311: Anthony Oosthuizen - Exhortation: Crucifixion Cameos

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Delphian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world.

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   Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

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   This week’s talk is an exhortation by Brother Anthony Ustaisen that was given just a couple weeks ago on August 18th of this year at the Cumberland Ecclesia in Australia. I really enjoyed this exhortation. I hadn’t heard Brother Anthony in a while and it was great to kind of hear his voice again and hear his style very well thought out. I think he does a great job kind of painting the picture of the crucifixion and explaining kind of all some of the different viewpoints there.

4. 1:22

   And then routinely kind of each lesson that’s you’ll you’ll hear it’s kind of like a multi part excitation with some pretty clear chapters. He kind of applies each lesson to our lives. So I thought this was a really helpful excitation. It would be perfect if you were to use this as an excitation. I think it’s a very good kind of example of the form of the format.

5. 1:46

   Thank you to the person who sent this suggestion in and all of you who continue to send us suggestions. It is so very helpful for us and we really appreciate the contribution. So thank you for that. And here is Crucifixion Cameos by Anthony Eustaisen. Well, good morning brethren, sisters and young people. Thank you for the warm welcome that Sister Pat and I received and the greetings that you gave us.

6. 2:15

   And we bring with us the greetings from Castle Hill. Now I wonder whether you’ll recognize the source of the following quotation. Perhaps many of you will, because you’re well instructed in this house. The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

7. 2:58

   Yes, it was part of the disciples prayer in Acts chapter 4. And in so saying, in framing their prayer in that particular way, they’re careful to bring to our attention, brothers and sisters, the fact that all mankind was represented at the crucifixion. Nobody was left out. Did you notice that both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatsoever God’s hand had determined before to be done? The whole world crucified Jesus of Nazareth. That means, brothers and sisters, that in a sense we were there because, as we’ve just read in Isaiah, he was wounded for our transgressions.

8. 3:56

   He was bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. We had our part in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ with His stripes. We are healed. He died for you and for me. And so in a way, you see, the trauma of the crucifixion is not yet over. It’s an ongoing event because it condemns each and every generation.

9. 4:27

   The things that happened then are as relevant today as they were 2000 years ago, because they constitute an exposition of human nature and human behaviour. All the weakness and the selfishness, the pettiness and the lovelessness, the darkness and the treachery, the cruelty, the villainy, these things are all held up for us to see and recognize. And as has been said many times, when we read the gospel records, we’re reading about ourselves.

10. 5:01

    That’s why they were recorded. They’re reading about ourselves. And we do well to take careful notes from some of the lessons which emerge from the crucifixion of the Son of God. Now we can’t look at them all, but we certainly can look at some of them together. This morning I invite you in your minds to consider, first of all, the Jewish elders in solemn assembly taking counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

11. 5:33

    This wasn’t an enquiry or a trial, was it? Brothers and sisters, this was a conspiracy and a murder. They knew perfectly well what they were going to do long before they went through the charade of holding a debate about it. They were going to preserve the establishment, the old boy network. They were going to stand by the rules of their club.

12. 5:59

    And because this man whom we remember this morning threatened their position and their power and their self importance, well, he’d have to be eliminated. You know nothing at all, said the proud and the arrogant Caiaphas. Nor consider that it’s expedient for us that one man should die for the nation, that the whole nation perish.

13. 6:22

    Not if we let him. Thus alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. Notice that our place and our nation we’ll lose our influence and our power and authority. So it’s expedient for us that the Nazarene should die. Oh, there’s such a warning here, brothers and sisters, for all who hold office in the ecclesia, for all who work in Sunday school and youth classes, or who have influence in the place where they work.

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    We can always be in danger of putting our place and our nation, our self importance before Christ. And every time that right is sacrificed to expediency, every time we left, let self-interest govern our motives, we join the members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to an open shame.

15. 7:36

    So be careful, brothers and sisters, how you use your influence. Make sure that all your urgings and promptings are in a godly direction. The rest is disaster. We think next of Peter in the courtyard of the high priest’s palace. Apparently he’d got in there through the influence of John, who seems to have known some of the members of the high priest’s household. And some commentators have suggested it was because John supplied dried fish from Galilee to the high priest’s household, and that’s how he was known.

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    Well, that may be so. We don’t know, but Peter wanted to follow his Lord and at a safe distance to see what would become of him. And now he’s warming himself in front of the fire in the courtyard.

17. 8:37

    As he does so, a servant girl comes along and begins to question him and says, aren’t you What are that man’s disciples? It says, I don’t know what you’re talking about. He has started the downward slide of disowning Jesus. Perhaps it had been a Roman soldier who had caught him by the garment, put a spear to his throat and said, rely you. Aren’t you one of that man’s disciples? He would have said, yes, I am.

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    But coming from a servant girl from a totally unexpected quarter, the question caught Peter completely off guard, and he denied all association with the master. And you know the tragic sequel well enough, do you not? The accusation and the denial are repeated, and eventually those standing around began to say, But you must be one of those, that man’s disciples, because you’re a Galilean.

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    We can tell by the way you speak. And Peter began to curse him, to swear, saying, I know not the man of whom you speak. Oh, once you started the downward slide of disowning Jesus, brothers and sisters, it’s very difficult to call a halt.

20. 9:58

    And Jesus turned and looked upon Peter, the record says, and the Greek expression implies that he looked right into Peter, gave him such a look, such a penetrating look. And Peter went out into the darkness and wept bitterly, unable to restrain his sobbing as the full realisation of what he had done came home to him. Would we have fared any better, brothers and sisters, had we been in Peter’s shoes?

21. 10:43

    I very much doubted, very much doubted. Every time we fail to acknowledge our discipleship, whatever the circumstances, every time we hideaway from any kind of taunt or the unpleasantness sometimes associated with the confession of our faith before men, we join Peter in that courtyard saying, I know not the man of whom you speak. And if you’ve never done it, brothers and sisters, if you’ve never done it, can I say I envy you? Whether we have the same broken heart and the same rebuilding of our lives afterwards depends on the quality of our repentance and the mercy of our God.

22. 11:36

    The great thing about Peter was that he knew what he had done. He repented, and the Master was merciful. I’ve prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren, the record says. And we know that prayer was answered, don’t we? Peter later became a pillar in the early ecclesia and helped them considerably with the spread of the gospel. It may be that, or may it be that our Master will deal gently with us in the same way.

23. 12:14

    When we fail him, we pray it will. We pray he will. Next we consider the disintegration of Judas Iscariot. We know, of course, that he sold Jesus down the river for 30 pieces of silver, which is the price of a slave in New Testament times where we are told so just for the price of a slave, he sold his master down the river, so to speak.

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    Exactly what led him to do this is difficult to say with any certainty. Lots of ideas have been put forward, may have been sheer greed or avarice, the love of money. Perhaps, as the some have suggested, the 30 pieces of silver was merely a down payment on what he would receive later when Jesus was condemned.

25. 13:12

    And I think this is very likely because if you compare the records in Mark in Matthew’s Gospel, it says they paid him 30 pieces of silver, so they gave it to him there. And then. The other records, Mark and Luke say that they promised to give him money at a time not yet specified when he’d done what they wanted him to do in being a witness against Jesus at the open trial before the Sanhedrin.

26. 13:42

    I think all that’s very likely. There may have been other motives at work in this man’s breast. All we can be sure of is that Judas sold Jesus to his enemies and then realising what he had done, he rushed back to the temple court, threw the money down at the feet of the high priest, saying I’ve betrayed innocent blood.

27. 14:07

    He said that’s your problem, your business. We don’t want to know. We’re finished with you. And so Judas went out and ignominiously committed suicide.

28. 14:19

    I think we need to realise from this, brothers and sisters, that human character isn’t cut in marble, never to be altered. We’re made of the dust of the earth, we’re told, frail creatures, every one of us. And character can become diseased and human personality can disintegrate. We’ve got an example here before us.

29. 14:50

    I’m sure Judas had it in him to be a good and faithful disciple if he had wanted to. I don’t think for a moment that Jesus simply called him and turned him into the betrayal, because somebody had to do that job. No, didn’t work like that. But Judas took a wrong turn somewhere, and it ended in a shattered corpse in an open field. Perhaps the disintegration had begun when he first put his hand into the bag, and we would never have known about that if John and his gospel hadn’t told us that. Judas used to help himself to the finances of the little group from time to time.

30. 15:30

    He was probably the treasurer. Brother looked after the money. Now and then he would look after himself as well, until eventually it sunk so low that he sold his master for 30 pieces of silver. No doubt, brothers, sisters, no doubt he tried to rationalize his behaviour. I’m sure he would have done so, because we all do this sort of thing. The most unworthy acts are committed after we’ve convinced ourselves of the correctness or the necessity of our proposed course of action.

31. 16:11

    But every little betrayal of Christ is a step towards the ultimate disintegration of our discipleship. So let us pray, brothers and sisters, and pray earnestly that our Lord and Master will keep us from blundering on with our rationalizing of sin, lest we find ourselves cast in the role of Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him and went to perdition. You move away from the Jewish scene and think for a moment of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, and his ineffectual efforts to exculpate himself or free himself from the blame and responsibility for the crucifixion. It’s an interesting matter that, as in the case of Judas, so too with Pilate, that earlier events had paved their way for his role in this affair.

32. 17:32

    Luke tells us in his 13th chapter of the occasion when Pilate had mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices, and Josephus, in his historical records, gives us a number of unsavoury incidents which took place during the course of his governorship. His haughty contempt and his insensitive cruelty towards the Jews had now placed him in the power of the Jewish elders. Because they said to Pilate, if you let this man go, we shall report you to Caesar and see what happens to you then. We’ve got plenty.

33. 18:18

    We could tell Caesar about you, Pilate. And if we report that you let a man go who claimed to be the king of the Jews, see how long your governorship will last, or even your life. If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend and brothers and sisters, no official holding high office in the Roman Empire at that time in history could afford to go around with that label pinned to his chest. Not Caesar’s friend.

34. 18:55

    And so the Roman governor capitulated and he said, well then I’ll just wash my hands of the whole affair. As far as I can see, he is innocent, but it’s not my responsibility any longer. Take him and do what you will with him. I’m innocent, it’s not my fault. And the record tells us that he took water and ceremoniously washed his hands before the whole multitude.

35. 19:23

    Why did he do that? Well, back in Deuteronomy, the record tells us about a procedure to be observed in the expiation of an uncertain murder.

36. 19:38

    And we don’t want to go there and follow through the details in any way this morning. But provision was made for the elders of the village then to wash their hands and say we are innocent of this blood that has been shed.

37. 19:59

    And of course, brothers and sisters, we all try to do this from time to time. Don’t we wash our hands? Of the whole thing and say it’s not my fault, I’m innocent. It’s the other members of the cliche that are actually the problem. A brother goes back into the world and loses his faith, loses his hold on Christ for whatever reason. Not my fault, not my fault.

38. 20:27

    We all try to say that a young person drifts into an immoral situation and we tut, tut over him or her and possible kinds of value judgements and say how awful the young people are today. It’s not my fault. I’m not responsible. An ecclesia is guilty of a gross injustice can happen, has happened, will probably happen again before the Lord comes. A majority vote doesn’t necessarily mean that justice is done.

39. 21:07

    It’s not my fault, you see, It’s theirs. Because I didn’t vote for that resolution. They did. And I bring my bowl of water to the Ecclesia and metaphorically disclaim all responsibility.

40. 21:24

    Am I my brother’s keeper? Oh yes. Ask Cain if you ever get the opportunity. Can I ever wash my hands of that responsibility? No, you can’t, ask Pilot on the Day of Judgement.

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    There were, however, three groups of people who seem to emerge from the record of the crucifixion with the character record, which I would suggest to you is above average.

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    The centurion on guard and the soldiers who were with him when they observed all that had taken place, said certainly this was a righteous man. Truly this was the Son of God. They said. These Roman soldiers who were just there to carry out orders saw more on the crucified Nazarene than all the learner doctors of the law, the professors of religion, the Jewish elders, all standing around mocking and reviling him. And there’s surely a lesson in that for all of us, brothers and sisters.

43. 22:46

    Those who seem to be furthest from the Kingdom of God are often at its very doors. And we’re not to be dismissive of people deciding in advance who are and who are not worthy of our attentions. Oh, we’re not going to waste our time preaching in that suburb because they’re mostly Muslims and not one of them will listen. Sometimes those who might seem furthest from the Kingdom of God are at its very doors, as the record shows us here not to be dismissive of people.

44. 23:24

    Then there were the women grouped around the cross who stayed and suffered with our Lord right to the end. Now I I think it’s true to say that they weren’t exposed to the same dangers as their men folk. Perhaps their lives weren’t at risk to the same extent as the apostles, but they were nevertheless loyal to Jesus, weren’t they?

45. 23:52

    And their love for him kept them their right to the end. And we can thank God that there are still women like that in our ecclesias today. Sisters who are the salt of the earth. Sisters who remain loyal to Christ come what may. Sisters who minister in love and compassion and faithfulness throughout all circumstances.

46. 24:20

    And it’s a sobering thought, brethren. And I emphasize, brethren, it’s a sobering thought that the menfolk, the apostles, all said to a man, we will go to prison and to death with you, Lord, if need be. We will never forsake you. They did to a man.

47. 24:44

    And it was the women who were there right to the end. And actions always speak louder than words, don’t they? You’ve probably all heard that poem about I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day. And there’s a great truth in that. And yet there were two men, 2 timid disciples, who perhaps unexpectedly came clean in the crisis. And this sometimes happens, brothers and sisters. And if a time of persecution and suffering were to come to the ecclesias of Christ in the days before his coming, and we really have to go through it as they did in the 1st century, we may be very surprised to see who will be there in the last ditch stand.

48. 25:38

    It may not be the people we would expect to be there at all. The crucifixion certainly produced some surprises. It was Joseph of Arimathea who went in boldly to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, and it was Nicodemus who assisted him with the burial. Now Joseph of Arimathea, we’re told, was a secret disciple, but for fear of the Jews, he also waited for the Kingdom of God. Honourable man who had not consented to the council and deed of the Sanhedrin, but by the same token he doesn’t seem to have made much protest against it either. But to give him his due, he may not have been there at the time when the decision was made and he probably wasn’t because they only needed a third of the Sanhedrin for a quorum and you can be sure there have been a hand picked 3rd that met in the middle of the night to decide Jesus fate. But at all events Joseph of Arimathea had not yet openly avowed his discipleship.

49. 26:55

    Nicodemus also seems to have been a secret disciple in a sense because he that came to Jesus by night is a description in three places in John’s gospel. On one occasion, however, he did put up a little defence when Jesus faith was being discussed by the council, mildly saying, Doth our Lord judge any man before it, hear him and know what he doeth? And that’s a good question, isn’t it, brothers and sisters? And we might well ask ourselves the same thing, that our law judge any man before it, hear him and know what he doeth, because we so often jump to hasty conclusions on inadequate information.

50. 27:50

    Anyway. In this case, the inquiry earned Nicodemus such a crushing rebuke, but he doesn’t seem to have ever tried it again. Art thou also of Galilee? They said to him, Search and look for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. You don’t know your Scriptures, brother. And the meeting broke up, and every man went to his own home. And of course they were wrong about that too, because they did have a prophet in Galilee, Jonah from Ghat Heifa. So both of them were wrong.

51. 28:30

    But now the crisis had arrived and the dark deed had been done, and these two timid disciples decided that the time had come to stand up and be counted. So they took courage to go boldly to pilots, beg the body of Jesus, and arrange for a decent burial, as the records show.

52. 28:54

    And we may often feel weak and timid in our discipleship, brothers and sisters, but let us pray that our God will give us the strength and the courage when any crisis of decision comes upon us, that we shall stand for Christ and not be ashamed. And now, finally, we consider the man himself whom we’ve come to remember this morning.

53. 29:28

    Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, apparently an abject figure, standing alone, deserted by his followers, spat upon and reviled on three separate occasions by the Sanhedrin, by Herod’s courtiers, by the Roman soldiers. He had to endure being spat upon and reviled 3 times, yet amidst the panorama of human weakness and wickedness and guilt, supremely sane, completely selfless master of the situation, a giant in his spiritual stature, Jesus of Nazareth and him crucified. And most of us, I’m sure, feel that our tiny little lives can never reproduce, not even in miniature, the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ.

54. 30:44

    And yet, brothers and sisters, and yet in these emblems which we’re going to share together shortly, we claim identification with Him, don’t we? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ that means having a share in a joint participation in the very body of Christ to be part of it? And the cup which we pass from hand to hand, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ that means having a share in the very sacrifice and death of our Lord and Saviour? This is our hold on Christ, brothers and sisters. It’s our fellowship in His sufferings and His cross. And leaving aside all those characters who denied him and put Him to death, we say with one united voice, I want to participate in his sacrifice and I want to be crucified with Him. In the words of one of our hymns, we too would bring our offering obedience full and free, would share the shame and sorrow to share the victory.

55. 32:04

    And so, as we said at the beginning, in a sense we were there when they crucified the Lord of life and were partly responsible for his sufferings. We’ve moved over now, brothers and sisters, and we say with Paul I am crucified, With Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh.

56. 32:30

    I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That’s what we say with all our hearts this morning. We stand with Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. Amen and Amen.

57. 33:05

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58. 33:34

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59. 33:50

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