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well that is a great hymn i haven't sung that in a while it speaks of our mutual abiding christ in us and we in christ is john 15 verse 5. abide in me and i in you and it's that great verse that says at the end apart from me you can do nothing and it speaks to how much we need to abide moment by moment in the lord jesus christ which means to rest in him and to rely upon him and to remain with him and how much we need for for christ to abide in us and and with us and even the order there he must abide in us if we are to abide in him so may that be our experience today as we have gathered as god's people on the lord's day to worship him i want to begin by reading the passage that we will be looking at today it's found in john chapter 18 john chapter 18. and today we're going to be looking at verses 28 to 32. if you're new to trinity we're thrilled you're here and we're in the midst of a verse by verse study through the book of john the gospel of john and so we've been in it some time and we have now come to the part of john's gospel in which our lord is undergoing trials religious trials government trials not trials in the sense of going through a difficult time like we would think of trials in our lives but literally he has been arrested he has been brought before now the magistrate really the governor of judea and our lord is being examined so this is where we find ourselves and as you are here today i trust that you can just step into the flow of of what god is doing we're very committed to verse by verse preaching through books in the bible there may be times we step out of that but for the meat and potatoes of what we serve you we believe in preaching through books in the bible so john chapter 18 beginning in verse 28 the title of this message is the mistrial of the ages i want to begin reading in verse 28 and then i'll pray and then we'll look carefully at this passage then they led jesus from caiaphas into the praetorium and it was early and they themselves did not enter into the praetorium so that they would not be defiled but might eat the passover therefore pilate went out to them and said what accusation do you bring against this man they answered and said to him if this man were not an evil doer we would not have delivered him to you so pilate said to them take him yourselves and judge him according to your law the jews said to him we are not permitted to put anyone to death to fulfill the word of jesus which he spoke signifying by by what kind of death he was about to die this is the reading of god's inspired inerrant and infallible word let us go to him in prayer father this is your word that we have just read and your word that we shall consider this morning you have inspired this passage you have breathed it out of your mouth through the human agency of john and in order for us to really understand what you would have us to understand today we need the ministry of your holy spirit who is the spirit of truth who is the teacher of truth and we have eyes but we cannot see unless your spirit opens our eyes to understand what is in your word and lord more than that we want more than just this passage to be in our mind we want it to be in our heart and we want it to govern and direct our lives and so we ask that you would do yet more in us today and not only give us clarity of understanding but give us a passion for what is taking place here and a resolve to live out different points that intersect with our lives that remain relevant over 2000 years i pray that you would meet with each and every person who has gathered here today we bring an assortment of needs and burdens and decisions that need to be made etc and lord you know every heart and so use your word as a means to the end to minister to everyone who is here today so father bless now this message as only you can in jesus name we pray amen again the title is the mistrial of the ages in these verses we see the mistrial that jesus suffered in the morning of his crucifixion the accused is jesus christ the charge is blasphemy for claiming to be the son of god the persecute the prosecutors are the jewish leaders and the judge is pontius pilate the jury is a frenzy frenzied mob out of control the proceedings are a gross violation of justice and the sentence will be the death penalty and the execution of it will be crucifixion upon a cross in this passage the civil trials of jesus now begin with with pilate this is the fourth of six trials that jesus will face he has already faced three religious trials one before annas two before caiaphas he now is led from the religious trials to the civil trials as he is now delivered to pilate and john chooses to focus upon pilate if we take the four gospels matthew mark luke and john john's unique emphasis is upon jesus and pilate the other gospels will go into greater detail or already have concerning jesus standing before caiaphas and when he will stand before herod but john has has really a tunnel vision he is very narrowly focused upon the fourth and the sixth trial of jesus standing before pilate and so as we look at this just by way of introduction never has anyone so just been treated so unjustly as our lord and savior jesus christ and so as we consider this this is a very important part of the story of our lord and savior jesus christ so beginning in verse 28 i want you to note first the prisoner transferred the prisoner transferred as john now shifts the narrative from peter's denials which we looked at last time back to jesus standing trial in verse 28 begins then they led jesus from caiaphas that they refers to the jewish leaders they are mentioned in verse 31. it is quite an entourage that surrounds jesus as they lead him from caiaphas to pilate jesus is surrounded by the chief priests the elders the scribes the entire council of the 70 of the sanhedrin and they led jesus away and mark tells us that his hands are bound like a common criminal and he is being led from caiaphas just to remind you caiaphas was the high priest of israel which made him the president or the the hedge priest of the sanhedrin which was the governing body of of of israel it would be like combining the house of representatives the senate the supreme court and the oval office all into one package to comprise the 70 members of the sanhedrin they were the the power brokers of israel and caiaphas is the man who presides over the sanhedrin and so they have taken him away from caiaphas john does not record jesus standing before caiaphas that's more incidental to john's perspective as john gives the account of of these trials and he leads they lead him into the praetorium the praetorium is the roman headquarters uh here in jerusalem uh the praetorium is really like the governor's mansion it's the governor's official residence and at this time the nation of israel is under the the heavy hand of the roman empire it's known as pox romana which means the peace of rome and they were very shrewd as they would exercise their dominion over a nation they would allow the nation to continue to to carry out their daily activities but they would restrict certain uh rights that they previously had one of which was that they could not execute another person's life that remained with the na with the roman empire and so pilate now is in the praetorium where they now are leading him and the reason he is here is because it's the passover it's the passover season and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of jewish pilgrims who are descending upon the city of jerusalem in order to celebrate the passover and because of that there is the potential for an insurrection there is the potential for a riot with this many jewish people gathered together and so pilate who would normally be out on the coast of the mediterranean in caesarea he would come into jerusalem there for his presence to be felt as all of these worshipers were gathering in jerusalem and as you know the passover was to celebrate the deliverance of israel from egyptian bondage and so as they gather pilate is certainly aware that they might want to make a connection to their present situation and seek a deliverance from roman bondage and so for that reason pilate has traveled from the coast to jerusalem to set up his his oversight and his leadership there are many roman soldiers who are in the fortress of antonio there in jerusalem and their goal is simply to maintain peace and law in order as the jews can live their normal existence in normal life and we read in the middle of verse 28 it was it was early and that is to tell us it was early in the morning friday morning it's probably around 6 a.m jesus has not slept through the night he has gone from the upper room to the garden of gethsemane to annas house to caiaphas house again to caiaphas house and now he has led at sunrise to the house of pilate this has been an extraordinary day and a demanding night and jesus in his humanity is no doubt tired and he is weary and john wants us to know he was early because they are fast tracking jesus to judgment this this is a rush to judgment to put jesus to death before any other obstacles can get in the way this is the vulnerable moment before any defense could be offered before a release could be secured they have jesus they have him bound they have him condemned by their own jewish trials they now are rushing him as swiftly as they can to pilate who alone has the authority to bring the death sentence upon the lord jesus christ and they want to have this taken care of before the city awakens and begins walking through the streets they want it to be a done deal and so here is we see the sinful depravity of the human heart that is always swift to commit sin not slow to transgress but swift to sin and i think of romans 3 and verse 15 in which paul quotes from the old testament and says their feet are swift to shed blood that's a part of human depravity that it is always in a hurry to kill innocent lives not dragging their feet not shuffling their feet but sprinting and we see that here loud and clear as it is early and they are leading jesus now to pilate's praetorium this leads us now second to the praetorium avoided that's at the end of verse 28 when they delivered jesus over to pilate astonishingly astonishingly they would not enter the praetorium unless they be defiled how blind can blind be they they have blood on their hands and they are concerned about being ceremonially defiled it's they it says they themselves did not enter into the praetorium again this refers to the jewish leaderships who are so fastidious and in keeping every little minute detail of the old testament law that they are so focused on the trees they can't even see the forest and they did not enter into the praetorium which means they stayed outside the palace outside the mansion in a large courtyard perhaps under the colonnade it says so that they would not be defiled they it was believed that they would be ceremonially defiled if they entered under the roof of a gentile they they were so circumspect in trying to observe every rule in every detailed regulation that in fact they even added more rules to their legalism and this is one of those laws that a jew could not enter into the house of of a gentile lest he become defiled ceremonially and as you know the name pharisee means separatist and a pharisee was separated not only from israel the rest of the nation but also from the gentiles and so in this contingency of jewish leaders that are coming to the praetorium they remain outside lest as we read at the end of verse 28 but might eat the passover they believe if they go into the praetorium that they will be unqualified to celebrate the passover and so this hypocrisy is extraordinary they are committing the crime of the ages they are the chief instruments in putting to death and committing intentional murder of the second person of the trinity the lord jesus christ and they are concerned about being in some way ceremonially defiled by their own made-up rules i mean they are killing god's lamb the lord jesus christ so that they would be pure enough to take a ritualistic lamb for the passover and jesus had described them so well earlier when he said they strain at a gnat and swallow a camel that that is what external religion looks like it majors on minors it minors on majors it externalize externalizes religion but it bypasses the heart and this is exactly where these jewish leaders are and there is no group more corrupt on planet earth than a religious group that is unregenerate and unconverted and are so hardened in their depravity so that is the praetorium avoided i want you to note third the proceedings begun in verse 29 this begins the civil phase of the trials and in verse 29 we read therefore pilate went out to them again pilate is the roman governor over judea he is placed there by rome to maintain peace in judea and he alone has the authority to have someone put to death and so he went out to them because they could not come into him and so he goes out to the jewish leaders and said to them what accusation do you bring against this man what formal charge what is the crime bring it to the forefront and tell me what he has done for you to be here at 6 a.m in the morning and there to be such a large gathering of you one of you speak up and tell me what is the accusation and they answered and said to him and they give a no really a non-committal answer it's really no real answer at all this is what they say if this man were not an evil doer he would not we would not have delivered him to you in other words he is obviously guilty or we would not bring be bringing him here so they're pressuring pilate to rubber stamp their indictment of the lord jesus christ they just want jesus dead whatever the charge whatever needs to be brought to the forefront bottom line he is an evil doer and they want him dead and this is the fomenting of the depravity of their hearts they actually expect pilate to take them at their word for it but what they are doing is stonewalling him what they are doing is a complete evasion of the question they charge the only perfect man who has ever lived to be an evil doer unbelief renders you blind sin makes you stupid sin makes you live in a delusional world living under the tyranny of sin makes you think everyone else is the problem and you are the victim living under the tyranny of sin makes you it renders you unable to discern reality around you you cannot see the world correctly you cannot see others correctly you cannot see yourself correctly and this is the problem in so many marriages is that it is sin that causes someone to think that the problem is the other person rather than it's me it's me it's me o lord standing in the need of prayer this was not restricted to the first century we have national leaders just like this today they sit in the house of representatives they sit in the senate they sit on the supreme court they sit in the oval office and they are blind leaders of the blind they are blinded by their own sin they have no sense of reality whatsoever because sin has put a veil over their eyes and has unplugged any rational thought let me give you one example of how blind our leaders are just like these leaders are so blind we have national leaders today who legislate to kill babies in the womb while at the same time they want to save the whales and save the woodpeckers and save the snail darters and save the rain forest and save the climate while at the same time they are slaughtering those babies created in the image of god here's how blind they are according to the world health organization which i would not be quoting in another instance in the year 2020 half of the deaths in the world were abortions over 42 million abortions last year over 116 000 abortions every day nearly 5 000 abortions every hour and 81 abortions every minute and yet we are wanting to save the snail darters and save the whales and save the climate and save the rain forest how blind can blind be and there is only one explanation for it and it is the tyranny of sin that dominates an unconverted and unregenerate mind and that is exactly where these religious leaders are they could not think their way through one plus one equals two and so that's where we are today now i want you to note fourth the prosecution denied pilate actually pushes back he has more sense in his unconverted state than they have in their unconverted state and so pilate pushes back and denies their request so in verse 31 so pilate said to them take him yourself and judge him according to your law he doesn't want to be drawn into this if there is no charge then don't trouble me with this if there is no charge then do not waste my time bringing this man to me and so he says you take him yourself and you judge him according to your law and why would he insist upon this well number one only a few days earlier was the triumphant entry of jesus into the city of jerusalem this very city uh it that was but days earlier and pilate has seen the the the swelling uh support for the lord jesus christ as they cried out hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord and so pilate does not want to step into the midst of this his whole purpose in leadership is just to keep everything moving nicely that there is no disruption that there are no riots that there is no insurrection and he realizes that he will sacrifice his popularity if he steps into this situation he wants no part of it but secondly he despises these jewish leaders he he he sees through the hypocrisy of their lives and so pilate completely rejected their request though he will eventually cave in and compromise so we read in verse 31 the end of verse 31 the jews said to him the jews here referring again to the scribes the elders the sanhedrin the pharisees this whole inner circle the power brokers of the nation israel the jews said to him we are not permitted to put anyone to death if they could they would but because rome has now placed them under their pox romana and taken away from them the the power of execution so that rome is the true power broker in other words so that rome can make just little secondary uh so that israel can make little secondary decisions but rome has the ultimate trump card the jews cry out in recognition of this and say we're not permitted to put anyone to death though they want to put him to death and they want to get rid of him and before i move on to our last verse i do want to say for anyone who has not received the lord jesus christ for anyone here today who may be one who has not yet committed your life to jesus christ that every unbeliever stands with these jewish leaders in calling for the crucifixion of the lord jesus christ in hebrews 10 verse 26 we understand the seriousness of unbelief it's not a state of neutrality it's not fence sitting jesus said he who is not with me is against me and in hebrews 10 and verse 26 one of the most terrifying passages in all the bible the writer of hebrews appeals to the jews of his day hence the title of the book hebrews who have not yet come all the way to faith in christ they have come for the worship services they have gathered to to hear the the singing and the teaching of the word uh they are drawn to that but they have not yet committed their life to christ and you may be like that here today someone who is is is who enjoys being where other believers are gathered and there is an innate sense within you that this is true and this is right and you like to hear the word of god preach and you like to hear the people of god sing but you yet are uncommitted you yet have not committed your life to jesus christ i want you to see the seriousness of not coming all the way to faith in jesus christ and so in hebrews 10 and verse 26 the writer says if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth he in verse 28 he has trampled under foot the son of god and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant every one of us here today is either under the blood of the lord jesus christ and our sins have been washed away or we are trampling under foot the blood of christ and we are rejecting the free offer of the gospel in jesus christ and so just to tell tell you the truth if you're an unbeliever and if you have refused to give your life to christ this is where you stand you stand with the wicked jewish leaders you are calling for the death of jesus christ by your refusal to believe in him and you are guilty before god of the same crime and you are trampling under foot the precious blood of the lord jesus christ and you are insulting the spirit of grace who has come into this world to convict you of sin and righteousness and judgment unbelief is the greatest sin of all unbelief is the damning sin there is forgiveness from god for every sin except the sin of unbelief the sin of unbelief aims the gun at the head of christ and calls for his death just like these jewish leaders are doing and i want you to understand the magnitude and even the eternal magnitude of being in unbelief towards the lord jesus christ and i would imagine here today most of us are believers and praise the lord for that but if you are an unbeliever and have not yet come to christ the lord knows who you are and where you are and he unders and he has sent the spirit into the world to convict you of your guilt and your need for a savior but the last thing that i want you to see is in verse 32 the prophecy fulfilled the death of christ had long ago been prophesied by god himself and the priests and even jesus himself verse 32 though takes this a step further the whole old testament has pointed ahead to the death of the messiah but what this now deals with is not just his death but more specifically how he would die and so i want you to note in verse 32 it says to fulfill the word of jesus which he spoke this this points back to earlier chapters in the gospel of john this this points back to words that came from the very mouth of the lord jesus christ that were very subtle allusions to his imminent death of crucifixion upon the cross that jesus would pull the veil back ever so slightly and give a a picture of death by crucifixion and he's done it three times earlier in the gospel of john and i want to revisit those passages as we bring this message to a conclusion so if you would please or let me read the end of verse 32 then we'll go back signifying by what kind of death he was about to die in other words what jesus said earlier was a foreshadowing and even a prophecy not just that he would die and those are all through the synoptic gospels matthew mark and luke but it is john alone who pulls back the veil and allows the words of christ to be recorded in this gospel as jesus has pointed ahead to how he will die and so if you would turn back to john chapter 3. john chapter 3 and verse 14. you'll recall this these words are taken from the account of our lord's interview with nicodemus the ruler of the jews a member of the sanhedrin the most preeminent teacher in all of israel and jesus has told him you must be born again and jesus now goes to the message of the cross to bring nicodemus to what will be the foot of the cross where he will see the only way a salvation is to believe in him who will be lifted up to die so note verse 14 as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness let's just stop right there this goes back to numbers chapter 21 in which during the 40-year wilderness wandering of israel in the wilderness that because of their sin of of really rebellion and this disobedience to god god sent serpents to bite them and to inflict their deadly venom in them and untold numbers of of jews were dying in the in the wilderness because they are reaping what they have sown the wages of sin is what it's death and so god has sent these serpents to put the deadly venom into them and they are dying but according to the mercy of god god created a remedy a remedy that would ultimately point ahead to the coming of the lord jesus christ and this was the remedy that they were to take a brass serpent and put it on a pole and lifted up so high that all of the people can see this brass serpent that is now suspended in midair on a pole and moses told the people that everyone who looks to the brass serpent that is now lifted up will live and those who have already been inflicted by the the venom of of of the serpent that that are dying and and perishing in large numbers if by faith they will look to the brass serpent they will be healed and so that is what jesus is alluding to in this verse so look at it again verse 14. as moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so meaning in like manner in just the same manner must the word must is a word of divine necessity the cross was an absolute divine necessity there was no other way of salvation there there is no other plan there is no plan b there is only the way of the cross even so must the son of man be lifted up so how was the serpent in the wilderness lifted up he was put on a a very tall pole it was put on a very tall pole and and lifted up for all to see jesus now says even so the son of man must be lifted up and it is an obvious illusion and foreshadowing not just of the death of christ but the manner by which he would be put to death it would be by being lifted up upon a cross now we need to understand the historical background of of crucifixion it was invented by the carthaginians and developed into an art form by by rome rome knew how to put someone to death with maximum torment and maximum pain and maximum agony it would not be a quick death that would bring relief to the one who is suffering it was intended to to drag it out so that you would be dying yet unable to die and be tortured under the agony of of crucifixion but according to this background as it began with the carthaginians they would nail someone to a cross and lift them up because it was believed that if they were put to death with their feet touching the ground that the land would be defiled and the land would be cursed of course it was a religious superstition and that to put one to death his feet cannot be touching the earth he must be lifted up and as it were just suspended in mid-air and as he would be lifted up it also signified to the carthaginians as well as to the romans that this one who was being put to death has no place in this world and has no place in the world to come that he is separated from both god and man that he is not touching the earth he's separated from man and he's not yet he's not in the clouds he's separated from god and he is being rejected by both heaven and earth that there is no place for him to hide there's no place for him to go he is in no man's land as he is in thin air upon the cross and that was the thinking behind the development of crucifixion and putting someone to death we want to drag it out as long as possible and we don't want that person to even be touching our land lest we would be cursed and in the strange providence of god the extraordinary purposes of god this was the means that god chose from before the foundation of the world for his own son to be put to death he would be separated from god he would cry out my god my god why have you forsaken me and he would be rejected by men as they would cry out crucify him crucify him release barabbas who was the worst criminal in the entire nation he is rejected by all forsaken by his own disciples except john himself and his mother and a handful of of women no there is much significance to verse 14 that the son of man must be lifted up our only hope for heaven is in a savior who was lifted up to die upon a cross israel in the old testament administered the death penalty by stoning someone to death and they would bring them to the precipice of a of a cliff and they would throw them off the cliff so that they would go down under the rocks below and then they would gather rocks and just throw them down upon the person who probably is already dead but if not already dead then to bring about their death this is the total opposite it's not being put to death by being cast down it's being put to death by being lifted up and so in the jewish mind they couldn't comprehend like in john chapter 3 as jesus is saying this to nicodemus he doesn't have a category for this all death in israel is by casting down off a cliff and throwing down stones but jesus drops this little foreshadowing as he speaks to nicodemus no i will not be cast down i will be lifted up and it said in the book of deuteronomy that every man who is nailed to a tree is cursed come to john chapter 8 if you will john chapter 8 and verse 28 and jesus reiterates this again and as he reiterates this he does so not to his friends but to his foes to his enemies indicating to them the manner of death with which he would die and in john chapter 8 and verse 28 jesus said in the midst of the controversy uh swirling about him in this feast john 8 verse 28 when you jesus is the speaker when you refers to the leaders of israel when you lift up the son of man when you call for my crucifixion when you call for my death when you call that i will be lifted up we know now to die upon a cross then you will know that i am he that the fulfillment of the prophecies have been realized in the death of jesus christ isaiah 53 psalm 22 zechariah 13 and 12 even genesis 3 verse 15 etc etc isaiah 42 isaiah 49 isaiah 50 countless old testament passages finding their fulfillment in the death of christ upon the cross but again jesus says this that he will be lifted up and i want you to know he didn't say this in the upper room to his disciples he said this in the midst of a crowd that was plagued with unbelief at a time when the leaders of israel had sent the temple officers to arrest him and bring him back so that they could put him to the death in the midst of this scene in which there is the conspiracy that has already been hatched to have him murdered jesus makes this prophecy that he will be lifted up we know now upon a cross come to one more passage to john chapter 12 and verse 32 and just to tie this all together and the apostle john is the master narrator of the story of the person and work of christ and there are so many threads that are being woven through the gospel of john that are so easy for us to miss even as we go verse by verse through a book that we have to circle back and see these threads that that are running that when we pull a thread in john 3 verse 14 it's crinkling over here in john 18 and verse 32 and other verses along the way so look at john 12 and verse 32 jesus now knows the time has come it's the week before his crucifixion verse 27 my soul has become troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour but for this purpose i came to this hour verse 31 now judgment is upon the world now the ruler of this world will be cast out he's talking about his coming death in verse 32 he says and i if i am lifted up from the earth will draw all men to myself he's not talking about his ascension he's not talking about his enthronement at the right hand of the majesty on high he's talking about his death and he's not even talking about his sometimes i hear preachers say if we just lift up jesus in our preaching he will draw all men to himself that is a horrible interpretation of this passage of scripture and you want to know how we know that look at the next verse look at the very next verse john supplies the interpretation but he was saying this what that if i am lifted up i will draw all men to myself but he was saying this to indicate no the kind of death the very same words that are in john 18 verse 28 the kind of death by which he was to die this has nothing to do with the preaching of the gospel it has nothing to do with the ascension and enthronement of the lord jesus christ it has everything to do with the sin bearing substitutionary wrath absorbing reconciling propitiating redeeming expiating death of jesus christ upon the cross that i even i am lifted up upon that cross there will be such a saving power in that death that i will save all men and what does he mean all men is this teaching universalism that in the end everyone is saved is this teaching a hypothetical universal atonement no it means that if i be lifted up i will irresistibly draw all kinds of men to myself not just those from the nation israel but also those from among the gentiles and the greeks in fact you can look if you will at verse 20 right above it's the first time in john's gospel that the greeks are introduced into this gospel account as the greeks are now coming and they are saying sirs we would see jesus and it is in that context that jesus is specifying that his death will extend beyond the nation of israel that it will extend to the corners of the earth that it will include greeks and and and gentiles who will believe in the lord jesus christ no jesus did not die in vain all for whom he died will be drawn to him in saving faith as the holy spirit will work in perfect partnership with the lord jesus in his saving death and so jesus even up unto the end continues to give these prophecies these pictures these foreshadowings these allusions to how he will die upon the cross and it would be a further confirmation that he is exactly who he claimed to be who among us can name the manner of his own death long before we even approach death only the son of man the son of god can do so and so jesus as he stands in the praetorium which we will look at next week as pilate will begin to interview and to examine the lord jesus christ at this point what john wants us to see is how unjustly jesus is suffering i want to end this message with a word of encouragement for everyone here today because jesus suffered unjustly and there's not a person in this room who does not suffer unjustly at different times and in different ways it may be that you have suffered unjustly for many years in your life it may be that you've had a spouse that has left you because of your faith in jesus christ and you've suffered unjustly it may be that you were raised in a home in which you were abused in which you were treated in a very unloving way and you have grown up suffering unjustly it may be that you have been cut off from your circle of friends because you're a christian you're a believer and you no longer now have the friendship of those that you once had and you suffer unjustly as you would be even maligned or slandered behind your back i don't know to what extent you have suffered unjustly in this world but this passage reminds us that you have a sympathetic high priest who has suffered unjustly in this world and he knows what it is to be wronged when he was right and he feels what you feel experientially because he's been here and he's been in our skin and he's walked the walk down here and he was the only perfect man who has ever lived and he has been slandered he has been ridiculed he has been beaten he has been spit upon and yet he kept entrusting himself to the father who judges righteously he did not respond in like manner he did not come down to the level of those who were treating him so unfairly and and harshly he understood it was a part of the sovereign will and plan of god for his life that it was a path that had been marked out for him from all eternity past that he would not have an easy life here he he would not just cruise into glory after his virgin birth but that as he lived in the midst of a fallen humanity and a sinful human race he suffered abuse and rejection and ultimately crucifixion upon a cross we live in a day and a time in which we are being told that if anyone suffers unjustly you're a victim and they they tie that around our necks that you'll be a victim for the rest of your life and it's like a millstone that is hung around you and if what i have said connects with your life that you have suffered unjustly i do want to say it's a part of the sovereign providence of god for your life that what they meant for evil god meant for good and it may be that you need to put the past behind you and forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead i press on to the upward call of god in christ jesus i know many people who are so attached to their past and their unjust suffering that their life is is a paralysis right now that they can't even move forward they can't move on and they're just the perpetual victim you need to live like a victor you need to live as an overcomer and jesus says that we have overcome the world take courage i have overcome the world and so whatever unjust suffering you have ever experienced i'm certain it's real i'm certain that it hurt i'm certain that there was great pain involved but i want you to know you can no longer use that as an excuse jesus suffered unjustly and if we're going to follow the path of christ there will be unjust suffering in our life and we need to understand that god uses our trials in a positive way to conform us into the image of christ i don't know what your past may have been and i don't know really where you are right now but he who has ears to hear let him hear i end with first peter 2 23 while being reviled jesus did not revile in return and while suffering he uttered no threats but kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously apart from christ the only thing we really deserve is hell and because of christ we will never taste hell but he is not going to shield us from unjust suffering in this world and who is to say what is right around the corner as this society is changing by the millisecond into an anti-christian anti-gospel culture there will be much unjust suffering ahead for us and that's just the truth we need to be reminded when we go through those waters of a passage like this that our savior knows all about unjust suffering and harsh treatment when he was in the right that you put your trust and your hope in him let us pray our father the drama of these trials is beyond really our deep comprehension of what our savior endured coming in to the very world that he made and being treated as he was is incomprehensible to us and yet it speaks to the plague of sin that remains in this world and i pray that we can be like christ and when called upon to suffer like christ that we would know how to con continually entrust ourselves to him who judges righteously father we pray this in jesus name amen