chapter 19. Psalm 22 and John chapter 19. Let's stand. Psalm 22 is a prophecy of the cross. You will recognize it immediately in the opening verse, which contains those words of our Savior from the cross in his suffering. To the chief musician set to the deer of the dawn, a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear, and in the night season, and I'm not silent. But you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you, they trusted in you, delivered them. They cried to you and were delivered. They trusted in you and were not ashamed. But I am a worm and no man. reproach of men and despised by the people all those who see me ridicule me they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying he trusted in the Lord let him rescue it let him deliver him since he delights in it but you are he who took me out of the womb You made me trust while on my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from birth. From my mother's womb, you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. We turn now to John chapter 19. With those inspired words of the thoughts of Christ on the cross, we read these verses, 25 to 27. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. Grass withers, the flower fades, the word of God endures forever. Turn to John chapter 19. John chapter 19, looking in particular, verses 25 to 27. But that really in the context of this whole section on the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. This morning in particular looking at the one on the cross. Last week particularly we looked at his work, the cross work of Jesus Christ and now we have Something that can't be connected from his work, Jesus' person and work can't be divided, but it is good and right to look at both, particularly to look at the one who died for us. To receive, to refuse, to receive and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation is to refuse ultimate goodness, perfect love and everlasting life. It is to refuse the goodness of God himself. One of the simplest marks of a true Christian is love for Jesus Christ, affection for him. Paul, Peter describing the earliest Christians was able to write this about them. though you have not seen him. And he was writing to those who had heard of Christ in the preaching of the word, who had come to Christ under the ministry of the apostle Peter, who had heard the voice of Christ in the word preached, who hadn't seen him with their own eyes as Peter did, an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus Christ. But he goes on to write, he says, you haven't seen him, though you have not seen him, You love him. You have affection for him, deep personal affection. Perhaps there's people in your life that you have loved or you love them now. To have lost them or to lose them would be heartbreaking. Maybe a kind mother, a faithful friend, a beloved husband or wife, someone who you know, who you were convinced are still convinced had the very best in heart and mind for you, marked by a selfless service to you. Anything that we've experienced in this life from a fellow sinner, even the fellowship and communion between believers who have been filled with the Holy Spirit and love each other with the love of Christ, cannot compare to the love and the loveliness of Christ himself. Many people haven't stopped, perhaps, to consider the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe they've held the truth claims of the Christian faith at arm's length, examining them as perhaps a cold piece of logic, or if not believing them, illogic. But if you haven't believed in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, it is surely because you have refused to believe the very best about Him. And why do people refuse to believe the very best about Him? Because to believe in Him also includes to bow to Him, to submit to Him, to give your life to Him, to live according to His precepts, to confess that your life is not alone, is not your own, but that you've been bought with a price, you belong to a King and a Savior. And because by nature we don't want to humble ourselves, We refuse to believe the very best about Jesus Christ. We refuse to consider him at all. Now, this is the nature of unbelief, but it can happen to a Christian as well. The mark of a Christian, again, is we love him, 1 John 4 verse 9, because he first loved us. There's this mutual love and affection. But John, in Revelation chapter 2, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, bringing a message from heaven to earth to the seven churches, wrote this about the church at Ephesus. He said, nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love, that there was something about the love of the believers in Ephesus that had grown cold to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how could this possibly be? Perhaps sometimes it's because we become more enamored with a satisfying system of doctrine than we have with the one presented to us in the scriptures and in Christian doctrine, Jesus Christ himself. And we've lost love and affection. Perhaps it's grown cold for a savior who himself is goodness and love personified. In verses 25 to 27 of John chapter 19, we have an open window into the character of Jesus Christ at his darkest hour, in his darkest hour. And the purpose of this sermon is simply to set before you the loveliness of Jesus Christ, his goodness. To consider not only the purpose of the cross in Jesus offering himself up as an atoning sacrifice, but who it was. that offered himself for us to consider the one on the cross, the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Well, what is the broader testimony in the Gospel of John concerning the identity of Jesus? This is important. A little bit of backdrop. The things we know from John's eyewitness testimony to Jesus Christ begin with this fundamental bedrock principle, and we're gonna go all the way back to chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That Jesus is the Logos, the living Word of God, that he is himself, the second person of the Trinity, that he is God. That He is the originator of, the agent in creation of all reality. That He is one with the Father. And John again and again in his Gospel has taken pains to present the testimony of Jesus concerning his relationship to the Father. That the works that he was doing were the works of the Father. That I and my Father are one. That Jesus, together with the Father, he writes in his first letter, chapter 5, is the true God and eternal life. that He Himself is the Son of God. The Jews in verse 7 of chapter 19 said, we have a law and according to our law, He ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God. And the Jews believe that in taking the title, the Son of God, He made Himself to be equal with God. And that's who He was, truly God. And so Jesus answers the most basic of human questions. What is God like? How can I know God? Why do we even have to ask these questions? Because in our fallen, sinful state, we are alienated from the life of God and we're blind. We're rebels against God. And God's declaration of his own holy character and glory comes to us in the condescending, humiliated Savior who hangs on the cross at Calvary. And there the living word speaks concerning the glory of God. The next thing we know about Jesus from the Gospel of John is that He was truly man and fully human, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And this theme comes again and again in the Gospel that He was truly human, that He shares our humanity, that He was born. The Gospels testify that He was born of a woman. The Scriptures testify that He was born under the law, that He ate and He drank, He walked and He talked, He wept and He died, and He was buried. that he shares fully in our humanity. He was born of a woman, born under the law, in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he had a body and a soul, that he lived and that he truly died. What we call a complex person, when we take the two together, that he is Jesus Christ, one person, existing in two natures, divine and human forever, that he is the word of the Father, the living word, that he, in him, in his face, we see shining the glory of God. A third thing to remember in the Gospel of John is that Jesus said that he had an hour. It began in chapter 2 when Jesus asked, Jesus' mother asked him at the wedding of Cana of Galilee if he would help with the problem of the host running out of wine. And Jesus said, woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. She had already there, Mary who kept all these things about Jesus and pondered them in her heart from the very beginning of the angelic visitor who proclaimed the little one that would be born of her and then the angels who came and the shepherds and the wise men from the east. She had been thinking and pondering in her heart, who is this? She had received the word, she believed in her own son. She knew what he could do at the beginning of his ministry. And there he changed the water into wine. And the apostles say, we saw his glory a little bit. But Jesus said, my hour has not yet come. The fullness of that glory will be revealed. And where has it been revealed? It has been revealed in this hour, the cross, because now leading up to the cross, Jesus says, my hour has come. Father, glorify your son. In other words, the full shining of the glory of God is evident at the cross. And what do we know from our study of the cross so far? We know the innocence of Jesus Christ, that Pilate found no fault in him and that he was falsely accused. We know the intentionality of Jesus, that he was not a helpless victim, but that he came to lay down his life. for the sheep, that he had been given a mission by the Father, the power to lay down his life and to take it up again. And this is what he came to do, that he came to be the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, voluntarily laying down his life, offering himself in perfect righteousness, a consecrated life to the Father, doing everything that God requires of you being made in his image perfectly, obedient to death, even the death of the cross. And then, Dying a death in the place of sinners. He himself is the propitiation for our sins, John would later write. And doing it all in the agony of the cross. With severe tortures of his body. The horrible blasphemies against God that were hurled at him at the cross. And then the dreadful contest with the powers of darkness. and the bearing of the infinite wrath of God against sin on the cross. Crying out as we just read from Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Satisfying infinite justice, bearing the hot winds of the wrath of God while fighting the full power of the kingdom of darkness. His hour had come. Now what is the character of Jesus in that hour? When do you learn what someone is really made of? And when can you see the full contours of the glory and loveliness of Jesus? It's here on the cross, and particularly in this narrative in verses 25 and 27. Through all of this, a little band of disciples had followed Jesus. We read that. Now they're stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother. and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. There were some, a little band, who had followed Jesus through all this suffering to stand by the cross. Who were they? The Greek is difficult to translate concerning the number here. We know from the other Gospels that there were a number, a number of women and other disciples that were at the cross. John relates here to us. depending on how it's translated, between two and four, whether it's Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, whether or not his mother's sister is Mary the wife of Clopas, or it's Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, second person, Mary the wife of Clopas, third person, and Mary Magdalene, it's hard to know, but what is very clear is that together with the beloved disciple, there were at least Two women, up to many more if you compare the other, or a good number more if you compare the other gospels. But in particular, we know that we have Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the mother of Jesus at the cross. Also, if you keep reading, we have the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now, who was that? That's John's reference to himself throughout the gospel. Look at chapter 20, verse two, he uses it again. She ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And if you pull the testimony of the Gospels together, we know that that is the Apostle John. So we have Mary, the wife of Clopas, we have Mary Magdalene, we have the mother of Jesus, and we have the beloved disciple, particularly pointed out here. And we have them at the cross. And already here we can learn something remarkable about faith in Jesus Christ. Consider these women, their faith and their love. The fear of the cross and the shame of the cross has not caused them to shrink back. Let me ask you a question. Has the reality of identifying with Jesus Christ ever caused you to shrink back? And we have the glory of the resurrection. These women, total commitment to Jesus Christ. identifying openly with the condemned in the face of power, full Roman power. It's clear that they saw in Jesus already before the resurrection. one worthy of sacrifice, danger, public affection in the face of public humiliation and repudiation. We know that Mary Magdalene was one from whom seven demons had been cast out and she loved Jesus much. We know that his mother is there, the one again who pondered all these things and kept them in her heart. And in that hour of shame and disgrace without the glory of the resurrection, they are by the cross. publicly identifying themselves with the shameful death of the cross and the condemned one. Well, as they're there, they have a window into the beauty of his character. Remember the weighty question, what is Jesus like? And if I know what Jesus is like, then in him, I come to know the Father. First see his total commitment to the will of his father, his commitment to the glory of God. At the cross in this scene where we have Jesus' mother in particular and his beloved disciple, we see the total commitment of Jesus Christ to the mission that he has been called to, that is to die and to lay down his life for sinners. He's willing to leave his closest to bear the cross, And here in particular, he keeps as his first priority the mission that his father had given him. This I have received from my father, to lay down my life and to take it up again. John 10 and verse 18. He was single-mindedly dedicated that the world may know that I love the Father to laying down his life. This pattern in the life of Jesus is instructive to us. He is always fixed on the glory of God. The pattern of his life is worship to the Father. Afterwards, he considers others in an inferior place to God, Calvin writes. God first, love to God first, and then love to our neighbor. As a matter of fact, it was our Savior who said that to follow the way of the kingdom and the way of the cross might mean leaving behind father, mother, children, and lands. And here he goes to the cross and he leaves everything behind. He's living the reality. Calvin writes, when we have obeyed God, it will then be the proper time to think about parents and wife and children. Christ attends to his mother here, but only it is after he is on the cross to which he has first been called by his father's decree. First thing we see in Jesus is a single-minded commitment to the glory of God. But the second thing we see in Jesus is his personal affection and tender love for his own. The general note already here, you have to be able to see this in the scene. What do you have? You have the disciple whom Jesus loved, his mother Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene there. And you have the one who is on the cross to bear atonement for their sins. Already in the scene itself, you have something, the affection of Jesus, that He is bearing the sins of His disciples who are there before His face. He was dying for them, for His mother, for Mary, for John. But there's a second window in the heart of Christ in how He speaks, particularly to His mother. If you consider again the agony of the cross and the scope of His mission, to bear the eternal wrath of God against sin. to destroy the works of the devil, to vanquish all that is evil in the cosmos, and then soon to rise the victor. In other words, the grand work of redemption encompassing the whole of the cosmos and the bearing of being the wrath bearer, the sin bearer on the cross at that moment in that reality, in the scope of that hour against those powers, At that moment on the cross, he looks down and sees his mother and he says, woman, behold your son. We just read a moment ago from Psalm 22. And Psalm 22 is the inspired insight into the mind of Jesus Christ while he was on the cross. In other words, what was he thinking, how was he praying, what was he seeing? Look at verses nine through 11. There's his mother. He's praying to his father. And he says these words. But you, Father, are he who took me out of the womb. You made me trust while on my mother's breasts. I was cast upon you from birth. From my mother's womb you have been, my God. Be not far from me for trouble is near and there is none to help. Here's his mother who carried him, who bore him, who wrapped him in swaddling claws and laid him in a manger. Who taught him his first words, who witnessed his first steps. Who watched and pondered his ministry and is there again and again through the gospels. who watched the living word perform his miracles, who sat under his teaching, but was yet his mother. He had come born of a woman. In chapter 13, he said to his disciples, now I'm leaving. I came from heaven, I'm returning to heaven. And he's leaving. Here's the complexity and glory, the wonder of the incarnation. He's leaving his mother behind. So he made arrangements for her. Woman, behold your son, pointing to the beloved disciple, that he would be her son. And then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her into his own home. He makes arrangements for her care, knowing that he will ascend into heaven. And on the cross, fulfilling all righteousness, Jesus obeys the command, honor your father and your mother with an act of tender, compassionate love, fulfilling all righteousness. Verse 28, after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, a necessary final act leading to the final pronouncements and the words, it is finished. Necessary to fulfill all righteousness. and also necessary that he would demonstrate the tender love of a Savior dying on the cross. Calvin having completed the course of human life, he now in saying, woman, and passing her to his beloved disciple, He lays down the condition in which he had lived, the condition of humiliation, and he prepares to enter into the heavenly kingdom, reminding his mother and all of us of her need for his intercession, and going to exercise dominion over all angels and all men. Some concluding lessons, two of them. Through all of this, Through all of this, see the loveliness and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. But see also his obedience to fulfill all righteousness, his obedience to God. Sometimes some of you young men might have a problem in how you relate to your mothers. You perhaps tend to argue with them, not to honor them. not to obey them. It's not just young men. Young men seem to be particularly prone to this problem, but young women as well. And here in Jesus, in the very last moments of his life, just before he says it is finished and he gives up his spirit, Again, is our righteousness fulfilling the law perfectly and sets before us what it means to live the cross-shaped life, which is perfect obedience to God. If you're a Christian, a Christ follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ, some echo of this tenderness, love, and obedience should be in your life. And if this, children, is how Jesus Christ honored his mother while bearing our sins of dishonor on the cross and the agony of his suffering. How much more should you, out of the love and loveliness of Christ, not readily and quickly obey your father and mother and honor them? But far weightier. The character of Jesus, the one on the cross. What was he doing? Providing atonement. A moment ago, you saw the waters of baptism, which reminded you of your most basic need, that you would be cleansed. That you, being a sinner, rightly under the wrath of God, that you would have your sins washed away. And that's what Jesus was doing here on the cross. He was offering himself as sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. And when you see this about Jesus, the atonement, the atoning work of the cross, the one who is reconciling us to God, the one who is paying the price we couldn't pay, already then, when you see this, the work that He's come to do, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, when you see this, you ought to be, and God forbid if you are not, compelled to run to Him, believe in Him, and trust in Him for the salvation of your souls. And if you haven't done that, You stand naked still in your sins and under the wrath of God. So I'd urge you this morning to run to Jesus Christ, that you'd pray to him and ask him to cleanse you from all your sins. And if you've never done so and you don't know what to say, find a Christian friend, read the word, pray for the spirit's health. and bow before Jesus, the only atoning sacrifice for sin and the one who provides righteousness for sinners, the righteousness on display to his very last breath. But then add to this again, not only what he's done, but who he is. There's an old hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. There's many old hymns that are rooted in meditation on the character of Jesus, particularly at the cross. What a friend we have in Jesus, or beautiful Savior, or oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. And so many of these hymns have the same theme. There's a captivation. with the loveliness of Jesus Christ, with His tenderness, His compassion, His patience, and His humility, seeing in Him, in His shameful, painful death of the cross, the love of God, the mercy of God, the goodness of God, the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Who can find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? The one who said, woman, behold your son, and to the disciple, behold your mother, in condescending tenderness in his hour of greatest need, presently rules from the throne of the universe. If his atoning work does not cause you to run to him, how about his atoning work and the window into the character of the one who is atoned for you, they go together. And can you not see then to hold him at arm's length is to hold the very loveliness and mercy of God at arm's length. Deeper yet, if you were to ask the fundamental question, what is God like? What is the nature of his character? Indeed, he is the one who is slow to anger, abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. His glory is in his goodness. And his goodness at the cross shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Again, behold the living word on the cross. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we again this morning consider our Savior and His tenderness, His love, His compassion, His affection. Lord, we are again drawn to Him with confidence. Lord, we consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners. And in considering Him, we indeed have Come again to confess that you are light and you there is no darkness at all. That you are a God who is love. And your loveliness you declared to the world in your son or father at the cross. We pray that as we meditate on the details, ponder the contours of the cross work of Jesus Christ. that we again would be filled with joy in believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God, that he whom we have not yet seen, Lord, that we would love him and find in him salvation for our souls for time and for eternity. We praise you for the covenant of grace that all your promises are yes and amen in him. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.