“Christian, know this today: it was not nails that kept him there, but love. And he resolved alongside of the Father, before creation, that he would die in place of those called by the Father into faith…”

“Jesus was brought before the greatest legal system the world had known. Between the Greeks and then the Romans, judicial propriety and order of law and the elevation of courts and trials and legal process - all of it - had reached a zenith in Jesus day. Church we are to see that the Jewish Sanhedrin was a kangaroo court; totally unjust, and corrupt; they had already decided to kill Jesus before they began. But, but, in being handed over to the Romans, Jesus was tried by a people that perfected the legal system!

And I know at this point you’re all like ‘stop talking Leighton - You’re talking crazy. Jesus was crucified as an innocent man - they knew nothing of justice.’ And you're right. Except I haven’t used the word justice yet regarding the Romans - I’ve only said they perfected the legal system. So what am I saying…In being handed over to the Romans, a people that refined the legal trial — the life, words and actions of Jesus of Nazareth were put on trial and found to be spotless. Jesus Christ was pronounced Innocent by both the presiding governor Pontious Pilate and the local king Herod Antipas. Can you see, that in ever so brief a moment, humanity’s highest court tried Jesus and found him guilt free, innocent, pure…Now what they did with that verdict is terrible, unjust, indefensible.”

“Silence is power….Jesus stood before the leaders of his race, and owed them nothing, he held their destiny, they did not hold his, and he would not answer to their deceit. The high priest was running out of ideas, so in Matthew’s version of these events, he tells us that his last ditch effort was to invoke the name of the Lord.

And Jesus finally speaks, not because this wicked man cornered him into doing it, but in submission and reverence to God the Father. And of course his response is shocking….Now ‘I am’ would have been enough to convict, only God can say he is ‘I am’ or ‘Yahweh, The I am who I am,’ but here, Jesus unashamedly pronounces it as his name…Jesus is silent, and silent, and silent but when he finally speaks, he basically tells them, ‘You may judge me now, but I am God and will judge all mankind someday soon.’ And they all just go nuts.”

“Finally, Gethsemane proves, it proves — that Christ crucified is the only way to God. Christian, it does not get any clearer than this: When Jesus prayed: ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’ (Mark 14:36) Jesus asked The One, of whom all things are possible, if there was any other way to unite sinners back to God other than through the cross, and we see that God answered him: ‘No, this is the only way.’ Therefore we can be sure, Jesus is the way the truth and the life no one can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6). So, it is only by the blood of Jesus that the utterly impossible can happen - that unholy man can stand in the presence of all holy God and remain.”

“Adam and Eve ate the first recorded meal in rebellion, which is to say, they rebelled against God by eating what was forbidden. And because of their actions, their sin; rebellion and sin have pervaded every relationship, event, thought, and part of creation since. So when we go from looking at humanity’s first meal to what has been called Jesus’ last supper, we again see our rebellion full strength. Adam and Judas share this in common; they betrayed their relationship with God, believing in their hearts that their way, their interpretation, their will was better than Almighty God’s…”

“Today we enter into the Passion of Jesus Christ. In our common English use, the word passion means intense desire, or an uncontrolled or barely controlled emotion, but in its original Latin, the root ‘passio’ means to suffer or to endure, therefore Christ’s Passion refers to his suffering rather than any impassioned desire…”

“Much has been said about the seeming contradiction put forward here: that only the father knows when he will send the son. Is Jesus not fully God? How then could he not know what he, in fact, does know? The false teaching of kenosis asserts that Jesus gave up his divine powers when he came to earth as helpless babe. That he emptied himself of his glory and omniscience and might. Taking Philippians 2:6-7 to a grotesque extreme. (Philippians 2:6-7 [Jesus] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.)…The truth is, these verses show how Jesus was willing to be emptied of his very life, in total obedience to the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. But they never deny his full humanity nor his full deity. Some translations say he laid aside his might and glory through the incarnation. But remember the might of his miracles and how he did reveal his glory in specific moments such as the transfiguration or when he raised Lazarus from the dead…”

“Instead of worrying about how to prove our innocence, or defend against the maliciousness of slanderers and accusers, we are told instead to share the hope we have in Christ. And that’s playing a whole different ball game. It’s not fighting with the weapons of this world. It’s meeting persecution with joy, and opposition as opportunity; because every time it’s win-win. It’s a win if people are changed in the process of hearing the truth. And it’s a win if none are converted but the Good News is simply proclaimed. Church: God is glorified when his people give witness to his faithfulness, share generously of his provision, and praise him for his good salvation. And this is how God’s people will remain faithful and obedient until he comes or they are called home.”

“Church, this is the ultimate question, there is none greater: Who do you say this Jesus is? Who is the Christ? …Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (quoting C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

“Christian, the cross has freed you up, you have nothing else pressing. Because of Jesus, you can now love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Anything less shows you have not yet understood the grace and freedom you are now in. You are free now to fully obey and to love and to serve the Lord. If this is hard, your job is not to try harder, but to study the word and sit with God and his son more. Love cannot be forced, but when you know him more and more deeply, you will love him more and more deeply.”