Crushing Serpents Pt 2: The Sacrifice

Good morning Glad you're here this morning. I thought I'd get up and give just a quick little introduction that way You're not like hey, who's the who's the long-haired guy on the stage? So Jared is out of town this weekend And so we needed a another worship leader And so I called up a good friend of my actually texted a good friend of mine. There was no calling involved So a little over 20 years ago Which we both decided we don't like numbers like that anymore a little over 20 years ago a shaggy haired young man Came into a Bible study that I was leading Luke Schaefer And I had no idea at that point in time He would become kind of like a like a little brother to me

And so we've been we've been doing ministry and spending time together for a real long time now So I said hey, could you come do a little worship for us? And he said it'd be my pleasure so glad to have him with us. So if we could all stand I'll pray and then we'll get started Father we come to you now and Lord. I praise you that you have given us the opportunity to be here this morning I praise you for your goodness to us I praise you for your love that you have for us and God I just ask that as we get ready to spend some time pouring out our hearts to you And in music Lord and praise that that your Holy Spirit would move through this time Father I pray that we would be able to let go of the things of yesterday

Let go of the things of the week and and that as we focus our hearts and eyes and minds on you That the things of this world would just continue to grow strangely dim in our lives as we pour out our hearts and praise We just thank you Father in Jesus name. Amen

Bless the Lord My soul draws me still you guys know see if you want to

Ryan's gonna teach us today about the crucifixion from the book of John and I just encourage you during this song just think about what that means to you and about just how far-reaching that sacrifice is you know that Not just the things that we know about and that we can see and just the things you know that it means to you, but every every misgiving every misunderstanding we have every Theological misconception every imperfection is covered perfectly by that work every gap is filled. It's completed It's perfect and it It's what we fundamentally pivot on as people And I just want you to reflect on that as we sing this song together

We thank you. We thank you for your sacrifice consider as we allow ourselves to feel the weight of it Of what she did pray that she'd Give us gratitude a sober gratitude of what it cost to make us clean I just pray that you bless Ryan as it brings the word and we thank you Holy Spirit for being here in Jesus name Amen you guys can greet one another be real nice about it good morning if you could begin the process of locating your seat grab a bulletin we'll get ready to go over some announcements so between the services Luke and I discussed the fact that we can never be in ministry together full-time because we are both too emotional and we play off each other's emotions and that's not good so

there's I said they're used to that for me he's like yeah but they don't know me so all right a handful of things to take note of in your bulletin first of all over on the left hand side are all of the things that go on throughout the week so take note of that get plugged in in the middle section of your bulletin there is a ladies breakfast coming up this Saturday the 12th other than that pay attention to nothing in your bulletin because I'm going to give you all new information ladies about the ladies breakfast get your pens ready because I'm telling you all new things here so it won't be at 8 o'clock it will be at 830 that's when you'll eat devotion will be at 9 and they said to tell everybody moms and daughters you

guys should come together because it'll be fun that way so and it's here at the church not at Steamy Joe so just X everything out of there just write all new notes right I just learned of this this morning by the way just so we know so that's coming up ladies I'm also Holy Week services in a couple of weeks there that little handout has all of the service locations and times and then all reminder that the Proclaiming the Gospel conference is this weekend at First Baptist of Burden. And the two things that are not in your bulletin, number one is that tonight is intercessory prayer at six o'clock down at the other end of the hallway. And then coming up Wednesday night,

April the 16th, we're going to do a worship night here. So come join us that night. That'll be the Wednesday of Holy Week. So just decided to take a little time and focus our hearts in on worshiping God for his great sacrifice for us. So those are the things that are going on. Oh, and I have a new memory verse in there for you. Romans chapter five, verse eight. The online people asked if I would

start reading that. So Romans chapter five, verse eight is our memory verse. Very much goes along with everything that we are going to talk about today. So that being said, if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm six. Psalm six. Looking at the New American Standard. So that hopefully we sound the same. If you need a copy, should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm six, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm six, for the choir director with stringed instruments upon an eight stringed lyre, a Psalm of David. Oh Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, oh Lord, for I am pining, being away. Heal me, oh Lord, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed. But you, oh Lord, how long? Return, oh Lord, rescue my soul. Save me because of your loving kindness. For there is no mention of you in death. In Sheol, who will give you thanks? I am weary with my sighing. Every night I make my bed swim, and I dissolve my couch with my tears.

My eyes have wasted away with grief. It has become. . . It has become old because of all my adversaries. Depart from me, all you who do iniquity. For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed. They shall turn back. They will suddenly be ashamed.

And Father, we do praise you that you are the God who hears us when we pray, Lord, and you act. And our enemies do have to flee as we seek you. And so, Lord, I pray that this morning that as we spend time in your word, that you would minister to our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. That you would bind the enemy from hassling. And God, that you would move through this time.

Lord, it's a somber thing that we speak of when we talk about the cross, Lord, but it's so necessary because it's where redemption was purchased. And so, Lord, make our hearts aware of the great work of Jesus Christ on the cross today. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter 19. John, chapter 19.

Today we come to part two of our resurrection series, Crushing the Serpents. And last week we looked at the battle of the cross. We saw that ultimately the battle of the cross was won in the garden. When Jesus spent that time in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, he ultimately won the battle because he surrendered his will and his humanity to the will of the Father.

So that he could continue on with that sacrifice. And as we ended last week, he had said his last prayer, woke his disciples up, and with a settled determination told them, it's time to go because my betrayer is at hand. Well, today as we come into chapter 19 of the book of John, we come to the second of these series and we look at the sacrifice of the cross. Now, to bring us up to speed from where we were last week, after Jesus had finished that prayer, he then went on and was ultimately betrayed by Judas.

Judas showed up in the garden, betrayed him with a kiss and the friendliest of greetings. And as he betrayed him with a kiss, his arresting officers were there. And so they arrested Jesus and they brought him into trial. And the first trial that he had was a trial before a group of people called the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish religious ruling body at that point in time.

And they tried as hard as they could to find something against him, but no accusation could stick. Of course, because he had done nothing. So ultimately what they accused him of was blasphemy. Blasphemy because he said he would destroy the temple and in three days raise it again, even though he intended the temple of his body. And blasphemy because he had claimed to be God.

And so ultimately they brought him up on those charges. However, the Jewish people had had the right of capital punishment taken from them several years before this. Actually, around the time Jesus began his earthly ministry, they had the right to capital punishment taken away from them. And so they had to go to Pilate because the Romans were the only... the only one that could put criminals to death.

And so they brought him to Pilate. And of course, they had to tell Pilate not that he was some blasphemer, but that he had said he was the king of the Jews, that he was stirring up an insurrection. Well, Pilate didn't believe any of it. And Pilate tried to find every way that he could to set Jesus free because ultimately he knew that Jesus was actually innocent.

But none of those things really worked. And so he had one last attempt that he tried. Well, two last attempts, really. The first of which was... was there was a conspiracy. There was a custom to show a little bit of favor to the Jewish people. They would release a prisoner around the time of Passover. And he said, hey, listen, why don't I release to you Jesus?

Actually, I've got two prisoners here, Jesus and Barabbas. Who would you like for me to release to you? Thinking that they would ask for Jesus. But instead, they called for Barabbas. Barabbas, who actually was a thief and a murderer and an insurrectionist and one who stood against the Roman government. Basically, all of the crimes that they accused Jesus of, Barabbas was guilty of.

And because they chose Barabbas, Jesus took his place. He was actually the first one to know what it was like to have someone be the substitutionary death for himself. And so that brings us to where we are now. Because the second effort that Pilate made to try to keep from killing Jesus was what we call the scourging. And so as we look at this sacrifice of the king, or this sacrifice of the cross this morning,

there's three things that we want to look at. We're going to look at the scourging. We're going to look at the crucifixion. And then we're going to look at the burial. And so we pick up in chapter 19, verse 1. And it says this. Pilate then took Jesus and he scourged him. And he took him to the tomb. And he took him to the tomb. And he took him to the tomb. And he took him to the tomb.

And he scourged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns. And they put it on his head. And they put a purple robe on him. And they began to come to him and say, Hail, King of the Jews. And to give him slaps in the face. Verse 1 of Chapter 19 uses just one simple little word to describe an incredibly painful process. And there's two instances like this in this chapter where what we would consider to be something that would need a lot of explanation,

the Gospel writer decides they're just going say it in a simple word. in a simple word just a simple statement and the simple statement is this it says that he sent him and he had him scourged now if you've watched the passion of the christ or seen anything about what took place you you know a little bit about what the process of scourging was and i got to tell you it's a difficult one to listen to it's a difficult one to hear what took place but but it's necessary for us to understand the wrath of god that was poured out upon jesus and so so the way that scourging happened at that point in time is they would they would take a prisoner and what they would do is they would strip them down to their waist and they would lay them over some sort of

a post or a stump to where their back was as exposed as it possibly could be and they would take this thing that's often called the flog or the whip sometimes we refer to it as the cat of nine tails it was it was essentially a whip with nine strips of leather coming off of it and embedded in those strips of leather would be pieces of lead or broken glass or other types of metal and they would use this for three things there were three purposes for the uh for the scourging the first purpose was just a punishment in and of itself uh just to just to punish a prisoner for something that they'd done wrong of course that's not why he did this with jesus the second reason

why they would use the scourging is that they would use it as a form of confession to try to get a confession out of people and the idea is that that you would start off gentle as gently as you can possibly be in that situation and if you begin to confess your crimes it didn't get any worse but if you didn't confess crimes you would be punished and if you didn't confess crimes the beatings would get worse until you began to confess so it was used as a means of confession and the third reason that they would do the the scourging is that it was a way to weaken prisoners so that they would die faster on the cross so what what they would do is they would take and they would lay that whip over the back of someone whose back was exposed and laid over

like this they would lay the whip over and then they would drag that's how they began to to beat them and you can imagine what would happen at that point in time if there's bits of sharp metal and glass and things like that and they would catch the sinews of the back and it would begin to pull it. Now, the Romans decided that judgment would be 40 lashes, but because the Romans were merciful, they always subtracted one from that because justice should always be merciful, and so it was 39 lashes. So he would have been beaten 39 times. Now remember, if it was used to elicit a confession, Jesus, as a sheep before his shearers is silent, we're told in the book of Isaiah, he did not open his mouth.

In other words, he didn't say a thing this whole time. So every time it was laid across his back and pulled, he didn't say anything. He just sat and endured the beating. Now, by the time he would have been done with this, his back would have been so ripped open that it would have made him almost unrecognizable. Muscles would have been exposed. Bones would have been exposed.

As a matter of fact, one of the commentators that I read said that by the time that they were done with this, according to the Journal of Medicine, your back would be left in nothing but strips of flesh, ribbons of flesh. And that's what they did to Jesus. And as they laid those lashes across him that he did not, we are reminded of something. You know, this is mentioned in Scripture a couple of different times.

You might write these down. I'm just gonna read them to you. The first is in Isaiah 53, verse five. It says, but he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being was upon him. And by his scourging, we were healed. It's interesting that it points it out that way. As a matter of fact, there's another place in 1 Peter.

1 Peter chapter two, verse 24 says this. It says, Jesus, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sin, might live to righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Now, some will say that means that physical healing is what you'll always have because of the stripes of Jesus Christ. But brothers and sisters, I'm here to tell you right now, the greatest healing that we need in our lives has nothing to do with our physical well-being and it has everything to do with our spiritual well-being.

And I think when it says by his stripes you are healed, it speaks of the spiritual healing that Jesus is able to give to us because he endured all this. He endured all of sin on behalf of us. And so after they did this to him and absolutely shredded his back, did you pay attention to what the Roman soldiers did to him? They mocked him. Only how did they mock him?

Well, they did so in three different ways. First of all, they took a crown of thorns and they placed it upon his head. Now, usually when we think of thorns, we think of a rosebush, right? Guns and Roses has done that for us. Every rose has its thorn. That's what we think of. But that's not the idea behind the thorns here because in the Middle East they had these bushes

that had these thorns. Thorns that were about that long. And they would come off. They were incredibly sharp. And so what they would do is they would, what they did is they cut a piece of that and they wove it into a crown, put it in a cylinder and they placed that on top of his head. And we're told in another gospel account that in order for it to stay, they took a rod and they beat it into his head

so that by the time it was all said and done, he was absolutely pierced through to where it was probably causing great amounts of blood. We know what it's like, right? I hit my head all the time and every time I do, blood goes all over the place. I can only imagine what it's like to have a crown of thorns on your head. And so as they did that, they did one more thing.

They took a purple robe. Now, of course, purple is the color for royalty. It's one of the most expensive colors you could dye something in at that point in time. And they took that purple robe and they draped it over his back. His back, by the way, that just got absolutely opened up to the greatest extent possible with the whip, they draped that over his back.

And then they began to slap him and mock him and say, hail, king of the Jews. Can you imagine everything that he went through? And I want you to think about where he was at this point in time. I want you to think about the physical and emotional state he was in by this point in time. I want you to think about, first of all, he's been up for over 24 hours by this point in time, right?

Now, he's 33, he can handle a little bit better, but still, he's been up for over 24 hours at this point in time. And after being up for 24 hours, he had already endured some of the greatest emotional pressure that you and I could ever imagine in that prayer in the garden. So he is emotionally and physically exhausted. One of the things that took place with his trial at the Sanhedrin is we're told that after they finally reached a place of saying, hey, we'll charge him with blasphemy.

I feel like we can get that one to stick. It says that they blindfolded him and they began to slap him and beat him with their fists and say, prophesy, who was that one that hit you? So he'd already endured that all night long, and now he's gone through this in the morning. And as he was clothed in that robe, mocked, with blood streaming down his face, we're told this.

Verse four, Pilate came out again and he said to them, behold, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him. Why did he say that? Well, because he was whipped for a confession and nothing was given. I find no fault in him. And Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, behold the man.

Now, if you're an underlining person, that's a fascinating little bit of three words to underline there, behold the man, because there's so much power in that statement. Because when he brought him out, completely bloodied and beaten, we're told in Isaiah, unrecognizable from who he was before, you don't look at him and think, creator of the heavens and the earth. You look at him and realize that in his humanity, he bore everything that belongs to us. And all Pilate can say is, behold the man.

Because we remember that when Jesus endured all of this, he did not do so apart from his humanity. He dealt with it just like you and I would. He says, behold, the man. So when the chief priests, verse six, and the officers saw him, they cried out saying crucify. And he said, him yourselves and crucify him i don't find any guilt they said we have a law and by that law he

ought to die because he made himself out to be the son of god therefore when pilate heard this statement he was even more terrified and he entered into the praetorium again and he said to jesus where are you from and jesus gave him no answer pilate said don't you speak to me do you not know that i have the power or the authority to release you and i have the authority to crucify you and jesus answered you would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above for this reason he who delivered me to you has the greater sin i i love this so so they're all crying out crucify me he's like isn't this good enough like you know crucify me he's like why what's he done well he's broken our law will you guys take him and crucify him we can't

that's been taken from us you have to do it and so pilate wants to get to the bottom of it again so he brings jesus back into the praetorium back where he had been trying him to begin with and he says who are you and where are you from and jesus just stood there as a sheep before shears is silent he didn't open his mouth jesus just stood there and pilate somewhat incredulously says you're not going to talk to me now you're going to sit there and not say a word to me don't you know i have authority don't you know i have power i don't know how you picture this this is how i picture it my my over theatrical brain pictures him with his hands tied in front of him crowned of thorns

blood running down him purple robe on him probably stuck to his back by this point in time weak to the where he could hardly stand there and all of a sudden he hears pilate say don't you know i have this kind of authority and jesus just looks up and says don't you know that you only have authority because it's been given to you by god let me tell you what he really meant by that was don't you know that i'm in charge of this whole thing don't you know that i know exactly what i'm doing don't you understand that the only authority that you have comes from the god who has me here right now so that i can die from the sins of humanity you know why he was able to do that because he won

a battle in a garden because in a garden he says not my will but your will be done and so as he stood there in front of pilate pilate's saying i've got all the authority to do this he says no you don't i have all of the authority you're doing what i want you to do you would have no authority if it hadn't been given to you from god notice how pilate responds as a result of this verse 12 pilate made efforts to release him but the jews cried out all the more if you release this man you're no friend of caesar everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes caesar therefore when pilate heard these words he brought jesus out and he sat down on the judgment seat at the place of the

pavement but in hebrew gobitha it was the day of the preparation before the passover's about the sixth hour and he said to the jews behold your king and they cried out away with him crucify him he said shall i crucify your king and the chief priest answered we have no king but caesar now you need to understand the impact of what they're saying right now the jewish people hated the roman government they hated that somebody else was king over them besides their own sovereign rule and they absolutely tried to overthrow the roman government as much as they possibly could as a matter of fact because of an insurrection several years before this pilate had been warned if it happens again you'll be removed from your position

which is why he's willing to give in to them in this and they look at him and say we have no king but caesar and pilots going this is not good because i know what it's like when these people are against me because they don't like caesar i can't imagine what it's like if they're against me because they say i don't like caesar it's amazing what people will do when they hate someone it's amazing what people will do when they're not willing to submit to jesus it's amazing what people will do and how important it is to know what you will do with jesus well this is what people don't want to do Jesus well this is what Pilate does Pilate decides to give in to the people and so next we discuss the crucifixion it says so he handed him excuse me so he

then handed him over to them to be crucified and they took Jesus therefore and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of the skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha there they crucified Him and with him two other men one on either side and Jesus in between so the process would have been that Pilate would have declared a guilty verdict guilty and he is sentenced to death by crucifixion so there was a process that you went through for this crucifixion what they would do is they would lay the cross on the the condemned individuals back, and they would be paraded through the city so that everybody knew if you stand against the Roman government, this is what happens to you. It was to strike fear in

the heart of people. So Jesus would have been paraded through the city with the cross on his back to carry it outside of the city where he would ultimately be crucified. Now usually when we think of somebody carrying their cross, we think of the full extent of the cross that they would have carried, right? Only that's not actually what Jesus would have carried. He would have only

carried the cross beam. I think we discussed this a little bit last week, but one of the fascinating things to me that according to history, the upright beams of the cross always stayed in place outside of the city. And I always wonder how many times Jesus walked by those in his life, especially his three-year ministry, and I wonder if sometimes walking by those are when he found himself going, you know guys, there's going to come a day. There's going to come a day when the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, and he will be put to death. You need

to be prepared for that. They will crucify the Son of Man. I wonder if every time he saw those, it sort of sparked that thought in his mind because he would see them every time he walked by, and maybe he got just a little bit more serious about it. So what they would have done is they would have laid the cross piece on him, and they laid it on his back, and he began to carry it. Only

remember between the loss of blood, between the lack of sleep, between the beatings that he would have taken, he was very weak. And so in another gospel account, we are told that he was stumbling under the weight of the cross. And so they found a guy named Simon of Cyrene, and they laid the cross on him and forced him into carrying the cross. You know what's fascinating about Simon of Cyrene? First of all, we're told that he was one of the first converts on the continent of

Africa. Second of all, we find that two of his sons are mentioned in the New Testament by other writers of the New Testament, meaning that carrying the cross for Jesus was not just something that he did. It changed his life because undoubtedly he had come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast so that he could celebrate the Passover feast like a good religious man was supposed to. And while he was there celebrating the Passover feast, he met the real Passover lamb. And you see, while Pilate

turned away from Jesus, Simon of Cyrene, he believed in Jesus. And when he believed in Jesus, it changed his life, and it affected his entire household. And his sons became believers and followers of Jesus Christ as well. Well, he would have carried that cross outside of the city. When he carried that cross outside of the city to where he was supposed to be crucified, to Golgotha, the place

where Ramsael was один zero, with at least certain kind of foundation, would a man goed, would a man blind, I don't know how much of a disabled man could reflect on that event. Here comenz theta in thousand platinumAMEVTgFtG depends, but it does make sense here. First of all, he was still a seeker in the Old Testament, but he was thinking more of a confessionalięn based on God. That's what we get in culturae.'" STEPHAN KAY geplomá and you should ask yourself a question if that event is so significant if that event is so impactful if that event is so important why did john why did matthew why did mark why did luke all just record they crucified him why didn't they go into detail why didn't they tell us more

you know why i think there's one main reason why i've seen several several reasons why i think there's one main reason why everybody knew what crucifixion was you see to the audience that they were writing to they all knew what crucifixion was they all feared what crucifixion was and nobody wanted to talk about it nobody wanted to think about it all you had to do was say it and everybody knew what you were talking about but you see we don't live in that culture so by god's grace we've been given historical accounts of what actually took place in crucifixion so let me describe this for you just a little bit what would have taken place the first thing that would have happened is when they got there they would have stripped jesus completely

naked and they would have laid him down on that cross beam laid him down on the ground and they would have nailed his hands to that cross beam and then they would have hoisted that cross beam up and connected it to the upright beam that was already there and as his hands were pulled out like this there would be a platform at a little bit of an angle on the cr on the on the upright beam and he would put his feet on top of that and when he put his feet on top of that they would nail them together and they would put his legs at a little bit of an angle like that the reason why they would do that is because when your arms are pulled out like this it makes it to where

you can't take in a complete deep breath so that when they pulled that cross-beam in from the upper part thinking that they hold on to properly and that free in a way of holding their feet they would put their legs at a little bit of an angle so that the only way they could stay alive on the cross was to push up, release the pressure, take a complete breath, and then sag back down again. That was crucifixion. Now I want you to think about exactly what that meant. His hands would have been pierced to the cross, only it wouldn't have been through his hand here because there's not enough bone to hold it. So it probably would have been right here underneath of the hand

in between those two bones and the wrist. So his wrist would have been nailed to the cross and would have gone right through the center of his feet. And so as he hung there, as he hung there and his bare back was laid against that cross after it had been completely shredded, the only way he could stay alive was to push up and take a breath and then release it again. There was usually three ways that people died on the cross. Number one, they would die of

suffocation because they just couldn't get a breath any longer. Number two, they would die of a heart attack, usually from the shock of the pain that they were going through. Or number three, they would simply bleed out. It was a horrific experience to witness, and a horrific experience to take part in. And listen, you need to know he did this because he loves you. He did this because he loves you,

but he did this because of you. He did this because of me. You see, my sins put him up on that cross. Your sin put him up on that cross and that was a miracle. And that's why he had to do it. And he hung there bearing the weight of the sin of humanity for us. That's why while there's some statements that are given to us from the cross, there are very few because it would have taken everything in him

to gain enough breath to make one of those statements from the cross. We go on to read a little bit about what took place. It says in verse 19, excuse me, it says in verse 18 that with him were two other men, and one on either side and Jesus in between. There's kind of a, you could do almost a whole study on the men on the cross, right? So on each side of him were thieves.

One thief remained a mocker. One eventually put his faith in Jesus, right? At first, both of them were mocking him, like, oh, yeah, he's a thief just like us. And finally, the one on the left said, man, there's something different about this guy. I don't think he's, or the one on the right said, there's something different about this guy. I don't think he's like us.

And he said, will you remember me? Will you remember me when you go into your kingdom? And Jesus said, today, you will be with me in paradise. There were supposed to be three men on that cross, Barabbas and these two thieves. Barabbas knows what it was like to have a substitutionary death because Jesus took his place. The man on the right knew what it was to, in the last moment,

be affected by the truth of who Jesus Christ is and have his life changed. And the other thief knew what it was to have the truth right in front of his face and never believe and go into eternity. Having to literally go past the body of Jesus on the cross. And so these two men hung there with him. Notice what it says in verse 19. And Pilate also wrote an inscription and he put it on the cross.

It was written, Jesus, the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. Therefore, many of the Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priest of the Jews who were saying to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but he said, I am the king of the Jews. But he said, I am the king of the Jews.

And Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. It's kind of fascinating, this sign that he puts up there. When someone was crucified, they would put the charges at the top. And he was charged with insurrection, being the king of the Jews. And so that's exactly what Pilate put up there in almost a sarcastic sort of way, right? Here lies Jesus, the king of the Jews.

And they said, don't do that. Everybody can see that. Because it was written in three different languages. Did you take note of that? It was written in Hebrew. It was written in Latin. It was written in Greek, which is kind of interesting, because Hebrew was the religious language of the day. Latin was the learned language of the day. Greek was the common language of the day.

Meaning that whether you were a religious person, whether you were a learned person, or whether you were a common person, Jesus died for you. Isn't that cool? And so that inscription is put on there. And finally, the one time Pilate makes a stand, he's like, nope, staying. And so now in verse 23, it says this. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus,

took his outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier, also the tunic. And the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. They said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture. They divided my outer garments amongst them. And for my clothing, they cast lots. Therefore, the soldiers did these things.

A couple of interesting things about that. You could almost do an entire study on the fact that the only possessions that Jesus had, the only possessions that Jesus had, the only possessions that Jesus had, the only possessions that Jesus had on the day that he died were the clothes that he had on his back. And so that's what they gambled for, because they would split those things up. There's probably a whole study to be done out of that.

But the really interesting thing that I want to point out to you is this. It says that he wore a tunic that was woven into one piece. It was seamless. And so they gambled for that, because they were like, oh, that's kind of an interesting thing. Not just everybody has one of those. If we were to go all the way back into the book of Exodus, and we were to see the clothing of the high priest,

the high priest who would make the sacrifice, the sacrifices for the people, we would find that the high priest wore a tunic that was woven into one piece and completely seamless. Fast forward to Jesus. He wore the same thing. Why? Because he is our great high priest. It's a pretty cool picture that's given to us there. So they gambled for this clothing, and of course, it fulfills Scripture.

But as Jesus was on the cross, there's some significant things that took place. The first one is this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. And he said to the disciple,

behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her into his own household. The first thing I want to point out to you is this. At the foot of the cross, were not a bunch of rugged fishermen who were so tough and so strong and such great leaders. At the foot of the cross, there was a bunch of women. Because usually, women are the more spiritually sensitive.

And usually, women are the more devoted. And fellas, I think we could take a little bit of a lesson from this. A little bit of a lesson, not from the disciples who would go on to start the early church, but from the women who were at the foot of the cross who were so devoted and so spiritually sensitive to the gravity of what was going on that they knew that they wanted to be at the feet of their Savior. But the second thing that I want to point out to you is this.

While I absolutely disagree with everything that the Catholic Church has to say about Mary, I think it's kind of fascinating. I think it's kind of interesting that we as the Protestant Church have a tendency to not give her the credit that she's due. Because I think Mary was a fantastic woman of God. Matter of fact, for God to have chosen her was an amazing thing.

And I don't know that we always give her the credit that she deserves. I want you to think about what it must have been like for Mary. I want you to put yourself for just a moment in the shoes of Mary. Because there she is at the foot of the cross. And she is a woman. And she is a woman. And she is watching her son endure all of the hardship, all of the heartache,

the physical suffering, the emotional suffering, the spiritual suffering that he was going through. And all she could do was just stand there and watch. I can't imagine what that would have been like for her. I've done funerals for kids before. And those are always the hardest. Because when you do a funeral for a kid, you have to be there for the mom. And I'm here to tell you right now,

all I know to do when I do a funeral for a kid where the mom is there is I just cry with them. Because there's no pain like that in the world. I can't imagine the pain that she was going through at this point in time. But I love the way that Jesus responds. Because as Jesus is hanging there from the cross, I want you to think about this. In order for him to say what he's about to say,

remember, he's got to push up on feet that are nailed to a cross while rubbing against a rough cross with his absolutely destroyed back to get enough air to say, woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother. He was looking at John. And in the very end, Jesus giving us the perfect picture of what it looks like to love sacrificially, to have agape love for someone.

He looks at his mom and says, I want you to be taken care of. History has told us that Joseph was gone by this point in time. That's why we don't really read about him much in the gospel accounts. He had passed away. And he wanted to make sure that his mother was taken care of. That's exactly what he did. He said, make sure you take care of her. And so from that day on,

Mary became like John's mom. And John took care of her. Well, there's another statement that Jesus is going to make from the cross. I want you to notice what it says in verse 28. It says, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture, said, I am thirsty. And a jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the sour wine

upon a branch of hyssop and they brought it to his mouth. Now, I want to zero in a little bit on the beginning of verse 28. It says, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, now, one thing that's not given to us in John's account is something that's given to us in Matthew's account. And that's that there came a point in time while Jesus was hanging on the cross that the sky went completely dark.

And Jesus cried out one of those famous sayings from the cross. He cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You see, I think the reason why Jesus knew that all things had been accomplished is because all of the sin had been laid upon him. All of the guilt and the shame of humanity had been, laid upon him. And the reason why I know that, the reason why I know

there was some spiritual, mysterious thing that took place of all of that sin being put upon Jesus is the sky went dark. Why did the sky go dark? Because God had to turn his back on his son. God the Father had to turn his back on God the Son because he cannot look at sin. And in that moment, Jesus bore all of the weight of the sin of humanity. And as he bore all of the weight

of the sin of humanity, the Father had to look away. So he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because his, as intense as the physical battle that Jesus endured was, that wasn't the real sacrifice that he made. The real sacrifice that he made was experiencing separation from God for us so that you don't have to.

The sacrifice. And as he knew that all of those things had been accomplished because all of the sin had been placed upon him and the sacrifice had been made, he said, I'm thirsty. It's a fascinating statement that Jesus makes that just shows us his humanity that as he hung there on that cross, he was just a guy. He was just a man. And in his humanity, he was so thirsty

and he knew he had one more thing he had to cry out from the cross and he wanted everybody to hear it. And so I don't picture a strong voice saying I'm thirsty. I picture a really weak voice saying, I'm thirsty. Because that's the way he would have been at that point in time. And so they take, and I want to make sure I read this correctly. So they took a jar full of sour wine

that was standing there and they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. There's so much significance here, okay? So if you don't know very much about the Old Testament, it won't mean a whole lot to you, so let me share with you just a little bit. Hyssop was used in so many different sacrifices. I'm going to tell you

about one in particular. It was the sacrifice that was made when someone was cleansed of leprosy. Leprosy is a picture of sin because it's something that absolutely destroys a person. And so if a person was ever to be cleansed of leprosy, what they were supposed to do is they were to take a turtle dove and they were to sacrifice this turtle dove and they were supposed to take some of the blood and water and they were supposed to mix it together and they were supposed to take hyssop.

And if you were the one that had been cleansed, they would dip the hyssop, which is basically like a big shrub, right? I mean, it's just some little branches. And so they would take the hyssop and dip it in the blood and water and they would sprinkle it on the individual that had been cleansed from leprosy, saying that you have been made clean. It's hyssop that they hold up with this sponge.

I just think there's such symbolism in that. And so they take this sponge and they offer it to Jesus and he takes a drink. And the reason why he takes this drink is because he has one more thing that he has to say and that brings us to verse 30. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head. He gave up his spirit.

It is finished comes from the Greek root word teleos, which means to complete or to accomplish. The fullness of the phrase it is finished is the Greek word to tell us die, which means paid in full. I've shared this with you before, but I'm going to do it again because it absolutely fits with what we're doing. See, when someone owed a debt in ancient Rome, all of that debt would be written on a certificate.

That certificate would be nailed to the doorpost of your home so that everybody knew this is the certificate of debt that this person owes. When you paid off your debt, they would stamp that certificate with a stamp that said to tell us die paid paid in full. You know what we're told in scripture? We're told that Jesus canceled the handwriting of the certificate that you owed because he paid it in full.

And so when Jesus cried out it is finished from the cross, what he really meant was it is finished because it's been paid in full because you and I owed a debt because of our sin that the only thing that we could pay it with was our life, meaning eternal separation from God. But God didn't want that. God didn't want us to be eternally separated from him. So what he did is he provided a sacrifice and the sacrifice that he provided was himself.

And so he came down and he became a man and he dwelt among us and as he dwelt among us and lived that perfect life he then died that perfect death so that you and I could have a debt paid that we owed. And when he paid the debt he cried out it is finished. Kenneth Wiest in his translation worded it like this. It is, it has been finished and it stands complete.

It has been finished and it stands complete. Past tense. It's already done. You know what that means? Whatever sin you're holding on to you're holding on to whatever guilt you're holding on to whatever shame you're holding on to it's time to take it to Jesus because it is finished. It has been paid in full. To say that these words have brought comfort to my heart

would be the greatest understatement I could make. These words have changed my life. The knowledge that my sin has been paid in full is the reason why I can stand up in front of you today and tell you about the goodness of a God that we serve. Because I finally had to come to a place where I said Lord I can't hold on to this any longer and he said I don't want you to give it to me.

It's been paid in full. And in that moment the head of the serpent was crushed. Because you know what happened after Jesus cried out it is finished. According to this what happens is that Jesus bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. He didn't bow his head in defeat. He bowed his head. He bowed his head. He bowed his head in rest because he was finished. He was done

with the work. And there were two really significant things that took place in Jerusalem at this point in time. Number one we're told that there was an earthquake that happened and that earthquake rocked the foundation of the temple. But then something else really significant happened. It's not recorded in John but it is in all the other synoptic gospels. We're told that the veil

of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Now if you don't know very much about the temple or the tabernacle let me tell you a little bit about it. So when God established worship with the children of Israel he established this tabernacle. And this tabernacle had three compartments. There was the outside the outer court that anybody could go into. There was the

holy place or the sanctuary where only the priests could go to. But then there was something beyond that. It was called the Holy of Holies. And inside of the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant which had on top of it the mercy seat. And the only people that could go into the Holy of Holies were the Ark of the Covenant was the high priest. He could only go in

once a year with a blood sacrifice to sprinkle it on top of the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people for another year. Well we're told that Jesus is our high priest only he didn't enter into that holy place. He entered into the holy place and not with the blood of bulls and goats but with the perfect blood of his own sacrifice. And he went into that holy place and he sprinkled his own blood on the mercy seat and made propitiation or a covering for our sin.

Only he didn't just atone for it for one year he atoned for it for all time. And in between the holy place and the most holy place separating anyone from ever going into the most holy place there was a veil. And depending on who you read that veil was anywhere between four and sixteen inches thick. And it represented one thing and one thing only. Man is separated

from God by sin. There is no way I can get to God because my sin has separated me from God. That's why they needed a sacrifice every single year. But when Jesus cried out it is finished when he said paid in full he opened the way for there to be access to God anytime you want to. Why? Because your sin has been dealt with. The one thing that separated you from God

has now been abolished by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and now you have direct access to God. The book of Hebrews tells us that we have boldness to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus Christ. You know what that means? Jesus died to have a relationship with you. Jesus died so that he could know you.

It is finished. Paid in full. We go on from there. It says in verse 31 Then the Jews because it was the day of preparation so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other

who was crucified with him. But coming to Jesus when they saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen this has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe. I'm so glad I don't live under the Roman Empire today.

I don't think I'm tough enough to do that. Remember the one way that prisoners would stay alive on the cross is to be able to push up with their legs in order to inhale again. In order to take one more breath and that's what kept them alive. Well it was almost time for another Sabbath and the Jewish people requested we don't want these bodies to be hanging up here on the Sabbath can we speed this thing along?

The way that they would do that the way that they would ultimately speed it along is they would take usually a large sledgehammer and they would go and they would break the right leg of the individual that was hanging on the cross. Right? It just kind of makes you cringe a little bit. So they did that to the two thieves but they did not do that to Jesus because he had already given up his spirit because no one would take his life from him.

He would lay it down freely. But just to ensure that he was dead what they did is they took a they took a spear and right here underneath the ribcage between the hip and the ribcage there's a spot where you could get up underneath of there so they took the spear and they went up underneath that ribcage and ultimately what they did is they pierced his heart and they pierced that pericardial sack and blood and water flowed out. It was a guarantee that Jesus was dead. Now do you know why he did this?

Do you know why John includes this? Because God knew that there would come a time when there would be a theory called the swoon theory where people say well you know Jesus didn't actually die. Jesus got into that tomb and all of a sudden revived because you know how good it is to put somebody in a complete dark cold tomb with no medicines after everything that he had just been through. And he just popped back.

And that's how he got out of the tomb. No. Because what John declares here is a medical fact of the fact that Jesus died on that cross. But you know there's something kind of interesting to pay attention to here. Chuck Smith always points this out in his commentary. He said if an autopsy would have been performed upon Jesus at that point in time the autopsy

would have come back conclusively that Jesus died from a burst heart. He said you know what that means? That means Jesus died of a broken heart. Because that's what sin did to him. He knew that you would be eternally separated from God. And it broke his heart. And it killed him. Because he loves you so much. Well from there the rest of the day will continue

and so we'll jump down to verse 38. It says and after these things Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus but a secret went for fear of the Jews asked him to go to the tomb. He said ask Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate granted permission. So he came and he took away his body. And Nicodemus who had first come to him by night

also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds weight. So he took the body of Jesus bound it in linen wrappings with the spices as is the burial custom of the Jews. In the place where he was crucified there was a garden. And in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation

since the tomb was nearby they laid Jesus there. A couple of disciples of Jesus that hadn't really decided where they stood on things yet after the crucifixion of Jesus decided exactly exactly where they stood on things. They wanted to be a follower of him. So after after Jesus died and it was time to take the bodies down Joseph went to Pilate and said hey is it possible possible for me to take that body and give it a proper burial.

He was granted permission so he and Nicodemus who was also sort of a distant follower of Jesus they took the body and they prepared it the way that it had been intended to be prepared and as they prepared it in that way they took and they laid that body in a tomb. A brand new tomb that had never been used. A tomb that was very close to the place where Jesus was crucified and on that day after that death of Jesus he was simply laid in the tomb. A tragic day for the disciples.

A tragic day in the history of humanity. And a day where they probably found themselves saying but we believed in this guy. But we followed this guy. What is this supposed to mean for us? Because they never heard the fact that he said I'll be crucified but three days later I'm going to rise again. I'll be back. But all of this reminds me of one truth and I want to

I want to kind of close out with this. Turn in your Bibles one place with me. Go to the book of Romans. I want you to look at Romans chapter 5. I want to start in verse 6.

Romans chapter 5 verse 6.

It says this.

Romans 5, 6 says for while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for the good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. I'm going to read verse 8 to you one more time. But God demonstrates

his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. A lot of people question the love of God usually when something bad is going on in their life. Something tragic has happened. There's a hardship in their life. They've seen hardship in their life and they say how can a loving God allow this? How can you tell me that God really loves me?

How can you tell me that? I'm here to tell you right now no matter what happens in your life no matter the tragedies you've been through you can always know that Jesus loves you because you can always go back to one scene and one scene only. You can go back to the scene of the cross where God demonstrated his own love for you in that while you were yet a sinner Christ died for you. I read a fantastic quote sometime back now and I have no idea who said this but I thought it was great.

He said when it says that while you were yet sinners Christ died for you that means that Jesus died for the version of you that you hate the most. Jesus died for the version of you that you hate the most. Jesus died for the version of you that's addicted. Jesus died for the version of you that is immoral. Jesus died for the version of you that is a liar. Jesus died for the version

of you that is a thief. Jesus died for the version of you that has murderous thoughts in your mind all the time. Jesus died for the version of you that backbites and gossips and talks about the people around you. Jesus died for the version of you that's judgmental. Jesus died for the version of you that's self-righteous. Jesus died for the version of you that you hate.

because while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. And you can always rest in that. And brothers and sisters, I want you to know that wherever you sit this morning, as far as your faith is concerned, you cannot plumb the depths of the love that Jesus Christ has for you. And so as we wrap things up here this morning, it is Communion Sunday. And so I want to spend a little bit of time

talking about communion because it is that kind of a morning. And I told Luke before the service, I said, I can't imagine a better segue into communion than talking about the crucifixion. So I'd like to invite Luke to come up. And in just a minute, he's going to share one last song with us. And when he does, it will be during this communion service that we take.

We're waiting on the kids to come in here, but I want to say a prayer for us real quick because I feel like the Lord's kind of ministering something to me right now. I feel like what the Lord is telling me is that somebody is here that doesn't really know the love of Jesus Christ. And you have a hard time believing that Jesus would have died for you. You have a hard time believing that Jesus could love the version of you that you hate the most.

Matter of fact, let's just, I just want to close our eyes real quick. You have a hard time believing that that could be the case for you. Maybe it's because you've never come to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Maybe it's because you have come to the Lord and you've fallen back into sin. Maybe it's because you're battling an addiction in your life right now and you hate Jesus.

Maybe it's because you hate yourself for it. And you're having a really hard time believing that. And first of all, if that's you this morning, I just want to pray for you real quick. So do me a favor. Everybody just keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed. If you're having a hard time believing that Jesus could love you this morning, I just want you to do me a favor.

I want you to put your hand up in the air. I just want you to put your hand up so that I can pray for you, that you would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you belong to Jesus. Lord, you know the hands that are in the air right now. And Father, I just want to pray that they would know that you're in the air right now. And Father, I just want to pray that they would know

and understand the great love that you have for them. Father, that the guilt and the shame that the enemy has been lying to them about is no longer what identifies them, but they are identified by the blood of Jesus Christ that has cleansed them from all of their sin. So Lord, do your work in their heart and in their lives this morning. And Father, if there's any here this morning that have never put their faith in you, I want to pray that you would move on their hearts as well.

Lord, that as they're realizing the sin that's in their life and the love of Jesus Christ, that they would find themselves in a place where they want to surrender to you. And so if that's you this morning, I just want you to put your hand in the air as well. It just takes a small step of faith to say, I know that I'm a sinner and I just want Jesus to be my savior.

Well, Lord, we thank you for who you are. And I pray that you would bless our time in communion. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, let's bring the kids in and then we'll talk about communion for a minute.

If you would kind of keep an eye out for your kids.

Come on in, kiddos.

One more tiny class coming here.

All right. So this morning is Communion Sunday. And everything that we've discussed this morning is what communion is all about. On that last great night of the feast, Jesus took the bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body that has been broken, that will be broken for you. Take and eat. And so as we think about the little piece of bread that's in this bottom cup,

we think about the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us, that endured the beatings, that endured the nails, that endured the stripes for us in order to bring healing into our lives, in order to bring restoration into our lives. And then he took the cup, the last cup of the night, the cup of redemption. He said, this is the cup of the new covenant, my blood that is shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And so we are reminded of the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that flowed from the thorns in his head, the blood that flowed from the beatings on his back, the blood that flowed from his side. And we are reminded it is the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin. And so we're told to make sure that we partake in a worthy manner. The way that we partake in a worthy manner is, first of all, we have to understand that if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ here this morning, this meal is really not for you.

Because this is a celebration of the body of Christ. It's as simple as you coming to the place of Christ. A faith in Jesus. But it is something that is for believers. But for those of us that are believers, we're reminded that the way that we partake of it in a worthy manner is to deal with the things in our own hearts. To make sure that we are right with the Lord.

We're told that if there's something between us and somebody else, we gotta forgive. That if there's bitterness that we're harboring in our heart, we've gotta give it up. That if there's anger that's there, we've gotta confess it. To make sure that we are truly, at one with the Lord. The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive.

So as Luke does this last song for us, I just ask you, allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart. And let Him do the work that only He can do in you. And as you receive your elements, if you would please stand, and we'll partake together. In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my life, my strength, my song. This cornerstone. This solid ground. Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace. When fears are still, when strivings cease. My comforter, my all in all. Here in the love of Christ, I stand. Christ alone. Who took on flesh. Fullness of God in helpless babe. This gift of love and righteousness. Scorned by the ones He came to save. Jesus died. The wrath was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid.

There in His body lay. The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ on the cross for us. Father, I thank you that you have seen fit to love us in that way. Father, I thank you for the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. The body of Jesus Christ that endures so much on behalf of us.

Lord, I thank you for the body that was broken. Father, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. The blood of Jesus Christ that is not only enough to cover all of our sin, Lord, but it does away with all of our sin. It makes the way for us to be right with you, to be in relationship with you, to fulfill the purpose for which we were created.

Lord, I thank you that you demonstrated your love, that even while we were yet sinners, you died for us. And so, Lord, as we celebrate who you are and what you've done, may you keep us always in mind of the power of the cross. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, I thank you for the words of that song. Lord, we do love you.

And God, we do praise you. Thank you for what you've done in our lives. Thank you for what you've done for us. And Lord, may you continue to move in our hearts. I pray that the truth of your word would sink deep down into us, become a part of our being. Lord, marinate us in it so that we come out smelling just like you. Father, we thank you and we praise you.

In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.