Now let's turn in our Bibles to John 19. John chapter 19 I'd like to read from verse 17 down through 24. It's interesting that we have spent five years in the Gospel of John. Some 170 messages from this Gospel. And we've worked our way to this point. And this is really the high point. Not the low point, but the high point. of the gospel. And so let's rise together and hear the words of the gospel. Indeed, this is the gospel. Children, do you know what the gospel is? Good news. This is good news. All of us, this is good news. This is the gospel, so listen to John 19, 17. And he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write the King of the Jews, but he said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said, therefore, among themselves, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Therefore, the soldiers, did these things. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, please, we pray this morning that you would open this up to us. There's something good here. There's this nugget of gold, this beautiful truth that we pray would be embedded into the very heart of our souls today. Amen. Please be seated. Well brothers and sisters we have finally come to the centerpiece in all of human history. Even the world understands this. The world puts their calendar around the life of our Savior Jesus. The whole world recognizes Jesus today. There is no question about it. He's the most famous person in the world. On all of the great surveys people have done, Christ is the most influential and the most important and significant person in human history. So the world understands it already. The world doesn't receive the significance of it, but the world knows there's something here, even as Pilate did. Did Pilate realize there to be somebody there, somebody special, when he said, behold the man or behold your king? Pilate understood it and now most of the world understands this as well. And there is no other event in all of human history that comes close to this. I just sat to think about it for a minute. D-Day, Waterloo, I can't think of an event in history that comes close to this event. This is the center event in all of human history. And the prophets spoke of it, as you know. What is the Old Testament all about? Well, it's all about the seed coming to crush the head of the serpent. And that's what we get from Genesis to Malachi. There is this looking forward to, this anticipation of the great Savior and Messiah. And He was to be the suffering Messiah. That was what the prophets had foretold for some 4,000 years prior to the coming of Christ. The prince of this world was there. Jesus acknowledged that in his teaching. He said, the prince of this world is coming. He has nothing on me. So the prince of the world was there. Satan was there. Satan understood the significance of what was happening there at Golgotha. And the angels were watching too. They're very much engaged. The angels were enthralled with what was happening here. Let angel minds inquire no more." And angel minds will never be able to comprehend it, even as we won't be able to comprehend all of the depth of what was going on at Calvary. And yet the angels were enthralled. These were things into which the angels looked, according to 1 Peter 1 and verse 12. The angels were leaning out. They were leaning into. They were watching intently, enthralled by what was going on there at Calvary. And then the powers of Rome, the most powerful rulers in Jerusalem, they're all there. And there he was crucified. The Son of God was crucified between two thieves. This is important to us, too, because it's central to history, but it's central to our reality as well. Perhaps you're sensitive to different aspects of what is going on around you right now. Perhaps you're aware of your own existence or whatever. But this is the one reality that dominates our consciousness. This is it. There's nothing more important. In all of the considerations that we have in our minds concerning our existence and who we are and where we're headed, this is the central fact. in your mind as a Christian. Now, not so for non-Christians. But for Christians, this is it. We live in this reality. We depend on this victory. This is our victory. This is where we begin. This is where our life begins. It begins with the death of Christ on the cross. We've told this story a thousand times, at least. For 20 years, 52 weeks, 1,000 times we've come back to the gospel. And we've talked about the death of Christ, haven't we? We have communion every week. Not every church does that. We do that for one reason, to come back to the cross and to see this event and to see this reality and to know how important this is and significant it is in our spiritual life. And there have been some who may say, I haven't heard the gospel enough in this church. This church isn't a gospel-oriented church. This church doesn't experience enough the power of the gospel. This church doesn't enjoy the victory of the gospel and the death and the resurrection of Jesus near enough. You only speak of it in one meeting a week. You should have four meetings a week. There should be preaching on Sunday nights and preaching on Wednesday nights. You should have another preaching service on Friday night. to be a more gospel-oriented church, because we don't even talk about it nearly enough. And sometimes I have to agree with the people that complain of that. I wonder if we don't talk about the gospel nearly enough in our day-to-day interactions in the church, in our family life. But why tell the story again and again? Some of you children say, haven't we been over this before? Haven't we gone over the gospel before? Haven't we talked about Jesus dying on the cross before? Because its relevance isn't significant enough to us. Because there's more to see. There's more to wonder at. How many times do you speak of some amazing football play that was done as a man grabbed a 78-yard pass and fell over the finish line and won the Super Bowl or whatever it was. You know, we hear these great stories. We have to tell about it. We tell about it again. You actually will hear people recite some of these amazing war victories and sports events 20 years after the fact. You know, I was there. I remember watching it. I had popcorn in one hand and Coke in the other. Wow, it was incredible what happened. We recite these things over and over again. We wonder at these things. And so with the cross of Christ, with what Jesus Christ did, our Lord and Savior at the cross, we stand back and we are in wonder of these things. Man, there has to be something you wonder at. Life isn't that boring, is it? Is life all that boring to you? Or is there something interesting in your life? Has somebody accomplished something great in human history? Has Christ accomplished the greatest thing ever? Is this worth stepping back and wondering at? So we talk about it for the wonder of it. We talk about it for the power of it. Paul speaks of the gospel being the power of God unto salvation. And I believe that if we could say it, it would have a power to it. I remember one time a year ago, no, three years ago, I was at a Mexican restaurant. And I thought, I'm just going to try this. Walking up to this Hispanic waitress, and I'm just going to say it. Did you know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day? I didn't do it like that. I just said it, you know how you just say it. Do you ever witness to somebody where you just say it? You just say, I'm gonna say it. A year and a half later, she was one of the most depressed people I ever saw. A year and a half later, she has Christian music playing and she is a different woman. Now, I'm not saying it was me just saying that that brought it about, but guys, I mean, it was night and day. It was obvious God had done something in her life. Do you believe that the gospel, if you just said it, brothers and sisters, what if you just said it? What if we just turned to a co-worker? You've been sitting next to that co-worker for three years, and you never said it. What if you said it? Did you know Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins? He overcame, He rose from the dead. What if you said it? What if you just opened your mouth and you said it? It would be the power of God unto salvation. The words themselves have life. Do you believe that? Do you believe the more we speak of it, the more life we would see around us? Do you believe it? Do you believe the words themselves have an animating force to them? That the Spirit of God uses these words to bring about life in people, others around you? Use the words. Oh, I love the story of this woman in the church a number of years ago said she was a teenager and somebody was breaking into the house and she called 911. The operator said, do you have a dog in the house? She said, yeah, a retired police dog. And the operator said, just open the front door. And that's all she did. And that dog was all over the bad guy, just like that. So I'm saying, just open the door. Just open the door. Well, we recite the story because of the power of it and the glory of it. You know, the world finds this foolish. This is the most foolish message ever for the world. The world says this is foolishness. It just turns them off. There's only two possible reactions. Either you're going to be riveted to the cross, or there are those who turn away in disgust and boredom. and they ignore it. The cross demands something. The cross is the wisdom of God and the power of God. It also, here's one more thing it does for us. What is the right daily disposition or attitude for me and for you? How should we be interacting and how should we be thinking? What is our heart attitude day by day? We like to say humble boldness. And some people might tell you, you know, you're just too humble or too bold. Most of the time it's to say you're too bold and you're not humble enough, or whatever it is. But here at the cross, here at the cross, think about the cross for a moment. There at the cross, we are humbled and made bold at the same time. We're humbled at the abject Agony in the suffering of the humility of our Savior Jesus would it be possible for you to be? Proud and arrogant as the Savior is nailed to that cross For you and for yours and for the damnation that was upon you Would it be appropriate to respond you know in in a pride? I? Would that be appropriate if you were at the cross, and if you lived at the cross, and you had this reality in your mind all day? You see, there's a humility about it. I love this cross because it gives us this strong humility, but at the same time, a boldness in the presence of the atoning work of the Savior. and His violent, aggressive, bold, vicious decimation of enemies at the cross. There's just something about the cross that makes you bold. There's something about the cross that makes you humble. At the same time, here we most vividly see the love of God for us. We can say that God loves you, but if you saw His love at the cross. You know, it's one thing for somebody to say, I love you. As far as I know, Jesus never said, I love you. People say that all the time. I love you. I love you. I just can't forgive you. Or, I just don't have a love that would endure all things. You know, that's human. That's what humans do. But here at the cross is the greatest demonstration of love ever. What a great demonstration of the love of God for us. No better demonstration than to see the Son of God Himself, the second person of the Trinity, hanging on the cross for us. There we see the vast love of God and the righteousness of God. God's commitment to His own righteousness. Some say, yeah, God could have loved us and just forgiven our sins. And why would He take His Son, His only Son, His only begotten Son, His beloved Son, and place Him on the cross? Why would He do that? That's so cruel. Because He has a commitment to righteousness, and the people that say that don't. They're not committed to righteousness. They say, so the guy lies and kills and commits adultery and he's a homosexual. Just let it go. But God says, no, I've got a commitment to righteousness here. So does Jesus. I got a commitment to righteousness. I've got to meet the demands of justice. It's the commitment to righteousness. It's the holiness of God. The justice of God. And yes, the mercy and the grace and the love of God. All coming together at the cross. It's the most wonderful thing. It's the most beautiful thing. It's the most awesome thing. You're looking for something awesome. Something to wonder at. Behold the cross of Jesus Christ. We are not ashamed. to look at the cross, to tell of the cross, and it's at this point that we boast, not in ourselves, but only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this morning we're going to look at the cross again, but I'd like to invite you to soberly and honestly and deliberately consider the cross of Jesus Christ. See, the difference between a believer and an unbeliever is this. The unbeliever passes by the cross. The unbeliever doesn't care about the cross. The unbeliever just lets it go. But the believer stands there. The believer is awed by this. The believer is in wonder. The believer is accepting. The believer is intensely rejoicing in the cross of Jesus Christ. The believer takes it seriously if there is anything that you take soberly. And again, the world is not sober, and you're not encouraged to be sober or serious about anything. That's just the way the world is, especially today, young people. But if there is one thing that you should take seriously and be sober about and really engage seriously, deliberately, And honestly, it would be the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, let's look at three things this morning, just three things. The true reality of the cross, the humility of the cross, and the glory of the cross. Start with the true reality of the cross of Jesus Christ. It's what we get from this passage. What's going on here? Pilate wrote a message. Pilate wrote a prophetic word. I believe that Pilate is operating under the ordination, the plan, the purpose of Almighty God. He's directing what Pilate is doing. And Pilate writes this prophetic word. It's a sign above the head of Jesus. and it says it all now understand the sign is very prominent and this is important all this is symbolic and significant so don't miss any detail none of these details are of no use. They're all important. So take a look at what's going on here. We look at the mound, which is the hill of Calvary. Up on the mound is set a cross. The cross is prominent. It's very much publicly displayed because it's above everything else around it. And above the cross and above the head of Jesus is this sign that is written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. so that every tongue, every tribe, and every nation would see it and be able to read it. Now at that time it was just three languages. Now we translate into others as well. But the sign said simply, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. That is, what it was saying is, the one hanging here, virtually naked, tortured, bleeding, nails in his hands and feet, groaning in agony, wincing for the pain. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. So that's it. That's the picture. That's the truth of it. That's the reality of it. Now, either The words are a cruel and sarcastic joke, which is the way that the Jews took it. Or it is the truth. Either it was a cruel joke or it was the truth. Again, the Word of God presses on you. It demands of you and me and all of us a commitment. What is this? Who is this? Who is hanging on this cross? Jesus. Yeshua. Yeshua. This is Yeshua. Joshua. Yahweh saves. There on the cross is a message. What is going on here, brothers and sisters? What's happening here? Yeshua. Yahweh saves. This is it. Pilate writes the truth. Pilate demonstrates to everybody around, Hebrew, Jew, Greek, or Latin, Roman, here is what is going on. It is the Savior of the world, Yeshua, is coming and Jesus saves. Yahweh saves. And secondly, he is from Nazareth, which means he is from a local town. He is the son of man. He is a man. He is human. And then thirdly, he was king of the Jews, David's son, the rightful king of Israel. and all kings and judges are instructed to kiss the son lest he be angry and they perish from the way." So you see this isn't just any king. This is the king of the Jews. This is the one who takes up the rightful position as the King of Israel, David's son. Now the next question, what is this king doing on the cross? You know if you study 2,000 years or 3,000 years of world history prior to the coming of Jesus. You're going to find a sequence of empires, great kings and emperors, who did their best to establish kingdoms on the earth. All the way back from Sargon I in 2340 BC, the Empire was built that lasted about 70 years. They all lasted about 70 years. Most of the big dynasties would last 70 or 80 years. Some of the large empires would continue on for 4 or 5 or 600 years. And then all the way to Julius Caesar, all of these great kings did one thing, basically. Do you know what it is? They went to war. They killed people. They killed a lot of people. This is how they established their empires. So, with all of their empire building and their cruel tyranny, you know, the kings of the earth did not set out with the intent to destroy. Did you know that? If you had asked them, wow, you seem to be hallaying a lot of people alive. You're cutting off a lot of heads and plucking out eyes and burying armies of 30,000 men under the ground alive. And, you know, all of these things that the kings of the earth did, They were cruel. That's the way the kings operated. They did their best. And if you would ask them, are you here to destroy this? No, no, no. We're building a glorious kingdom. We're just going after the bad guys. And we want to build the greatest and most glorious kingdom the world has ever known. And so their job was to destroy the enemy, build their kingdoms, become the envy of the nations, and put out the most glorious place on earth. But they always failed. They failed again and again and again. And in their wake, what do we find but destruction and cruelty and murder and adultery and treachery and envy and maliciousness and genocide and torture and misery. That's 3,000 years of world history, and you can go on into the A.D. period and find a whole lot more of that as well. But the kings of the earth, they've established themselves. They're violent. They go into war. They wage war. They go after what they think to be the bad guys. They turn out to be the bad guys. They don't realize that. But now here another king has come to make war. He comes to take vengeance on his enemies. Listen to Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. This is Isaiah the prophet speaking after he condemned all of these great empires that did so badly and destroyed so many peoples and he pronounced the destruction upon all of these peoples. What does he say in Isaiah 63? Listen, who is this who comes from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? This one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. There he is. I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Here comes Jesus, a commitment to righteousness. Just like the kings were committed to their righteous kingdoms, which turned out to be unrighteous. But Christ comes with a commitment to establish a kingdom of righteousness. And He says He comes to save. Mighty to save. Efficacious to save. He's not going to lose. He's going to accomplish the thing He sets out to do. I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me. For I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments. I have stained all my robes. For the day of vengeance is in my heart. And the year of my redeemed has come. For the day of vengeance is here. And I wondered that there was no one to uphold. Therefore, my own arm brought salvation for me. And my own fury, it sustained me. I have trodden down the peoples in my anger. Made them drunk in my fury. And brought down their strength to the earth. Some of you are shocked. You're saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. By the way, this is one of the salvation passages in Scripture. There's three or four or five in Isaiah, and they're all like this. They're all the same. You're saying, wow, this sounds like a mighty Savior. This sounds like a mighty Redeemer. This sounds like a king that's coming in to win his wars and to fight his battles, and he's not going to lose, and he's going to do it alone. Because there is nobody who can go there with him. He did it alone. He did it alone. He did it all by Himself. Because nobody could help Him with this war. Nobody could help Him win this battle. He comes to make war. He's the very essence of all that is just and righteous and true. He brings about salvation and redemption for His people by the most violent means. He is vicious. He is furious. He is engaging battle on the cross with all the fury and all the viciousness, all the commitment to battle that anybody could bring ever in any war that has ever been fought in all of human history. And He was fighting sin for you and for me. Now, brothers and sisters, I'm encouraging you to receive this by faith. Those of you who have sinned and have sin in your life, perhaps addictions in your life, that you're not sure you can overcome yourself, you can't! There is somebody who came to fight the battle for you, and that is Jesus. He came to utterly annihilate the enemy of sin and death. And He did it there at the cross. What is going on here at the cross? This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. This is Yahweh who's come to save you. And that king is going to win his battles. Pilate said it all. He nailed it to the cross. He nailed it. the King of the Jews. Hallelujah. He's our King. Amen? Secondly, consider the humility of the cross. We looked at the reality of the cross now, the humility of the cross, verses 23 and 24. Three elements to this quickly. Here it is, the first element. Don't miss any of them. All of them strong, strong significations of the humiliation of Jesus, our Lord and Savior, our King. Here's the first, he was crucified. They crucified him. You know what that means? That's painful. Children, you know what it means. You've seen Jesus, or you've heard of the stories of Jesus being nailed to the cross. This is the ultimate in public humiliation. This is the ultimate degrading form of execution that the kings of the earth have come up with. And moreover, beyond that, also, this is considered a curse. Not just by the kings and the cultures, but by God's ordinance. God ordained it. There are actually certain cultural elements in society, like there's life in the blood. There's certain significations that are really powerful. Life in the blood, that's why you don't eat blood and so forth. But there's something about crucifixions that is the most humiliating And according to Scripture, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. It's a curse. It's a signification of a curse. But secondly, also here, one more thing. He was set between thieves and murderers. His association was with the lowest of the lowest of human society. Here we see an identification with sinners. Well, the Word of God says He became sin for us. He became the curse for us on the cross. And His association with the two thieves and murderers, the dredgers of society. The ones who even society considers to be the very worst. The Jeffrey Dahmers of the world. He was crucified with the Jeffrey Dahmers. He was associated with the lowest of the lowest. And thus we see his humiliation. And thirdly, look at 23 and 24. The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to each soldier apart. So they cut apart his garment, and then they took his tunic, but his tunic was without seams, so you couldn't rip it without destroying it. It was woven from the top in one piece. And they said, therefore, among themselves, let's not tear it, but cast lots for it. whose it shall be that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots, therefore the soldiers did these things." So let's not miss the symbolism here. What is going on here? The soldiers are dividing the spoil, but there is not much there. The soldiers are dividing the spoil. What happens when you're dividing the spoil? The battle is done. The other guy lost. See, that's what's happening here. Don't miss it. They won. They're taking, now, there's not much spoil, this is all He has. Jesus, our Lord, is so impoverished. This being a symbol of His, what does He have? Nothing but His cloak and His other robe, His garment, that's it, that's all He's got. They're dividing the spoil. But that's all He has. This is about as pitiful as you could ever imagine a situation to be. And that's why Psalm 22 is so important to us. This appears to be a total loss for the King of the Jews. Or was it? Certainly the Jews and the Romans thought, there's the King, dividing his clothes up, and there he is hanging naked in front of everybody, tortured, dying. It appears that he is utterly humiliated and utterly decimated by these human foes. But what is going on here? Look at Psalm 22. We're gonna close here, so you might as well turn there to Psalm 22, back up to verse six, and I'm going to read just portions of this. I know Josh already did. I want to spend a little bit more time on this, because this is the sentiment, this is the feeling, this is the inside story. You need to catch the sentiment of it. Brothers and sisters, get into it. Feel it, receive it. Try to understand what our Savior is experiencing on the cross. That's why we get the back story in Psalm 22. So let's just go over this quickly. I am a worm and not a man. Scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. Many bulls encompass me. Strong bulls of patience surround me. 13. They open wide their mouths at me like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death, for dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircle me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count my bones. They stare and gloat over me. they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." What is this? What's going on here? Philippians 2 gives us the word for it. It's kenosin. It is kenosin. This is the theological word that describes Psalm 22 and John 19 for what is going on in the crucifixion. It's kenosi. Listen to Philippians 2. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God. But ekonosi. The King James Version renders it made himself of no reputation. The word is eknose. Taking the form of a bondservant, coming in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. What does the word eknose mean? It means he emptied himself. Made himself of no reputation is not enough. Just use the word. He emptied himself. Now, I know theologians don't want to say that the Son of God, Second Person, emptied Himself of His Godhood. I understand that. But don't minimize the word here and what is going on in the cross in the experience of our Lord and Savior there. What is going on here? He emptied Himself. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. Like a sheep before shears is dumb, He refused to use any of His power or display any of His glory. He refused to do anything to save Himself. He subjected himself to the ultimate humiliations that a fallen world can offer, including death, and including the turning away of the face of his father to him. Psalm 22 begins with those very fearsome words, awesome words, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He emptied himself. Well, I don't know how to describe this, besides the words the Scriptures give to us. I don't know how else. He gave it all. I guess that's one way to put it. He gave it all. He subjected Himself to all the miseries and afflictions brought upon us for our sin. He stepped out into the crossfire naked. It's one other illustration you can think of. People are shooting at us. One guy steps out naked, no body armor, receives all of his shots upon himself. I don't know how else to explain it, brothers and sisters. But he took it all for us. Think about the degradation of the sinful condition. Your own condition, but perhaps the most degraded, guilty criminals, the most shameful sinners in the world. I point to Jeffrey Dahmer. You've heard the story of his conversion at the end of his life. It wouldn't surprise me that we'll see the man in heaven someday because Jesus identified with Jeffrey Dahmer. Jesus experienced the guilt, the horror, The damnation, the condemnation demanded by the sin of Jeffrey Dahmer? Think about the most shameful sinners, the most intense punishments, tortures and agonies felt by the worst, the most guilty criminals in the world. Think of the worst consequences for sin the world has ever experienced. The horrible diseases, the disfiguring diseases, the fatal diseases, the Ebola virus. the necrotizing fasciitis, the smallpox, the leprosy, the rabies, the shingles, the trigeminal neuralgia that we know some of our loved ones have experienced, the pain, the agony of it all. Put it all on one person. Put the agony of it, the condemnation of it, the guilt of it, the affliction of it, the suffering of all of it upon Jesus. And that's what he experienced. He became a curse for us and took the deepest and most severe punishment and judgment due to the sin of humankind upon Himself. Here's another way to put it. I'm just trying to understand this. He could have experienced nothing worse. He gave up all His comforts. All of His external manifestations of glory, His health, His life for us. Now here, let's apply it to ourselves. Why must we feel this lament? How is this relevant to you and to me? Look towards the end of Psalm 22. This applies this experience of our Lord to ourselves, verses 22 through 24. This is important, brothers and sisters. It applies to us. Verse 22, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation. Will I praise Thee? Here's number one, first application. I mean, right away he says, all of this agony, all this suffering, all this atoning work on the cross, in order that a group of my brethren would gather into this room and praise God together with one heart and one voice. You say, so that's it? That's what he wanted. That's the thing He was looking forward to, us coming together, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, joining in one heart, one voice. This is what He wanted out of it. This was the end game. So, is what we're doing here important? Is this the capstone? Is this? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this is the capstone. You've come here for a good reason this morning, did you think that? A very good reason. So it was for his brothers to come together to praise God. Read on, verse 23, 24. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye that see of Jacob, glorify him. Fear him, all ye that see of Israel, for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. So here's the second application, the relevance of this to you and to me. Here it is. Have you ever been afflicted? Anybody? Has anything ever afflicted you? Have you ever had a cold? Have you ever felt guilt? Have you ever been depressed? Have you ever been in agony? I think every one of you can say, oh yeah, oh yeah. I know what that's like. Jesus does too. You see, this is the point. He was afflicted. Now, why is this important to you? Because he was afflicted to help the afflicted. You see, if you are afflicted, if you've ever been afflicted, your emotional, psychological, guilt problems, you're concerned with death, you have a fear of death, you've got diseases working in you, you have a sin that's destroyed certain elements of your life. Whatever it is, He was afflicted to help the afflicted. He relates to our affliction and He took on our affliction for us. He understands soul affliction. because he felt it. He experienced it himself in order that we would not be afflicted to the depths to which he was afflicted. He was afflicted for you and for me in order that we would not be afflicted to the depths to which he was afflicted. And he tells you today, be afflicted no more. I was afflicted for you. He understands our helplessness because he was subjected to utter helplessness in death and in the grave. He cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He cried out the psalm in his own mind. Then verse 29, all they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his own soul. And Jesus understands what is involved here. He could not keep his own soul alive. It had to be by the power of the resurrection force of the Father that brought him out of the grave. But He will not hide His face from you when you cry out to Him because He was afflicted for you. Read from Isaiah 53. I think this will help you to understand it. You might turn there if you'd like to. Isaiah 53 speaks again of our Lord on the cross. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hid their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Now here it comes. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. So we would not have to grieve anymore. And we would come to the end of our grieving and our sorrowing and our affliction. See, Christian, there is an end to our grief. because He put an end to it. He carried our griefs. You have grieved. Your heart is heavy from time to time over this or that. He came to take it all away from you. He bore the grief Himself. But why? So that you will continue to grieve? No. So that there will be an end to your grief. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. So we would not be stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. So we would not be pierced. So we would not be crushed. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. So that we would not be wounded anymore. This is the story. He came to deliver us from our afflictions. And we'll end on the glory of the cross just briefly. Yes, he humbled himself. He rode into battle. He stooped to conquer. Maybe the best way it's ever been put. I think it was Augustine that said that. He stooped. And there he won. The Roman soldiers were casting lots over his last few possessions while he was spoiling principalities and powers at the cross. I can't think of anything more beautiful than that, or more glorious. John 12, 27. Our Lord cries out, and my soul is troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. And the voice came from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Jesus said, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the ruler of this world. Cast out. If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all peoples to myself. This he said, signifying by what death he would die. In other words, at the moment at which the world could not see the glory of it all, God was glorifying His Son. The Son was waging war and conquering. This was all for the glory of God. And there is nothing that we can see on earth more glorious, more powerful, magnificent, gracious, and victorious than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because it's there He won. It's there that Yahweh saved us. Father in heaven, we glory in these great truths. We glory in the humiliation of Jesus because it was all about your glory. It was all about to bring about the glorious salvation of your people, that your people might come together and realize increasingly the gloriousness of the love of God, the sacrifice of God. the justice of God, the righteousness of God, the gloriousness of the kingdom of God. Father, all of these things converge at that cross on Calvary. Father, help us to better see this and to join in with the brethren, our brethren, and give glory to you for this great victory. that will be a blessing to us for all eternity. Jesus, our Lord, our Savior, we love you. We would do anything for you. We would lay down our lives for you, Jesus, and we praise you, our Lord and Savior, for taking upon yourself these afflictions. that you suffered for us, that you received the grief and the sorrow, and you were stricken and smitten by God and afflicted Jesus. You were pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace was upon you, that we would not be crushed, that we would not be broken, that we would not be destroyed and decimated, that we would not be wounded anymore. Ah, we rejoice in these truths. Holy Spirit of God, please help us to see the glory of it, that we would be out with the lepers, dividing the spoil now, and walking in newness of life, and dancing as it were on the other side of the Red Sea, with a full recognition of our victory that is in Christ, In Jesus' name, amen. Let's come to the Lord's table now, my brothers and sisters. And we come back to this kenosene. I want to focus in on that for a moment because I think that's the real behind-the-scenes concept that's going on here at the cross. Jesus is kenosene. He is emptying himself. at the cross. It's a kenosene going on. He gave it all. He gave all for us on the cross. He gave us His life. He gave us His blood. The life is in the blood. He poured out His blood for us. And remember, the life is in the blood. So as He pours out His blood for us, that signifies our life. He gives us His life in His blood. When the soldier pierced the side of Jesus, water and blood came out. That's an indication that he was drained of his blood. It pierced through his lungs and his heart. And water and blood came out, an emptying of himself of his blood. He poured it out. We speak of Him drinking the dregs of the wrath of God all the way to the bottom. But He also poured out His blood to the bottom for us. There is a Hebrew word called Ola. Have you ever heard the word Ola? It is the word used for whole sacrifice. That is how I remember it. Whenever I hear the word Ola I think whole. Ola is the whole sacrifice some of the sacrifices of the Old Testament the priests and others were able to eat part of it But the Ola the burnt sacrifice was the sacrifice where the whole thing was burned up for God It was given up as a sacrifice as a whole sacrifice that whole bull that whole sheep that whole goat was burned up for God that's an Ola and Well now, what is Christ? Who is Christ? And what was He at the cross? Listen to Genesis 22. This is where Yahweh challenges Abraham to take his son to Moriah. Do you remember that story? Abraham is told, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as an olah. There it is. as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you. Take your son, your only son, the son whom you love, and he shall be an olah, he shall be a whole sacrifice. And it turned out there was another lamb, Jehovah Yahweh, Yahira, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah would provide. that lamb later on. That's why the place was called Jehovah-Jireh. Because He did provide the lamb and that was in our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God. Isaiah 53 and verse 12. Also let me read this. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong that it means that Jesus is coming forth as a victor and he is going to Range through the world and pick up many people to be part of his church in his kingdom over the ages why because he poured out his soul to death and and was numbered with the transgressors. He poured out His soul to death. He gave it all. It was no law to God for us. So do you see the magnitude of the gift? He poured out His soul. He didn't hold anything back. He could not have given more. So He gave it all. Secondly, Consider the effect of it. This was a complete sacrifice. This was a perfect sacrifice. If the invoice for us was $1 billion, Jesus did not pay $999,999,999. He paid the billion. He paid it all. We don't have to work out our salvation and pay off God for our debts. We don't have to do that because He paid it all. It was an all. It was a complete sacrifice. It was a perfect sacrifice. And it also means that this was a total victory over sin and death. He is dividing the spoil. What does that mean? Well, as I mentioned, by the time you're dividing the spoil with the strong, You have won the battle, and that's the message that we get here today. Let's remember this sacrifice of the blood of Christ, this complete cleansing, redemption, release from the power of the enemy. Let's remember the total sacrifice, the loving sacrifice, the voluntary sacrifice and the efficacious sacrifice of our Savior as we take the cup and the bread. Let's pray. Father in heaven, once again we remember this great sacrifice at Calvary. It was the Ola, it was the perfect sacrifice, the complete sacrifice. Father, He held nothing back for us. It was the sacrifice of perfect love for us. It was the demonstration of perfect grace and perfect self-sacrifice of giving it all up that we would be received and that we would be forgiven and that we would be cleansed, redeemed, released and made your children. Father, we meditate upon the love of Christ, the voluntary nature of it that He was enforced, that He stepped in, that He opened Himself up, no body armor. and just received all of the bullets into Himself for us. What a sacrifice. What love for the brethren. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, we pray, Holy Spirit, administer the life of His blood in our lives that we would love one another and love Jesus as He loved us, as our brother Josh encouraged us. Please, Lord, teach us this love. Amen.