And now as we come to Your Word, Lord, we pray that You would be gracious and merciful to us. That You would open our eyes. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Give us wisdom to see our great need for Christ. And for our need to yield our lives in obedience to Him. O God, we know that Your Word never returns void unto You. And so we ask, O Lord, that You would use Your Word to work in us even today. Help us to hear the voice of our Shepherd. And we ask that we would be fed and nourished to the depths of our souls. Help us, O Lord, to see our need for Christ. Help us to see the sufficiency of Christ. And help us, Lord, to glorify Him and to grow in His likeness. In His name we pray. Amen. Well, if you have your Bibles with you, please turn to John chapter 19. We'll be looking at John chapter 19, verses 19 to 22 today. There's really not much of the book left. Really, two and a half chapters, but they are going to go pretty quickly once we get into the next chapter especially. We are going to be eager to get to the resurrection, which isn't that far away, praise the Lord. But as I said, I think last week, if it seems weird that we're studying the crucifixion at Christmas time, you know, as we're getting into the Christmas season, just remember that without the death and resurrection of Christ. Christmas means absolutely nothing. It's just another day. So praise be unto God that we have this season in which we're studying the death and resurrection of Christ so that we can remember the purpose for which he came. Now as we've seen so many times throughout our study of John's Gospel, there's a specific reason that John wrote this book. He tells us at the end of chapter 20 that he wrote this book so that the reader would believe in Jesus, and by believing in Jesus, we may have life in His name. Now when he says life, of course, When he tells us that, he's talking about eternal life. He's talking about spiritual life, as opposed to the state of spiritual deadness that all men are born into. But eternal life is the term that we have seen both John and Jesus use over and over again throughout this book. in reference to what is found in Christ by believing in Him. Jesus said to Nicodemus, for example, back in chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, He said, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him will have Eternal life. Again, in verse 16, the one that we've heard countless times, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So this is a phrase that we've seen throughout this book. It's widely recognized. that in the time of Jesus, the Jews were not expecting a Messiah who would bring eternal life. They were expecting a Messiah who would come and actually set up a physical kingdom, an earthly kingdom that could be compared to the kingdoms of this world. The Jews wanted a Messiah who would free them from oppression, who would free them from occupation by the Roman Empire. And they wanted this physical freedom so much that they completely overlooked, they completely neglected their need for the spiritual freedom that Jesus, the Messiah, came to give. But they also seemed to have neglected something that God had always planned and had always promised to do, and that is to not only bless the nation of Israel, but to bless All of the nations. All of the nations. When God changed Abram's name to Abraham in Genesis 17, He said this to him, He said, As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. That's from Genesis 17 v. 4-5. See, this promise was given to Abraham when he was 99 years old. He had already kind of distrusted God and found another way to have a son, Ishmael. Ishmael was an illegitimate son. He wasn't the son that God had promised Abraham. But the name Abraham means exalted father. And Abraham surely saw the humor, the irony in God giving him this name since his wife Sarah's womb was still barren at almost 100 years of age. But the significance, the point of the name change was not that Sarah would eventually become pregnant with the child that God had promised, but that Abraham would be the father of many nations in the sense that all who would be saved would be saved in the same manner that Abraham was saved, and that is by simply trusting and believing in God and His promises. Abraham, just like us, was saved by grace alone, through faith alone, specifically in the promise of the Messiah, the seed alone. In 1 Kings, when Solomon dedicated the temple, the first temple in Jerusalem, he prayed a prayer of dedication, and toward the end of this very lengthy prayer, he says this in chapter 8, verses 59 and 60 of 1 Kings, he says, And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God, there is no one else. There again, the wisest man in the world, at least until Christ came. He understood that God's plan was never for it to just be Israel, but that God intended for the temple to be for all people, to bring people from all the nations to Himself. Let the nations be glad. And this is a theme that has been actually subtly woven into just about every chapter in John's narrative as well, if you think about it. Starting in chapter 1, verses 9 to 13, we see this theme being introduced to us when John writes this. He says, there was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man, not just Israel, not just the Jews. Verse 10, He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, that's important, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. See, John was very subtly, very subtly emphasizing the fact that God's plan for salvation was not only for the Jews, but it was for people of all nations. It was for the Gentiles too. That's why John says, who were born not of blood. In other words, people wouldn't be saved by virtue of who their ancestors were. It was for everyone. Further into chapter 1, we saw John introduce us to John the Baptist, who proclaimed upon seeing Jesus, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of, who? The world. who takes away the sin of the world. Now think about it for a second. It would have been the most natural thing in the world for Him to have said instead, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of Israel. After all, who practiced the Passover? Who practiced the sacrificing of lambs for atonement? It was the Jews. It was Israel. But John the Baptist clearly understood that Christ's work would not only be on behalf of those in the nation of Israel who believed in Christ, but that it would be applied to Gentiles as well. And so as we've been studying the crucifixion and the events that have led us up to the crucifixion, we've seen that John's testimony is actually somewhat similar, very similar, to Matthew's and Mark's and Luke's. And that there were certain things that John included, which they had omitted. And there were also things that he omitted, which they had included. But part of the reason for that is because, at least as far as we can tell by what the Bible tells us, John was the only disciple who was actually there at the scene as an eyewitness of the crucifixion. And while many of the details that he alone includes are only, you know, kind of minimally significant, he does include something in the text that we come to today that's very significant, and which none of the other Gospel authors included. It's an extremely significant detail, which concerns the title that Pilate had placed on Jesus' cross. And so the point of the passage that we come to today is simply this. It's that Jesus is a King for everyone. And there are no exceptions. He is not only a Jewish Savior, He is certainly that, but He is also the Savior and King for all the nations, for people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. Now we've seen that Jesus has been crucified between two thieves. And as was custom in the time, there was a placard, a sign that was placed on the cross which spelled out the crimes which the person on the cross had been convicted of. So we continue our study starting with verses 19 and 20. where John writes this, he says, Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. Therefore, many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek. Now, the fact that this sign, this placard was nailed to Jesus' cross isn't something that only John tells us about. The other gospel authors also tell us about it. Matthew writes, And above his head they put up the charge against him, which read, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Mark tells us, The inscription of the charge against him read, The King of the Jews. Luke tells us, now there was also an inscription above him, this is the king of the Jews. And now John tells us here in his gospel, Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. Now if you've been listening carefully, you've noticed undoubtedly that each one of those is slightly different. And it shouldn't be too surprising for you that Many scholars, especially over the past couple hundred years, have taken notice of those differences, and they've tried to make a big deal about the fact that they are all slightly different, as if the fact that they aren't exactly the same in each one of the gospels proves that there is at least some room to have doubt, at least in this area of the text, that certain details maybe can't be completely trusted. And of course, listen, if you can introduce doubt, if you can introduce uncertainty into just one little part of the text, why not the next part and the next part? Why not the whole thing? Why not just doubt the whole thing? And that's what happens. That's the danger of that. And so, sound scholars and sound theologians have therefore come up with various theories, various explanations in response, in an effort to remove any reason for doubt about the reliability of the biblical texts. A. W. Pink, for example, argued that Matthew translated from the Hebrew, that Mark translated from the Latin, and that Luke translated from the Greek. And that's possible. That very well might be the case. And that argument should absolutely silence any doubts of skeptics or scholars. But James Montgomery Boyce, in his commentary, makes a very solid case for this argument not even being necessary. He instead argues that neither Matthew, Mark, Luke, nor John intended to copy everything that the sign said. And so instead he argues that the placard probably said originally, this is Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews. Nine words, and if you just take those nine words, you'll find each author's words in there. Each author simply abbreviated the simple sentence in their own way. I don't think that John's purpose in telling us that this was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek was so much to smooth out or explain these differences. Maybe it was, but I also think he might have had some other things in mind. Instead, I believe that John's intention in telling us that the same inscription was written in these three languages is to show that Jesus, who was indeed the King of the Jews, was also the King and Savior for all the nations, and that God had ordained the perfect way of showing that by having this simple little inscription written not only in the language of the Jews but in the common languages of the Gentiles in that region at the time as well. That actually makes perfect sense. Of course, Jesus is a king. And this has also been a theme in John's book. It's a theme throughout the New Testament. Think of what the angel Gabriel said to Mary. When he came to tell her that she would be giving birth to the Messiah, he said to her, "'And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.'" His kingdom will have no end. That's the way that you speak of God when God is referred to as a king. Not long after his birth in the manger, the wise men came from the east, of course, looking for him, probably by the time he was about two years old, and they were saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? When he was just two years old, they knew. Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. It's from Matthew chapter 2 verse 2. So the Jews knew from the scriptures that when the Messiah came, he would be a king. And indeed, He was. And indeed, He is to this day, and always will be, because He never changes, a king. He will always be a king. He's just a king who's unlike any earthly king. Right? He's the king of a kingdom with no borders, a spiritual rather than a physical kingdom. He alone is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He was born as a king. He lived as a king. He was crucified as a king. And one day, He will return in glory as a king. Richard Phillips notes this in his commentary. He notes that, quote, "...a king conquers, provides, rules, and makes peace. Christ our King conquered our enemy the devil, provided forgiveness for our sin, rules in our hearts, and makes peace between sinners and God. All these kingly deeds Jesus achieved by dying on the cross for us." End quote. So my question to start with today for you is simply, do you know this Jesus of Nazareth as your King? Not just as a King, but as the King to whom you belong first and foremost, to whom you serve, to whom you yield your will first and foremost. Are you a citizen of his kingdom. That's a very important question because it's very important that you see him this way. Because when you see him as a king, you also see Him as the one to whom you must yield your will. The one to whom you must yield in obedience. And as J.C. Ryle notes, he says, They only will find Him their Savior at the last day, who have obeyed Him as King in this world. It is better to be a loyal citizen of His kingdom than it is to have all the riches in the world. It is better to be a citizen of His kingdom who faces persecution in this world than it is to be serving a king of this world and be at peace. Jesus is King. Jesus is King of all, both of the Jew and of the Gentile, even to this day and forevermore. Now as we've seen, this has been a theme throughout John's gospel. We've already seen it twice in chapter 1, in the words of John's prologue, and then in the exclamation of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus. But we also saw it in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3. We also saw it in chapter 4. Think about it. When Jesus went and spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well in the heat of the day. Remember, the Samaritans were kind of half-bred Jews, and so the Jews viewed them as just the lowest form of humanity. They were a picture of compromise, of what happens when God's people go and marry off in the other nations. So the Samaritans were actually, in the eyes of the Jews, they were just the epitome of disgust. They were revolting in the eyes of the Jews. Jesus' own disciples even seemed to have been a little bit uncomfortable with her mere presence. But Jesus goes to her, And He speaks to her directly and yet graciously. And of course, she ends up believing in Jesus by the end of this conversation. And as soon as she starts to believe, she runs off and rushes to tell her fellow Samaritan citizens to come and to meet Jesus, the Messiah, for themselves. And when all is said and done, there are many among the Samaritans who believed and said to the woman who had brought them to Him, in v. 42 of chapter 4, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world. Chapter 5, Jesus shows that He's King when He goes over to the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda and heals him. He shows that He cares for the helpless. That He reaches out not only to the highest members of society, but to the lowest members of society. That He is the compassionate King of the healthy, as well as the weak and helpless. In chapter 6, Jesus proclaimed that He is the bread of life, and that the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Chapters 8 and 9, Jesus proclaims Himself to be the light. Not only the light of the Jews, but the light of the whole world. In chapter 10, Jesus proclaims that He's the Good Shepherd. who's come to gather those who are his out of Judaism and into a new fold, which is the church, according to John 10, verse 16. In John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, and as reports and rumors start to fly about Lazarus' resurrection, the Jews conspired to kill both. Jesus and Lazarus. And so the high priest Caiaphas said, it is expedient for you that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish. That's from John 11 50. And Caiaphas obviously had no idea how true what he was saying was. He had no idea that God was actually prophesying through his own enemy's mouth right then and there. He had no idea. He certainly didn't have the Gentiles in mind when he said that. But John goes on to explain how God used the mouth of even his own enemy to prophesy by writing this. John says this. He says, now he did not say this on his own initiative. What about free will? Only God has ultimate free will. Now, he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. That's from verses 51 and 52. Now, speaking of scattering abroad, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, that's a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Specifically in Zechariah 10.9, we see God say this. He says, when I scatter them among the peoples, they will remember Me in far countries. How? Because Jesus would die so that those who are scattered could be brought back to God. In John 12, John tells us about something that Matthew, Mark, and Luke don't tell us about. He tells us that the Greeks came looking to find Jesus. and that Jesus saw this as the sign that the hour had come. He declared at that point, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. It's from John 12-23. So throughout John, we've seen that this is not only for the Jews, but that this is for everyone. The Gospel is for everyone. Jesus is King of everyone. The universal nature of Jesus' reign as King has been a steady and consistent theme throughout John's Gospel. It's been subtly woven into every chapter. John has given us this message kind of in a verbal picture form and through what we would call object lessons. Paul, of course, can be contrasted with the way John told us. John tells us in story form, when Paul tells us things, he just states them as propositions, as facts. Paul simply wrote, as a fact, the gospel is for all, that it's for Jews and Gentiles alike. But John has been careful. to consistently deliver this theme in the form of historical gospel narrative. John wants us to see that the gospel is for the high just as much as the gospel is for the low. That the gospel is for the rich just as much as the gospel is for the poor. That the gospel is just as much for the educated as it is for the uneducated, that it's for the slave, just as much as it's for the slave master. Every age, every demographic, every statistic, Jesus is King for all. The Gospel is for everyone because Jesus is a King for everyone, with no exceptions. He is not only a Jewish Savior, but He is the Savior and King of all the nations, of all people. And as such, Jesus is the King and Savior for the great and mighty Roman centurion guard who commanded Christ's execution just as much as He is the King and Savior for the thief on the cross who called on His name and was born again in His dying hour. He is just as much King of the Jews as He was and is a King for the Gentiles. And so it was only appropriate that the inscription above Jesus was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Of course, Hebrew is the language of the Jews. And as such, because Hebrew was the language of the Jews, it was the language that almost the entire Old Testament was written in. The book of Daniel contains some Aramaic because Nebuchadnezzar wrote one chapter in the book of Daniel, and he wrote it in Aramaic. The Hebrew scriptures were, at the time, the one and only source of true religion. And if Jesus is your King and Savior, He must still be the one who determines true versus false religion. See, the religion that sees Jesus as nothing but a good man is false, because Jesus always claimed to be more than just a good man. If a religion sees Jesus as nothing more than a prophet, and nothing more than a prophet, that again is a false religion, because while Jesus is our prophet, he is also our priest, our high priest, and our king. He wasn't in the same category as men like Isaiah, or Zechariah, or Jeremiah, who were well-known prophets of the Old Testament. He was in a class by himself. Unlike those other prophets from the Old Testament, Jesus was able to say that the Scriptures, all the Old Testament Scriptures, were written about Him. No mere prophet could ever say that. Jesus received worship. What prophet ever received worship without rebuking the person who's worshiping them? Only Jesus receives worship. the way that he should. True religion always, always hails Jesus as the king. Not just a king, but the king, and adheres to his teachings steadfastly. The second language, Greek. One of the inscriptions was also in Greek. Greek was the language of the philosophers we know. It was the language of Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and all these other Greek philosophers. Of course the philosophy of the Greeks was very famous at the time and to this day it still is. So Greek was really kind of the language of the educated. not only in philosophy, but in things like science and culture as well. It was the language of wisdom. And so it was only fitting that Jesus' inscription included Greek, because Jesus is king over all the sciences. Jesus is king over every philosophy, as well as every culture. None of them disprove him for sure. None of them nullify his reign. None of them rightfully contradict him. There's no philosophy that can deny him. None of them render him insignificant. He is the most perfect demonstration of wisdom in the flesh in human history. And so just as true religion affirms who Jesus is, so too true philosophy and science and culture all point to Jesus and hail Him as King. The world's views of science and philosophy and culture are constantly changing from one day to the next. We see that this year as the FDA, for example, is now saying that, Oh, what we said a year ago was only a recommendation. If you go back to what they were saying a year ago, that was not a recommendation. It was urgent. It was, you have to do this, and if you're doing that, well, you're not a horse, are you? I mean, come on. So, there's all this gaslighting going on. Why? Because the culture around us is always changing. Science is always changing. Philosophy is changing. Culture is constantly changing. But praise be to God that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. The world has no wisdom. The world has no wisdom. You must know that. Because if you're going to get advice from somebody, if you're going to seek counsel from somebody, would you not want it to be from somebody who is wise? And yet how wise can somebody be who hasn't yielded their life to Christ as King? The world has no wisdom to offer. And as such, the world has nothing to offer the Christian in terms of things like counsel or advice. Why would any Christian go to a source that can only offer, only offer foolish counsel? Counsel that does not view Christ as King. Finally, Latin was also a language on his inscription. Latin was the language of power and law. When laws were written, it was the highest, the elites as we call them these days, and they would write laws in Latin, which reminds us that Jesus is the ultimate law giver. His laws are the laws that govern every area of our lives. And of course, we desire to comply with the laws that are passed in our land, with the laws and mandates and demands of our government, but we also recognize that when they come into conflict with what Jesus has told us, We must yield to Jesus, even if that means disobeying the authorities, the worldly authorities, because Christ is the highest authority and nobody, absolutely nobody, has the authority to usurp His rule or to contradict His commands. Now John tells us that many Jews read these inscriptions. Of course, they were coming into Jerusalem for the Passover on that day. And when they read this inscription, many of them seemed to have been apparently very confused or very outraged. They apparently went to their Jewish religious leaders. And this leads to a very interesting exchange that takes place between the Jewish religious leaders and Pontius Pilate. We read this in the verses that follow, verses 21 and 22. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but that he said I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written I have written. Now, it's not surprising to see that the Jewish religious leaders were outraged to see what Pilate had written on Jesus' inscription. After all, the sign essentially declares Jesus' innocence. Since being the king of the Jews, first of all, was no crime. Secondly, it signified the Jewish, it shows the Jewish religious leaders' hatred for God. But third, it shows that they're liars. Because Jesus never said, I'm king of the Jews. That was something that they made up as they were trying to find some charges that Pilate might execute Jesus for. Of course, why did Pilate put those words on this inscription? Only one reason, and that was to antagonize the Jews. He put those words on Jesus' inscription as a means of kind of taking a jab at them. Having the last laugh at the expense of the Jewish leaders who demanded Jesus' death, even when Pilate had expressly stated that Jesus was innocent. He wanted to irritate the Jews with this inscription. And as far as we can tell, he was extremely successful in doing so. And so he gets the last laugh. Okay. Well, why are the Jewish leaders so irritated about this sign? Why do they want this small change added for it to say that he only said that he was king of the Jews? It's because they are a picture of humanity in general. They're a picture of the world. The unregenerate person who by nature wants absolutely nothing to do with God. They certainly don't want to serve His purposes. They certainly don't desire to honor Him. They certainly don't desire to obey Him. They don't want anyone to think that they were acknowledging the legitimacy of Christ's kingship. And what a tragedy that is. What a tragedy this whole thing is for the Jews. See, the crucifixion is a tragedy. But it's not a story of Jesus' tragedy. It's actually a story of Jesus' victory because He remained in the Father's will even until the very end. And because His substitutionary death is what was necessary for us, for God's people, for all who savingly believe on Christ, to be ransomed, redeemed, and reconciled to God. No, the tragedy of this story is seen in the way that the world rejects Jesus. The tragedy of this story is seen in the way that the world so blindly and so irrationally rejects and hates Jesus. See, it's a tragedy to see how blindfolded. Just how completely ignorant, how blind humanity is in sin and love of self. It's a tragedy to see humanity's death grip on their love of sin and how blind they are by nature, lost in the darkness. As the Jews are unable to see the glory of Christ radiating from the cross, Humanity in natural unregenerate form is completely unable to see the glory and the incredible love of the true king of all creation as he hangs naked and ashamed on a cross. You see the cross always reveals who people really are. It reveals who the Jews are. The cross reveals humanity. To love the darkness and to hate the light of God by virtue of their nature. And so it's fitting that the chief priests here are actually referred to as the chief priests of the Jews rather than the chief priests of God. They're supposed to represent God. but they're only representing the world. They're representing the Jews. They certainly were not interested in the things of God. They were only interested in the things of fallen man, as man by nature always is. They only wanted to serve their own best interests. They wanted nothing to do with Jesus. And thus, they were revolted by the very thought that anyone, anyone might even begin to think that He was their rightful, glorious King. And this, of course, is why they protest. what Pilate had written on this inscription. So the cross reveals the Jewish leaders to be a group of men who wanted nothing to do with God. It reveals that their greatest concern was only for themselves, was only for their sin, was only for their power and their ability to influence. The cross always reveals who people are. If Pilate complied and changed what the inscription said, he would have lost that final say, the final laugh that he wanted to have. His revenge against the Jews. And that's why he stands by what he has written. It's not that he stands by what he's written because he believed the inscription to be true or accurate in any sense. No, he just had his mind set on humiliating those who had, in his mind, humiliated him by disregarding his verdict. And he refused to let them rob him of the joy of writing this inscription. And thus, the cross also reveals who Pilate is. Who Pilate truly is. He wouldn't dig his heels in and fight to have his way earlier when he pronounced Jesus innocent. But now, he digs in his heels stubbornly on this issue. Not when an innocent man's life is on the line, but when his pride is on the line. See, at the cross, we see that Pilate does know how to say no. That Pilate does know how to defy the masses. He does know how to say no when it suits him and his personal and political interests. The cross reveals who the Jews truly were. The cross reveals who Pilate really was. It shows us who the crowds really were. Who the thieves really were. Who the soldiers that crucified Him really were. It also reveals who God really is. It reveals that God is holy. That God is righteous. that God is just and that God absolutely hates sin. It reveals that God has absolutely no tolerance to speak of when it comes to sin, because if He did, then there was no need for Him to pour out His wrath on the sin of those who believe in Christ. He could have just said, eh, it wasn't that big of a deal. Yes, it was. The cross reveals that yes, every sin is a big deal. Every sin, the wage of it is death. It reveals God to be a God who must pour His wrath out on every sin. And it also reveals His love, His mercy, His grace. For it was this very purpose that Jesus was born. to go to the cross, that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to bear the terrible, awful wrath that His people deserved for their sins in their place. The cross shows who the Jews really were, who Pilate really was, who the thieves were, who God was, and friends, the cross also reveals who you really are. Who you really are is seen in your response to the cross, where Jesus was hailed as the King, not only of the Jews, but of all nations, of all of humanity. So it either reveals you to be a hopeless and helpless sinner who lives as if your life is your own, or it reveals you to be alive, a recipient of this eternal life that we've read about throughout John's gospel. You must know that you can go to heaven without money. You don't need money to go to heaven. All the money in the world will never buy you a second in heaven. In fact, the Bible warns us repeatedly that money tends to become an idol for people. And thus, Jesus warns that you cannot serve God in money. If you have to make a choice between the two, remember that money will never buy you one nanosecond in heaven. You can go to heaven without money. You can go to heaven without a good reputation among men. Oh man, how many people waste their time, waste their energy, waste their lives trying to live for the sake of pleasing man, of just conforming and being liked and accepted. Not only can you go to heaven without a good reputation before men, but living for the sake of pleasing men is something that will keep souls out of heaven. You can go to heaven without an education. It's great if you've got an education. It's great if you're intelligent. But what value is there in being intelligent if it just builds you up in pride and defiance toward God? So you can go to heaven without all these things. But you must know that you cannot go to heaven without Christ. Nobody goes to heaven without Christ. Christ is the one and only means of salvation that God has ordained for all people from all nations. He's the one bridge that stretches across the chasm that exists between a holy God and fallen man. Nobody will enter into heaven on the basis of their own goodness or their own merit. Nobody's going to be in heaven except Jesus because they deserve it. Nobody. Because all have sinned. All that is except Jesus. And when a person believes that Jesus' death was sufficient to satisfy God's wrath against their sin, when they truly and unequivocally trust in that fact, Christ's own righteousness is credited to that man, and that man's sin is credited to Jesus. where God's wrath is poured out against that sin. And this is the gospel, friends. That is good news, because that's the only way to heaven. It's for us to be cleansed of our sin, and only God can cleanse us of our sin. And He sent Jesus to do that. This is the gospel. This is the message that has been entrusted to us, that we've been given to take to the ends of the earth. We weren't given this message for the sake of keeping it to ourselves. We weren't given this message for the sake that we could just hoard all the blessings for ourselves. We were given this message to bring to the nations, to the ends of the earth. This message of reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus who bore the wrath of all who will believe in Him is the power and the wisdom of God unto salvation for everyone, for the whole world. The true church of God will continually hail and proclaim this message, whether it's in season or out of season. In other words, in good times and in bad times. In times when we're free to gather and to proclaim this message, as well as in times when there's persecution and we might have to meet underground. If you look back throughout history, that's what the true church has always done. They have continued to hail Christ as King, recognizing that His authority supersedes every human authority, and thus we live in obedience to Him. knowing that Christ's crucifixion was not the end of His story, right? Praise the Lord. We know that He died. We know that He was buried. And we also know that He was raised again to life on the third day, the Lord's day, to prove that His work for salvation was sufficient and that our redemption in Him and our reconciliation with God in Him is completed. We also know that after spending 40 days with His disciples after the resurrection, He ascended into heaven, where He now is seated at the right hand of the Father, doing what? Reigning as King over His kingdom. He will return to judge the living and the dead. And when He returns, He will return as a King. So, let the nations be glad. Because the Scriptures tell us that when all is said and done, His throne will be surrounded by people from every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation, who will sing His glorious praises forevermore in His presence. Hallelujah. Praise be to God. Pilate's attempt at humiliating the Jews. also served God's purposes in proclaiming Jesus to be King for everyone. At the cross, Jesus is hailed as King of all the nations, of all the Jews and the Gentiles, no exceptions. Everyone will bend the knee before Him, whether with their will or against it. Few people who read that inscription that day would understand the true meaning of it. But it was accurate. And it was true. He is not only a Jewish Savior, but He is also a Savior and King for the Gentiles and for all the nations. The question I want to leave you with Was this, is He your King? And does your life reflect the fact that He is your King? I pray that it would for those who know Him as King and Lord most assuredly also know Him as Savior. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank You again for Your Word. Your Word is sufficient. Your Word is inerrant, infallible, unassailable. It reveals exactly who we are. It reveals who You are. It reveals how greatly we needed a Savior, a King. Because when we act like we are king of our own lives, all we do is sin. All we do is rebel against you. Oh Lord, we thank you that by your grace you've given us ears to hear and eyes to see. You've given us faith in your Son, All is a gift so that none of us can boast. It wasn't our work that has saved us or that holds us fast in your salvation, but it is the fact that Christ died for us in our place. Oh God, give us conviction to live in the light of Christ's kingship over our lives. Teach us when it is wise to obey the authorities and when it is wise to disobey. We pray that our obedience to Christ would bear testimony to the world around us of His worthiness, of our redemption by Your grace in Him. And we pray, Lord, that you would even use fallen sinners like us to proclaim this great hope, this great news, the good news, to all people, to all nations, all tongues, all tribes, that your word may go forth and do what you have purposed it to accomplish, drawing many sinners to Christ. All for His glory. In His name we pray, Amen.