Please stand with me and take your copy of God's Word. Once again, returning to John's Gospel, John the 19th chapter. We've taken up where we left off last week, verse 13, reading down through verse 22. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement in Hebrew. is called Gabbatha. Now, it was the preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, behold your king. But they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? And the priest, the chief priest, answered, we have no king but Caesar. and delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore, the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Thus far, the word of God, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. It is truth. Let us pray. O Lord God Almighty, we do ask that as you have appointed us to gather as your people, that as we gather in our worship, we should come to this time of preaching the proclaiming of your word. We pray, Lord, that that which you have appointed, that you would bless and honor. We pray, Lord, that as we are assembled before you as sinners all, mere men with our weaknesses, we pray that by your spirit you would govern and direct, that you would constrain our attention to hear the word. We pray that you bless the one you've appointed to proclaim the word, that by your spirit you would equip and enable, but a man, a frail, feeble man, that in all these things Christ would have the preeminence, that he would be lifted up and magnified, and that all glory would be down to our Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Last week, I was careful to address the children often. so many were out that there were, I think, only just two or three children. I'm delighted to see more of you children. I just want to draw the attention of the children to the passage that we've just heard read. What we see here is a picture, a wonderful picture. You say, but a crucifixion, a cross, Jesus hung, suspended. Is that a wonderful picture? Yes, it is a wonderful picture, a picture that ought to deeply affect all who look and see. John describes this great historical picture, this great picture of all times. We see in it three main features, three main figures. We see the Lord Jesus Christ. We see the unbelieving Jews. We see the governor, Pontius Pilate. First we see Jesus, the Son of God, God in human flesh, God incarnate, God who came down to bring priests on earth and goodwill to men of goodwill. He is the Savior of mankind. And we see Him not crowned with gold, but a crown of thorns piercing His brow, scourged and bleeding, beaten and bruised, mocked, slapped. We're told in the other Gospels they ripped out His beard with their hands. He's been bullied by His own people, unjustly condemned by a judge who by his own admission seven times said, I find no fault in Him. And yet he condemned him to be crucified. And yet here we see the Son of God Almighty, the one who the angels in heaven ever sing his praises. Here he stands dishonored and rejected of men. Second in the picture, we see the unbelieving Jews who shout and cry for death of the same Jesus whose desire It was good for them and yet for them they wanted Barabbas. They chose Barabbas to go free and that Jesus should be crucified. They chose the guilty one, a murderer, to be set free and he who is innocent to be crucified. It's quite remarkable as we consider these verses leading up to this moment that we have these Jews who have the prophets who foretold the coming of the Messiah. and all that he would do, and they have seen the same Jesus fulfill all these prophecies concerning the Messiah, and still they've rejected him. Before them stands the one who took a few small loaves and fishes and multiplied them and fed thousands on two different occasions. And at that point, you remember how in John 6, they would have made him king. They wanted to seize him and make him king at that time. And now, here we find this fickle crowd They despise him. They reject him. They demand that Pilate crucify him. These same Jews are rejecting the light of the world, the savior of sinners, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, the one who is proclaimed, and as we've seen him demonstrated, the living water that whoever drinks of him shall have life everlasting. They're demanding that this one be crucified. The Jews did not choose Barabbas because they loved Barabbas. Just think about it. They did not choose Barabbas. They knew what he was. They did not choose Barabbas because they loved him. They chose Barabbas because they hated the truth. And Jesus was the truth who'd come into the world to proclaim the truth about sinners to them, and they hated him. Third, to complete the picture, we see the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, the most power official of the Roman Empire in all that region, a man to whom Caesar has entrusted judgment and justice. And what we've seen is a man halting between two opinions. He acknowledges that Jesus is innocent. He's tried to set them free, even with manipulation. How he beat Christ brought him out. Perhaps the Jews would be satisfied. They'd been humiliated enough, and then he could set him free. But no. And that same crowd then, particularly through their leaders, they knew the weakness of Pilate. And they played on that weakness, his fear of man, particularly his fear of Caesar, wanting to be a friend of Caesar and to please Caesar. And so they said, well, if you do not crucify this man who presents himself as a king, then you are no friend of Caesar. Never was there a name so subject to scorn and preserved in our creeds and confessions as Pontius. There are other scenes in history where mankind is displayed in all his sinfulness, his vileness, and the profanity that is within him, his high treason against God Almighty. But here, in the 19th chapter of John, is the chief of all scenes in all the spanned human history of what is in the heart of man, what is in our hearts, what is our true nature as sinners, and how desperate is our condition. I think it's wonderful. that we sung let the accuser roar just moments ago. So we consider these things to know that this one who stands condemned is the very one in who we stand not condemned before the living God of heaven. We're going to use four main headings this morning. The fourth one will be our conclusion. King Jesus rejected. King Jesus crucified. King Jesus proclaimed. King Jesus will ask the question, what is he to you? this most remarkable. And we begin then with King Jesus. We really find this point, we're taking it from verses 13 through 15. John told us in his introduction, all the way back in the first chapter, or what we call the prologue, John told us that Jesus was the true light which gives light to every man in the world. And yet when Jesus was in the world, the world did not know him. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. John begins with those words as he sets out his account inspired by the Holy Spirit of Christ, of the gospel. This is John's account and from the outset he has told us that he came to his own and his own received him not. And here we see that displayed. The Jews rejected him. The prophesied Isaiah had spoken some 700 years before about the events that John is describing here. Yahweh speaks of His servant, the Messiah, the suffering one, and He says of Him, He will be despised and rejected of men. Here it is. We've heard it this morning from John's Gospel. The Jews have been rejecting Jesus since He began His ministry to them. Now, The chief priests, the Sadducees, the elders of the people have achieved their goal long, had the desire to have him in their hands and under his power. They've arrested him, they've brought him before Pilate and they're demanding that this Jesus should be crucified. For the previous two weeks, we've looked at the contest that took place there with Pilate and his praetorian, his royal residency. He's going in to see Jesus. He comes out to the Jews because the Jews sanctimoniously, self-righteously wouldn't go in lest they become defiled by entering the house of a Gentile. And so Pilate, he's gone back and forth in this contest, this struggle over the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Pilate, a judge. Pilate, who looked at the evidence and concluded that Jesus was innocent, that he'd done nothing deserving of death. But the Jews have played on this weakness of Pilate. We've seen how he's pragmatic, even as the leaders were. He wants an end. And yet he's being threatened. In verse 12, we read how, from then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, if you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. Pilate's resisted the pressure that's been placed upon him. As we saw in these previous verses in chapter 19, he's been trying to work a plan, being manipulative or shrewd, somehow trying to obtain the end. He wants Jesus set free. He recognizes this out of jealousy that these Jewish leaders have brought him before, brought Jesus before him. And up to this point, Peter has resisted. Pilate wants to please Caesar. And this threat has now escalated and it must become a settled matter. And with this threat that the Jews put upon him, the matter is settled. Pilate capitulates. Pilate gives in. Pilate's been bested and outmaneuvered by the Jews. Jesus would be crucified. But as we've noted all along, we must remember God is at work. As sinful men are operating out of their own free will, out of their own sinful hearts, constrained and governed by sin, working to obtain that which they want, God is above it all and in it all, through it all, bringing about his most glorious purposes. For this crucifixion was foreordained by God before the foundation of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, agreed and covenanted with the Father that he would come into the world to save sinners. Because our sin is so heinous and vile, Jesus then would suffer in the most despicable and crude and crass way possible, a Roman cross. God was at work above it all, in it all, through it all. It's important that we remember that in our day. Those events take place in our individual lives or in our corporate lives as a church or in the broader context of our culture. God is at work in it all, through it all, and above it all. Jesus would be crucified, not so much because the Jews demanded it, but because God has ordained it and decreed it. All things come to pass because God is the almighty sovereign over all. Matthew Henry observes, and I'm quoting now, those that bind up their happiness, speaking particularly of Pilate, those who bind up their happiness in the favor of men make themselves an easy prey to the temptations of Satan. It's important for us all, young and old alike, to remember that. If we are bound up in receiving the praise and honor of others, if our goal is to have followers on social media or to be the most popular student on the campus, if that's what we're after, then we have bound up ourselves to be easily prey to the temptations of Satan. It's one of the points that C.S. Lewis makes in his book, Screwtape Letters. Well, then the matter must be made official. And so we see Pilate vested by the Jews, verse 13, when Pilate therefore heard that saying, that is this threat, you let this man go, you're not Caesar's friend. When Pilate heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and he sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement. And then John tells us in the Hebrew, it's called Gabbatha. So there's this stone pavement, like a patio, a place of judgment. There's a seat that is seated there. We don't know the particularities of the seat in Stampport, but this is a place of judgment. Pilot's been on his feet. He's been going in and out between the accused and those who have come to prosecute him. And now the matter's settled. He sits down in the seat called the seat of judgment. Pilot is about to render his final verdict and the sentence that is to be set upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And so before he does so, we're told that he brought Jesus out. He brought Jesus out before the people, those who hate him, those who despise him. And then as the governor, he issues the sentence of death, seated in the seat of judgment. As Jesus stood before Pilate, let us remember that he stands in our place. There's a higher court at work here. The courtroom of God is somehow on earth made known or seen in this place. For Jesus is standing in God's courtroom. He stands now with our sins upon him. This is a stunning event. As I think it's John, Professor John Murray says, this is where we see that marvelous manipulation of the accounts. Our sin, our iniquity, our guilt, our shame is credited as though it's Christ is put on his account. So that in turn, when Christ is satisfied the justice of God, that Christ's righteousness, his position with the Father, even his sonship could then be credited to our account. And so as we look at this scene on earth in God's court, Christ is guilty with our sins. They become his sin. He, the scripture says, he who knew no sin became sin. That we unrighteous ones might become clear righteous in the sight of God. This is incredible. Jesus who never sinned is guilty with our sin. God's justice is being satisfied. God justly condemns him. Christ willingly has agreed to do this. Oh, what love! What condescension! that the Son of God would agree to take on our sin. He who is pure and righteous and altogether lovely, the spotless Lamb of God, that He would take on the foul, festering corruption that is our sin. An offense so great that God cannot look upon our sin. And later we'll see that God, when He looks away, Christ cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Children, children, what Jesus did is amazing. Many of you children are old enough that you've sung amazing grace multiple times. You've probably memorized those words. When you sing those words, when you think of those words, think of this scene. Amazing grace. That thou, my God, shouldst die before me. We're the sinners. You children, even the littlest of your babes are sinners. We are guilty, first and foremost, because of Adam's sin, the original sin. It's on our account. Adam represented us, and that sin is accounted to our account. And thus, we're born. We're even conceived as sinners. And thus, we sin. Even the youngest of children sin. You parents know that. We see it at such a young age. You children, you're sinful. But Jesus is spotless. Jesus is sinless. Therefore, he is the perfect sacrifice to stand in our place before God. God placed on Jesus our sins and Jesus died in our place. He died that God's wrath would be spent John goes on to tell us the time that it was. In verse 14, we're told, now it was the preparation day of the Passover. I will admit to you that the chronology between the Gospels at this point is difficult. And it's helpful when we consider that we must remember that the Passover was not a singular event. It was a week. It was a week of a feast. We know that Jesus, just the night before, has eaten the Passover meal with his disciples. And yet John then records that that was the preparation day of the Passover. And we might read that and come away with a sense, well, they're getting ready then to eat the Passover. But no, what's John saying is this is the preparation day for the Sabbath of that Passover week. And so there were extra responsibilities, extra duties, extra preparations that were to be taken And so it was the preparation day. The next day was the Sabbath. All Sabbaths were important, but that one was particularly important because it's in the midst of a Sabbath week as they were to cease from all their other labors and to come apart to God. Then to remember that God, for their forefathers, even that they would even exist, had come into Egypt and sent the death angel to strike the firstborn of all the land, throughout the whole land, except lamb was on the doorpost on either side of the house and above on the lentil the death angel would pass over that's that he passed over and they were they were to eat of eat that lamb as a family and they were to perpetually every year to remember God's mercy extended to them when while they were captives and sin that God had set them free and so we have this day of preparation for the Sabbath that's about to come and so we know that it is Friday and before Saturday, the Sabbath. John says it's the sixth hour. And again, if you look at the other Gospel accounts, you'll find other hours mentioned. What it's clear that John is doing, John is using the Roman marker of time. Throughout the Gospel, we've seen John refer to the Jewish reference of time. Now it was the sixth hour, which would be high noon, according to the Hebrew, or the third hour would be nine o'clock in the morning. The ninth hour would be three o'clock in the afternoon. But now John says it was the sixth hour. Roman event. This is a Roman court. And thus when he says it's a six hour, it's the way we reckon time. The Roman time, like our time. This is six o'clock in the morning. That's what John is saying. As this official event takes place, John marks it the way the Romans would have. Christ has been on trial through the dark hours of the morning. We would think of children like one, two, three or four o'clock in the morning. These events have been unfolding in the dark of the night and now morning has come. The sun is rising. It's six o'clock in the morning when this pronouncement is made. Near the time when the morning sacrifice would have been made. God had ordained with the establishment of the tabernacle, and it endured even to the time of the tabernacle, that morning and evening a sacrifice was made for the sins of the people. And it would have been to time for the morning sacrifice. And yet, the religious leaders, the priests who were responsible for these things are here as an angry mob, demanding that Christ be crucified. Thus, Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the morning and evening sacrifices as he goes out to the cross. Notice John also says it's a preparation day. It's a day when men should have been preparing for a holy day. What are they doing? They're engaged in demanding the death of an innocent man. They're demanding that their Messiah, who God sent into the world to save them, die. And again, we see God at work. And so we see Pilate defeated in his attempts to let Jesus go. Pilate, as he's seated on the judgment seat, he's had Christ brought on and he presents him and he says to the Jews, the end of verse 14, Behold your king. Behold your king. Pilate's pronouncement was intended to mock the Jews. There's a great contest between Pilate and the Jews that's been ongoing and will continue to go on. The Pilates, they saw this threat in Jesus Pilate isn't. The Jews saw this threat in Jesus. Pilate is not. And yet, it was necessary, as Caiaphas has prophesied, that one man should die for the people. Pilate, far from meaning to do so, it seems as though the voice of God speaks through Pilate, an unredeemed man. For indeed, who is it that Pilate presented to the crowd? It is the King. And more than the King of the Jews, it is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords that leads out. Pilate has no respect for Him. Pilate has no respect for the Jews. He speaks in mockery, behold your king, and yet indeed here is the king. Jesus crowned, but he's crowned with thorns. Yet indeed he is the king whom God has sent into the world, and whom God, because of his obedience after the resurrection, as Christ ascends to the right hand of the Father in his humanity, with our humanity, God will set him, as Psalm 2 says, on his holy hill in Zion. And he's given to him the nations. that he should rule over them with a rod of iron. And so what we see with the Jews is the rejection of Christ. Behold your king, their immediate response is they cried out. That's the Jews. Even the crowd that is now swollen during the early morning hours of people are aware that something's happening. They've come to this place in the city and they cry out away with him. It's interesting. John records in the Greek. It's just a way away. That's their shot. Just like was crucified, crucified the right to the point. So great is their hatred for him. We don't want a king away with him, and thus they make it clear. Pilate said to him, with a shout, crucify him. He says, shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered. Not the crowd. The chief priest, who have been at the forefront. They've been leading this movement, who have despised and hated Jesus for three years. They've been determined to destroy him. They said, we have no king but Caesar. Children, we've talked about ironing. A couple weeks ago, it took some time to make sure you understood that. Here's an irony. You would not expect the Jews to say this. They hated Roman rule. They despised being under the occupation of the Roman armies and to have a Roman governor set in their midst. They longed to be free to rule themselves, even if it was for malicious purposes. But what did they say? We have no king but Caesar. It's really blasphemous. It takes us all the way back to the days of Samuel, the prophet, when the people were just demanding, we want a king like the nations around us have. So God gave them Saul. Didn't work out so well. So then God gave them David, the shepherd of Israel, the sweet psalmist of Israel, even the great, many great grandfather of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was a king after God's own heart, who prefigures and pictures this king Here we see the people again. We want a king like the nations. We have no king but Caesar. So great was the rejection of him. Shall I crucify your king? Unwavering in their hatred of God, the Jews rejected the greatest king of all, even Jesus, the king who reigns over all the kings of all times. They chose rather Caesar, who they've long hated. They embrace a mere man, and they reject the God-man, even Jesus Christ. They reject the King of Righteousness, for that is His name, because they reject the truth. We talked about truth earlier, as we considered the Ninth Commandment. We say that's the nature of our heart, to reject truth, to embrace life. Particularly, we want to believe lies about ourselves. Part of the gospel is it comes first with the hard news, the ugly reality. We are sinners. And sinners, we don't want to hear that. So it's so difficult to witness to people, isn't it? To come with the gospel, we can't begin with Jesus. It was so popular back in the 70s, the 80s, God's got a wonderful plan for your lives. We have to begin with the gospel as the law. We are guilty. We are condemned. We are under God's wrath and curse and are in great danger. Our peril is beyond our understanding. That's the truth. These people do not want to hear the truth. Jesus preached the law. He swept away all the additions that the men had put upon the law, and he comes right to the heart of the truth of the law, and he says, you believe that the seventh commandment is you're just not supposed to literally commit adultery, but I say to you, if you even so look in your heart, lust after a woman, you have broken the law. That's the truth they did not want to hear, because it's the truth that renders us all guilty before a holy God. Even you young children are capable of lying and of anger. That's the truth of the gospel. We need to be rescued. We need the king of righteousness. We are sinners in the need of a savior. They did not want to hear this. They rather trust in their own righteousness, their self-righteousness. But what does the scripture say about our righteousness? It is filthy rags. I think about that. I've done a lot of mechanic in my life and I've wiped my hands on a lot of rags. But it was just grime and grit and grease and oil. They're pretty dirty. But you know what, I don't really have a problem picking up a dirty rag and wiping my hands again. So we think of these filthy rags as something much worse. Think of a rag smeared with offal or with rotting flesh and blood and guts. I'm a little graphic because it's beyond that. That's the filthiness of our righteousness. Why do we cling to our own righteousness when Christ freely offers himself? It's for this reason Jesus went to the cross. So I ask you, who do you put your trust in? Are you trusting in your own good works to escape from hell? Are you confident in your own righteousness? Even though your best works are vile and corrupted by sin, or would you trust in Jesus, the Savior of sinners? And whom do you hope? So we see the King, King Jesus condemned. And then we see King Jesus crucified. John's account of the crucifixion is remarkably brief. You find longer accounts in the other Gospels. John's writing later, he's aware that Matthew, Mark, and Luke have written extensively on that. He does not rehearse all the details. But let us not conclude that the shortness of the account suggests that it's unimportant. It matters much. No, it would seem that the brevity of John's account would have us to look not so much at the details, but at the magnitude. of what is taking place outside the walls of Jerusalem. In verse 16, John writes, then, he, that is, Pilate, delivered him, that is, Jesus. Pilate delivered Jesus to them, the Jews, to be crucified. And so they took Jesus away, took Jesus and led him away. Pilate signed a warrant. We're not told of this, but this would be the Roman way. He would have signed an official document that would have gone into the registry of Roman documents that This action that he took as governor, he signed a warrant that Jesus will be crucified. And while sin triumphed in Pilate, grace was on display as Jesus was led away. God was at work. The lamb is going to the slaughter. And we might have redemption for our souls. Notice that Pilate doesn't crucify him. He delivered Jesus to them, the Jews, to crucify. Now we know Roman soldiers accompanied, but this really is their action. He gives them over. Okay, you got my permission. Go and do it. He gave them some soldiers and other soldiers from the temple guard were involved, but they took him out. It's very clear. So they took Jesus and led him away. Long had the Jews desired this moment. Your memories have gone through John's gospel. There are times when they took out stones to stone him and he just disappeared. No explanations given to us. There are times when they sought to seize him, but out of fear of the crowd and the multitudes, they didn't. But now they have him. Finally, under their control, they lead him away. They took Jesus away. to crucify him. Now, the Roman soldiers would have operated the mechanics of the cross. They were well acquainted with it. It was probably a particular cohort of Romans that knew what to do, how the process was. We're told that Jesus bore his own cross as they went out. Verse 17, and he bearing his cross went out to the place of the skull, which in Hebrew is called Galgatha. And the Roman soldiers would have laid that on him. He would have carried it out. We don't need to debate on was it just the cross member, was it the whole cross, we're not told, we don't need to get caught up in the detail. What is happening? Christ is going where we should go. He's going in our place to be hung before heaven and earth. He's going in our stead. The Jews have finally drawn their net uptight around him and no longer will he escape their murderous designs. John tells us again a place we've heard about the place called Gabbatha. Now we're in a place called Galagatha. These are like Hebrew markers. These are places known to the Jews. He's led out to that place, a place of the skull. And we're told he was taken to be crucified. His prophets have declared he was led as a sheep to the slaughter. Here, here goes the lamb of God. It takes away the sin of the world. Carrying his own cross was part of Jesus' suffering. It was a long piece of heavy wood. His back is bruised. He's been beat with rods. He's been scourged. He's bloody. He would be weary and weak from the bleeding. And they laid this cross on him, and he took it and carried it out. And then they would have laid him down on the cross, and the Roman soldiers would have fastened him with nails. Most likely, the nails would have been in his wrists. And we hear hands. The anatomy of the time, that would have been considered. A nail in the hands would have ripped out, but placed there behind the wrist, it would not have. They nailed him in that place. They fastened him to wood. His feet were also nailed to the cross. And the cross was hoisted up with ropes and dropped into a hole in the ground. The pain of this is beyond our comprehension. And it's easy to get caught up in the gore and the gruesomeness of the Roman cross and crucifixion. And it was. And that is the way that God appointed for his son to die. Because it's a picture of what we deserve and so much more. And yet it's not the cross or the crucifixion. It's what takes place there. For there on that cross, Christ received from his father. What do you and I deserve for just our littlest sin? Even you little children, if you have lied one time... If you've been angry with your brother, your sister, and you've struck them one time, you know what God requires? God is holy and that sin is so offensive. God requires that you spend all of eternity in hell, a place of fire that consumes, that burns but does not consume. It is never put out. It's a place where you said that the worm gnaws. There's anguish. It's on and on. Not for days, not for weeks, not for months, but forever and ever and ever. There, the wrath of God is visited. It is being even visited on those who have died without Christ now. And indeed, it is a place that can burn for all eternity. We deserve that much wrath for our least sin, because God is infinitely holy. And our least sin is an infinite offense against God. But Christ received the fullness of the wrath of God for all the sins of his people as he hung on that cross. God looked away from His Son, not the Son of God and His deity, for there's no change or alteration in the relationship ever, but Jesus, the God-Man in His humanity. God has sustained Him. God has filled Him with His Spirit. And God the Father looks away, because God is of a holier eyes than to look upon sin. And Christ is covered with our sin. And God visits His wrath upon His only beloved Son, because God's the loved. Jesus is crucified. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2, 24, Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Jesus was cursed for our sins because Paul writes in Galatians, he's quoting from the Old Testament, for cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree. This suffering was so great that Jesus, in the midst of it as the Father looks away from him, cries out, my God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? What is it that we've seen about Jesus' ministry on the earth? There's a communion and fellowship between the Son and the Father, so that Jesus could say, I only do what I see my Father doing. There's this tremendous communication and fellowship and intimacy between the son on earth and the father in heaven so that Jesus is guided by his father. His smile's always been upon him. The father always revealing to him his will. And even to go to the cross was revealed by the father to Christ as his will. And that's broken for that moment because of our sin. So that we who are apart from God, because of sin could be brought near. Christ paid the debt. It's that marvelous but complicated word, children, in 1 John where we're told that Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. He's the wrath satisfier. He's the one that received the wrath so that the wrath of God will not come upon those who are in Christ Jesus. And so the father looked away. We read that even in his crucifixion, Jesus identifies with him. The crucifixion, a dying, this heinous, ignominious death of a cross, a Roman cross. It was for the worst of criminals. As a matter of fact, a Roman citizen was not to be crucified. That was Roman law. They knew how heinous it was. Jesus, even in being crucified, identifies even with the worst of sinners. My dear friends, don't ever think your sins are beyond Christ. If you are united to Christ, He is satisfied, the Father, for all your sins. But Jesus also identifies in a very real picture. We're told that this is near the city. It's outside the gate. People came by. Here's Jesus hanging on a Roman cross. suffering the most heinous of all deaths. And on either side of him, we're told there were two others. John doesn't really identify them. What we conclude is they're being crucified at Roman crosses. These were bad men, the worst sort of men. It's the place Barabbas should be. We could argue Barabbas should be on that middle cross, even as we should be on that middle cross. Jesus identifies with us as sinners. The other gospel accountants tell us they were two thieves or another title is malefactors but these are great criminals and Jesus identifies with them as he identifies with us. We're told that this is the place of the skull because it's the place where bones of dead bodies and skulls. It's where the remains of those executed for other crimes were cast out. And so there would have been bones scattered about. And it was such a common practice that the very place became known as the place of the skull. It's not a pleasant place to visit. It would be littered with dead bodies in various states of decay, a place of the skull. What do we see here? Jesus lifted up. And we remember during the time when God was visiting judgment upon the children of Israel in the wilderness, when vipers went upon their midst and people were bitten because they're grumbling and murmuring, complaining against God and they were dying. And God says to Moses, make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up and tell the people, whoever looks up shall live. It's a picture of Christ. Christ lifted up on the cross, look to him and live sinners, look to him and live in him alone there is salvation and healing. Here is the spotless lamb bound to the altar as a whole sacrifice to God for the sins of all those he represents. Here we see our great high priest, not after the descendants of Aaron from the tribe of Levi, but the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, an eternal order of priests without end or beginning. Here we see our high priest. He offers himself up on the altar of his deity, dying in his humanity on the altar of his deity, sacrificed. for sinners. The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus didn't need to bring blood for his own sins, as the priest had done through the many hundreds of years, because he was sinless. And after having once offered up himself as the perfect sacrifice to fully satisfy divine justice, Jesus, after the ascension, sat down at the right hand of the Father, not to end his priestly duties, Because the one and only sacrifice that could satisfy God for sin had been offered. We'll hear later Jesus cry out, it is finished. His work is accomplished there on the cross. Matthew Henry says, and I'm paraphrasing, But I'm following what Matthew Henry says. He says, and now let us pause a while. Actually, this is a quote. Now let us pause a while. And with an eye of faith, look upon Jesus. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? See him who was clothed with glory, stripped of it all, and clothed with shame. Him who was the praise of the angels, made a reproach of men. Him who had been with eternal delight and joy in the bosom of His Father, now in the extremities of pain and agony. See Him bleeding. See Him struggling. That is, for breath. Hanging on the cross, it was hard to breathe and you had to push up with your feet that were nailed to the cross in order to relax the chest to get a breath. Yes, that hinders right. See Him bleeding. See Him struggling. See Him dying. See Him and love Him. See Him, love Him. Love Him and live to Him and study what we shall render to Him. A little more briefly we'll consider then King Jesus proclaimed. Verse 19 We're told now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Pilate wasn't finished. He's pretty irritated with the Jews. They bested him, but he's, in a sense, you could say he's going to have the last word. And so he has this inscription put out. This is one more action in this cosmic event. Under God's providence, this evil governor sets a true inscription above the head of the Lord Jesus Christ. Children, think of it like this. It's like Jesus took a piece, not Jesus, but Pilate took a piece of poster board and with some sort of marker, maybe like a heavy sharpie, they didn't have those then, but with some sort of marker he had it written out on there, these words, Jesus, of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. And he had it fastened on the cross over Jesus' head. And we're told that many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was on the main path going in and out of the sheep gate. It was the gate that was closest to the temple. It would have been often traveled. This is the time of the feast. There were many people in the city. Many people went about. It was a place where Jesus was crucified near the city and it was written in Hebrew. Greek and Latin, the three main languages of the day. So that no matter what somebody's native tongue was, they could read the inscription and they knew what it said. They knew that it said, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Pilate was seeking to shame the Jews. They got him to do something he didn't want to do. He wanted to mock them, make fun of them. So yeah, look, look at your, look at your king, you Jews. Here he is dying on a cross of all things. Once more, remember that God is governing all his creatures and all their actions. The truth of who was hanging on the cross was announced so that all who could read it in the language they best understood. The good news of what was happening that day would be preached later throughout all the Roman Empire. There would be those, no doubt, that as Paul goes on his missionary journeys, they would encounter Jews in these cities, as they would go to their synagogues, doing what? What did he come preaching? Paul went forth preaching Christ in him crucified, the only hope of glory. He came with the offense of the gospel of the cross. And there were those who had been in Jerusalem and seen him hanging there. And when they had that image burned into their mind, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Paul would later write to the church in Rome. that he was not ashamed of the cross of Christ. And that it was his main purpose of all of all to preach Christ in him crucified, the only hope of glory. Well, once more, we're told by John, the Jews are mad at Pilate. Verse 21, therefore, the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, did I write the king of the Jews? But what did they want him to write? That he said, they wanted to say, he said, I am the king of the Jews. The very reason they wanted Jesus crucified is because of the claim that he was the Son of God. And the very idea that this proclamation, a true proclamation, indeed confirming and affirming unwittingly by Pilate, he doesn't get it, that this is the King of the Jews, this is the Son of God, this is the one God who came in the flesh to earth to save sinners of people unto himself. But Pilate's reached his limit with the Jews. He's not bowing to them anymore. What does he say in verse 22? Padre said, what I have written, I have written. It's as though he's found his voice as the governor once more. He's inflexible. Praise be to God that was so. Again, it's under God. God is under, over all, in it all, and through it all. This was the king of the Jews, even though Padre didn't know it. After the resurrection, God the Father gave all the nations to Jesus. So that he would indeed, as he does, rule over them as king of kings and Lord of lords. But God, the father also gave his son to the nations. Remember for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Before we go to our conclusion, simple application. Is Jesus your king ruling over your entire life? Is it your goal? Yes, we struggle with this, but is it your goal to bring everything in submission, in yieldedness, in obedience to Christ? Is Jesus your King? We conclude then, King Jesus, what is he to you? Connected to that application. We begin, there's three pictures, and as we play, these three pictures, the players are close by to one another. We have the Jews and Pilate and Jesus. We begin in the order of Jesus the Jews in Pilate, we're going to take in reverse order. In Pilate, we've seen what miserable people we are without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about yourself being represented in Pilate? I hope that you see that as we've dealt with Pilate through this account, not just today, but in the previous weeks. Here he is. There's no fear of God in this man. There's no real love for justice. There's only the fear of man and a willingness to do anything to protect himself, to promote himself, to advance himself. He's a pragmatist, as we've said. Then we see the Jews, we see the terrifying and enormous danger if we keep on rejecting Jesus as he is proclaimed in the gospel. Three years Jesus walked in their midst. There was a constant display of the gospel, constant announcement of the good news, a constant display and a demonstration that he's son of God coming to the world to save sinners. And for three years they have rejected him, leading to such a hardness of heart that can result and indeed resulted in their demanding of the government that this same Jesus be hung on a Roman cross. But then we look at Jesus. We see love so amazing and so divine. A love that the Apostle Paul says passes knowledge. There is no earthly love that can compare to the love of Jesus. Children would put it to you this way, there's no tape measure big enough to measure the immensity of the love of God in Christ Jesus. And what is it that Paul goes on to say in Romans 8? Nothing can separate us from this love if we are in Christ Jesus. Jesus made the supreme sacrifice for sinners and besides him, as the writer of Hebrews says, there is no sacrifice for sin. Jesus is the sacrifice of sinners. All those sacrifices on the Rome are the Jewish altars down through the centuries. They were pointing to Him. Their efficacy was not in themselves, but it was those who came by faith and offered them, looking to the one sacrifice who has come. Here He is. We've seen Him described by John. Crucified, offered up as a sacrifice sinner for sinners. There is no other sacrifice for sin. In Him alone is eternal life found. What is Jesus to you? Do you call him a liar, as the Jews did? Do you want him out of your life? Or do you see him as pilot, inconvenient, an obstacle who gets away in how you want to live your life? He's troublesome, although you really can't find any fault in him. Or do you want Jesus to just move on and leave you alone? Or do you see Jesus as He is, a Savior? and the Redeemer of sinners, the lover of mankind, the lover of men's souls, the one who can bring you home to God as you think of these things. Hopefully this will lead you. This is a week of thanksgiving, but our whole nation hopefully is turning to think of being thankful. We, above all, who are in Christ Jesus, we know to whom to be thankful. to the God the Father who sent His Son. And we know what to be thankful for, that God sent His Son. And to be thankful to Christ that He came. We just touch on what He suffered, the ignominy, the horrific nature of it all. He willingly, He was not drugged to the cross. He went on His own two legs. He went to lay down His life. Oh, how can we ever be thankful enough for what Christ has done for us? Perhaps you're someone who all this has just begun to unsettle you. You're looking at Christ crucified and dying for the first time and recognizing your own need of a Savior. Perhaps some of your children are waking up to that reality. Look to no other one than to Jesus. Look to Jesus and cry out to Him, O Christ, have mercy on me and save me forevermore. Amen. O God, There are no words amongst men to adequately describe what has taken place 2,000 years ago. There are no words sufficient to exalt and to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. We are told even in scripture so great is his glory that we will spend all of eternity ascribing unto him glory and honor and dominion and majesty. expressing our gratitude our love and our affection for so great was our sin and yet you fathers supplied so great a savior. Father we say thank you those seem so inadequate we know that even as we confess in Heidelberg too that how do we express our gratitude for this we we live out the law not in our own strength but indeed in the very strength of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit who he's given to us so that it is our testimony as it was with Paul. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. By faith in the Son of God, we live our lives to your glory. May it be so. This is our prayer, in Jesus' name, Amen.