WEBVTT 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.400 This is your daily reminder. God has not run 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:09.199 out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.880 to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome, today is 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:15.880 Tuesday, March the 17th. If you are new, thank 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:18.320 you for finding us. We are glad you're here. 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.440 You can always like and subscribe and follow 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:23.019 and all the things so that you don't miss an 00:00:23.019 --> 00:00:25.359 episode every Monday through Saturday. We go 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:27.239 through a reading plan, looking in God's Word, 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:29.120 just share a little bit, a few minutes a day 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:30.980 to hopefully give you some encouragement and 00:00:30.980 --> 00:00:33.380 some daily strength that you might need. You 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:36.100 may also know we don't have any ads, and so we 00:00:36.100 --> 00:00:38.219 are listener -supported and funded. If you ever 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:40.600 feel inclined or led to give, you can do so in 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:43.280 the episode. description. Now, without further 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:47.039 ado, let's jump into today's text in Luke 23 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:50.380 verses 1 through 25. So far in our study together, 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:52.539 we've looked at Jesus. He's been arrested now 00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:55.219 in a garden after being with his disciples, explaining 00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:58.000 some really incredible truths that he is leading 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.439 us to. Then he was arrested and then he was beaten. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:03.619 Then he was brought before a trial and he was 00:01:03.619 --> 00:01:06.840 severely accused in the wrong directions. And 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:09.780 now here we find in Luke 23, he's been taken 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:12.700 to Pilate, he takes the whole crowd. It says 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:15.159 the whole crowd. In Luke 22, verse 70, one of 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:17.079 the things I didn't share yesterday was that 00:01:17.079 --> 00:01:20.480 the Bible said that all of them said, the whole 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:23.680 crowd was against Jesus. It gives us an inclination 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.420 that there's a lot of momentum moving in the 00:01:26.420 --> 00:01:30.540 enemy's camp. A lot of the disciples have been 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:32.879 isolated. They're out of the picture now. They're 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:36.040 all disappeared. Now those that are against Jesus 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:39.140 are all in unison. They're all saying the same 00:01:39.140 --> 00:01:40.939 thing. Just because people say the same thing 00:01:40.939 --> 00:01:43.620 doesn't mean they're right. Jesus is now taken 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:46.500 to Pilate, and Pilate, they bring him before 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:48.400 him, and here's where the accusations start. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:51.659 In Luke 23, beginning at verse number 2, I just 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:52.780 want to read a couple of verses throughout this 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:55.159 text today. hopefully to give us a little bit 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:56.900 of an insight up to what's happening. Listen 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:59.159 to Luke 23, verse number 2. And they began to 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:02.079 accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.680 our nation and forbidding us to give tribute 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:07.719 to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, 00:02:08.020 --> 00:02:12.539 a king. This is already a lie. It's a bold -faced 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:14.460 lie. You can go back a couple pages in your Bible, 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.800 and you can see Jesus say, Render to Caesar what's 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:19.460 Caesar's, and render to God what's God's. Jesus 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:21.479 didn't say don't give anything to Caesar. That's 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:23.629 not what he said. This is a lie that has come 00:02:23.629 --> 00:02:25.810 up against him. Satan is really good at lying. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:28.500 He's really good at building a false testimony 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:32.159 and convincing and deceiving people. That's what 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:35.479 Satan is known for. It's no surprise that that's 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.639 Satan's move and attack here. He's in front of 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:40.939 a guy named Pilate. Now, there's a lot to happen 00:02:40.939 --> 00:02:43.740 and to be seen in the Roman government. I don't 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:45.500 want to jump into all that today because I think 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:47.120 that our purposes today are maybe just to bring 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:49.219 a little bit of encouragement about how this 00:02:49.219 --> 00:02:51.599 can encourage us to live more like Christ today. 00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:54.919 But there's a lot that happens. There's a guy 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:58.280 named Caiaphas. There's a guy named Herod. There's 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:00.080 all these pieces and all these players. They 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.379 all have a different role in the story. And if 00:03:03.379 --> 00:03:05.759 you go into much deep diving on these guys, you 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.759 can find out why they make the decisions they 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:10.449 make. It's not much different from today. There's 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:12.969 people that are swayed and influenced whenever 00:03:12.969 --> 00:03:15.310 they have a position of power that they could 00:03:15.310 --> 00:03:18.009 lose if the wrong people get mad or the wrong 00:03:18.009 --> 00:03:21.289 people influence the wrong ways. A lot of that 00:03:21.289 --> 00:03:24.469 misunderstanding and a lot of that stuff that 00:03:24.469 --> 00:03:26.729 we don't see on the outside but is going on behind 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:29.189 the scenes. Pilate is one of those guys as well, 00:03:29.250 --> 00:03:32.430 afraid he's going to lose some traction, especially 00:03:32.430 --> 00:03:35.969 if the Jewish leaders come up and rise up against 00:03:35.969 --> 00:03:40.030 him. This group or this pact had a large amount 00:03:40.030 --> 00:03:42.750 of influence, even though they were under Roman 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:46.009 rule. These guys brought Jesus to Pilate and 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:49.650 lied. Jesus has said this, and the kicker is 00:03:49.650 --> 00:03:53.030 he says to Pilate that he's a king. He claims 00:03:53.030 --> 00:03:56.710 he's a king. That's what throws the red flag 00:03:56.710 --> 00:04:00.969 up in Pilate's mind. He says, whoa, whoa, whoa, 00:04:01.009 --> 00:04:03.610 can't be a king. He says, are you a king? And 00:04:03.610 --> 00:04:05.969 Jesus says, yes. But he says, I'm king of the 00:04:05.969 --> 00:04:10.090 Jews. Well, as he says that, Pilate looks at 00:04:10.090 --> 00:04:11.650 him and he says, I can't find any fault in this 00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:13.870 guy. I don't think he said what you said. The 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.750 testimonies aren't lining up. So what happens 00:04:16.750 --> 00:04:20.189 next after they say, after Pilate says, I can't 00:04:20.189 --> 00:04:22.029 find anything wrong with the guy. Here's what 00:04:22.029 --> 00:04:23.410 happens in verse number five. Listen to verse 00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:25.829 number five. But they were urgent saying he stirs 00:04:25.829 --> 00:04:28.050 up all the people teaching throughout all Judea 00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:31.870 from Galilee, even to this place. They say, listen, 00:04:31.990 --> 00:04:34.329 you don't understand. It says with urgency. Why? 00:04:35.089 --> 00:04:37.089 Because the enemy feels like he may be losing. 00:04:37.269 --> 00:04:39.769 Oh no, I think I may have lost a battle. Pilate's 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:41.910 not sentencing him to death. What am I going 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:44.170 to do? I got to keep him. We're not letting Jesus 00:04:44.170 --> 00:04:46.410 go free at all costs. We're going to make sure 00:04:46.410 --> 00:04:49.209 he doesn't go free. So they urgently said, so 00:04:49.209 --> 00:04:51.589 they've turned up the intensity, right? The enemy 00:04:51.589 --> 00:04:54.629 has now turned it up a little bit more. It started 00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:59.050 out trying to beat Jesus up. In Luke 22, we see 00:04:59.050 --> 00:05:02.329 Jesus get beat up. He's mocked. He's blasphemed. 00:05:02.410 --> 00:05:05.189 Then he's brought before a trial, and the trial 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:07.870 doesn't go the way that we think as believers. 00:05:08.009 --> 00:05:10.310 It's like it's not fair to Jesus at all. He's 00:05:10.310 --> 00:05:13.449 been misunderstood. The words he say, they think 00:05:13.449 --> 00:05:15.509 they're lies. They're freaking out. Now they 00:05:15.509 --> 00:05:17.370 take him here. The intensity gets turned up. 00:05:17.410 --> 00:05:18.810 They're going to take him to the next level. 00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:20.329 So they take to Pilate, and they say, we're just 00:05:20.329 --> 00:05:22.509 going to lie about him. Well, the lie doesn't 00:05:22.509 --> 00:05:24.410 work. So what do they do? They turn up the intensity. 00:05:24.470 --> 00:05:27.040 The urgency goes up. And they say, no, you don't 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:29.379 understand. He's torn up our whole community. 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:32.399 He's torn up all the whole region from Galilee 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:34.839 to here. Pilate hears, oh, he's from Galilee? 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:37.079 So he asks the question next, if you're reading 00:05:37.079 --> 00:05:40.360 the text. Oh, is this man, is he Galilean? It's 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:42.560 like, well, yes, he is. He's like, oh, that's 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.439 Herod's jurisdiction. I don't have to make this 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:47.920 call. I'm going to send it over to Herod. Why? 00:05:48.019 --> 00:05:50.060 Because he doesn't want on his hands, because 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:54.480 his influence is up for debate here. If he's 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:56.620 the one that accuses Jesus, if Pilate's the one 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:58.459 that sentences him, he knows there's going to 00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:00.819 be a group of people that don't like him anymore. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.980 He's going to lose his authority and power within 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:06.759 the world. Sounds familiar, right? If I do the 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:08.180 wrong thing, I'm going to make the wrong group 00:06:08.180 --> 00:06:10.139 of people mad, and I'm going to lose my position 00:06:10.139 --> 00:06:12.579 of power. So Pilate says, oh, if that's the case, 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:15.240 Herod can handle him. So what do they do? They 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:17.480 take him over to Herod. It's weird. Herod's like, 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:19.819 hey, I can't wait to meet this guy. I've heard 00:06:19.819 --> 00:06:22.139 about him. I want him to perform signs for me. 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:24.620 That's what I want him to do. So he begins to 00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:27.160 ask Jesus to perform signs. And Jesus just stands 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:29.600 there. I'm not here to take orders from you. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:33.459 I'm not listening to you. So what happens? Listen 00:06:33.459 --> 00:06:37.339 to the scripture. Verse number nine. So he questioned 00:06:37.339 --> 00:06:41.639 him at some length, but he made no answer. Verse 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:43.899 10, the chief priest and the scribes stood by 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:47.879 vehemently accusing him. Herod, with his soldiers, 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.579 treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:53.079 arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:56.920 back to Pilate. Here's the scene. Herod wants 00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:00.180 him to perform signs, and Jesus just stands there. 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:03.029 I'm not answering to you. What happens? Chief 00:07:03.029 --> 00:07:04.790 priests and the rulers, they turn up the intensity. 00:07:05.310 --> 00:07:08.170 They say, no, we're going to make sure this is 00:07:08.170 --> 00:07:10.170 urgent. This is a need. We've got to take him 00:07:10.170 --> 00:07:12.529 out. So Herod says, I'm going to send him back 00:07:12.529 --> 00:07:15.089 to Pilate because that's where he was arrested. 00:07:16.149 --> 00:07:18.949 So now he goes back to Pilate. When he gets back 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:21.230 to Pilate, the whole scene happens again. Pilate 00:07:21.230 --> 00:07:22.949 says, listen, I can't find anything wrong with 00:07:22.949 --> 00:07:24.730 him. Herod can't find anything wrong with him. 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:26.310 You keep taking him back and forth. Here's what 00:07:26.310 --> 00:07:28.370 we're going to do. Verse 16, he says, I'm going 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.180 to release him. And we'll beat him up real good. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:33.149 We'll rough him up. Maybe it'll make him stop 00:07:33.149 --> 00:07:35.470 teaching, stop talking, stop running his mouth. 00:07:35.569 --> 00:07:37.569 We'll beat him up, and then we'll release him. 00:07:37.730 --> 00:07:40.949 Now, some manuscripts, some texts, some Bibles, 00:07:40.970 --> 00:07:42.569 I'm going to go ahead and address this because 00:07:42.569 --> 00:07:45.189 it's going to be here. Verse 16, there is a verse 00:07:45.189 --> 00:07:48.170 17 in a lot of translations. There's also not 00:07:48.170 --> 00:07:50.490 a verse 17 in some translations. The translation 00:07:50.490 --> 00:07:53.610 I'm reading from does not have a verse 17. Now, 00:07:53.629 --> 00:07:56.089 if you go to the bottom of the page, you'll see 00:07:56.089 --> 00:07:59.790 verse 17, and it says some early manuscripts 00:07:59.790 --> 00:08:03.980 do not include this verse. So the earliest manuscripts, 00:08:04.379 --> 00:08:06.399 Bible translation, this is a side note, by the 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:09.680 way, some Bible translations will say if this 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.639 verse was not in the earliest of manuscripts 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:14.180 that have been discovered, which was found at 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:16.579 the caves of Qumran, those were the Dead Sea 00:08:16.579 --> 00:08:20.509 Scrolls. Those were the earliest dated manuscripts. 00:08:20.790 --> 00:08:24.029 So verse 17 was not written in those early dated 00:08:24.029 --> 00:08:27.430 manuscripts. So they didn't put it in this translation. 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:30.610 But because some later transcripts that they 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:34.250 had, some later scrolls, did have verse 17 in 00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:36.809 there. Why is that the case? I have some thoughts, 00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:40.009 but the truth is it really doesn't matter. What 00:08:40.009 --> 00:08:42.669 matters is the storyline and what we understand. 00:08:42.870 --> 00:08:44.750 Now, we can discuss that and we can talk about 00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:46.730 what verse 17 means and why it could possibly 00:08:46.730 --> 00:08:49.009 be put in there from scribes later on to maybe 00:08:49.009 --> 00:08:52.490 help explain something. Because listen to verse 00:08:52.490 --> 00:08:54.169 16. It stands out. It's a little bit strange. 00:08:54.750 --> 00:08:58.110 I will therefore punish and release him. That's 00:08:58.110 --> 00:09:01.070 what it says. Why? Why will he release him? I 00:09:01.070 --> 00:09:03.789 don't understand. Well, to help understand a 00:09:03.789 --> 00:09:06.049 little bit of Jewish context and culture, there's 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:08.110 verse number 17, which is found again at the 00:09:08.110 --> 00:09:10.350 footnote of my Bible. I'm going to read it. Now, 00:09:10.370 --> 00:09:12.929 he was obliged to release one man to them at 00:09:12.929 --> 00:09:15.629 the festival. That's what the verse 17 in the 00:09:15.629 --> 00:09:18.129 later manuscripts say, because in Jewish festivals, 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:22.110 there was a custom that a leader could release 00:09:22.110 --> 00:09:25.870 a prisoner at a festival for some reason that 00:09:25.870 --> 00:09:28.330 had to do with some of the traditions. Now, does 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:31.970 that matter? It matters and it doesn't matter. 00:09:32.190 --> 00:09:34.769 That just gives an explanation as to why verse 00:09:34.769 --> 00:09:37.769 16 was in there. We don't have to always have 00:09:37.769 --> 00:09:39.549 an explanation for every single verse that's 00:09:39.549 --> 00:09:42.289 in there, but we do in this case. So here's what's 00:09:42.289 --> 00:09:44.789 gone on now, just to move on past that, back 00:09:44.789 --> 00:09:46.850 to the real stuff, back to the good stuff. Verse 00:09:46.850 --> 00:09:49.149 16, he says, I'll beat him up and release him. 00:09:49.230 --> 00:09:51.389 The people freak out. The chief priest, the ruler, 00:09:51.450 --> 00:09:54.710 no, no, no, no, no, no. You can release to us 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:57.779 the murderer. Release to us Barabbas. We'll take 00:09:57.779 --> 00:10:00.620 him. If you're going to institute that rule and 00:10:00.620 --> 00:10:03.100 allow us to release somebody, then release to 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:07.179 us Barabbas, not Jesus. Now, there's a lot to 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:09.500 be said about Barabbas. If you do much research 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:12.019 on Barabbas, you can find very interesting things. 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:14.860 The name Barabbas has a meaning, right? Every 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:17.480 name has some type of meaning attached to it. 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:21.019 Barabbas means son of a father. That's what Barabbas 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:25.539 means. Now, we can do a lot of extra deep... 00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:27.940 talk through that because you've got the son 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:31.179 of a father and you've got Jesus, who is the 00:10:31.179 --> 00:10:34.080 son of the father, right? So you've got Jesus 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:36.539 Christ and you've got Barabbas. Now, there are 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:39.000 even some texts out there. We're not going to 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.559 dive too far into this because I've done it several 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:45.320 times and it gets, it just, major on the majors, 00:10:45.460 --> 00:10:47.480 right? We'll minor on the minors. There's some 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:50.240 manuscripts out there just dated right past the 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:54.159 scriptural dating of the manuscripts that Barabbas' 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:58.879 name was Jesus Barabbas. That was his full name, 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:03.000 Jesus Barabbas, meaning that was his Yahweh saves 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.120 Barabbas, the son of a father. What we know is 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:10.399 this. Here's what I know. They said, we want 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:14.759 Barabbas to be set free, and we want to take 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:18.049 Jesus and murder him. That's what we want to 00:11:18.049 --> 00:11:21.850 do. We want to have one set free that has already 00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:25.370 been accused, who's already been sentenced to 00:11:25.370 --> 00:11:28.470 death, who's already been put on trial, found 00:11:28.470 --> 00:11:30.970 guilty, and now we're going to murder him. We 00:11:30.970 --> 00:11:34.269 want that guy who has all of the evidence about 00:11:34.269 --> 00:11:36.450 him, the one that started the insurrections, 00:11:36.470 --> 00:11:39.230 the one that murdered, that guy, the guilty one, 00:11:39.330 --> 00:11:43.129 we want him set free so that we can kill, take 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:47.070 the life of this one Jesus. Now, even the way 00:11:47.070 --> 00:11:49.710 the scripture is laid out, we want Jesus handed 00:11:49.710 --> 00:11:52.909 over, and we want Barabbas set free. The son 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:55.470 of the father. Now, if you take that term, Barabbas, 00:11:55.470 --> 00:11:57.029 son of the father, and you break it down to the 00:11:57.029 --> 00:12:00.470 absolute, raw, real truth, here's what they're 00:12:00.470 --> 00:12:02.990 saying. The son of a father is the son of a man. 00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:06.129 Not the son of man, Jesus, but the son of a man. 00:12:06.230 --> 00:12:10.070 The son of Adam. The fallen race. The fallen 00:12:10.070 --> 00:12:14.100 human race is Barabbas. That's us. We are Barabbas, 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:17.460 Jesus, the son of the Holy Father, the great 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:20.559 son of man, the one who has no sin, the one who 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.980 became sin for us. This is a perfect substitution. 00:12:25.950 --> 00:12:29.169 We are Barabbas. Jesus took our place. We were 00:12:29.169 --> 00:12:31.549 the ones that were accused. We were the ones 00:12:31.549 --> 00:12:34.509 that were found guilty. We were the ones sentenced 00:12:34.509 --> 00:12:37.509 to death. And Jesus willingly was handed over 00:12:37.509 --> 00:12:41.309 and took our place. That's what happens in this 00:12:41.309 --> 00:12:45.139 scenario, in this scene. How in the world? The 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:47.740 chief priests and the rulers did not see, but 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:49.720 they didn't see because they were blinded by 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:51.960 deception. They were blinded by what the enemy 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:54.159 wanted to do. Over and over again in this scene, 00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:58.080 we see the enemy continue to increase the pressure. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.019 Listen to what it says down in verse number 23. 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:04.320 But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:07.220 that he should be crucified, and their voices 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:12.279 prevailed. I think it is very valuable for us 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:15.480 to understand. that these voices were the voices 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:18.580 of the rulers and the religious authorities. 00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.919 They yelled crucify, crucify, crucify, crucify. 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.299 Why would they yell crucify? Why would they demand 00:13:25.299 --> 00:13:27.899 that he be crucified? Because whoever hung on 00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:31.379 a tree would be cursed. They wanted to stop this, 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:33.940 not just stop his words. They wanted to stop 00:13:33.940 --> 00:13:36.759 the testimony of who he was. So they said no 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:40.980 Messiah would be cursed even in his death. So 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:43.480 they said, what we're going to do is we can outsmart 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:46.759 this. His message is that he's the Messiah. We'll 00:13:46.759 --> 00:13:48.980 stop all that talk by even having him cursed 00:13:48.980 --> 00:13:52.320 in his death. Little did they know what they 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:54.399 were doing was taking the doorpost and the lentil 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:58.519 and painting the blood over it. Little did they 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:02.240 know they were crucifying the one who would be 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.500 the perfect sacrificial substitutionary lamb. 00:14:06.300 --> 00:14:09.360 Today, here's my encouragement to you. Read scripture 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.519 with fresh ears. Read it with fresh eyes. Listen 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:15.519 to what God has to say to you today. Do not listen 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:20.320 to the loud, obnoxious voice of the world and 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:23.519 the enemy. It's loud and it can be persuasive. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:26.580 Don't let that voice prevail in your heart and 00:14:26.580 --> 00:14:29.480 in your life today. Listen to the voice of Jesus 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:34.080 and know that he took our place. We deserved. 00:14:34.830 --> 00:14:38.690 death. We deserved to be broken out of fellowship 00:14:38.690 --> 00:14:42.370 with God. We deserved to die, and he took our 00:14:42.370 --> 00:14:42.950 place.