The Crucifixion of Jesus part 1

Well, if you would take your Bible and turn back with me to John chapter 19 John chapter 19 and I said earlier we'll cover or divide verses 17 on down to verse 22 Now I think it's obvious for all of us this morning that we're back in our series in the Gospel of John We put our study through the Gospel of John on hold Back in August.

I believe it was the end of August as a church We definitely needed some time together to study through the material called the ten pillars of the church As elders brother Keith and I both feel this study was very timely for us as a church We strongly believe that this teaching will be fleshed out more and more in a new and powerful way in the upcoming Year and as I have said many times if you've not worked your way through that material if you've missed any of those messages We encourage you Strongly encourage you to make sure you have digested that teaching Now as we turn our attention back to John John's gospel I want to remind you of the title of the series We've carried this title all along since the beginning in John chapter 1 verse 1 that series title is Christ the Son of God believe and live Now we should remember that this series title comes right out of the theme verse out of the book the gospel of John The Apostle John wrote in chapter 20 verse 31 and I'm quoting John But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that By believing you might may have eternal life in his name And that is what we have been seeing all along in our journey through the gospel of John Jesus is the Christ God in the flesh We have also seen John's purpose in writing the gospel He wanted those who heard or read this account to see Christ as the Messiah and by faith put their trust and Faith in Christ.

I go back to the verse the three verse But these are written so that you may believe That Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name Now this morning we pick up almost halfway through chapter 19 Our verses this morning. They show us Jesus right after those sham trials And I've used that language all through the teaching on the trials They were the Roman trials then there were the Jewish trials and Jesus is on his way to the cross Go back with me to verse 16. We read that earlier so he Then delivered him to them to be crucified Let me go back and read that verse again.

He pilot he delivered him Jesus to them the soldiers to be crucified Now I want to give us a little more introductory material This will help us this will get us in what I call the right frame of mind for the rest of chapter 19 Because we will see starting in verse 17 things Radically change as a matter of fact this material will help us for the rest of chapter 19 and chapter 20 We need to see the magnitude of what is before us now I will give you three realities that will help us see the magnitude of the material that is before us first Within these verses we have the fulfillment of God's Redemptive plan let me repeat that within these verses we have the fulfillment of God's Redemptive plan from before the beginning of time it was within the heart of God God the Father To send his son to redeem a people for himself in Acts 3 23 the Apostle Peter is preaching and what does he say this Jesus?

Delivered up according to the definite plan in foreknowledge of God you crucified We see this spoken of in first John chapter 4 verse 14 John writes in this is love not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sinned his son To be the propitiation for our sins. I like how the amplified Reads this verse and I'm quoting the atoning sacrifice and the satisfying offering Simply the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross was the fulfillment of God's great redemptive plan Then the second reality Within these verses we have the supreme expression of God's love for man Let me repeat that within these verses we have the supreme expression of God's love for man Now all throughout the Bible we see God expressing his love for man If you wouldn't your mind go all the way back to Genesis Genesis chapter 3 God loved Adam and Eve even after they sinned against him He loved them by extending what grace and mercy In Genesis 12 God loved Abraham God loved Abraham by calling Abraham to himself Abraham became the father of all those who would believe God chose to love Abraham and called him to participate in his redemptive plan and All throughout God's Word we see God's grace God's mercy and God's love extended to man and here at the cross we have God's supreme expression of his love for man Simply for God so loved the world God so loved the world that he gave his only son and then this third reality Within these verses we have the ultimate expression of man's sin Against God let me repeat that within these verses we have the ultimate expression of man's great sin against God Hebrews 12 3 says and I'm quoting consider him who endured from sinners Such hostility against himself that one statement in verse 3 Describes the sin of both the Jews and the Romans here in John's gospel Specifically the Jews they sinned against God when they refused Jesus as the Messiah Ultimately, they demanded that Pilate crucify Jesus The Romans specifically men like Pilate they sinned against God when they rejected Jesus as Messiah Repeatedly Pilate rejected Jesus and ultimately chose to send Jesus to the cross Simply the cross is the ultimate expression or you can say it like this the greatest example of man's great sin against God I Don't believe I'm stepping out on a limb too bad here But I believe it would be safe to say that the beginning beginning in verse 17 and all through chapter 20 These verses about the cross and the resurrection are some of the greatest words ever written to man Now with all of that in our minds, let's go back to these verses again.

I'll read verse 16 So he Pilate delivered him Jesus to them. Those are the soldiers to be crucified They took Jesus therefore and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called The skull which is called in Hebrew Galgotha there they crucified him and with him two other men one on either side and Jesus in between a Pilate wrote an inscription also when he put it on the cross and it was written Jesus the Nazarene the king of the Jews therefore this inscription Many of the Jews read for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew and Latin and in Greek and so the chief priest of the Jews were saying to Pilate Do not write the king of the Jews, but that he said I am the king of the Jews Pilate answered what I have written I have written Now I'll go ahead and give us the title of the message and then also how we will divide these verses You see before us the crucifixion of Jesus and I give this a part one because part two We will explore next week starting in verse 23 and going on down to verse 27 Now I'll call your attention to the title.

This is the crucifixion of Jesus But I will add to that title being that we are in the Christmas season I will revamp that title and I will call it the glory of the crucifixion at Christmas I like that the glory of the crucifixion at Christmas Now we will divide these verses. They are very simple the division We will look at first the Son of God was led to the cross verse 17 and 18 Then the inscription on the cross and that will be verses 19 through 22 As always we strongly encourage you to take notes here at Nola Baptist It is our habit to study our notes throughout the week because we want to take what the Lord gives us on a Sunday morning And we want to treasure it and love it and allow the Spirit of God to apply it to our lives Not just for this hour, but in the days and weeks and even years to come So let's start off by looking at our first major truth in our outline number one The Son of God was led to the cross verse 18 They that is the soldiers they took Jesus and they went out or he went out Bearing his own cross to the place the place of the skull which is called in Hebrew Gala gotha there they crucified him and with him two other men one on either side and Jesus in between or in the middle now, I've said this two or three times, but here we see a tremendous transition Starts in verse 16 and it is obvious in verse 17 Jesus has moved away from those sham trials Remember he went back and forth between the Jews and the Romans in those great sham trials Now I want us to examine these verses By noticing what I call the who the where and the how Now that might be a tongue twister to you, but I believe you'll be able to follow me We're going to look at the who out of these verses the where and then the how this will be three observations or questions Out of these verses so first notice the who who took who go back to verse 17 They took Jesus Therefore and he went out here We see that the soldiers took Jesus and they went out earlier in verse 16 We saw that Pilate delivered Jesus to the soldiers for the work of crucifixion John's account says they took Jesus But if we go back and we look at the synoptic gospels the other gospels They say that gee they led Jesus away now, this is important for us to see because Jesus went with those soldiers to the cross Willingly they did not force Jesus This should be no surprise to us because we know our gospel accounts Specifically Luke chapter 18 starting in verse 31 Jesus told his disciples that he would be delivered over to the Gentiles for what to be killed and Here we see Jesus the Son of God Willingly being led to the cross by those Roman soldiers under the direct orders of Pilate and Then the next question where where did they take Jesus?

Again verse 17 they went out with Jesus bearing his own cross to the place The place of the skull which is called Galgotha here we see that the place of crucifixion is named It's even called Galgotha or the place of the skull now To many the place or the geographic location is hotly debated Now for us it is not important for us to know the geographical location or where the crucifixion took place We know it was right outside of the city The important fact that we see is that Jesus was taken to the cross this cross of execution Now the cross was a horrible mode of execution It was used for the lowest of low it was used for runaway slaves It was used for thieves.

It was used for murderers and revolutionaries or insurrectionists it was used for captives or prisoners of war in history tells us this This form of execution was so horrible that under most circumstances a Roman citizen could not be crucified History tells us that the Romans were masters at crucifixion This was a slow gruesome and torturous death many times it was days before those who were crucified Ultimately died now notice verse 18 go back with me to your copy There they crucified him with two other men now John does not mention who these men were But the other gospels tell us that these were thieves But we must see what is important to John the gospel writer He does not go into all of the gory details of the cross He does not even mention that the two others were thieves in his simplicity John is emphasizing that Jesus went to a Roman cross a cross of execution specifically his cross So we see who took who?

Then we see where they took Jesus and then the third question. How was he taken? How was he taken verse 18? they they crucified him and with him two other men one on either side and Jesus in the middle here we see that Jesus was taken as a criminal He was taken and treated as a guilty man now we know he was the God man And we know that he was the God man and free of sin and free of guilt But he Jesus was taken as a criminal Bearing his own cross Now this bearing his own cross was a common Roman practice History tells us that those who were condemned they had to carry the horizontal piece of their cross Throughout the streets on their journey to death But we need to see something important here Think about this Prior to his incarnation that is coming to earth in flesh Jesus was in glory surrounded by a heavenly host Worshiping him as God, but right now in these verses Jesus is surrounded by thieves and Gentile dogs accusing him as a criminal and violently taking his life Simply we see Jesus taken to the cross not as God but as a thief and as a common criminal Now what do we see here in summary out of these verses?

I believe one verse describes the scene here and that is the words of Jesus himself in Luke 18 when he is telling his disciples about the future and notice what it says and Taking the 12 he that's Jesus said to them see we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the son of man By the prophets will be accomplished verse 32 for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles And he will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon and after flogging him They will kill him and on the third day he will rise Now before I move into making application I want to take a minute to show you what is and I'm using this language Behind the scenes here for not careful we can examine these verses we can make good and accurate Observations, but we can fail to see what is behind the scenes now What I mean is that behind these two verses is the fulfillment of many many?

Old Testament scriptures The fact that Jesus went willingly to lay down his life. It was a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 53 verse 7 The Romans Roman execution it took place out of the city That was a fulfillment of Romans 15 or excuse me numbers 15 verse 36 Also, the Roman practice of the cross was pictured way back in the Old Testament book of Numbers If you know that story after the Israelites grumbled and complained against Moses God judged the people with fiery serpents which bit the people and many of them died God then told Moses to fashion a fiery serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up before the people And those who were bitten could look at the serpent as it was lifted up and live and Jesus Himself said that this event was a picture of his own death We see that in John 3 14 King David described the crucifixion vividly when he pinned Psalm 22 Psalm 22 Describes those abusing Jesus as strong bulls or lions or dogs or even wild oxen Psalm 22 also describes the soldiers Gambling for Jesus clothes.

We will examine those verses next Sunday and Isaiah 53 says that Jesus would be numbered among the transgressors now, that's just a few of the many But what do we see here in these two verses verse 17 and 18? John captures the predetermined plan of God which is spoken of all throughout the Old Testament scriptures the Old Testament scriptures either prophesy of these events Isaiah 53 or picture these events numbers 21 Now an application. What should we see here?

I'm going to make application this morning with three phrases The first phrase is this we serve a sovereign God We serve a sovereign God none of these events snuck up on the Lord God All of these were predetermined in eternity past This was not a plan B and although it appears that sinful men took the life of his son No, this was the sovereign plan of God And when we go back and look at those Old Testament scriptures We just see the sovereign plan of God jump off the pages of God's Word The next statement We serve a loving God We serve a loving God because behind the sovereign plan of God is the heart of God and God Determined to love mankind and God determined to sin his son and the heartbeat of God Through this great redemptive plan was the love he had for people he desired to redeem a people for his own glory and his own purposes and then the third phrase We serve a telling God Now think about this Look at how pilot we haven't gotten to these verses quite yet.

Look at how he named Jesus He used a placard or a large sign This was a common practice in Roman crucifixion And he wrote it in three languages because he wanted all who would be at the cross To read what was put out there and what am I showing you even in that gruesome day? God the Father used Pilate to declare to all of those peoples who this Jesus was We serve a telling God and not only a telling God then a telling God now Because we have the gospel in the pages of the Bible So we need to see that we serve a sovereign God a loving God and a telling God God so loved us that he enabled people to tell us the gospel Now think back with me for a moment Who told you the gospel?

Think back for a moment. Can you think back to the first time you vividly remember hearing the gospel I can I Remember I was in high school and I was in the parking lot North Laurel parking lot in Laurel, Mississippi hanging out with some friends on a Friday or a Saturday night And there was a local crusade going on in the area and I remember two or three men came up with our Bibles and they began to share the gospel and I heard it with my ears for the very first time See a sovereign God and a loving God sent someone to tell me the gospel I remember the first time I heard it with my heart. I Was standing outside of my parents home?

The home that I grew up in in my later teenage years My dad had a large deck on the back of the house and off to the side there near the garage There was a smaller deck and I was standing there while someone in my family Opened up John 3 and declared to me that I needed to be born again And I'm ashamed to say how I reacted and I heard the gospel and what I'm showing you is a sovereign God Determined forever ago to love me and send somebody to tell me the gospel Can you remember the first time you heard the gospel? Can you remember the times you've heard the gospel?

See when you're truly born again You will look back with the enabling work of the Spirit and you will see where God enabled people to tell you the gospel when you do that You notice that a sovereign God did that and a loving God did that and a telling God did that Just like forever ago God determined to send a son forever ago God determined to send those to tell you the gospel So what are we looking at in this first major truth? The Son of God was led to the cross and let's move on.

Let's notice our second major truth in our outline We see the inscription on the cross The inscription on The cross go with me to verse 19 a pilot He wrote an inscription also when he put it on the cross and it was written Jesus the Nazarene the king of the Jews Therefore the inscription this inscription many of the Jews read for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city And it was written in Hebrew and Latin and in Greek and so the chief priests of the Jews They were saying the pilot do not write The king of the Jews but that he said I am the king of the Jews and pilot answered what I have written Have written now here we have pilot mentioned again now We could assume that pilot would hand this crucifixion over to the soldiers and then simply fade away or disappear if we read verse 16 we could assume that he turns Jesus over and then takes his hands off Now think about it.

This was a very difficult set of circumstances for pilot The Jews were demanding that Jesus be crucified but pilot all along declared him as innocent He was even warned by his wife if we remember But pilot did not fade back pilot was involved not just in this crucifixion, but with the Jewish leadership still Here we're going to continue with some familiar language as we divide these verses We're going to look at the what we're going to look at the who and then we're going to look at the how three questions out of these verses First or the first question what was the inscription? What was the inscription?

Go back to verse 19 Jesus the Nazarene the king of the Jews Now historical accounts tell us that is a criminal was being led to a cross This man would normally have a sign or a placard put around his neck History tells us that this was common and then at times there would be another Individual who might carry the sign or the placard along the way now on the sign would be listed the crimes for which the criminal Was being punished now the Romans were doing two things in crucifixion first they crucified criminals for the masses to see and Then second they boldly listed their crimes for the masses to see their purpose was to assert Roman authority and dominance on the people simply it was fear But a question what was Jesus crime?

Since he had committed no crime no crime was listed Simply Pilate had it written for all to see that Jesus was the king of the Jews, but there's more Pilate had the inscription written in Hebrew and Latin and Greek He wanted to make sure that all who saw could read and know the charge These were the most common languages spoken in that day and in that time now as we continue We will see the impact on this inscription on the situation Second observation or the second question notice who saw the inscription? Who saw the inscription the beginning of verse 20 therefore the this inscription many of the Jews read?

Now it's obvious here many of the Jews who were there for the crucifixion read the inscription The crucifixion was near the city. We've already read that the Jews were captivated by this person Jesus No doubt many Jews came for this execution Perhaps many who would normally come to such a violent event, but what needs to be seen is that many Jews? Saw and read the inscription again. We will see the impact of this inscription as we continue and then the third question How did the Jewish leaders react? How did these Jewish leaders react go back to verse 21?

And so the chief priest of the Jews were saying to Pilate do not write The king of the Jews but that he said or claimed I am the king of the Jews With our knowledge of how the Jewish leaders acted at the trials We should be able to guess what their action or reaction would have been the Jews hated this inscription The text reads that they wanted pilot to change the inscription This inscription was all that they had fought against all throughout the ministry of Jesus and especially at the trials They saw Jesus as an imposter They saw him as a fraud and a liar and that is why they asked pilot to rewrite That Jesus said I am or claimed to be the king of the Jews But pilot would not give into their demands go back to the verse.

What did pilot say what I have written I Have written so in summary. What are we seeing here? pilot is declaring for all to see that Jesus was the king of the Jews a Proclamation that meaning in the crowds would have seen on that day Now earlier we had what I called the behind the scenes We were looking at these Old Testament passages Concerning these verses in front of us now. We have what I call a backstory This backstory is about pilot and the Jewish leaders. That is why I said earlier that pilot was involved here pilots ordered Inscription was his way of getting back at the Jewish leadership During the Jewish trials.

They tried to get pilot to do their dirty work They tried to manipulate pilot for their own ambition and purposes Everything about what pilot did here was revenge and it was directed at the Jewish leaders Now I want us to see that we can notice this revenge of this payback in two different ways first Earlier in the trial these Jewish leaders had claimed that they had no king but Caesar Remember at the end if you have your Bible open you go back Pilot had offered Barabbas asking the crowd what to do and What did they do they cried out away with him away with him?

Crucify him and pilot said to them shall I crucify your king and the chief priest answered we have no king but Caesar But in this inscription, what did pilot say he declared Jesus as their king He most definitely would have remembered their hypocritical confession He most definitely would have known what the reaction would be. This is revenge and Then second pilot stated in the inscription that Jesus was a Nazarene Go back to the verse Jesus the Nazarene the king of the Jews Now if you know your history and you know your geography and you know how the Jews thought Nazareth was a rural village That was looked down upon by most Jews.

I Remember when we studied chapter 1 by earlier in the gospel Philip told Nathaniel that he had found the Messiah and he was from Nazareth. Well, what was in Nathaniel's reaction? disdain He said can any good thing come out of Nazareth Why they look down on Nazareth and Nazarenes and pilot would have known this fight because he knew his people He would have known their disdain for anyone from Nazareth especially especially the Messiah so again, this is pilot and his revenge against the Jewish leaders Now as we move to application, I want to give you a few verses or a few words that I ran across This week from John MacArthur that I helped that I think helps us here I think his insight into this pilot Jewish leadership tension.

It will help us and I'm quoting Here again is an example of God using sinful men to accomplish his sovereign purposes Neither pilot nor the Jewish leaders believed that Jesus was the king of Israel Yet the animosity between them ensured that the governor would write an inscription Proclaiming that Jesus was Israel's king as in fact that he was He is the king of kings and he is the Lord of lords. I think that will help us But I want us to see that we must understand that God uses Sinful men.

Let me repeat that we need to see that God in his sovereignty Uses sinful men to accomplish his purposes Now I want to take that thought and run with it a little bit in application We need to understand that God uses even sinful men in the redemption of mankind Now think about this God used pilot and the Jewish leaders and every soldier right here in the crucifixion This is the redemption of man and God uses sinners We must understand that in the economy of God in yesterday and in today God can use sinful men for his purposes But I'll take one step further. We need to see that God uses even sinful men in the life of the church.

I Give you an example in our study of first and second Timothy We learned that Timothy was the young upstart elder Mentored by Paul and Paul placed Timothy there the church of Ephesus and there were all kinds of problems And one of the problems they had was a leadership problem They were people in the life of the Ephesian church. You shouldn't be there now Paul removed some of them But then he left some of them there and what did he do? He said to Timothy that you remove them and you take care of them now. What do we see?

Sinful men involved in the work of the church for God's purposes and I can think of one purpose right here God wanted those men to be in the life of the church so that Timothy could grow Timothy had a timid problem Timothy had a weakness problem. He had a youth problem He had an experience problem and I believe God could say Timothy I'm gonna leave those men for you to take care of why so that you will grow and Mature through that adversity see God uses sinful men for his purposes But I'll take this one step further It can be real difficult for us as Christians Oh We're walking with the Lord and then all of a sudden people in our lives that we know and we trust they harm us They roam us they do things against us even in the life of the church And what does it do it rocks our world and these verses right before us show?

That God even uses wicked men like Pilate In my journey walking with the Lord and ministering in the life of the church I'm sad to say there's a list of individuals that have wronged me and hurt me and I never got to the place of victory till I understood that it was by God's sovereign will and plan that God allowed those men to harm me and to Persecute me and accuse me and do all that they did against me and let me tell you folks when I got to that place I can let go of it in my heart Prior to that I held on to it in my emotions. I held on to it in my heart. I could not let it go I was always injured.

I was always emotional Oh, but when I got to the place where I understood that a sovereign God allowed it for my good I'll let it go God purposes to use even sinful men for his glory Now in conclusion, I want to call our attention back Back to this inscription go back with me to verse 19 pilot wrote an inscription Put it on the cross And what did it say Jesus the Nazarene the king of the Jews Now in conclusion, I want us to notice a couple of details first what pilot wrote What did he say Jesus the king of the Jews he did not believe that He did it out of scorn revenge I Mean this was just a sucker punch for those Jewish leaders who tried to strong arm him But what did pilot write he said this is Jesus the king of the Jews and then second How did he write it?

He wrote it in Hebrew Latin and Greek for all to see and read and understand Pilot wanted all to see and read that Jesus was the king of the Jews. No No, I stop and correct myself God the father wanted all to see and read that his son Jesus was the king of the Jews. I Know I'm being repetitive but it needs to be repeated and I want to make this personal God wants us to see and read that this Jesus is his only son He is the king of the Jews who was crucified as the atoning sacrifice for our sin And for the sin of the world and God determined to do this work forever ago Now one step in becoming more personal Some of you need to hear this message Because you're not redeemed Some of you are not born again You might be Christian in name Christian in profession, but you've never trusted in Christ Repentant of your sin you never received the new spirit that can only come from God What did Jesus say to Nicodemus and John 3?

He cut him off Said Nicodemus you're trying to be sanctified without being born again Says you need to be born of God born from the spirit born from above there are people here. You've never been born again See just like pilot put a placard for the world to see and he stated Jesus is the king of the Jews God has brought you here to hear the message that God determined forever ago to sin his son And look he's written it in your language for you today And then we all need to hear this message Because listen we are to be the ones who carry the message now think about this pilot gave the order and somebody wrote it for all to hear and We as born-again individuals must bear our responsibility to take the message of the one true God and his son Jesus who died on the cross and we must go and We must proclaim and we must tell for others to hear of Jesus So what have we looked at this morning I Already said earlier we really have two titles to the message the simplistic title the crucifixion of Jesus part one But being that it's Christmas we're gonna add to that the glory of a crucifixion at Christmas Let's pray together, and then we will close out our services