The Crucifixion

The Death of a Savior

As Easter approaches we remember the life of Christ through his death and ultimately his resurrection. Tonight we are are going to be in John 19 and will be looking in to the suffering of our savior and the purpose of him dying. We all know that Jesus came to this earth to be our sacrifice but do we truly understand the importance of this. Do we truly grasp the severity of Him dying the way that He died?

We have looked at Jesus being a servant and loving those who betrayed him. Now we are going to look at his love for us. Jesus loved us enough to die for us. This love is unimaginable because we do not deserve it.

John 18:39–40 NLT

39 But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?” 40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)

John 19:1–8 NLT

1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face. 4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” 6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.” 7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever.

John 19:16–22 NLT

16 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. 21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

John 19:28–30 NLT

28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus experienced a lot during his last hours on this earth but He endured it to become our sacrifice in order to appease the wrath of God on our behalf. Jesus willingly went to the cross and willingly took the whole wrath of God so that we could be made righteous through him.

1) The Perfection

John 19:1–6 NLT

1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. 3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face. 4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” 5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!” 6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”

Pilate had questioned Jesus and ultimately came to the conclusion that He was completely innocent in the eyes of the law. But the crowd was still pushing for Jesus to die so Pilate then sentences Jesus to be flogged.

This is one of the many cruel tortuous experiences our savior endured in order to become our sacrifice. The flogging was a punishment that would bring people to the brink of death but not kill the victim.

During the flogging process Jesus was chained to a post and then Roman guards would begin whipping His bare back with a nine strapped whip that had bone, metal, and glass woven into the straps. He would be beaten 39 times across the back and legs until there was no skin left on his back.

After the flogging he was then being mocked by the soldiers by them calling him king of the Jews. Which they were partly correct in saying because Jesus is King to all people but not the Earthly King that they were claiming him to be.

The Soldiers then put a crown on his head but this crown was not fit for a human at all because it was made of thorns. They then placed a purple robe on his back which would then act as a bandaid on his freshly beaten back. He again was ridiculed and mocked by them beating him with their hands. Jesus the perfect innocent willing sacrifice is being beaten and mocked.

They then rip off the robe and sent him back to Pilate.

Pilate then insults the entire Jewish Population by saying Behold the Man! Basically meaning Behold your King who is weak, but the Crowd only wanted him dead.

Pilate then realized that Jesus is more than just a man and he did not want to sentence him to death.

Jesus endured all of this torture for us to be made free. Every single time Jesus was whipped He could of easily said forget this I am God. But instead he willingly endure this for us. Jesus the King of the universe responds to all of this with Love for us.

Jesus willingly endure this penalty as an innocent man.

The penalty for being unworthy fell upon the person who is worthy. The penalty for being a sinner fell on the sinless.

2. The Penalty

John 19:16–22 NLT

16 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away. 17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it. 21 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

His penalty for being the Son of God was to endure the most cruel death imaginable. He was sentenced to die on a wooden cross in which the Romans deemed too cruel for any Roman citizen to endure.

The Roman’s did not create this form of execution but they are the ones who perfected it. They wanted to ensure that the person would suffer while on the cross for up to a couple days before ultimately dying from suffocation. Jesus when he was on the cross he had to push him self up with his feet and pull himself up with his hands in order to exhale. So every time he would lift up to exhale his bare back would rub against a rough tree.

Jesus endured this penalty for use.

Jesus took our place on this cross.

The whole time in which Jesus was on the cross he was there for us. Jesus endure this death in order to pay for our penalty for sin.

Sin has to have a consequence!

A just God would not allow for sin to go unpunished so he sent his son to become the punishment for our sins.

While he was on the cross he endured the full wrath of God for us to have the opportunity to be made righteous.

The payment for our sin was for Jesus to die.

3. The Payment

John 19:28–30 NLT

28 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus’s mission was complete. His purpose for coming to this earth had been completed. His earthly ministry had been completed. The penalty had been paid. Jesus’s life is now ready to be given up. No One took his life but he freely gave it for us.

He concludes His earthly life with the words “It is finished.” The messiah is no more. Can you imagine the excitement of Satan? Can you imagine the despair of the disciples? His closest friends just saw Jesus take his very last breath.

The Messiah they had been following and learning from is now no longer with them.

You have heard the saying if everything was taken away from you except Christ would that be enough?

The disciples now have had Christ taken from them. Their entire world is coming to an end.

The Son of God is dead.

The payment of Sin has been completed. Whenever we go back to the crucifixion we see the severity of our sin.

We see how serious God takes sin.

We see how disgusting our sins are.

We see how nasty we truly are because our sins is the reason that the Son of God came to die.

Our sin is the reason Jesus took on the entirety of the wrath of God.

We need to understand that our sins is the reason that Jesus gave is life. We need to begin understand the weight our sin has.

So often we look at our sin as just a simple mistake but that simple mistake is the reason Jesus gave his live. The son of God took on the wrath for our sins so that we did not have too. Jesus took on the punishment so we did not have too.

Our sin was paid for at the cost of the Son of God.

For 3 solid days the world knew no hope or salvation. The world was without Jesus.