Well, I think it's only fitting before we fully get into God's Word and. see what he would have us to see and to know ever more fully what he'd have us to know that we give thanks where thanks is due. And the Lord has been pleased to bring to all of us, I think, a feast of his glory and of his goodness and of his grace and of his mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ revealed through his word, empowered by his spirit. He's brought that feast to us. But there are a lot of people who have set the table as it were by way of all of the details that have made this conference happen. And we have been greatly, greatly, greatly, greatly served just in all of the planning, the logistics, even last night as we're dismissed last night to be given a set of CDs to listen to, just those extra little touches that make things really special. But from all of the food, I mean, that's hospitality on steroids. And I hope you don't fall asleep this afternoon, by the way, after all of the food that you've had. But I want to say thanks especially to Justin, to Cause, wherever Cause is, and to John Schaaf. Where's John? John, John, John, is he in here? Oh, where is he? There he is, yeah. These guys and... That's right, that's fitting and appropriate. This is all a labor of love and all of these brothers who are ministering to us and with us through music to lots of other volunteers who are helping with food and I'm sure a bajillion other things that we're totally unaware of. We say thank you. You have blessed us. You have ministered to us and most of these people serving in these ways. They have regular jobs as well. They're not like us pastors who only work one day a week. You know, they're not like Paul Washer who gets to travel all over the place and, you know, just have that fun. And no, we know that's not we know that's not the case. But these folks minister because of the love of Christ in them and through them. But it's fitting to say thanks. So let's let's just say thanks to everyone who's helped again. I would certainly encourage you to personally express thanks just to different folks that you see around there helping both today when you leave say thanks and even even drop a note or some kind of an expression of gratitude is always an appropriate thing. Well, if you live, I know not everybody lives in the Northern California area. A lot of you have come from other places and we're so grateful that you're here. But if you live in the general Northern California area, you know that this last week, for many reasons, has been a particularly special week because it's the first week in a number of weeks that we've actually seen the sun. And we've actually felt warmth. And if you live in this area, you know that we had, whatever it was, three weeks or so mainly of just rain and cold and all kinds of things. And this last Monday, as the sun broke out and we just began to taste that sense of spring a little more fully, it seemed like everybody, at least in the greater Sacramento area, there was just a collective sense of Oh, the sun is here. I mean, people are out running and walking and wearing shorts and just beautiful and certainly an expression of God's common grace. And we enjoy the beauty of God's creation, don't we? Everyone enjoys it in various capacities. It really is a measure of God's common grace that he has created all that he has created within the realm of of creation and that we can enjoy that. We enjoy going to beautiful places, places that captivate us and refresh us. All of us probably have at least one, if not more, really special places that we just love to go to time and time again. Certainly in the part of California that we live in, we are particularly spoiled to have so many beautiful places around us. We can go to the east and go up to Lake Tahoe and that beautiful area up in the Sierras, which is literally breathtaking. We can go south a few hours and go to Yosemite National Park and take in that beauty. We can go west over to the coast. to the Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove area and just enjoy overwhelming beauty in God's creation. And whenever we go to any of these places or any particular beautiful favorite place that you might have in your own mind, we like to linger there, don't we? We like to savor it. We like to take it all in and we like to go back to such a place over and over and over and over and over again. Well, this afternoon, I think the Lord would have us go to just such a beautiful place, but it's a place unlike any other that we could ever imagine. It's not a place that we can see with our physical eyes right now, for it's a place that's revealed to us in Scripture. It's a place that we can only see through the eyes of faith. It's the place of the cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. I have to warn you, as we have heard so much already, that as we're going to see in some particular scenes of the cross of Jesus Christ that we'll be looking at momentarily in John chapter 19. I have to warn you that the cross is indeed a place of breathtaking beauty and wonder, but it's also a place of incalculable horror and shame. And God wills that we would see And that we would understand and that we would know the power of both the horror and the beauty of the cross. Before we get to John 19, I'd like to invite you to turn to John chapter one. It's important to understand this and see this at the very beginning of John's gospel. Of course, this is one of four gospels that the Lord has given us. But John's particular focus is very clear and it's very distinct in the prologue to his gospel. In verse 14, he makes this statement concerning the word incarnate, concerning Jesus Christ. Notice what he says in verse 14, he says, The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father full grace and truth. John is writing this under the inspiration of the spirit of God, probably some 50 to 60 years after he physically walked with Jesus Christ near the end of the first century. John is an aged man, but as he reflects upon his encounter with Christ and the transformation that came about in his life because of Christ, This is what's uppermost in his heart and mind. He says, we saw, we beheld, we perceived his glory, glory like none other, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And that perspective of John is critical in understanding the entire gospel of John, because it's as if with every single word that he writes, He's seeking to display the brightness and the wonder of that glory in Christ, which He Himself has come to see and to know. And literally, it says, with every word, the brightness of that glory just multiplies exponentially. And nowhere is that more true than when it comes to the cross. Because there is a display of the glory of God in Christ, the fullness of his grace and truth in Christ at the cross that is like none other. It's critical to keep that in mind as we see all of these matters. Earlier this morning, when Pastor Rod spoke from First Corinthians 15 and helped us understand the nature of sin and why sin is so sinful, he went to that passage in First Corinthians 15, verse three, that says Christ died for our sins. And of course, he focused upon a right understanding of the nature of our sin in the context of the holiness of God. What I really want to focus on now is the matter that Christ died, that Christ died. What does it mean that Christ died and how does the cross relate to our sin? And what did it mean for Jesus Christ to die? Let me have you turn to John chapter 19. We're going to look at John's account of the cross. And we're only going to look at one particular scene that John lays before us, which is a part of a number of scenes that he reveals with regard to Christ on the cross. Now, even as we heard in the video clip earlier from C.J. Mahaney, who was preaching from the Gospel of Mark, we understand that in all of the Gospels, there are accounts of the cross. And they all harmoniously paint a picture for us of the suffering of Christ. And each of the Gospels comes at it from a slightly different angle, but in no way contradicts the other's accounts. It's a composite picture that the Lord has given us through these different Gospels. But again, in John's purpose, in the inspiration of God, there are distinct features. to the account of the cross that he gives to us. So I'd like to read verses 16 through 30 in John, chapter 19, as we have done. Let me ask you to rise again in honor of God's word. And we'll begin at verse 16 with the word of God. So he referring to Pilate, the Roman Governor handed him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two other men, one on either side and Jesus in between. 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. And 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 the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Verse 23, then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his outer garments and made four parts apart to every soldier and also the tunic. Now, the tunic was seamless woven in one piece. And so they said to one another, let us not care, but cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be. And this was to fulfill the scripture, they divided my outer garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Therefore, the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus then saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, Behold, your son. And then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother. From that hour, the disciple took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the scripture, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. This is God's word, let's pray. O gracious God, who is adequate for these things? Who am I to proclaim these things? Who are any of us to hear and to rightly understand these things concerning you and your eternal sovereign purposes in the suffering of your Son? Lord, we need your help. We need you to open our eyes that we might behold wonderful things in your law, we need you to do a work that only you can do. To make us attentive, make us alert, cause us to see the greatness and the wonder and the power. And the transcendent holiness and love of all that you have given and accomplished in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. We trust you to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine because we know it is your will to glorify your son in your people. We pray that you would accomplish that now in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thanks. And you can be seated. I'm sure that the other brothers who have brought the Lord's word to you would agree that as we come and bring God's word and seek to just share a small portion, it's as if we've stood at the at the beach of an endless ocean of glory and truth and might and wonder. And in our feeble task of proclaiming what we've seen there, it's as if we've just brought a little spoon from that ocean. The glory of God, the beauty of God, the wonder of God, the holiness of God, the love of God, the wrath of God, the mercy of God are endless, are endless. And He feeds us so that we would hunger all the more. And He gives us to drink so that we would thirst all the more to know Him and to walk with Him and to live to His glory. Well, as we look into this passage in John chapter 19, we're not going to look at the entire section in detail that I read. I spent many weeks preaching through this passage last fall, last summer and last fall. Could have spent many more weeks. We're not going to do that this morning, obviously. But I want you to know just to understand the context in this account of of the cross, as John records it in the section that we read, there are in essence five beautiful scenes of the Savior's holy love. In all of these details that are given, there are five scenes that we see of beautiful perfections of the Savior's holy love. In verses 17 and 18, the section we're going to look at in more detail, we see the beautiful perfection of the Savior's willing humiliation. And then in verses 19 through 22, in this account with this title that Pilate places on the top of the cross, what is happening there is a scene of the beautiful perfection of the Savior's sovereign authority, that He is the King of Kings. And then in verses 23 through 25, also in 28 and 29, we see the beautiful perfection of the Savior's prophetic fulfillment in these events that occur with the soldiers casting lots for His tunic and with Him even taking a drink and expressing His thirst. It's in fulfillment of what God had prophesied hundreds of years earlier. And so we see the beautiful scene of His prophetic fulfillment. And then in verse 25 through 27, this tender scene of him caring for the well-being of his mother and calling upon the disciple whom he loved, which was John's way of referring to himself. We see the beautiful perfection of the Savior's tender affection, even in his sufferings. And then, of course, in 28 through 30, at the end of the passage, when Jesus says it is finished, We see the beautiful perfection of the Savior's completed work. All of this is on display. God showing us this through the pen of John that we might behold his glory, see the glory of his willing humiliation, his sovereign authority, his prophetic fulfillment, his tender affection and his completed work. We're only going to look at that first scene. of his willing humiliation and consider the scandalous shame of the cross. I don't know what your perception is, but from my perspective, we often, particularly as Christians in America, we often flippantly In a very embarrassing way, speak of Christ dying for our sins. I mean, we learned that day one in Sunday school. Jesus died for me. In one sense, it is a profoundly simple reality. But if all we consider when we think of the cross is, oh yeah, Jesus died for me. Friends, we miss it completely. We don't understand it. We don't see the glory as God would have us to see and to understand the glory for the blessing and the strengthening of our own souls, but even more for the deepening and the magnification of his glory in us and through us. So we want to take time to gaze deeply into these matters. So we're going to look at this first scene, the beautiful perfection of the Savior's willing humiliation and the scandalous shame that He experienced at the cross. Now you can see if you've got your notes there, there's three points we want to see in this passage in verses 17 and 18 related to the willing humiliation of Christ. We see His humiliation on the path to His crucifixion. We see His humiliation at the place of His crucifixion. And we see His humiliation in the people that He was crucified with. There's not one single word in these verses, nor in the entire Gospel of John, nor in the entire Bible that is incidental. Every single word is intended for us to see the greatness of God's glory in Christ. And if that's true at all of scripture, this is the mountaintop of of that display at the cross. It's important to note that Christ didn't just die for his chosen ones like a hero might die taking a bullet for somebody else or jumping in front of a vehicle to spare somebody else. That's not what it was accomplished at the cross. Jesus died the death of the damned. That's what C.J. Mahaney was expressing, that he cried the cry of the damned. He died in utter humiliation and shame. He allowed himself not only to be thought of and treated as something other than what he was, but he allowed himself, in obedience to the Father, to become something that he wasn't, namely sin, and to bear something that he did not deserve, namely the wrath of God. Friends, this is not only the impossible gospel, this is the incomprehensible gospel with regard to the sufferings of Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So let us gaze upon the willing humiliation of Christ, the scandalous shame that He experienced at the cross. Notice, first of all, His willing humiliation revealed on the path to the cross. Verse 17, they took Jesus. They is referring to the Roman soldiers, those who were physically going to crucify Christ. But notice how it is phrased in verse 17. They took Jesus, therefore, and he went out bearing his own cross. Now, you need to understand, too, that in John's gospel, everything that he communicates of the person and work of Christ, while it recounts the historical details of what occurred, John's thrust, John's focus in displaying the glory of God is to not only recount those historical details, but to magnify the spiritual, theological, infinitely, eternally true significance of those historical details. So there is, in a sense, almost a double meaning in the things that John recounts. Jesus literally went out from the governor's palace where he was, where this mock trial had taken place. He literally physically went out of there. He literally physically bore his own cross. But without a doubt, in John's mind and in the heart of God, in his mind, he's wanting us to be reminded That Jesus went out from the throne room of heaven. And he bore his cross as a man, even though he was fully God. Well, as Jesus goes out from the governor's palace and in chapters 18 and 19 leading up to verse 16 and 17, we read about his arrest and we read about this this mock trial and what I refer to as the dance of the damned that goes on between the Jewish religious leaders as they're striving to coerce Pilate to crucify Jesus, even though Pilate knows that Jesus is not guilty of the things that they're claiming that he's guilty of. And you read of this Pilate going in and out of his residence and arguing with the Jews and wanting to release this man, wanting to release this man. But ultimately, because of Pilate's own cowardly fear of man, he acquiesces to the wishes of the Jews. And it's not only a deadly dance between the Jews and between Pilate, but Jesus is in the mix of that as well and the sovereign purposes of God. Finally, Pilate is acquiesced and now he gives Jesus over to be crucified. And on the path to his crucifixion, these are the final steps that Jesus takes on this earth before being nailed to a cross. It's important to remember that at this point, Jesus has already been punched. He's been scorned. He's been made to wear a crown of thorns. smacked into his head. He's been mocked. He's been scourged. He's been bloodied. And he's been bruised. And everything that has occurred to him has occurred progressively and intensively, pulverizing and dehumanizing him. To the Jews, he's an object of scorn and shame. To the Roman soldiers, this is just another fun day at work. have their jollies with. And so verse 17 says that he went out bearing his own cross and even notice that in connection with what we see at the end of the passage down in verse 30, he gave up his spirit. What's being emphasized is that Jesus was voluntarily following this path of humiliation. Yes, the Jews were deeply involved in the conspiracy to kill him. Yes, the Romans were deeply involved in what was unfolding. But all of this is happening because of Jesus willingly submitting to what is ordained for him. Now, just a historical note, as Jesus took up his cross, this typically would not be the entire cross with both the horizontal and the vertical beams. Rather, it would be that horizontal cross piece, which he would be made to bear, that would then take him out to the place where the crucifixion would occur, where the vertical beam was already present. And of course, we know from the Gospel of Luke that as Jesus makes his way through the city, that eventually Simon is called upon to bear his cross as well. We don't know the exact length of this route as it moved from the praetorium pilots governing residents while he was in Jerusalem. We don't know the length of the route, but it was long enough. to accomplish the Father's purpose in making Jesus a public spectacle of scorn and shame. You see, the victims of crucifixion were not crucified in the city. They were crucified outside the city. And they were made to walk this path so that gathering onlookers could mock and laugh and spit and see this person who is worthy of nothing but shame. And so this route was intended to go through the most populous routes, the most populous places of the city, and certainly by this time in the morning, as Jesus is being crucified, crowds were gathering. Everybody knew who this man was. Now he's the object of shame. I don't know if you've seen the HBO miniseries on John Adams. It was produced not too long ago, a multi episode series, and I've watched that and been intrigued by early American history. But there's one scene there that is so troubling in the earlier part of the series when a particular individual who has done something wrong is tarred and feathered. And it's a very graphic scene as there are mobs of people and they grab this man, they strip him naked, they take a giant pot of boiling tar, pour it over him and then cover him with feathers and then he's placed upon a piece of wood and paraded around the mob and everybody is shouting, shame on you, shame on you, shame on you. That's a little bit. of the scene of what crucifixion was intended to bring about in its victim. It wasn't just the physical horrors. It was the shame. It was the rejection. It was the humiliation that was accompanied with that. And so as God wants us to see in verse 17, that Jesus took this path to his crucifixion, he wants us to understand the absolute humiliation, the absolute isolation that Jesus was experiencing in the presence of everyone who was there. And even in the presence of God, his father, what's being emphasized is that Jesus alone suffered this humiliation on the path to His crucifixion. Well, we see not only His willing humiliation on the path to His crucifixion, but second of all, we see His willing humiliation revealed at the place of His crucifixion. At the end of verse 17, He bears His cross to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. Scholars don't know exactly why this place was named what it was. Some think it's because, as this was the regular location for crucifixions, that after people would die, after their bodies would then decompose, that the skulls of those victims would then just be piled up in heaps upon this place. That's possible. Most likely it was called what it was called the place of a skull because the hill resembles the shape of a skull. And the important point to understand about this place is that it is outside of the city. It's outside of the city. And what John is stressing is that Jesus went out to this place. He went outside the city walls of Jerusalem. What's the significance of this? Well, such executions occurred outside the walls of the city because of the absolute horror and shame that was associated with the criminals who were being executed. They were taken outside the camp, as it were, so that their shame would not bring defilement among those inside the camp. And as a result, this represented complete and total expulsion from the community. They were not seen as worthy even to die such a death inside the city, inside the community, but rather outside the camp. And this comprehensive rejection and denigration of criminals relates to the Old Testament sacrificial system. And in a very graphic way, what was being expressed was that those who were being crucified were worse than trash. You see, in the Old Testament sacrificial system, in all of the different offerings that God prescribed for his people to offer, and you can read about those in the book of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers, But in all of the different animal sacrifices that were given, there were particular parts of each animal that were not even deemed as worthy to be sacrificed. It was the refuse of the animals. And the part of the animals that was not deemed worthy even to be sacrificed was the part with the stench. that produced an odor that was repulsive. And so prescriptions were made for those parts of the animals that weren't even considered good enough to be used for offerings for sin, that those parts were collectively taken outside of the camp and burned. And that's the background of this practice of crucifixions taking place outside of the city. People who were crucified were deemed as less than worthy, full of shame. This was the place outside the camp, outside of the city, the place of utter disgust, disdain, shame, reproach and contamination. It's important to understand also that those who were crucified were seen as being fully cursed by God. These weren't just random acts that were occurring. God had said in Deuteronomy, Chapter 21, that anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed. And of course, Paul makes reference to that in Galatians, Chapter three, with reference to the sufferings of Christ, who died in bearing God's curse. So again, the horror and the shame of the cross wasn't primarily the gruesome, bloody, physical torture being displayed, horrendous as that was, but rather it was the understanding that the victim was bearing the very wrath and curse of God in their sufferings. This was the ultimate shame. You see, every part of the crucifixion ordained by God for His Son is not accidental, and it's not incidental. He wants us to understand the absolute, willing humiliation Christ endured on the path to the crucifixion. He wants us to understand the willing, utter humiliation and shame He endured at the place of the crucifixion, outside of the camp, The place of trash. He also wants us to understand the willing humiliation of Christ as it's revealed in the people with whom he was crucified. The third aspect of his willing humiliation that we see. And so there we read in verse 18, there at the place of the skull, outside of the camp, there they crucified him. And with him, two other men, one on either side and Jesus in between. John uses only three Greek words to speak of the actual crucifixion itself there, him, They crucified. They crucified is one word in the Greek. It's a verb and it speaks of their action of crucifying Christ. That's all he says. And even as we heard C.J. Mahaney reflect earlier, John doesn't focus on the gruesome details of crucifixion itself. Those would have been all too well known to the first century audience. But instead, he focuses on that which displays Christ's glory in the Father's eternal purposes. Now, a little bit later in chapter 20 and verse 25, John does indirectly make reference to the fact that Jesus had been nailed to the cross. And it's important to understand that while John, while God through John doesn't focus on the gruesome details that this was the most torturous form of death that the human mind could conceive at that time. It's public. It was excruciating. The very nature of all the physiological aspects of crucifixion itself were intended to draw out the agony and the torture of the victim as long as possible. Sometimes people would be on the cross for days. And ultimately, what killed a person on a cross was suffocation. Because the weight of their body would press down on their lungs and with a nail in their feet and with nails in their hands, it was all they could do to labor to push themselves up for another breath. And again, remember, by any human standards, most human beings having experienced what Jesus experienced prior to the cross probably already would have expired or at least passed out. Not our Savior. in His courage and in His glory. But the stress of John in verse 18 is not on the details of the crucifixion itself, but in this verse, his stress is on the people that Jesus was crucified with. Why is that? Most of us know that. Oh, yeah, I've heard about the thief on the cross. And yeah, wasn't there were two guys and one of those guys ended up becoming a Christian. Yeah, I've heard about what's the significance of that? It's not accidental, it's not incidental. All four gospels speak of this, and we do know from the other gospel accounts that those who were crucified with Jesus were vile, shame-filled criminals. Luke in particular speaks of that in Luke chapter 23. Well, what's being emphasized in verse 18? Here's what's being emphasized. John literally says, if we were to literally translate the Greek, he literally says, with him others, too, thereupon and thereupon, and in the middle, Jesus. In the middle, Jesus. John is emphasizing that in being crucified with other despised criminals, cursed, and bearing God's wrath, that Jesus Christ is identifying Himself in the exact same way. Prophetically, in Isaiah 53, verse 12, we read of the suffering servant Because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. The people that Jesus was crucified with, these two unnamed, shame filled, guilty criminals. Demonstrate Jesus absolute identification with sinners. One writer has said, quote, Isn't it striking that the Lord Jesus, when he came into the world as a little infant over which we make so much, he lay amid the Magi, the shepherds, the angels. But going out of this world, he hangs between two common criminals. He hangs between bandits. He hangs between robbers. He hangs between insurrectionists. Well, the terms are that describe the two men, one of whom later became a believer in a remarkable way. He goes on to say these terms express the fact of our Lord's identification with sinners as he hangs upon the cross. It's almost as if God purposefully reached down into the lowest layers of our society to which sin gave birth in order to humble our pride. And to make us realize that our representative hangs there in the midst of robbers and thieves under the judgment of God as our representative. He goes on to say, in other words, that's what we are in the sight of God. It was no accident that Jesus was crucified in the midst of criminals. It was, as someone said, his inevitable company because you see. It is we who are represented there. End quote. The scandal of the cross, the willing humiliation of Christ is seen on His path to His crucifixion, stressing His absolute humiliation, His absolute isolation, let alone from people that He created, but ultimately from God Himself. His humiliation revealed that the place of His crucifixion stresses and demonstrates his absolute rejection by sinners, his absolute rejection by God, considered less than worthy, less than worthy as trash to be burned outside of the camp. And his willing humiliation revealed in the people with whom he was crucified stresses and demonstrates his absolute identification with sinners. Such is the scandalous, offensive shame of the cross. Friends, Jesus, in the sovereign purposes of God, went to the absolute lowest extreme in humiliation and shame that was possible in bearing the wrath of God. He could not have descended any lower. And now, in the sovereign purposes of God, He is exalted and there is none higher. Isn't this what Paul says in Philippians 2? Perhaps understanding these words fresh perspective in terms of the humiliation of Christ. Philippians, Chapter two, picking it up in verse five. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant, of a slave, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. The most humiliating, shame-filled death possible. And because of that, verse 9, for this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Why did this happen? Why did Jesus endure this humiliation? Because this was the Father's sovereign, eternal purpose. To glorify Himself in the sufferings of His own Son. On behalf of those for whom His Son was suffering. all according to His purpose, all according to His will, for His glory. Earlier, in John chapter 18, before the cross, if you look back there, just as Jesus is being arrested, again, there is profound poignancy and wonder in all of these things. But finally, as Jesus is now being arrested, and I'm sure you're familiar with the scene where Peter pulls out the sword and goes to kill one of the soldiers, and most likely the sword glances off the helmet of the soldier and takes his ear off instead. Jesus rebukes him, and as Jesus rebukes Peter, he says in verse 11 of chapter 18, Peter put the sword into the sheath, the cup, which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" Isaiah 53 verse 10 tells us that the Father was pleased to crush Him. Why did Jesus experience this willing humiliation? Why did He experience this offense of the shame of the cross, the scandal of this shame? Because this was the Father's will for His glory. Yes, for the benefit and the blessing and the marvelous salvation and redemption and forgiveness and reconciliation that would come to all of those for whom Jesus was dying. Yes, absolutely. But all of that. Ultimately, to the Father's glory. Well, why do we need to see and understand the scandalous shame of the cross? Why do we need to see and understand the willing humiliation of Christ? How are we to respond to these things? Let me just give you three points of application as we bring this to a close, as we consider the sufferings of Christ. What do we need to see? How do we need to respond? Number one, recognize the sinfulness and the shame of sin. Christ was humiliated in His crucifixion as the sin bearer for all who would trust Him. And what's on display at the cross among countless glories, what is on display is what God thinks of sin. and how God responds to sin. We've heard so much about sin already and we've recognized and understood and seen what God's Word has to say about sin. But, dear friend, if you ever doubt how shameful sin is and how serious sin is, look at the cross. Because God punished His own Son, His innocent Son, as a substitute for all who would trust Him, bearing the wrath of God. This is the scandal and the shame of the cross. Sin is serious. God hates sin. He pours out His wrath upon sinners. Sin is shameful. Remember Adam and Eve in the garden after they had sinned, after they had disobeyed God's Word? What did they do? They hid. Because they were ashamed to be in the presence of the one they knew they had sinned against. If we're honest with ourselves, we understand the shame of sin. Sin is inexcusable. And its judgment from God is inescapable. Hebrews chapter 10 tells us it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And as we've already heard, what makes sin so sinful, the heinousness of sin, is that it's not primarily the nature of whatever sins may be committed. It's that it's against God. It's a deviation from His holiness. It's a failure to glorify Him, to honor Him, to worship Him. If ever you doubt the sinfulness and the shame of sin, dear friend, look to the cross. Why did Jesus die? Sin is sinful, serious and filled with shame. And God wants us to see that there is no other way our guilt could be removed than by his own son becoming a curse for us. So we need to recognize the sinfulness and the shame of sin. A second point of application, dear friend, is to rest in the security of the Savior's love. This is the wonder, this is the marvel, that in the scandalous shame of His suffering, Jesus Christ has paid the price in full for your sin and shame, for my sin and shame, for any who would trust Him, paid in full. He drank every single drop of the Father's wrath for sin. And He did this because of His love for the Father, because of His love for those for whom He was dying, and because of the love of the Father in Him and through Him. And as Brother Paul has been speaking, we need to see and to understand the love of God and to see the love of God fully displayed in its trans transcendent wonder and glory and holiness in the sufferings of Christ on the cross in our behalf. You don't need to turn there, but earlier in chapter 13 of John's gospel, the very beginning of this section that leads us into the upper room and the final hours that Jesus has with his disciples and the events leading up to the cross. This whole section is introduced to us by John with this statement in chapter 13, verse 1. Now therefore, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come, that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. That introduces this whole section in the display of his love, his persevering love, his enduring love, his relentless love for his own. The display of that not only has to do with all the things that transpire in the upper room, but friend, it points to the cross. Jesus. Fully obeyed the father, he willingly embraced all that the father ordained for him in his sufferings, and he did so because of his love for his own. It's a permanent love, it's an enduring love, and God wants us to understand the immeasurable expanse of his love as given and displayed in the sufferings of Christ. I so was saying amen as Brother Paul was speaking earlier about the fact that the most difficult task for believers is to believe how much God loves you. That He really does love you and I if He has brought us to faith in Himself. He does love us as much as He says. And the main statement of that love and expression of that love is in the sufferings of Christ on the cross. Jesus laid down His life. Who did He say in John chapter 10? I laid down my life for my sheep. He bore God's wrath for His sheep. And He wants us to rest in our souls, in the security of His love. If we've come to Him, if He's brought us to Himself in faith, He wants us to know the greatness of His love. That's why the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper that believers gathered as His people would share in that remembrance to be reminded of the greatness and the wonder of His love expressed in His sufferings. We're so tempted to frequently look at our circumstances, aren't we, to try to discern the love of God We look at painful, bad circumstances in the past and we say, where was the love of God in that? We we think about perhaps current circumstances that we're going through and and the immediate temptation we have is how could a loving God let this happen to me? And sometimes we're immobilized by fear and anxiety of anticipated things. You know, our our mind plays out with the worst possible thing might happen in some given circumstance and beloved in the providences of God. There's no guarantee that the worst possible thing that we might conceive might not happen. And we question the love of God. I want to encourage you, don't look at your circumstances to discern the love of God. Look to the cross to behold the love of God and let the cross interpret your circumstances. and find rest for your soul in Him. Even as we sang earlier, is it well with your soul? In spite of whatever may be going on circumstantially, can you say, yes, it is well, because my guilt has been forgiven. My shame has been removed. I have been reconciled to the Father, to the blood of Christ. It's well! It's well with my soul. Dear friend, if it's not well with your soul, And yet you are, to the best of your ability, trusting Christ, confessing Christ, go to His Word, call out to Him, ask Him to confirm and deepen these realities in your soul. But also examine yourself to see if you're in the faith, because for anyone who is not in the faith, there is nothing but turmoil of soul because you live in the constant bondage of the fear of death. Because you know in your soul that it's appointed on the man wants to die. And after this, the judgment and so whatever else may go on in your life circumstantially, this reality of impending death, whether it happens today, whether it happens 60 years from now, you know it's going to happen. And there's no rest for your soul if you're not reconciled to God, because, you know, in your soul, even as God's word declares that you are under his wrath. You know in your soul that the earthquake of your sin and the earthquake of his judgment in response to your sin has already occurred. And there is a tsunami of judgment that's coming. It's just a matter of time before it crashes in on you. And even Scripture declares that his wrath is already on you. There's no rest of soul. But if God has brought you to faith in his son. If you have looked to His Son and are calling out upon Him, trusting Him, looking to His merit alone, there's rest. That's why Jesus says in Matthew 11, Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. It's the only requirement for coming to Him, being weary and heavy laden with the weight and the burden and the guilt and the shame of sin. And He says, I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Learn from me." The yoke was a piece of wood that joined oxen together. He's saying, be connected to me by faith and you'll find rest for your souls. For my burden is easy, my yoke is light. Oh beloved, rest in the love of God in Christ. Rest in the security of His love. So we need to see and recognize the sinfulness and the shame of sin. We need to rest in the security of the Savior's love. And the third point of application is to resolve to resolve through God's mercy and by his power. Resolve to submit to the will of God and to suffer as God wills, not being motivated out of guilt, not being motivated out of fear. But knowing that you have come into the realm of His love and of His mercies in Christ, that your sin has been paid in full, and His will for you in response to His saving work and mercy and love through Christ is to receive the full benefit, receive the full privileges of all that Christ accomplished in His sufferings, and to present yourself to God, as Paul says in Romans 12.1, as a living sacrifice. So resolve through God's mercies to submit to the will of God and to suffer as God wills. Like to have you turn to Hebrews, chapter 13, and we'll kind of draw things to a full close with this. Hebrews, chapter 13. A letter that. gloriously displays the infinite superiority and sufficiency of Christ in all that he is and in all of his sufferings. It says earlier in chapter four that we can have confidence in God's presence because of the sacrificial substitutionary work that Jesus, our high priest, has accomplished. And now, in light of all of that, Look at what he says in verses 12 and 13 and 14 of chapter 13. Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come." The motivation, the context for bearing the reproach of Christ, bearing the very shame, never in a way that can even begin to approximate what He bore because He was sinless and didn't deserve to die, but nonetheless identifying ourselves with Him, embracing His shame, going outside of the camp in that sense of bearing shame. is the means by which God would have us respond. So to submit to the will of God, to suffer as God wills, I'll close with this quote from Matthew Henry. And by the way, considering Christ bearing his cross, does it not give added perspective to his commandment that we must take up our cross and follow him? And all that's found up in that, listen to what Matthew Henry says. He says, quote, whatever cross he calls us out to bear at any time, we must remember that he bore the cross first and by bearing it for us, he bears it off from us in great measure. For thus, he hath made his yoke easy and his burden light. He says, He bore that end of the cross that had the curse upon it. This was the heavy end. And hence, all that are His are enabled to call their afflictions for Him light and but for a moment. Let's pray together. O God, As it has been said, we are to never, in a sense, get beyond the cross, but only into a deeper understanding, recognition, appreciation and appropriation of all that you displayed, all that you accomplished and all that you have given and called us to in and through the sufferings of Christ. Oh, the wondrous cross that bids us come and die. Oh, may we be like Paul who would boast in nothing but the cross of Christ. Sanctify us by Your Word that we might know the immeasurable nature of Your love to us, for us, in Christ and in His sufferings. that we might draw upon all of the fullness of benefit and glory and blessing that you have given us in Him, and that we might thereby faithfully bear the cross as well, knowing that in bearing whatever you ordained for us in this life, we will never bear your judgment. We will never bear your condemnation, because you poured out every drop of your condemnation upon Christ in our place. Oh, help us to live to Your glory in that hope, in that power, in that joy, for the sake of Your glory in Christ, in us, and through us. It's in His name we pray, Amen.