In the sermon 'The Suffering and Crucifixion of Christ', Jason Dohm explores the profound significance of Jesus' suffering and crucifixion. The sermon is based on Galatians 3:10-14, highlighting that those under the law are cursed, but Christ redeems believers by becoming a curse for them. Dohm emphasizes that Jesus' suffering and death are historical events, recounted in great detail in all four Gospels. The sermon outlines three main sections: the suffering and death of Jesus, the meaning of His suffering and death, and the application for believers today. The historical accounts describe Jesus' betrayal, trial, and crucifixion, underscoring the unjust treatment He endured. The meaning of His suffering is framed as a fulfillment of God's plan to redeem sinners, with Jesus taking on the curse and wrath of God meant for humanity. Dohm explains that Jesus' sacrifice allows believers to receive the blessings promised to Abraham through faith. The application section calls for personal reflection on the significance of Jesus' sacrifice, urging believers to embrace the blessings of salvation through repentance and faith. The sermon incorporates biblical references from both the Old and New Testaments to reinforce these themes, culminating in a call to worship and gratitude for the redemptive work of Christ.

Our sermon text today is found in Galatians chapter 3 verses 10 through 14. Please follow along with me. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, For the just shall live by faith Yet the laws not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written Curse it is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Let's pray.

Father, what a glorious text. Lord, thousands of years culminating to the one moment where you would fulfill it all by dying for sinful people. Lord, centuries of mystery now made known in the person of Jesus Christ. Lord, what a wonderful text. This is so exciting.

I pray that you would stir up in us such excitement for this, Lord, that what this means for us, Lord, take away numbness. Let this text just bring such boldness in our lives to proclaim the gospel. Lord, to love you more, to be passionate about the things of God. Lord, give us ears to hear, help us to be super attentive. Lord, to love your word, to love the preached word.

Holy Spirit, we pray that you would give great power to Jason today. Lord, that your words would come forth so purely so strongly that you would activate hearts so that you would peel away the sin and us that we might share in your holiness today. Christ's name, amen. We're doing something unusual today. We're stepping out of our sequential exposition of the Gospel of John, and the reason we're doing it is I need time and help in preparing a couple of the messages that I've been tasked to give in Malawi.

So I really appreciate the opportunity to focus on these. One of the major things we're doing in Malawi is what Mala has titled the Knowing Christ Conference. And it's really his intent to battle false teaching in Malawi with a laying down of true doctrine of Christ. And so it's what really the Knowing Christ Conference is all about, just teaching what the Bible says about the Lord Jesus Christ. The title of the sermon this morning is the suffering and crucifixion of Christ.

And when you talk about the suffering and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christians really are on holy ground. There's not holier ground in all of scripture than the text on Jesus and what he suffered in the lead up to his crucifixion and his death on the cross. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the peak of the Bible. All of the Bible is inspired, given by God down to the Word, choice, every word chosen by God, and it's all valuable, profitable, wonderful, but I think You find mountain ranges in the Bible. You find truths that are especially foundational, especially important.

But in the mountain ranges of the Bible, you have a peak that does tower above the rest. And it is the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Which is fascinating because you have a long account of the death of Jesus in all four of the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all give a radically disproportionate amount of space to what Jesus suffered and to his death. And if you just look at those in isolation, you would say this is a crushing defeat.

The Son of God given over to the pleasure of the wicked and suffering and dying as a common criminal. But in the context of the Bible, all of the Bible is about this. And when you understand that this was God's plan from the beginning and what it wins, you find out that not only is this not a crushing defeat that the Son of God would be crucified but this is the greatest victory in all of scripture. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the all of the people of God rests upon. We have nothing without his death.

And so I Praise God to be able to preach on this topic this morning. As we come to the topic, let's ask the Lord to help us. Father, I thank you that by the wounds of your son, the many wounds inflicted upon your son. All of those who Repent and believe the gospel are healed. His wounds purchase our healing.

I pray that you would set before us the truth of the great victory won by Jesus' sufferings and death on the cross. Though it's a sorrow to us in some ways, let it be our greatest source of joy that you have laid aside the glories of heaven to become obedient to death, even the death of the cross. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. So I'm dividing the sermon into three sections.

The first will be to speak of the suffering and death of Jesus. We have four extended historical accounts in each of the gospels and I want to summarize them for you. Secondly, the meaning of His suffering and death. It's not just that Jesus suffered and died, it's that Jesus' suffering and death fulfills all the promises that God has made to free us from the bondage and the penalty of sin. So that'll be second, the meaning of his suffering and death.

And then third, the application of his suffering and death. Just to strip everything away and have it just be you and Jesus' suffering and death and how we should think of it even in individual terms. So the first section, the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, Considering the history, so if you're taking notes and filling in blanks on the handout, the blank is history. Consider the history. This is historical.

This is not mythology or a fairy tale. Jesus Christ was a real man who lived a real life and a real time and place and this really happened in history and we have four detailed historical accounts that spell this out, his sufferings and his death in very minute detail. Beginning in Gethsemane, Beginning in Jesus agonizing in the garden, Matthew 26 says that Jesus began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Jesus pleaded with his father to take the cup away from him. His suffering and his death was just before him and He wanted if it were possible for his suffering and death to be held back from him.

He was agonizing over the consideration of it. In fact, in Luke's account, in Luke chapter 22, It said that his sweat became like drape great drops of blood falling down to the ground Have you ever agonized like that you never have? And you never will Jesus wanted the cup to be held back from him. He was agonizing, he was sweating as if it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Jesus was betrayed by a false friend, Judas, with a kiss.

Judas kissed him. Judas gave him the symbol of the closest, dearest friendship, but it was really only a sign for those who were with him to take Jesus into custody. He was betrayed with the closest sign of affection. Jesus was apprehended as if he was a common criminal. So you're going to notice this throughout all of his sufferings.

He's treated like he is the worst and the most despicable. Think of that. The Son of God, the best. The glory of heaven treated as the scum of the earth. Matthew 26, Jesus says, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me?

He was treated as if He was such a menace. Jesus who had never raised a hand except to cleanse the temple. All of the disciples forsook him and fled. So not only was Jesus betrayed by a false friend, he was forsaken by his true friends. Real friends.

They proved themselves to be true disciples and all of them but one would lay down their lives for him later but they didn't that night. They all forsook him and fled and the mob bound Jesus and led him away to the high priest. The high priest and the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin is the ruling council of the Jews, sought and entertained false testimony against Jesus. This was a sinless man but they were so committed to his death that the high priest and the Jewish ruling council not only entertained false accusations against him, They sought false accusations against him because they knew that he wasn't guilty of anything worthy of death. During the proceedings, one of the officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand.

He slapped Jesus because he believed that one of Jesus' responses was disrespectful to the high priest. So a soldier slapped Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was slapped by a soldier. The members of the Sanhedrin condemned him to death and then they spat face and they beat him. The Jewish ruling council spat in his face and they beat him and they blindfolded him and they struck him with the palms of their hands they slapped him too and they said mockingly prophesy to us Christ who is the one who struck you. Can you imagine Even rulers of the world being brought down to such a level.

Can you imagine a ruling council of even unbelievers stooping down to such a level as spitting in the face and slapping and mocking. Jesus was denied three times by a closest friend So he was betrayed by a false friend, he was forsaken by his true friends, and now he was denied by a closest friend. The Gospel accounts say And the Gospel accounts say that Peter cursed and swore that he didn't even know him. Hours after swearing that even though he should die with him he would never deny him. He denied him three times.

Peter, when the rooster crowed the third time, Peter knew that what he had done was so wretched that three of the gospel accounts Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the same words it says that immediately he went out and wept bitterly. He knew How wretched what he had done when he denied his friends cursing and swearing that he didn't even know him. Jesus was bound and led away to Pilate and when Pilate heard that Jesus was a Galilean he sent him to Herod a wicked man and Herod questioned him and when Jesus wouldn't answer Herod with his men of war treated him with contempt and mocked him and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. And Pilate, even though he knew better, passed over Jesus for release in favor of the murderer Barabbas, even though he knew that the Jews were only driven by envy. Pilate knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong but it was just the Jews envy that was driving them And the custom was that a criminal would be released to the favor of the Jews, to gain favor with the Jews at the Passover.

Jesus was suggested for this, but he was set aside in favor of a murderer, Barabbas. The crowds, the Jewish people, screamed, let him be crucified, Louder and louder until Pilate gave into them. And he relented. And he had Jesus scourged and delivered him to be crucified. We've never seen anyone scourged, but It was a terrible punishment to be inflicted.

A scourge is actually an instrument. It's a handle with multiple strips of leather, often either tied at the end or with sharp, hard pieces, like bits of metal or shells, tied at the end of each strip of leather. And it's a flesh tearing device. That's its purpose. So it's not one strap of leather.

It is multiple strips of leather to make it more effective as a flesh tearing device. And either tying a knot at the end or tying something hard and sharp at the end makes it more effective for its purpose, which is as a flesh tearing device. And when you had been scourged, you had been cut to ribbons. You had been cut to ribbons. Your flesh would have been opened up.

His back would have been cut to ribbons. Why did they compel Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross? It's because Jesus was in no condition after being scourged by Romans to carry his cross. The Roman garrison then gathered around him and stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and twisted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head and bowed mockingly to him and said, to him and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And then they spat on him and they took the reed that they had placed in his hand as a mocking scepter and they took the reed and they struck him on his head on the crown of thorns to drive the thorns into his head and they led him away to be crucified.

When they came to the place called Place of a Skull, they They crucified him and the soldiers mocked him saying if you were the king of the Jews, save yourself. Crucifixion was reserved for non-Romans. Fiction was reserved for non-Romans. Not one citizen within the Roman Empire was eligible to be crucified because it was such a cruel and unusual punishment where a nail would be driven through the bones of each forearm and a nail would be driven through the ankles to hold you in place. And then You were left to try to keep yourself from suffocating by standing up on the nail.

And when the agony of what was happening with your ankles, standing on the nail driven between your ankle bones, when that became too much, then you would hang from your wrists. And you couldn't really breathe, and so when you couldn't get air, then you would stand back up on your ankles. And repeat, and repeat, and repeat. I can't bear the agony in my ankles so I hang from my wrists. I can't breathe so I put the pressure back on my ankles until you finally suffocate, until finally you don't have the strength to keep yourself up on your ankles anymore.

They put a mocking inscription over his head in Greek, in Latin, in Hebrew so that no one who passed by who could read in any of the modern languages would miss it. This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. They crucified Jesus between two robbers, a criminal on his right and a criminal on his left, and all who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. The chief priests and the scribes and the elders also mocked, saying, He saved others, Himself He cannot save.

If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross and we will believe in Him. He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him, for He said, I am the Son of God." Even the robbers that he was crucified between reviled him with the same thing. That's what the scripture says. He was even reviled by the criminals that he was crucified with. Jesus was forsaken by his Father who he had been in unbroken unity and communion with from eternity past.

Without doubt, this was the greatest suffering and agony for Jesus Christ. The physical things would have been my undoing and your undoing, but for Jesus the worst was it, The worst of it was that he was forsaken by his father who he had been in unbroken unity and communion and fellowship with from eternity past. Never a moment from eternity past out of complete unity, out of complete communion, out of complete fellowship with his Father, but now forsaken. He quoted Psalm 22 verse 1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And at last, after three hours of darkness, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, it is finished and he yielded up his spirit.

And to make sure that he was really dead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water flowed out. This is actually a fulfillment of Zechariah 12 verse 10, that they would look on him whom they had pierced. Friends, this is extraordinary treatment of any human being. This is extraordinary treatment of the vilest criminal. But just thinking of that really misses the point.

The point is held in the contrast. Study his life. The Lord Jesus Christ deserved this treatment less than anyone who had ever lived in all of the history of the world. If you were going to look across humanity across the centuries and the millennia and say we're treating everyone like this but one will be exempt overwhelmingly you would choose Jesus as the one to be exempt from this treatment and you would subject all of the others to it so that he would be free from it. His mission was a saving mission.

Overwhelmingly his miracles were miracles of mercy. The lame walked. The blind saw. The deaf heard. The mute spoke.

The dead were raised and given back to their loved ones. His teaching was perfect teaching in complete harmony with all of the revelation of God up until that moment. He fulfilled the law and all the law can be summed up in one word, love. Do you understand what this means? That because Jesus perfectly obeyed the law, and as Paul says, the law can be summed up in a single word, love that from across all of from across all of human history, Jesus loved more than anyone ever loved.

Jesus lived the most loving life that has ever been lived and they crucified Him. How could such a man, a man with a saving mission, doing miracles of mercy, teaching perfect truth, fulfilling the law of love, how could such a man be a threat? How could such a man be hated? How could such a man be hated? How could such a man be treated as the gospel accounts say that he was treated?

How could you kill such a man? These are historical events, historical facts. There really was a man Jesus. His face really was spat in. He was really slapped.

He was really beaten. He was really mocked. A real crown of thorns was really put upon his head. He was really scourged. His back was cut to ribbons.

He was really crucified, a death that could never be imposed upon any Roman citizen. Extraordinary treatment. The second section and the second major point is the meaning of his suffering and death. Consider the significance that if you're taking notes on the handout filling in blanks its significance. Consider the significance of the event.

Why all of humanity should care? Many have been mistreated in the world many have died Been subjected to shameful deaths in the world. Why should humanity care about the death of Jesus. I want to begin at 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 is the most complete distillation of the gospel anywhere in scripture.

In other words, if you want to boil the gospel down to one verse of the Bible, I don't know another verse that collects up more of it than 2 Corinthians 5, 21. Listen to it. Paul writes, "'For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. This is why Jesus is agonizing in Gethsemane. Not simply because of the physical sufferings that were in his immediate future, but this.

The sinless Son of God was being made sin. Why for us? That we Sinners, rebels, traitors, stained and defiled by sin in every part of us might become the righteousness of God. Imagine you becoming, being made the righteousness of God. What claim have you have on that?

What claim could you make on that? Well it is possible, it is possible because God the Father made his sinless, perfect, undefiled, blameless son to be sin so that he could accept him as a substitute and he could trade places with you and take upon himself what you deserve for your sin stained life. And you could get the righteousness that he lived out across a lifetime In Gethsemane Jesus wanted this cup to be taken from him. He wanted to be held back from drinking this cup. Well, what was the cup?

The cup was certainly his sufferings and death, but there's more. There's a richer truth to know. I want you to consider a couple of places beginning in Jeremiah chapter 25 you can listen or go there whichever you'd like I'm in Jeremiah 25 verses 15 through 18 Listen to what God says to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 25 15 through 18 for thus says the Lord God of Israel to me take this wine cup of fury from my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them. Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand and made all the nations drink to whom the Lord had sent me.

Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse as it is this day. Does that not describe the Gospel accounts of what Jesus was subjected to? He was made an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse. The people who passed by blasphemed him. This is the wine cup of fury that God put into the hands of the prophet Jeremiah and say make the nations drink it.

Make the unbelieving wicked nations drink down my anger against sin. Against sin. Let the world see and be astonished. Let them hiss as they bear their curse. Or listen to Psalm 75.

Psalm 75 is a Psalm of Asaph. I'll be reading Psalm 75 verses 6 through 8. For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, But God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is fully mixed, and he pours it out.

Surely it's dregs. Shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down. God has a cup in his hand and all the all the wicked of the earth will Drink it down to the dregs. You know what the dregs are that the dregs are the particles that that are left over In wine and they they settle at the bottom to drink to the dregs is to drink it down to the last drop the dregs are there they settle down to the in the last drop of the cup and God has a cup in his hand it's his anger against sin and the and the wicked will drink the cup of his wrath down to the last drop of it. There are other places in the prophets especially that speak of the cup for the sake of time today I'm passing over them.

But this language of the cup of the wrath of God is maintained even to the last book of the Bible. Listen to it actually appears multiple places in Revelation but listen to Revelation 14 verses 8 through 11. Revelation 14, 8 through 11. And another angel followed saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication So Babylon is is symbolic of wicked influences that lead the world into sin and Revelation 14 8 says that the Babylon in the end falls because she has made all the nations drink the wine of the wrath for fornication. Fornication is prophetic language of idolatry.

The wicked of the earth don't worship the true God they worship their idols. They are drawn into that fornication and they must drink the cup of wrath for it. Now listen to the next verses, 9 through 11. Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. So the wine of wrath is poured out full strength into a cup of indignation.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image and whoever receives the mark of his name this is hell. This is where the fire is never quenched And the worm never dies. This is the place of the wicked. But now consider what the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 16 speaking of the Lord's Supper.

Just listen to this. Paul says the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? Paul talks about a cup. He's talking about communion. This is right leading into chapter 11, which is one of the landmark chapters that we're reading all the time during our Lord Supper meditations.

Paul speaking of the Lord Supper talks about blessing the cup of the Lord Supper and he calls it something. He calls it the cup of blessing. Now what is the connection? The connection is this, Jesus takes the cup of the wrath of God and he drinks it down to the dregs, he drinks it down to the last drop, he consumes the last drop of God's anger and he hands to believers the cup of blessing. All the God's anger against your sin and your defiance, your rebellion against Him, your carelessness in your life, your self-loving and your self-serving, God's anger against it all is drained with none remaining and He hands you a cup of blessing.

This is why John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus came to separate you from your sins, to take away your sins, and with it God's fury against your sin and rebellion. This is why Jesus died on the Passover. Paul to the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 5 says, for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Christ is the lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Christ is the Passover lamb.

Think of the first Passover in Egypt where the people killed the lambs and they painted the blood on the door post and while death was coming to every home in Egypt, the angel of wrath passed over the houses of Israel. Why? Because they didn't have sins in their house? No, because they had blood over the doors. Innocent blood over the doors.

It's not that there weren't guilty people inside. It's that there was innocent blood over the doors this was the eternal plan of God which is why Jesus is called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world for Revelation 13. Jesus Christ was born as good as crucified. The world was made with Jesus Christ as good as crucified. It was a promise that God had made to redeem sinners.

In Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, Peter preaches this wonderful, powerful sermon and he said that Jesus was delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. God decided that Jesus would die. It wasn't the Jews or the Romans after all, although they were guilty of it. God was fulfilling his will. In John chapter 10, Jesus said, Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

No one takes it from me. But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again. Jesus died because he was willing to die. Jesus laid down his life voluntarily.

Jesus came to earth to lay down his life. Jesus dwelt in flesh to lay down his life. Turn again to Galatians 3. Galatians 3. This was our sermon text today.

I want to read again Galatians 3 verses 10 through 14. Paul writes, for as many as are of the works of the law, I'm starting in verse 10, Galatians 3 verse 10 through 14, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident For the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not by faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

In Galatians 3, there are only two categories. There are those of the works of the law and there are those of faith, there's not any other kind of person. You are either of the works of the law, in which case you are under a curse if you've ever violated the law one time. There is a way to live under the law, to have life, to earn life, and it is to obey all the laws all the time. Which is why Paul said, it's evident that no one is justified by the works of the law.

None of us have obeyed all of the laws all of the time. And there's this other category of faith. Paul says, instead of being under the curse, you're under the blessing of Abraham. What does that mean? He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

External righteousness was given to him because internal righteousness had failed. I'll never forget preaching through Deuteronomy and reaching Deuteronomy chapter 27 and Deuteronomy chapter 28. In Deuteronomy chapter 27 the tribes are split between two mountains. Some of the tribes are set on Mount Gerizim and it is the Mount of Blessing and they shout the blessings of God for obedience to the other tribes. And the other tribes are stationed on Mount Ebal, It's the Mount of Cursing and those tribes are shouting back the curses for disobedience.

In chapter 28 verse 15 we read this, but it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments." This is just what Paul is saying in Galatians chapter 3. Complete obedience to all the law. Listen again. But it shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you And then from verse 16 to verse 68 are 52 verses of curses for disobedience. When we read Galatians 3 that Jesus Christ has become a curse for us we should go right to Deuteronomy 27 and 28 and read the curses that sinners deserve to come upon them.

And when we read those chapters all we can do is to say with the psalmist if you O Lord should mark iniquities Who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared Why forgiveness has God forsaken justice no He's poured out the indignation against sin on His Son. On His Son. God could never forsake justice for a second. Something must be done about your sin and my sin.

Our rebellion, our hard heartedness, our defiance against God, our self loving, our self serving. Can God overlook that? Not for a second. Three. The application of His suffering and death.

Consider our present and future. If you are taking notes and filling in blanks on the handout, It is present and future. Let's apply the suffering and death of Jesus Christ to ourselves. What does it mean for me today in my present? What does it mean for me in my future?

On the cross Jesus asks the question that we find in Psalm 22 verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because sinners deserve to be forsaken by this holy God. That is the answer to Psalm 22 verse 1. Why did God the Father forsake his son? Because Jesus was taking the place of sinners who would repent and believe So God had to forsake him because sinners deserve to be forsaken by this holy God.

The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Romans 6 23. Sinners are traitors. Sinners deserve to be forsaken by God and left to the pleasure of the wicked when we consider this standard that goes so far beyond the external things that we're able to manage and clean up to be respectable against each other When we look at how focused the scriptures are on the affections of our heart, who cannot say I am not a traitor? Who can say I am not a traitor?

I am not a sinner. I have not lived for myself. I have not loved myself. Sinners are traitors. Traitors against God are not a special category of sinners.

Traitors against God can be respectable to you. And they deserve to be forsaken by God and left to the pleasure of the wicked. That's something I had never seen in the sufferings of Jesus Christ, how he was just left to the pleasure of the wicked. It doesn't excuse their wickedness. But I think the point is, You love wickedness, I hand you over to the wicked to do their pleasure.

As a traitor against God, I deserve to be betrayed by false friends and forsaken and denied by true ones. As a traitor against God, I deserve to be treated as a common criminal. I deserve to be slapped and spit on and beaten and mocked. I deserve for the mob to cry out for my death, to insist upon justice upon me. As a traitor against God, I deserve for a fake crown of thorns to be fashioned and to have a mocking robe put upon me and to be stripped and humiliated and nailed to a cross as a cursed one receiving my wages right in the midst of the other rebels with a rebel at my right hand and a rebel on my left hand.

As a traitor against God I deserve an inscription over my head mocking me as a fake king. I would be king. And as I hang there for those who pass by to mock me and to die there forsaken by the God of heaven. When you read of Jesus' suffering and death, don't marvel. Don't marvel that He was treated this way.

We become so desensitized. We become so comfortable with sin and so good at excusing and minimizing our own sin that we lose sight that we deserve to be treated like this for our treason Against this holy God don't marvel that Jesus was treated like this. Marvel that you haven't been treated like this already. Sin is utterly sinful and you don't hate it, but God hates it. And we deserve that God would not wait another moment to pour out the cup of the wine of his wrath.

But instead of that, but God who is rich in mercy has sent his son to drink down the cup of his anger against the rebellion of all who will repent and believe to the last drop, leaving none left for them. That They would know adoption instead of being forsaken. They would know life instead of death. They would know blessing instead of cursing. They would gain heaven instead of hell.

And what do they do to earn this? They do nothing. Simple belief to repent and turn away from wickedness and rebellion, to give up the fight, and to cling to Christ and this great work that he did in his suffering and his death and his bleeding and dying for sinners. That's all. I want to conclude by reading Isaiah chapter 53.

Turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. I'm actually going to back up and read the last three verses of 52. So I'll start in 52 and then I'll just keep going in 53. So 52, Isaiah 52 beginning in 13.

Behold, My servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations King shall shut their mouths at him for what had not been told them they shall see and what they had not heard they shall consider. Who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.

He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed.

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 us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it sheers as silent, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living.

For the transgressions of my people he was stricken And they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see the labor of his soul and be astonished by his knowledge. My righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." By the way I changed a word if you noticed in verse 10. Instead of bruised, I said crushed. Crushed is better, I think.

Let's pray. Sin bearing Christ, we worship you. Sin bearing Christ, we know that there is no way to be parted from our sins and what they deserve for the justice of God to be turned aside unless an acceptable substitute would come forward to satisfy the anger of God against sin. Thank you. Thank you.

I thank you that you have borne every sin of your people, that you drank the cup down to the last bitter drop. You hand us a cup of blessing. Oh, receive your reward. Receive the name above every name To the glory of the Father we pray, Amen.