Welcome to expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. Father, we begin where we ought
to begin, by talking to you, because this is your
plan we're reading about. This is your truth. And you superintended the
very writing of the documents that we are considering. And so, though John wrote
it with his own pen, it was inspired by
the Holy Spirit. As Jesus promised,
the Holy Spirit will come and bring to
your remembrance all things that I have spoken to you. We're reading that. And as we read his testimony,
and as we make application to our own lives, as we
understand with our own minds, even though some of us have read
the Bible time and time again, bring a fresh word
of encouragement to us, Lord, and a fresh
word of appreciation as we consider this holy moment
of our Savior on Calvary's cross. In Jesus' name, Amen. Most everyone in the world
is familiar with the image of the cross. It is iconic. It is literally an icon. People see a cross, and for
many people around the world, it's not just a symbol
of Christian belief. To some people, it's
actually the symbol of Western civilization, which
I've always found interesting because it began
in the Middle East. As we told you, the cross
as a implement of death, was invented by the Persians. But over time, because
Christians have adopted it as a symbol, and we
see it on churches and we see it at cemeteries,
and we see it on people's necks, we get very used to it. And because we're
very used to it, we can sometimes
disconnect from it. I grew up in a church
where every Sunday I looked behind the altar where a
huge crucifix was on the wall. A picture of Jesus
dying on the cross-- I still can see in my
mind's eye that very crucifix from my upbringing. When I went home, right there
in the hallway between my room and my brother's room,
another crucifix on the wall. So I grew up seeing it, but
it's been said familiarity can sometimes breed contempt. We just get used to it. We even get used to
the grim depictions in the scripture of
Jesus' own death, as horrifying as that was. We find ourselves taken there
by John at the foot of the cross in John, chapter 19. It was Oswald
Chambers-- some of you are familiar with his
writings-- who said, heaven is interested
in the cross. Hell is terrified of the cross. Then he said, it's human
beings that for the most part ignore its meaning. We don't want to do that. In fact, we could look
at tonight's Bible study as a preparation for next week
when we take the Lord's supper communion. By that time, Lord
willing, we're going to be in chapter 20,
which is the Resurrection. So we can get our
hearts primed, ready, and prepared by looking at this
account in John, chapter 19. Now just a little
bit of backtracking. I told you the
Persians invented it, and the Romans perfected it. The Romans took
crucifixion and used it to execute what they
regarded as the worst criminals in their culture,
the very worst. First of all, all Roman citizens
were exempt from crucifixion. Only the people
they called slaves, whom they also
called non-persons-- they really weren't
Roman citizens, they really didn't have full
person-hood in the empire-- only slaves could be crucified. And the crime had to
be pretty serious. It was reserved for
murderers, armed robbers, and insurrectionists,
or those who would mount some kind of a
rebellion against the Roman Empire. So you know the story. We have followed it through. Jesus has had six trials-- three religious trials,
and three civil trials, finally being sentenced
to death by Pontius Pilate that we read
last week in chapter 19. Jesus has already been in
the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden of
Gethsemane, as he prayed, the Bible tells us he
sweat great drops of blood, a medical condition known
as hematidrosis, where the tiny capillaries
in the forehead can burst into the sweat glands. And so as the person begins to
sweat, it's mingled with blood. And it happens when people are
under extremely high stress. So Jesus has lost blood
and physical energy through that ordeal in
the Garden of Gethsemane. He's betrayed by Judas. He goes through all
of those trials. He stands before Pilate. Pilate, wanting to
appease the crowd, commands that Jesus be scourged. And that's where we begin
our study last week. We talked about the Romans
scourging, the flagellum that was used to tear open
the back of the prisoner, to ready that prisoner
for capital punishment, to weaken the prisoner. Then, Jesus, on the way
to the place of execution, carried his cross. Not the entire cross,
for the vertical pole was already being put in place
at the place of execution, Golgatha-- but the upper part,
the crossbeam, the horizontal cross-beam
known as the patibulum that weighed between
75 and 100 pounds, was placed on the
prisoner's back, and Jesus carried that toward
the place of execution. He didn't make it all the way. He was already
weakened by the ordeal, that he fell down a few times. And that patibulum,
that upper beam, had to be carried by
Simon from Cyrene. And so finally Jesus made it
to the place of execution, we're told in verse 17. "And he, bearing
his cross, went out to a place called the
place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgatha." The Latin is Calvarium. That's where we get the term
of this church, Calvary. It's funny, when I go
to different places, they go oh, you're from cavalry. You go to that church. You're the pastor of
that church cavalry. I said, no, we're not mounded
guards on horses with swords. That's a cavalry. We are Calvary, the
place of the skull. Calvarium is the place
Jesus was executed. So our church is
named after the place where Jesus paid the ultimate
penalty for our sins. Usually, the Romans
wanted the victim to travel the longest
possible route to the place of execution. Why? Because it was sort
of a morbid parade. By carrying that
cross the longest route to the place of
execution, more people can see, here is what happens to
anybody who defies Rome by being a murderer, an armed
robber, or an insurrectionist. Jesus was none of those. And yet he traveled that route. Now, when you go to Jerusalem-- see, that was a statement
of faith right there-- when you go to Jerusalem,
and by the way, you're going to make it either
way, you know that right? If you don't make
it in this life, one day you'll go and be part
of it in the millennial kingdom. So you are going to Jerusalem. You are going to the Holy Land. But it's always nice
to have a comparison. It's always nice to
have a before and after. So those of you who
have been to Jerusalem, in the millennial
kingdom it's going to look so vastly
different that you'll be able to go, man, I remember
when that didn't even exist, or when that was
over there, and look how this place has changed. You'll be able to
appreciate the differences. So I would recommend you check
it out as soon as you can. So anyway, they traveled
the longest possible route. And when you go
to Jerusalem, you will see a sign that
is from the Antonia Fortress, the remains of where
Pilate and his cavalries were. And the road that went
from that praetorium where Jesus was
sentenced to Golgatha is called the Via Dolorosa. Many songs have been
written about the name. But that is on the walls, Via
Dolorosa, which some of you should find fascinating
because it's Spanish. It's the way of
sorrows in Spanish. And you're thinking,
well I'm in Israel. They speak Hebrew here. And they speak Arabic in
other parts of the city. It's not in English. It's in Spanish--
until you realize that the whole
10th legion of Rome was from Spain and Pontius
Pilate himself was Spanish. So you can have
fun with that one. So verse 17, "He
bearing his cross, went out to a place called
the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgatha,
where they crucified him, and two others with
him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center." Now Pilate wrote a title
and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. In putting that title on
the cross, he is in a sense, coronating Jesus as King. Now one might wonder,
why would pilot do this? He asked Jesus, are you a king? Jesus said, my kingdom
is not of this world. Pilate said, so you
are a king then. He said, if my kingdom
were of this world, Jesus said, my
servants would fight. But my kingdom is
not of this world. Now the reason Pilate probably
put this title on the cross was to anger the people
who wanted Jesus killed-- the chief priests, the
religious people, the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas, Annas, all
of these prime movers who were trying to
get Jesus killed. They hated Jesus. They thought what he said
and did was blasphemous. So as his final dig, I
believe Pilate coronated Jesus King of the Jews. Then, many of the
Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city. And it was written in
Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Last week, we made mention
that those three languages are important-- Hebrew, the language
of religion, Greek, the language of
culture and education, Latin, the language of law and
order, the language of Rome. Therefore, the chief
priests of the Jews said to Pilate, do not
write the King of the Jews, but that he said, I am
the King of the Jews. So they were saying Pilate,
we're your editors here. We want you to pull
the sign off and just write above what
you have written, this man said he was
the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Now here is a case where
knowing some of the Greek tenses in the text can be helpful. So notice in verse 21, it says
therefore the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate-- the word said is in
the imperfect tense, meaning they said it,
and they repeated it. They kept saying that. But then notice in verse
22, Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. That's put in the perfect tense. So here's a better translation
for our understanding. The Jewish leaders said, and
kept saying, and kept saying, and kept insisting,
take that down. Don't write that, write that
he said that he was that. And they kept hounding
him to edit the statement. But Pilate said, what
I have written once and for all, I have written
and will always be written. That's the idea. That's the force of the text. What I have written,
I have written. And it will always be written--
it will stand as written. Then the soldiers, when
they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four
parts to each soldier, apart, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was
without seam, woven from the top in one piece. So Jesus is lifted
up on the cross. The sign is placed
above him, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. It angers the religious people. Now backtrack a moment. When Jesus was
born in Bethlehem, there is a group of people
that came from the East looking for him. Remember their names,
what we call them? The Magi, and they
go to Jerusalem and they find Herod the Great. And they said,
where is he who has been born the King of the Jews? Interesting that people
outside of Israel, all the way from
effectively Iran, are in Jerusalem looking
for the King of the Jews. Then, fast forward to
the end of Jesus' life but before the crucifixion,
he comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. And the people shout,
Hosanna to the son of David, to the King of Israel. Magi acknowledged
King of the Jews. Some of the people
in Jerusalem, when he was coming in on that
donkey a few days before this, acknowledged this is our King. Pilate now puts that
up on the cross. But Jesus told Pilate, my
kingdom is not of this world. Now, that doesn't mean it's
not going to be of this world. At that time, when Jesus came,
he came to deal with sin. But he is coming a second time. And when he comes a second
time, Revelation, chapter 19, John says, "And I
saw heaven opened-- and behold a white horse,
and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True,
and in righteousness he judges and he makes war. And he had a name
written on his robe and on his thigh, King of
kings, and the Lord of lords," not just the King of the Jews,
but the King of everybody else, including the Jews. Now that's going to come. But here, he is dealing with
the most important transaction ever, dealing with
the sins of the world. So that the place
of crucifixion, we've just read that the
soldiers took his garments, made four parts to each
soldier, and also the tunic. Verse 24, they said, "Therefore
among themselves, let us not tear it, but
let's cast lots for it. Whose it shall be that the
scripture might be fulfilled, which says, they divided
my garments among them and for my clothing
they cast lots." When a person was convicted
of a capital crime like this, and he was brought to
the place of execution, every single thing that prisoner
had, everything he owned, became the spoils of
the Roman government. And so the soldiers
typically would divvy up whatever that person brought to
that place, whatever he owned, including his own clothes. We know according to
Roman tradition that there were four soldiers at the
cross, because the unit assigned to an execution was
called a quaternion. A quaternion, as
the word implies, means four, so four soldiers. But the typical Jewish male
had five articles of clothing-- the outward coat
or outward tunic, the inward tunic that lay close
to the body, the belt, a head piece or a head
scarf, and shoes. So dividing them up in
four left one piece out. And they decided that robe
that is seamless, let's cast lots for it, not knowing
that they were fulfilling a scripture out of Psalm 22,
which is a fascinating text. And we may get to it in our
series against all odds, because David, hundreds of
years before crucifixion is even invented by the Persians,
writes with more detail about crucifixion than any
other place in holy writ, in scripture. And so as the narrative
goes, and as we see Jesus on the
cross, John wants us to remember that this
isn't some cosmic accident. This is something that was
planned by God in advance. It was even
prophesied in Psalm 22 to show us that God is
completely in control. Jesus is not a victim. Again, I remind
you what he said, nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay
it down and take it again. So all of these
events were carefully staged and prophecy
was being fulfilled. They divided my garments among
them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Therefore the soldiers
did these things. Now you could divide the
people at the foot of the cross into two groups. In fact, John sort of does that. He compares these soldiers
with his followers. There are four
unbelieving soldiers. But there are four believing
women, plus one apostle. And that is John, the author
of this gospel, four and four. On the cross, Jesus
uttered sayings called the seven words, or
the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross. He was put on the cross
at 9:00 in the morning. From 9:00 in the
morning till 12:00 noon, he uttered three things from
the cross that is recorded. First of all, and you
have to put Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John together
to get the whole picture of what he said, those seven sayings. But the first utterance
out of his mouth, the first statement,
the first word, was a word of forgiveness. There on the cross,
his first statement is Father, forgive them. They don't know
what they're doing. Which must have arrested those
soldiers who were looking up-- they've never heard a man cry
that who is being executed. They've killed many a prisoner. And most of them said,
get me out of here. I didn't do it. I don't deserve this. This is wrong. This is a miscarriage
of justice. So it was strange for this
prisoner's first words to be Father, forgive them. And it must not only
have gotten the attention of that quaternion
on of soldiers, but those two prisoners
crucified on either side. Looking at that, I'm sure
that they looked at him and thought, what
did he just say? Father forgive them? Because they're not
thinking those thoughts, they think, there's a
God up there, kill them. Roast them. Get them back and harder. But Father, forgive
them, I think was the hook that caused
one of the prisoners to have hope well up inside of
him as he looked toward Jesus. And as one cursed
Jesus, the other said, hey, we deserve
what we're getting. But this man has
done nothing wrong. And then he said to
him, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom. And then Jesus uttered
the second statement from the cross,
surely I say to you, today you will be
with me in paradise. The third statement
Jesus made on the cross is the statement
we read about here. He sees his mother at the
foot of the cross, Mary, and says with John the Apostle,
woman, behold your son. Son behold your mother. And those words were uttered
from 9:00 in the morning till around 12:00 noon. At 12:00 noon
something happened. A darkness covered the land
that was so significant and so pervasive, it is not only
mentioned in scripture, but it is mentioned in some
of the ancient Roman history books, a darkness
that was profound, that covered the land. During those hours of darkness,
Jesus said nothing at all until finally, he
broke the silence. And he uttered four more things. The first is, "My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?" The fifth statement
was, "I thirst." We'll read about that. The sixth statement
was, "It is finished." And the seventh statement,
"Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit." And with that, Jesus died. He uttered those seven
statements on the cross. Verse 25, "Now there stood by
the cross of Jesus his mother." We know her name is Mary,
Miriam and his mother's sister. So that's the second woman. Third woman, Mary the wife of
Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. So you've got four women
at the cross, one dude. They're outnumbered. Hey, where are those apostles? In his greatest hour of
need, where is Peter? "Lord, even though all forsake
you, I'll never forsake you." OK, well where is he? He's not there. The only one there of
the apostles is John. It's amazing, really. When Jesus was doling out the
food, thousands of people come. When Jesus preached the words,
hundreds of people heard him. Unless it was a hard sermon,
then a lot of people left. When Jesus was at the
hour of his sorrow, before his death in the upper
room, there were 12 and then 11 as Judas left. In the garden, there were
Peter, James, and John that Jesus took to
a private place. But at the cross, only John. You know, it's not
that different today. How many people show up when
you announce a prayer meeting? How many people show up
when you announce a concert? Jesus at the cross, surrounded
by women, three of them named Mary. Just, that's interesting. There's Mary. And then oh, there's Mary. Oh, and there's Mary. So by now, can you
figure out that Mary was a pretty common name back then? In fact, if you
tally them all up, there are six or seven
Marys in the New Testament. It's just a very
common name, named after Miriam, the sister of
Moses in the Old Testament. It was very common. So first of all, there is
Mary, the mother of Jesus. And she's looking at her
son dying on the cross. And no doubt, as she
looked at Jesus up there, something came to
her remembrance when Jesus was just an
infant, and he was brought to the temple to be dedicated. And there was an old man
named Simeon in the temple. Remember the story
in Luke, chapter 2? And what I love
about Simeon is, God had told this old man that
he wouldn't die until he saw the Lord's Messiah. So I just picture
this old codger going through the temple every
day, looking at young couples with their babies, just looking
at them, just wondering, could that be the one? They'd be walking a
little bit closer, waiting for the Holy Spirit to
give an impression, like that's the one. But every time,
it's like no, that's not the one, not the one. But one day, Joseph and
Mary walk in the temple with this little baby. And he looks over. His heart must skipped a beat. And he walked over
to Joseph and Mary, and he probably said
something to them that was unusual for them to hear. Could I hold your baby? Of course, Mary
would size him up. Is he stable enough
to hold my baby? Would he drop my baby? He seems a little
odd, but sane enough. And taking baby Jesus in his
arms, he craned his head back and he said, now your servant
could die in peace, Lord. For my eyes have
beheld your salvation. [APPLAUSE] And then he turned
to Joseph and Mary. And he said, this child will
be for the fall and the rising of many in Israel,
and for a sign that will be spoken
against, and a sword will pierce your own soul. Now Mary heard that
and she probably had no idea what that meant. It's like, give me my
baby back now, please. OK, that was a weird dedication. [LAUGHTER] Can you imagine if I
had a baby dedication and just started praying
for the baby, oh, and you guys are really
be bummed out soon about what's going to happen. But I'll leave that for later. It's like, what? A sword's going
to pierce my soul? What does that mean? Now she gets it. Now she understands
as she looks up. And she sees her son
dying on that cross. A sword will pierce
her own soul. So we are told [? when ?]
Jesus therefore, saw his mother and the
disciple whom he loved-- that's John standing by-- he said to his mother,
woman, behold your son. And he said to the disciple,
behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple
took her to his own home. Mary, from that day
forward, was brought to John the Apostle's home. What happened to Mary? History tells us that Mary
died 11 years later at age 59. Five, nine, in Jerusalem,
John's second home. Another tradition says that
Mary traveled with John to [? Effisus. ?] We know
that John pastored there for a while, and that she
died in [? Effisus. ?] So there's two traditions. We don't know which is which. One thing we know is true,
she wasn't raised into heaven. She wasn't assumed into heaven. The Catholics have a doctrine
called the Assumption of Mary, where they believe that
Mary didn't die at all. That like Jesus, she
was taken into heaven. Mary too, was taken
miraculously into heaven. They call that the
Assumption of Mary. And I've always found that
an appropriate designation, because that is quite
an assumption to make. Because it's not founded
on anything in the Bible, and it's not founded
on history, nor even the tradition of
the earliest church. But John took her,
cared for her. You know what's amazing to me? There's a lot of things
that are amazing to me. Here's one amazing thing to me. Suffering is all-consuming. If you have deep
pain, you're not thinking about anybody else. You're thinking about yourself. You feel that pain. I've been dealing with a
chronic back condition, and when it flares up, it's just
about all I can think about. It's very distracting. It takes your mind
off every other thing and focuses that inwardly. Here is Jesus during the
most painful part of his life before his death, and he's
concerned about somebody else. He's thinking about, how can I
honor my mother and my father? How can I show honor to her? This woman who birth
me, I want to make sure that she is taken care of. I want to make sure that one
of my own will look after her. So rather than
thinking of himself, he's thinking about others. Father, forgive them. They don't know
what they're doing. That's thinking about others. Today you'll be
with me in paradise. That's thinking about others. Woman, behold your son. Son behold your mother. That's thinking about
others, not even thinking about himself. Now, he will say, I thirst. He will feel this pain. But, at this point, he
is consumed with others. From that hour, the disciple
took her to his own home. Now just go back and notice
the little list of women again. Second, after his mother
was his mother's sister. From other biblical accounts, we
know her name is Salome, a.k.a. Mrs. Zebedee, the mother
of James and John. Because we're told here that
it's his mother's sister, that means that James and
John were Jesus's cousins. Interesting FYI. Then, Mary the wife of Clopus-- no, we don't know who that is. Except some believe that this
is the Clopus mentioned in Luke, chapter 24. Remember the two disciples
on the road to Emmaus? One was named Cleopas. Clopas is often a
shortened version of the longer name, Cleopas. Clopas, sort of a nickname. So it's believed
by some that this is the wife of that disciple,
not among the Twelve Apostles, but one of the
followers of Jesus. And his wife was
there at the cross. And then finally, one of the
most famous women in all the Bible, Mary Magdalene. Some of us, this
last trip to Israel, had the rare privileage--
it was the first time I got to see the
archaeological digs of Magdala. I've seen them from the road. But they have really dug down
into the ancient synagogue that was there at the time of Jesus. And to sit around
that synagogue on some of those original seats,
you're sitting in a place where Jesus went, because
he went to the synagogues around Galilee. It's quite a feeling. It was amazing. But Mary was from
this little town just a few miles northwest
on the shore of Galilee from Tiberius, that city
where the tetrarch reigned. Mary Magdalene was
that notorious sinner. The Bible says, out of her
was cast how many demons? Remember? Seven demons, so she had a
pretty gnarly background. She's the one probably Jesus
referred to when he said, the one that has been forgiven
much, the same loves much. There she is at the foot of the
cross showing love to Jesus. Now verse 28, "After this Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the
scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of
wine was sitting there. They filled a sponge with
sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to his mouth." This is the second time
they offer him wine. The first time, Matthew 27
tells us he didn't accept it. Because the first time
they were giving him wine mixed with gall. Gall was an analgesic,
a pain reliever. It produced a narcotic effect,
disassociating a person from the depth of their pain. Jesus refused the medication. And why is that? Why wouldn't he say yeah,
give me some pain killers? Because he was taking on himself
our sin, the sin of the world. He was in biblical
parlance, drinking the cup of the wrath of God. And when he was drinking
the cup of the wrath of God, he didn't want anything but
the full measure of that wrath. He knew that he needed to
embrace this and feel it all, because he was our substitute. So he embraced and he drank
the cup of the wrath of God. So he felt it all. Now toward the end
of his crucifixion, he's about to
dismiss his spirit. He says, I thirst. Now he cries for it, because
the effects of crucifixion-- I don't need to go
over them again-- creates a burning,
raging thirst. And so he said one word in
Greek, the shortest statement on the cross-- dipso-- which is,
I thirst, dipso. And so they filled some hyssop. Now hyssop is a weed. It grows everywhere in
Jerusalem as a long stalk, the fluffy end. And they could dip it in wine. It would soak. And then they could,
like a sponge, and then they could lift
it up so he could drink. But hyssop, interestingly, if
you have a Jewish background, you understand, wait
a minute, hyssop was that plant at the
passover that they were told to take hyssop and
dip the blood of a lamb in it, and put it on the lentils
and the doorpost of the homes so the death angel
would pass over. That was hyssop. During the moment Jesus is on
the cross, thousands of lambs are being killed in the
temple just down the hill. So it's interesting
that out of Exodus 20, this hyssop used for the blood
of the Lambs at Passover, there on Passover, Jesus was
given this sour wine to drink. Now sour wine was probably the
cheap wine of legionnaires. Think Boone's Farm, you
know, not a great brand. Just like, base
stuff, just something that was easy to get
a hold of back then. They drank it. They had it. So it was when Jesus received
the sour wine he said, it is finished. And bowing his head
he gave up his spirit. Now please notice the
words, it is finished. He's not saying, I'm finished. It's all over. This is the end. Goodbye, cruel world. I'm done for. He didn't say I'm finished. He'll be back. He didn't say we're finished. I've worked hard for
this movement for years. But boys, this is. Women, this it. We're done. It's all over now. He said it is finished. It was a cry of
victory, not defeat. It's a single word
in Greek, tetelestai. Now, tetelestai,
that single word had an interesting set of uses. When a servant would fulfill
his master's bidding, whatever it was, master said,
do this or do that, and a servant completed that,
he would go to his master and say tetelestai. I finished what
you told me to do. Jesus, being the servant of the
father, the ultimate servant-- this is so appropriate
for him to say it's finished--
because Jesus said, I have come to do the will of my
Father and to finish his work. Now on the cross he could say,
as a servant to the master, it is finished. But it was also a
word that the priests would use when they would
inspect the lamb that you would bring to be sacrificed. Remember how they would
look it over and make sure that it's without
blemish and without spot? If it had no
blemish and no spot, the priest would
say, tetelestai, it's without blemish. Again, it's an
appropriate statement because Jesus,
according to Peter, was the lamb without
blemish and without spot, the perfect sacrifice. Tetelestai, the perfect lamb, as
a priest, but the lamb offering himself, he could
say tetelestai. Third, it was used by artists. When an artist would
make a work of art like a painting or a statue,
when it was all done, he'd look from afar
and go, tetelestai. It's completed. It's finished. It's done. And you know, it's appropriate
that Jesus said tetelestai in sense also, because when
you read the Old Testament, you don't get a
complete picture. You get a prediction
here, a prediction there. You get a little bit
of the story line. But in the New Testament,
it all comes together. And you step back
from the plan of God and it's like, ah,
what a work of art. What an intricately woven story. It is tetelestai. It is perfect. And number four, it
was used by merchants. When something was paid
for, when it was finally paid in full,
tetelestai can sometimes be translated, paid in full. I paid it all. And so we sing, Jesus paid
it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left its crimson stain,
he washed me white as snow. Tetelestai, it's paid in full. So on the cross, Jesus said, it
is finished, not I am finished, not we are finished,
it is finished, which means it's
a completed work. We talk, and we've told
you about the finished work of Jesus Christ before. You can't add to it. You can't take from it. Which means, when you try to add
to it, you are insulting God. When you try to say, well,
God, I hope you will accept me. I'm going to try to be a
really good boy so that you'll love me and accept me,
and maybe one day I'll go to heaven by
being a good person. How many times do
you talk to people and you ask them, are you
sure you're going to heaven? Well, I sure hope so. I'm working hard on it. That's an insult to God. That's saying, what Jesus did
on the cross wasn't enough, wasn't paid in full. Jesus said it is enough. That's what tetelestai is
all about, paid in full. The picture is complete. The servant has done the
bidding of his master. It's all done. He said tetelestai,
paid in full. Therefore, verse 31, "Because
it was the preparation day, that the body should not remain
on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was
a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their
legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and
broke the legs of the first and of the other who
was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs." If crucifixion
wasn't bad enough, once somebody died on a cross-- and usually a victim
lasted two to three days-- Jesus, as we mentioned last
week and left you hanging, after six hours, by 3 o'clock in
the afternoon, Jesus was dead. But once the victim
was on the cross, the Romans would,
after a period of time, walk away and let that person
stay on that cross for days until they suffocated. Now the way crucifixion worked
is because a person's arms are stretched high above them, and
their feet are stapled down below them, it puts their
lungs in a place where they can't get air or expel air. So they pull up on the
spike, push up on the feet to take a breath in, push
up again to let it out. Eventually paralysis sets in
the pectoralis major muscles and you die of suffocation. But again, that
could last for days. The Romans, once
that person died, let the bodies stay on the
cross for days after that. So it could be
for a week or two. So scavenger birds, dogs, would
come in and tear at the flesh. And the stench
would be horrible. That's how they did it. The problem is,
it's Passover night. Lambs are being sacrificed. These religious folks
want to get home and have the meal with their families. So hypocritical,
and that's because of a text in the Old Testament
in Deuteronomy, chapter 21. I'll just read it to you. Deuteronomy 21, verse 22 and 23,
"If a man has committed a sin deserving of death,
and he is put to death, and you hang him on a
tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree. But you shall surely
bury him that day so that you do not defile the
land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. For he who is hanged
occursed of God." Now that's Jewish
law, not Roman law. Romans kept them
up there for days. But these Jews wanted
to get the bodies down because it was
according to their law. And they want to go home,
have the body buried, celebrate the
Passover, it's over. So they ask, could you break
the legs of the prisoners, which sounds horrible. But if you think about dying on
a cross for two or three days, to have your legs
be broken, now you can't pull up or push up to
take in or let out a breath, so you die quickly. It's an act of mercy. Instead of letting that person
linger on hour after hour, day after day, it
gets it over quickly. So they would die
of suffocation, but quicker because they had
no leverage to push up on. But when they came
to Jesus, verse 33, "And they saw that
he was already dead. They did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers
pierced his side with a spear and immediately blood
and water came out. And he who has seen--"
that's John-- "has testified. And his testimony is true. And he knows that he
is telling the truth so that you may believe. For these things were
done that the scripture should be fulfilled. Not one of his bone
shall be broken." And again, another
scripture says, they will look on him,
whom they have pierced. When that sword went
in the side of Jesus, and blood or water came out,
John saw that as unusual. And he wanted to write
about it and even say, look, I ain't lying. I'm telling you the truth. I saw this. And I'm saying this so
that you would believe. Why would he do that? What does that mean? A couple of things--
number one, when John was writing his gospel
and writing his epistles, there was a group
that was emerging in the assemblies of the early
church who said Jesus did not have a physical body. They were called gnostics. You've heard of
gnostics, gnosticism. So there's a group of gnostics
called docetic gnostics. And docetism, or
docetic gnosticism, is a belief that says,
Jesus was not human. He did not have a
real human body. John goes, uh, false doctrine. I was there at the cross. I saw what happened. He was dead, and blood
and water came out. That doesn't happen to spirits. That happens to human bodies. The fact that water, though,
came out with the blood is interesting because
it shows, according to some medical experts, that
Jesus died of cardiac failure. It is post-mortem
evidence when you have that kind of gushing
forth of fluid, serum, pericardial fluid, that the
pericardium, that sac that surrounds the heart, because
of the process of crucifixion, puts such pressure on
the heart that Jesus died of heart failure. And what's interesting
about this is, morticians call this the
broken heart syndrome. They have noted that when a
person is under great stress like, they're older,
and they find out that their husband or wife
dies, that they will sometimes die soon thereafter. And it's of this kind of
pressure in the heart. And they call it a
broken heart syndrome. I found that interesting because
if this is post-mortem evidence the Jesus heart was crushed
by the pericardial fluid, it would not be an inaccurate
to say that Jesus died of a broken heart. I mean, imagine what
he has been through, not just physically,
but spiritually. The weight of all of the sins
of humanity ever committed-- past, present, future on him,
experiencing the full measure of the wrath of Almighty God. It took a toll on him
physically, but also emotionally, spiritually. Separation from the father--
he cried out my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It would be accurate to say
he died of a broken heart. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for
fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might
take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him permission. And so he came and
took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who had first
came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture
of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds. Joseph of Arimathea is a
believer, a secret believer. But he is mentioned
in all four gospels. Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John all mention Joseph of Arimathea. And they mention him only
in the burial of Jesus. It was his tomb that
Jesus will occupy. He is called a just man. He is called a righteous
man in the New Testament. Matthew and Luke give
him that designation. Luke says he was waiting
for the Kingdom of God. Now people,
commentators, pastors-- when we give
sermons, we sometimes unfortunately like
to take potshots at people in the biblical texts. And I've read and
I've heard people say, well, Joseph of
Arimathea was afraid of Jesus. He was afraid of testifying. He was a timid, weak, almost
inconsequential believer, denying the Lord almost. He was so afraid. Listen, he's a young believer. The Roman government-- I mean,
all of the disciples fled. At least Joseph came. Peter and the rest are
locked up in an upper room. At least he came afterwards. Yeah, he was a secret disciple,
but give him time to grow. Let him off the hook. He'll grow up. He'll grow strong. And they say the same
thing about Nicodemus. Nicodemus was the
man, you remember, who came to Jesus by
night, the pharisee. And how many times have
we heard people say, well, we came to Jesus
by night because he was so afraid to come
to Jesus during the day, and be seen that he was
looking after Jesus. Not necessarily. It could be that Nicodemus
had a busy schedule. It could be that he wanted
alone time away from the crowds and nighttime was
better for that. The marvel isn't that he
came to Jesus by night. The marvel is he
came to Jesus at all. He was a religious
leader, but he came. And now Joseph and
Jesus come again. At the time that Jesus
needs to be buried, they performed this
last act of mercy. Somebody once said,
a friend is somebody who comes in when the rest
of the world has gone out. Everybody's left Jesus. These two men entered the scene
and they take care of his body. They took verse 40, "The
body of Jesus, bound it in strips of linen with spices
as was the custom of the Jews to bury. Now in the place where he was
crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden a new tomb
in which no one had been laid. So there they laid Jesus
because the Jews' preparation day for the tomb was nearby." Now do you remember-- I think it was last week-- I told you that if you stood
on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem,
and you looked out from the Damascus
Gate, you could see a hill that looks like a skull? And that is called
Gordon's Calvary. I'll take you there when you
go to Jerusalem this next year. Now, Gordon's
Calvary, the reason it's called that is in 1842,
a British general was standing on the Damascus Gate before
the Arabs put that bus station there,
looked out, and he saw in the mountain what
looked like a skull. And it just fit the
biblical description. So they kind of
snooped around there. And he bought the land. Today that land is still owned
by a British corporation called the Garden Tomb Association. So they bought this land. And then they
started excavating. And they excavated a cistern. You know what a cistern is? It's not like the female
version of brethren. You have brethren and cistern. [LAUGHTER] A cistern is a big hole dug
in the rock to hold water. And they found one of
the largest cisterns in the entire country of Israel
right there next to that skull. And they found a wine press. And so they knew
this was a garden. And it was a Garden of a rich
person next to this skull hill. They kept digging a
little more, and they found a tomb, a tomb attached
to the garden right next to the place of crucifixion. The tomb dated 2000 years ago. So if you go to
Israel today, it's beautifully preserved
as an ancient garden. It's quiet for the most
part, except the buses when they honk. But you can walk over and you
can see this skull on the hill. And then you can walk over and
see the tomb that is empty. And we take communion there. So because of that, many
believe that was the tomb where Jesus rose from the dead. But close on this thought. Jesus was on the cross. And what is he experiencing? Darkness, burning thirst, right? He said, I thirst. There were three
hours of darkness. So he's experiencing darkness,
burning thirst, and separation from God. My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me? Separation from God,
burning thirst, darkness. What does that sound like? Sounds like hell. In Hebrews 2, the author
says Jesus tasted death for every man. And that moment on the
cross, in those hours on the cross, Jesus experienced
a level of suffering, separation from the
Father, darkness around him, a burning raging
thirst, so that you would never have to. What we see depicted here is
the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:21. "God made Him who knew no
sin to become sin for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him." On the cross, Jesus
was separated from God so you never would have to be. On the cross, Jesus
experienced thirst so that your thirst
would be quenched. Jesus paid it all. It is finished. Let's pray. [APPLAUSE] Lord, you tasted
death for every man. You became in that moment,
Lord Jesus, sin for all of us, tasting the effects of sin. But you became the propitiation,
the atoning sacrifice, the substitute. You were both a great high
priest making the sacrifice, and you were the lamb,
the sacrifice itself. You willingly offered yourself
so that we might live. [MUSIC PLAYING] Lord, we're humbled
by this story. But we're so grateful
that you included us in the lamb's book of life. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]
