King on the Cross

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:06.759 Brothers and sisters, let's turn to John Chapter Nineteen and continue our reading in 2 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:33.179 The gospel of John John Chapter Nineteen. So once you arrive at John Nineteen, 3 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:37.969 look for Verse Sixteen, and I will be Reading Verses Sixteen through twenty 4 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:51.679 two. All right, let's give our attention to God's word. So they 5 00:00:51.719 --> 00:00:57.359 delivered him over, or so he delivered him over, to them to be 6 00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:02.600 crucified. So they took Jesus and he went out, daring his own cross, 7 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.590 to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is 8 00:01:07.790 --> 00:01:12.109 called Golgotha. They are. They crucified him and with two others on either 9 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:19.180 side and Jesus between them, pilot also wrote an inscription and put it on 10 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:23.780 the cross. It read Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 11 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:29.420 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified 12 00:01:29.659 --> 00:01:34.129 was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin and 13 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:38.849 in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said the pilot, do 14 00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:42.569 not write the king of the Jews, but rather this man said, I 15 00:01:42.890 --> 00:01:49.400 am the king of the Jews. Pilot answered what I have written I have 16 00:01:49.560 --> 00:02:01.909 written. My God bless his word to us. In First Corinthians, Paul, 17 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:07.150 the apostle, Paul, is talking to them about his ministry. To 18 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:14.469 them he's trying to help that church understand who he is, what is intention 19 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:16.139 is, what it is God has called him to do. And there he 20 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:23.939 says that I desire to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 21 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:31.610 I desire to know nothing except Jesus and him crucified. This strong statement 22 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:38.610 that comes from the Apostle Paul is remarkable because the apostle taught on so many 23 00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:43.530 things. A large portion of the New Testament is taken up by Paul and 24 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:49.080 he talks about the place of the Jews and the gentiles and the history of 25 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:54.800 the world, the Holy Spirit, adoption, eschatology, the nature of knowledge. 26 00:02:54.840 --> 00:03:00.629 He talks about marriage and love and church government, and he talks about 27 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:06.270 the sacraments. He talks about all kinds of things. And yet at the 28 00:03:06.349 --> 00:03:10.069 core of it all is this desire. At the core of everything that he 29 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:15.259 says, at the core of all of these copics that he covers is Jesus 30 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:22.139 Christ and him crucified. So central is it that he says I desire to 31 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:28.210 know nothing except this doesn't mean, of course, that all these other topics 32 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:31.009 are unimportant and that we don't need to read anything else but John Nineteen, 33 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:35.849 but it means that all things are bound up in this and if it's not 34 00:03:36.050 --> 00:03:39.009 bound up in that, it doesn't really have a place in Paul's thinking, 35 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:45.680 even in Paul's life. In another place Paul talks about being willing to give 36 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:53.199 up everything that he had attained anything in this world, to know Jesus, 37 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:59.550 to belong to Jesus. And it wasn't just Paul who says this. This 38 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:02.909 is not just Paul's particular theology. This is the message of all of the 39 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:10.900 Bible. All of the scriptures are centered on this point. Jesus himself talks 40 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:15.420 about this in Luke Chapter Twenty four after he had risen from the dead, 41 00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:19.699 he had been crucified. He rose from the dead and he meets some disciples, 42 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:29.930 and I will read to you from Luke Chapter Twenty Four. They are 43 00:04:30.009 --> 00:04:32.850 are talking about Jesus and his suffering, the cross and all of these things, 44 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:36.410 and in verse twenty five he says to them they don't know who he 45 00:04:36.529 --> 00:04:40.319 is yet. They said, oh, foolish ones, and slow of heart 46 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:46.639 to believe all that the prophets have spoken? Was it not necessary that the 47 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.949 Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And, beginning from 48 00:04:53.029 --> 00:04:58.949 with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures 49 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:04.310 the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they 50 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:08.379 were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged 51 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:12.019 him strongly, saying stay with us, for it is toward the evening and 52 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:15.860 the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them. 53 00:05:15.699 --> 00:05:18.779 When he was at table with them, he took bread and blessed it 54 00:05:18.939 --> 00:05:23.850 and broke it and he gave it to them, and their eyes were opened 55 00:05:23.889 --> 00:05:29.250 and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to 56 00:05:29.370 --> 00:05:32.329 each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us 57 00:05:32.370 --> 00:05:38.879 on the road, while he opened up the scriptures? And they arose that 58 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.600 same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and those who 59 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:46.439 are with them gathered, saying the Lord has risen in a deed and has 60 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.430 appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road and how 61 00:05:49.509 --> 00:05:55.949 he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. So this amazing 62 00:05:55.990 --> 00:06:00.949 scene in which the Lord himself meets with these disciples and says, don't be 63 00:06:00.189 --> 00:06:05.420 surprised about this, don't be confused about this. Everything, everything, everything 64 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:11.259 was leading up to this point. It was necessary. And then he goes 65 00:06:11.300 --> 00:06:15.420 to all the scriptures and he proves this from the scriptures. And then later 66 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:20.129 they say we knew it, our hearts were burning within us as he he 67 00:06:20.850 --> 00:06:30.370 spoke. Amazing. All this means is that when we read the Bible, 68 00:06:30.529 --> 00:06:32.959 in order to understand the Bible, we have to read it in light of 69 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:39.839 Jesus crucified. He's in the middle of it all, and this means that 70 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:43.439 when we desire to know God's will and how to follow, it has to 71 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:48.389 begin and end with Jesus Christ and him crucified. And means that when it 72 00:06:48.430 --> 00:06:53.589 comes to our hearts as well, what our hearts need to be attuned to 73 00:06:54.589 --> 00:07:01.100 this fact. We feel things rightly, we love rightly, when our Hearts 74 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:08.259 Know Jesus Christ and him crucified, he must be at the center, and 75 00:07:08.379 --> 00:07:15.540 this is expressed in a few ways in our passage today. For one, 76 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:19.410 he's at the center of attention. The Passover is going on. There is 77 00:07:19.529 --> 00:07:25.889 a lot of different things going on, important things, and the yearly life, 78 00:07:26.689 --> 00:07:31.720 religious and civil life of Israel. And despite all of that going on, 79 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:38.759 the attention is on Jesus. What happens to Jesus here in this moment 80 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:45.949 will will affect things one way or another. There are Jews, relationships to 81 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:54.670 one another, their relationships to their gentile rulers and the gentile world. All 82 00:07:54.829 --> 00:08:00.620 of these things will depend, are depending on what happens here to Jesus. 83 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:09.819 He's also at the center of these three or at this at the center of 84 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:15.370 these three crosses. So in John Nineteen and the other gospels, notice how 85 00:08:15.410 --> 00:08:20.410 John Puts this. In verse eighteen. There they crucified him and with him 86 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:28.399 two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. It's somewhat remarkable 87 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:37.480 the way that somewhat it is remarkable the way that John and the other gospels 88 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:46.750 understate the crucifixion. Here's what I'm putting. I'm trying to say in verse 89 00:08:46.789 --> 00:08:52.789 eighteen it simply says there they crucified him. If there's no sort of gory 90 00:08:52.950 --> 00:08:58.620 details, and those are helpful to understand. This is a terrible torture, 91 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:03.539 and I'd encourage you at some point to read about what a crucifixion is, 92 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:07.019 what it is our Lord suffered. But John doesn't get into that here. 93 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:11.769 He chooses, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, to simply say there 94 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:18.490 they crucified him and instead of talking about the things that he was experiencing in 95 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:22.610 his body and the pain and all of that anguish, which is it described 96 00:09:22.690 --> 00:09:30.120 in some ways this understated way, here it is. It's understated that the 97 00:09:30.200 --> 00:09:35.480 experience on the cross, but his presence there is kind of is amplified, 98 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:39.509 and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus in between them. 99 00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:46.470 Where does John Place the focus? Where does John want to draw our 100 00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:52.470 attention to? He wants us to draw our attention to the what Isaiah says, 101 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:58.299 and Isaiah Fife twelve. He was numbered among the transgressors. It's not 102 00:09:58.460 --> 00:10:03.059 just that Jesus suffered greatly, and he did, but it's the why he 103 00:10:03.259 --> 00:10:09.250 suffered. Why is he there? What's going on? How are we to 104 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:15.889 understand that? And we are to understand it as him being numbered among the 105 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:20.370 transgressors, two others on either side of him, criminals. We know from 106 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:26.519 the other Gospels Jesus is here on across that he doesn't deserve, with people, 107 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:30.879 well, that do deserve, perhaps, to be on a cross, 108 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:39.590 people who are suffering for their sins. And this teaches us, it points 109 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:45.429 us to the fact of Jesus's mission that, yes, it would end and 110 00:10:45.669 --> 00:10:48.710 result in glory, but the way he would come to it, the way 111 00:10:48.750 --> 00:10:54.740 the glory would be to achieved, is through the cross. Without the grace 112 00:10:54.899 --> 00:10:58.340 of God, none of that glory would be known. Without the Cross, 113 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:01.940 the glory would not happen. We would not know the love of God, 114 00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:07.250 we would not know the presence of God, anything that we would desire in 115 00:11:07.409 --> 00:11:11.250 our connection, in our communion with each other, with him, none of 116 00:11:11.330 --> 00:11:16.289 it would happen unless the problem of sin is removed, and that's what's happening 117 00:11:16.370 --> 00:11:22.559 on the cross. Jesus is being numbered among the transgressors by becoming one who 118 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:33.070 is counted as sinful, who knew no sin. God on the Cross, 119 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:39.590 representing man, so that our sins could be forgiven. And because of this, 120 00:11:39.429 --> 00:11:45.669 because Jesus is in the middle, is at the center, we are 121 00:11:45.870 --> 00:11:50.779 saved. Want to ask you this question. What do you long for? 122 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:56.740 What do you want? Do you want to be heard. Do you want 123 00:11:56.779 --> 00:12:03.049 to be known? Do you want meaning? Maybe you want hope or love 124 00:12:03.690 --> 00:12:11.570 or compassion? Maybe you want friendship or family, or true knowledge or True 125 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:18.600 Religion, a lasting kingdom or forgiveness of your sins, eternal safety or fellowship, 126 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:26.240 peace on Earth, justice, holiness. None of it will come to 127 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:31.909 you apart from the cross, and all of it will come to you in 128 00:12:33.110 --> 00:12:39.669 the Cross of Christ. That's why Jesus is there. He's being numbered among 129 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:46.620 the transgressors, he's in the middle of sin and wrath so that God will, 130 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:50.259 can give us these things, so that the very thing that separates us 131 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:54.379 and as ever, always separated us from God ever since the fall, would 132 00:12:54.379 --> 00:13:00.129 be removed, so that when God looks at us, there's no more condemnation, 133 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:09.610 only justification and, one day, glorification as well. Jesus here is 134 00:13:09.730 --> 00:13:15.799 inaugurating, by the blood, by his shed blood, a new covenant, 135 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:22.639 a New People and a new kingdom, and the centrality of his place among 136 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:28.669 all the sinners that continues on as we see him, central among the saints, 137 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:35.470 as he transitions us out of as he transitions us out of this kingdom, 138 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:39.549 rescues us, delivers us, brings us out of this kingdom and Dominion 139 00:13:39.590 --> 00:13:45.620 of darkness into the Kingdom of the beloved son God can now continues to dwell 140 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:52.259 with us and abide with us. In John Chapter Twenty, on Verse Nine, 141 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:56.250 in Verse Nineteen, we read on the evening of that day, the 142 00:13:56.409 --> 00:14:01.690 first day of the week. This is right the week, the day of 143 00:14:01.730 --> 00:14:07.409 the Resurrection Day the Lord, the doors being locked where the disciples were for 144 00:14:07.570 --> 00:14:11.519 fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 145 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:18.279 peace be with you. Jesus is with us in our death, and 146 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:26.230 now he's with us after our death. Peace be with you, he proclaims 147 00:14:26.830 --> 00:14:31.990 to the saints. And then again in Verse Twenty Six, again on the 148 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:37.309 Lord's Day, eight days later, his disciples were inside again and Thomas was 149 00:14:37.389 --> 00:14:41.980 with them, although the doors being locked, Jesus came and stood among them 150 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:48.100 and said peace be with you. This is the announcement of the Kingdom of 151 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:52.490 God. This is the announcement of our salvation. God no longer is angry 152 00:14:52.649 --> 00:14:58.490 with us, God no longer is um it is is promising to punish us 153 00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:03.970 for our rebelliousness with his wrath, but instead he's promising us to give us 154 00:15:05.049 --> 00:15:11.519 his love and his glory, his peace, because wrath has been set aside, 155 00:15:11.639 --> 00:15:16.960 because Jesus, our mediator, our substitute, went in our place. 156 00:15:18.440 --> 00:15:24.389 He stood in the middle, or hung in the middle of sinners so that 157 00:15:24.549 --> 00:15:31.549 he could come and stand with us as saints, as Holy Ones. Jesus 158 00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:35.980 is our safety, he's our hope, he's our peace, he's our everything. 159 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:41.740 And so the Christian life begins and ends here. All is defined and 160 00:15:41.700 --> 00:15:46.860 refined on this major point, and that's why Paul says what he says, 161 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:54.250 and that's why you should say it too. Interestingly, pilot seems to say 162 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:58.970 something along these lines, perhaps unwittingly, when he nails this sign to the 163 00:16:00.169 --> 00:16:07.039 Cross of the of the crucified King, this grand proclamation written in three languages, 164 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:15.039 Aramaic, Latin and Greek. Right, this is official business, right, 165 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:22.590 this multilingual proclamation, some commentators have note, this is probably again, 166 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:30.269 probably unwielding, unwittingly, but probably the first, first written Gospel. They're 167 00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:36.340 on the Cross, proclaimed not just for the Jews but for the gentiles as 168 00:16:36.419 --> 00:16:42.340 well. Jesus Christ, King of the Jews, from Nazareth, a man 169 00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:48.970 who became man to save man. Now, all this sign was probably a 170 00:16:49.409 --> 00:16:56.009 anti Jewish joke. As one commentator put it, the joke was on pilot 171 00:16:56.169 --> 00:17:03.599 and all who mock this crucified figure ever since. So this leads us to 172 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:11.319 a choice that we have to make whenever we hear the Cross of Christ proclaimed 173 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:18.029 in the Scriptures and sermons, in our hymns and our prayers, when we 174 00:17:18.150 --> 00:17:23.190 hear the Cross of Christ proclaimed, how will we react? What will we 175 00:17:23.349 --> 00:17:30.900 choose? Will we mock and ignore and walk by the central focus of all 176 00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:37.460 of history? Will we walk by and mock and ignore or even hate the 177 00:17:37.700 --> 00:17:42.259 one to whom all the scriptures testified, the one who has come to bring 178 00:17:42.380 --> 00:17:52.890 salvation and peace to the world? Or will we take the crucified King as 179 00:17:52.049 --> 00:18:00.200 our King? Will we see ourselves in him? Will we have him dwell 180 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:07.799 in this central place, not just in history, but in our hearts, 181 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:17.750 in our minds, in our walk? My encouragement and exhortation to you from 182 00:18:17.750 --> 00:18:22.390 the word of God is let Jesus be your King. The world will mock 183 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:27.500 you as they marked him. The world will cause you to suffer as it 184 00:18:27.660 --> 00:18:33.740 caused him to suffer, but it doesn't matter, because on the third day 185 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:37.059 he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and now is preparing 186 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:44.049 a dwelling place for us, is interceding for us. Every day, you 187 00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:48.210 can give your life to Christ, completely, every aspect of it, and 188 00:18:48.450 --> 00:18:55.250 know that safety belongs to you, friendship, fellowship, love, hope, 189 00:18:55.569 --> 00:19:03.079 peace, justice, holiness and all the rest, because you have Christ. 190 00:19:07.559 --> 00:19:10.150 This is why, as we sing in the him, our hope is built 191 00:19:10.190 --> 00:19:18.509 on nothing less than Jesus Christ and his righteousness given to us and our sins 192 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:25.259 forgiven in him through the cross. Let's pray our