Go with me back to John 19. This word, we're such a blessed
people, you know, we're just such a blessed people to have
this word. I was looking at Bibles today
on the internet because some people were looking
for them and I was trying to find some, and you know how hard
it is to truly find a good copy of God's Word without it being
tainted in some way, shape, or form. We are so, so privileged
to have His Word and have a heart that loves God's Word. And we're such a privileged people
to get to see Christ in it. This thing about how many people
hold this word but they don't see Christ in it. And we get
to see Christ week after week after week. We get to keep seeing
Christ in it. And we're so privileged to have
a heart that wants to see Christ. wants to at all. It's a gift of God. Eyes to see,
ears to hear, a heart that believes is a precious gift from God. A few Sundays ago we had the
honor. That's what I consider right
now in going through John. It's such an honor to me. And
we had the honor of beholding the man. That's what the end
of verse 5 says. Behold the man. The stricken, smitten, afflicted
of God for our sake man. The pain he endured is unimaginable. It's unimaginable. Now we're
going to go to Psalm 22 a couple of times tonight. But Psalm 22
prophesied that, listen to this, it prophesied that all his bones
would be out of joint. You ever recognize that in Psalm
22? Think about that. All his bones,
he said, all my bones are out of joint. The pain he endured, and as God,
he did not limit the pain he felt. You know, I mean, if I
had the ability to go through it and feel less pain, I would
do that. He did not. He was in all points tempted
just like we would be. He endured that suffering, he
endured that humiliation, he endured that agony as thus. We say, you know, look on the
Lamb of God, look and live. We are not worthy to look on
Him. We're not worthy to look on him. If the seraphims cover
their face, crying, holy, holy, holy, how privileged are our
eyes that God has allowed us to behold
the man. So privileged. Well, then right here in this
same chapter, God allowed us to behold our king. That's what
the end of verse 14 says. Behold your king. Our Lord has revealed to us that
every single thing that happened in this great transaction, every
single thing, was by the absolute sovereign design of the King
of Kings. Everything that happened. Everything
that Pilate and those soldiers and that mob carried out, it
was all ordered by the predeterminate counsel and foreknowledge of
God our King. Now tonight, here's what I want
us to say. I want us to look at the fulfillment
of scripture. All right. The fulfillment of
scripture, we behold the man, we behold the king and in him,
we behold the fulfillment of scripture. Verse 14, John 19
verse 14 says, and it was the preparation of the Passover and
about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews, Behold
your king. But they cried out, Away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, Shall
I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We
have no king but Caesar. Now not only is this the state
that the world is in, that's the state we were in. That's
the state we were in. We see some of these things that
Jews did all through this, but you see these things and you
think, how could they do that? How could they, how could they
say that? If we want the answer, all we
have to do is look at this flesh right here and we'll have it. We'll have it. Let me show you
something over in first Samuel chapter eight. Go with me over
to 1 Samuel 8. 1 Samuel 8 verse 1 says, It came
to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over
Israel. Now the name of his firstborn
was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges
in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his
ways, but turned aside after lucre, money, and took bribes
and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah
and said unto him, Behold, thou art old. The Lord had put Samuel
in charge. He was God's prophet. But they
all came to him and they said, You're old. And thy sons walk not in thy
ways. Now make us a king. We want a
king. To judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel
when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed
unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
Harken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto
thee what he told him was give them what they want Give them
what they want give them a king. He said for they have not rejected
thee But they have rejected me. They're not rejecting you They
are rejecting me that I should not reign over them. That's what
they've done. They've rejected me all this
flesh wants is is to cry, I will not have that man reign over
me. That's all the flesh wants. Are you not so thrilled over
the fact that we have no say in the matter? This flesh cries,
I will not have that man reign over me. But thanks be to God,
this particular flesh right here has no say in the matter. It
does not matter what I will, because he's going to reign over
me. He is going to reign over me. Our sovereign king conquers
this flesh and he rips out that stony heart and he puts in a
heart that cries, Lord Jesus, thou son of David, savior king. Have mercy on me. I love blind Bartimaeus. I love
that guy. I'd love to have been there hearing
him cry, have mercy on me. Our son of David, have mercy
on me. I don't need food. I don't. I don't need water. And I don't need air. If God
took those three things from me, I'd be fine. But I must have
him reign over me. I must. I must. Go back over to John 19. Verse 15 says, they cried out
away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said unto
them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we
have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. Pilate made his sentence. This
started at the end of chapter 18 and we've had a few weeks
where we've been going through this and we see where Pilate
kept deliberating and he kept deliberating, trying to get them
to change their mind. And his final plea to him was,
you actually want me to crucify your king? And they said, we
have no king but Caesar. He said, okay, crucify him. That was his judgment, crucify
him. Look at Psalm 94 with me. Psalm 94 verse 20 says, Shall the throne of iniquity
have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together
against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood. Only one soul has ever truly
been righteous. Only one man ever walked this
earth with truly innocent blood and Pilate said, Condemning,
condemning. All of this Old Testament pointed us to Christ and Christ
fulfilled every word of it. Pilate said condemning. Now listen
to this, I absolutely love this. One man wrote this down and this is wonderful.
He said, let us not forget, okay, Pilate said fine, crucifying,
Pilate condemning. But this man said, let us not
forget, however, that behind the governor of Judea, who delivered
the Lord Jesus unto the Jews, was the governor of the universe,
who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Who delivered him up? Pilate
said, fine, I'm going to make my decision. Who delivered him
up? God delivered himself up. Go
back over to John 19. Verse 16 says, then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified and they took Jesus and led him away. Every word is so significant. What does Isaiah 53 say? He was
led as a lamb to the slaughter. He was not driven. He was not
dragged. Our Lord was led. He willingly
did this. He willingly walked behind them. Verse 17, and he bearing his
cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull.
which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha. He bearing his cross. I love how Genesis 22, when Abraham
offered up Isaac, it says that Abraham, the father, he held
the fire, he held the knife, but he took the wood of the burnt
offering and he laid it on his son. He bearing His cross. Our Lord bearing His own cross,
carrying His own cross. Now, John does not mention this,
but the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they
tell us that they compelled a man to carry the cross for our Lord. His name, well, turn over there.
Luke 23 is where it is. Luke 23 verse 26. Luke 23, 26 says, and as they
led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian coming
out of the country. And on him, they laid the cross
that he might bear it after Jesus. Now it could be, and I'm, I'm
sure that our Lord was so beaten and he was so bruised. And he
was so tortured and he was so out of joint that he struggled
under the weight of that cross. But I hesitate to even say it
that way. And here's why the scripture
does not say that. We all have that in our minds.
He just couldn't do it. He was trying and he would pull
in and that thing. And so they got this other man
to carry it for him. Nowhere in the word of God, does it insinuate
that nowhere? We've just kind of all assumed
it. As he hung on this cross, we're going to see that he was
always in absolute control. Always. But this is what one
man pointed out. There was not one person in this
crowd, this massive crowd of people. There was not one person
in this crowd who had enough compassion on him. to volunteer
to carry it for him. Not one person. Those soldiers
had to physically grab a man and make him carry it. Zero compassion
on him. Absolute compassion from him
towards his own. And most of them were his sheep. But not one man there was willing
to actually carry his cross for him. Look at Psalm 22 now with
me. Psalm 22, now this is our Lord. Well, verse one says, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? These are the words of Jesus
Christ himself. And Psalm 22, verse six, this
is a holy verse of scripture. He says, but I am a worm. Didn't he call Jacob a worm?
That's Jacob's substitute right there. He said, I am a worm and
no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. Absolutely
despised of the people. No compassion on him. Now hold
your place with me right there. Hold your place in Psalm 22 and
go back to the text. John 19. John 19 verse 17 says, and he
bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place
of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they
crucified him. A thousand years or however long
it was before that actually happened, Christ himself inspired David
to pen back in Psalm 22 verse 16, dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and
my feet. The Jews never did that, never
ever. David would have naturally said,
they stoned me with stones. But every word in this book points
us to a lamb lifted up, every single word of it. All right,
John 19 verse 17 says, and he bearing his cross went forth
into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in
the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him. and two other
with him on either side one and Jesus in the midst. He was in
the middle, one on each side. Isaiah 53, 12 says, he was numbered
with the transgressors. He made his grave with the wicked. I believe that's verse nine.
Verse 19 says, and Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross
And the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read, Many of
the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh
to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Now, you see in all capital letters
right there, it says, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. It's believed that that is the
Latin translation. It said that it was written in
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And it's believed that that is
the Latin translation. That's what John wrote, and Mark
quoted part of that. And it's believed that Matthew
translated the Hebrew. You can turn if you want to,
or I'll just read it to you. This is Matthew 27, verse 37. It says, and set up over his
head his accusation written, this is Jesus, the king of the
Jews. And then it's believed that Luke
translated it in Greek. Luke 23, 38 says, And a superscription also was
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew, this
is the king of the Jews. That's why they say three different
things as we read those. It's believed that they translated
the different ones. And our text in John 19 verse
21 says, then said the chief priest of the Jews to Pilate,
write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of
the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Now think about this. All right,
think about this. See if the Lord will let us enter
into this. God made Pilate write this, didn't
he? They wanted him to change it.
Pilate said, what I've written, I've written. Pilate finally
is going to put his foot down. He's a powerful little man. And
so he says, I've written it and it's staying. God made him write this. And then God recorded it in his
word, didn't he? We're reading it right now. Okay.
Pilate wrote this. And then God recorded it in His
Word. With me so far? What that makes this is the Word
of God. Is there one word in this holy
book that is not the inspired Word of God? Is there one word in here that
is not the inspired Word of God? The answer is no. It's all the
Word of God. Still with me? As our Lord hangs there, the written Word of God is above
Him. The Holy Scripture is above Him. What God recorded in His Holy
Word The Holy Scripture that is able to make thee wise unto
salvation. You know when we believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you know what we believe? His Word. God sends
faith to believe His Word. Alright, so our Lord is hanging
there and above Him is the written Word of God. The Holy Scripture. And right next to our Lord Is another man also hanging on
a cross? That man's hanging there. And
the next time we're in this, we're going to hear and focus
on those things. Our Lord said, as he hung on
this cross, he said seven sayings. He preached a message is what
he did. And this man over here is listening. to the words of
Christ, and he's reading the word of God. The Bible is wide
open as our Lord's hanging there. And as he listens and as he reads,
this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. He keeps hearing
what this man is, Father, forgive them. They know not what they
do. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the
King of the Jews. As he reads that sign, God's
Holy Spirit takes God's holy word and he says to his heart,
behold the man. Behold your king. That's your
king. Isn't that what he did to us?
That's your king. You see him hanging there just
like you. I'm hanging here on a cross.
He's hanging there on a cross. Why is he hanging there on a
cross? He's hanging there for me. Behold your king. And that transgressor
cried, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's what he cried. And our
Lord said, today you're going to be with me in paradise. This is what Isaiah 53 says.
He was numbered with the transgressors and he bare the sins of the transgressors. The one that he was numbered
with that guy and he bore that guy's sin. And the ones that
were spitting on him right there. Father forgive them. Verse 23
says, Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took
his garments and made four parts to every soldier a part, and
also his coat. Now the coat was without seam,
woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things,
therefore, the soldiers did. Now we're going to look at those
verses a little more deeply, I believe, next time. But again,
that is Psalm 22. Once again, that's Psalm 22.
They just quoted it right there. And every single thing that our
Lord did was a fulfillment of his holy word. Every single thing
he did. He fulfilled his holy scripture
that we might know, absolutely know, number one, that our God
ordered every bit of this from the foundation of the world.
It was written, it was done. And he did this that we might
know that he and his word shall not fail. None of the Old Testament failed,
therefore none of the New Testament is going to fail. And he also
did this, that we might know that this is beyond the shadow
of a doubt, the Messiah. This is the one. This is the
Savior. The one that all our hope should be in, we have the
right one. We are not, our hope is built
on the right one. We're not looking to the wrong
one. This is the Christ, the son of the living God. He's our
fulfillment. All right, let's stand together.