But I want you to look at verse 36, and this is where the sermon title comes from today. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Jesus said, I did not come to abolish the law of the prophets. Don't disconnect. The law of God plan and purpose goes forward on both of these things. The call to holiness and the gift of Christ's righteousness. Jesus did not come to abolish the law and prophets, but to fulfill them. And now here we have this conclusive work that in his life, in his ministry, and now even in his death, and the moments after his death, the scriptures are being fulfilled in Jesus. And here's the radical thing I want to propose to you today. I think this happens for us, too. When we know the scriptures, we begin to discover ways of saying, you know what? Those scriptures could be fulfilled In my life, I can be a means of God's promises coming to my next-door neighbor, to my friend, to my family. Scripture's friends must be fulfilled. We need to live our lives in such a way that they are fulfilled. So again, for those who might be visiting with us, Jesus has just given up his spirit. John 19 and verse 30. He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. And now, John wants to remind us of some of the things that happened after Jesus' death that fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. We're going to go on and read through the end of the chapter. This also includes Christ's burial. So, hear God's word. John 19, beginning at verse 31. Hear the word of the Lord. Since it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. And he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe. For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced. After these things, Joseph of Arimathea who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. In that garden, a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. This is the Word of God. I found myself this week trying to put myself in the mindset of the Apostolic Witnesses. And I remind you, according to Acts chapter 1, that in order to be one of the Twelve, you had to be with Jesus from his baptism until his ascension. There was a role that these 12 would play leading the new Israel, or the true Israel of God, into the promised Messianic Kingdom. That kingdom, even now, has not come in its fullness, but it has come in reality. Those who know Jesus Christ are part of the citizenship of the true Israel. But practically along the way, these apostles had so many things to keep track of. They had to keep track of the money as Jesus' little band peaked out in existence as they traveled around. They had to keep track of the people who were being touched by the power of Christ. And another thing they had to do was they had to keep track of what my tour guide in Israel called a library of impressions along the way. And I imagine these apostles becoming obsessed with the Old Testament. Because they begin to realize that Jesus was ticking off the boxes. I think sometimes Jesus is like, well, this is happening so that that scripture can be fulfilled. And they're like, oh, yeah, I see. And at some point, they got the message. I don't really think Jesus had to talk about it. But whether they knew the scriptures beforehand, and they're like, did you see what Jesus just did? He fulfilled the promise. Or if it may have been. days or weeks or years later, that their reading saw an obscure part of the Old Testament, and suddenly they said, Jesus, He fulfilled this promise. Friends, this is one of the amazing things about the life of Jesus. Until you learn how to read the New Testament in light of the Old Testament, They're missing some of the coolest stuff in the Gospels. Now notice, the Apostle is concerned to preserve details of Jesus' death. He demonstrated to those who read his Gospel that Jesus' death is part of God's eternal plan, revealed by Him through the Word. I ask you today, have you learned to study the Bible using cross-references? See how one scripture interprets another scripture, and the predictions of the prophets of old find their yes and amen in Jesus Christ. And I'm quoting there from 2 Corinthians 1, I quote that verse often. But I want you to be aware that there are no less, I have a list that I've walked through of 351 prophecies from the Old Testament that point to Jesus' person, His work, His character, His birth and death, His resurrection. We're going to look at at least one related to His resurrection today. I want to call you to believe upon Jesus' triumphant death that God might be glorified in His Son, Jesus Christ. Some of you You barely think about death. And you need to wrestle today with how can a death be triumphant? Some of you think a lot about death. You have a death in the family. You're dealing with the reality of your own in Egypt. I want to challenge you to think about how do you make your death triumphant like Christ? Those are some of the things I want to talk about today. So let's begin by focusing in on this issue of that scripture might be fulfilled. Again, this is a phrase that's used there in verse 36. And I want us to grapple with this idea that scripture might be fulfilled. There were things that were happening right there at the cross, things that the evil, wicked soldiers did and didn't do. they did cast dice for his clothes. We studied about that in previous week. Today, something they didn't do that John particularly wants us to know, they didn't break his bones, but also, verse 34, one of the soldiers pierced his side. And so point number one is, this is the quotation, and again, if you're not used to, I'm trying to I'm going to throw some breadcrumbs today about a way that has broken open the Scriptures for me, this idea of using cross-references. So it might be that when you read verses 36 and 37, that you just simply read those and say, oh, that's interesting. But I want to challenge you to look at, and again, some of your Bibles will have a cross-reference here. Many editions do not. You can have a Bible that very quickly makes known to you where this scripture comes from. In this case, John is citing Exodus 12, verse 46. So if you're interested in growing in your understanding of the scriptures in light of cross-references, it starts with getting a Bible that has cross-references. The second thing that I would advise you to do is to go through your Bible in some sort of systematic way, and where there is a quotation from another part of Scripture, write that in the margin of your Bible. So that as you're reading, as you're thinking about all the other things going on in the text, you can also say, oh, and by the way, John 19 verses 31 through 42 is built on Old Testament texts. The plunge of this text, the significance of this text is not simply, oh, we saw these cool things happen. It's, we saw these cool things happen and the kingdom of God was being validated by the Old Testament prophets speaking hundreds of years before. Look, look, the Kingdom of God is coming right here and right now. It's an amazing thing. So point one, not one of his bones will be broken. Now John, the writer of the Gospel of John, he's standing right there. In fact, it was about John that we studied last week when Jesus, probably using his head, said, And then he said to John, son, behold your mother. And John got another mouth to feed in his family going forward. Bible-makers, good, reliable church tradition that John eventually moved to Ephesus and wrote the book of Revelation, the end of his life, and there's tradition that locates Mary all the way to that point as being, as living with and laboring with John the Apostle. But notice that John now is giving us also theological conviction in verse 35. He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true and he knows that he's telling the truth. that you also may believe. John is saying, I was there. But John is saying, I was watching. I am functioning now in my gospel. And he's made this kind of statement along the way. I was a witness, an eyewitness to the events that were going on here. So, our first scripture fulfilled here, not one of his bones will be broken, that's in verse 36. He tells us how this was fulfilled, verse 32. So the soldiers came, probably using like the butt of their spears or something else, they broke the legs of the two guys hanging on either side of Jesus. the first and then of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead. In other words, of the three hanging on the cross, Jesus was the first to die. And when they saw that he was already dead, that he wasn't moving, he wasn't gasping for air, they didn't break his legs. And all of a sudden, John said, Isn't there, like, for the last thousand years, isn't there testimony about the land that we prepare every year at Passover that we can't break these bones? And again, I imagine, maybe you've done this before, you're like, where was that? And if all we had was our Bibles, we would be the edges of our pages would be completely worn out from flipping. Where is that? Where? I know there's a verse that says, you have that experience, and that's where then you pull out this little amazing tool that we have, your phone, and you pull up your DSV Bible app, and now you start to do a word search and book, you know, right where it is. By the way, this is one of the reasons, I'll also make the point, If you're serious about cross-references, you should also be serious about getting the Word of God written on your heart. You should hear the translation you see, in my opinion. You should read the same translation in your quiet time that you do at church, in my opinion. The goal is that there would be that moment of, there's some verse that says... and then you know what translation you're thinking in. And you know about where it is, and you're able to zoom down, and when you find that cross-reference, put it in the margin of your Bible. I'm telling you, it makes the reading the Word of God so rich. And now you're reading about the Ioannis account of John chapter 19, and all of a sudden, here we go back to Exodus chapter 12, verse 26. Listen to the statute of the Passover. Next is chapter 12. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, this is the statute of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat it. But every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house, and you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of his bones. And so, for generations, and generations, and generations, the fathers fought their kids. Other times, we can just go hacking. We can hack these bones, and we can break a part of it with a password. We can't break a single bone. If we do, then we're not obeying God. Daddy, why? Why does this matter? I don't know, son, but this is the statue of the Passover. Suddenly. Now, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For those who have eyes to see, as they've heard, again, I don't want to minimize, I also don't want to be graphic, but the crack as the two thieves' legs were smashed, causing them to not be able to put any upper pressure. And suddenly, now they could not breathe. Their lungs, by their chest cavity, were being expanded. They could not retract their lungs. And so they were very quickly suffocating. It was a gruesome thing. And as those cracks healed, they said, oh no. or to break the wings of Jesus. Friends, do you believe that the providence of God extends to the arbitrary actions of enemy soldiers? Do you believe, like Stonewall Jackson said, when I am on the battlefield, I am as safe as when I am at home in my bed. There's not a single one of those bullets that can touch you. until my day to depart from you through Christ draws nigh. Friends, that is the doctrine of providence. I want you to consider that as this soldier, maybe even, you know, prodded Jesus with the end of his spear, he said, oh no, he's dead, let's go on, guys. And then maybe turning back, came back in a way that didn't break any bones. But nonetheless, the soldier pierced the side of the sword, and out came blood and water. This is an amazing thing. Numbers chapter 9, I also have a reference there. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones, according to all the statute of the passover. So the fact that Jesus' bones weren't broken is extremely significant. But secondly now, it says, there's a second verse that's quoted here, this is cited from Zechariah 12 and verse 10, this is verse 37 of our text. And again, another scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced. Now the key word here is the very last one, the word pierce. What does it mean to pierce? Well, it certainly cannot involve breaking bones. But when you begin to look at the Old Testament, I'm giving you a few of these texts there in the bulletin, there were numerous Messianic prophecies that involved the Messiah being pierced. They have pierced my hands and my feet." Well, how would you pierce His hands and feet, but drive nails through them and into the cross? But now, we see probably the same guy that checked on Jesus when the soldiers took His spear and pierced His side. I've included there Luke 23, 47. It says, now, when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, certainly this man was innocent. There's two other verses, if you want to write them down, that describe this event. Matthew 27, 54. Matthew 27, 54. And also Mark 15, verse 54. Mark 15, 54. These describe how not only did this centurion thrust his spirit into Jesus' side, but he also confessed, not only was this man innocent, he was the Son of God. What an amazing thing to be one of the executioners of the Messiah, who then came to believe on the Messiah. I want us to see here that that what John is calling us to do is to grapple with, what is the scripture? Is the scripture just some vague, obtuse, religious writing that you can read it however you want? Or are the apostles teaching us that all of the Old Covenant, this period of types and shadows, are all looking forward. And in fact, the writers themselves are looking forward in faith to the One who was to come. And Jesus is that One. So these are the two explicit quotations we have in our passage today. But I want to go on to the last part of the story here involving Jesus' burial. We have here In verse 40, it says, so they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden, a new tomb. Probably, this was either Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus, who owned this tomb. But now, here, they're putting Jesus. in this prepared tomb where no one had ever been laid. And here I want you to see that there is one particular verse that touches on how and where will the Messiah be buried. Here's a rule of thumb. Remember that there are two chapters in the Old Testament that more than any other a picture of Jesus on the cross. It's phenomenal. Isaiah 53, a very well-known chapter, by the way, being used in the present as one of the means that God is using to bring many Jewish people to Christ. I would encourage you to be aware of the real-time professions of faith go on YouTube and type in One for Israel and read and hear about some of the conversions that God has brought Jewish people to Himself in the last number of years. It's phenomenal. And they hear how again and again, as they came to Isaiah 53, they were pressed by their own Hebrew Scriptures to consider the identity both some of the most explicit crucifixion language, but also some of the most triumphant, anticipatory language of how the message of the crucifixion would go throughout the whole earth, that all the ends of the earth will remember Him and turn themselves unto the Lord. Jesus said, and I, if I be lifted up, see how if we don't know the scriptures, if we haven't disciplined ourselves to read and meditate on the scriptures, if we don't practice cross-referencing, then these things blow right by us and we miss the richness of the Word of God. So point number three, his grave is with a rich man in his death. John doesn't even quote the prophecy. Actually, the third point there, when we say, again, his grave is with a rich man in his death. This is actually the quotation from Isaiah 53 verse 9 that I've included there. John doesn't even tell us, oh, here's another prophecy that's fulfilled. He expects you to know Isaiah 53 9 and say, oh, wait a minute, where's that verse? And pull out your phone or your computer I think that a pretty solid number is there are three hundred and fifty one ascension into heaven. These are not, for instance, late add-ons about Jesus. Rather, we have eyewitnesses telling us, and then this happened at this place, and this happened at this time. Very specific things by eyewitnesses that are fulfilled in the person of Christ. So, in conclusion, I want to say, today we looked at three integrity of Scripture and the prophets of the Lord and indeed Yahweh Himself are at issue here. There are at least 351, and by the way, I've worked up this list. That's in a way it's able to be shared. I'd be happy to share that with you if you're interested in studying this matter further. But I want you to see how not only is Yahweh keeping His promises, but Jesus Himself said that God will glorify himself in Jesus. And one of the ways that he does that is by bringing his promises to pass. So, learn this way of studying Scripture. Secondly, practice the cross-reference approach to Scripture. I'm amazed at how many Christians I know who have been in the faith for decades But don't use a Bible that has cross-references. If you don't have cross-references, you're missing one of the most wonderful parts of Scripture. The Protestant Reformation was all about Scripture interpreting Scripture. One of the things that I'm concerned about is that as we have more and more, quote, study Bibles, what we're doing is letting J. Bernard McGee interpret Scripture for me, or John MacArthur interpret Friends, we need to let Scripture interpret Scripture. That is the fundamental Reformation principle. And we need to learn how Scripture repeats itself. How Scripture prophesies, lays out a prophecy that's then fulfilled. How there's this text from the Old Testament that then the Apostle uses in the New Testament. That there's this quote from Proverbs that then James, the brother of Jesus quotes in the book of James. We need to see that there's this constant self-referencing going on, and the only way that we can begin to grasp the richness of that is if we have an understanding of those cross-references. Finally, and most pastorally, I call you to consider the experience of Jesus on the cross. That in the moment when He's cried out, God, why have you forsaken me?" He is, in those moments of vulnerability, the moment of seeing that spear coming at him to pierce his thigh, doing the will of God. Friends, the entire universe is the Kingdom of Christ. We come into here week by week. The task of the Church, I'm persuaded, is not to be the kingdom over all the earth. It's not our kingdom, it's Christ's kingdom. The task of the Church is the means of grace. The ministry of the Word, prayer, fellowship, Church discipline. These are the means of grace that God uses to nurture and grow mature, rugged disciples. Now the work begins. Now is the task. I still have this dream. Someday we're going to have war on our front door. Through these doors, you enter the mission. One of the missions is evangelism. One might be martyrdom. I don't know. But the main job is for us to do our jobs in our culture with a kingdom by design. that even when it's hard and difficult, that God has a purpose for me being where I am right now. I've experienced this as a pastor, sometimes in person, sometimes on the phone, where I simply cry out, Lord, I have no idea. But to say in this situation, show me, give me wisdom from above, We need to see that our task is not to get away from the conflict, because the conflict is everywhere, including in our own hearts, but rather to stand in faith in the midst of the conflict and do the will of God. And in that, the Gospel is verified. God is glorified. and God's purposes are solidified in the world. God is a God of providence. He is working out His plan. How does God execute His decrees? We didn't quote this today, but if you know it, you can quote it with me. God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence. Christians believe that this world is made by God for a purpose. If you don't believe that, you're lost. If a nation doesn't believe that, it's lost. Friends, do you believe that even in the moments of Jesus' death, God is glorified? Lord, our God, thank you. That scripture must be fulfilled. Lord, we see that exquisitely in our passage today, both explicitly point one and two, but also implicitly point three. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to frame reality properly. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to grasp but it means to walk by faith and not by sight, and to do what's right, whatever the consequences may be. Lord, I pray that you would help us to see the subtleties of Satan, the lies of the world, that will tell us that Scripture is something else besides what it actually is, The Lord then would begin to miss all the riches of your grace revealed in Scripture. It would help us to see how Scripture is fulfilled. I pray, Lord, that you would motivate your people to be students of the manual that you've given to us. Lord, these words do not originate with human beings, but holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Lord, You are magnified, as we know and love Your Word. Thank You for these things.