I hope this is a series youve enjoyed. Ive enjoyed teaching this series and feel like the Lord has shared some things with us and blessed us. This morning, we will finish it up. How many of you have ever had an opportunity, where something good has come your way-maybe it was a business opportunity; maybe it was an investment opportunity; maybe it was an opportunity for advancement in a job; [maybe it was] a good boyfriend or girlfriend that could have made a good husband or wife; whatever the scenario-you passed [on it], and you rejected something really good and felt bad about it later. It is like a Hollywood movie where you pass on it, and it goes on to become a Blockbuster hit. Have any of you had that experience where youve done that? A few of us have made some choices we regret. When I was growing up, we were keenly aware that my moms boss, a confectionary near our house, had an opportunity to make a business investment years before. Somebody said, Hey, this new business is really going to kick off. Its this new concept in food, and we think its going to take off like gangbusters. With a small investment in this business, you might be wealthy someday. He said, That isnt going to work. Im in the food preparation business. I know that isnt going to work. He rejected it. Well, as years went by, you could never talk about McDonalds in his presence. You could never mention the name McDonalds because he passed on their stock when they were at ground level. Weve all had those McDonalds kind of experiences. Weve rejected something good, something beneficial, something wonderful. This morning, were talking about something wonderful. This morning, were talking about an Unlikely Clinker Brick in our series. A clinker brick has a defect of character. A clinker brick struggles with sin and as a result has been rejected. However, our clinker brick this morning has no flaws-never committed a sin; it has no defects of character, judgment or conduct. I think that narrows it down, doesnt it? Our clinker brick we are going to talk about this morning is Jesus. [He was] perfect in every way, without sin, and yet He was rejected by men. He was cast aside like a clinker brick, unworthy of construction. He was cast aside. Were going to talk about why, and were going to talk about what that means to you and me. One thing we will not do today is pull a character out of church history and talk about him or her because there is no person we can compare to the Lord. There is no person who has done what He has done. Thats one element that will be different this week. What we want to focus on is why was Jesus rejected? There are a number of reasons why, but one primary reason why men rejected Jesus is because of expectations: unmet expectations, false expectations of what the Messiah would say and do and how He would act. Have any of you ever been the victim of somebody elses expectations, maybe a parent, maybe a spouse, maybe a coach or a teacher, or a pastor? Somebody in your life has put expectations on you that you couldnt live up to, had no desire to live up to, or werent designed to live up to. [Has] any of you had that in your life? Most of us have. I thought it was interesting listening to some of the pre-Super Bowl hype. They were talking to Archie Manning, Peyton Mannings father, who also was an NFL quarterback. Youd think looking at his sons, Peyton and Eli, both professional quarterbacks, you would have thought that guy must have really pushed his sons. He said, I didnt. I could have cared less if they played football. They could have done whatever they wanted to do. They could have played or not played. It didnt matter to me. They played because they had the talents and the desire to play. Now, I thought that was refreshing to hear, coming from a sports dad. He just let his kids grow up anyway they wanted to grow up. Of course, we Bears fans are hoping Peyton regrets that decision by the end of the day to go and be quarterback. Well find out [today]. But he was free to pursue his talents and dreams wherever that might take him. When I made the decision to go into the ministry, I was a very young man. I told my-I dont know if you were my girlfriend or my fiancée at the time… She struggled because she thought I was going to put her in a role she was not comfortable in because our pastors wife was like the co-pastor. She was like the first lady of the church, and she spoke a lot at the pulpit. She didnt preach sermons, but she was up a lot. She led a class. She led the womens ministries and was seen as a co-leader. She (Brenda) said, Thats not me. I said, Well, it will be. No, her passion was children, and I said, You know what? You just stay behind the scenes, and you live out your passion and gifts. You minister to children, and dont worry about me trying to force you into a role youre not comfortable with. Im not going to do that. And thats how weve done it for all these years. She works in her passion area. She does a bang-up job for our church, writing curriculum, teaching our children on Sunday mornings and Wednesdays. [She does] Sunday afternoons at Monterey and preschool during the week. Dont expect my wife up here like… Some of you went to mens conference at Elmbrook and had a great time I understand-no regrets. Jill Briscoe, Pastor Briscoes wife, shes a wonderful lady and speaker, [but I told Brenda], Thats not your thing. Your thing is to be with kids. You live out your call. When somebody tells us that, theres a freedom there. When somebody tries to push us into a mold that we werent created for, well resist that because thats not who God designed us to be. Jesus is the Messiah, but their understanding of who the Messiah is [supposed to be] is very different than who Jesus came to be and do. The Messiah would be a teacher. The Messiah would be a prophet in the sense that Hed be a spokesman for God, Deuteronomy 18 tells us. He would have a servants heart; but more importantly, He would be a leader. Military conquest, political leader, He would crush the enemies of Israel-according to their minds-and set up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem like David. Israel would again return to their glory days. Israel was living under the hand of Rome, and Israel, like anybody, wanted to be free. In their minds, when the Savior comes or the political leader comes, they were thinking of earthly freedom. Jesus came to bring spiritual freedom. They wanted to be free from earthly oppression. Jesus came to set us free from this, this canvas weve been working on, this darkness over here-this condition we have called our fallen nature. Thats our greatest need. Israels greatest need is our greatest need. Their greatest need was not to be set free politically. Their greatest need was not to be in power and control of the region again. Their greatest need is our greatest need: to be free from that which keeps us from God, from that which keeps us from a right relationship with God on earth and, ultimately, from eternal life. He who practices sin, he who has sin that is not dealt with, cannot inherit eternal life, so Jesus would deal with that. They were ready to receive that. They had whats called a hardening of the categories. He had to act as they thought He would act, or they would reject Him. Thats what they did. In the Book of John 6, Jesus is performing the miracle of feeding thousands. It says 5,000-thats just the men. Scholars believe there could have been 15-20,000 people there if you include the women and children. Any way you slice it, if you take five barley loaves and a couple of fish and feed more than two people, thats a miracle. So He fed thousands of people. Those who were there that day know this is no magic trick. You cant put that many loaves of bread and fish up your sleeves of your tunic. They were just amazed as He broke bread, and there was more and more bread to break; as He gave fish, there were more fish to give. In fact, they filled 12 baskets over when it was all done, so they are enthralled. They cannot believe what they are seeing. Surely, this man is the promised Messiah. Heres what they do. In Verse 14 of Chapter 6 (John, page 1055-1056 of pew Bibles) [it says], After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. This is the guy. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself. That is not what He had come to do. God had not come to establish an earthly kingdom. That was Israels idea from the get-go. God wanted to be king, but they rejected God as king. He allowed them to have Saul, David, Solomon and the rest. It was never Gods intent to set up an earthly kingdom, a temporary kingdom; Jesus came to set up a spiritual kingdom. When He reigns on earth, its not just going to be a regional reign; itll be a worldly reign. So they are not able to receive that message. Jesus will not be controlled by their dictates. In the Book of John 12:12, Jesus comes into the city of Jerusalem. His popularity is at a new height. He has just done a miracle in John 11 where He raised Lazarus from the dead. [This was] a miracle without question. His hype and His popularity are right there; its at its pinnacle. They are following him; multitudes are following Jesus. It says (on page 1064 of pew Bibles), the next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast of the Passover, Verse 12, …heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blesses is the King of Israel! Youre the king; Youre our leader. When they say Hosanna, what does that mean to us? Its a word of praise. When we think of Hosanna, we think theyre really saying, All right, Jesus, youre our man! Hosanna! Jesus, you rock! You rule! Youre the man, Jesus! Yah! That is not what theyre saying. Hosanna, at that time, would have been understood to mean, Save us now. Lord, save. Lord, deliver. Hosanna was a cry for help. It was saying, Set us free! Youre our king! Youre our leader! Set us free from Rome! Establish Your thrown! But Jesus had not come to reign. He had not come to bring wrath; He came to die. Even after His death, even after His resurrection, the Book of Acts tells us Hes teaching His disciples. He comes to the conclusion of all He is going to say and do in His earthly appearance… The disciples have one more question for Him. What is it? Acts 1:6 (page 1077), Is it now Youll restore the kingdom to Israel? The word restore means we want back what we once had. When God does something like that on this planet, its going to be all new-something thats never been done before. Its not going to be a restoration. They said, Now, are You going to sit on the thrown, and well sit on Your right and left? Lets do what we should have done. Is it now? They were still thinking earthly, physical. Jesus reign was going to be spiritual. He would reign not from a thrown, but He would reign from our hearts; ultimately from a thrown, but in this coming, He had come to meet our greatest need. Even his closest followers couldnt grasp His mission. He went out of His way, it seems to me, to not be what they expected Him to be, not do what they expected Him to do. Jesus was more interested in truth than popularity. If He wanted to be popular, He went about it the wrong way because he upset a lot of people. The elite of His day, the powerful, the wealthy of His day: do you know what He called them? Hypocrites. He exposed their hypocrisy. He said, Youre more concerned about whats on the outside than what is on the inside. Youre like tombs which appear lovely on the outside-painted and all-but on the inside, theres a decomposing body. Youre like a cup that looks good on the outside, but when you look on the inside, its corrupt and dirty because youre hypocrites. Jesus was more concerned about authenticity, and they were more concerned about ritual. I wash my hands the right way. If I say the schema, I wear my phylactery. If I go through the rituals and ceremonies, Gods going to accept me. Jesus says, No, its whats on in here. The Sabbath: When He was hungry, they picked grain and ate grain on the Sabbath. Ohhh, you ate grain on the Sabbath! Jesus says, Man is not for the Sabbath; the Sabbath is for man. Besides that, Im Lord of the Sabbath. Oh, that made them mad. One time He performed a miracle; before He did the miracle, He forgave the mans sins. Who on earth can forgive sins but God alone? They got mad. In John 9, there was a man born blind, and before He healed his blind eyes, He made mud. That made them mad. Why did Jesus make mud? Is there some sort of healing quality in mud that opens the eyes of the blind? No. He did it because it was the Sabbath, and so He worked on the Sabbath. He made clay on the Sabbath first. That made them angry. He was always saying the wrong thing, always doing the wrong thing, always acting the wrong way. The height of that would be the cross. Turn, if you would please, to Matthew 27. Understanding their context now that Ive tried to paint for you, understanding that backdrop, when you see Jesus on the cross-if youre a Jew, an Orthodox Jew-would that make you want to worship Him as the Son of God? That is the exact opposite of what youd want to see. In fact, that sealed the deal in their minds that He was not whom He claimed to be-He was not whom He said He was. If Messiah is anywhere, Hes certainly not going to be on one of those. Thats a place of defeat. The Messiah is a conqueror. He would conquer, but He would conquer sin and death. Thats a place where you die. The Messiah was about life. It says, as Hes on the cross (Matthew 27:41, page 988), In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked Him. These are the men who had given Him such a hard time. He saved others, they said, but He cant save Himself! Hes the King of Israel (sarcastically they said)! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue Him now if He wants Him, for He said, I am the Son of God. They rejected Him one last time. He was a clinker brick. He was cast aside by the most powerful of the day. Heres the irony: it said He saved others, but He cant save Himself. The irony is if He saves Himself, He cant save others, so He stays. While Hes on the cross, He bears this: this blackness, this sin nature. It comes on Him, and He becomes a sin offering for you and for me. Did they get it right at all? Did God mislead people? Did God paint a picture of Messiah that was not accurate? What they really believed is what the prophesy seemed to say, but then when Jesus actually came, it was very different from what God had said. Did God do a bait and switch on them here? Was God deceptive in His prophesy? Lets take a look at a couple together this morning, shall we? In the Book of Isaiah 42, the Messiah is often referred to as the Servant of God, the suffering Servant of God. In Isaiah 42, we hear about Messiah and what He will be like. Bear in mind as we read this, this prophesy was written over 700 years before Christ was born. (Page 717), Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen One in whom I delight… This is the man. …I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. Do you see the trinity there? The Father is going to send His Son, the Servant, and the Spirit will rest upon Him. He will not shout or cry out or raise His voice in the streets. He is going to be in control. There is going to be a calm demeanor about Him. There were people who tried to seize Jesus to kill Him on more than one occasion, but they could not. There were people who tried to seize Him and make Him King, but they could not. He lived on His own terms. He was in control. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. No, He would heal the bruised reed. He would blow life into the smoldering wick. He would be gentle. This tells of a gentle Messiah, doesnt it? It says Hes going to be so gentle, He wont even break a broken reed. …He will not falter or be discouraged… Verse 5, This is what God the Lord says-He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk in it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness… Hes speaking here to this servant, to the Messiah. The Father says, I will take hold of Your hand. I will keep You and make You to be a covenant for the people. Isnt that interesting? I will make you to be a covenant. Somehow, His life will be a bond, a covenant, or a promise to the people-not just to Israel. The next verse says, …and a light for the Gentiles… That covenant will bring hope to the Gentiles as well. …to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Understand the word picture here, church. When Jesus comes and announces His public ministry in Luke 4, He reads from Isaiah and He quotes a scripture very similar to this one. This is symbolism here. Hes not speaking about literally setting guilty criminals free, but the prisoners He speaks of are the prisoners of sin and darkness, like this portrait represents. Jesus says, Ive come to bring freedom and release to those who are bound, to those who are dark and despaired and have no hope, whom death awaits. Those are the people Ive come to bring light to. You see, its in here. They just didnt see it. Im going to share one more with you. Isaiah 52:13 (page 731), the suffering Servant-we see Him again, See, my servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Did Jesus ever speak of Himself like that? Did He ever speak of Himself being raised up, lifted up or exalted? Did the Apostles, in looking back in the life of Christ, ever speak about Jesus being lifted up or exalted? Yes. What was always the context? Right there-(Pastor is pointing) the cross. Jesus said, If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself. It says in that text, He said this referring of the death He was to die. That was a reference to the crucifixion. Look at the next verse, Just as there were many who were appalled at Him-His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness… So we have these two verses in juxtaposition. One is talking about glory and being exalted and lifted up. The next verse is talking about being marred, disfigured, and appalling to look at. How can those two things be true at the same time? Right there-at the cross. He would be exalted, but He would also have been disfigured. The words in Hebrews here talked about the face. One talked about the face, and one talked about the body. We read in that same passage in Matthew 27 how they beat Him across the face. They pulled His beard out, they slapped Him, and they took this scepter made of wreaths and beat Him repeatedly over the head. Then they took a crown of thorns and placed it upon His head. His head was mangled beyond recognition. You couldnt look at Him and see who that was. Then with a cat onine tails, with bones, lead, glass, and metal, they beat Him until His back, legs, chest, and His stomach looked like raw meat. Listen to the next verse: This man who is mangled, this man who is marred, it says in Verse 15, So will He sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand. This word sprinkled is significant. Every time its used in the Bible, its always used literally to sprinkle a liquid of some sort. Once or twice its used for water. Twice its used for oil, to sprinkle oil to anoint somebody. Every other time, and its used many, many times in the Old Testament, its speaking of the sprinkling of blood. What is being sprinkled depends upon the context in which the word is used. Let me ask you this question. What is the context in which this word is used? The context is violence. The context is somebody who has been beaten beyond recognition, somebody whose body has been mangled, and the blood that is spilt will be sprinkled on the nations. Its in there, friends. It was always in there. For hundreds of years, it was in there that Messiah would be lifted up and that His blood would sprinkle. His blood would atone for sin. Its always been in there. They didnt see it. This is the stuff Jesus probably explained to the men as they walked along the Emmaus Road in the Gospel of Luke. Remember it says how He explained to them how the Messiah must come and suffer and die. These are the things He explained to them. Because He did not fit their mold of what Messiah was, they rejected Him. Friends, before we cast judgment on them, we do the same thing. You say, What do you mean? There are times when God does not answer our prayers like we think He should answer them. There are times where were anticipating blessing, and the blessing never comes. Were believing for healing, and the healing never comes. Were expecting something to take off, and it never happens. We become angry with God, and we say to our Messiah, Youre not acting the way I think You should act. We get pretty spoiled and rotten in our attitudes. Its a form of rejection. One woman came in my office many years ago. Shed been coming to our church for a little while, and she said, You know what? Nothing works right. I pray for healing, and what happens? My husband gets cancer. I give, and what happens? We lose our house. I dont think its true. I dont think God is trustworthy. She said, Im not going to follow Him anymore, and she walked away. I didnt see her for years. There is a good ending though. Finally, she and her husband came back to church. That was pretty cool, but she was saying, I dont see it. I dont believe it. You and I, if were going to be totally honest, there have been times weve been angry and upset because Jesus has not done what we expected Him to do. Hes not acted as we expected Him to act on our behalf, and weve rejected Him like a clinker brick. You and I put Him on the cross just as they did. We have no room to gloat or to boast, but He did so for us. He-and this is important-came to be rejected, so you and I could be accepted. He came into darkness, so we could experience life. He came and experienced death, so we could know life. He took away that sin. He didnt cover it up; He took away that sin, the penalty of that sin, the power of that sin, so you and I could know God; [so] we could have our sins forgiven; we could have the promise of Heaven. Amen? He is the ultimate clinker brick, and we worship Him.