As we continue this morning through our series in the Gospel of John, we come to the most solemn part of Jesus' life and ministry here on earth. Because in the verses we will look at in John 19, in John chapter 19, we come to the very hour that Jesus promised and prophesied would come. It was the very hour in which he would be lifted up from this world which would become, at the same time, not only the greatest point of his humiliation in this world, it would also be the very first step of his exaltation back to heaven. If you remember, as we've gone through the Gospel of John, we've seen this prophecy of Jesus. All the way back in chapter 3, verse 14, Jesus told that old Jewish leader, Nicodemus, that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That time had come. Then in chapter eight, verse 28, Jesus told the Jews, when you have lifted up the son of man, then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself. But as my father hath taught me, I speak these things. That time in John 19 has come. And then in chapter 12, verse 32, Jesus says, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. And so the time of Jesus is lifting up from this earth has finally come. And after Pilate made his decision, which we considered last time, after ignoring all the claims that Jesus made, after ignoring all the character that Jesus showed, even after being scourged and questioned before him, and even after Jesus' own call to Pilate's conscience, we find what happens next in verses 16 through 22 of John chapter 19, which will be our text. John 19, beginning there in verse 16, delivered he, Pilate, him, Jesus, therefore unto them, the Jews as well as the soldiers that were under their supervision, then delivered he, him, therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull. which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. And it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Now even though we can learn a lot more about what happened, when Jesus was crucified from the other gospel accounts, Matthew and Mark and Luke. Here we have a unique perspective from John who was not only an eyewitness of the things that he wrote, he also wanted to highlight. Highlight some things about the passion of Jesus that we've already learned something about, but as we will continue through this chapter, we'll learn more about. He wanted to highlight some things that would fulfill his own purpose for writing the gospel of John. And of course, we began our entire series in the Gospel of John looking at the very purpose of John, and that was in chapter 20, verse 31. You can turn there if you want, it's just probably a page back. But in John 20, 31, John says, this is why I wrote. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. That's the purpose of the entire Gospel of John. That's the purpose of why he, though he was an eyewitness of so many things that Jesus said and so many things that Jesus did, wanted to highlight certain things so that we might have faith in the one who is the Son of God and who did come to give his life for us. So here in chapter 19, the details that John highlights are meant to confirm the claims, confirm the character, and even confirm the call of Jesus that Jesus made all throughout His life to bring sinners to salvation through Him. And He does that even here while He's on the cross. And one of the details is what we find going on in the very middle of our passage. There in verse 18 that we read, when Jesus is finally crucified, after all of the trials are passed, even after His scourging is done, now He is being crucified, and He's put right in the middle, right in the midst of two others. Two others who deserve to be there, because we learn from the other gospel accounts that they were robbers, they were murderers, they were terrorists, and they belonged on their crosses. But Jesus remained blameless, without fault, even according to the judgment of Pilate himself. But where is Jesus? Where is Jesus now? Jesus, at the time and place of his death, is in the same place that he was in his whole life. And that is in the midst, right in the midst, right in the middle of sinners. You see that there? Jesus was crucified in the midst of them. And you know, that was okay with Jesus. After all, Jesus came to save sinners. After all, Jesus came and ate with sinners. And He came and ate with sinners, not to condone their sin, but to rather save them from their sin. And it was okay with Him to be in the midst of sinners, dying there on the cross, because that was the very purpose for His coming. In Mark 2, 17, Jesus even says, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. And there on either side of Him, as He is hanging on His own cross, were two men who were in need of a physician, a spiritual physician. And then he adds, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And there Jesus is once again, as in life, so in death, hanging on the cross in the midst, right in the middle of sinners. And so as his life began, so his life will end with Jesus in the midst. And as we see him this way in the verses that we just read, we will discover that whenever Jesus comes into the midst of sinners, he will reveal some things. He will reveal some truth, truth about us as sinners, and truth about Himself. And so, as we come now to the end of all of those so-called trials of Jesus, obviously John only highlights a few of them, the one before Annas and the one before Pilate. The other gospel accounts show us that there was another trial before the Sanhedrin, before Caiaphas the high priest, and even before King Herod. Here we have at the end of all of these so-called trials in verse 16, Pilate, that Roman governor, who's the only one who could make the decision of Jesus' death, makes his final choice. And it was a choice not for Jesus, nor was it even for the Jews. It was a decision and a choice for himself. Any respect that Pilate might have had for Jesus at this point was gone. He was moved more by the calls and cries of men than even the call of God on his own heart and on his own conscience. And so once again, Jesus is in the midst of Pilate and the Jews. He's in the midst there, especially between Pilate and those priests. And we can even see that there in the wording of that first verse that we read there in verse 16. When we were told, then delivered he, Pilate, on one side, him, Jesus, in the middle, therefore unto them, the high priests and the leaders of the Jews, on the other side, to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. So where's Jesus again? Even according to these words in this verse, Jesus is right in the middle of those centers, right in between pilot and the priest. And he is there. And as he's there, he first of all reveals to them and to us our true problem, our true problem. You know, sometimes when you have a close relationship with someone, something might come into your path or into your way or even between you, that brings out your true character and that might even destroy that friendship and that relationship. You know, for friends, you know, sometimes you can be really close friends until there's some kind of disagreement that gets between you. And that disagreement will reveal your true character and really what kind of true friend you are. and how that friendship will continue. Or maybe if you're a husband and a wife, you get married and you're living in that honeymoon stage, not just for that week, but probably for months and hopefully for years after, but usually what happens with a husband and a wife is something gets in between them. And usually those are children, right? And when those children get right in the middle of parents, and sometimes they know how to play parent against parent, the true character of those parents comes out as well. This is one of the reasons why Jesus came from heaven, in order to get in the middle of sinners, to get in the midst of sinners in this world so that he might reveal our true character and our true problem, which is sin. Jesus came from heaven to earth while we were just living our own merry way, living in our own sins, living according to our own care, and he got in the way of that to reveal who we really are, to reveal our true character and our true problem, which is sin. What is sin? We know from the scripture that sin is the transgression of the law. It is the transgression of God's commandments, God's word. And not just the ten commandments that we find in Exodus chapter 20, but all of the word of God that expresses all of the will of God that we find in this scripture. And so even the things that we might think is the smallest transgression, Jesus came to reveal even through his coming into this world. And this problem can be seen in our text even through the deliverance of Jesus by both Pilate and the priests to be killed. the deliverance of Jesus. Now, the word deliver here in this verse, in verse 16, is the same word that is used for when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and delivered Jesus into the hands of sinners. In fact, that word deliver is found most of the time referring to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, who had showed him all that love and all that kindness. Judas was even one, if you remember, earlier that night, where Jesus took his own feet in his hands and washed them with his own hands. That was Judas. He delivered over Jesus and betrayed Jesus into the hands of sinners. But what Pilate does here in delivering Jesus himself is what Judas and the Jews all did first. That's why Jesus tells Pilate in verse 11, which we saw last time, So did Judas sin against the Lord? Absolutely. Did Caiaphas sin against the Lord by betraying the Lord and delivering the Lord to Pilate's hand? Absolutely. But even though the guilt of those high priests was greater than the guilt of Pilate, Pilate himself was guilty of sin against Jesus because he, too, delivered Jesus over to death. And they all did so with hearts full of malice and with murder. And so when Pilate finally delivers Jesus over to the wishes of the Jews, what happens, verse 16? They take Jesus and they lead him away. In Luke 23-25, Luke records that Pilate delivered Jesus over to their own will, to what they wanted to do with Jesus from the very beginning. This was their will that was exposed by Jesus countless times through his ministry. How many times as we went through the Gospel of John where we learned that the Jews, and especially the leaders of the Jews, just wanted to kill Jesus? After hearing his claims, after seeing his works, after understanding all of the miracles and wonders that he did, they actually wanted to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 7-1, we're told that the Jews sought to kill him. And in John 7-19, Jesus even asked them, why do you go about to kill me? It wasn't a surprise what these people wanted to do with Jesus. And now, finally, the Jews get their will. and they get their wish granted. And instead of receiving Jesus for the life that he came to give them, in fact, if you remember all the way back to chapter one, verse 11, where John says that Jesus came unto his own, but his own received him not. Jesus came to give them life, and he was offering it to them through his words and through his works, and they didn't receive it. But what do they do here in verse 16? They receive him. It's actually the same word. They take him and lead him to his death. They reject his life and they receive him to his death. And that's what Jesus came to expose when He came into the midst of sinners. He came to expose all of their sin and all of our sin. He came to expose all of their guilt and He came to expose all of our guilt. And that is our problem, our sin. When anyone is confronted with the truths about Jesus or the truths of God's Word or the truth about the gospel, they're either going to go one way or the other. The way they've already been going, or they have a choice to make, by God's grace, through faith in Christ as their Savior. But this problem of sin can also be seen not only through the deliverance of Jesus, again, by Judas, by Caiaphas, by Pilate himself, it can also be seen through the death of Jesus that all starts with his crucifixion there in verses 17 and 18, because after the Jews take him, and again, probably use the soldiers that were given under their care, We find verse 17, Jesus, he bearing his cross, that old rugged cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him. Now, crucifixion was the chosen method of execution by the Romans. As one writer says, it was known for being synonymous with horror and shame. A death inflicted on slaves, bandits, prisoners of war, and revolutionaries. Josephus, the Jewish historian, called crucifixion the most pitiable of deaths. And then the Roman statesman Cicero says about crucifixion that it was that cruel and disgusting penalty. So by both Jews and Romans, crucifixion was a horrific form of death. But as horrible as it was, neither John nor the other gospel writers dwell much on the procedure and method of crucifixion. Instead, they focus on the meaning of Jesus's crucifixion and death. And that's why when we come to this verse, verse 17, bearing his cross, or verse 18, he just encapsulates it with just that one word, crucified. They crucified him. John wants us to not focus on all of the details of the suffering. but rather on the meaning of that suffering, and the meaning of the cross, and the meaning of the death. And that's what John does here for us, even as Jesus, again there in verse 17, started out bearing his cross. Now, of course, we know from the other Gospels that later on, probably not too far after this time where Jesus starts off with the cross, it's carried by a man named Simon of Cyrene, because Jesus was suffering and weak because of that painful scourging by the hand of Pilate. But Jesus did start out bearing his own cross. Many believe it was just the top part of that cross, which would then be hoisted up to the main beam that is already in the ground. But even if he's just carrying that, imagine his emaciated body and the weakness that he was experiencing as he was heading that way to the place of crucifixion. And doesn't that picture remind us of the time when his own great father, Abraham, led his only son, Isaac, to be sacrificed in a place not far from where Jesus suffered that very day? In Genesis chapter 22, we learn that Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son, even as Abraham took the fire for that sacrifice in his hand, and even a knife, because Abraham believed that God would provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. What Isaac did in his day. Jesus does now, carrying the wood of his own sacrifice, of his own offering for our problem of sin, not his. Isaac would have deserved the judgment of God, but not Jesus. And yet, the type that we have in the Old Testament is what is fulfilled here in Jesus right in the New Testament. The very sacrifice that Abraham was looking for God to provide is now marching the way to the cross. But also John wants us to know that the place of crucifixion here is called the place of what? The place of a skull. In the Greek language, it is cranium. And I think sometimes if you've done any biology or anatomy, you know that the cranium is the head. The cranium is the skull. And John points out in Hebrew or the Aramaic language, which was the language of the people in that day, the Jewish people, it was Golgotha. We also know the name of the place in Latin, which is Calvary. All three of those words mean skull. So the place of the skull is cranium in the Greek language, Golgotha in the Aramaic language, and Calvary in the Latin language. It can mean the skull or even the skull cap, the crown of the skull. We can't be entirely sure why this place of execution was called this. It may have looked the part of a skull. It may have been a place where skulls had been buried and scattered. We're not exactly sure. A lot of the topography of Jerusalem has been lost because of what happened in AD 70. But John wants us here to see a contrast, whether we know what Jerusalem was like back then or not. He wants us to see a contrast between this place, the place of execution, and the previous place that he mentions all the way back in verse 13. Because in verse 13, he points out the place of Jesus's trial and the place of Jesus's judgment before Pilate. What was that called? What was that place called? Verse 13, Pilate sits down in the judgment seat, the bema, in a place that is called what? The pavement. And that, of course, is in Greek. But in the Hebrew, he points out, is Gabbatha. Now, what is the point of giving this information about the Hebrew and the Greek and maybe even the Latin as well? Obviously, John wants us to know that they're real places in a real time. And that if we were there with him at that time, he could point out exactly the place where Jesus had been tried and the place where Jesus was crucified. But I think there's even more to that. Because the word Gabbatha means and refers to a high point or a ridge of a hill or a mountain, actually does not mean pavement. It was describing a ridge just above the city. It was actually the place of Herod's temple in that day, or not Herod's temple, but Herod's palace. And Herod's palace actually became the Praetorium, which is where Pilate would have his Bema seat, where Pilate would live when he was in Jerusalem. It was a place of honor. And so what Jesus wants us to see from these two words in Hebrew is that Jesus came from the heights of Gabbatha, the heights of that ridge, the heights of Herod's palace, even to the depths of Golgotha, the place of the skull, in order to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus came from the place of honor, where Pilate lived and served, to a place of dishonor, even the place of a skull. He came from a place of exaltation, where Jesus should rightfully have been instead of Pilate, to the place of execution, where Pilate should have rightfully been instead of Jesus. Again, Jesus comes from Gabbatha to Golgotha in order to not only reveal the real problem that we all have, but even to redeem us from that problem, to redeem us from our sin through his crucifixion and death at the place of a skull. And so even as Jesus is there in the midst of Pilate and the priests, he was dealing with a sin problem of them and us all fully and finally for those who believe in him. He was dealing with our problem of sin. We picture his humiliation. We picture his humility in the place where he should have been honored. He's executed and killed and he reveals our biggest problem. But then, when we come to the rest of verse 18 and to verse 19, as Jesus is being crucified, we find him still in the midst of sinners, don't we? In the midst of sinners, as he hangs on the cross, we're told, with two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. In doing so, he also reveals his true purpose. His true purpose as the only savior of sinners, And we can learn this from the very placement of Jesus' cross right in between, right in the middle of those two notorious sinners who were crucified that same day and in the same place, but not for the same reasons. I had a lot of questions as I was thinking through this. I wonder when their trial was. I wonder if Pilate was involved in their trial and in their condemnation and their execution. Obviously it was the same place, it was the same time, but certainly not for the same crime. But how did they get there? We're not told. But the placement of Jesus right in the midst of those two men was actually another fulfillment of Scripture by the very ones who denied the truth about Jesus. Remember back in Isaiah chapter 53, that great chapter on the servant of God that was going to come to redeem us from our sin? In Isaiah 53, 12, it was said that the Messiah, the anointed one of God, would be numbered with the transgressors. And there we have John himself numbering Jesus with the transgressors. There's Jesus in the midst with one transgressor on either side of him. And of course, Jesus was not one of them. In Psalm 22, six, it was said that the assembly of the wicked would surround and enclose him, even as they would pierce his hands and his feet. And so what do we see? We see Jesus again in the midst, in the midst of sinners, in the midst of those two sinners. And in seeing them there, we find that there are only two ways that you can respond to the truth of Jesus. You can either receive him or reject him. And of course, from the other Gospels, we know that one thief on one cross did receive Him, while the other continued to reject Him. And so you can either turn to Jesus on His cross, or turn away from Jesus on your own cross. You can either repent from your sins and believe in Him, or hang on to your sins and continue to rebel against Him. You can either have life in heaven opened to you by Jesus, or you can keep death and hell as the just reward for your sin. Jesus, in the midst of sinners, requires a choice. The placement of Jesus reveals the true purpose of Jesus. He came to separate sinners and to save those who would believe in him. You know, there might be times in your life where there's a proverbial fork in the road. Have you ever seen pictures like that, where you have a choice to make? Where instead of going on, you either have to go to the right hand or to the left hand. You gotta take a right turn or a left turn. That's not the picture to see in your head when Jesus confronts you with who you are as a sinner and who he is as a savior. He's not talking about continuing on the same path that you're on, whether to the right hand or to the left hand. He's actually putting a great big U-turn in front of you and says, you've got to go back the way you've been going. You've got to go back to God instead of from God. And the fact is, we are all on that path. We are all on that path to destruction because of our sins. From the moment we're conceived to the very moment that we die, unless God Himself chooses to intervene in our hearts, we are on that path. It's not a right-hand choice or a left-hand choice, it's a U-turn choice. And that's what Jesus is doing here at the cross in the midst of the sinners. He's not just one of many choices. He's the only choice. He's the difference between going away from God and going to God. He's the difference between the broad way that leads to destruction and the narrow way that leads to life. But when you turn to and trust in Jesus, you can actually have the same hope that one of those men who died next to Jesus actually was given. Luke 23, 43 gives us that word from the cross to that sinner, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Is that not what we desire as Christians? That the world might know that there is another way, another path, and it's not right hand or left hand, it's not straight ahead, it's back. It's back to God through Jesus. And this is the true purpose of Jesus. This can be seen in the placement of Jesus's cross, but also, as we move on to verse 19, we can see this in the placement of Jesus's claims. Even the claims that we learn were placed right above his head. What was it that Pilate wrote about Jesus and put on the cross? Verse 19, the writing was, all caps, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Another way of putting that is Jesus, the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. Now, we already learned that Pilate, who wrote this about Jesus, or actually had someone write it for Jesus, did not believe in what he wrote. He may have believed that he was a man named Jesus. He may have believed that he was a man from Nazareth, but he did not believe that he truly was the King of the Jews. Instead, he wrote this not for Jesus and his honor, but for the Jews and their shame. Pilate was trying to taunt the very ones who pressured him into condemning Jesus to death. Pressure that even called into question his own loyalty to Rome and to Caesar himself. He was trying to taunt the Jews. And yet, in taunting the Jews, what comes out? the truth about Jesus, the truth about Christ. In the power and in the providence of God, what Pilate meant as a taunt was actually the truth about Jesus. And in just these few words, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, we find the true name and nature of Jesus on display for everyone who walked by that cross to read it and to hear about it. because Jesus's name really was Jesus. And his whole entire life, he lived true to that name. What does Jesus mean? What does the name Jesus mean? It simply means Jehovah saves. Jesus saves. It was the name given by an angel to Mary and Joseph when Jesus was born, when he tells them, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. It was no mistake to give Jesus this name. And then his nature, his nature was such that he was both the son of God and the son of man. As the son of man, he lived as a man. He lived as a man who grew up in the small and humble town of Nazareth. Of course, Jesus might've been known as a Nazarene because of where he grew up, but really, where was he born? The city of Kings, the city of Bethlehem. And yet he was known as a Nazarene A picture of his humility, a picture of his humility in coming from the heights of heaven, even into the world as a man. Remember all the way back in John 1 46 when Nathanael asked about Jesus, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? His good friend Philip answered and said, come and see. And not only did Nathanael, for the next three and a half years, see the truth about Jesus of Nazareth, so have we. As we've gone through this entire book and have explored the words of Jesus and the works of Jesus and the wonders of Jesus, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And you say, absolutely, the Lord Jesus did, even in his humility, even his humiliation, even as he came from Gabbatha to Golgotha, the place of honor to the place of hopeless execution. Yet there was something good that came out of Nazareth. In fact, something great, something great. He is the Son of Man, but also as the Son of God, He was still God in the flesh, who was and still is, the latter part of that title, the King of the Jews. But of course, we know that He's more than just the King of the Jews. Later on in Revelation, we learn that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's the King of all creation, and especially the King of those who are part of His true kingdom. The very kingdom that he told Pilate about in chapter 18, remember he said, you know, the kingdom that I have is not of this world, Pilate. But the members of that kingdom are those who believe in him. And so even as Jesus is there hanging on the cross in the midst of those two sinners, he continued to reveal in both an active way and a passive way his true purpose as the only savior in this world. Even what Pilate wrote about Jesus, proclaimed Jesus to the world. So when you are confronted by the name and nature of Jesus, or when anyone is confronted by the name and nature of Jesus, whether it's in Vacation Bible School, or whether it's people that you work with, or people that are in your neighborhood that you share the gospel with, or any other outreach that you might participate in, when someone is confronted by the name and nature of Jesus, they can only respond to him in one of two ways. depending on which side of the cross they are. You either respond to him, or you remain in your own condition of sin and disobedience to the Lord and his word. Because whenever you see Jesus in the midst of sinners, he continues to reveal some things about us. He reveals our true problem of sin, and he reveals his true purpose of salvation. Because Jesus will forever be what he said in John 14, six, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me." But then we find Jesus in the midst of Pilate and the priests again. And this is what we find there in verse 20, because what Pilate wrote about Jesus taunting the Jews, even though it was the truth about Jesus, caused quite a stir. Because what do we find happening? Even after he wrote it and placed it above Jesus' head, in verse 20, as Jesus is there on the cross, this title then read, many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near to the city. And it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Of course, we know the Hebrew or Aramaic language was the common language of the local people, the Jews of Judea, the Jews of Jerusalem. And so Pilate wanted them to get the message about what he was doing with Jesus. Greek was the international language at the time. I think English today is sort of that international language. It might not be so much anymore as it used to be. But Greek was the international language at the time. It was spoken and understood widely throughout the Roman Empire. And then, of course, Latin was the official language of Rome. And Pilate wanted to make sure his message about Jesus could be understood as widely as possible. He wanted the Jews to know about it, to teach them a lesson about who was still in charge. It wasn't them, it was Rome. But for the Jews who might have been there for the Passover festival, that were not living there, they might have been from other places. In fact, in the book of Acts we learn that there's Jewish settlements all throughout the Roman Empire, and they probably didn't know much Aramaic, they probably didn't know much Hebrew, but they knew Greek. Pilate knew that, and Pilate wanted the Jews that were there to take that message back with them home, saying that Pilate and the Roman government is still in charge. But Pilate also, he was a shrewd politician. He wanted Rome to take notice, to take notice that what the Jews said about him was wrong, that he was a loyal subject to Caesar. He was a loyal subject to Rome. He was even one of his friends. But because this message, even as Jesus was there on the cross, Jesus was once again in the midst of sinners. He was in the midst of Pilate and the priests as they thought about the effect that he might still have on the people. Isn't that amazing? Even Jesus on the cross is still in the middle of the discussions of Pilate and the priests. And so even from the cross, Jesus reveals to us his true position. His true position that he is the sovereign king of all. He is sovereign and he is king. That is his true position. Because when the leaders of the Jews noticed what Pilate had written, they took issue with it. And so what do they say in verse 21 and 22? The chief priests of the Jews go to Pilate and they say, write not, don't write the king of the Jews. but that he said, I am king of the Jews. Or you could even put, I am a king of the Jews. They didn't want anybody to think that this was the king of the Jews. And yet Pilate answers, what I have written, I have written. Once again, in the power and providence of God, what Pilate and these priests meant for evil, God took and made it into the gospel, made it into the good news about Jesus. I mean, just think about what Pilate did to spread his message all throughout the empire. The message that Jesus really, if he was a king, was no more a king. He was a man that was going to suffer and bleed and die. So what Pilate did to spread his message in writing that superscription in those three major languages, what does God do? He took that same message to spread his message, the gospel, into all the world. Even though we don't know how many people read the title that Pilate wrote about Jesus, I wonder how many actually took notice of his name. and took notice of the nature that is described there, and started to think, who is this man hanging on the cross? Who is this man who Pilate is saying is a king of the Jews? Who is this man? Of course, later on in the book of Acts, within just a few weeks of Jesus' death and resurrection, in Acts 2.5, we learn that dwelling at Jerusalem were Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. So they were all there for Jerusalem, for all of these festivals. Of course, that was the Feast of Pentecost, and probably the same thing happened during the Feast of the Passover. But they all came from all around the empire to come there, and they heard these words about Jesus. They heard this truth about Jesus. In fact, in Acts 2-5, when they even heard the disciples preaching about Jesus, they were all amazed and marveled and said, we do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. I wonder how many of these people were first introduced to Jesus by Pilate and the superscription about Jesus on the cross. I wonder. You know, God can take the word of an unbeliever to bring the truth of Jesus to those who need him. And that's what he does here, even in Pilate. But also, what Pilate said to even not just spread his message, but to secure his message. What does he say? What I've written, I've written. I'm not changing anything. How stubborn he was here. Yet God took that same thing, and secured His message to show us that Jesus Christ, as it says in Hebrews, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You see, what Pilate wrote was true, even though he meant it as a taunt. And even though Pilate wrote what he wrote and said what he said out of spite for the Jews, God took it and used it to reveal the truth about Jesus and His position as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, not just of the Jews, but of the world. And so with Jesus, once again, in the midst of sinners, even as he's there hanging on the cross, God was revealing through him his true position, his true purpose in dealing with our true problem of sin. But you know, even though Jesus is in heaven today, he still has a way of getting in the midst of sinners, doesn't he? He did it in your life, if you're a Christian today. He came into the midst of your life. to convince you of your true problem, of his true purpose, and his true position. He still does that. He comes into the midst of our lives and into the midst of our hearts. And whenever he does, he reveals those truths. But the question is, what are you doing with that truth? What are you doing with the truths that he reveals? When he reveals the truth about your problem of sin, are you burdened with the guilt and shame of your sin, which Jesus suffered and died for on that old rugged cross? And this is not just for those who need salvation. This is even those who have been saved. Does your sin still burden you when you think about Jesus there hanging on the cross, suffering and bleeding and dying for you for that sin, for that crime, for that transgression of God's law? He reveals your true problem. Are you burdened about that problem? And then when Jesus reveals the truth about his purpose to save, are you still believing in him? Are you still believing in those promises? Are you still going to him and him alone with your sin? I think a lot of times we hold off on coming to Him with our sin problem because we do feel shame. We do feel guilt. We do feel like we are undeserving. But it's not grace if we are deserving. And so we come to Him according to His promises, not according to our own purity. We come according to His plan and His promises to believe what He says, to believe in what He did. And then when Jesus reveals the truth about his position as the sovereign king, are you bowing yourself and bending yourself to his will and not your own in order to live for him who died for you? All of these ways are how we need to respond when he reveals these truths, even in the midst of sinners. Even in the midst of sinners on the cross, between Pilate and the priests, between those men who were crucified with him, he reveals our problem, he reveals his purpose, he reveals his position. And when Jesus comes into the midst of your life, even as he did through this message this morning, he comes to bring change. What needs changed in your life today? Bring it to the one who came for you. Let's close in prayer. Gracious Father, I thank you again that Jesus came into our midst in order to reveal these truths, just like he revealed the truths to those people in that crowd in a place called a skull those many years ago. And yet so many in that crowd did not hear and did not heed the message that he was giving. That Jesus comes into the midst of sinners in order to reveal their problem, his purpose, and his position so that he might save to the uttermost anyone who comes to you through him. And so Father, I thank you that Jesus still gets into the midst of sinners. He still gets into the midst of our lives. He still gets in the midst of our hearts by convicting us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment through his spirit. So Father, I pray that you will do the same in our hearts today. Lord, we know that there are sinners that we know in our lives and our families that need this message. But Lord, every one of us still need to hear this message. We are still sinners. We are not yet perfected as saints, as we will be one day in the very presence of the angels in heaven with you. But Lord, we need this message. We need you to get right in our midst. We need you, we need Jesus to get right in the midst of our hearts, to convict us of that sin that so easily besets us so that we might come and be burdened with that so that we might have that burden lifted again by looking at Calvary. Burdens are lifted at Calvary. And so Father, I pray that we will look into Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith, knowing that when we do so, those burdens can be lifted. Oh Lord, if there's someone here who is struggling with that burden of sin, maybe even through this message, through your spirit, through your word today, you've convicted them of something that they need to surrender to you, I pray that they will bring it to the cross. Bring their shame, bring their guilt, bring their burden to the cross, knowing that the one who died for them will forgive them. He is faithful and just to forgive them because of what Jesus did on that cross. And then Lord, I pray that you will reveal and open up to us even more the true position and the true purpose of Jesus. Help us to believe in the promises, all those exceeding great and precious promises that we find in your word. Help us, Lord, to not only do that, but then bow our will to yours. Because, Lord, you truly are the one who deserves to live not in Golgotha, but in Gabbatha. Not in the place of the school, but in a place of honor, the place of heights, the place where Pilate had set his praetorium, the place of the pavement, of the beauty, and the place of the king. Lord, I pray that that will be the place where we put you in our hearts. That, Lord, you will take prime position as the king of our hearts, the king of our lives, the king of our destiny, the king of our deeds. Help us, Father, to remember what you revealed through Jesus, even when he was in the midst of sinners, and then respond. Respond, Lord, according to the truth that you've given to us through your word. And we ask all these things in Jesus precious name. Amen.