The King Crucified: The Contrast at Calvary A

The uniqueness of God is this, that when he is massively offended. He still comes to the offenders and warning them of the judgment, offers them forgiveness is that God is hanging on the cross he acted as a fiction. Would you have shuddered at the horrors of Jesus violent death would you wondered why this famous miracle worker wasn't miraculously saving himself or would you have been among the Lords weeping followers. Well, as John continues his study titled the crucifixion Chronicle will show you the responses of the people at Calvary. Perhaps helping you see which group you would've joined and what your response says about your eternal future with that lesson, here's John MacArthur.

Luke chapter 23 and we are course at the cross of Christ in our last look at this passage I use the title the comedy at Calvary understand that's a stunning notion that this is a comedy, but it is precisely that which was intended by the crews of fires to them.

Jesus was an object of absolute ridicule as a king. He was a laughable.

This whole thing was intended to be a mockery of the fact that he was a king here. Those are gather around the cross are mocking the sneering and hurling abuse at Jesus with sarcasm there endeavoring to treat the son of God with as much dishonor as they can muster with as much disrespect and disdain and shame as they can possibly generate man after all this is, in fact, God the son. Therefore, this is in fact blasphemy of monumental proportions here is sin at its apex here is sin at its ultimate here is blasphemy at its pinnacle mocking deity, sneering at the incarnate God and with glib satisfaction piling sarcastic scorn on the creator and the Redeemer, the true king, the true Messiah. Sinners cannot do worse than this, nothing that sinners could do could more offend God than this blasphemy can't be worse than this, we might ask that in light of the heinousness of this maybe this is time for God to act. We should be expecting a holy, righteous, God, to react to this kind of ultimate blasphemy by pouring out wrath and vengeance and fury on those who are perpetrating this on him even in the world of false gods invented by men and demons, no false God would tolerate anything close to this.

Should not the true and holy God maintain his dignity to some degree maintain his honor to some degree. Should not the true and holy God who has revealed himself as such. In most convincing proofs of his deity, and now being blasphemed in such a way, react, and holy anger and bring about a swift and instant death and judgment. Judgment will come 40 years after this is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Many if not most of these people gathered today, who are still alive 40 years later will perish in that judgment. Many will die before that ever comes but doesn't this seem like an undo patients just how tolerant is holiness just how patient is righteousness just how enduring is divine mercy and grace.

If ever there seem to be a time when God's wrath would be justified if it came swiftly. This would be it. Well, in a strange irony, his judgment did come swiftly at the cross, but it didn't come on the crowded came in Jesus on behalf of those who blasphemed him.

The Old Testament is pretty clear about blasphemy.

It says this in Leviticus 2416. Anybody who blasphemes my name shall die.

It is a capital crime blasphemed the name of God. They are blasphemers. They know that they are content to blaspheme him to pronounce curses on him to heap abuse on him.

That is exactly what they are doing and they are the ones who think they're upholding righteousness. The whole thing is twisted justice should fall on them.

It falls on Christ judgment should crush them. It crushes Christ. They accuse him of blasphemy. They are the blasphemers certainly our Lord had every right to judge them every right to destroy them on the spot and catapult them forever into hell. I strange it is that they are at the event of Calvary.

When God's fury should've come down on the crowded instead came down in Christ for the crowd on their behalf. But you know this is not inconsistent with the character of God will give you an illustration of it from the Old Testament go back to Isaiah back to Isaiah, and you see the heart of God.

Here, a true assessment of the condition of the sinners a true proclamation of coming judgment, but at the same time, mercy and grace inevitably extended to them. For example, you see a sort of microcosm of that in the first chapter of Isaiah, God says in verse two. You revolted against me rebelled against me, in verse three and ox knows its owner docking knows its masters manger. Israel does not know why people do not understand. Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly. They've abandoned the Lord, they have despised or blasphemed the holy one of Israel.

They have turned away from him. How tragic how bad is it verse 5 2nd Ave. of the verse. The whole head is sick whole heart is faint, how bad is it verse six from the soul of the foot to the head. There is nothing sound and it only bruises wells and raw wounds not pressed outer bandits are softened with oil like a body that is bruised and beaten and hammered in sick and weak. That is, Israel.

God brings pronunciation of judgment. Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire. Verse seven your field. Strangers are devouring them in your presence is desolation is overthrown by strangers. This is the pattern in Isaiah, sin and judgment but come down verse 14 is a good place start.

I hate your new moon festivals I hate your appointed fees their burden to me. I'm weary of bearing them so when you spread out your hands in prayer will hide my eyes from you even though you multiply your prayers. I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. They're in serious condition and then comes this wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from my site cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, reprove the ruthless defend the orphan, plead for the widow and then this invitation come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like that magnificent verse is God offering grace and mercy to a sinful people upon whom he has pronounce judgment that will fall on less they repent. This pattern by the way, is sustained all the way through Isaiah in most magnificent ways chapter 40 after all kinds of promises of judgment to come.

Chapter 40 begins comfort oh comfort my people, says your God. This speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity has been removed that she is received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins, their salvation, waiting for her amazing expression of mercy. You find the same thing at the beginning of the chapter 43 you find it in chapter 52 you find it in chapter 53 we go to chapter 55. This is such a magnificent section of Scripture. After further pronunciations of judgment and indictments of sin whole everyone who thirsts, come to the waters you have no money come by and eat. Come by wine and milk without money, without cost.

Salvation is always free. It is always by grace. Why do you spend money for what is not branding your wages for what doesn't satisfy listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to me. Listen, that you may live, and I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercy shown to David when he gets personal. In verse six seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let them return to the Lord and he will have compassion on him to our God. He will abundantly pardon you my sound understand God. I don't understand how God can look at people who've apostatized people who have defected from him. People who have shown him nothing but rebellion and wrathful and he has pronounce judgment on them. How can God, then extend himself to them in this way is God's patience. This great and the answer comes in verse eight for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts when you would run out of patience.

God does not.

When you look at something and think that the patience of God must be exhausted because my patients would have been long ago exhausted.

God's is not in the answer is that God is far beyond us infinitely beyond us and how he thinks and how he acts the uniqueness of God is this, that when he is massively offended and when he is relentlessly offended. He still comes to the offenders and warning them of the judgment to come, offers them forgiveness and mercy and grace and compassion and makes them his children and takes them to his holy heaven forever. It is that God, who is hanging on the cross that God whose patience is far beyond ours because his ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Stunning contrast to Calvary is the contrast between the merciless insults of the crowd and the merciful intercession of the Christ and those of the two points I want you look at the merciless insults of the crowd. Verse 35 were going to look at the merciless insults of the crowd. The crowd is made up of four groups.

There's the people, the leaders, the soldiers and the thieves and they all have the same response to Jesus there literally without sympathy there heartless and cruel, brutal, verse 35 and the people stood by looking on.

Now Lucas given us the best possible spin on that crowd. It just appears from Luke the third in some kind of a stupor like watching some kind of bloodsport just looking on, watching the comedy play out no remember the whole thing is been staged by the Jews and the Romans to be comedic Jesus claims to be a king, and that is laughable.

So that becomes the the trigger point for the whole joke all the sneering all the mocking all the abusive sarcasm is built around this idea the Jesus claim to be a king. They ridiculed him with sarcastic language that if he was a king. Maybe he can exercise some of his great power they taunted him it is without sympathy you cannot find sympathy in this crowd at all. Nobody shows them sympathy is the most brutally cruel scene imaginable.

We might expect truly are Roman soldiers because they did this all the time. There were executioners by trade who put them on the cross. We might even expect cruelty out of the leaders, the religious leaders because they had demonstrated how cruel they were by piling heavy burdens on people which they never did anything to help them carry were brutally unkind to sinners and tax collectors and the kinds of people to Jesus, receive, we might expect unsympathetic brutality from the criminals because they were criminals by profession and long-ago sympathy and compassion had probably departed out of their hearts, and were not surprised those people. But we expected.

Maybe the crowd there would be a little more sympathetic. These are the people probably who had been healed by Jesus of certain diseases. These might be people who had had experiences of other miracles of Jesus had performed in the area of Judea and Jerusalem, and there were lots of them from of all places Galilee in the north.

There may have been and Shirley were people in the crowd who were fed among the 5000, Jesus made the food there were certainly people who knew well those who would been healed maybe been given their hearing or their site or raised up to walk from a state of paralysis. When we expect to find something sympathetic out of them and didn't they hear Jesus teaching and didn't experience the meekness and gentleness of Christ and the love of Christ that was so manifested in the beauty and magnificence of what he taught.

But even the crowd is merciless. You say wait a minute. All it says in that verse is the people stood by looking on. Well, that's not all can be said about the merciless crowd. I'm sorry to say this is a large crowd. If come from everywhere it's Passover.

The city has well by hundreds of thousands of people in the crowd moving toward Calvary from the public trial early in the morning is growing and growing and growing. Because Jesus is the most popular person in the country, by far, and he's drawing a massive crowd that are now collected around the cross. These are people who were there to hail him as a potential king on Monday when he came into the city. They were the same people who were there to scream, crucify, and crucify him earlier in the day and now serve appear to be exhausted. I guess sort of blank stares from what Luke tells us, but Matthew and Mark tell us more. Matthew and Mark tell us what we need to know Matthew 27, 39, and those passing by the milling crowd milling crowd were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads gesture of taunting and saying you who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross in the same way the chief priests, etc. so it's the crowd and the leaders Mark 15 verse 29 and those passing by the milling crowd were hurling abuse at him, saying hi wagging their heads, you are going to destroy the Temple rebuilt three day save yourself and come down from the cross again in the same way which sorts out the rulers from the passing milling crowd crowd were in it.

They had been orchestrated by the leaders there easily seduced by their evil hearts of unbelief easily seduced by the manipulation of their leaders, they pick up the comedic game and they pour out the venomous sarcasm on Jesus. They never do the right thing this crowd them none the right thing all week here there just vicious, merciless to the merciful son of God. It's amazing this is the worst possible conduct by the people of Israel. So the merciless crowd then the merciless rulers back to Luke 2335 and even the rulers were sneering at them because they orchestrated all of it, saying he saved others, led him save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one, and so they mocked him for his claim to be the Messiah. They mock him for his claim to be the one chosen by God there sneering at a very strong word used only here and one other time in the Gospel of Luke, and nowhere else in the New Testament is a compound word William the word in the Greek for nose is moved tear moved tear. This word is moved tear with so it means to push up your nose at it is a compound word you do so in an extreme way intense derision and scorn they blaspheme him, and by the way, would you please notice they don't speak to Jesus. They never speak to him.

There's no record around the cross that they ever spoke to him. They speak to the crowd about him. He saved others, let him save himself if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one that never speak to Christ. Their intention is to stir up the crowd so they never address Jesus, he saved himself he saved others, let him save himself what they mean by that's your sarcasm it's ridicule. He saved no one who did he ever say from what he delivered no one in the course their view, would be political, military, deliverance. So, since he's done such a great job of saving everybody else and delivering all of Israel. Let them deliver himself just total scorn.

They are very proud by the way, to be the vanquisher's of this phony king very proud and they welcome the responsibility and say his blood be on us and on our children. According to Matthews count Matthew 2742 he saved others can't save himself. He is the king of Israel letter now come down from the cross, will all believe the trust in God, let him deliver him now if he is taking pleasure in him, for he said I am the son of God.

Now they say these things and they just have no idea what they're saying listen to this Psalm 22 looks at the cross of Christ prophecy starts out this way, here's the beginning of Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me that's unfamiliar very words of Jesus on the cross but got out of her seven Psalm 22, seven the reproach of men despised by the people, all who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip, they wag the head exactly what they did say commit yourself to the Lord, let him deliver him. Let him rescue him because he delights in him all that sarcasm was predicted in the Psalm they fulfilled it to the letter. By the way you go back to the ninth chapter of Luke and in verses 20 and 35 you will see that Jesus did take the title, the Christ of God, and he did take the title. His chosen one. They knew he claimed it to them. It was just ridiculous and so they turned it into a joke member Paul says in first Corinthians 1. That the crucified Messiah is to the Jewish stumbling block and course to the Gentile foolishness.

They thought of someone hanging on a tree. According to Deuteronomy 2123 is cursed by God and Jesus was cursed by God. And so they keep on him all the scorn of this notion that he is the true Messiah and King that they've been waiting for. How could that possibly be true. It is absurd. Leaders orchestrate this an egg on the mindless crowd. Little did they know that he was being cursed by God. That was true. Further, Isaiah 53, four, says he was smitten by God, and afflicted. In verse 10 says the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to death. Paul looks back on that and said he was made a curse for us.

You're listening to Grace to you as John MacArthur continues his study from Luke 23 called the crucifixion Chronicle along with teaching on radio. John also serves as Chancellor of the Masters University and seminary in Southern California. Now John, let's turn the corner here at the end of the broadcast. We are reminded all the time that our verse by verse Bible teaching is reaching people in all parts of the globe. All parts of the day in countless situations and you have a couple of good examples of that right in front of you. How about sharing those letters with our audience. I always love to do that, fill in the certainly happy to do it now.

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I been so very blessed to be with these precious believers for 28 years now I've been working at the local high school so as not to put an extra burden on the people all of this to say thank you for your clear teaching and making it so available when I left seminary I had a picture of pastoring that included hours and hours of study, God had a different picture because of working full time.

I don't have near the time to study, as I would like. This is where your work has been such a tremendous blessing. I do give you credit in my church, and that encourages the people to explore study and grow from your resources as well. Our little church has been so richly blessed because of your faithfulness signed his name Bob Bob that's very gracious, very thoughtful. I am in awe of the fact that God can take his word and spread it the way he does to the ministry of radio and the other ways that though the word is spread through Grace to you and particularly when it touches a pastor or a Bible teacher, you just need to know that that is a joy that I can provide something that you can then pass on to your congregation.

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