MATTHEW 27:27-36 “THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD”
A) John 3:16 ....... Say it with me .......
* For a moment, I want our minds to go back in time – Jesus’ earthly ministry is
coming to an end.
* In Matt. 26, Jesus is preparing to celebrate the Passover with His disciples.
B) In the meantime, Judas has already met with the chief priests to see how
much they will pay him to deliver Jesus to them.
* They settled for 30 pieces of silver – The price of a slave, about $15.00.
* Matt. 26:16 “And from that time he sought for an opportunity to betray Him.”
(1) PRAYER IN GETHSEMANE
A) For approximately 33½ years, He lived looking forward to the cross, not
in the sense that He was excited, but that He knew that was His destiny.
* Christ must’ve seen its shadow across His path all the way from the manger to
the cross of Calvary.
B) Jesus has now instituted the supper and has gone into Gethsemane to pray.
* As the disciples slept, He knelt in the moon light under those olive trees.
* The shadows of night were closing in on His soul – Listen to Him .......
* Matt. 26:39 “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
C) See Him hold in His hand the cup of human iniquity and drink its dregs
into His soul.
* The blackness of the contents of that cup goes beyond description.
* Let’s analyze its mixture today .......
D) A young man pounces upon an innocent girl, strangles and chokes her to
death and ravishes her in his lust ... Stir rape and murder into that cup.
* Another, who at an altar of marriage, when the question was asked, “Will you be
true to her until death alone shall part you,” answers with an, “I do.”
* Tramples that vow under his unholy desires ... Stir adultery into that cup.
E) A man takes a two-year-old child and chokes her to death while having
sex with her ... Stir child molestation into that cup.
* Man kills his wife and children out in his front yard ... Stir drunkenness and
stupor into that cup.
F) Men leaving the natural use of the woman, burning in their lust one
toward another, and having sex together.
* Stir Homosexuality and same sex marriage into that cup.
G) Take man’s most horrible crimes and mix them all together in that cup.
* No wonder Jesus prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”
* But it wasn’t possible – If there had been any other way that men could be
saved, God would have planned it.
H) There was no other way – Christ must drink that poisonous cup of sin.
* Watch Him, as He places it to His lips, hands trembling .......
* The agony is so intense that the pores of His skin open, and sweat as great
drops of blood, trickles down His cheeks and falls to the ground.
(2) THE ARREST AND TRIAL
A) The night’s blackness was suddenly scattered by the light of flaming torches.
* A mob of soldiers, led by Judas Iscariot entered the garden, and in a cowardly
action placed a kiss on Jesus’ cheek.
* Christ was taken captive and led away to Caiaphas, the high priest, to be tried
before the Sanhedrin, a council of seventy Jews.
B) They accuse Him of being a blasphemer.
* In their angry rage, they hit Him in the face with closed fists.
* They firmly gripped His beard, and yanked it from His cheeks, ripping the flesh
from His cheek bones.
C) His eyes were smitten until they turned black with bruises and clotted
together with blood.
* His face was beaten into a mass of mutilated flesh, and His warm, sticky blood
ran freely to the ground – He was giving it to God for our sins.
D) The Jews couldn’t execute Him ... The power of death was out of their hands.
* He must be tried and condemned in the Roman court, so He was led away to
Pilate, the governor.
* Pilate questioned Jesus and found Him innocent, but learned that He was from
Galilee, so he sent Him to Herod.
E) Herod found nothing wrong with Him and returned Him to Pilate.
* The maddened mob was screaming for His blood, “Crucify Him, crucify Him,”
they kept screaming – So Pilate commanded Him to be scourged.
(3) THE SCOURGING
A) They strip the garments from His back, binds His hands and fastens them
to a stump in the ground.
* A soldier got a scourge, cat of nine tails, interwoven with pieces of metal and
bone, tipped with ivory hooks on the end of each lash.
B) When that screaming scourge would wrap around the bare back of a
condemned criminal, the hooks would catch into the flesh.
* Then it was pulled across the bones, ripping the flesh.
* Jesus’ face twisted as the weight of that scourge plowed into His back,
splattered the blood and cut the meat off His ribs.
C) With every crushing blow, hot flashes of pain flooded His body.
* The white naked ribs were now showing through the torn flesh – The blood ran
freely down His scourged back and puddled on the ground.
D) The soldiers of Pilate then took Jesus into the common hall called
Praetorium, and they literally wanted to put on a show.
* They called the whole band of soldiers to participate in tis mockery.
E) They stripped Him of His garments and put on Him a scarlet robe.
* They platted (woven together) a crown (wreath) of thorns, and they forced it
upon His head and they put a reed (stick, staff, cane) in His right hand.
* They bowed their knee before Him and mocked Him saying, “Hail, King of
the Jews.”
F) They spit upon Him and took the reed from His hand and smote Him
on the head, not only to injure Him from the force of the blow .......
* Hitting the crown of thorns causing the thorns to go deeper into the skin and
causing more excruciating pain.
* And after they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off from Him and
put His own garment back on Him.
G) From the common hall, they placed a cross upon His shoulders and began
their rugged journey to Golgotha, called “a place of a skull.”
* That blood thirsty mob follows laughing, mocking, and still crying for His blood.
H) The murderous procession making slow progress when they reach the
gates and Jesus stumbles and falls beneath the weight of the cross.
* A soldier curses, kicks Christ in the side and says, “On thou blaspheming Jew,
onto the place of death!”
I) Jesus tries to stand, but again, He falls to the ground.
* Simon of Cyrene was there for the Passover, and was compelled to carry the
cross for Jesus the rest of the way to Golgotha.
(4) THE CRUCIFIXION
A) They reach the spot and there they crucified Him along with two thieves.
* Jesus crawls over to the cross and lays Himself down on it.
* They took a mallet and drove the huge nails through His hands and His feet.
B) While they were driving the nails through His hands and His feet, Jesus
cried out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
* They stand the cross up and drops it into a hole in the ground.
* To the thief ... “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
C) Jesus’ mother ... “Woman, behold thy son! Behold thy mother!”
* Darkness over all the land – Mark 15:34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus
cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is,
being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
D) Jesus has been on the cross now for six hours, He cried, “I thirst.”
* Again, they offered Him vinegar, but this time they put it upon hyssop, which
had a minty flavor, and Jesus took it. – Why? Because it’s done.
E) John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,
It is finished:”
* Luke 23:46 “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”
F) His bloody, tangled hair matted together in His face.
* The tense, twitching body relaxed – The blood dripped slowly from the
wounds in His hands and His feet.
* His eyes were closed and the clotted blood in the lashes had turned dark
purple in color.
G) The beaten, bloody, bruised, and battered corpse dangled limp
and lifeless.
* The Jews wanted to hurry up the death of the criminals so that their bodies
would not be on the cross on the Sabbath day ordered to break their legs.
H) They broke the legs of the two thieves, and they died quickly – But when
they came to Jesus to break His legs; they saw that He was already dead.
* A soldier thrusts a spear into His side and pierced the membrane around the heart,
and blood and water flowed like a fountain from that side – He was dead.
* And that, my friend, is the greatest love story ever told.
