What Will You Do With Jesus — Luke 23

0:02 Shall we pray before we start? Father God, we're we're in that solemn portion of Luke 23 where the son of God himself dies upon a tree, and we we pray, Lord, that we might ourselves be sobered by the reality of what the Lord Jesus went through for our salvation. And we just pray that you bless this this message, lord, that your name would be honored, glorified in it, and that our hearts would be moved when we understand the depths to which your love would reach to save us from our sins. Thank you, father. Thank you, lord Jesus Christ.

0:47 We pray in your precious name, lord Jesus. Amen. Well, we're in Luke chapter 23 today, and we're going to be having the story of the... Or the account of the resurrection as... Or I don't mean resurrection, the the crucifixion as it's given to us in in the gospel of Luke.

1:09 It is interesting that that in the various gospels, there seems to be different themes that go through them and they... And the way things are presented seem to follow those themes that God's given. I remember as a child, my parents taught me a little summary of the gospels. Basic thing was the gospel of Matthew is Jesus, the king of the Jews, Jesus, the king of the Jews, the Messiah. And then and then they said the the the gospel of Mark was Jesus, the perfect servant, always doing the father's well.

1:51 And then Luke is Jesus, the son of man, that is stressing his humanity. And then gospel of John, Jesus, the son of God, stressing the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think that's a good one. So here we have Jesus, the son of man, one who came, born a baby, and grew in grew up perfection, never sinning, and became our savior as he died on the cross for us. Now, before we actually get into the account of the crucifixion in Luke 23, I'd like to just review a little bit about Pilate because I I'd like to bring out a point that I I think will kind of provide a theme for this message.

3:17 I will therefore chastise him and and release him. We know that they responded to that by screaming out, Away with this man and release us to us, Barabbas. And so in the twentieth verse it says, Pilate, therefore wishing to release Jesus again called out to them and they shouted saying, 'Crucify him, crucify him.' So this was the Jewish leaders that were determined that the Lord Jesus should be crucified. But then you have Pilate and he's kind of, sort of at least somewhat fighting for the Lord Jesus. He's saying he's innocent, you know?

4:03 And so it makes this statement in that twentieth verse that says, Pilate, therefore wishing to release Jesus again, called out to them. And so my question might be, what was it that Pilate called out to them? And interesting thing is, if you go over to some of the other gospels, you can get a sense of what it was. And matter of fact, in Matthew 2seven 22, I'm just going to quote it for you, this is what Pilate said. He said, Now, he may not have said it in quite the sense that I want us to say it, but but but he did say that, exactly that.

5:23 What then am I going to do? It's personal. What am I going to do? And then it's also a choice, a decision one makes. What am I going to do with Jesus?

5:40 And the interesting about it is this choice that we all have about what we're going to do about Jesus, it's a choice that has drastic consequences. It's choice between life and death, it's a choice between heaven and hell. It's certainly the greatest choice, the greatest decision that anyone has, that everyone has, is what then will I do with Jesus who is called Christ? Well, they continue to insist that he be crucified, crucify him. They continue to insist that.

6:30 And while Luke doesn't show the whole discussion, John actually gives more detail on it. They finally got down to this. And this is the point that those rulers made to Pilate. They said, you let this man go, Jesus, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.

6:59 Woah, for Pilate, that was a big thought. You know, Pilate was a very political man and whatever would please Caesar, that's what Pilate was gonna do. So he condemned the Lord Jesus. So it was a call he had to make. Caesar or Jesus?

7:22 Which would it be? And you know, know, now I had it easy, to say, I had it easy in a sense, though I had to come to grips with the fact that I was a sinner. But there's some people, some that have to, it's tremendous decision that they have to make because they're choosing, say, sometimes they'll be kicked out of the home if they make this choice. And sometimes other, like if you were in one of the Muslim countries, could mean life or death to you, whether you made this choice. But it's still the greatest choice.

8:32 He condemned him to death. It was a good political choice for him, he thought. The interesting thing is that Pilate didn't even make out well in life because as history tells us about Pilate, that within two years, Pilate was recalled by Caesar. He was called back to Rome by Caesar. He was made to stand in trial himself concerning his abuses that he had done, particularly, I guess it was against the Samaritans that he was called to reckon with.

9:05 But he was dismissed from his governorship, and he was banished from Rome. And this man, Pilate, ended up committing suicide within the year. Pretty sobering, Pilate made the wrong choice, didn't he? He made the wrong choice. And so do we if we reject the Lord Jesus.

10:04 And they divided his garments and cast lots and the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered saying, He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him some wine and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew.

10:36 This is the king of the Jews. Then one of the criminals that were hanged blasphemed him, saying, 'If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.' The other answering rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing that you're in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

11:10 And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last.

11:43 So when the centurion saw what was happened, he glorified God saying, Certainly, this was a righteous man. And the whole crowd who came together to the site, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. The crucifixion. Now, I do think it's interesting that the different gospels that they, particularly I'm thinking of this resurrection account that I've given, they stress different points in it that seem to strengthen those themes that I had mentioned for the different gospels. And since Luke was the writer who was presenting the Lord Jesus in his humanity as the son of man, It seemed like that what he was showing is the sympathy of the Lord Jesus, that his compassion seemed to be the stress that comes from looking at his manhood.

12:59 I'm gonna read a verse that I think captures the idea of why Luke would write it this way. This verse is in Hebrews chapter four. You can turn with me if you wish to. Hebrews chapter four. And it's talking about the Lord Jesus as our great high priest.

13:27 And the fifteenth verse says it like this. It says, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us in our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. It was his humanity that gives us assurance of his empathy and sympathy for us, his ability to enter into what we're going through, he's been through it. And so I think that's kind of what the idea that we have in Luke presenting the Lord Jesus Christ as the son of man.

14:22 Now, interested I that as Luke was writing this, he had left out some of the more dramatic points. He leaves out the earthquake that occurred right as Jesus dismissed his spirit. He leaves that out. But he does bring in these two cases. One of them is the case of asking for forgiveness.

14:59 And the other one is the case of entering into the hopeless situation of this poor criminal and offering him hope. We'll get to those as we go through this. So we're gonna start out, the thirty third verse, When they came to a place called Calvary, there they crucified Him. So we have the whole thing described just like that. They came to a place called Calvary and they crucified him.

15:34 Doesn't it seem almost a little strange that something as terrible as crucifixion? Because when we think of the fact that they actually nailed him, hung him up on the cross, nailed him on a cross, and that he hung there for hours in the hot sun. And when we think about the terribleness of the pain, we would think maybe would they give us a little bit more, but God doesn't choose to do that. That isn't the part that he's going to stress is the pain, though it could be unquestionable that was terrible. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, there's three different areas of suffering.

16:21 There could be more, but this is the way I would summarize it. There's the terrible physical suffering of the cross, the terribleness of crucifixion. And then there was the shame that went along with it. He was hung up between two criminals, hung up between two criminals. The idea is that they're trying to shame him.

16:44 He's just another criminal just like them. They tried to shame him. Also, we're told just a couple verses down from there, we're told that they divided his garments between them casting lots. What is implied? Well, it's implied that they took his clothes off, okay?

17:07 He was hanging up there basically naked. I mean, we'll hope they left a little there, but think of the shame of it. Think of the shame of what they put the Lord Jesus through. And then they're taunting this continued. So it was terrible shame.

17:24 There's actually more in the scripture, I think, about the shame of what the Lord Jesus went through than the pain. And then finally, there was those three hours of darkness. And we're told that the Lord Jesus was suffering for our sins. And it seemed as though God pulled a veil over it so people couldn't actually see it very well. But he's on the cross.

17:53 And the Bible says, He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. How that exactly happened? I don't think we could ever quite understand exactly how that was. But we know that he took our place, he suffered death for us, and we're told that he bore our sins as though it was a burden. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

18:22 Well, we have those three levels of suffering. Okay. Now, almost immediately, it appears from this story anyway, almost immediately after they've crucified Him and perhaps people are still milling around and saying, Now what? Something. And the Lord Jesus prays this prayer.

19:07 He offers it to each of us through His mercies, the forgiveness. I was just looking up some verses. One of them is Acts thirteen thirty eight. And I think it maybe captures the idea really well. Acts thirteen thirty eight, Let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, Jesus, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.

19:39 And then in Ephesians, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. So here, the Lord Jesus introduces the thought of forgiveness and He offers it to them. He asks the Father for forgiveness for them for this terrible thing. Why? Because, He said, They don't know what they do.

20:01 They don't really understand that, I suppose, that they're crucifying the Son of God. Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. Forgiveness for the undeserving. Thirty fifth verse, And the people stood looking on. So, he's up there under the stairs of the multitude.

20:26 Even the rulers with them sneered, saying, He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God. And one of the other Gospels that says that they said, Come down from the cross, we will believe you. They were chiding, why didn't Jesus come down from the cross?

20:59 We had it actually in the breaking of bread. And Justin, when you mentioned some verses then about the Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that, well, the one that you mentioned was actually occurred the day before. And it was when Peter took sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. And the Lord Jesus tells him, Put your sword up in his shield. And the Lord Jesus made this statement.

21:35 He said, Shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me? In other words, the Father had sent him on a purpose. He'd sent them to this cross. It was what God willed to be done, that the Lord Jesus would die as the sacrifice. What would happen if he came down from the cross?

22:01 We'd still be in our sins. We wouldn't have the salvation that we have through the Lord Jesus Christ if he came down from the cross. And so he stayed there. He stayed there, and we can praise his holy name that he did. The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.

22:28 And a scripture also was written over him saying, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, This is the king of the Jews. So the Romans stress, this is what Pilate stressed, was remember Pilate said at one point, Shall I crucify your king? And he tried to mock them. They said, We have no king. But Caesar, interesting statement, terrible statement.

22:59 But the Lord Jesus was crucified as the King of the Jews. The sign was up there. And when the soldiers come along and they're gonna mock him, If you're the king of the Jews, I suppose the idea is that you ought to have the political power to be able to call your followers and get yourself out of this mess. If you're the king of Jews, save yourself. But the interesting thing is that he didn't do it.

23:28 He didn't do it. He was the son of God. He was the king of the Jews. And as Justin read in the previous meeting meeting that that the Lord Jesus himself stated, don't you know that if I asked, I could shortly have 10 legions of angels? How many how many did you say that was?

23:55 What? Oh, was Kevin. Got the wrong one. How many was that? Six six thousand.

24:04 Okay, sorry. No wonder you looked a little blank at me. 6,000 per legion and 10. Yeah. How amazing.

24:19 But he didn't do it, did he? He didn't do it. He stayed right there at the cross. He stayed there. He stayed there, and he suffered for us.

24:57 He had to have been saying it in a mocking voice, I think. If you're the Christ, save yourself and us. I don't know why you would think that you necessarily save him, but still, it was a blasphemous statement. The other answering rebuked him, Don't you fear God? That's the first statement.

25:20 Don't you fear God? Important point for us, isn't it? Do we understand the great God of heaven and His righteous holiness and His judgment against sin? Do we understand that? Do you not fear God, seeing you're in the same condemnation?

25:45 Certain hopelessness in that, isn't it? You're in the same condemnation. We indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. I would take it that in that statement, at least part of that statement is repentance, a recognition. Indeed justly, we're we're getting just what we deserve, but this man has nothing wrong, done nothing wrong.

26:17 I think that would have been repentance, his recognition of his own sinfulness. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. It was a plea. Now, the first thing I would say about that is that that statement basically required that he have faith. I mean, statement is made in faith.

26:42 Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. That's grasping at the fact that you realize that this is the righteous Christ Messiah, and that he's coming into his kingdom. He's going to come into his kingdom, and that's a statement of faith. And he asks his plea is, Remember me. And the Lord Jesus has this tremendous word of comfort and hope.

27:08 He says, assuredly, I say to you, today you'll be with me in paradise. Not too awfully long to wait, was it? He doesn't promise to take him off the cross, but he does promise him paradise with himself. What about us? Do we do we keep eternity in mind in our thoughts?

27:33 When we say when we say when we say to ourselves, what shall I then do with Jesus who is called Christ? Do we understand the ramifications of that choice? This man made the right choice. He made the choice for Jesus when he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus gave hope to the hopeless.

28:02 This man was nailed to a cross. Imagine, 's hanging up there on the cross looking over, I suppose, and saying, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus answers, assuredly, I say to you, today you'll be with me in paradise. This man had hope for eternity. Hope for the hopeless.

28:27 I think the first one was forgiveness for the undeserving and this is hope for the hopeless. The forty fourth verse goes on with the story. Now it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. Now, John doesn't dwell on this statement a lot, but he certainly makes it clear of the the the...

29:26 You see, first of all, you see this unusual, unbelievable forgiveness, the man states. And then we find him hanging there. And then then suddenly, this strange thing starts to happen. It starts to get dark. And it gets darker and darker.

29:47 And you could you could imagine the feelings that the man must have had. I I I had thought, man, you you don't know what's going on. Right? You don't know what's going on. You have a sense that this is the hand of God.

30:04 Is this the end of the world? Is this it? Well, I don't know exactly what the centurion felt like, but I just think I would have felt that way. Man, what's going on? What's gonna happen now?

30:22 There were six out, at the sixth hour, that would be noon. And there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. The sun was darkened. I think it must have been pretty dark. I've often thought that that was probably the point where the Lord Jesus was bearing our sins in his own body on the tree.

30:51 That's the way it's actually worded. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. So it was a time of suffering, me, sort of God pulling a veil over the scene, leaving him to have sort of a little bit of a privacy during this moment, during this time of suffering. And there he suffered for our sins. And it's important for us to recognize that the Lord Jesus took the punishment that I deserved when he was on the cross.

31:32 He he he took my sins and took the punishment for them. He bore them, he died for them, and now I'm able to go free because he did that. All we can do is be thankful to him because of what he chose to do and staying on the cross, doing his father's well. The sun was dark and then it says the veil of the temple was torn in two. There's something symbolic about the the the veil being torn in two.

32:01 It it it was it was the the veil of the temple. So they had the... They had behind the veil, they had... The first veil, there was a place they called the holy place. They had a table of showbread, they had the the candlestick.

32:15 And then back behind the second veil, there was there was the Ark of the Testimonon, and that was where God dwelt with, on the Ark. And through all those years and years of the Jewish regime, there was a... They they always kept this veil. You you didn't have entrance into there. And then then the lord Jesus dies for our sin, and suddenly, like symbolically, it was actual that the veil was rent, but the symbolism of it was that the way was opened into the presence of God through what the Lord Jesus just suffered on the cross, and indeed it is.

33:00 And and we're told in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, I think it was read this morning, where Hebrews chapter 10, it says it says, okay, nineteenth verse, therefore brethren, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, a new and living way, which he consecrated for us the veil that is his flesh. So we're given a little lesson here that what Jesus just accomplished on the cross, what he just accomplished was to make a way to God, A way that you and I could stand cleansed from our sins in the presence of almighty God. It's a precious thought to think about. So so then in the forty sixth verse, it says, when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, it said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. The Lord Jesus, I'm gonna read you a verse or two.

34:15 I'm going to read you a verse or two out of the Gospel of John. Give me just a second to find the place. Okay, chapter 19, Gospel of John. It says, so, the thirtieth verse, So when Jesus had received the sour of the wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head, giving, and gave up the ghost, gave up his spirit. And so he said at least a couple of things.

34:54 One is he said, as here, father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. Apparently, before that he had said, it is finished. What was it? It was finished. It was this work of suffering for our sins that was done.

35:08 He had finished his work of atonement for us, and now he's dying as the final act of providing the salvation for us. Back to our chapter. So he breathed his last. So the Lord Jesus had had passed away. Now the centurion standing over here, he's watching this.

35:33 He hears Jesus cry out with a loud voice. He had seen... He had seen or had experienced the darkness. There was an earthquake right at that point, we're told in some of the gospels. And he had also been a observer of the gentleness of the Lord Jesus as he hung on the cross and the compassion of the Lord Jesus.

35:57 And all these things just were making their impression. And so what is this centurion's, observer, not necessarily a sympathetic observer, observing all these things, and he draws the conclusion. He draws the conclusion in the 40... On the forty eighth verse. I'm sorry, forty seventh verse.

36:25 He says, certainly, this was a righteous man. Certainly, this was a righteous man. And we're we're also told we're also told in some of the other gospels that he also stated, this is the son of God. What have I been seeing here? This is the son of God.

36:48 I've always lived in in kind of the hope that this was an expression of true faith in this man, and that he ended up receiving Jesus as his savior. One thing is sure one thing is sure that we all must answer that question. What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ? What shall I do about this? What shall I do about this?

37:39 He can do it for us. There's there's one verse in the in the in the first epistle of John, and it goes like it goes like this. This is his God's commandment that you believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ. That's interesting, isn't it? This is His commandment that you believe.

37:57 This is what God is saying you have to do to be saved. You have to put your trust in this Savior, this one who did it. Do you trust in the Lord Jesus? Have you done that? I thought it was interesting that forty eighth verse, and the whole crowd came together to the site seeing what had been done, and they beat their breast and returned.

38:25 It's the universal question, isn't it? What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?