Rick & Bubba Bible Study Live - April 15, 2020

eight seven six five four three two welcome into the Wednesday Bible study here from the broadcast Plaza and teleport again the empty room certainly miss all the guys who are here every Wednesday been hearing from some of you be sure and check in let me know how you're doing and then of course for those of you that may be watching this for the first time because of the pandemic you've been given some some extra time as matter fact I had them I had an email from from a guy Darrell who just found he just discovered this Bible study by simply googling during his time of during the pandemic of you know social distancing and being at home and he just googled you know any streaming Bible study that he could find and he found this one and I come to find out he was a fan of the show and actually went to school at Sanford University in Birmingham where our show is based out of and where I'm doing this Bible study and he sent this email pretty cool because I'd let him know that were you know glad to have him he heard his first Bible study last Wednesday and he said I'm gonna go back and cover the entire study of John because as you know we're getting toward the end of the Gospel of John he said it's my favorite book of the Bible back in 1980 I was a freshman at San Fran University and attended shades Mountain Baptist Church which is my home Church dr. Charles Carter who is the pastor emeritus there he was the pastor at the time and he said one Sunday that the Gospel of John and listen this I love this statement from Reverend Carter he said this guy's never forgotten and he heard it in 1980 he says he said the wonderful thing about the Gospel of John was that it was so clear that anyone could read it and understand everything they need to know about following Jesus yet which we've discovered haven't we it is so profound that you could study it for a lifetime and never exhaust its teachings he said the day he heard that from Reverend Carter at our church in 1980 he went home and he said I read the entire gospel of John that afternoon on my dormitory bed and that was the day that Jesus became a real person to me instead of a collection of Sunday school stories so now he's gonna go back and and hear everything we've done up to this point what you can do - but I love that statement clear that anyone can understand it but so profound you could spend a lifetime and never exhaust all of its teachings it has been an incredible journey through the Gospel of John and we are getting toward the end of it now I want you to to make a few notes things that you need to know and that is if if you would like to watch the next man church service that will be at my home church Shea's Mountain Baptist Church a lot of you that watch this and listen to this say well I don't live around Birmingham so shades Mountain Baptist Church and these man church services that you talk about I could never attend well once again you know remember what we talked about last week God's mercy and God's wrath all happening at the same time now we're going to do a virtual man church that any of you can watch we have Jason cook who will be delivering the message pastor Jason cook is an incredible man of God an outstanding preacher and you will get a great message as will i from jason cook so if you'll write down this website and it will be on April the 26th and we'll do it at our normal time 6:00 p.m. Central Time Sunday night service man church any of you can watch it from anywhere write down this website shades dot org and then slash live Li ve shades Sh ADEs shades org slash live go ahead and get that URL ready and then on Sunday April the 26th at 6 p.m. Central Time we will still have a man church service virtually anybody can watch it from anywhere and we hope that you'll join us and then after that we'll be getting into a new study because by then we will be finished with the Gospel of John I also don't forget the man church.com if you like to go there we have all sorts of resources maybe you're a church leader watch this or maybe a lay person that does men's ministry at your church or in your community and you're thinking well at some point we're all going to get back together that's true but maybe you don't have a men's discipleship strategy if you would like one we have it at the man church calm and you can go ahead and do our curriculum virtually as well and it'll also be ready for you when we get back to the face-to-face if you'd like for us to help you develop that strategy we have the resources and we have the gameplan at the man church calm let's open in a word of prayer let's jump into chapter 19 of the Gospel of John Lord thank you for today thank you for what you did today Lord we'll take a hard look at the ultimately ultimate example of God's mercy and God's wrath being handed out all at the same time when you went to the cross today we unpacked John's account of the crucifixion may we learn everything that you expect us to learn from this today you you go on record for how much you love us and then of course we then have to face the question is today do we love you do we do we love you we know you love us but do we love you so teach us everything we need to know and we pray this sort of the name of Jesus amen all right so let's let's let's jump into John chapter 19 so now we know that Jesus because of Caiaphas coppice had the authority to make a charge he did now Jesus is standing before Pilate and here's what happens in chapter 19 I know that over this past weekend with the Resurrection Sunday and then Good Friday you know we last week we did the trial and the betrayal and and the denial of Jesus and the scattering of the disciples and and and now he's standing before this this trial today we will you know talk about the actual crucifixion and what happened so then Pilate took Jesus this is a John chapter 19 verse 1 then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him so let's talk about this for a minute because you know you always want to try to go to all four Gospels on this these historical events to grab things that that you won't see because you know four Gospels serve their their purpose John is going to leave out some details that the other Gospels tell us about the crucifixion but he's also going also going to give us some details that the other Gospels don't and and John even did this last week giving us some specific names about Peter and and also Malthus the servant of the high priest so the flogging here because this is something we need to get right because I know I've seen it different ways different times what Khalid is doing right here is he goes I'm gonna go ahead and punish Jesus and I'm hoping that if I'll punish him some well we'll give him a flogging if we'll do this maybe that will satisfy the Jews I can come out and I can say look I want you to know that I listened I heard you I don't think he deserves the death penalty we will see this unpacked today but I'm gonna go ahead and I'm going to to flog him and this is gonna be a new strategy for Pilate to try to set him free you know what he when he tried last week didn't work where he was gonna release Jesus Barabbas and that didn't work because they cried out give us Barabbas and we unpack that so now this is a new strategy okay I'm going to punish him but I'm not going to kill him and we're done so that's what he's hoping will happen as a matter of fact if you look at Luke 23 write this down Luke 23 13 through 16 here's what Luke says happened Pilate says to the Jewish officials that Jesus has done nothing to deserve death therefore I will punish him now what we believe is this this first beating was not the beating that we talked about where Jesus's flesh was torn and and because the Roman officials had two different types of beatings that they would give you you know a flogging was I mean it was it was rough but it was less severe than the one that Jesus will then receive sadly when the crucifixion happens that they have won that they're just trying to punish you and then say you've learned your lesson you're back then there's a second beating and there's different Greek names that they use for these in that second one which we'll see here momentarily is usually pre execution sentence this is one after they've sent it somebody to crucifixion and what they didn't realize is that crucifixion is such a horrible terrible torturous death it can sometimes go on for days so what they would do on this second type beating which is not the one he's getting here but the second type beating is the one they hope will be so severe that the person would just die quicker on the cross now Jesus is going to receive that beating we'll talk about later but this is not the beating that he's getting here the flogging there's two different words so what Pilate is hoping let's go over here and we'll stripe him a little bit we'll punish him and that'll be enough of course we know that that's not going to be enough so the so the soldiers once they got him and they're gonna they're gonna flog him and they're gonna do this first beating but they did want to demoralize him so look at verse 2 and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and they put it on his head and they arrayed him in a purple robe they came up to him saying hail King of the Jews this is in verse 3 and struck him with their hands now let's there's some pact what's happening here historically they believe that these Roman soldiers that are doing the flogging again this is the first beating they're doing the flogging that probably this crown of thorns they made to demoralize this this claim of iam some kind of king because as we know if you're serving caesar you don't acknowledge any other kings and keep in mind Pilate in these soldiers are also trying to demoralize the Jewish leaders by even suggesting that Jesus was any threat to anybody okay so what they did is they think what they probably did is they got a crown of thorns that came from what a plant called a date palm now these are very long thorns and then the the purple robe probably was a robe that had some sort of military significance in the Roman guard and somebody gave theirs or they found one that wasn't being used and they put that on him and they're doing this you know to mark him as King of the Jews and and you know as in a threat to Caesar but it's so interesting that all these things and we're gonna see it again this week showing that God is in control of all of this Jesus is in control of every bit of this and we're gonna see it again today when he says it clearly to Pilate but here they are mocking Jesus as king of the Jews but what they don't even realize is in their attempt to mock the the person standing before them is not just the King of the Jews he's the king of the Gentiles he's the king of kings both as you and Gentile so in their mocking what they're calling Jesus they they have no concept of who they are dealing with and I think a lot of times we have this same concept in our own lives when we don't take sin seriously and I've told you that before I had I had to be I did an interview this past week about men's ministry on a podcast and the guy was asking me the pastor he said you know what are some things you think we need to do for men in these men's services that we might not do sometimes in a setting with women and children and I said speaking from my own experience I believe we must assure men into the presence of a holy God I said I you can't play games and and and make God out as we said to be this big man upstairs or you know to turn him in turn Jesus into some hippie what we need to be ushered into we need to be ushered in to the presence of the great I am we need to be ushered in into the presence of a holy God we need to fully understand God's mercy we need to fully understand God's love but we equally need to understand his authority his righteousness we need to understand his holiness and we need to understand his wrath we do because then when we understand who God really is and we're confronted with His Holiness will be a lot like job when job through pain and suffering was so confronted with God's holiness as he said before I'd heard of you but through my pain and suffering I've been forced to see you for who you really are and I despise myself and I repent and ashes and dust a lot of times the reason why men or any one reason why we don't repent is we've never been in the presence of the actual God we've never we've never really confronted it so we could put crowns of thorns on Jesus's head and we can take you know Ries Cup logos and turn that into the name Jesus and I've even seen people take the Budweiser logo and turn it into Jesus some of these silly bumper stickers we have you know God is my co-pilot if God's your co-pilot the wrong person is driving and and so what we need to do is be assured into the presence of who God really is not who we keep trying to make him because what we try to do is dumb him down just like the ignorance of these Roman soldiers we try to dumb him down to the point that he's much easier to sin against and and that that's been that was my problem and and I'm going to suggest it's probably the problem of a lot of people including people watching and listening to this because you're a human being and sometimes we haven't done a very good job as a church to introduce you to who God really is see we're not really call hashtag blessed and let's do life together that's not it that's not the Christian walk at all the world does that we're not this we're not hanging out we're advancing the kingdom of God and we're worshiping the one and only living God who is the beginning and the end who is holy holy holy and and we need a tremble I mean we mean we need you know as we found out in acts 14 where you know Paul after what he goes through in Lystra about being stoned and Nek it he gets back up they think he's dead and he comes back and he goes again and even returns back to the same place where he was stoned and he says I get it he said he said we have to work through many trials and tribulations well you know well our our faith and our righteousness comes through many trials and tribulations not not constantly trying to search for some fun zone I can't see there's nothing more wonderful than actually knowing who God is and and being under his authority and being good standing with him I don't know what's better than that and once again through this pandemic you know we've been showed to stop trying to make heaven on earth this is not heaven and it never will be and if we really want to be of you know I've heard people say before with this person so heaven focused there no earthly good you know what I think that's a false statement I know why people say that because once again somebody's been convicted by somebody actually being heaven focused now I would go as far as to say you can never be any earthly good until you become heaven focused so and this is where the the irony of what's happening here with Jesus is heartbreaking but remember my sin did that to him all this has happened to Jesus is on me because of my sin if you say well who crucified Jesus I did so let's let's go on so in verse four and five this continues Pilate went out again and and he said to them the Jewish authorities see I'm bringing him out so that you may know that I find no guilt in him and then he goes on so Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate said to them behold the man now there's a lot going on here the irony just continues with Pilate and the Roman officials and even the Jewish officials behold the man now this is meant to be a mocking of Jesus and it goes back to what I said a minute ago what Pilate is trying to do here is mainly to demoralize the Jewish officials by saying so this is the God that you're all worried about we took him back here we beat him we put a crown of thorns on him we put a fake robe on him we've been mocking him we've been beating him and you know what nothing's happened to us look what kind of threat do you think he is to anybody didn't appear to be a thriller look how he looks now what thread are you talking about and so this is going on but the irony is that Pilate actually says behold the man and the word became flesh God became a van pilot behold the man he has no idea what he's really saying does it he thinks he's he thinks he's mocking Jesus but really what he states saying about Jesus is correct behold the ultimate man behold the new Adam is what we would say you know the first Adam failed that's not our example of how to be a man I say who's an example of how to be a man as Jesus when God became one and the word became flesh God came to us and we could not come to him behold the man I don't know that there's anything that shows more about God being in control is that he's humbling himself and he's allowing this to go on and nobody realizes who they're dealing with and back again we have to you know assess our life as Paul told us to to find out if we're even part of the faith do we know who we're dealing with our week rated aversion of Jesus that is blasphemous as well he's actually displaying his glory as the one and only living God because he's doing this because he knows he's the only sacrifice that can ever save the world thank you Jesus verse 6 well this thing on work you know the Jewish leaders are not gonna be satisfied with this when the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out crucify him crucify him and then Pilate says to them take him yourselves and crucify him for I find no guilt in him so they won't be satisfied with anything other than Jesus being crucified they're making that very clear now why's Pilate saying well then you take him well let me tell you what he's not saying he's not saying that the Jewish officials are suddenly in charge of who's going to be crucified because they don't have the authority to do that as they will say here shortly what Pilate is saying is I don't find any guilt in him you bring him to me you bring him to me saying I'm the one to make call so I've made the call and now you're saying you want something else and what pilots really say so you're in charge now so you're gonna decide what's going to happen to you do you have the authority to crucify him knowing they don't Jewish officials and you'll see their play here in a minute they know that they don't so this is Pilate once again in his arrogance and his weakness and his cowardice of refusing to just say this is what's going to happen in the subject he keeps trying to find another way out and nothing is working but he is offended that they have brought him to Jesus and then he then Pilate says okay I'll rule on it I've flogged him I'll put a crown of thorns on him we dressed him in a robe we marked him we're done but now you don't accept that so then in seven here's where they start trying to get to Pilate in and they do the Jews answered him we have a law according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God now the law that they're talking about is Leviticus 24:16 Leviticus 24:16 says anyone who blasphemes the name of God he must be put to death now this is gonna throw Pilate a little bit because Pilate is you know if you read all four Gospels his wife's been talking to him about this guy what is the truth this conversation he's had with Jesus Pilate wants this to be over okay and and he wants to be done with this but he knows there's something going on with Jesus he's not real sure what he what it is and now they're reminding him because remember Pilate is okay if they want to follow down the road of sedition meaning this guy's a threat to the Roman Empire he's he's like Jesus Barabbas he too wants to try to overthrow the Roman government he's gonna declare himself a king and Pilate thinks he's kind of ruled all that out you know with the conversations last week with Jesus and now they're saying oh let's remind you now he claimed to be the Son of God which we considered to be blaspheming the name and we have a law that says he needs to be put to death so now let's let's look at 8 when Pilate heard this statement he was even more afraid now what is this mean when Pilate heard this statement about his claims to be the Son of God he was even more afraid that's an interesting statement Pilate now isn't quite sure who he's dealing with like I said he's remember that conversation about Jesus telling him who he was and and what is the truth and now they're claiming that Jesus has made the claim that he's divine and and in the Bible documents in John documents that this made Pilate afraid now there's a lot of things we'll get into here in a minute about why he's afraid certainly he's got some superstition to him which we'll see here in the next verse you know we don't we don't we're not sure that Pilate really is seeking the truth about who Jesus is but you know the Romans had all sorts of different gods and there was a lot of superstition that went through their belief system and this is making Pilate uneasy the Pilate also knows that he's been placed you know in charge of this region and and he really doesn't need trouble if you go through the history Pilate was had all kinds of uprisings of stuff you know at some point he doesn't Tiberius to say can you not get this under control so he's got all this going on and he needs it to end look at look at verse 9 he entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus where are you from but Jesus gave him no answer so this question goes back again Pilate isn't really trying to seek the truth he hasn't been the whole time what is truth you remember this from last week Pilate is warning to kinda almost like Herod was I'm kind of intrigued with the the mystery of this Jesus person are you some sort of mystic or something I'd like to kick the tires on it but Jesus snow in the heart of every man knows that Pilate isn't really seeking the truth and if Jesus tells him who he is which he tried to pilots not gonna hear it Jesus also know that he's resolved himself to the cross so he doesn't answer him at all he just doesn't give me any answer now this is going to bother Pilate as you see in verse 10 verse 10 Pilate says to him you will not speak to me do you not know that I have the authority to release you and authority to crucify you so this is the arrogance of Pilate keep in mind he's got a lot of power in the Roman Empire and he walks in to Jesus this guy who they put a crown of thorns on put in a robe who's been flogged and he says I you know who are you where'd you come from and Jesus didn't answer him so now Pilate is offended and he's trying now to wield his authority and tell him do you not know who I am do you not understand that I have the authority on whether you're gonna be released or whether you're gonna be crucified I'm gonna make that call now see how how how wrong is Pilate and Jesus is about to clarify that and one of the most wonderful statements by Jesus who's gonna remind pilot who's in control but I thought to myself how many times in my life and how embarrassing it is and how sad it is of how much of my life that I may not have told God that I had the authority on whether he'd be released or whether he'd be crucified but I did spend a lot of my life telling God what he could and could not do in my life you know how much authority I would give him you say well Ricky no no that's the same thing that that's me saying to God now I have some authority in my life you don't I'll live however I want to live and I'm gonna try to come up with some version of the gospel where you're gonna save me anyway and I think sometimes we need to rethink that you know if you're still thinking that you're the authority of your life then you're like me like I was we're no different pilot we're telling Jesus that he didn't have any authority that we do and I've certainly done that in my life telling God what he can and cannot do in my life allowing him Authority where I allow him Authority but letting him know that overall I'm the one in control of my life if that's the reason why these little pandemics come along you know they have to be a pandemic all these little trials and tribulations come along I can remember sherry talking about you know one of the toughest ones we've been through and of course that's the earthly death of our youngest son that we reference a lot because it's it's a marker when when you realize that your son is dying and you can't save him you realize pretty quick that you're not God and it humbles you it's humbling for something like that to happen and you can't do anything about it do you feel that way now how many parts of your life right now can you really control you thought you could but you realize like that it can all go away but then you start going to God and saying you're in control right and he says oh I've always been in control you're just now acknowledging it so so yeah we've said something similar to God I know I have I certainly can't speak to you you have to or for you you have to assess that yourself 19 and 11 and here comes Jesus I love this reminding Pilate of who has authority and who does not jesus answered him you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin okay so let's unpack this the first part is pretty straightforward I mean it's it's completely straightforward because Jesus is saying let me correct you you have no authority over me remember he's already said that no one takes his life from him he has the authority to lay it down and he has the authority to raise it back up again which he did well in this case he's emphasizing with great detail to Pilate all of you that have this earthly Authority you only have it because my father has allowed President Trump McCarron in France fill in the blank all over the world fill in the blank of your governors all of a sudden right now they think they have all this power they don't have any power over anything unless God allows it romans 13 when we studied the book of Romans I love what Steve Farrar says he says when it comes to world leaders and the pilots of the world or the the president Trump's of the world or president whoever doesn't matter which president it is any anywhere any place that those people can't even breathe unless God allows them their next breath that's that's that's how weak they are compared to the real Authority and that is the great I am and Jesus is reminding Pilate of you're nothing but someone who's been allowed some authority by my father if he didn't want you to have it you wouldn't we're letting this happen you're not in control of this at all God is sovereign even over our earthly leaders the question is back to what we said before so what our earthly leaders for well mainly Romans 13 insists to keep us in line but secondly they're placed there for two things those equal pillars again God's wrath and God's judgment I mean in God's mercy sometimes they're there as God's mercy sometimes they're there as God's wrath sometimes they're a little bit of both you see it right here so then let's get into the therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin that's intriguing isn't it greater sin well is it so who has the greater sin is he talking about Judas because ultimately Judas you know went in and said I'll cut a deal with you guys I'll take the thirty pieces of silver I'll give you Jesus did you tell me is Ito like Judas is committed a greater sin than Pilate and this can get really deep and we don't have time for all this day but I'll give you kind of the C student from Calhoun County version of this so then I could be koffice is he talking back office because koffice has brought him and handed him over to Pilate it was koffice who had the authority the bottom line is that the initiative is is sin by all Caiaphas took the initiative to hand over Jesus Judas took the initiative to hand over Jesus and Pilate is spineless but he did not initiate this trial the people who initiated it were Judas and ultimately koffice so the one who initiated all this has has the greater sin and then you get into wool is their free will and all this is their God's sovereignty I know out there there's that there's different the theology on that and from what I've gathered a scripture scripture and read it from one end to the other it's both how does that happen I don't know I think some of us we just we just can't admit that there's things about God that we really just don't completely know there's a lot of things we do know so it's not at like we don't know anything about God but how God is sovereign and allows free will at the same time I can basically understand that because he's God but do I completely understand it in my finite brain no was Jesus going to the cross yes did these people have a choice on whether they were going to initiate it or not yes did God know what decision they were gonna make yes how does that work I don't know but but but but I know that's what's taking place and I know Jesus just said to Pilate that the ones who initiated all this have the greater sin well how can they have sin if they didn't have any choice on what happened so yes it was going to happen but how it was going to happen it's kind of like what I say a lot of times about the the day I was born in the day I'm gonna die nothing I do about it Psalms 139 13 through 16 says clearly then when I was woven together in my mother's womb that God knew me intricately he knew the my inner parts he knew the number of my days they were all written before I had lived one I know that job says there's nothing that a man can do to add even a an hour to his life or a day I can't remember his time frame but ultimately says we can't add any time to our life however how effective my life is and how sinful my life is I choose like like I talked about some of you with my weight there were a lot of years I justified the gluttony in my life because I just enjoyed it I didn't want to give it up and so I tried to justify it and when I decided to and I've got a lot of work to do still but I have addressed it when I started exercising and eating better and eating less I knew I wasn't doing that to extend my life because that was under God's sovereignty completely but I know that I had a choice on how effective my life would be did I care about my witness yeah I would love to tell you that I tried to address it because I thought it was you know selfish you're not treating my wife well you know to say why should my wife have to put up with a obesity overweight gluttonous husband you know what I want her to be that way probably not but I was able to do it but she had to live to a different standard I'd love to say that that convicted me I'm glad I think that's part of it but that's really not what convicted me if I said well my children should have a dad that can actually shoot basketball with them or go outside and play with them or take them hunting and be able to go up and down hollows and go fishing and not not be able to be able to do that without having to you know stop and put my hands on my knees because I can't breathe that really would have been a great motivation but apparently that wasn't it because I went on a long time knowing those two things and it didn't do it know what what happened with me dealing with the me and my life was not to extend my life you think the doctors didn't tell me hey watch out you know this this is not healthy of course they did I didn't care no what finally did it was when I realized that I was in sin I was choosing to live deliberate perpetual sin and I didn't care how effective I could be for the kingdom and the fact that most people don't like to follow an obese man who looks like he has no self-control didn't extend my life but it has made my life more effective and I address it because I don't want to be in sin so I had I had choices I had to make on on how I live my life but I don't have any choice about the day I'm gonna die so this is kind of another example of what we're talking about here but Jesus does make it clear it's those who initiated this trial that have created greater sin that even Pilate pollicis been spotless and he'll be held accountable for the fact that he was spineless so let's go to let's go to 12 from then on Pilate salt to release him but the Jews cried out if you release this man you are not Caesars friend everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar now this is what I was talking about a minute ago they know that Pilate doesn't want trouble from Tiberias the Caesar at the time I you don't want trouble with Caesar so Pilate knows that Jesus does not deserve death he's already said that but the Jews remind Pilate that he doesn't want trouble from from the ultimate authority and that's Tiberias at the time and Tiberius was paranoid he was a you know all of these Roman Caesars they had the ultimate power over this gigantic Empire but guess what everybody else wants it too so they they're never really at peace somebody's always trying to kill him somebody's always trying to assassinate him somebody's always trying to overthrow them and his subordinates subordinates always made Tiberius very very paranoid and he was he was to act quick and harsh against any uprising that he was concerned about and pilot had already been told I don't I don't want any uprisings from these Jewish people and the Jews knew this but let me tell you this this is where the Jews these particulars you --is-- show their awful sin they're willing to act like they they are more loyal to Caesar that they're more loyal to Caesar than they are to God they claim that they're these wonderful lovers of Caesar who blasphemes and calls himself God and they're saying we're more loyal to Caesar that even you are Pilate blasphemy but they're willing to do it because they're obsessed with crucifying Jesus and it worked so when Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and he set him down on the judgment seat it's a place called the stone pavement and Aramaic it's gabbatha gabbatha and I did some research on this it was it was about it was really really large area and there's been some some ancient finds that they think they may have found it and all this but bottom line is when Caesar sets you down on the judgment seat our pilot set you down on the judgment seat any of the high ranking officials this is when they were going to hand down their judgment so verse 14 when we talk about preparation day I want you to hear this as well so now it was the day of preparation of the Passover it was about the sixth hour he said to the Jews behold your king now there's there's not been all kinds of talk about the Passover meal and if they're saying it's preparation day that means that the the Lord's Supper or the Last Supper was not a a Passover supper but we we look at the elements of that we think that it was and most of the commentators come down and say what John's talking about it certainly was Passover week we know that but when he says preparation he's really just talking about the Sabbath there's there's a preparation for any Sabbath and he's just saying this particular preparation is on the week of the Sabbath but I'm not talking about that this is the this is the Passover meal or this because that's already happened he's saying we got to get prepared for the Sabbath but this hat this Sabbath happens to be coming on the week of Passover that's where most people land so they did they say there really is no issue with the Last Supper you know being the Passover supper in this statement by John but anyway so that they believed it was the meal the the meal with the disciples was the Passover meal what John's talking about here is the preparation meal which is coming we got to get everything prepared because we can't do anything once the Sabbath starts at 6:00 p.m. and that's what he's talking about here it just happened to be on the week of the Passover well we know they have him trapped right now and so you see what happens next first of all Pilate is trying to mock them again by saying here's your king here and and then he asked them what he want us to do with it and they cried out in 15 away with him away with him crucify him Pilate said to them should Wow what a moment's blasphemy these same Jewish leaders that know that they were never supposed to declare Caesar as their king my flesh is my king we reject King Jesus because we have not made him Lord of our life and so Pilate says here is your king do you want me to crucify your king and they say this is not our King Caesar is our king and then Pilate and sixteen so he delivered him over to them to be crucified he sits down on the tribunal and he hands him over and they say when he's handed him over he's not handing them off to the Jewish leaders to take him what he's saying is I'll hand him over to to the soldiers here I will meet your demand you'll find that to tell you that it's the soldiers in Luke 23 24 Luke 23 20 24 so John's account now of the crucifixion is is very close to Mark's account of the crucifixion but he does omit some of the details that mark and others give us but he also gives us other details that aren't reported elsewhere including the last cry that Jesus gives from the cross so they took Jesus and they went out burying his own cross to the place called the place of a skull which in Aramaic is called Golgotha I've seen this before they I've been to Israel and though they'll set you up and they'll show you where they think the crucifixion took place which was right outside the city because the Romans wanted you to see this they wanted it to be public and and you can literally look into that that hillside and it looks like a skull and and John talks about this the soldiers are in charge now and we believe this is where if you look at the other Gospels where he took that second beating and so the he'll die quicker he's carrying his own cross this is typical in Roman culture now remember I know a lot of times you see Jesus depicted carrying the entire cross that's really not accurate historically he's carrying the cross member you know the the part that there goes some horizontal and they would care that on their shoulders because the beam is already up to where they're going to go it's already been laid out and then they'll take him when he gets there and they'll actually take the horizontal part and attach it to them the vertical part that's already there so it as I said this was a public place in verse 18 there they crucified him with two others on either side and Jesus between them it's always a public place and crucifixion was so bad that no Roman citizen could be crucified without the sanction of the Emperor that's only way by a Roma citizen unless the Emperor himself said that a Roman citizens will be crucified you could not crucify them because it was such a horrible way to die and ultimately they died of a fixation and it can go on for days as they try to push up and breathe and eventually they they they suffocate so here's what happened in nineteen through 22 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross at red Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews many of the Jews read the inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city as we said and it was written in Aramaic in Latin and in Greek so the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate do not write the king of the Jews but rather this man said I am The King of the Jews but Pilate answered what I have written I have written this was a this was customary for the authorities to say to one of these soldiers I want everybody to see as this person you know when Jesus tells us you know in in Luke 9 that if we're going to follow him to deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily when when someone was carrying the cross in Roman culture when you saw that that person was going to die and that's why Jesus said we pick up our cross every day we died itself and we're willing to die for Jesus we die every day that's what that means it doesn't mean that you're gonna have some inconveniences or you might have arthritis what that means that arthritis is not your cross to bear no your cross to bear is I'd die to Jesus I die with Jesus I'm crucified with Jesus I give up all my rights I belong to him I die daily I deny myself and so in the Roman culture these people carrying their crosses were going to die but usually they would write what their offense was and they would hang it around their neck and then when they got up to be crucified they would take it off of their neck and then they would attach it to the cross and then when they lift it up you would see if you're walking by you know what the Roman authorities want you to know don't do this if you do this written above their head this is what happens to you and so too malt the Jewish authorities for one and final time pilot won't sit on there that he is being crucified because he claimed to be a king he wants the society to know I don't acknowledge this deity of him claiming to be the Son of God or blaspheming I do not let this happen because of what the Jewish people said he did we're gonna crucify him because he tried to commit sedition against the Roman Empire I want it up there that he claimed to be King of the Jews and and of course to mark the Jews he would not put what they wanted that he claimed to be the king of the Jews he wanted it to be up there he is he certainly is the King of the Jews meaning we won't allow anybody to say these kind of things and so that was him kind of saving face a little bit and marking them for the for the final time and the irony of all this again is that he is the King of the Jews and the Gentiles so let's look at 23 when the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and divided them into four parts one part for each soldier soldier also is tunic but the tunic was seamless woven in one piece from top to bottom so they they said to one another let us not tear it up but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be this was to fulfill the scripture which says they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots now this was written hundreds of years before this happened in Psalms 22 18 we believe that Jesus's clothes are talking about when they talk about these different parts probably a belt probably sandals and a head covering so that makes three things for further further soldiers but we also know that there's a tunic and it was so nice they didn't want to have to tear it up so what they were going to do is gamble to see who would get the fourth piece of clothing which was a full tunic that Jesus wore as his outer garment and and John is is making the point that they didn't realize that they were fulfilling Scripture Psalms 22 18 because they became concerned about not tearing up this tunic and we think that that means that there were four soldiers that were working with him and for them to divide up the clothing and the belongings of someone being crucified was very normal but the way that they went about it actually fulfilled the scripture which is incredible once again God in control and John wants us to know that they did this and 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus where his mother and his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene so we believe this tells us there's four women there we think that's what John is saying because he's only naming - meaning Mary the wife of Clopas he wants to name Mary Magdalene he wants to name and the other two would have been Jesus's mother Mary and then her sister so we're talking four women here and then and and what they're doing is they're gonna stand by to make provisions for what's going to happen and then you look at 29 I mean 26 through 29 when Jesus saw this his mother and the disciple whom he loved that's John standing nearby he said to his mother woman behold your son then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour the disciple took her into his own home Jesus even in his time of destruction even in his time of pain and suffering he is still looking at his earthly mother and he's making provisions for her and I know the first thing that may be coming to your mind right now that always comes to mind what about his earthly brother's where's James where's Jude we know that he had earthly brothers why are they not taking control of their mother because they dealt they thought Jesus was alone that's why they didn't believe in the the claims of their brother and they say historically they probably were not even there they thought to themselves look what he's doing the mom you know now he's got his self crucified acting like he's the son of God and they were angry about they didn't believe it they they rejected his claims you know they don't come around to after the resurrection so here's Jesus saying John I know you're confused but you're here and you've been with me up until this point you're going to get this right as well but you're here with my mother when my biological half-brothers are not here so I know you'll take care of her so I made provisions for her and then John gets that responsibility and it says he did take care of her so then next it says this this this wonderful moment that happens on the cross after this Jesus knowing that all was finished and he said to fulfill scripture I thirst thirst knowing that all things had been accomplished in order to fulfill Scripture he said I thirst write down Psalm 69 21 and you will see this thing about him being offered the sour wine and all this has been in prophecy now keep in mind verse 29 a jar full of sour wine stood there so they put a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth he had he had been denying himself comfort they tried to give him stuff on the way that had you know properties in it that would that would that would numb the pain of what he was going through and he denied himself that all the way but now he says that he thirst and that he will take something this sour wine why is this happening well first of all fulfill all all scripture yes but also he says I thirst and now he wants something and they take a hyssop branch of all things now this is a bush this is not what you would use to lift something up to somebody but if you go to the Passover God says that the Angel of Death is going to pass over you and to be sure the Angel of Death passes by your house take the blood of a perfect lamb and with a hyssop branch cover your doorpost with the blood of the perfect lamb and death will pass you by so of course it's a hyssop branch to moisten the mouth of the ultimate Lamb of God he says I thirst so that they can moisten his mouth because he has fulfilled all scripture verse 30 when Jesus had received the sour wine now his palate has been more and he said clearly it is finished Greek word tetelestai in the Greek culture if you owed someone a debt and if they forgave that debt or you paid it in full they would take the paperwork of that debt and they would stamp it to tell a style debt paid in full and Jesus says from the cross for you and me to tell us died the debt is paid it is finished that's why I wanted his mouth moisten so all of time could hear those wonderful wonderful words of hope even in the worst of times it is finished oh so now we understand John 16:33 a little better don't we I say this so that you have peace in me in this world you will face tribulation but take heart be courageous be joyful be hopeful because I have overcome the world it is finished the telus time since it was the day of preparation in verse 31 and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for the Sabbath was a high day the Jews asked Pilate that the legs might be broken that they might be taken away did you say look we it was it was bad form for dead bodies to the Romans would leave him on the cross and let him rot for days but the Jews going into the Sabbath said this is this is not normal practice was to leave them up there but the Jews said the cost of Deuteronomy 21 write this down 22 and 23 that these bodies should not remain on these post overnight such a person is under God's curse and to leave them there exposes God's curse on the land so they wanted these legs broken they break their legs because they can't push up and breathe anymore they'll die quicker but we also know that when they went to Jesus in verse 32 and 33 listen to this so the soldiers came broke broke the legs of the first and the other who had been crucified with him but when they came to Jesus they saw that he was already dead and they did not break his legs and we know if you know the scripture about this this was also to fulfill Scripture that his bones would not be broken John's gonna tell us this but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and water this was just to make sure he who saw it has borne witness his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you may also believe why is John saying this I know we're running out of time but we're gonna make it okay well they that are they went to Jesus already dead to fulfill prophecy because we can't have the lamb with a broken bone but also because he'd been had the double floggings his body probably just could not take it any longer but what John is saying in 34 is when he sees the soldier take the spear into Jesus's side and the blood in the water there's a lot of medical that goes with this I it really I know some people try to make it out more than this this is just what happens to the body when it's in the state that it is you're gonna see a mixture of blood and water coming out but the ultimate thing John wants you to see in this it's not that what he wants you to see is I was standing there I saw them do this Jesus was dead because you know there were some theories out there that Jesus didn't really die on the cross the Romans are pretty good at that folks they don't they don't let you tell them to take people down and you're not sure if they're dead or not what a ridiculous theology served for something to try to reject the resurrection by saying that Jesus didn't die on the cross this is lunacy and John is saying this is lunacy I was there I saw that he was dead and you know what to make sure I didn't have any misunderstanding one of the Roman soldiers took a spear and rammed it into Jesus's body and water and blood came out I say this let you know I was there eyewitnesses I witnessed this he was dead that's what John's trying to make you to understand he says it very very clear he who saw it himself has borne witness and his testimony is true and he knows that he's telling the truth that you may also believe meaning believed that he really did raise himself from the dead you can't believe he raised himself from the dead if you think you really died and John said I saw it he's dead 36 for these things took place that scripture might be fulfilled and we just talked about this not one of his bones will be broken and again another scripture says they will look on him whom they have pierced all of this is fulfilling Scripture Exodus Exodus 12 46 and Numbers 912 says that you cannot have one bone of the Passover lamb he cannot have one bone that is broken and of course the ultimate Lamb of God would not have a bone that was broken Psalms 34 20 write this down God cares for the righteous man he protects all his bones none will be broken so there's a lot going on here and you can also look at the part about the piercing of Jesus in zechariah 12:10 so write that down let me finish up we're gonna maybe a minute or two over after these things Joseph of Arimathea who was a disciple of Jesus don't miss that because he was a high-ranking Jewish official but secretly for the fear of the Jews asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission so he came and took away his body Joseph of Arimathea it was a member of the Sanhedrin he appears in all four Gospels and he was he took over the barrel of Jesus's body he was very wealthy he was a disciple of Jesus John says he was trying to keep that on the down-low for fear of persecution from the Jews but now he's publicly coming out and saying I will take this body a lot of this says that Pilate gave him permission policin a total control of this because this is once again piling it Pilate acknowledging that Jesus really didn't do anything to deserve this a lot a lot of the theologians and journalists of the day think that's why Pilate gave in he he said sure take him and bury the body now Nicodemus shows up remember Nicodemus Nicodemus also who earlier had come to Jesus by night came bringing a mixture of myrrh and alloys about 75 pounds in weight that's important that kind of spice that level that a spice and things to make the body smell good and to anoint the body and do all this this level was usually held only for people of royal tea I mean that when when Herod was buried I mean Jesus's amount is in the same neighborhood so Nicodemus who also was wealthy is bringing the kind of spices and elements you need for the barrel of the body that you would bring for somebody who was grow of great importance again this is Nicodemus coming out of the light he met Jesus in the light nice coming out in the day and saying that I'm with Jesus so they took the body of Jesus and they bound it in linen cloths with the spices as is the barrel custom of the Jews now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the 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 so if you look at this you see Joseph of Arimathea is taking care of all the legal stuff that needs to be done to get the body from Pilate Nicodemus handled the preparation of the body and they bought they bound the body then they would take the bodies they bound it and they would put the spices in there because they did not embalm only John tells us about the the garden being there with the tomb he's the only one that mentions this no one else had ever been laid in this tomb he's likely making this point so that no one can say that there was another body that was in there as well and that Jesus was the only body there and he's also telling us about the garden because he's preparing us for the encounter of Mary Magdalene and the gardener so as we as we take this and we apply it to our lives today there's so much to apply we come back next week we'll talk about the resurrection and then the following week we'll talk about Jesus and the and his final teachings to the disciples and to us after the resurrection and then we'll talk about the next study I think as we close right now this is a great time for us to ask the question who are we in this documentation do we look at our life and realize that even on the other side of the Resurrection in our life right now we have the same attitude toward Jesus that that these people had that he isn't who he says he is or that we're still in the authority or that somehow we think we're not guilty of putting Jesus on the cross somewhere we think we're not in equal need of redemption look this world is always talking about equality let me tell you we're we're all equal right there at the foot of the cross an equal need of redemption Jesus has done everything that he was supposed to do and now it's your time at my time to respond and I think the crucifixion demands a response so what is yours let's pray thank you for this time together lord I pray Lord if there's anyone watching this you're listening to this that that knows what you've done for them but they have never repented of sin and it never said I'll take the free gift of redemption and salvation or thank you for doing for me what I couldn't do for myself and today I repent of my sins Lord I'm sorry that I nailed you to the cross I know that your father's wrath had to be poured out on sin and I caused the sin that you had no part in and you stood in and took that wrath for me thank you Jesus today would you forgive me of my sins I know that you love me will you start teaching me to love you then when I love you I will bait you and may I start to abide in you so I can see the transformation in my life that only you can provide I want that piece that you say can only be found in you and today Lord I ask that you give it to me you know if you prayed something like this today or something is stirring in you I'll help you Ricky Ricky and Bubba calm if I can help you in any way Jesus thank you and your name we pray amen thanks for being with us you

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Length: 64min 35sec (3875 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 15 2020