I invite you to now reach for your Bibles and turn with me to the book of John, John chapter 19, for our passage this morning. Today we're gonna be looking at verses 16 to 30, where we have made it in John's gospel to the crucifixion. At this point, the trials are over. The Jews have won. and their minds a great battle against Pilate, and have been given permission to carry out this act." Now, John covers this moment differently, and I'm gonna say more about that here in just a moment. But he does give us specific details, facts, names, dates, peoples, places. And while we may not be as familiar with them, know that the early readers of the church would have. They would have known where Golgotha was. They would have known Pilate by name. They would have known this ritual or this festival or this place. And while they may be unfamiliar to us, they actually serve as historical markers as as evidence to the historical accuracy of what took place. And I don't want that to be affected as we read the different gospels and see things through a different lens. But one of the reasons we need to note this is what you're hearing this morning is historically, factually true. John's gospel is meant to be read as a historical document and to be taken for what it says. There's a little bit more I wanna say about that, but before I do, would you please follow along with me? And as you know, John, the way the verses are broken up, we pick up the second half of verse 16, but I'll go ahead and start in verse 16 and read it through the 30th verse. So he delivered him over to be crucified. So they took Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but rather, this man said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. This is to fulfill what the scriptures say. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. So the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and 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. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, to fulfill the scripture, I thirst. A jar of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Would you please bow with me as we go before him in prayer? Almighty God, we read this morning the most significant moment in history. One of the most critical, one of the most important, one of the most prophesied, one of the most needed. There is a weight that comes with this passage, Lord. And I do not pray that you take it away from us, but that you help us see the significance of it. May we feel the tension. May we feel that weight. May we see our sin and all the more may we see our Savior. I pray, oh Lord, for these next few moments that you would give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear your truth this day for your glory and for our good. I pray this in Christ Jesus' name, amen. This is one of those moments that is recorded in all four gospel accounts. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all give us from their perspective or from their researching and reaching out to firsthand witnesses what took place. And each one highlights, like I said, different aspects of this moment. I will confess to you, preaching the crucifixion is hard. This, at this point, will be my second of the Gospels to go through, almost in its entirety. When we started our church plan in Lee's Summit, we did Luke, and now we're doing John. And sometimes when we read scripture, the application of the text is simple. If you were with us in our Sunday school hour, we read of the parable of the unforgiving servant. The application of that passage is simple. We are called to forgive, not just once, not just seven times, but seven times, 70 times. And I love what R.C. said, if you truly do forgive, the next time you start back at one, not two. There's clear application. We can read the text, we can come to a point. Sometimes application is difficult. This morning we do not read this and conclude we should be crucified like Christ. We do not follow in his footsteps in a sense because we're not Christ. And in three of the four points that we're gonna get to in just a moment, really the application is this. Behold your Savior. Just like we said last week, we are to see and feel and consider what Christ went through. Well, how is that application, pastor? Because then that should affect how you go and live. And so my plea with you this morning, we have got to deeply and truly weigh this passage. And it's not gonna be read this and then go do this, it's more feel this and then live accordingly. Now we'll say there is one specific point of application this morning we'll make when we get to the third point, but as a whole, what I want us to do this morning is feel this text and then go and live accordingly. We've got four actions in our text that happen over the course of our passage. First, I want us to see that the king is revealed in a mocking truth. Secondly, I want us to see that Jesus fulfills what has been promised. Thirdly, Jesus shows compassion amidst suffering. And then finally, the cost of sin is paid in full. So as we weigh this text, let's do so beginning with the king being revealed in a mocking truth. Our text, depending on where you start, like I said, 16's broken in half, but 16 ends, or the last section ends with the first half of 16, they delivered him over to be crucified. That tells us the situation with Pilate's over, the debate is done, Pilate has given the Jews the authority to carry out their desires, namely crucifixion of Jesus, which they did not have authority to do on their own. And from here, we do get a very abbreviated view of the crucifixion. And I'll make one more note that Dr. R.C. Sproul makes here. We're gonna try for the next few moments to stay in John. But to fully appreciate what we're gonna read in John this morning, you really need to go home and read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as John intends. He intends to be the book to fill in the gaps. But because we're looking at this passage, I'm gonna try to focus here. And so there may be aspects or events or moments that we don't talk about this morning. That's not to say they didn't happen. That's not to say they're not significant. But we really need to try to stay tight to what John does tell us. Because there's some interesting things that John brings to light. So with that said, we read these words. Again, they took Jesus, he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull in Aramaic Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between. Sometimes when we think about this scene, we think about Jesus dragging that T-shaped cross through the town and up the hill. That would not have been Roman practice. Common practice in the Roman times and in Roman culture would have been the vertical post would have been placed in the ground beforehand. The horizontal post would then placed on the back of the criminal and lashed to them. And so they're carrying the bar of the cross. That does not make it less weighty or less significant. But we need to think technically and we need to think technically about Roman practice. Because when that T-post was brought to the place, it would have been nailed to the vertical post. And then sometimes the hands of the criminals were bound, sometimes they were nailed. And if you've studied this for any length of time, you know there's a great debate on was it through his hand or was it through his wrist because the muscles in the hand may or may not have been strong enough to hold the body up. I don't know. I can't solve that one for you. The scriptures say his hands were pierced. I tend to believe what it says. But another one, and this one had baffled me for a long time, how on earth were his feet pierced? How did that work? I don't understand the mechanics there. Well, again, if we look technically at Roman crucifixion, it was often the case that a footrest was placed at the bottom of the criminal. Now that may sound like a mercy, even though they're being pierced or nailed through that footrest. But if you look into it, and I don't wanna linger on this too long, but we need to understand, more often than not, the cause of death upon the cross was asphyxiation. You died by suffocating because you could not breathe. And fluid would build up and you would choke to death. And so the Romans, being clever and masters of torture and of death, found out that if you put a foot rest, particularly if it's just too high or too low, the criminal then could with great force and will and pain get a little more air, thus prolonging the act of death. These are not friendly people. This is not a friendly act. This is a, remarkably cruel form of torture and death that Romans did well. Another thing we see here and we note about the Romans in their practice, it was not an exclusive act. It wasn't something that was rarely used. We're told in the text there were two beside Jesus, one on his right, one on his left. They were criminals. The Romans seemed to use this practice liberally. They were experts at it. And when they felt the need, they enacted this practice. It wasn't just reserved for the most special of occasions. In fact, that's part of the cruelty. This is just a way of killing. All of that being true and all of that that may help paint a bigger or better picture for us, John doesn't even focus really on any of that. John's most interested in what Pilate does. In the sign that Pilate puts on the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And we note many read it. The place of crucifixion was near the city. The sign that Pilate wrote was in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. This upsets the chief priest. Don't put that. But he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And Pilate says, I have done what I have done. Now again, if we look at the technicality of crucifixion, it was customary to put the charges above the criminal. So that as people came by, they could see, what has this person done? Why are you here? Pilate, He's kind of over everything at this point. You can read it in here. He doesn't care what the Jews like or don't like, what the Jews think or don't think. He writes Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews and they complain and he's like, hey, we're done with all this. I've tolerated y'all long enough. I wrote what I wrote, get over it. And Pilate is very clever too. You can see the disdain. He wrote it in Aramaic so the Jews could read it. He wrote it in Greek so that the Gentiles could read it. And he wrote it in Latin so that the Roman soldiers could read it. He wanted everyone to know, anyone that had a difference, there was no Google Translate, so he made sure that everybody that could read could read that sign. Let me ask you something. What was the charge for which Jesus was condemned? For the custom stated the charge was to be written. I want you to see something this morning. I believe and I'm convinced that Pilate did write the charge for conviction above Jesus. Because what was it Jesus was truly crucified for? being Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Pilate didn't even realize how clever he was being. He didn't realize what he was doing, but isn't it true that what Jesus was truly crucified for is being who he said he was? And so almost in an ironic way, Pilate accurately does what he customarily does. Behold this man, the King of the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth. Mocking truth is what I called it in my notes. Mocking truth. And then here's the part that we cannot forget in all of this as well. Even this was part of the plan. Even this was according to God's will Jesus was there by intention. Jesus was there because he needed to be there. Jesus was there because he is indeed the king. And he does this, not loosely but specifically, and he does it in fulfillment of specific prophecies. Let's look at our second point here to see that. John records this part well. What happens to Jesus in this whole process has been nothing short of undignified and cruel. Again, to look at Roman practice, Jesus, as custom, would have been stripped naked. As much shame and punishment and belittlement as they could put into crucifixion, they would. This is how the soldiers are then able to divide up his possessions. his garments. Earthly speaking, that's all he had. And one got the shoes, and one got the undercoat, and one got the belt, and one got the sash, and then they get to the cloak, or the tunic, and they say, well, this is really nice. We don't wanna cut this up. There's no seams in it. This is well done. Let's gamble for it. And can you imagine Just the humiliation of that, your earthly possessions, all you've accrued in this life, all that you have left, you're sitting there dying by suffocation and you're watching people divide your stuff. You take that, no, that's what I want. Here's, this is mine. But even that, and even the cruelty of it, was prophesied. John tells us, this is to fulfill the scriptures. They divided my garment among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. We ask ourselves, where does that quotation come from? Well, it comes from Psalm 22, one of the most important psalms in all of scripture to understand the crucifixion. To understand the crucifixion of Jesus, you've got to understand Psalm 22. In that psalm, we read these words. I think it's verse 18. And here's the beauty of it. That psalm was a psalm written by David. Ultimately, it was written by the Lord. But if you go back to Psalm 22, which by the way, the title of that psalm, famous words that you would read in the other gospel accounts, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? You've heard those words quoted and Jesus himself says it on the cross. Well, what was he doing? He was giving you the title of a psalm. Which one? Psalm 22. And if you read the crucifixion account and then go back to Psalm 22, you realize David unknowingly by the spirit of God was describing the act of crucifixion. I've been abandoned and left alone. My enemies encircle me. Gentiles, which would be Romans, encompass me. They divide my garments. You really do, it is truly fascinating to read the crucifixion and then go back to Psalm 22. And I'm not saying that David wasn't speaking true of what was going on in his life, that Psalm should be read as it was intended, but it is fascinating to see that years and years and years before there were Romans, before they had ever been thought of and before they certainly had ever thought of crucifixion, the Lord in his wisdom describes it and prophesies that it would take place. There are so many prophecies fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ, but John narrows in on this one. And one thing I will say about Psalm 22, and it is true, the first three-fourths of that psalm is a lament and is a psalm of sorrow over what's happening, but you cannot neglect the last section. It ends with hope. but my God is faithful, but my God will deliver me, but my God will be there for me, but my God will do what he says he will do. And so even as Jesus cries out that psalm, even as we see the fulfillment of the scriptures of that psalm taking place, don't miss even then Jesus knew hope was coming. And while we're talking about prophecy, I wanna draw your attention to something that may not be as apparent. I saw it this week and it really opened my eyes. There's a lot of connections between Jesus and Adam. Jesus is the second Adam. He's the one to come and do what Adam failed to do in the garden. He's the one to fulfill what was promised in Genesis chapter three, that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent But I want you to think about this. What was said of Adam and Eve in the garden at the end of chapter two, they dwelt in the garden with God and they were both naked and unashamed. Now why was that? Was it because they were ignorant? Well, partially, but more than that, because there was nothing between them and God. They could bear themselves before God because there was not shame of sin and guilt and disappointment and disobedience. We know that because as soon as the sin happened, what's the first thing they do? They run and try to find clothes. I don't think we're to miss the fact that Jesus is stripped naked here and he's bare before the world and bare before God. Yes, it was an act of cruelty on the hands of the Romans, but also, isn't it true that Jesus and Jesus alone could have stood there naked before God and been unashamed? Isn't it true that he and he alone could stand there without guilt before the Father because he has violated no law and broken no command? Isn't it true that if he did feel any guilt, It was through the sin that was placed upon him. It was our guilt and our shame and our sorrow and our sadness. When we think about Jesus on the cross, we have to see he in our place and us in his. What was Jesus doing but taking us back, and really that's not accurate enough, because he takes us to a place beyond what they had in the garden, but he's taking us back to where we were a place of wholeness and completeness, an unashamed relationship between man and his God. Dear brothers and sisters, behold your God. Behold what your God was willing to do for you. And let me say this as an application here, let go of your shame. and of your guilt over your sin. If you are a Christian, if you hold Christ as your savior, and if he has bought your sin and paid for it on the cross, that payment is made. We bear that sin no more. Now that's not a free check to do what we want, and that's not to say there will not be consequences for our sin, but it is to say so many of us are carrying around something that has already been paid for. And that does terrible things to our mindsets, I promise. I wanna show you something else about the cross. And here, I think, is the most interesting section of what we've read. Let's look at our third point. It is interesting, and it is also the most difficult. Not difficult because it's painful, but difficult because it's unusual. standing by the cross of Jesus where his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. There's a debate amongst the commentaries but we believe that's at least four women. Also, the disciple whom he loved. Now remember, John has some odd aversion with using his own name. But he is classified in John's gospel as the one whom Jesus loved. So this is John, the author. So these people are present. And they're present close enough to the crucifixion that they can speak to Jesus. So we're in the middle of a moment of untold horror and agony and pain for Jesus as he is slowly suffocating to death, as his body is being pulled apart. And Jesus stops. He wills himself together in the middle of that moment and stops to look to his mother. Woman, behold your son. I mentioned this when I talked about the Jesus turning water to wine. I grew up in the South. If I said this, I would have been in a lot of trouble. But we don't read it the way that we would say that. If you say woman to someone, that's a dishonor. It would be better translated in their context or culture, dear woman, behold your son. And remember here, he's not saying behold me, he's saying behold John, the author of this book. And then in likewise, he says to John, John, behold your mother. Now I don't have time to go into it this morning, but the Roman Catholics do They turned this into a phenomenal text to make Mary even greater than she already was in their views and their theology. That is not what's going on here. Not at all. This is a man who loves his mother and wants to make sure that she is cared for after he's gone. We know it reads that way and not otherwise, because note how that section ends. John takes her to his house. Mary doesn't gather all of the disciples and bring them to her house and mother them. He takes her to his house. Now, reading in this, and maybe you've heard this before, is that Joseph is dead at this point. Some people believe that Joseph died early in Jesus's ministry. We don't know that for certain, but I am inclined to think so, because he's never mentioned. And I just have a hard time believing that all throughout Jesus's ministry, and certainly during his crucifixion, that Joseph, had he been alive, would not be around. And so you look at a widow, you look at someone who's gonna need caring for and needing protection, and you see Jesus fulfilling that. And not just that, what do we read? What is the fifth commandment? Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long along this earth. Jesus is fulfilling the commandments of God. He is doing what he wrote, because he's the author. He's fulfilling his own commandments. This is the one I told you has a directly applicable context to it. If Jesus is willing to pause the act of his own death, one of the most important and significant moments in all of human history, to care for his mother, how much more so are we called to care for our families and for our loved ones in all circumstances? Jesus shows us here what true compassion looks like. May we go and do the same. And then, with just a few words, John completes this moment. We see in our fourth point, these last three verses, the most significant moment in human history, the greatest act of love and of sacrifice, Jesus says he's thirsty. And so they bring him sour wine on a piece of hyssop. That was to fulfill scripture. And where does that quotation come from? Guess what? Psalm 22. And when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Please note, Jesus gave up his spirit. Jesus willingly died. What he did was intentional. Not that it will be finished, not that it was partially finished, but it is finished. There's absolute completion in these words. The Savior, the King of the Jews had died. Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross as a sacrifice for the sins of his people. Lord willing, we will pick up next time and think more about this sacrificial death. But for now, consider this. With those words, everything Jesus had set out to do, he did. He fulfilled it as it was prophesied. All according to the plan of God. And oh, I cannot tell y'all how hard it is. Every time I get to the crucifixion, I just wanna do the next chapter right now. Like, I don't wanna wait. I hate the moment, the pause between crucifixion and resurrection. It will pain me. And we've got a guest speaker next Sunday, so it's gonna pain me for two weeks. Maybe even three. but I really believe John intends for us to sit here for a while. Dear Christian, if you hold Christ as your Lord and Savior, Jesus died for you. Died, really and truly died. If you are here today and you do not know Christ as Lord, this is your fate. You will stand in judgment before God. And God was so willing to punish sin, he condemned his own son. When sin was transferred to him, God gladly killed him. Gladly, and I don't believe that's blasphemous to say so. Because sin leads to death. And if you do not know God and you are here today, you need to weigh on this. This needs to weigh on you too. But for us who know Christ, it's a beautiful weight. It's a weight that we do feel it and we feel the guilt and we feel the sadness, but we then can cast it to Jesus. If you don't know Christ, you bear all of this. And it may weigh heavy on you. There is an escape, there is hope, and that is found in going to the one you feel convicted by. Come to Jesus, find that freedom, reflect upon the cross and what has taken place to pay for the sins of the people of God. And the last thing I'll say this morning on the matter, if you were in Christ, it was for you. He died for the church, we know that. But individually, really and truly, specifically, it was for you. What a savior. What a king. What a friend. Please bow with me. These are heavy words. But they are words of our freedom. They are words of our forgiveness. They are words that detail how far Christ was willing to go for the sake of his people. We praise you, God, for this great work of salvation. I pray that we do reflect upon it and it does weigh upon our minds and our hearts. But I pray it's not the grief or the guilt, but it's the awe, how wonderful our God is. He would go through this for sinners like me. Lord, I do pray for those that are here that may not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. May this weigh over them as well. But may it be a stone of judgment hanging over their heads. May the guilt weigh them down to the ground so that they will bow the knee, that they will surrender their lives and let go and let go of their plans and schemes and desires, and give it all to you, God, that you may make their lives new. Lord, you're capable. We know that your will will be done. We, your people, have heard your word. Use it, Lord, for your glory and for our good. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.