Jesus

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.

John 12 · chapter mention

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,

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,

John 20:31

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.

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,

Psalms 22:18

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.

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,

Exodus 12:22

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.