Breaking The Tape - [John 19:17-30]

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How many of you are marathon runners? I heard Becky.
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I knew Becky would be a marathon runner. Well, me either. But I think it's so cool when they come to the end of the race and across the road they stretch not a rope, you know, to trip the runners but a tape for them to break it because the first one to cross the line gets to break the tape.
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That's the winner of the race, the one who does that. When I thought about this sermon this week
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I thought about, I mean, I've heard a lot of sermons about the crucifixion the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and I thought, you know, the truth is, most of them
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I just practically wept my whole way through the sermon when I thought about the suffering of Christ on my behalf, right?
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And in fact, when we think or if you read about crucifixion it was a horrible death and that was part of the point of it.
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It was used throughout that part of the world even in Egypt and other places. What was the point?
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The point was to torture the person who was dying. The point was when people came along and saw the person being crucified they thought,
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I don't want to end up like that guy. Generally speaking, the reason that people wound up on a cross was because of some serious crime.
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A lot of times it was for basically being disloyal being some sort of revolutionary, that kind of thing.
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And in Rome, in the Roman Empire, the point was when you saw somebody on a cross it was like don't be like that person, don't be an enemy of Rome and you won't wind up on the cross.
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You won't wind up suffering like that poor person up there. It was grisly.
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It was gory. It was absolutely excruciating torture.
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And when you listen to a sermon about the crucifixion that's what you're going to hear. I thought about going to Isaiah 53 and sort of walking us through that.
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There are a number of ways to present the crucifixion. Then I thought, well, how does
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John do it? I'm preaching through John. Maybe I should look at how he does it.
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This is Jesus' best friend. He's an eyewitness. He is there. How does he describe it?
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Does he give us all the gory details? He gives us some of the gory details and even what he gives us and even what we'll talk about this morning is ghastly, it's horrible.
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But ultimately, what does
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John want us to understand? That on the cross is the Son of God.
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Not a victim, but victorious.
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Suffering, yes. But satisfied in his suffering.
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Knowing what he has done. What has been accomplished. What he has purchased.
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What has been granted to those in Christ because of what he's done.
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So it's with that in mind that I want us to go through John 19.
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I even thought about Hebrews. Funny how Hebrews kind of rings in my mind.
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How about this line? Hebrews 12.
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Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Listen. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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As I read that and as I even meditated on that passage this week, I thought, I don't know, maybe
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John wrote Hebrews. Maybe he's the one who did it. As I thought about Jesus, as it were, breaking the tape, finishing the race, enduring the cross, despising the shame, getting to the end, right?
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I thought, this is different than any other race. There are no competitors.
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Nobody's in the blocks with Jesus at the starting line. In fact, there is no race.
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There was just a course for Jesus to run. One filled with sorrow, with shame, and with suffering.
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But Jesus never hesitated, never broke stride, and never even considered failure.
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Now, just to review where we've been over the last few weeks. We've seen the trials of Jesus, both religious, before Annas, the former high priest, and Caiaphas, the current high priest, but really kind of a figurehead.
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It was Annas behind the scenes, pulling all the strings. Last week, we saw
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Pontius Pilate, trapped by his indecision, by his desire to please everyone, to be the perfect politician, to make the
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Jewish Sanhedrin happy, and also to make his wife happy, and to keep his conscience clear.
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He knew Jesus didn't deserve to die, but he's got these Jewish leaders who want him dead.
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So what is he to do? Well, he tried sending him to Herod.
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That didn't work. He hoped Herod would either do something with him, didn't care what, release him, that was fine, but it said
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Herod sent him back. Pilate tried embarrassing
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Jesus. He tried flogging Him. He was just looking for some way to appease the
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Jews and get rid of this problem without sending
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Jesus to the cross. He even tried to give the crowd the option of releasing
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Barabbas. He said, listen, I'll give you Barabbas, this terrible person, or you can have
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Jesus, this miserable, bleeding, so -called king of the
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Jews, released. But if you recall, the Jewish Sanhedrin, the leaders, the high priests, went out among the crowd and they, as I described it, steered the crowd into choosing
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Barabbas. And then, as we saw last week,
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Pilate, when the Jews bring this charge that he claims to be the Son of God, they bring that to Pilate, and Pilate is disturbed.
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He was disturbed by what his wife sent him, that this was a righteous man, she'd seen it in a dream. But he was disturbed by this term because,
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Pilate thought, have I flogged some form of deity, some form of God masquerading as a man?
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And then, if you recall, the Jews even said, the
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Jewish leaders, these holy men of Israel, as it were, threatened
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Pilate, that if he didn't crucify Jesus, they were going to drop a 10 -pound dime to Caesar.
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Listen, you're disloyal to Caesar if you don't crucify Jesus because he's a threat.
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If you want to be a friend of Caesar, you'll do what we say. Pilate mocks
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Jesus and the Jews, but he sentences Jesus as the Sanhedrin wanted. They were going to be rid of this man who threatened their position and their business.
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These wicked men got exactly what they wanted, and as they did, they precisely fulfilled the plan of the sovereign
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God. Now, this morning, we have John's eyewitness account of the death of Jesus Christ.
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The death of his best friend, of his teacher, and of his
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Lord. And I'm going to present it this morning in four F's.
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The final walk, the final words of Pilate, fulfilling
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Scripture, and finishing the race. First, the final walk in verse 16, we'll start, second half of it.
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So they took Jesus. They, even as I said last week, not the
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Jews, they're not the ones who carry Jesus off and lead him to crucifixion. It's the Roman guards, and there are ultimately four of them who will accompany
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Jesus to his death. Four executioners who take custody of him.
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Look at verse 17, And he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called
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Golgotha. Now, it's interesting. Why is it called the place of a skull?
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It's an odd name. And there are a few speculations concerning this.
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One is that there were a lot of skulls at this place. Most scholars don't go for that.
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Some say it is a hill, and this is probably what you've heard, that's shaped like a skull. And there are a few different places proposed, and some of them do look somewhat like a skull.
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Maybe, but maybe not. You know how much things change over 2 ,000 years when you have people building homes and tearing them down and building up and tearing down?
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Quite a bit. Let me ask you this.
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You know, in the Old West, when they took somebody out to hang them, where did they take them?
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You know, some place called, like, Boot Hill or something like that. Why? Because that's where all the boots were collected after the people were hung.
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Right? If there was a place where executions took place just outside of Jerusalem, the place of a skull wouldn't be a bad place to call it.
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It's a place of execution. Where is it? Truth is, we don't know.
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It could be the traditional place is, and of course, if you ever go to Israel, how many have been to Israel?
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When you go to Israel, you know, what happens at every traditional place? You know, if Jesus was supposedly crucified someplace, there's a church there, right?
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If Mary got a drink of water someplace, there's a church there.
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You know, there's a church for everything. And so there's the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is supposedly where he was crucified and buried.
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But we don't know exactly where it is. It's really not that important. They just took him through Jerusalem, up the hill, to the place where he was crucified.
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Jesus, who's been beaten, had his beard plucked, been severely flogged, had a crown of very long thorns pressed deeply into his head, has to carry his own cross.
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He's bleeding, he's weakened, he's struggling, but he's required to carry it.
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And if you recall, some time ago, Pastor Mike preached through Genesis 22, and he talked about Abraham being required to sacrifice his son, right?
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This was a test of God. Genesis 22, God says to Abraham, take your son, your only son,
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Isaac. And you say, well, that wasn't his only son. Well, it was the son of promise. He said, take
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Isaac and sacrifice him. And if you recall, they get to the place, and it's about to be rugged terrain, and what does
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Abraham do? He says here, Isaac, carry the wood, carry the wood.
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It's a picture, a foreshadowing of this scene right here. But if you recall, in that situation, what happens?
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Abraham's ready to kill him, and the angel of the Lord stops him.
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The angel of the Lord being the pre -incarnate Christ. Well, in this case, there is no stopping this sacrifice.
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This sacrifice will happen. This was the lamb of God. Remember, Abraham said,
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God will provide the lamb. This is the lamb. There's nobody going to stop this sacrifice.
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It must happen. And he is carrying his own wood, upon which he would be sacrificed for sin.
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In his weakened state, he was unable to make it all the way up the hill.
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So these soldiers, remember, this is Passover.
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People are coming from all over to come into Jerusalem, to worship, to celebrate
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Passover, huge Jewish holiday. And what happens?
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They press one of the people coming in, Simon of Cyrene. The Bible tells us that he was coming from an outlying area, from the country.
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He's coming into Jerusalem. They just grab him, and they say, you, you're going to carry this cross for Jesus.
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Imagine, you know, you're going to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas with the family.
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The police pull you over, and they give you some horrible task to do. Well, that's what happens to Simon. And we come to the crucifixion.
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When Jesus and Simon get to Golgotha, John gives us the briefest of descriptions.
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Simple. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between him, or between them.
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The other gospel is described in a great length. He's spat upon. He's mocked. All they say is going on for quite a while.
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Even the thieves join in. John doesn't give us any of that.
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John doesn't tell us about one of the thieves who mocks him, then confessing him.
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None of that. As I just even contemplated the thieves, you'd think that, you know, while you're being executed, you have other things to worry about other than mocking one of the other guys being executed.
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But there it is, right? It's interesting to me that they're both classified as robbers.
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The same word that was applied to Barabbas. And it implies more than just a robber.
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Some kind of serious criminal. Now, again, being crucified was painful.
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It was torture. Some crucifixions, as I studied this week, went on for days.
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Can you imagine that? This one couldn't go on for days because the Sabbath was quickly coming.
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In the other gospels, we also read how everything was normal. The sun was shining. The people were coming up and mocking him and hitting him and spitting on him.
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Then what happens? The earth goes dark for three hours from noon to three.
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I like what Spurgeon said. He said, if our Lord can make darkness at will as he dies, what glory may we not expect now that he lives to be the light of the city of God forever?
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Right in heaven, the light of heaven forever. The Lamb is the light. And what a light.
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The heavens bear the impression of his dying power and lose their brightness. Shall not the new heavens and the new earth attest to the power of the risen
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Lord? The thick darkness around the dying Christ is the robe of the omnipotent.
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What a miracle. What power. Jesus is in control right to the end.
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Now, what happened during that time that Jesus is on the cross? John just tells us he was crucified.
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I mentioned here probably a few times over the last couple of weeks. Galatians 3 .13.
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Let me read it. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
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For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. This is
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Jesus hanged on a tree. He became a curse for us.
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Calvin says this. He says. He does not say that Christ was cursed.
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But a curse, which is more for it signifies the curse due to all terminated in him.
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And that is to say that Jesus, it became a curse. Why? So the curse on us for our sin might be terminated, might be brought to an end.
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Calvin goes on. He says, if this seems hard to any, let him also be ashamed of the cross of Christ in the confession of which we glory.
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In other words, the cross is the greatest truth of all time. Scripture also describes
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Jesus as being made sin for us. Right. He became a curse.
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He became the very embodiment of sin. He took the fullness of the wrath of God for the sins of all who would ever believe.
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That's what happens on the cross. Now, what does that tell us? What does the suffering of Jesus on the cross, the payment for our sins, tell us?
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I think it obviously tells us how bad sin is. Right. When we think about our sins.
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Do they grieve us? Are we concerned by them? Or do we just go, you know, I made a mistake.
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Maybe it was a mistake. But if it was a moral failure, if it was a violation of the law of God, it's not simply a mistake.
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Our sins are so easy for us to just kind of glide over to elide, to just gloss over.
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Sometimes I think we've almost become Roman in this sense.
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I'll say a prayer. I'll, you know, kind of flog myself a little bit, feel bad about it.
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Maybe put some extra in the plate. We don't see our sin for what it is.
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It was our sin that held him there on that cross until it was accomplished.
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It tells us how bad our sin is. It also tells us how terrible hell is.
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Why does it tell us that? Because that's what Jesus experienced on that cross.
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He experienced an eternity of torment in those three hours.
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The full wrath of God compressed, laser focused, just immense wrath poured out on Jesus Christ.
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Hendrickson said this, he said, It has been said that only the damned in hell know what
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Jesus suffered when he died on the cross. Why is that true?
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Because they also suffer eternal death, meaning Jesus suffered eternal death for those three hours.
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That's what it means to go to hell. The reality of hell shows us how urgent it is to preach the gospel.
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We talk about sharing the gospel, presenting the gospel. That's fine.
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But I want there to be an urgency. Why? Because people are literally in danger of going to hell, of suffering that wrath of God.
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Our friends, our neighbors, our family are at risk of falling into the hands of, as Edward said, an angry
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God. The wrath of God is real and it should motivate us. We're delivered from it.
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Let's help deliver others from it. It also reminds us how thankful we should be, right?
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We think of the cross. We think Jesus suffered the wrath of God for us in our place.
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Also worthy of note that because Jesus was crucified between two criminals, we would see the fulfillment of this.
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Isaiah 53 verse 12. He was numbered with the transgressors.
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So this is the final walk which culminates in the crucifixion. Secondly, the final words of Pilate.
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Look at verse 19. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross.
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It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the
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Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Aramaic, in Latin and in Greek.
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The inscription would be one that you would actually have placed if you were being crucified around your neck.
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And you would carry it with you. And then they would take it off and they would put it up on the cross over your head.
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So that everybody would know what you were being crucified for, right? We're talking about the point of this crucifixion.
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Again, it's a public humiliation. And it's also to warn others, don't do this.
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King of the Jews. The clear implication is, don't be like Jesus.
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That's what Pilate wants everyone to understand. Don't have these political aspirations, even though Jesus didn't.
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But this is another instance of a sovereign God using sinful men to proclaim truth.
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Right? He is the king of the Jews. He's the rightful king who's been rejected.
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He is the Messiah. It's also interesting that it was written in Aramaic, the language of the
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Jews of Palestine, Israel. It was written in Latin, which is the official language of the
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Roman Empire. Also in Greek, which is the lingua franca, which just means the language of business.
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Language of commerce. You couldn't do business in the Roman Empire without speaking Greek. So that literally everybody who's coming into Jerusalem, who is walking by and seeing this, can read this sign.
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And understand that this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands or more, come by this sign and see it.
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It does make you wonder if maybe some who saw it would, in a few days, 40 some odd days, hear this from Peter.
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Let all the house of Israel, therefore, know for certain that God has made him both
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Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. And listen to verse 37 of Acts chapter 2.
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Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
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Brothers, what shall we do? At one point, mocking, then repentant.
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But this sign bothers whom? The chief priests.
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They don't like it. In fact, they say, basically, take it down.
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Verse 21. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the king of the
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Jews. But rather, this man said, I am the king of the Jews. Change that. You can't say that.
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It's not true. He's not the king of the Jews. Just as Pilate had mocked them during the trial, he was doing so again.
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They knew it and they didn't like it one little bit. They didn't want anyone to think this was their king.
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How about a compromise? How about you just say, you know what, just add a little extra sign that says he said he was the king of the
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Jews. But again, Pilate didn't want to put him to death in the first place.
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In his mind, in Pilate's mind, this was all their fault. If they hadn't brought Jesus to him, if they hadn't insisted on all this, if they'd been reasonable, none of this would have happened.
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So verse 22, Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written.
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Now, what he says is a little bit unusual in this sense. He could have used just regular past tense.
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You know, I wrote it and that settles it. He could have done something like that. But what he did was he used the
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Greek perfect tense twice in a row. Same word. I have written it.
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I have written it. What was his point? His point was, listen, in case you guys have forgotten who's in charge, that would be me.
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You want to push this. We'll see how far you want to go. Right. What I have written,
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I have written. It's done. Our conversation, by the way, is over. That was it.
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So the final walk, then the final words of Pilate. Third, fulfilling
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Scripture, verse 23. First, we're going to see the soldiers. When the soldiers had crucified
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Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts. One part for each soldier, also his tunic.
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But the tunic was seamless, woven into one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.
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Part of the humiliation of Jesus is the removal of his clothing. The shame of being naked.
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Well, where would we get that idea? We have to go all the way back to what?
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The Garden of Eden. They're naked and they're not ashamed. And then they do what? Sin, which brings shame into the picture.
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Jesus suffers that shame. The soldiers gamble for his clothing.
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They cast lots, is the idea. A few things need to be kept in mind. There are four pieces of clothing.
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There are four soldiers. So they're each going to get one. But let's see who gets what piece. And they just decide to roll for it, basically.
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The clothing has some value because clothing is not cheap back in those days. You didn't get everything made by little kids in Asia who were chained.
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Well, I digress. It had some value.
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So they each want part of that. The seamless garment was the big prize. But there are five bits of clothing.
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So they resolve. They are going to gamble for the four pieces. And then the fifth one, the big prize, is going to be a separate kind of pot.
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And we think, how cruel, how callous. Yes, it's cruel. Yes, it's callous. But we need to keep in mind who these men are.
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They're not believers. They're soldiers. They're used to death and grisly situations. This is what they did all the time.
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And they had absolutely no idea that they were fulfilling Scripture. Verse 24. This was to fulfill
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Scripture, which says, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
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So the soldiers did these things. That's Psalm 2218. Picture of David being fulfilled in the death of Christ.
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Also notice the women. Verse 25. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister,
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Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Now, you could read that and you'd think, okay, there are only two ladies there.
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You could read that and you could think, oh, there are three ladies there. You could read that and you'd think, oh, there are four ladies there.
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I'm going to briefly tell you why the first two can't be, because then we'd wind up, in each case, with two women in the same family named
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Mary. Mary, I'd like you to meet your sister
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Mary. People don't do that. That would be really odd. But we can notice that Mary is quite the popular name in the culture there.
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But let's think for a moment. Who's there? John. Four women that John points out.
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There are other women there, but there are four that are significant. Where's everybody else?
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Again, they scattered. When we think about a crucifixion, we think that would be hard to watch.
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And it's true, it would be hard to watch. But, you know, as I studied this week, people would actually go to these things, not for the reason that we might go in Western culture to see this spectacle, to see somebody suffer, pay -per -view kind of thing.
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But they would go to see their loved ones crucified to support them as they died.
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Now, there are several ways in which this, like I said, these four ladies can be understood.
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But I just separated it out this way. Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is how
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John consistently describes her, his mother.
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Mary's sister, who is John's mother, named Salome. Jesus and John are probably cousins.
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Then Mary, the wife of Clopas, who is the mother of a couple of other disciples.
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Then Mary Magdalene, a woman who had seven demons cast out of her and became a devoted follower.
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So, those are the ladies. That's John. Everybody else is gone. Now, notice how
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Jesus honors his mother. Really fulfilling scripture, yes, absolutely.
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Verse 26, When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother,
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Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother.
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And from that hour, the disciple took her to his home. Why did he call his mother woman?
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Shouldn't he have said, you know, some term of endearment? A lot of commentators made this point.
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I think it's probably true. In this moment, the last thing Jesus wants to do is to inflict more pain on Mary.
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And this is how Jesus, if you recall, had even spoken to his mother at the wedding in Cana.
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It was not disrespectful. In this case, really, it was a kindness. Jesus was simply making sure, wanting to make sure that Mary, his mother, was taken care of.
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He trusted John. When John says that Jesus loved him, that's a sure sign of love.
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Trust. There's nobody on earth he trusted more than John. So he's got this important duty.
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He needs somebody to take care of his mother. And who does he go to? John. Well, what about his brothers?
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Where are his brothers? They're not here. They're not believers yet.
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And they all live up in Capernaum. They're not here. Somebody has to take care of Mary now.
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Moments before his death, as he's suffering, Jesus' concern is for his mother.
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Honor your father and your mother. And he does that right to the end.
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Further in fulfillment of Scripture, we see the thirst, verse 28. After this,
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Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill Scripture, I thirst.
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If Jesus doesn't say this, he doesn't get offered the wine we're going to see in a moment, and therefore he would not fulfill these
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Old Testament passages. Psalm 22, 15. Psalm 69, 21.
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Verse 29. This is cheap wine.
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Basically, it's like mineral water, except it's got a little alcohol in it.
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But this was consumed by the working class. In this case, it's probably there for the soldiers, but given to people who are being crucified to not make them feel better, but to do what?
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Prolong the agony. That was the whole point. That sour wine, do you think it felt good?
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No. But he was thirsty. He asked for it to fulfill
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Scripture. Jesus, absolutely in control, sovereign, even to the point of making sure that prophecy was fulfilled.
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So we've seen the final walk, the final words of Pilate fulfilling Scripture, and finally, finishing the race.
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When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished.
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And he bowed up his head, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Notice the last part first.
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Jesus gave up his spirit. He didn't die passively.
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He wasn't murdered by others, although it's true they conspired to murder him.
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He gave up his spirit. He said, I'm done. Into your hands,
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I commend my spirit, right? Now back to those three
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English words. One in the Greek, telestai, telestai, which is perfect tense.
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And if I say, and I do say this, that I think but God are the best two words in the
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Bible, I have to say this is probably the best word. Jesus left nothing unfinished.
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This again is perfect tense, a one -time event with ongoing results. Some of you are sitting there going, well, how can he say it's finished?
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He hasn't been buried yet. He hasn't been raised from the dead yet. He could say that because he knows those things are going to happen.
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He has no doubt about them. He trusts the father. He trusts the spirit.
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He trusts himself. If he can create darkness where there should be light, he's going to be able to raise himself from the dead, even as he said he would.
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Now, what did the death of Jesus on the cross accomplish?
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I just took a few minutes and thought about it, came up with my own list. Some of you will say, well,
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I could do a lot better than that. I'm sure you probably could. Let's just think about some of them. And I had a lot of Fs too.
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I don't know why F, just F. Finished obeying the will of the father, right?
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The umbrella term. He came to do the will of the father. He did it. Now the will of the father is complete.
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He came and fulfilled the will of the father. He finished suffering, certainly.
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There's no more suffering for Jesus. He's done. He's finished with being humiliated.
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How about this one? He finished obeying and satisfying the law.
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We could even say it this way. He fulfilled the law. He finished fulfilling messianic prophecy.
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If anybody doubted that Jesus was the Messiah, it's done.
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He's done it all. He finished redeeming those elected by the father.
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The father, before eternity began, gave some to the son, said, redeem them, die for them, die for their sins.
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He did it. He finished loving his own, right?
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John said he loved his own to the end. We see that here. We see the concern and the love of Jesus right till his dying breath.
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He finished defeating sin, Satan, and even death.
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Why can we say death, where is your sting? It's because Jesus died for our sins.
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He was raised from the grave. Without his death, sin has a sting.
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He finished abolishing the enmity between Jew and Gentile.
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Why is it that the church is called together without regard to ethnicity? It's because of the work of Jesus Christ.
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He finished reconciling believers and God. He finished satisfying the wrath of God for all who believe.
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There's no more wrath for us. He fully procured the righteousness which is imputed to us.
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His righteousness, his perfect life, right to the end, is now credited to us.
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He fully purchased an everlasting inheritance in heaven for all who believe.
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Nothing can get to it. It's secured for us. And he is now seated at the right hand of the
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Father, where he is our mediator, our intercessor, our high priest.
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And he is the soon returning king. You know, when
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I was a kid, I loved to compete. I always loved to compete until I couldn't run anymore.
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I think I was maybe in the fourth or fifth grade.
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There was some citywide track meet. We had a relay race, and I ran the third leg of this 440 relay race.
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And after the first two legs, we were just crushing it. And the baton gets to me, and, you know, pretty soon everybody's zipping by.
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My job was just to get the baton to the end, to give it to the anchor who finished, and we went up, you know, not that excited, but we finished third, which, considering I was on the team, was pretty good.
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But there are so many religions, even religions that would call themselves Christians, who say, you know what, life is like a relay race.
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Jesus runs the first three quarters of the legs, and he hands the baton to you, and all you have to do is just finish that race.
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Just get across the finish line. That's all you have to do. Here's the problem.
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Jesus hands the baton to you, and you just drop it. You're going nowhere, bro. Zero. The good news isn't that Jesus did enough to get you to that final leg.
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The good news is that Jesus just ran right past you and broke the tape for you.
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He finished the race. He did the work. He died the death that you deserve, and then was raised on the third day, because if anything depends on us, if anything depends on you and me, if there's any part of us getting to heaven that wasn't accomplished by Jesus Christ, we're done.
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That's what John wants us to focus on, is it is finished.
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The work of redemption, the work of defeating sin, the work of accomplishing our salvation is completed by Jesus Christ.
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He endured the cross. He despised the shame. He broke the tape victorious.
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Father, we know that Jesus suffered unspeakable torment.
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Father, your word tells us that it pleased you to crush him. It also tells us that as a result of his suffering, he will see the results and be satisfied.
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The results are dependent upon us, and we praise you for that. Father, remind us of the finished work of Christ.
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Let us not treat our sins lightly. Let us look at them rightly. Let us understand that Jesus suffered mightily for our sins, but let us rejoice in that.
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Cause us also to be motivated by that, to think of all the people who don't know
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Christ, who are indeed in danger of suffering eternal death.
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That is to say, your wrath poured out upon them forever. This is a serious thing.
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We are to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ, proclaiming his goodness, his kindness, his sacrifice.
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Give us feet that are swift to run to preach Christ and him crucified.