Salvation Achieved!
Notes
Transcript
Open to John 19 where we will mostly be this morning.
I came across an amazing history fact while getting ready for the message this week and just really have to share it. If you were there in history for the crucifixion Friday at least by one common historical calculation and you asked a Roman what the date was they would have said ante diem tertium Nonas Apriles, Galba et Sulla consulibus [AHN-teh DEE-em TAIR-tee-oom NOH-nahs ah-PREE-lace, GAHL-bah eht SOOL-lah kohn-SOO-li-boos] which of course wouldn’t mean anything to us because it’s Latin and I don’t know about you but I don’t know Latin at all. What they said however would have been April 3rd just like our Good Friday this year was April 3rd. That alignment just gets me excited. Now… It’s likely that the last thing you expected at a southern baptist church on Easter Sunday was to hear Latin so it’s possible you got a little frightened; I do apologize and can assure you there will be no more Latin today. That date alignment does get me excited. It reminds me that this isn’t jut a story; this happened on a real day, in real history, to a real Savior. Let’s pray.
Lord we thank you that you are a real savior who really entered history to redeem us. Let us hear your word this morning as we remember the sorrow that’s broken open into joy on this day of resurrection. Amen
So last week at Palm Sunday Jesus entered the city, to the cheers of Jerusalem. Only days later there are jeers in Jerusalem forcing Pilate’s hand to crucify him.
From the people of John 12 to the chief priests of John 19 We have cries of “Save us!” thinking of freedom from Rome to now “We have no king but Caesar.”
The city was the same the people were different, but none of them truly understood yet what was happening.
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
Now these things fulfill prophecy about the Messiah, the Christ. We get a hint about that in John 18:32 Where Pilate tries to have the Jews go away and just kill Jesus themselves but they push back saying that it’s no longer lawful for them to put anyone to death. The death they would have used is that of stoning. The prophecies about the Christ did not say he would be stoned though. That’s why John tells us “This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” We continue to see things in this gospel that point to all of the prophecies and sometimes John points them out and sometimes he doesn’t. I will try and point some of them out here as well. Crucifixion isn’t mentioned by that name but the idea of hanging on a tree is brought forward from Deuteronomy 21:23 where it says “for a hanged man is cursed by God.” It also says that you must bury them the same day they’re hung from a tree. Paul directly quotes this when he’s pointing to Christ’s substitution for us.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
We deserved the curse of God for our sin but Christ became that curse for us. He takes our place on the cross we eternally deserved. He’s there between two others just as it’s written in
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Dying with the criminals on either side.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, 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 King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
This reminds me a bit of what happened not long before this.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
This was right after someone pointed out that Jesus has done all these miracles. They worried that if people kept believing in him the Romans will come and take away their place and their nation. Meaning they feared the people would declare Jesus a King that they believe would try to eject the Romans, something we see directly in John 12 like we spoke of last week. You see Caiaphas in his own understanding was saying we need to kill Jesus or the Romans will kill us all. God however used him as a mouthpiece to speak prophecy he didn’t understand. God was speaking prophetically through words that Caiaphas meant differently. The prophetic Word of God was that Jesus would die on behalf of God’s chosen people. I see the same thing happening here as Pontius Pilate writes the inscription to be hung on the Cross. The King of the Jews, Jesus is the king promised to reign forever in the line of David. Another prophecy fulfilled.
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, 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.”
John helps us with this one by quoting Psa 22:18
The next three verses we see three Marys at the cross one of them is the mother of Jesus who he gives to the care of John. We pick back up in
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
Two psalms are in view.
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
and
... for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
Sour wine for those that aren’t aware is vinegar, not exactly the best thirst quencher.
Verse 30
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
What was finished?
That first prophecy, the one of the offspring of the woman back in Gen 3:15 when God curses the serpent he says:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
To make the final offering for sin
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
The plan of salvation was not an accident. But some might think, incorrectly, that God fumbled his way through redemption. Adam in garden of Eden brings mankind into sin. The world gets so bad the God destroys everything with a flood saving only Noah and his family to restart humanity. Abraham is promised that through his family the promise of the offspring to come would be fulfilled but famine strikes generations later where a descendant named Joseph will bring his father Israel and his brothers to Egypt to be saved yet years later they end up in bondage as slaves to the Egyptians. Then a man named Moses is called by God to rescue his people. God brings them out of Egypt and gives them the law. The law is perfection and they can’t fulfill it. God gives them a land, it’s a land of promise, flowing with milk and honey. The people conquer the land by the hand of God. They’re left to themselves to follow God and they all end up doing what was right in their own eyes needing a judge from God in every generation to correct their course. Eventually they get a king and yet king after king fails the standard of perfection too. The kingdom splits and the kingdoms fall.
Then salvation arrives and it is finished.
Every outward advantage to achieve success was given so that we would know we could not save ourselves.
We started over and failed.
We had perfect rules and failed.
We were given prosperity and failed.
We were given liberty and failed.
We had kings and still failed.
We finished nothing but were redeemed.
Now, there are some who would say Jesus didn’t really die but John makes very clear to us that he was truly dead.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
Reality is sometimes gruesome. This account is vivid and real. Unforgettable by John, beloved disciple, as he sees confirmation of the death of his best friend, his teacher, his mentor, his Lord.
[SILENCE 1 2 3]
There are moments in your life you can go back to with vivid memory. Even just the mention will pull you into that moment. The one most of us in this room collectively remember is September 11th, 2001. I was a freshman in college in my intro to media class. It was kicked off with a short speech where we were promised a treat. The speaker licked his fingers holding us in suspense and then as we watched he told us he was about to touch infinity. Then he drew an invisible arc in the air. The infinite possibilities of the world were before us like the infinite points in the arc he just drew. The future was exciting, bright, and infinite.
But this was the same room days later on 9/11 where someone walked in and quietly took the professor aside for a hushed whisper. The professor then broke the news to us and sent us all home. America had been attacked. How should I respond? What should I do? what could I do?… should I quit school and join the military? Was there going to be a draft? In some small way for that moment, the uncertainty of the world I knew came front and center. For those disciples who put down everything to follow Jesus, how much more did that uncertainty hit them when Jesus died? I don’t blame a one of them for going back to their old lives and something they knew.
John remembers vividly the gruesome details not just because of the shock of that moment but also for a purpose that God had given him. That you may also believe.
He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
A reference back to Exodus 12 and the passover lamb and
And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
from Zech 12:10
When the rest of the New Testament tells us a summary of the gospel we usually get these three things: Death, Burial, and Resurrection.
And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead,
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
It’s even seen in the picture painted by baptism as Paul explains in
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
John gives us a brief account and it should be noted that it wasn’t any of the twelve disciples that took care of the body of Jesus, they had scattered.
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial 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.
Fulfilling even more prophecy:
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
So in a garden where through Adam sin entered another, Jesus, in another garden, died and was buried so that all who believe in Him may have life cleansed of sin.
This is not the end though, the chapter may close but we continue reading and see the completion of this good news.
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
Can you imagine that moment running and you stop at the opening to that tomb, morning light pouring in and you see no body, just the linen cloths lying there...
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
The empty tomb is the Father’s declaration that the sacrifice was accepted, sin was answered, death was broken, and Christ truly reigns.
Of course the story didn’t end there. Jesus then appears to Mary, the disciples, and hundreds more. He proved He was alive. And that living, risen Christ is the one who invites us to His table today. We remember the crucifixion when we eat and drink together the Lord’s Supper. In a moment I’ll invite the elders to come up to serve you. I will make it clear that if you eat and drink these things and do not believe you make a mockery of God. If you believe and have not been obedient to his command to be baptized do not take this cup. If you are living a life in unrepentant sin do not take this cup. However, If you believe on him and follow his commandments, if you struggle against your sin, if you hurt, if you need healing and forgiveness, I know a Lord that desires to to drink this cup again with you. Eat and drink if you are in that place as I am, in fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
*welcome elders to come up*
Lord we pray over this remembrance of you, your death burial and resurrection. The body you gave for us and the blood you shed to wash us of our sins. We are gathered here in your name and remember all you have done for us. In Jesus name Amen.
1 Cor 11:23-24 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
1 Cor 11:25-26 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
*response* HE IS RISEN INDEED!
