Well, thank you very much, Pamela, for reading to us.
This is a great passage, and I'm excited this morning to be able to bring it to us.
Thank you, Pamela, for reading.
Let me just pray as we begin.
God, Father, just give us open ears to hear your word.
Speak to each one of us this morning,
and soften our hearts through the Holy Spirit to hear what you have to say.
Amen.
So this morning, we're going to see a death like no other.
We've read our passage.
We know what's going to happen.
And here this morning, we've read and we'll see that King Jesus, he is crucified,
fulfilling messianic prophecy,
taking that substitutionary place to redeem through his death.
That is a big, complicated sentence.
And as we go through, we will see exactly what that means.
You know, this morning, we have our passage, and it is all about Jesus.
There's lots of different people in it, and we'll go through it.
But this passage is all about the Lord Jesus.
You know, there's that phrase, isn't there?
Famous last words.
Normally, it's in the sense of, you know, I'll clean the dishes before bed,
and then my wife will say, famous last words.
That'll never happen.
You know, it's things like that, isn't it?
But, you know, it got me thinking.
Here we have Jesus' famous last words, or really, word.
Because in the Greek, it is one word.
And his words are, it is finished.
And so I looked some others up.
Maybe you know some.
Sometimes people talk about things like this.
You know, Bob Marley, he died quite young.
And his last words, supposedly, were,
money can't buy life.
That's what he said.
Poignant, I would say.
Winston Churchill, he was quite old when he died.
He did a lot.
I'm sure we all know who that is.
He is supposed to have said, I'm bored with it all.
And Bessie Smith, she was a soul singer in America.
And she said, I'm going, but I'm going in the name of the Lord.
Some pretty interesting last words there.
But I'm going to say that it is finished.
There's no greater last words than that.
Jesus has completed fully the plan of salvation.
This plan that was hatched before time even began,
before the world was in existence.
This was the plan.
Now, if you're here this morning and you do not know Jesus,
maybe you've heard of him,
but maybe you're here exploring who he really is
and why he matters.
Then hopefully by the end,
you will see why these words have such a big impact on your life
and why you've got decisions to make.
And if you do know Jesus as your savior,
then we will be reminded of the magnitude of Jesus's work of the cross.
This completed work
and why it should cause us to recoil in horror
at what happened to him
and yet also rejoice in the freedom we now enjoy
through life in his name.
So we've started this passage,
as Pam said,
halfway through a verse.
So we need to know where we've been.
Okay.
I realize you might not have been here the last few weeks.
So where are we?
Well, Jesus has completed his active ministry on earth.
That ends in about John chapter 12.
He then goes with the disciples into the upper room
and he washes their feet
and then he teaches them about how to live once he is gone.
He spends a good few chapters of John teaching them about life after he's away.
And as we just saw very helpfully,
Palm Sunday,
Jesus enters Jerusalem
and he is arrested by the Jewish leaders
and he is handed to Pilate
and Archie and Ian last week.
They took us through exactly what happened in that.
The Jewish leaders,
they demand Jesus's death.
They do not want him.
They reject him.
And yet Pilate finds no fault.
Pilate says,
I can find no fault with this man.
He does not deserve to die.
And yet he gives in.
And the start of 16 says,
finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
Pilate, the people pleaser,
he just hands him over to die.
It's worth remembering as well.
And once again,
that's very helpful that here in our passage this morning,
this is actually Friday.
This is what we now call Good Friday.
The disciples,
they certainly would not have called this Good Friday.
This was a terrible day for them.
So they thought,
but that's where we are.
And it's the day of the preparation before the Passover.
And we'll think about that a little bit later.
So we're going to see this morning,
this is all about Jesus.
It's about Jesus,
the crucified in 16 to 18.
Jesus,
the king in 19 to 22.
Jesus,
the Messiah in 23 to 24.
Jesus,
the substitute in 25 to 27.
And Jesus,
the redeemer.
You know,
at first glance,
it seems that this passage,
you know,
we're not entirely sure what to think.
I don't know about yourself.
Certainly when I first read this,
when I started studying,
I thought,
what am I going to say about this?
It's almost too familiar,
isn't it?
But you know,
really,
this passage,
it almost seems at first glance
to show Jesus humanity.
But really,
as we delve deeper into it,
we'll really see that Jesus
is in fact God.
And that is what John
is trying to show us.
John 20 verse 31,
the whole reason that he writes,
he says,
but these are written
that you may believe
that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God,
and that by believing
you may have life in his name.
That is why John is writing.
He is showing that this Jesus
is all of these things,
but that all of these things
that he is truly God.
So let's start with Jesus,
the crucified.
So verse 16,
Pilate,
he gives in.
He just wants to please the Jews.
As was said in that video,
there was real tensions.
Pilate was in charge of this area.
He was the Roman official,
but he needed to keep it under wraps
and he was worried
about what the Jews were doing.
And we need to not gloss over
the crucifixion
because of familiarity.
You know,
Brunsfield's logo,
it's got a cross in it,
doesn't it?
I don't know anyone here
might have a cross necklace on.
People wear them.
It might be a fashion thing
or it might be to show their faith.
But crosses are common symbols,
aren't they?
They're common symbols.
We see them.
And it quite rightly
is the central image,
the central symbol
of the Christian faith.
But you know,
to first century people,
wearing a cross around your neck
would be just totally abhorrent.
A symbol of death,
of shame.
A horrifying symbol
to put anywhere.
And that's what the cross was.
Crucifixion,
it was a method
of corporal punishment
that the Romans
had designed
or potentially
they stole it
from the Persians.
Don't really know.
But it was to be
as drawn out,
as painful,
as shameful
as possible.
And it was
kept
for the worst
of the worst,
the non-Roman citizens,
those
who just,
the Roman society
just didn't care for.
And they used it
as a deterrent
for others.
The person,
they were stripped naked.
They were beaten
as we saw last week.
They were elevated
in a place
that everyone could see,
lifted up on high.
They had nails
in their hands
and their feet.
And they died
by suffocating slowly.
As they hung there.
The crucifixion
was a horrible
method of death.
And this is what
happened to Jesus.
Now you might be saying,
yeah, well,
there's two others there.
They're crucified as well.
What about them?
I'm sure there was
many others,
countless others
that were crucified
in their time.
That's true.
That is right.
And everyone dies,
don't they?
That is true
for each and every one of us.
But Jesus
was different.
Isaiah 53, 12
says this,
therefore,
I will give him
a portion among the great
and he will divide
the spoils
with the strong
because he poured
out his life
unto death
and was numbered
with the transgressors.
He bore the sin
of many
and made intercession
for the transgressors.
Jesus was different.
Yes, he died
in the same way
but we'll go on
to see why
it was so different.
Pilate could find
no fault.
Pilate could find
no fault
in an earthly way
but Jesus had done
nothing wrong
at all.
He was the sinless one,
the one who had done
no wrong
and that was only possible
because he was truly God.
John actually here,
you've maybe noticed,
he doesn't actually mention
much about the cross.
He doesn't mention
the details,
what actually happened
physically.
He's more interested
in the why.
Why does this happen?
Well, the innocent one
has been wrongly accused
and put to death
and yet this was all
part of the plan.
That takes us to Jesus,
the king,
in 19 to 22.
So we have Pilate's inscription
here on the cross.
This would have been a plaque
and it would have gone
above the person
and we've seen
that over the last few weeks
Ian took us through
that Pilate questions Jesus.
He says,
are you a king?
And Jesus says
that his kingdom,
this is Jesus speaking,
he says,
my kingdom
is for the world
but it is not
from the world.
Pilate couldn't get it.
It wasn't an earthly kingdom
that Jesus was talking about.
But we saw that Jesus,
he was mocked
for this.
The Roman battalion,
this was 600 soldiers,
they dressed him in a robe,
they bowed down mockingly
in front of him
and they made a crown of thorns
and a staff
to mock him.
Then we have that shocking statement
from the chief priests,
these Jewish leaders
who say,
we have no king
but Caesar.
Something that in their faith
just goes against
everything that they should believe.
You know,
this inscription,
this was common
and what it actually was
was that at the top
it said the person's name.
So in this case,
Jesus of Nazareth.
And at the bottom
was actually
their accusation,
why they are being killed.
It was used as a deterrent
in the crucifixion.
It was used
so that no one
would ever do
that crime again.
You know,
the two people
either side of Jesus,
they would have their name
and then they would have
what they had done wrong.
They would have murderer
or they would have robber,
whatever it was.
So it makes sense,
Jesus of Nazareth.
But what doesn't make sense
is the king of the Jews.
Jesus is being killed
for being
the king of the Jews.
The chief priests here,
they're absolutely livid.
They say,
do not write
the king of the Jews.
That's not right.
But that this man
claimed to be
the king of the Jews.
You know,
they were so angry
because everyone
could see it
and everyone
could read it.
Jesus was lifted up
on a place
that was raised up.
It was near the entrance
to the city
so people were walking
in and out.
As we've heard,
it was a busy time of year.
People would be coming
and going.
They wouldn't all fit
in the city.
They'd have to go in
and come back out
to stay in different places.
And it was written
in the three main languages
of the world
of that day.
Aramaic,
Greek,
and Latin.
Everyone could see it
and the Jews hated this.
They hated
that everyone
could see it.
So Jesus is being killed
for being the king
of the Jews.
He doesn't look like a king,
does he?
Which king have you seen
that looks like that?
Where are the conquering armies?
Where is the throne room?
Where are the royal subjects
who do his bidding?
What kind of king
is this?
You know,
the true king,
he conquers evil
by letting evil
conquer him.
Now that doesn't seem
to make sense,
but Jesus,
he gains the victory
through an act
of self-giving love.
Sometimes it's called
the upside-down kingdom.
Jesus came to serve,
not to be served.
And at the end here,
Pilate in 22,
he's kind of over the Jews,
he's over trying
to please them,
and he just says,
what I have written,
I have written.
He's dismissing them,
saying,
get out,
basically.
Pilate here,
despite his ignorance
in the previous section,
he unknowingly
just proclaims the truth
that Jesus is
the king of the Jews.
In chapter 18,
Pilate says,
what is truth
to Jesus?
And yet here,
unknowingly,
he writes the truth.
King Jesus
being killed.
So that takes us
to Jesus,
the Messiah.
So this section
where the soldiers,
where they cast lots,
you know,
this,
at first glance,
this can just seem
a little bit
of an odd detail
to have in.
We can read it
and kind of just
gloss over it
and go,
well,
I'll go to the next bit.
But what happens here
is that the soldiers,
they've put Jesus
on the cross to die
along with the two others,
okay?
Now,
they did this
at nine o'clock
in the morning.
Now,
the crucifixion
lasted all day.
It could last all day.
Here,
in this case,
it lasted about six hours.
So it was a long day
and the soldiers,
they would have to
guard the cross,
make sure that people
didn't come to try
and,
you know,
stop what was going on.
That was their jobs.
So what they would do is,
and this would have been
commonplace,
is that they would,
they would just take
the person's clothes
who was being killed.
They weren't going to
need them,
were they?
So they would take them.
But what they do
is that there's
this undergarment
and it is woven
in one piece
and they decide
not to break it apart,
it will ruin it,
so they cast lots.
So what these Roman soldiers
actually do here
is that they unwittingly
fulfill a thousand-year-old
prophecy.
A prophecy from the time
of David,
a thousand years
before Jesus,
is here on the cross.
And it's quoted there,
and it might be
in inverted commas
in your passage,
they divided my clothes
among them
and cast lots
for my garment.
Now that is a quote
from Psalm 22,
verse 18.
Graham read from that
Psalm at the beginning.
And that there
is a verse
from a prophetic
Messianic psalm.
Basically what that means
is that it's a prophetic psalm,
so it's looking
to the future,
looking to when
the Messiah will come
and that that person
will fulfill
certain things.
That is what happens here.
The video helpfully
showed us that
Jesus coming in
to Jerusalem
in that way
was fulfilling
the Messianic prophecies
and likewise
this happens here.
You might be thinking,
so what?
What's the relevance here?
Well, it shows us
that the Bible
is the true
inspired Word of God.
This fulfillment here
shows that Jesus
is, as John 1 says,
the Word
who became flesh
and made His dwelling
among us.
Jesus is the Messiah.
He's not just
another man being killed.
He is the Messiah,
the promised King
who would come
to conquer.
In verse 18,
where Jesus
is crucified
with others,
that is a fulfillment
of that passage
I read in 53
that shows that
Jesus will be numbered
with the transgressors.
He will be killed
with other people,
basically.
Something that is
completely outwith
of Jesus' control.
In a humanly sense,
He couldn't make
that happen.
In verse 28,
Jesus fulfills
Psalm 69,
we'll see later on,
by being given vinegar
for His thirst.
Soldiers offer Him
this vinegar.
You know,
the Jews,
they rejected Jesus
as King,
as their Messiah,
because He wasn't
the King
that they either
expected
or that they wanted.
One of the guys
in the video
said that,
that they expected
somebody to come in
to conquer the Romans,
to set up
a Jewish nation again,
to have an Israel,
and they expected
this King to come.
He was not
the hero they wanted,
but He was
the promised Messiah.
So that takes us
to Jesus,
the substitute.
We've seen Jesus
crucified,
we've seen Jesus
the King,
Jesus the Messiah,
and now Jesus
the substitute.
You know,
again,
we have another
little section here
in 25 to 27
that we can read
and we can just
sort of say,
okay,
and then move
on to the next bit.
But what happens
here is amazing.
Jesus,
He sees some of the
people that
are watching.
So that's what
would happen.
People would go,
maybe it would be
people that they know
or people would just
watch out of some
sort of morbid interest.
But here He sees
some of His friends
and His family.
And what He does
is He calls on John,
the disciple,
the person writing
this account
of Jesus' life.
He says,
look after my mother.
And likewise,
He says to His mother,
look after John.
You know,
Jesus' mother Mary,
we reckon that
most likely she was
a widow by this point.
So it would have been
the cultural practice
that she would have
been looked after.
And Jesus,
knowing that He
was about to go,
says to John,
please look after
my mother.
Take her in
and look after her.
Jesus is ensuring
that His mother
is looked after
those whom He loves
are cared for
once He is gone.
And there's two
sort of side things
to note here
before the main point.
The side thing,
one is that John,
the writer,
is actually watching
the events unfold.
Last couple of weeks,
we've learned from Archie
and Ian that they really
enjoy true crime
and true crime videos
and podcasts
and they like watching
these things.
But what do the police
look for when they're
trying to solve something?
Well, they look for
eyewitnesses,
don't they?
Nowadays,
they want dashcams
and CCTV
and all that kind of thing
and maybe WhatsApp
messages nowadays as well.
But really,
it's eyewitnesses,
people that were there
that saw it,
that can testify
to what truly happened.
And that is John.
John watched
these things occur.
So we know
that it is a trustworthy
source of information.
The second little side note
is that John
just obeys straight away.
It says that
at the end of 27,
from that time on,
the disciple took her
into his home.
One example of how to react
when God calls us
to do something.
Of course,
we do not get
the same call
directly like
Jesus gave to John.
But God calls us
in other ways
to do other things
for him.
And we should obey
like John obeyed.
But you know,
it's more than that.
Jesus is telling John
to take his place
as son to Mary
to care for her.
And you know,
similarly,
I can't say that,
similarly,
Jesus is taking
John's place
on the cross.
Now, it wasn't that
John deserved
a crucifixion.
It wasn't that John
was a murderer,
a robber,
things like this.
But John,
like all of us,
had done wrong.
And he had to face
God's wrath
for sin.
And why?
You know,
why?
Maybe you're sitting
there thinking,
but why is that
the case?
Well,
Peter,
very helpfully
this morning,
talked us through
that,
that that relationship
is broken.
God,
the creator God,
made everything
perfect,
and yet sin came in
and broke that
relationship between
God and man.
Sin causes a
separation from us
and God
that needs
fixed.
Jesus is
the plan of
salvation.
And we need
to be made right.
Why do we need
to be made right?
Well,
spend eternity
in heaven.
We don't know
much about heaven.
The Bible doesn't
say an awful lot
about heaven.
But essentially,
heaven is eternity
with God.
And God cannot
have us there
if we are not
made right,
if we are not
perfect
as we should be.
And we're not,
are we?
You know,
if we had a
plaque with our
name on it,
and we had our
accusations underneath,
I don't think
any of them would
be particularly
terrible,
so to speak,
as society might
say.
But you know
what?
I would not like
my sins to be
written on a
plaque for all
to see.
We have all
done wrong.
We all have
sinned.
But Jesus,
he had done
no wrong.
That was only
possible because
he was God.
But he takes
that place
for everyone
else.
So that we
may be made
righteous,
just means to
be made right,
looked on as
innocent by God
because of the
work of the
cross.
If you're not
a believer in
Jesus today,
you've not
trusted him
with your
future.
If you've
not repented
for all the
wrong things
that you've
done,
we know
that we
have,
then I
implore you
to address
that this
morning,
this very
day.
It is the
most important
thing.
And that
takes us to
our final
thing we see
about Jesus,
the Redeemer,
in 28 to
30.
So up to
verse 27,
we've had the
first three
hours on the
cross.
Okay?
And then
between 27 and
28,
which John
doesn't talk
about,
but you can
read it in
the other
gospels,
we have the
three hours
of darkness.
Now we know
from those other
accounts of
Jesus' life that
Christ at this
point suffers.
He is forsaken
by the Father
and he takes
that just
punishment
that we deserve
because of our
rebellion and our
sinful ways.
So Jesus has
borne this and
then in verse
28, it
says,
later,
showing a
period of
time has
passed.
Knowing that
everything had
now been
finished.
You might say,
well, how did
Jesus know
everything was
finished?
Well, one, he
has taken that
punishment in
those three
hours of
darkness.
The work has
been done,
but he also
knows because he
is God that
his death is
about to come.
He is about to
give up his
life, as it
says.
His
substitutionary
death is
imminent.
He can only
know that because
he can willingly
give it up.
So Jesus, he
says, I am
thirsty, in other
versions it says,
I thirst.
So he takes
this drink from
the soldiers.
So as I said,
the soldiers,
they've been out
for about six
hours at this
point in the
heat of the
day in Jerusalem,
a hot land,
and this
wine vinegar,
this was just a
drink that they
would have to
keep themselves
going.
It was their
job to stay
there.
I presume,
being the Roman
Empire, they
were not allowed
to go on breaks
or anything like
that.
So this was just
a drink that
they used for
thirst as they
went through
the day.
It's worth noting
that this was a
different drink to
what was offered
to Jesus, the
drink with gall,
it's sometimes
called, before
the cross.
That was a
sedative, that
was an ancient
painkiller that
was offered to
the person to
dull the pain,
to dull the
senses as they
went to a
crucifixion.
But Jesus, he
refused that
because he had
to be in his
full mind to
take the
punishment of
the cross.
But this here,
Jesus says, I
thirst, and he
takes this wine
vinegar.
And it is
lifted to him on
the stalk of a
hyssop plant.
So backtracking a
wee bit, we know
it's Friday, it's
the day of the
preparation of the
Passover.
So the
Passover is on
the Saturday, the
Sabbath, the
Jewish holy day, it
was the week was
building up to
that.
And the Jews, they
would kill the
Passover lamb and
they would eat it and
they would celebrate
that on the
Saturday.
But being the
Sabbath, the Jewish
holy day, they had
rules that they
couldn't do things
like that.
Modern day
equivalent, they
couldn't turn the
light bulb on, they
couldn't switch on the
oven, it all had to
be done on the day of
the preparation, on the
Friday, the day before.
And the Passover
festival, it remembers
when the Israelites
were rescued from
Egypt.
You can read that in
Exodus 12, the
Israelites, God's
people, they were in
Egypt and they were
saved out of Egypt
and they were spared
the plague of the
death of the
firstborn son.
And they did that by
killing a lamb and
spreading its blood on
the doorposts of their
homes.
When God saw that
blood on the posts, then
he passed over and
death was avoided.
That's what happened
back in Exodus 12.
So why am I telling
you that?
Well, in Exodus 12,
verse 22, they
instructed that they
are to use the
branches of the
hyssop plant to spread
the blood of the
lamb.
Jesus is the
sacrificed lamb.
Allowing punishment
and death to be
avoided, to be passed
over through obedience
to God and trust in
him.
Ian last week, he took
us through the brutality
of the flogging.
How it would just rip
someone's back open.
It was a horrible
thing.
And the people often
died from that alone,
never mind making it to
the crucifixion.
So blood was running
down this cross that
Jesus was on from his
back.
running down from his
head on the crown of
thorns, the beatings
that he had had, the
nails through his hands
and his feet.
Jesus is the
redeemer.
His blood was shed.
He is paying the debt
for others.
The blood of the lamb
pays the debt.
Hebrews 9, it talks
about the ancient blood
sacrificed on many
altars in Israel.
And it talks about the
Lord Jesus.
And in verse 22, it
says that without the
shedding of blood, there
is no forgiveness.
But Jesus' blood was
shed because he was the
lamb, the sacrificial
lamb that allows God to
pass over in judgment
and allows people to be
saved.
And after this, Jesus
receives the drink and he
says his famous last
word, it is finished.
The work was done.
It was complete.
The plan of salvation that
was hatched before time
has been carried out to the
full.
And with that, he bowed his
head and gave up his
spirit.
Jesus gives up his spirit.
He gives up his life in a
way that we can never do,
knowing that his work was
done.
Jesus' suffering on the
cross can give us freedom
if we trust in him and if
we seek forgiveness for our
wrong.
The fulfillment of prophecy
that we've seen here, it
shows that Jesus wasn't just
another person dying.
It wasn't just another
person killed by the
Romans.
but that he was God
himself in human form.
And you know, as
Christians, if we're sitting
here today and you believe
all this and that is
brilliant, then we want to
emulate the Lord Jesus.
Bearing in mind that we
will never match up to how
he is.
But we want to finish God's
plan for our lives.
God has a plan for each and
every one of us.
We are to live that out and
seek to end our lives well.
Paul, in one of his letters
in 2 Timothy 4, 7 to 8, which
is potentially some of his
last words that he spoke or
certainly wrote down anyway, he
says this.
Paul says,
Let's run the race well and finish
strongly.
Remembering that our home is
actually in heaven and that we
are just foreigners in this
world and that we have a better
place to go to.
Let me just pray as we finish.
God and Father, I just thank you
for your word.
Thank you so much for the Lord
Jesus.
That that plan was hatched before
time even began, before the
creation of this world.
That the Lord Jesus would do the
will of the Father and go down and
be that lamb who was sacrificed.
Christ.
We thank you for the truth that
we've seen in these this passage
this morning.
And we pray that these things will
continue in our minds and in our
hearts this week as we think
towards Easter.
And we thank you so much for the
glorious news of the resurrection.
that the Lord Jesus rose again and
that he is at the right hand of the
Father on high and that we worship a
God who is not dead but is alive.
Amen.