The Trial and Death of Jesus – God’s Love For You!
A few years ago Mel Gibson put out a movie titled, “The Passion of Christ.” In that movie the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life was depicted in graphic detail. It is not a movie that I would sit down and watch for its entertainment value. But it is a movie that I would watch for its love value.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (NKJV)
Many times when we read John 3:16 we miss the most important word in the verse. The word we miss is “Gave.” God the Father – GAVE – His son to us as a gift. God gave Jesus to us because He loves us. God gave Jesus with a purpose – to go to trial for us, to die for us – so that we could have life.
Today on this Palm Sunday I want us to look at the trial and death of Jesus and see God’s love through them.
1. The TRIAL of Jesus shows God’s love for me.
The trial of Jesus has always been in controversy. Who killed Jesus? Did the Romans kill Him? Did the Jews kill Him? Let me tell you something – do you want to know who killed Jesus? I did! No – I did not live two thousand years ago – I did not take nails and put Him on the cross - but my sin killed Him just the same. The sin that I committed put Jesus on the cross. He died intentionally for my sin. He died to take my place. So I am the one who put Him on the cross. He went to the cross willingly for me. Look at John 10:18 with me. Jesus is speaking and He says:
“No one takes My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father." John 10:18 (NKJV)
He knew the pain that the cross held for Him. He knew what He was going to go through. He knew the suffering that He would endure. He knew the death that He was going to die – and He went there willingly. He went there intentionally. If that is not love I do not know what is.
Did you know that Jesus actually went through six different trials the night He was arrested? Three Jewish trials and three Roman trials – none of them were really legal.
First they took Him to Annas who was a religious leader. Annas gave Him a little trial and sent Him to Caiaphas who was the High Priest at the time. Caiaphas had a little trial and sends Jesus to the religious Supreme Court, which is called the Sanhedrin. They gave Him a little trial and then send Him to Pilate. Pilate was the Roman governor in Jerusalem. He gave Jesus a little trial and sent Him to King Herod who is in charge of Judea. Herod looks a Jesus, gives Him a little trial and sends Him back to Pilate. All of this takes place in about eight hours.
What charges did they find Him guilty of? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! He had done nothing wrong. He had committed no crimes. Finally they found one accusation that stuck. Just one! Do you know what it was? They asked Him, “Are you the son of God?” His answer was, “Yes!” And they said, “We got Him now. We need to kill Him.”
To the leaders of that time to say you are the Son of God means that you are equal to God. You are saying you have God’s authority, that you have God’s power, that you are a direct descendant of God and that you are part of God’s blood line. This, of course to them, was blasphemy. No one could be equal with God. But this is exactly what Jesus claimed.
Think about this for a minute though. Jesus never claimed to be a great religious leader. He never claimed to be a great prophet. He never claimed to be a man of God. But He did claim to be the Son of God. And by claiming this title – He claimed to be equal with God.
Let me ask you a couple questions this morning. Who has the power to forgive sin? God does. Who has the power to raise people up from the dead? God does. Who has the power to grant eternal life? God does. Did you know Jesus did all of these things? He claimed to be equal with the Father because He was. We as Christians believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. This fact is what we call the incarnation. God became flesh and dwelt among men. This is what Jesus claimed. Follow along in John 10:
“And I (Jesus) give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one." John 10:28-30 (NKJV)
You see when Jesus claimed to be “The Son of God” He was saying He was equal with the Father. He and the Father were one.
Now most of you here know who I am. I’m Pastor Tom. But what if you didn’t know who I was and I walked up to you and said, “Hi, I’m George Washington the first president of the United States.” Did you know you would have three options at that point? Number One. You could consider me completely insane. Number Two. You could consider me to be the biggest liar around. Number Three. You could consider that I was telling the truth.
That is what happened at Jesus trail. They did not consider Him insane – but they did not consider Him to be the Son of God either. They considered Him a liar. To make one equal with God was blasphemy in their eyes. But Jesus knew who He was. He had left His throne in heaven to come to earth – to tell people plainly that He was the Son of God. He was The Savior, The Messiah and He would not deny this fact.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 (NKJV)
People today believe many different things about Jesus but the fact is you MUST believe He is who He said He is in order to be saved. To believe in Him is to have faith in Him. You must have faith in Him to have eternal life. He is the Son of God. Jesus went to trial because He loved me and He would not deny who He is.
2. The DEATH of Jesus shows God’s love for me.
The death of Jesus shows to what length God was willing to go in order to get me into heaven. He said, “I’ll go to any length. I’ll even die for you.”
After Jesus was convicted in the trial for claiming to be the Son of God they sentenced Him to death by crucifixion. In the history of mankind no one has thought up a more brutal form of capital punishment than crucifixion. To take a person and put nails through their hands and feet, to stretch them to the maximum extent that their arms could reach, to strip them naked, put them on public display for all to watch them die was an extremely brutal form of execution.
But that is not all they did to Him. Before they placed Him on the cross they kept Him up all night passing Him from one judge to another. They mocked Him. They put a blindfold on Him and hit Him saying, “If you’re a prophet tell us who hit you.” They spit on Him and said, “Who spit on you Jesus – can you tell us?” And they beat Him and they beat Him and they beat Him.
I want you to know that Jesus could have given their names. He not only knew their names but He knew their father’s names, their grandfather’s names, their great grandfather’s names. He knew their ancestors names all the way back to Adam – yet He remained silent.
They placed a crown on His head made of thorns. They crammed it down on His head so it pierced the flesh and rubbed against His skull. He bled – drops of blood ran down His face. Then the Bible says they began to pluck out his beard. Then they whipped Him. Roman law would only let Him be beat 39 times because they believed that a person would die from blood loss at 40 lashes. So they whipped Him 39 times. Blood was flowing down what was left of His back. His back was whipped raw. Most of the skin had been torn off from the beating. But that’s not all.
They made Him carry His own cross up the hill of Calvary. The crowds laughed at Him; they too mocked Him and spit on Him. The cross was heavy and He would slip and fall. He was exhausted, hungry and weak from loss of blood. Yet the torment did not stop. He fell again so they got a man out of the crowd named Simon. They said to him, “You will help carry the cross.” And he did. They took Him to the top of the hill and laid the cross on the ground.
They stretched Jesus out and nailed Him to the cross. He hung there in public display. They striped Him naked. Death on the cross often took days. It was a horrible way to die. Sometimes the Romans would come and break the convict’s legs to hasten the death. The Jews did not want the criminals to hang there over the Passover so they requested that the legs be broken. By the time they came to break the legs of Jesus they found that He was already dead. So they took a spear and stuck it into His side just to make sure that He was dead. The Bible says that blood and water flowed from His body. He was dead. He died because He claimed to be the Son of God. He died for telling the truth.
Some of you sitting here this morning may be asking, “What has this to do with me?” Everything! Everything! Listen to me as if your life depends on it, because it does! What has this to do with me? I’m going to explain this as simply as I can.
All of us have sinned. All of us have blown it. All of us have made mistakes. There is not one here who is perfect. If you think you are perfect you need to see a psychiatrist. I don’t measure up to my own standards, much less God’s standards. Sin needs to be punished. Crime deserves justice. If you are a criminal you need to suffer for your crime. The Bible says:
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
Each one of us is in the same boat. All of us fall short. All of us fail. None of us meet up to God’s standards. The Bible also says:
“The wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
Somebody has to pay for all the wrong you and I have done. Somebody has to pay for all the times we have not told the truth. Somebody has to pay for all the times we have taken things that do not belong to us. Somebody has to pay for all the times we have talked badly about someone else. Either you pay for it or somebody else does. Justice demands it.
Jesus stepped down from heaven and stepped up to the plate. He said, “I’ll take the punishment. I’ll pay the price. I’ll do it. I know you have blown it. I know that you have made some mistakes. I know that you have sinned. But I love you so much, I will pay for all the things you have done wrong.”
Jesus came to earth. He lived a perfect life. He died on a cross for my sin and for your sin. That is what the death of Jesus was all about. That is why He was crucified. Every sin you and I have committed and every sin you will ever commit Jesus died for. When Jesus died on the cross He stretched out His hands and said I love you this much. The last thing that Jesus said was, “It is finished.” He did not say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” Justice was accomplished. The price has been paid. A life has been given. A sacrifice has been made. It is finished.
So how do I respond to the trial and death of Jesus? Here is what I ought to do:
1. I ought to LOVE HIM. Even if God never did anything else for me, He deserves my total devotion. He gave His life for me - I should love Christ with all my heart.
"We love Him because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19 (NKJV)
2. I ought to HATE SIN. Why? Because it was my sin that put Him on the cross. And, by the way your sin put Him there too.
“Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call!” Romans 6:6 (MSG)
3. I ought to FOLLOW HIM. If some one died for you wouldn’t you want to be around Him? Wouldn’t you want to know more about Him? Wouldn’t you want to find out everything you could about Him? The only way you can do that is by following Him.
"If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me." John 12:26 (MSG)
Please pray with me,
“Jesus I did not realize the depth of Your love for me. I did not realize the sacrifice that you made for me. I pray now that I would love you with my whole heart. That I would hate sin and that I would follow you. Forgive me of my sins. I know that You died for them. Help me to learn as much as I can about You and live for You. Amen.”
