Attitudes That Crucify Our Witness

Well, good morning and welcome to New Grace Baptist Church and I hope everyone has had a great week, and everybody is enjoying this nice weather that we are having well, we're glad that you're here today. And whether you're here in person, or whether you listening on Soundcloud or Facebook or any of the others, we just glad that you are here. Well, we are going to continue in our Series today, Christ's death and resurrection and what we're doing here in the last month. Or so, we've been studying the last days of Christ both before the crucifixion. And then here in the coming weeks, we going to talk about post-resurrection and some of the things that he did there. So we're talking about Christ's death and resurrection. And today, I want us to look at in the title of the sermon is attitudes, that crucify, our witness. And what we're going to find out today is that The same attitudes that crucified Jesus, that put him on the cross. Can, if we allow these attitudes in our hearts, it can crucifier. Our Christian witness for him in a lost and Dying World. So we're going to be in Matthew chapter 27 and we're going to look Verses 1 through 44, not every single verse. But what I want to share with you today is 7 additude that will crucify our Christian witness if we are not careful. Well the greatest tragedy and the greatest Victory actually that the world has ever known, was the crucifixion of Jesus. And we know that that was a tragedy in that Victory and it took place on a Hill Called Calvary, when the Son of God, the Lord Jesus our creator died for the sins of mankind. So what I want to do this morning before we get this started, I want us to go to Calvary one more time and I want us to consider how cruel Calvary was and think of the suffering that Jesus went through and I want you to consider the the indecent sees that began at that time. Now, the first thing they did is they strip the Lord G. Is Christ. He had no clothes on. He was naked at the time and then they took a long whip called a cat of nine, tails and began to lacerate the body of Jesus with it. Not what? That was, it was ribbons of Flesh, would hang down. The whip would have these little bits of bone and led and glass at the very end. And then when they would whip whip a person with that, it would wrap around their body, the body of the victim. And it's sometimes it would tear away the Flash and even sometimes it could disembowel the victim and many times, a person who had received this whipping was not even able to walk, but you see the Romans, they were skilled at this. They knew how far they could push a man and they would punish a man within an inch of death. But still, it would not kill him, it would just leave him bleeding and then they put a purple robe on the Lord, Jesus, you will remember that and they put up. Wilted read in his hand and they press down a crown of thorns upon his brow. And then remember, they spit in his face and then they kneel before him, and they kind of worship him saying hail King of the Jews. And then they would take him and they would like blindfold him in passing from one to the other and they would confuse me, they would spit it. Spit on him, spit in his face. In the blood would be trickling down his cheeks and probably out of his nose and dripping off his beard and then they would reach up and just grab a handful of his beard and just rip it from his cheek. And the Bible says that they plucked the beard of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read about that in Isaiah chapter 50 and then they would just shove him from one to another. And they said, we're if you are a prophet prophesied, tell us who it is. The Striking you and then they took him And they made him carry his own cross, and just remember, now, his, his flash was open because of the whipping and they laid that Timber up there upon his shoulders and I'm sure the splinters were embedded in his wounds and then the Lord Jesus had to start up the hill called Calvary. You see. No one has ever known the suffering like that. Like the Lord Jesus suffered that day. Matter fact, Isaiah says, that his face was so marred from the beating that it was even hard to recognize him as a man and other word. He look like some sort of animal, but not only did he suffer physically. Like no one has ever suffered. But on that cross, Jesus Christ took the wrath of God also. So think of that, this he was alienated all the people wanted him to be crucified, the religious leaders, wanted him to be crucified, and then when he was on the cross, even God, the Father turned his back on, Jesus Christ, because he laid the sins of the world on Jesus Christ in God, the Father cannot look at sin so he had to turn his back on his own son and so he was rejected even by his own father. But what I want us to look at today, it's not really who crucified Jesus. What I want us to do, is to look at what crucified him and so, in Matthew chapter 27, it's a very interesting chapter because I think we can see 7 attitudes that crucified, the Lord Jesus Christ and friends. I don't want these attitudes to be in my heart and my life and I want to mention them to you today because at some point in her life we probably all have experienced these attitudes inhaled them in our hearts. And so what we want to do today is look at these seven attitudes that will crucify our Christian witness, the very same attitudes that crucified Christ on the cross. So number one is simply this And that is the attitude of self-righteousness, the attitude of self-righteousness. Now who were these people? Let's look at it, take your Bibles and look in Matthew chapter 27, we're going to look at and let's look at verses 1, through 2. And it says here, when morning came, all the chief priests and Elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death. And when they had bound him, they let him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. So, who are these? Well, these were the religious leaders that was described. It was the Pharisees. It was the chief priest. These were people who fought that they were so self-righteous that they did not need to be saved and certainly they didn't need a savior like Jesus Christ. In other words, they thought well I can just be good enough myself. Now you probably don't realize what how many people and I'm talking even about church people today can come Go to church, and they think that they can earn their own salvation. That they think that they can be good enough. That, in the end, God will accept them into heaven because they've been good people. They tried to help people. They sacrificed their time. They've gone the church. They read their Bible, they have prayed. They've helped with disaster relief and they've helped feed the hungry and worked at the homeless shelters. And they think that that's going to be enough to get them into heaven. So just think about the Pharisees and all the laws that they had do, they were just perfect in keeping the Sabbath. Matter fact, if they had attack in their shoe, They would take it out before the Sabbath day on Saturday. Less. They could be accused of carrying a burden on the Sabbath. They wouldn't even fry an egg that was laid on Saturday by a chicken friends. Listen, they wouldn't, you know, how sometimes a mosquito, male, I don't us or something. And we'll take her hand and we'll slap it or something like that. They wouldn't even do that because they are afraid of being accused of hunting on the Sabbath day, it was actually very laughable about how religious they were and how they just kept the law to a T. And not only the law of God. But they had like three or four hundred of their own regulations that they kept, they were just full of themselves. They were full of self-righteousness and friends, they crucified. Jesus Christ that have you ever thought about what a church full of Pharisees would be like, what, what would a church full of Pharisees? Look like, well number one, the Pharisees will attend. Your service, they would come on Sunday morning to Sunday school, and they become to preach, and they'd come Wednesday night. And if you had church on Sunday night, they would come to that as well. They would be there every time. The doors would open number to they would top now, they would make sure that you would see them type but they would tie their money than tied, their 10%. They would always give their money to the church. Number three, they would work. They would be in the church that sing in the choir. They'd teach Sunday school, they would do anything that you wanted them to do. They would work. And number for, they would all go to hell. Why? Because they were self-righteous, they did not need a savior. They especially didn't think that they needed Jesus. They thought he was just a Blasphemous man, who pretended to be. God and said he was God, but he wouldn't anyone knows a few going to make it to Heaven. You got to do is buy your own self-righteousness. That was the view that they had and I want her today. When we look at our own selves, Can we find a hint of self-righteousness in our own Hearts? Have you ever been really truly been broken at the foot of the cross? You see friend self-righteousness crucified, the Lord Jesus, and if there's a thread of that in us this morning, we need to get rid of that it. And it's something that it was the religious leaders who crucified the savior of the world. In the reason I did it was because of their own self righteous as well. That was number one. But then there's another attitude that crucified Jesus and this attitude will crucify our Christian witness if we're not careful and that is the attitude of hypocrisy and I'll look at it here. And Matthew 27 and look at it in verses 3 through 5. The Bible says, ben-judah has his betrayer seeing that he had been condemned was remorseful and brought back, the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and Elders. Saying I have sinned by betraying innocent blood and they said what is that to us you see to it then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went out and hanged himself friends. No doubt about it. Judas was a first-class hypocrite Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and think about this, he was one of the 12. He was one of the disciples that you notice, Eiffel means a learner. For three years, he learn from Jesus. He followed Jesus. He was one of the 12 he went with them everywhere. They went, not only that matter fact, they made him Treasurer. Now, when you think about a treasure say, a treasure at a church. What type of people hold the position of Treasurer and a church? Well, it's the people that you have the most confidence in. It's the, it's the people who whose honesty is impeccable. It's the people who are Dependable to do the right thing. You see, these disciples made Judas the treasurer, but yet he betrayed the Lord, Jesus Christ. Brand, we need to look at our own Hearts this morning to see if there is any hypocrisy. Dare you say, you don't have to betray Jesus with a kiss and you don't have to sell him for thirty pieces of silver to have his prophecy in your heart. As a matter of fact, I ask myself all the time, you see, cuz I'm a preacher and I stand up and preach and what do you normally do? When you preach and teach what you stand up and you say, do this, do that and do the sorts of things and don't do this and don't do that. Well, that's what I that's what I do and I have to keep asking myself Mike, do you practice what you preach? Because if I don't then I'm a hypocrite and I have to say many times the things that I tell others to do in to explain to others what the Bible says. I find it very difficult to do it myself and if we will not do what we know to do to Bible says to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, it is sin and we claim and I stand up and preach and teach. And then I live another way then that just makes me a hypocrite and people who come to church and tithing read their Bible and come and just play church, but yet the other six days of the week, Is the furthest thing from their mind friend that's playing the hypocrite. And so we need to ask ourselves does my life is my actions line up with what I say? And what I say I believe or am I just wearing a mask mean? That's what a hypocrite is? Just like a play-actor in the in Greek, dramas they would have people on stage with a mask and they called them Hypocrites. In other words, they were playing a part that really in real life, that was not them in friends when there's the apocracy and our hearts and in our lives we're just playing the part. We're just playing church but we really not serious about it. So if there's anything in my heart this morning any pretense to where I can see that I may be playing the hypocrite then friend, that is the exact attitude that crucified Jesus on the cross. So we have the attitude of self Righteousness. The religious leaders and then the attitude of hypocrisy, we see that in Judas. He was a disciple. He was the treasurer and yet he betrayed Jesus, well, there's a third attitude that we need to look at and that is the attitude of cowardliness. And we see that here in Matthew 27, and we see that beginning in verse 11. Look what it says, not. Jesus stood before the governor in the governor asked him saying, are you the king of the Jews and Jesus said to him? It is, as you say, now, look at move down to verse 18. This is speaking a pilot. He knew that they had handed him over because of Envy. So pilot knew that Jesus was innocent and he knew that the people handed him over in the religious leaders because they were jealous of him because they were Envy. Now, look at verses 24 to 26. When pilate saw that, he could not Prevail at all, but rather that amount was rise and he just water and wash his hands before the multitude saying I'm innocent of the blood of this just person you see to it. So he knew he was innocent. He knew he was just and he tried to wash his hands from all of it, verse 25. And all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Then he release Barabbas to them. And when he had skirts Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. My pilot was no fool. The verse 18 says that he knew why they had delivered him. He understood the chief priests and scribes wanted Jesus crucified because they were jealous of him and envious of him. You don't get to be a politician friend without knowing the motives of men. He knew he was no fool, but did he stand up for? Jesus know, he didn't. He said in the Bible says that he started, see what looks like. There's going to be an uprising, so he just washed his hand and then he release Barabbas, we're friends. What type of attitude is that, that is a cowardly, attitude, pilot knew who Jesus was. The pilot news that Jesus was innocent pilot new in verse 18. It says that for Envy, they had delivered him, but friends, let me tell you, it was a politician, he didn't care about the truth. He just cared about who and what was going to butter his bread. So I want to ask you a question this morning. And that is there. Had you rather be in League with Caesar? Or would you rather stand up for the Lord? UC pilot had a soft job. Whatever butter. His bread. Determined his conduct. You say he was a coward, he was afraid. And he was ashamed to stand up for the Lord. Jesus Christ. Are you willing to stand up for the Lord? Jesus Christ. When it may cost you something, or are you afraid of what the crowd might say about you or you afraid at what people may point fingers at you or you afraid that? If I stand up for Jesus, I may have to suffer some friends, you will suffer if you stand up for the Lord, Jesus Christ. And if you are, if you have in your heart, this attitude of cowardliness that you afraid to stand up for what is right, then, friend, that attitude, is exactly what nail Jesus Christ to the Cross. Because of self-righteousness crucified in his prophecy Cruces, And cowardliness crucified. The Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that's three attitudes right there, that not only crucified Jesus. But these are attitudes that will crucify our Christian witness before a lost and Dying World. Well, let's go to number for quickly. And that is simply this the attitude of Conformity and I want you to see this in verse 20 of Matthew, 27. Look what it says, but the chief priests and Elders. Persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas and Destroy Jesus. Now, who did they persuade? Who are these? It's just regular folks that regular folks out there in the crowd, just like you and me. But yet they didn't know the right hand from their left hand is. So what pilot does is he's going to give them a choice. In other words, he says, love, let's have an election. Are we going to release the crook Barabbas or are we going to release Jesus Christ? Who is claiming to be God in the savior of the world. So what it says that the chief priests in the elders, they kind of go out there among the crowd and start mingling with them and then they'll say something like I listen y'all we're all in this thing together. Jesus is really not on our side. When you look at this, Jesus is the bad one. You see, Barabbas is the one that we need to release now. We know that Barabbas it, he's insurrectionists and we know that he's a murderer and we know that he's a thief and all that. But in this case, not not listen to us. In this case, this is what we need to do. We need to release Barabbas and we need to crucify Jesus. You see what crucified? The Lord Jesus hear. It was Conformity there. Conforming the people to their point. View into the world. You see they're being squeezed by public opinion. And now they are persuaded to go with the multitude and they're persuaded to go with what the religious leaders say. In friends. When I think about that, I think about it in our own land and the politics and and I can remember when President Obama was trying to get his health care plan passed and he was meeting with some advisors in the white house and they didn't know it, but their microphones was on and President. Obama made the statement, this here will never pass. He said the people will not agree with it and I remember one of his adviser said, said yes it will pass he said all we need to do is to rely on the stupidity of the American people. In French, people, we go to work, and we try to raise a family and work long hours, and come home and eat and rest and raise our families and we don't have time. A lot of people don't have time to watch TV and to keep up with what's going on in the world. And these politicians know that and they say, well we'll just rely on the stupidity, they won't read this bill. Anyway, if they do read it, they won't understand it will just rely on the stupidity of the people. This is exactly what happened in Jesus's time when all the leaders went out in the crowd and it says that they persuaded the multitude and that's exactly what happens in our day friends, all you have to do is cut on the TV and you will hear the same liberal Progressive, humanistic atheistic message from the news and you keep hearing it over and over and over again. And sooner or later people just start believing it. Whether it's the truth or not, you see culture will want to Conform. You what does it mean to conform? It means to mold you into shape, you and culture with culture. Wants you to think a certain way. They want you to eat a certain food, they want you to do a certain thing that they say and they will persuade you through social media through TV through internet. Anyway they can they will bombard us with this message. That is secular and that is humanistic and you see there. We are being squeezed just like the education system, higher, education colleges are squeezing young people to believe into think of certain Progressive, secular humanistic way and it says the chief priests and Elders. Persuaded the multitude that they should ask for the Raptors. now, if you would walk through that crowd that day, and if you would have just looked at, someone said, sir you you're in that multitude with those people? Wow. Why did you yell out? Crucify him? Crucify him. You know what the people would have said? Well, everybody else was doing it. Everybody else was saying that. I mean, they told us that this is what was best for us. They told us that who that we should crucifying, who that we should let go. It just seemed like the thing to do. Everyone else was doing it. After all. There are leaders. We just wanted to go along so we can get along. You see conformity. The Bible says be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. You see friend culture in this world wants to conform you, where Christ and his word it will transform you and this is what it is. Conformity friends. Let me ask you this at High School in college, at the restaurant in the boardroom on the soccer field on the baseball field on the basketball court? Do you have what it takes to stand alone? No, matter what everyone else is doing? Can you stand up for Christ, regardless of what the multitudes are doing. You see Conformity crucified Jesus, and do you have any of that attitude in your heart? Today. Well there's another one number 5 and that is the attitude of hardness. I look at it here in Matthew 27 in verses 27 through 31. It says, then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the pro torium and gather the whole Garrison around him and they stripped him and put a Scarlet robe on him. And when they are twisted, a crown of thorns that put it on his head, in a reed, in his right hand, they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him saying, he'll King of the Jews, then they spat on him and took the read and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, put his own clothes on him and let him away. To be Crucified My Savior. My God. I would never do anything like that. Well, I know you wouldn't But how could the soldiers do this? As I can tell you how because they were hard-hearted you see these soldiers were used to killing, they were used to hurting, they were used to meaning people, that was their business, they were professionals, they would just play games with suffering people, you see? Hard Hearts, is another attitude, that crucified Jesus and the hard hard will also crucify your Christian witness today. You see in in Rome, they would have these games that they would play and David and in the whole in the whole place, they're the Coliseum would just be full of people and then bring prisoners out there and then turn loose, the wild animals and allow those animals to just rip those people apart and eat them in front of everyone else. And they in the people would sit there and watch and clap. How how? Can how can a person watch another person? Die like that and not do something. Stand up and say something. It's because of a hard heart and I wonder sometimes we have to ask ourselves. Do I have a hard heart? We need to ask ourselves do two things that break the Heart of Jesus. Does it break my heart? Do you have a tender heart this morning? Do you have a heart that is teachable? Do you have a heart that is soft and pliable? And when the word of God falls on that heart, it finds good soil and good moisture. And it grows in your life or your heart so hard when you hear the word of God preached, but it's almost like seed falling on concrete in the Bible says, the birds come and eat that seed and whisk it away. UC. When you set under the teaching of the word of God, can you listen, or is there so much other stuff going on in your life that it just clutters. The word of God out of your of your life. You see while you may not have quit Jesus, what you didn't and you didn't spit in his face. If we have a hard heart weirdest playing that attitude, that nailed him to the Cross, it's the same attitude. The hardness that crucified Jesus Christ. We all need to ask the Lord to give us a tender heart before him this morning, because he suffered so much for us, we need to have a attender and pliable heart. Well, that was number 5. The attitude of hardness, let me give you two more numbers 6. That is the attitude of indifference. And I want you to look at it here in verse 36 and the Bible says, This is when they had crucified it, look at verse 35, then they crucified him and divided His Garment casting lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. Now, look at verse 36 sitting down, they kept watch over him. Is Jesus Christ on the cross been Scourge been beaten. Blood in his skin open.

Almost dead. They're making fun of him. Spitting at him. He's up there dying in agony. And what are they doing? The Bible says sitting down. They watched him. They just watched him print how in the world, what kind of attitude is that? How could you just, how could you just be a spectator, like the wild animals in the Colosseum when they would eat up? Prisoners, how could you just sit there and watch that? How could you be a spectator? As if it's some type of sport with the Lord Jesus, the savior of this world dying on that cross. And how many people come to church and pastors are preaching Christ in Calvary and trying to get souls saved. But yet people's minds, just wandering everywhere in it. And they don't even hear what the preacher is saying. They don't have time to think about what they're going to do tomorrow and they're trying to cook up some business deal when they thinking about this. And how am I going to make my next dollar so indifferent to the things that really matter? Look, what the Bible says here, as he was dying on the cross, it says sitting down. I can't watch over him there. They were just looking, not saying anything, not doing anything, just watching, that's the attitude of indifference and friends. That attitude is what nail Jesus to the cross and an indifferent attitude. Just not caring, what the world what direction the world goes in not caring whether I grow spiritually or not, just this attitude of indifference friends that will that is an attitude there that if we have it in our life, it will crucify. Our Christian witness in different. It is an attitude that crucified. Well, there's one more And will close. And that is the attitude. A skepticism, not want you to look at it and verses 39 to 44. And this is why Jesus is on the cross and those who pass by blaspheme him, wagging their heads and saying you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. If you're the Son of God come down from that cross likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes and Elders said, no. These are the religious people all he saved others himself, he cannot save. If he's the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him, he trusted in God, let him deliver him. Now is he will have him for. He said, I am the Son of God. Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him in the, with the same thing, the attitude of skepticism, and I might even add cynicism. Friend. Did you know that there was one man? That Jesus Christ. Refuse to save, you know, that of all the people in the world has ever been born. We preachers tell people. If you give your heart to Christ, he'll save you. There was one man that Jesus Christ, refuse to save, you know who it was. It was himself. It says, if you are the Son of God, save yourself. If you're the Son of God come down from that cross, and he refused to do it because through his death, he saved the entire world if we would trust in him, but yet he would not save himself and friends. I fought often that those people who said we want to see a miracle. If you're the Son of God, save yourself. If you are the Son of God come down from that cross were free. And they asked the wrong question, instead of standing in front of the Cross, asking him to come down that early that next Sunday morning they should have been standing at the foot of the Tomb and ask him to come out because then they would have seen something cuz he walked right out of that tune they were looking for the wrong Miracle. They were looking for the miracle at the cross when they should have been looking for the miracle at the two. And so they said well you just need to come down and they mocked him and said and you say well you know preacher, I would never do that while. I'm sure that you wouldn't The friend. If it's easy to have that same kind of attitude, that crucified, the Lord Jesus that attitude of skepticism and cynicism. UC skepticism says this, just like they did. If you are the Son of God come down from the cross, you noticed that they put, if they're they said if you see, they were Skeptics. They didn't really believe he was the son of God. They would just as well, if you are, you'll come down and then skepticism always moves to cynicism because cynicism will begin to mock. You see, one of them is saying something escaped. It says via the scenic actions, they save and they start to mock it shows in our actions you say, while I'm not a skeptic, well, let me ask you this. Have you ever doubted the word of God? If you ever question God about why something is happening in your life and you get angry with God because maybe some trial and tribulation that you're going through. Do you put an S on the Promises of God? Do you do you say to God? Well I'll do this. If Not knowing really. If God is who he says he is. Are you cynical and skeptical about spiritual things friends? Look, when I look at this chapter, All seven of these attitudes. They're just terrible attitudes. Jesus suffered bled and died in. These are the kinds of things that put him on the cross. I think about it. The attitude of self-righteousness, the religious leaders. Why don't need, I don't need a savior, I'm good enough to make it to heaven on my own the attitude of hypocrisies that was Judas. Judas, the treasurer Judas the disciple, Jesus Judas, the follower of Jesus, but yet he was a hypocrite because he sold him for thirty pieces of silver. And then the attitude of cowardliness that was pilot. He didn't care what the truth was. He just wanted to people on his side and then the attitude of Conformity, a we don't need to be different as a church. We can just be like the world, you know? We, we can get more people in the world in the church. If we become like them, conforming to the world instead of trying to transform the world. And then the attitude of hardness just a hard, how can anyone stand there and watch the Lord, Jesus died on the cross and it and it says just sit there and keeping watch, how could you not say something? How could you not do something? The attitude of indifference, the attitude of hardness, just not caring, what happens or whatever and then the attitude of skepticism, You're the Son of God, if God will answer my prayer. I'll do this. If if you believe friend, you become a skeptic like that. And all of those attitudes are the attitudes that nail Jesus to the cross in friends. It's the same attitude that will crucify our Christian witness. I don't want the things that crucified him to find a place in my heart, and I hope you don't either. Will it spray. Father, we do. Thank you and praise you today. Lord for your word. Lord, we thank you that you make it so clear here. That we shouldn't be arguing about. Who was it that killed Jesus. Was it the Romans or was it the Jews? Was it the religious leaders. Was it the soldiers? We don't need to worry about who killed Jesus. We need to worry about what killed him and thank you today for showing us the seven deadly attitudes that nailed Jesus to the cross the same attitudes that will crucify. Our Christian witness to a lost and Dying World. Lord help us to never have these in her heart and if we do have them that we may confess them and Lord that we would get rid of them. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for the cross and we thank you that he loved us enough to die for us. And we want to say this morning that we love you because you first loved us in Christ's name. I do pray. Amen. Well, thank you so much for being here today and I hope everyone has a good week, and we will see you again on Wednesday night. Remember, we're going to finish. The book of Zechariah Chapter 1 longing, for the peace of God, we're going to finish that this coming Wednesday night and then we'll move on to chapter 2 after that. Well, I hope everyone has a great week and thank you for being here today. And we will see you Wednesday night.