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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.
The Scandalous Shame of the Gospel
Series Regeneration Conference 2011
| Sermon ID | 213121637193 |
| Duration | 1:05:49 |
| Date | |
| Category | Conference |
| Language | English |
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