I may not have to have a chair. It's up to you. This is a pretty sturdy pulpit. You can grab on. Okay. Oh, good enough. I had to spend the last couple of months or more in the pastorate sitting down after having several strokes. I'm preaching on a computer now, so I get to sit down all the time. Rather humorously, and I'm not a humorous person in the pulpit, I was talking to some of the people and said, what I could speak on tonight is the Christianization of John 3.16. Have you ever thought about that? John chapter three is our Lord speaking to Nicodemus, a Jewish rabbi. And when he said, for God so loved the world, Nicodemus would thank Jews and Gentiles. And then he said, every single one believing in him, pas hapistu an eis auton, He never said, whosoever. And Christians have taken the world, to mean every single human being, and the term whosoever, and made a whole theology of it, and it's not there. What can I say? But I won't do that. I'll be controversial as it is. It has been a year and a half since I've stood before a congregation. I sit and teach at a rescue mission. So this is, since I preached for Brother John a year and a half ago, this is the first time I've stood in front of a congregation to preach. So bear with me if you would. John chapter 19, we'll look at our text. The gospel of John chapter 19, verses 16 through 22, verses 28 through 30. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which in the Hebrew is in the Hebrew Golgotha. where they crucified him and two other with him on either side, one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. And now verses 28 through 30. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was said a vessel full of vinegar, or sour wine, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, is finished and bowed his head and gave up the ghost. Literally, he dismissed his spirit. And I believe that at least one of the gospel records reads in that way. The theme of our conference is Christ Crucified. And we are in agreement that the crucifixion The cross of our Lord was the apex, the climax of our Lord's earthly life and ministry. He would be in the grave for three days, and then he would rise again from the dead. The faith of the disciples would be restored, and then some days later, he would be received up into glory And then came Pentecost, the empowering of the New Testament church. And of course, never again would we find the disciples, the apostles now doubting our Lord or cringing before the world. Now, I want to deal with the crucifixion of our Lord. And there's a principle that I want to give. Almost everyone who witnessed this public execution and spectacle misunderstood it. Almost everyone who was at the cross misunderstood it, and even believers who were there, and there were a few, did not fully understand that our Lord would come forth from this and rise from the dead. So I want to look at each group that was at the cross and at the crucifixion. Pilate and Herod Antipas were probably absent. They had done their work They had fulfilled their shameful roles. The Roman soldiers were there. And consider Pilate's situation. He could not get rid of Jesus. He said, I find no fault in him. He said it repeatedly. The Sanhedrin was there, the 70 ruling elders of Israel and others with them, probably the temple guard, which was their police force, and they were crying out, crucify him, crucify him. Why? What hath he done? Release unto us Barabbas. He wanted to release Jesus. I find no fault in him. Crucify him, crucify him. He said, I will scourge him and let him go. No, they said, release unto us Barabbas. But Jesus, crucify him, crucify him. So Pilate had him scourged and then he sent him forth to be crucified. Now I am a Christian reading this in the Word of God, and there are certain points where I must stop and think and consider, and this is the first point. Pilate had him scourged, finding no fault in him. Why did he have him scourged? The divine purpose is this is a fulfillment of prophecy. This is the beginning of our Lord's vicarious suffering on our behalf. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastenment of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. Scourging. What was scourging? Two soldiers suspended the criminal or victim by his hands up over his head, stripped him of his clothing, took two coat, two cat of nine tails, short whips, with multiple fingers on them. Each one ended with a twisted piece of metal or a piece of bone. They began at the neck and the shoulders, and they systematically worked from there down to his heels. Once they reached the bottom, they started again at the top and went down. Hunks of flesh were torn from the back of our Lord. Historians would tell us that under scourging, the skeletal frame was exposed. You could see our Lord's ribs, perhaps his shoulder blades, his hip muscles, and perhaps some of his leg muscles. He was bleeding severely. He was so weak that they took Simon of Cyrene and had him carry our Lord's cross to Golgotha. He was weak. He was half dead already. This was scourging, and it was for me. Already our Lord was enduring vicarious suffering by his stripes. we are healed. Now, who was at the cross? Number one, the person at Golgotha, the devil. He had failed years before when he moved Herod to kill the infants in the area of Bethlehem. He wanted to kill the Messiah as an infant and he failed because God warned Joseph in a dream and they escaped unto Egypt. But they killed all the infants from two years and younger in the area of Bethlehem. Do you realize during the earthly ministry of our Lord, I'm going to wander a bit. No one ever asked him where he was born. When they heard him speak, what did they hear? A Galilean accent. And they took it for granted, he was a Galilean. And if a Galilean, he was a false prophet and a false Messiah. And in John chapter seven, When Nicodemus said, does our law judge any man before it hear him? They said, are you also of Galilee? No prophet comes out of Galilee. Jonah was one, and there were others, but it wasn't convenient to mention them. Prophets to the 10 northern tribes. Satan was at the cross. He had also failed in the wilderness temptation. After our Lord's baptism, when it became known in public through the ministry of John the Baptist that our Lord came as Messiah, he went into the wilderness, fasted for 40 days. And after that, in a weakened condition, after 40 days, your body lives on itself. He was very susceptible. Satan came to him and said, since you are the son of God, second class conditional sentence in the Greek, assuming it to be true, since you are the son of God, command these stones to be made bread. Those round stones look like little loaves of bread. Doing what he can. What did our Lord say? Not by bread alone shall live the man. I'm quoting from the word order in the Greek. Not by bread alone shall live the man, but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God. He takes him to the pinnacle of the temple, 10 stories high, Herod's temple, 10 stories high. Since you are the son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written, you want to quote the scripture, I can quote the scripture to you. He shall give his angels charge over thee. And with their hands, they shall bear thee up, lest I cast thy foot against the stone. He left out to keep thee in all thy ways. He misquoted it. I've been very nervous about this. In my old age, my mind goes blank at times, but I'm going to enjoy this tonight as much as I can. What in the world was the temptation to throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple? There's one man here tonight who knows and can give us the scripture. Malachi chapter three, verse two. The Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Jesus floats down on the hands of angels. Bypass the cross, be received as Israel's Messiah. The victory is yours. Everything is there. This was a real temptation. No suffering. Complete acceptance. He fails. Then he takes our Lord to an exceedingly high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the earth in a moment of time. He said, they belong to me. And he is the God of this world, small g. He says, I'll give them all to you if you just fall down and worship me. He's very open now. Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Satan failed again. He failed with Herod, our Lord is an infant. He fell in the wilderness temptation. Now he's at the cross, influencing the Sanhedrin, the largest group there. the 70 ruling elders of Israel who want our Lord crucified. He's influencing the soldiers. He's doing what he can in his own way. And this time, he succeeds. He bruises the seed of the woman, bruises his heel. The Protevangelium, the first promise of the gospel in Genesis chapter three, our Lord speaks to Satan, said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. And thou shalt bruise his heel, and he, not it. Hebrew text reads he, and he shall crush or bruise your head. Satan is so pointedly obsessed with taking our Lord and defeating him that he is going to bruise his heel. He will do what he can behind the scenes in the crucifixion of our Lord. He was evidently behind a lot of the abuse and the anger and the mocking of our Lord. Let's move to consider the Jewish leaders. The largest group there was the Sanhedrin, the leading scribes and Pharisees, 70 ruling elders of Israel. They had desired to kill our Lord from his first Passover. That he came to Jerusalem, performed all these miracles, and said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again. They want to kill him desperately. They were the most biblically educated people in all Israel. They were all rabbis. They knew their scriptures thoroughly. And they stood there and they saw scripture after scripture after scripture fulfilled before their very eyes, and it didn't move them. They pierced my hands and my feet. They parted my garments among them and cast lots. They insulted me, they tortured me, all of this, Again and again, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, other scriptures came in and these men stood there. Never underestimate the anger of religious self-righteousness. We wonder at times that religious people can be so hateful. This is an example of it. Their hatred do no bounds. Their servants and the temple guards abused and insulted our Lord. Here they saw the prophecies fulfilled before their very eyes, and it did not move them. Two members stood apart, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. They had been converted. But they were secret believers in fear of the Jews. And even they did not understand the resurrection. Think now. Joseph Arimathea wanted the body of our Lord. Nicodemus was with him, carrying the spices and so forth. And when Pilate knew from the soldiers that Jesus was dead, We read that Joseph of Arimathea took his body down from the cross and he and Nicodemus took the body to a grave, a tomb, prepared it for burial and buried it. Does that mean anything to you? Do not leave these two thieves on the cross overnight because tomorrow is a high day. Break their legs. And they did. What are they talking about? This was the Sabbath of the Passover. It was against God to leave them on the cross overnight. If A Jew, and we find this in the Old Testament, had a family member who died suddenly during the Passover. He could pollute himself, bury the relative, and then the next month take the Passover. But if it were not a relative, his soul was cut off from Israel. There is the testimony of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. They, before all Israel, renounced their Judaism. There is so much going on here, if we think and ponder and pray. Now, let's look at the Roman soldiers. These probably held the Jews in disdain. They had scourged our Lord. They taunted Him and abused Him. They put on Him a crown of thorns, a purple robe. They did what they could to add to His injuries. Then they nailed our Lord to the cross, and He prayed for them, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They were simply doing what they had been commanded to do, doing their duty. They cast lots for his outer cloak, all of this in fulfillment of Scripture. And he was stripped during this time, completely naked. We've never seen a true picture of the crucifixion. It was insulting as well as torturous. Then, when our Lord was put on the cross, They offered him sour wine mixed with gall and he refused. As a Christian, I almost weep at that. What was the gall? It was myrrh. And what was it for? To alleviate suffering. and our Lord would not be alleviated in any way when he was suffering for me. That's amazing. Everything here is significant. Six hours later, after our Lord died, The pilot wanted a death certificate. The soldier came and pierced his side. He cut into the pericardium, the sack of fluid and blood that surrounds the heart, and there came out, says John, blood and water. The blood had coagulated. Clots of blood and water came out, medically signifying that he was dead. Three hours of darkness. Strange darkness. The sun was obliterated. This was a supernatural darkness. And at least the presiding centurion sensed that. This was not normal. And then the earthquake after our Lord died. The rocks rent. And I will not go into the resurrection of those who appeared to many after our Lord's resurrection. But he was so taken with all of these things that he said, surely this was the son of God. What happened in the temple? The veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. It was over four inches thick, and they said that two yoke of oxen could not begin to tear that. This was a divine act, I believe, symbolically declaring that all earthly priesthoods were done. We have access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at the two thieves. I'm trespassing upon Dr. Waldrop's message of last night, so I tremble a little bit at this. But I have a few things to say anyway. At the first, both of them railed against our Lord. They knew they were going to die, and they knew they were going to die after a most horrible fashion. And when a person faces death, he gets to the point where he becomes sarcastic. It is though the devil got a hold of him. And they said, since you're the son of God, come down from the cross and save us too. They cast the same in his teeth. And then, probably during the time of darkness, One of the thieves rebuked his companion and said, we are suffering justly, but this man has done nothing wrong. And then he says, Lord, Lord, not Jesus, not Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord implies a relationship. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. He believed that out in the future there was a kingdom of glory and joy and blessing. God had changed his heart. Our Lord said, verily I say unto thee today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. The most amazing conversion of our Lord's ministry was that thief. What a short Christian experience he had, but genuine nonetheless. And now the thieves had their legs broken. As I said, the next day was the Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Passover, a high day. So they had their legs broken. When they came to our Lord, they saw that he was dead already. that the scripture might be fulfilled, not a bone of him shall be broken." The fulfillment and antitype of the Passover lamb. This is how careful God is to fulfill his word. Now let us look to the women. There was always a large group of women following our Lord, ministering to him out of their substance, following him, believing him. There were only three, four, or five at the cross. One of them was his widowed mother. Joseph had died. He was gone. Mary was a widow. And our Lord looks down at his youngest earthly friend, his disciple, John. The other disciples had run away. They were in hiding. John was there. And he said, woman, behold thy son, and son, behold thy mother. And he gave his mother and her care into his Christian friend, not into his yet unconverted family. How significant. And there's something that we do not see. The words of aged Simon were fulfilled to Mary. At the dedication of our Lord in the temple many years before, he said to Mary, a sword shall pierce thine own soul also that the thoughts of many be revealed. And now seeing her son hanging there in agony, dying as a criminal, that sword pierced her own soul. Now let's look at the disciples. Judas had betrayed him. We are told that Satan entered into him. Judas had betrayed him. And in the garden, he came with several hundred men, the temple guard, about 250, plus a contingent of Roman soldiers. Quite an army came in to the garden. And what did Judas do? He said, I'll kiss him, that'll point him out to you. Catephileson is the heiress. He kissed our Lord fervently, or as one writer said, he covered him with kisses. He made a big to-do about it. Have you seen movies of our Lord when Judas pecks him on the cheek? That's not what happened. Judas just did it with a vengeance, as it were. And then read all the records carefully. When he saw that he was condemned, he went out and committed suicide. He did not think that Jesus would be condemned. He thought he could betray him and get the money and it would pass. But when he saw that he was condemned, he hanged himself, probably over a cliff because the rope broke. And when he fell to the bottom, all of his guts gushed out. the disciples. All of them were in hiding from the garden of Gethsemane. They fled in every direction. Peter had drawn his sword. He said, I'll die for you, Lord. He cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest, and Jesus healed his ear. Do you think that stopped? these soldiers from arresting our Lord? Do you think they considered it at all? Of course not. The wickedness of unbelief is beyond our comprehension at times. He was strong in the flesh. He and John follow our Lord and the mob into the house of the high priest, and then Peter denies our Lord three times. When it came to spiritual matters, he was weak, although he had been strong in the flesh. A lesson for us. Let us beware that we are not strong in the flesh. All of the disciples were in hiding except for young John. He alone was at the crucifixion. The faith of the disciples was all but destroyed. The two that were on the road to Emmaus on the day of our Lord's resurrection. They were walking, very depressed. Our Lord enters in and walks up the road with them. And he said, what is concerning you? They said, are you new in Jerusalem and you don't realize what's happened here? This great prophet, Jesus, he was killed. We trusted it would be him who would have delivered Israel. Where was their faith now? They completely disowned him. And then when they stopped for food and he bowed his head and gave thanks, then their eyes were opened, they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. Mary Magdalene saw him and talked with him. She ran back and told the disciples, and they seen but empty tales. One of the great agnostics, European, 1800s, said that we owe Christianity to the hallucinations of an immoral woman. Speaking of Mary Magdalene, one of the famous infidels, the disciples ran to the tomb. John goes in and the Bible said, and he believed. The first of the disciples to believe was John. The Lord appears to them that night. Thomas is absent. He would be with them a week later, but they believe they rejoiced to see the Lord. He overcame their unbelief. A spirit hath not flesh and blood as you see me. Look at the marks. They rejoiced. Their faith was restored. And we must say this, with this restoration of faith, Never again do we find them weak and vacillating. They are changed indeed now. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, after six hours on the cross, and I'm giving you Matthew's gospel Greek text, Translation, the others do not read this way. My God, my God, why me hast thou forsaken? And he applied the words of David to himself, the word me in a position of emphasis. He took my God forsakenness upon him. The father turned his face away, turned his back on his son. as he vicariously was suffering on our behalf. And so the scripture says three times in the Old Testament, once in the New, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And the English does not do justice to the original language, which is much, much, much stronger and mirrors the language of the Old Testament. This is our Lord. Crucifixion with the arms extended had a tendency to collapse the lungs. Our Lord also had been scourged, which left him about half dead when he was nailed to the tree through loss of blood and flesh. After six hours and three hours of darkness, he cries out with a raspy voice, a high fever now, I thirst. And they gave him sour wine on a sponge to clear his throat. And with a loud voice, he cried, Tetelestai, it is finished. We are told that that was the old Greek warrior's cry. Coming back from the battlefield with a sword dipped in blood, he would raise it over his head and say, Tetelestai! It was the cry of victory. It was a perfect passive participle in Greek, meaning the results go on. It is finished. The greatest word spoken from the fall to the end of the age. It is finished. And then two of the gospel records read this way. The other two simply said he gave up the ghost. The other two read, he dismissed his spirit. No one takes my life from me. I give it up of myself. And so when the suffering was over and complete, and atonement had been made, and Christ crucified was now a glorious reality, he dismissed his spirit back to the Father. Who else was at the cross? Of course, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, working unseen. working to most utterly unknown, but fulfilling without any interference whatsoever the eternal redemptive purpose of God, that we might understand the crucifixion, the suffering of our Lord, and the glory of our redemption. May God bless His Word.