2010 Good Friday Service (John 19) John MacArthur

you a few thoughts for our edification as we think about the cross go back to the chapter I read earlier the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of John there is essentially in every verse and every comment and every conversation great truth to be discerned and to be understood but what I want to show you tonight shines through in this chapter in a marvelous way there is no more terrible death imaginable than death by crucifixion even the Romans regarded it with a shudder and a horror and wanted to prevent women from ever seeing someone crucified Cicero the Roman writer declared that it was the most cruel and horrifying of all deaths Tacitus said it was a despicable death it was originally a Persian method of execution the Carthaginians took it from the Persians and the Romans learned it in Carthage they didn't use it in Italy and no Roman citizen would ever suffer the indignity of crucifixion unless that Roman citizen was guilty of high crime against Caesar it was the most dreaded kind of death in the ancient world was reserved for foreign slaves and foreign criminals that's the kind of death Jesus died we understand the horror of it we speak of the horror of it we have read of the horror of it even tonight one could not exaggerate the horror of it films of the years have tried to depict the terrible realities of crucifixion to the degree that I think most of us have some understanding of what it was to be scourge dand then to be crucified on a cross to hang on for great wounds until the weight of your own body crushes your lungs and you can't get your breath and you die of asphyxiation a horrible horrible kind of shameful death and when you look at the death of Jesus Christ you can certainly look at those elements of his death they are instructive for us they show us what the worst of religious people can do they show us the horrors of false religion the horrors of spiritual and religious hypocrisy the worst crimes probably committed in history of the world were committed in the name of religion they continue to be done that way even today most devastating crimes the world sees today are done in the name of Islam massacring people in suicide bombing efforts it's certainly not outside the realm of religion to commit horrible crimes quite quite the contrary when you're attached to a satanic religion the passions of that satanic religion once one sold his soul to Satan run at a fever pitch and can produce the most horrendous kinds of Acts but it's not my purpose tonight to talk about the horrors of crucifixion we could talk about that that lasted for a few hours in fact I think the darkness only three hours and the physical suffering of crucifixion lasted from the time Jesus was crucified till he gave up his spirit but the separation from the father was the worst of it in that during the three hours of darkness and while the horrors of the death of Christ boasts both those inflicted on him from a human perspective and those inflicted on him by God his own father who inflicted him with divine judgment so that he literally bore the sins in full of all the people who would ever believe throughout all of human history from Adam to the last man at the end of the world in the universe as we know it he was judged for all of that in his crucifixion the mock trials are over they too were scandalous the innocent sinless faultless Christ executed at the will of the Jews executed at the will of the intimidated Romans but more importantly executed in the purposes of God we could see this only as a horrible event were it not for what the writers of the gospel records tell us and in particular what John tells us if you drop down into verse 16 says that he that is Pilate handed him that is Jesus over to them to be crucified and they took him away led him away according to historians the victims of crucifixion were often so panicked terrified horrified that they lost their senses and had to be driven like a wild animal sometimes they had to be tied up and dragged because the resistance was so great the horror of scourging would increase the typical victims fear anxiety frenzy and to get them from the place of scourging up the hill would be a very very difficult task but not so with Jesus they took Jesus therefore verse 17 says and he went out bearing his own cross undoubtedly they tore the purple robe off of him but the soldiers had put on him to mock him as a king they rearrange stained clothes and let him forth to the execution where those very clothes would be gambled for there is no panic here there is no struggle here they tell him where to go and he goes this fulfills a prophecy from isaiah 53:7 which says he was led as a sheep to the slaughter sheep must be led they can be led they will be led some animals cattle namely have to be driven sheep only have to be led he was led like a sheep which means that he was willing to follow there was no resistance this is a little truth tucked in to the simple words of verse 17 about two and a half hours had passed since he had first stood before Pilate it is now the procession to the hill of Golgotha where he will be put on the cross the Jews lost no time the soldiers acted immediately Christ was taken from gabbatha the pavement the place of judgment to gall Gotha he went from judgment to execution no time in between why is that important isaiah 53:8 speaking of his death says he was taken from prison and from judgment and that's exactly what happened he was taken immediately from the place of judgment to the place of execution again another prophecy fulfilled tucked so neatly into this account every step every move every act is an accurate fulfillment of what the Old Testament anticipates and he goes it says bearing his own cross literally carrying his own cross carrying either a portion of it or all of it headed toward Golgotha why did they have the prisoner carried the cross to drag out the parade as a warning to all that crime does not pay and to drag out the parade so that if there was anyone along the way who had some information that could overturn the execution sentenced that information could come forth because this was a very public parade to crucifixion however no one came to the defense of Jesus absolutely no one and again that certainly fulfills the beautiful typical picture of Isaac in Genesis chapter 22 you have a picture of Christ Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid on it Isaac his son and he took in his hand the fire and the knife so the two of them walked on together no interruptions and that's a picture of Christ without interruption headed toward the cross the Old Testament says that the the sacrificial lamb was to be taken outside the gates the scapegoat was to be taken outside the gates of the city Hebrews 13 11 and 12 says Jesus suffered outside the gate and that's exactly what it means here he went out he went out of the city to the place of a skull in Hebrew Golgotha the Romans had said it was not legal of crucifying anybody inside the boundary of a city Jesus is like that that scapegoat he has taken outside the city to perish and there they crucified him it's just interesting to think about crucifixion in this occasion verse 18 because the Jews didn't do that the Jews stoned people and there was a place nearby historians tell us that was an eleven foot or so at least according to some precipice the body was thrown down the eleven foot precipice and then crushed under stones that were thrown down and pummeled the person until person was dead that was the Jewish way of execution for anybody who was a blasphemer they were to be stoned to death which meant they were below they were down low where they could be crushed under the stones however we know that our Lord Jesus said in John chapter 3 that that was not going to happen to him and he repeated it in John chapter 12 that as the serpent in the wilderness was lifted up so the Son of Man would be lifted up that was not a Jewish means of execution but it was in fact Roman means of execution and numbers 21 gives us a picture of that in lifting up at the serpent in the wilderness remember and anybody who looks on that serpent is healed it's the very opposite of Jewish execution Alford edersheim wonderful Jewish scholar of many years back says criminals were stoned in a certain place in Jerusalem the first witness had the honor to throw the person down and if he didn't die from the fall down to the rocks the second witness dropped the large boulder directly on his head if he was still alive then everybody joined in and they all stoned him to death nobody was lifted up but the Old Testament when it speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ doesn't speak of being thrown down and being stoned it speaks of being lifted up even in the analogy also in Psalm 22 verses 14 and following there's a description of his crucifixion I was poured out like water all my bones are out of joint my hardest like wax melted within me my strength is dried up like a potsherd my tongue Cleaves to my jaws and you lay me in the dust of death dogs have surrounded me a band of evildoers have encompassed me they pierced my hands and my feet I can count all my bones they look they stare at me they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots all of that describes a crucifixion and we know all of that is exactly what happened in the death of Christ including gambling for his clothes you get the idea if you the text of scripture carefully that what's going on here is orchestrated by God's power and God's purpose verse 18 says there they crucified him and with him two other men one on either side and Jesus in between we know these were two criminals and of course isaiah 53:12 says that in his death he was numbered with the transgressors and isaiah 53:9 says he was with the wicked there's the fulfillment of that and the thieves that are on either side of him they're on the cross and all the details fall perfectly into place if you'll notice down in verse 23 for a moment the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus took his outer garments and made four parts apart to every soldier and also the tunic now the tunic was seamless woven in one piece so they said to one another let's not tear it but cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be this was to fulfill the scripture they divided my outer garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots there were four soldiers in this execution squad there were four garments shoes belt headpiece outer cloak each of them would get one of those pieces but then there was that one-piece seamless tunic what do you do with that you don't tear it up or it's no good to anyone so they cast lots for it that is precisely what scripture says they would do and in verse 24 to fulfill the scripture they divided my outer garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots Psalm 22 18 I just read it to you a moment ago these witless Roman soldiers who knew nothing about the Old Testament operated within the divine purpose some have suggested that there are well over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament have literally been fulfilled in Christ and many more pictures and types and analogies the mathematics of that are staggering if all those 300 plus prophecies are fulfilled in one man somebody said it would be the odds of that would be one in eighty four with a hundred zeros that's not gonna happen by by chance that's for sure if you go down to verse 28 after this Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture said I am thirst what Scripture Psalm 69 verse 21 in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink he refused the earlier gall which was a sedative to to kind of remove some of his pain it refused that he wanted the full suffering but now he's thirsty Psalm 69 said in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink that's exactly what they gave him when it says they gave him the sour wine verse 29 a jar full of sour wine that's the vinegar that separated out of the sweet wine so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth every detail in his dying is in perfect accord with what the Old Testament says and John says to fulfill scripture to fulfill scripture to fulfill scripture to fulfill scripture verse 30 says Jesus having received the sour wine said pate LST it is finished it has been accomplished it has been finished he bowed his head and gave up his spirit he died him early for a victim of crucifixion and he would have been the strongest of men his body would never touch by sin well we can't even imagine the kind of physical strength that he had undiminished by fallenness the strongest of the strong there would have been no man like him in terms of physical strength he would have had the kind of strength Adam had who could live over 900 years but he dies early because no man takes my life from me he said I lay it down by my self and that is precisely what he did so after he had laid down his life you go down to verse 36 for these things came to pass to fulfill the scripture not a bone of him shall be broken what were they talking about there well verse 31 says that the Jews because it was the day of preparation so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath they didn't want to desecrate the Sabbath having a body on the cross they wanted the body down before 6 o'clock on that Friday they asked Pilate that their legs might be broken because when you break their legs obviously they can't push up so they can't breathe and there's fixated very rapidly they would break that large upper bones in the legs so the soldiers came broke the legs of the first man broke the legs of the other who was crucified with him coming to Jesus when they saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear just checking to make sure he was really dead and out came blood and water and these things again came to pass to fulfill the scripture not a bone of him shall be broken and again another scripture they shall look on him whom they have pierced where in the Old Testament does it say not a bone of him shall be broken well there are a couple of allusions to that that I think are very important to note in Exodus chapter 12 and in numbers chapter 9 when the scriptures describe the Passover lamb the Passover lamb that is to be offered as an offering to God at Passover not a bone of that lamb is to be broken not a bone is to be broken and then of course a direct statement in psalm 34:20 but not a bone of him was broken the second one in verse 37 they shall look on him whom they have pierced zechariah 12:10 another prophecy for zecharia about our Lord being Pierce I think when you look at the cross of Jesus Christ on the one hand you there's reason for pathos there's reason for a sense of sadness there's reason to feel the horror of the event but the New Testament writers really don't let you fix on that they don't let you lock on to that they force you to understand every single thing that is happening is fulfilling divine Scripture this is the mighty mighty work of God and in it our Lord purchased our Redemption by being at every point the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy related to the death and sacrifice of Messiah Father we thank you for the way in which your word brings light to us from most unexpected ways when we look at what could be the very worst imaginable situation we're thrilled to see your glory shining through we see your hand in everything in the words that the Savior spoke in the acts that the Romans did in every detail you are at work this is the the great and glorious evidence of divine providence that you control everything for your glory and monumentally the very death of the perfect sacrifice our Lord Jesus Christ as we come now to the table and we think about his death for us we are reminded that the Bible tells us not to come to this table in a superficial way flippant way but to look at our own hearts and make sure we don't have any sin there that we're holding on to clinging tightly to or we can bring judgment down on our lives there were some believers in Corinth who even were sick under divine chastening and some were even taken to heaven because of such serious violation of your table so we want to be honest with you and look into our hearts Lord and show us anything that is displeasing to you make us eager to yield that up in full we know that where there is true repentance of course there is complete cleansing wash us and make us clean we know we've received forgiveness in our salvation but we want that that forgiveness that comes day after day as we confess to keep the relationship everything it should be so we can know your blessing and keep ourselves in the circle of obedience which is where your love pours out its best gifts work in every heart if there are some here who don't know Christ who are not redeemed who are not saved may they know that they can't celebrate this this is not for them that would be a mockery to celebrate the death of Christ for sinners and and reject Christ maybe this is the moment when some even now could confess their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ repent of sin and asked you to save them save them now but for all of us we need to examine our hearts and be sure that they're right before you as we partake in the cup and the bread thank you for the the bread which symbolizes the body of Christ given for us on the cross and the cup which symbolizes the blood of Christ pouring out of his life dying the death that we deserve bearing the judgment that you brought down on him in our place this is wonder of all wonders so we come to celebrate with joy in our hearts at the same time with the sense of conviction and seriousness may your Holy Spirit prompt our hearts to do those things that are pleasing to you even as we partake you

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Keywords: Sin, Christ, Lord, Jesus, Bible, God, Truth, Grace to You, John MacArthur, Gospel, Salvation, Word, Study, Preaching, Pastor, Believe, Prophecy, Ministry, Ministries, Revival, Holy Spirit, Father, Cross, Prophet, Messiah, Christian, Church, Scripture, Faith, Obedience, Good, Friday, Death, Crucifixion, Romans, Trial, Innocent, Sinless, Executed, Isaac, Abraham, Sacrificial, Lamb, Scapegoat, Suffer, Gate, Golgotha, Place of a Skull, Purpose, Criminals, Transgressors, Thieves, Lots, Sour Wine, Mouth, Old Testament, John, Judgment

Id: YnuapOxoD6U

Length: 24min 38sec (1478 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 30 2012