation of his people. Because beloved, this was the only way we could be saved. So I want us now to read Matthew chapter 27. And I'm not going to expound it, but as an activity, and I don't think we've done this before, but as a church, we're going to end with this.

We're going to open our Bibles together, and we're going to read Matthew 27. It's a long chapter. And we're going to read it all the way through with all that we've spoken of this evening in the background of our mind. with everything that we spoke about, the prophecies in the Old Testament, the prophecies that are so clear about the suffering and the death and the despising of our Lord in Isaiah chapter 52 and 53, all the prophecies in Psalms, which we didn't even reference today, that speak of his death and his suffering and the necessity of him being the propitiation of our sins. All that in the background, and the fact that the righteous lamb of God would substitute his life for us.

I want us to think of his humility as we read these things. I want us to think of his obedience to the father. I want us to think of these terrible, terrible suffering. And beloved brothers and sisters, I want us to think that he did it for you and me. So let's read.

Matthew 27, from verse one. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas the betrayer saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and bought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what is that to us?

See to it yourself. and throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and went and hanged himself. But the chief priest taking the pieces of silver said, it is not lawful to put these into the sanctuary since it is blood money. So they took counsel and brought with them the potter's field in a burial place for strangers. Therefore, the field has been called the field of blood to this day, nine.

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah saying, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of him on whom the price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed. Now Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, you have said so. But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate said to him, do you not hear how many things or how many things they testify against you?

But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge. So the governor was greatly amazed. Remember brothers and sisters in Isaiah 53, how it said, like a sheep, he was led to the Lord like a lamb. Before the shearers, he was silent. He did not open his mouth.

fifteen. Now, the feast, the governor was accustomed to release from the crowd one prisoner from whom they wanted and they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabas. So, when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to release for you? Barabas or Jesus who is called Christ. for he knew that it was out of envy that I had delivered him.

Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him word, have nothing to do with this righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. Now the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with this Jesus who is called Christ?

And they all said, crucify him. And he said, why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, let him be crucified. So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a rite was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourselves, 25.

And all the people answered, his blood be on us and on our children. Then he released them, Barabbas. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.

And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him saying, hail the king of the Jews. And they spat on him and took the reed and stuck him on the head, struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name.

They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they had come to the place of called Gulgotha, which means place of skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments, casting them by lots or among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there.

And over his head, they put the charge against him, which read, this Jesus, the king of the Jews. Now, brothers and sisters, I want us to realize all through here that the mocking of these people, the statements they make are all statements of truth. The author of this gospel, Matthew, has a way of doing this throughout the whole gospel. that the statements of the enemies are actually statements of truth, and we'll see this through the gospel. Even demons claim and know that he is the son of God.

We'll continue, verse 38. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left, and those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, you who destroyed the temple and rebuilt it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priest with the scribes and elders mocked him, saying, he saved others. He cannot save himself.

He is the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the son of God.

And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him. in the same way. From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, that is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling Elijah.

And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with cell wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come and save him. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, The curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. We know beloved what that means.

Access to God has now been granted through this sacrifice. And the earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurions and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, hear this, truly, this was the Son of God. 55, they were also many women, looking on from a distance who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, sorry, when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen and shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of that tomb and went away.

Mary, Magdalene, and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb. I hope Isaiah 53 is still in the back of our minds, beloved. Verse 62. The next day, that is, after the day preparation, and chief priest and the Pharisees gathered before father and said, sir, we remember how this imposter said, while he was still alive, after three days I will rise. Therefore, order the tomb to be secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead.

And the last fraud will be worse than the first. Father said to them, You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can. So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. There's nothing more for me to add.

Let's come to our Lord and pray.