The Willingness of Our Savior

Introduction

The first point we note is that Jesus willingly exchanged his innocence for our guilt

Jesus willingly exchanged his innocence for our guilt

The charge brought against Jesus is that he claims to be a king.

We see this inferred from 18:33, Pilate asked in vs. 30 what accusation they bring against Jesus?

They respond with a sarcastic we would not have brought him if he were not doing something evil.

It seems likely Pilate pushed them for an actual charge

Because 18:33, Pilate asks Jesus: “Are you the King of the Jews?” inferring the charge is that he claims to be a king.

And notice after interrogating him he walks back outside to the mob of Jewish leaders and says in 18:38 – “I find no guilt in him.”

Yet to appease the crowd in 19:1 we see he has Jesus flogged.

Now this flogging is described as a mild beating which a person would incur for basic misbehavior…

Now I think its important to note that it was the sovereign plan of God that the Romans be in power at the time of Jesus

They were a brutal nation…they ruled with fear and even mild beatings were severe.

During the flogging they make a crown of thorns, some of them would be up to 12” long…so you can imagine when they put it on his head it would have pierced his sin causing pain and blood to flow down.

Then they arrayed him in a purple rob…it was not enough to inflict pain on him but they were mocking him based upon the accusation against him.

And then to show that he was not a king they hit him in the face inflicting more harm and humiliation.

After the flogging Pilate humiliates Jesus in front of the crowd adorned with a crown of thorns and royal colors, beaten and bleeding

And again in vs. 4 Pilate says, “I find no guilt in him”

But the crowd begins crying out Crucify him! To which Pilate tells them to take him and judge him for yourselves because in verse 6 he says it again: I find no guilt in him. And so they are forced to reveal the real charge against him in vs. 7:

“The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”

Now their true accusation is about their own religious laws and not Roman laws…but guess what?

When the Romans took over they took away the Jews rights to capital punishment.

They wanted him dead for alleged blasphemy but they no longer had the rights to do that. So they had to bring up the charge of treason before Pilate in order to get him the death sentence…they couldn’t do it on their own so they had the Romans join in with them to condemn an innocent man In fact, 3 times Pilate says he is not guilty and then in verse 12 he infers no guilt by seeking to release Jesus.

But the Jews cried out in vs. 12:

If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.

There is no evidence, no witnesses…

Even the one who betrayed him, Judas, when he saw what was happening to Jesus in Matthew 27:4 declares, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” The thief on the cross next to Jesus looks at the other one who is mocking Jesus and says: “We are receiving the due reward for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” Isaiah 53:9 prophesied: “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

This Peter affirmed this prophecy in 1 Peter 2:22: Jesus committed no sin! Pilates wife in Matthew 27:19 sent him a message that Jesus was righteous There was no guilt

The judge, Pilate repeatedly finds him not guilty…yet he is condemned to be crucified…an innocent man is sentenced to death Its like being on trial for treason, all the evidence points to not guilty, the judge finds no guilt and yet in an act of injustice you are sentenced to death because of an angry mob threatens you with treason if you do not do execute him. I want us to notice in John 18:39-40, Pilate releases a man named Barabbas instead of Jesus.

Here is the issue: Barabbas is a known robber

He is in prison justly for his actions.

Mat. 27:16 Mark 15:7 Luke 23:19 Jesus on the other hand is innocent

Yet, the innocent takes the place of the guilty

Implication/Application

Why is it important to highlight the innocence of Jesus?

If Jesus is not sinless, then he is just like everyone of us and he is unable to be the atonement for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:

It is the great exchange: he takes our sin and guilt on himself and we receive his righteousness…if he is guilty then he has not righteousness…but he was sinless, without guilt before God and man. Yet, he willingly laid down his life for us!Jesus willingly substituted his death for our life

Jesus willingly substituted his death for our life

love watching crime shows, cases going to trial trying to determine innocence or guilt

And one thing I have noticed in books and shows is that when a person is wrongly accused, that is they are innocent they are desperate to prove they are innocent…begging the lawyer to believe and help them. But notice how Jesus responds in 9-11 to the questioning of Pilate:

9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Pilate is the judge and jury in this case…he is appalled that Jesus will not answer him given that he has the power to release or crucify him.

But Jesus sets him straight…Pilates authority comes from God.

Romans 13:1 says, “ He would not be able to govern if God had not first permitted him to be in that position of authority In fact, don’t miss the bigger providential plan of God’s sovereignty here:

God oversees every evil act so as to bring about his greater purposes This is what Joseph said in Genesis 50, what you meant for evil God intended for good to save a whole nation alive.

This is what Peter says in Acts 2:23

The reason the Romans are in power at this time is because God has sovereignly planned and predestined the death of Jesus by crucifixion. So Pilate’s authority over Jesus is under the divine providential plan of God for the salvation of his people.

Don’t miss this: Jesus is not being forced or coerced to his death…he willingly chose it. I want to highlight this for us:

He predicted his crucifixion in Matthew 16:21, 17:22; 20:17-19 He chose to go to Jerusalem even though he knew he would be arrested and killed…the text says he set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem.

He was on a mission and he would not be deterred from it. He chose to go to the Garden of Gethsemane knowing it was the place he would be arrested. It was there that he chose the will of his Father over his own as he prayed: if it is possible for the cup of the wrath of the Father to pass him then do so but nevertheless, not my will but your will Father be done!

Phlippians 2 tells us he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. In that same Garden, he refused to be defended against the mop who had come to arrest him.

John 18:10 Nor did he call down 12 legion of angels to rescue him even though he had the power to do so. As he stood trial and was beaten he was silent, like a lamb led to the slaughter…

Everything Jesus did led him purposes to this moment in his life…it was not an accident, it was not some random unjust killing, he was not forced by anyone, no one would take his life….he willingly laid it down. And because he did, he endured the suffering and shame of the cross

Pilate delivered him over to be crucified: the most cruel beating and execution a person could experience.

A person subject to crucifixion would die a slow death of suffocation

The first part was Jesus’ flesh being ripped apart as he was beaten by a whip that had shards of metal and glass embedded into it. In fact, Isaiah 52:14 tells us “he appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” Then he was nailed to a cross

His arms stretched out causing him to sag down onto his feet that were nailed down

This act would cause him to not be able to breath and so to catch his breath he would push up with his feet, giving himself relief from suffocation but causing great pain as he used the nails in his hands and feet to hold himself up

Not to mention, scrapping his ripped apart back against the wooden cross For some, this action would go on for several days, nearly dying but not quite

This is why at times the executioners would break their legs…causing a quicker death. That is what we see here in John 19…the legs of the criminals are broken but in order to fulfill Scripture Jesus’ were not…he had already died. In verse 30 Jesus said: “It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

It is a shout of victory…he had finished the mission of the Father: he had perfectly revealed the Father, and became the substitutionary lamb who brought salvation to God’s people

It was a horrible death…and he went through it so that you and I would experience forgiveness of sins and have eternal life by faith in him.

I want to highlight: not only did Jesus exchange guilt for innocence but he substituted death for life…and Barabbas paints that picture.

Barabbas was sitting a prison, chained up as an insurrectionist, guilty of rebelling against Rome…waiting to die for his sins which he completely deserves.

And yet, something happens: without doing anything to merit mercy and be released from that prison and the debt of death he owes…he is miraculously released…Barabbas you are free to go Someone else has taken your place: Jesus is going to die in your place

He woke up that Friday morning expecting nothing but a slow, horrible death, by evening he was home celebrating with joyful shouts he freedom from bondage and death. This was a substitution: Jesus dies in Barabbas place as his substitute:

Barabbas stands accused of treason against Roman rule Pilate and the Jews have accused Jesus of treason against Roman rule based on the claim to be king of the Jews.

Yet Jesus, the innocent substitutes his life for the guilty Barabbas so that no more penalty awaits him as Jesus dies in his place. Barabbas is all of us: Romans 3:10 says, “there is none righteous, no not one, vs. 12, “no one does good, not even one and then vs. 23 says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

We all stand guilty of sin against God! And Romans 6:23 tells us: “the wages of sin is death…”

A wage is what we have earned…we have earned eternal death for our treason against the God of all creation…

In our sin we have rebelled against God and stand under his just condemnation. But God…Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrated his own love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

He came to us in that prison shackled in bondage to sin and he set us free But we did not do anything to deserve it, it was a gift

Thank God Romans 6:23 doesn’t stop with the wages of sin is death…it continues: “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We cannot earn our way to heaven, we can not do enough good, we must trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross and by faith we are saved!

Wages are earned but gifts are received…and that is what Jesus offers us at the cross…he takes our sin upon himself, dies the death we deserve from our sin and gives us life eternal. We are all dead in our trespasses and sins, in rebellion against God, the Creator of the universe…and