The Crucifixion of Jesus part 2 The People at the Cross

Amen. Very good worship. I like the blend of the cross, songs about the cross, songs about Christmas, songs that we're very familiar with. I thought those two coming together were very fitting for where we are, not just in our study in John, but this time of the year. Go ahead and take your Bible and turn back with me to John chapter 19. Of course we read verses 16 all the way down to verse 27 earlier, but I believe I said earlier in our scripture reading that we will be dividing verses 23 to 27. Of course I share that information with you because we're faithful to take notes as we study God's word together.

Now I know I shared this with you last Sunday, but this morning we're in a part two. All of these verses go together. Really one message that I call the crucifixion of Jesus, but because of time we are having a part one and a part two. Now I shared with you last week that we are kind of altering this title because of the Christmas season. The Christmas or the alternate title would be the glory of the crucifixion at Christmas. I like that. I think that it is very timely that we're looking at the crucifixion here at Christmas. It's not something that we plan.

It just happened to fall that way because we took our break from John to look at the ten pillars and we picked back up last week in chapter 19. But I'm very glad that we're here at the crucifixion during the Christmas season and I pray that it is ministering to you like it is ministering to me. Now last week in introducing this portion of scripture, I brought before us three realities. Three realities. And these realities were to show us, help us see the magnitude of what is before us. Now all scripture is important. All scripture is important. But truthfully chapter 19 and chapter 20 are extremely important.

I said that these verses on the cross and the resurrection are some of the greatest, if not the greatest words ever written to man. And I do stand behind that statement. Now I want to restate these realities and I want to add to these realities. I'm going to add to these realities in the form of some questions. And I believe that this will prepare us again for the passages that are before us. Now the first reality, within these verses we have the fulfillment of God's eternal and redemptive plan for man. We know because God has been teaching us that God had planned from eternity past the redemptive work of the cross.

All of human history has been leading up to this point. You could say that the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross was and is the crescendo of human history. Now here's the question. Here's the question. Are there people all around us who desperately need to hear God's redemptive plan? Let me restate that question. Are there now tons of people, are there not loads of people all around us who desperately need to hear about God's redemptive plan for man? I think the answer to that is yes. I think specifically of an individual that I had been ministering to. He works at a local convenience store and he's from another religion.

And that individual desperately needs to hear about God's redemptive plan. And these verses communicate what? This redemptive plan. What about in your family? What about in your neighborhood or your place of employment? Are there not people all around us who desperately need to hear of God's redemptive plan? The second reality within these verses, we have the supreme expression of God's love for mankind. The entire story of the Bible is God expressing His grace, His mercy, and His love for man. And the single greatest example of God's love for man is the cross. And a question.

Do people all around us desperately need to hear the message of God's love for man? Let me repeat that. Do not people need to hear, desperately need to hear the message of God's love for man? I think about how our culture is changing. Our world is changing. Things are going on around us in our culture that we never would have assumed we would see. But it is as a result of sin and lawlessness and rebellion. But that shows us all the more that we must be ambassadors of God's love. And it is God's love that can reach lost sinners for Christ. The third reality within these verses, we have the ultimate expression of man's sin against God.

Within the story of the message of the Bible, not only do we have the story of God's love for man, but we also have the story of man's sin against God. Here in chapter 19, we have the greatest sin by man against God. The ultimate sin, the worst sin a man could ever commit. That is the rejection of God's gift of redemption through His Son, simply rejecting God's Son. And now a question. Do people desperately need to hear that they are rejecting God's gift of Jesus? Listen, in the world that we live in, where we go, do not people need to hear that they are rejecting God's gift of Jesus?

Here this week I ministered to a particular individual and it's sad, but I was watching them and hearing them express, they have lived a lifetime rejecting God, rejecting God, rejecting the revelation of creation, rejecting even a man sharing the truth. And I do believe that these realities and even the questions that make us explore how these realities speak to where we are, I believe this helps prepare us for what we will look at in these verses this morning. So let's turn our attention back to the verses. You would turn back in your copy of God's word starting in verse 23. Let's look back together.

Starting at verse 23, "The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, they took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic." Now the tunic was seamless, it was woven in one piece. "And they said therefore to one another, 'Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be.' That the scripture might be fulfilled, they divided my outer garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots.

Therefore the soldiers, they did these things." And there's a transition here, "But, or now, there were standing by the cross of Jesus, His mother, His mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' And then He said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into His own household." Now I will give you the title of the message and how we will divide these verses. We have the crucifixion of Jesus, part two.

We have the people at the cross because we do see these people around the cross. Of course our alternate title, our Christmas alternate title is the glories, the glory of the crucifixion here at Christmas. Now you see how we'll divide these truths? You see our outline. We have the gamblers at the foot of the cross and then we have the loved ones at the foot of the cross. So let's look at our first major truth together. Number one, the gamblers at the foot of the cross. Go back to verse 23. "The soldiers, therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, they took His outer garment and made four parts, a part for every soldier and also the tunic.

Now the tunic was seamless, it was woven into one piece, and they said therefore to one another, 'Let us not tear it, but cast lots or gamble for it to decide whose et shall be.' That the Scriptures might be fulfilled. They divided my outer garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. In the beginning of verse 25, therefore, the soldiers did these things." Now here we have these soldiers. We're familiar with these soldiers and they are still active in the crucifixion. We know they flogged Jesus, they scourged Jesus. We saw that at the beginning of chapter 19. We know that Pilate in verse 16, he turned Jesus over to these soldiers.

And here we still have the soldiers participating in this crucifixion event. But now we're going to see they're participating in some other ways. Now there are four observations I want to make here. First notice they had crucified Jesus. The beginning of verse 23, "The soldiers, therefore, when they had crucified Jesus." They had nailed him on the cross. This seems to communicate that the physical crucifixion had taken place. There would have been a centurion there who supervised the crucifixion along with four soldiers. And these men would have done what I call the dirty work.

Matthew's account in chapter 27 mentions a centurion, but John mentions four soldiers who were vying for or dividing up Jesus' clothing. Now if you study Roman crucifixion, you will know that this procedure was normal. These were the executioners. I might call them the death squad. Simply there are four soldiers who physically nailed Jesus to the cross. And there was a centurion who would have supervised the execution and all that was taken place. But the beginning of verse 23 seems to indicate that the crucifixion had taken place. Jesus was on the cross. They had crucified Jesus.

And then the second observation, "They gambled for his outer garments." Verse 23, or the second part of verse 23, "They took his outer garments and they made four parts, a part for every soldier who was there." Here we see how they took things such as the outer covering. We might call it a robe. They took things like his belt, his sandals, any head covering that he might have had, and they divided this among the four soldiers who had done what I call this dirty work. Now these would have been common clothes, common clothes of the common person or average person of the day.

And this was customary for the soldiers to take the clothing of the condemned. Now if we really pay attention, if we really pay attention here, we see that John does not say they gambled for the outer clothing, but a question. Where do I get that they gambled for Jesus' outer garments? Again we go back to the synoptic, specifically Mark. Mark chapter 15 verse 24 says that they cast lots to see who would get what. The verse reads, "And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take." Simply they were gambling to see who would get what.

And then the third observation, they gambled for the inner garment. For the inner garment. Go back to verse 23 or the second part of verse 23, "And also the tunic." Now the tunic was seamless, woven into one piece. "And they said therefore to one another, 'Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be.'" Here we see that Jesus' inner garment, or we could say it like this, the garment that would have been closest to his skin, it was seamless. It was woven to be seamless. And the soldiers did not want to tear it because of its condition or how it was made. Because it seemed to be of some worth or some value.

Now this speaks to their selfish motives. Maybe they stood a profit from this garment. Maybe they simply wanted it for a keepsake. We really do not know. So what did they do? They cast lots, again, they gambled to see who would get the valuable inner garment of Jesus. And then the fourth observation, they simply fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy. They simply fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy. The end of verse 24. That the scripture might be fulfilled. Here we see what I called last week the behind the scenes. There are many, many passages within the Old Testament that either prophesy or picture the events of the cross.

And here we have one of those. This is a direct fulfillment of Psalm 22 verse 18. And it reads, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothes they cast lots." So here we have a sovereign God using the actions of sinful men for His eternal purposes. On the surface we have sinful men gambling for the clothing of Jesus. But behind the scenes we have God's prophecies, His eternal words being fulfilled. So what do we have here? Simply five simple men who seemingly executed the Son of God. But more than that, they even gambled for the Son of God's meager possessions, all there at the foot of the cross. But even more than that.

And I like how Leon Morris states it. And I'm quoting, "We see John's masterful fault that God was over all that was done, so directing things that His will was accomplished. It was because of this that the soldiers acted as they did." Now one more thing which I emphasized last week, and I mentioned just now. We must see the behind the scenes. We must see the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. We must see that a sovereign God ordained all that was taking place here. God was sovereign over all, even the gamblers at the foot of the cross. Now in application, I want to make two points of application here out of these verses.

First application pertaining to God's sovereignty, and second seeing that the gamblers at the cross are relevant today. So first in application, we must see and understand that a sovereign God is sovereign over all and in all. And you might say, "Pastor, you seem to be repeating that all throughout these verses." Yes, that needs to be repeated. And we need to see that God was sovereign in every event at the cross. He is sovereign in all of human history, but we must see that God is sovereign over our lives. As born-again individuals, we live under the sovereignty of God, and we must surrender to that. Now let me flesh that out for you.

If cancer comes knocking at our door. As born-again Christians, we must understand that God is sovereign over that cancer. If joblessness comes knocking at our door, we must see that joblessness is a part of God's sovereign will and plan for our life. If others hurt us as born-again Christians, we must see that God allows that for His divine purposes in our life. And even if something so tragic like a spouse were to die or to leave us, a weirdo would lose one of our own children in death. Yes, as born-again Christians, we live under the sovereignty of God and allowing that to rule and reign in our life.

You see, it's not enough to see that God is sovereign over the events of the cross. We must see that that is an example to God's sovereignty and His rule over all history, especially our own lives. I give you a verse that will help you here. Romans 828. Some of you know this verse. I'd like you to write that down. I'm not going to read it for you. That's your homework from your pastor this morning, but not only do I want you to read Romans 828, I want you to read Romans 829. Most people read Romans 828 and stop there.

And you read Romans 829 and you look at the events and the sovereign control of everything going on at the cross and you apply that to your life and I believe that will enable you to live under His sovereignty even better. But the second point of application here, we must see that people gamble today, just as these men gambled at the cross. People gamble with their souls every day. Let me show you how relevant this story is. Imagine these men are gambling and Jesus, the Son of God, dying for sin is on the cross. But do not people do the same thing today? People gamble with their souls with a Bible in their hand.

People will literally have a Bible in their hand, Bible on their lampstands, Bible in their homes and they are not secure in their salvation. They have invented their own way. They have their own dreams and their own ideas about their own conversion and being right with God and they are gambling. They are gambling with their soul. There are people here today, you know you are not converted. Some of you have counseled with Brother Keith and I, you know you are not born again and you are becoming slothful, you are becoming lazy, you are not pursuing the Lord.

Isaiah 55 says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found." God has given you a window of grace and a window of time and I urge you, do not become apathetic. You are gambling, you are gambling, you are gambling. Why? Because you are saying, "I have tomorrow. I have another week. I have years to sort this out." And I urge you my friend, don't gamble with a Bible in your hand. Don't gamble sitting in a church pew. Some of you here, you have seen others come to faith in Christ. You have heard the Word of God taught. I have preached the gospel.

I have worked hard to teach you what God's Word says and there are some of you, you have alluded to the fact that you have not been taught properly and some of you here, you really know you are not right with God and you are gambling. Please don't gamble, ma'am. Sir, don't gamble. Don't be foolish. Take advantage of every opportunity and seek the Lord while He may be found that you would come to faith in Christ. Don't be a gambler at the foot of the cross. Let's move on. I want us to see our second major truth. I want us to see the loved ones at the foot of the cross. The loved ones at the foot of the cross.

Back at verse 25, "Therefore the soldiers did these things, but or now," the King James reads, "there were standing by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' From that hour the disciple took her into his own household." Now here in verse 25 we have a shift. If you do some language study, the construction of the language, there is a conjunction here in verse 15 that denotes a shift or a transition.

That word "but," the English standard, the New American, it translates it "but," the King James says, "now." And in this shift, John is about to show us that there were some who did follow Jesus to the cross. But they were not like the soldiers who were gambling. It's as if John is saying, "We have the gamblers, but we have the gamblers now, we have those who loved him, the loved ones." Now there are three observations I want to make out of these verses. First those who were near the cross. Go back to verse 25, "But there were standing by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.

And when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby." Now there is a debate here. Among Bible scholars there is a debate about how many women were here in this group. We see the debate when we study the other Gospels besides just John. Now we will not get into the debate for the sake of time. But here in John's account we have Mary, we have Mary's sister. This is Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary's sister, and then the two other Mary's that are mentioned. So we have Mary, the mother of Jesus. We know who she is. She is the one who bore the Christ child.

And then we have Mary, then we have Mary's sister who is mentioned there in verse 25. Then we have Mary, the wife of Cleopas. We know little of this Mary. She is mentioned in Matthew 27 as one who kept watch at Jesus' tomb along with Mary Magdalene. She is also one of the women who went to the tomb the morning of the resurrection in Matthew 28. She was the mother of the Apostle James. She also tried to convince the apostles that Jesus had risen in Luke 24. Then we have Mary Magdalene. We are familiar with Mary. Mary is mentioned many times in the Gospel accounts.

She is mentioned in the different accounts of the resurrection in Matthew, Luke, and John. She is more known for what took place in the book of Luke. Luke chapter 8 verse 2 shows us that she was delivered from demon possession. Seven demons specifically. Also mentioned here within this group is only one man. And that was the Apostle John. Now let's go back to the verse. I want you to see John. Therefore, the soldiers did these things. But they were standing by the cross of Jesus, his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Verse 26, "And when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by." This was the Apostle John. Notice the text reads, "The disciple whom he loved." Now we know this is John because of what we learned back in John 13. Back in John 13, we study the Last Supper of a Passover meal. And John 13, 23 reads, "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of the disciples whom Jesus loved." This was John. But this is not the purpose of the verses. This is not the purpose of these verses. We will see that John is leading up to something more than who was simply at the cross.

So this leads us to our second observation, Jesus' provision for Mary. Look at verse 26. "When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.'" Here we see that even in the clutches of death, Jesus is thinking of others. Specifically, he was concerned for his mother. This makes us realize that Jesus must have been the caretaker of his mother. Being the oldest son, culturally, he would have been responsible for his mother. Now this causes us to ask a question. Where was Joseph?

Joseph, her, her husband, and Jesus' earthly father. Now Bible scholars speculate that this is evidence that Joseph had already died. If that's the case, in that culture, Joseph would have passed on in his death Jesus as responsible for Mary. The husband was responsible to protect and provide for the wife, and then it would fall to the oldest son. Now the scriptures are silent on Joseph, but I do believe it is safe to speculate that Jesus or Joseph had passed. But notice what Jesus does here. He commits Mary to John as her provider and protector. This leads us to another question.

Why didn't Jesus commit Mary, the care of Mary, to her other children? We know that Jesus did have half brothers and sisters. We see this in Mark 6 and in Matthew 13. Well the answer is that Jesus' siblings were not yet believers. They were not born again. They did not come to saving faith in Jesus until after the resurrection. We see them listed as believers in Acts 1, 14. Jesus would not have committed the care of his mother to his siblings who were not truly believers. So here we see Jesus providing for his mother, even while he is on the cross in the clutches of death, he provides for his mother.

And then the third observation, we see John's care for Mary. Verse 27, "Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother,' and notice, and from that hour the disciple took her into his household." Here we see that John did as Jesus commanded. He took Mary into his home and he became a provider and a protector. Simply he acted as any good son would have. Now what do we see here in summary? Truthfully we see two things. There were those faithful, faithful, faithful who went to the cross as Jesus went to the cross. Faithful John and faithful women there at the cross. We also see Jesus caring for and providing for his mother.

She had faithfully served God. She had faithfully served and lived out what we see in Luke 1, verse 38, when she declared herself a servant of the Lord. And now Jesus is caring for her in her greatest hour of need. To understand the magnitude of this provision, we must understand that she had no social net of support. A widow in that day was usually destitute, overlooked by society, unless there were those who would provide. Now just like I said earlier, I want to make two points of application here. Two points of application here. And I'm going to ask this or make this application with questions. Now the first question.

Are you one of the faithful who follow Jesus even when life's circumstances get rough? Now think about this. John and the other disciples had followed Christ and then lo and behold their Savior, their Lord is arrested and what happens? Many of them flee. And so my question for you, are you faithful like John or are you flaky like Peter? Oh, we're going to learn of Peter's flakiness when we get into chapter 20. We remember how flaky Peter could be. Oh, he could hit a home run one minute and then he could strike out the next. But not John. John was just steady. He was like an anchor. He was faithful.

And these men, this man John and these women followed Jesus even when it got tough. And I want to ask you, are you a faithful follower or do you happen to be flaky? What I mean by that is when circumstances get tough, do you just cash it in and quit for uptime? Oh, when circumstances overwhelm you, do you put your Christian life on hold to have a pity party? See there are sometimes Christians can be flaky instead of being rock solid no matter what. You do realize John risked his life by going to the cross. I think there's a great example there. The second point of application, again a question, are you here and are you like Mary?

You're born again. You serve the Lord. God saved you. And you find yourself lo and behold because of the sovereign plan of God in your life in a time of tremendous need. I mean you didn't ask for it, but you have tremendous trial or tremendous need. Some people might know about it, but yet no one might know. And do you find yourself in a time of need? Listen, I go back to some illustration I gave earlier. Listen, if cancer comes knocking at your door, he can meet your need. If joblessness comes knocking at your door, he can meet your need. If hurt comes from other people that you trusted, he can meet your need.

If you lose a spouse to death, if your spouse were to walk out the door and leave you, he can meet your need. Again, I go back to your homework assignment. Romans 828 and 829. And I believe that those verses will speak back to what we've looked at here with those following Jesus, but also Jesus meeting great needs. Now in conclusion, I want to show you who is at the foot of the cross. You might say, "Pastor, I believe you've already showed us that." I want us to see the gamblers, the faithful, and the one who's in need. Yes, we've covered this, but I believe we really need to see this, this Christmas season.

Not just this Christmas season, listen, we're just soldiers of the cross. We're loving the Lord and we're living life and we're seeking to be the church and we're walking with God and we need to see that there are three different people at the foot of the cross. We have the gamblers. We have the faithful and the one who is in need. Are you a gambler here today? Are you gambling? Are you hoping that you're right with God? Knowing all along it doesn't measure up with what's been preached and taught from God's Word. Has the Spirit of God been dealing with you?

All there were times you were under great conviction, but you've just become stiff-necked and you've glossed it over. You become apathetic. "Friend, I love you. You're gambling." Don't gamble. You're no different than the soldiers. They gambled at the foot of the cross and you gamble with the Bible in your hand. Don't do that. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Some of you are faithful. I just want to encourage you in your faithfulness. Just stay faithful. Yes, there might have been a time when you were a little flaky like Peter, but yet God's worked through all that and He's molded you and He's formed you. Oh, be faithful.

Be faithful to stay at the cross and serve the Lord no matter what comes your way. And then we have the one who is in need. And I just say to you, the Lord knows your need. He knew His mother's need. He met His mother's need and He knows your need. And He will meet your need according to His will and His plan. For His sanctification work in you, for His glory in you, for the work that He wants to do in you and the life of the church, He can meet your need. Now, what's the title of the message this morning? We have the crucifixion. The crucifixion part two, but we have the people at the cross.

I know we've kind of put a Christmas spin on this, the glory of the crucifixion at Christmas. I like that. But I want to be ultra practical as we close. The crucifixion of Jesus, the people at the cross. And I believe that speaks to us in a very practical way, a practical way in which we may really, really need to hear even during this Christmas season. Let's pray together and then we'll sing a closing verse.