[0:00] Now this morning we might turn our attention to the gospel according to John chapter 19 and verse 14. John chapter 19 verse 14.
[0:15] We'll read again at verse 13. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, He brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
[0:31] And it was the preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.
[0:47] Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Especially these words, Behold your king.
[1:04] Last Sabbath morning we were thinking of the words, Behold the man. Now Pilate says, Behold your king. This morning in the Old Testament reading, read to us by Mr. Topping.
[1:24] We read there in Isaiah chapter 53. And it's a very remarkable piece of prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1:35] Because in that chapter, the prophet is describing for us God's suffering servant. The suffering servant of Jehovah.
[1:47] And the prophet says this about the suffering servant, That his visage would be more and more than any man's, And his form more than the sons of men.
[2:00] And of course the question is urged upon us. Why should the face and the form of the Son of God become so distorted?
[2:15] We have to ask the question, Why should the Son of God be despised like this? Why should he be rejected of men?
[2:28] But more than that, Why should he become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? And why should he be smitten of God and afflicted?
[2:40] That's a very strange thing for the Son of God to endure. To be smitten of God and to be afflicted. These are pertinent questions.
[2:53] And the answer to these questions is staggering and beyond belief. If we ask, Why then was the Son of God rejected by men?
[3:05] The answer is obvious, isn't it? Because when we are dealing with the sons of men, We are dealing with the human heart in all its sinful propensities.
[3:15] And the human heart has no time for God. And the human heart has no time for God's only begotten Son. And that is why men have rejected Christ.
[3:32] Because men don't like God and they don't want God. And they refuse to come to terms with God. But then, That's all very well to say, Well, he has been rejected by men.
[3:49] We accept that. But then why should the Son of God, God's own Son, Why should he be afflicted by God?
[4:00] Why should the Father afflict his Son like this? And this is where the answer to the question becomes so staggering. And as I've said, Almost beyond belief.
[4:14] Why should the Heavenly Father smite his Son? And chastise his Son? And afflict his Son? Simply because God loved men.
[4:28] Men may not love God. But God loves men. And he sent his only begotten Son to die for them.
[4:40] And it was because, you see, The Son of God was bearing The sins of his covenant people That God smote him And God punished him.
[4:51] But this morning, Let us just for a little while consider this. How the world sees Christ. And how does the world see Christ?
[5:05] The world sees Christ in his pathetic weakness. And that is why Pilate said, Behold your King! Oh, he wasn't concerned that Christ was really King of Kings And Lord of Lords.
[5:23] When Pilate said, Behold your King! There was a sarcasm there. And almost a derision. Oh, he had no time for the Jews, Pontius Pilate.
[5:38] He hated them. They were nothing but a fractious people Giving him no end of trouble. And he would like to see the last of them And be rid of them.
[5:53] But he was the Roman procurator And he was responsible for good government in Judea. And he knew that these Jews had taken Jesus to him Not because they had any good cause for his death But simply because the Jews hated Christ.
[6:14] And as he looked at these Jews, He saw them like a pack of animals Beying for the blood of Jesus. If Pilate had any gut, He would have stopped the trial of Christ immediately.
[6:37] He would have dismissed These Jewish accusers. And in the interest of justice, He would have allowed Christ to go Because he himself said, I find no fault in this man.
[6:50] I will chastise him and release him. If you want me to do something About the man that you hate so much, Then I'll chastise him. I'll flog him.
[7:00] But even that was wrong. If he found no fault in Christ, Why touch him at all? But he allowed Christ to be flogged.
[7:14] And not content with that, But he allowed his Roman soldiers To make fun of Christ. By putting the purple robe on Jesus.
[7:26] By plaiting the crown of thorns And placing it on his noble head. By putting the reed in his hand. And by these soldiers mocking Christ.
[7:38] Blindfolding him and saying to him, Hail, King of the Jews, Prophesy to us who it is That smote thee. And Pilate, as he looks at Jesus, And how Christ has suffered.
[7:55] And the rivulets of blood, As we have already said, Are streaming down the face of Christ From the thorns.
[8:08] His back is now so tender. That it's going to take The men of, That had come from the country To bear with Christ the cross.
[8:21] And as Pilate looks at Jesus, He doesn't see a king. He doesn't see kingship in him at all. He sees Christ in his weakness.
[8:36] In his human weakness. And he asks these Jews, And he says to these Jews, Now is this not enough for you? You've had enough punishment Meted out to this man.
[8:49] Does it not satisfy? Your animal instincts. Behold your king. He'll not harm you.
[9:03] He's a prisoner. He'll not cause any more trouble. He's been dealt with summarily. You can go about your business And have no further need To be afraid of this man of Nazareth.
[9:19] Do you not see him? He's now just a weak man. Weaker than almost any other man. Behold him.
[9:29] Behold your king. Ah, but that wasn't enough to satisfy these Jews. Already they had come to the conclusion That Jesus was a devil.
[9:44] He was in league with the devil. All these miracles that he had performed It was by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils That he had performed these miracles.
[10:02] They could see nothing of the divine Being about Christ. We say this reverently To the Jewish mind Christ was hellish And he had derived His miraculous power from hell.
[10:28] And not only that But they went further And they said The man's a blasphemer And that's why we want his death. He's taking to himself The place of God.
[10:41] We will not tolerate this man. He is a blasphemer. And then when they eventually Brought Christ before Pontius Pilate You will notice their play of words As they say to Pilate This fellow He's calling himself the son of God But we call him this fellow If this fellow were not a malefactor We wouldn't take him before you.
[11:10] But he's only a fellow And he is worse He's a malefactor. And then too In front of The Roman Upholder of law And order They say to him This fellow Not only is he a malefactor But he is a perverter of the nation.
[11:35] He's putting into the minds of the people Things that are all wrong. And as you and I listen to these Jews With their accusations against Christ We can only notice this What awful hatred These men had for Jesus.
[11:53] And because of their hatred for Jesus They fearlessly vilified And accused him And they could only see him As being pathetically deluded And they saw him In his state of weakness And they were ready to agree Yes, Pilate You say, behold the man And that's all he is And you're making fun of him now Behold your king And he is only a fun king You say to me Well That was indeed Awesome And awful To have taken place In those days long ago But you know my dear friend The attitude to Christ Hasn't changed across the years Does the world today Love Christ any better than the Jews In their day In that first century?
[12:54] See how they take the name of Christ today And treat it with all the contempt That they can And they degrade it If a man wants to swear It's Christ's name he uses You know, if they used the name Allah today There would be a hue and cry From the press And from the politicians That we were being racist And that we mustn't take the name Of this God Of the Mohammedans And drag it through the mud Like this But oh, in this country You take the name of Christ And do what you want with it Our playwrights, they Write a play Put it on television Put all the swear words They can together And put it into this play Offer it to the public
[13:54] And assure us not You will find the word Christ Being used blasphemously Again and again By these awful men Who write such stuff You see, they can see nothing good in Christ My dear friend When I hear a man Using the name of Christ As a swear word It sends a shudder through me Doesn't it do that to you?
[14:32] You'd like to say to this man You know, if you want to swear Use any other kind of swear word That you want But don't use the name of Christ Don't blaspheme the name of God You see, we're back in the first century Behold the man That's all he is to them Behold your king This fun king That's all he is to them And the strange thing Is That in the house Of his so-called friends Our Lord Jesus Christ Has been wounded And what am I talking about?
[15:14] What do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking about Modern clergymen Be they the clergymen Of the Church of England Or the clergymen Of the Church of Scotland Or any other church Doesn't matter But there they are And they are wounding Christ Treating him with contempt Degrading Christ Virgin birth?
[15:47] No, they don't believe The virgin birth Away with that nonsense Do they believe In the resurrection The bodily, physical resurrection Of Jesus?
[15:59] No, they say Away with that doctrine We no longer believe that Today we're enlightened What about the miracles of Jesus? No, we can explain them all In simple terms They weren't miracles at all Oh, the Christ of the modernistic pulpit Is not the Christ of God You can be sure of that The Christ of the modernistic pulpit Is a caricature Just as the Christ Who was presented by Pilate Was a caricature And the Christ of the Jews Was a caricature So the Christ of these men Of today Is nothing but a caricature I would like to be In the Bishop of Durham's shoes I can tell you that He can dress himself
[17:03] In his mitre And in his silk gown And all the other Take all the other accouterments But to one day Stand before the King of Kings And the Lord of Lords And to be asked Why did you present me To the public In the way that you did As nothing more than a man When you as my servant You who profess to be my servant A servant of Christ You treated me no better Than Pilate Behold the man Behold your king How different you know Christ is to those Who have spiritual perception And if you have spiritual perception
[18:03] Here today How do you see Christ Well you see Christ In his majestic power Ah that's how we see Christ In his majestic power Not as a firm king Not as a mere man Not as a mere man But we see Christ In all the majesty Of his royalty I can do no better Than quote to you Our shorter catechism Oh how wise our fathers were When they made us as children Learn the shorter catechism I hope that we will continue To do that In our church And bring our young people Up in the understanding Of the shorter catechism How doth Christ Execute the office of a king It says in the catechism And the answer is Christ executeth the office
[19:04] Of a king In subduing us to himself In ruling and defending us And in restraining and conquering All his and our enemies Ah that's what a king is there to do To defend us To restrain our enemies To conquer our enemies And that is how we see Christ In the majesty of his power Conquering his and our enemies Who are our enemies?
[19:48] Your greatest enemy is the devil The enemy of your soul The devil who doesn't want to see you At peace with God The devil who wants to deprive you Of eternal happiness And contentment The devil who will put Every obstacle in your way To prevent you from believing In God's Son That's your enemy And that was Christ's enemy And again Your enemy What is your enemy?
[20:31] Well sin is your enemy This awful thing Sin The press will never mention The word sin In its tabloids today And you won't get much Of the word sin Being used on television But let's go back We're a bit old fashioned Here in our church Let's go back to the Bible And remind ourselves That there is such a thing As sin Sin What an enemy sin is What a vile thing sin is What a rotten thing sin is What a hellish thing sin is And then again What is your enemy?
[21:25] Death Isn't that your enemy? You're me You're terrified of death You run from it This awful thing Called death No one wants to know Anything about it today Death It's there Stalking us Wherever we turn Death is there And another thing That must be an enemy To you And that is hell The state of hell Well here was Pilate And he could only see The humanity of our Lord In its weakness And the Jews Could only see The humanity of our Lord In its weakness In his weakness But as you and I Look at Christ
[22:25] If we've got any Spiritual perception At all We see Christ In his majestic power We see him As the stronger Who has come To bind the strong one And from Pilate's Judgment hall Our Lord is now Going to move Out to Calvary's hill Unto crucifixion But is it just As a man We can by death And succumbing to death That we see Jesus No surely we see More than that Because what we do see As Jesus moves out To the hill of Calvary Is this We see Jesus Taking on himself The sum total Of his people's guilt And we see him Going out To suffer Condemnation In their room And place You know At Calvary
[23:26] The prophetic Declaration Made by the prophet Zechariah Comes to life Where in that Prophetic declaration The prophet said this That there would Come the day When God Would speak To his sword Of justice And say Awake Awake oh sword And what is the sword For It's for exercising Capital punishment Awake oh sword And smite the man That is my fellow Who is the man That is God's fellow It's his own son Awake oh sword Says God To the sword Of justice Smite my son In order That my people May go free You know They just took a vote On capital punishment And in our So very enlightened Age People are saying Oh you wouldn't Put a man to death Would you
[24:26] And yet today I don't know How many babies Will be aborted And the politicians Won't turn a hair Who have voted Against capital punishment And the people Who are crying We don't want That awful Barbaric thing To be among us Again But they'll think Nothing of the Innocents The babies In the womb Who have been done To death Capital punishment Of course There is capital punishment And people are doing it And the greatest believer In capital punishment Is God himself God doesn't let
[25:27] The sinner off God doesn't wink At a man Or a woman's sin Sin Deserves death Sin will be punished And if it's not Going to be punished On you It will be punished On our sin bearer And who is the sin bearer The sin bearer Is Christ And so As the apostle Paul Tells us In his letter To the Colossians Which we read Together this morning What Christ did On the cross Was this He blotted out By his death The handwriting Of ordinances That was against us And contrary to us And he nailed Our sin With himself To the cross Oh what a majestic king Jesus is As he comes forth
[26:29] From God His father And he pushes us Aside as his people And he says Stand aside Almighty God Almighty God Is going to execute His vengeance Upon sin I'll be your sin bearer I'll bear it In your Roman place But more than that At the cross What do we see?
[26:56] Don't we see Two princes In combat? Here at the cross We see the prince Of life And here at the cross We see the prince Of darkness And they are locked Together in mortal Combat And as you and I Stand and gaze Here In awe At this terrible Spectacle We can see Nothing but victory And it's the victory Of Christ The prince of life And there he is On the cross Putting a tether On the devil Putting an end To sin Destroying death In his own death As the apostle Puts it in that Letter to the Colossians Which we have read And which I take You back to Having spoiled Principalities And powers Jesus made a show Of them openly Triumphing over
[27:57] Them in it Oh what a king Christ is He might be The derision Of Pontius Pilate And the derision Of the Jews Behold your king But he is the king And there is Our king Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Overcoming Death Overcoming Overcoming Hell He has As the shorter Catechism puts it Restrained And conquered All his And our Enemies And I say To you What a victor What a king Behold Behold your king And we are Going to Celebrate His death If God Will spare Us Next Sabbath Morning And with
[29:00] Spiritual perception We see too And I must Hurry to a Close Christ In his Royal Grandeur Pilate And the Jews Like all Ungodly People That are Still living Today They can Only see Christ In his Humanity And purely His humanity Christ In his Weakness But those Of us Who know Christ As our Saviour Ah we See beyond The Roman Hall of Judgment We see Beyond The hill Of the Cross We see Beyond The darkness Of Calvary We see Beyond The earthbound Limits Of space And time Because we Who have Spiritual Perception We see Into Eternity
[30:00] And we See Christ In all His Kingship And in All his Glory We see Him as He is Described In the Book of Revelation And as Handel So magnificently Described Christ And his Messiah We see Him As King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords We see Him As the One Who has Subdued Us To Himself The One To Whom We Gladly Submit And give Obeisance He is Exercising His Dominion And his Lordship Over Our Lives And we Gladly Call him Our King Behold Your King Yes Pilate He is My King Behold
[31:01] Your King The Jews May say Yes He is And you Know he's Coming Back Again He is Coming Back Again So he Has Said And we Believe Him Every Eye Shall See Him And Doesn't It Say That They Also Who Pierced Him And all Christ Rejecters Will Wail For Him When They See Him Coming In The Clouds Of Glory With His Holy Angels Indeed For The Ungodly And this Is one Of the Solemn Things About A Sermon Like This For The Ungodly What Will They Do Well Doesn't It Tell us In The Scriptures That They Will Cry For The Rocks And The Mountains To Cover them Ah But For Those Of Us Who Have Accepted Him And I Do
[32:01] Trust That All Of Us Here Have Accepted Christ As Our Saviour Oh Don't Be a Christ Rejecter Any Longer Come To Christ As Your Saviour Crown Him As Your King And If You Do So It Will Be For You To Live And Reign With Christ Forever And Ever When Christ's Coronation Takes Place In Eternity What A Day It Will Be We Won't Look At Him With A Purple Robe We We Won't See Him With A Crown Of Thorns And Rivulets Of Blood On His Face We Won't See Him With The Lacerated Back That Will Be So Tender No We Will See Him Clothed In Majesty And
[33:02] In Honour Glorious In His Praises And The Angels Will Be There Waiting On Him Rejoicing In Him Praising Him And The Redeemed Of God Will Cast Their Crowns Before Him And Hail Him As Their Lord And King You Know There's A Beautiful Hymn And Were You To Be In A Hymn Singing Church Where They Sang This Hymn You Would Sing It So Lustily And With All Your Heart And What Would The Hymn Be What Is It I Am Thinking Of That Wonderful Hymn Crown Him With Many Crowns The Lamb Upon His Throne Hark How The Heavenly Anthem Drowns All Music But His Own Awake My Soul And Sing Of
[34:03] Him Who Died For Thee And Hail Him As Thy Matchless King Oh And He Is Matchless Hail Him As Thy Matchless King Through All Eternity That's Who Jesus Is That's The Jesus That I Believe In Thank God I Don't Believe In That Modernistic Jesus Who Is So Pathetic But As Pilate Says Behold Your King Yes He Is King And King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords Let Us Pray We Thank Thee O Lord For The Kingship Of Christ And We Pray That We May Indeed Submit
[35:04] To Him As Our King And Saviour And Gladly Spend Our Days Serving Him Remember Us Throughout The Coming Week Bless The Services Bless Our Brother John Mackay Who Will Be With Us Here Next Lord's Day Especially As He Comes To Us At A Time When He Is Under Great Stress When His Dear Wife Is So Unwell And We Pray For Her In Her Great Weakness Do Thou Lord Bless Her And Give Her If It Please The Remission Of Life And We Think Of The Young Family And As They Think Of Their Mummy At This Time Do Thou Lord Bless Them From The Five Year Old To The Twelve Year Old And
[36:05] So Do Thou Be With Our Brother As He Comes Here And Give Him Grace And Strength To Be Able To Exercise His Ministry Among Us If This Please The In Jesus Name We Ask It Amen