Go with me now to John 19. John
chapter 19. Thank you, Jeanette and John. John 19. Let's read verses 25
through 27. John 19, 25 through 27. Now, they're stood by the cross
of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife
of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, John, He saith
unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the
disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her, Mary, unto his own home. So much in three verses. There's so much in one verse. There's so much in one line,
in one word of God's Word. By the cross, there are three
women. That's a good place to be in.
There's more than that in here tonight, by the cross. At the
cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light. Hmm, that's where
I want to be, don't you? Many women loved and followed
the Lord Jesus Christ then and now. Many. It appears to me that
there were more women that followed Him then than men. Well, that's fitting because
all of Christ's people are called His bride. All of Christ's people
are called the Lamb's wife. Every believer, turn to Revelation
21 with me, Revelation 21. Every believer, like the woman,
like the weaker vessel, every believer feels themselves to
be weak, the weaker vessel. Back in these days of Mary Magdalene,
Mary the Lord's mother and others, women without a husband had nothing. A widow had nothing. They weren't entitled to inheritance. They were very poor and very
needy. Well, that's us until we find out that the Lord is
our husband. And a true wife, the Lamb's wife,
a true wife loves, submits to her husband, obeys her husband,
right? Follows her husband. That's our
Lord. That's our Lord. We sang the
song, What a Friend, no, Blessed Assurance. And it says perfect
submission, perfect delight. Submission to who? Christ. But he also says in Ephesians
5, we're going to look at it at the end of the message if
we have time. Submit yourselves one to another. Wives, submit
yourselves one to another. And never is that more binding
than it is to God's people. We submit to him, we follow him,
our true husband. We need him. A true wife needs
her husband, wants him. She needs his love. She needs
his care. She needs his companionship. She needs him. Right? It's not a marriage if you're
married for what you can get out of the other person. It's
if you love them. She needs him. She needs his
comfort. She needs his strength. She's
weak. She needs his leadership. She
needs his wisdom. She follows him. The disciple
of Christ must sit at her Lord's feet and learn from him. Scripture says if a woman will
learn anything, let her ask her husband. Well, that's what we
do if we ask our husband. The Lord Jesus Christ. Through
Christ is all. You're married to him. You're
married to another. Didn't he say, I betrothed you
to me. You're mine. We read that, didn't we? No,
no, you don't belong. You don't belong to yourself.
You're not your own. You're bought with a price. More
than 15 pieces of silver, I tell you that. An infinite price. Revelation 21, look at this.
It talks about the church in verse 2. John saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. Who's for who? The wife made
for the husband. He's helped me. Glory. Look down
at verse 9. Then came unto me one of the
seven angels, who had the seven vows, full of the seven last
plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show
thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." You know, in this modern, unbelieving,
feminist world, a woman who is merely A wife and a mother is
scoffed at, is belittled, is looked down on, which is God's
order. They hate God's Word, they hate
God's truth, and they hate God's order. They would turn it completely
upside down. Our generation wants to do with
that gender completely. But a woman like that, a woman
who's just a faithful, just a faithful, what a calling to care for a
woman you love. What a calling. What a calling.
What a responsibility to raise up a soul, a child that's a soul
in the fear and the nurture and the admission. What a responsibility. Do you need another job? No, but they're scoffed at. Scoffed
at. But the fact is, all of God's
people, God's women, are the Lamb's wife. And they're kept
women. Women today don't want to be
a kept woman. Oh, so you're a kept woman. Well, I'm here to tell
you, I'm a kept woman. And I'm glad of it. Real glad
of it. I can't keep myself. I can't
provide for myself. I can't do anything for myself
but destroy myself. I am so thankful that I have
a faithful husband. I will gladly own to be in a
kept woman. He provides everything. He does
everything for me. He goes out to battle for me.
I can't fight. He provides for me. I can't provide.
He does it all for me, and I'm thankful. I'll just stay right
at home and rest. Luke chapter 7. Go over to Luke
chapter 7. There were many women at the
cross. Many stood afar off, the Gospels
say, and it tells us of these three women at least that were
at the foot of the cross. In this Luke chapter 7, you know
the story. This is one of my favorites.
A man named Simon asked the Lord, invited the Lord to eat in his
house, and he sat at Mead in verse 37. Behold, a woman in
the city which was a sinner. She knew that Jesus sat at Mead
in the Pharisee's house. She knew where He was. What did
she do? She's a sinner. In that house
is a Savior. What's she going to do? Sit at
home? She's going to run and fall at
His feet and seek mercy. She's a sinner. She did. And
she's going to take the finest thing she had and break it. An
alabaster bough. She stood at His feet behind
Him, weeping. And she had to kneel down to
wash His feet with her tears, and wipe them with the hairs
of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with almonds.
This is the feet of her Savior. This is the feet of the One bringing
forgiveness of sins for her. She hadn't received it yet, but
she's hopeful. All her hope is built on nothing less than him. You know, the Pharisees,
you know, scoffed at her, said, if he knew what manner of woman
this was that touches him, he wouldn't let her touch her. Oh,
he knows exactly what manner of woman she is, and that's why
he came here, for her to lay hold of him. Nobody else. That's who the Lord comes for.
That's who the Lord will bless. That's who the Lord will speak
to tonight. Nobody else. And he rebuked them, and verse
47 he said, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, to whom little
is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he turned and said
to her, Thy sins are forgiven. Past, present, future. Frankly,
freely, eternally forgiven. Gone. Wiped out. Never to be
brought up again. Be sought for and won't be found.
Like it never happened. Can you imagine having your past
wiped out like that? Your present? And they that sat
at meat with him said, Who is this that forgiveth sins? I tell
you who it is. It's God. It's the Savior. God our Savior. They said to
the woman, Thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace. Well, what
happened to this woman? He told her to go and preach.
What happened to her? Read on. Chapter 8. It came to
pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching.
Who's he looking for? Sinners. He finds them at a well. He finds them up a tree. And it says, preaching and showing
the glad tidings, what's that? Forgiveness of sins for sinners
of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him.
The twelve apostles were with him. Who else was with him? Certain
women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities.
I'm pretty sure that that woman is right beside him. I'm pretty
certain that she's afraid to leave him aside now. I am. Who else? Mary called Magdalene, out of
whom was seven devils. So, that's who Christ's bride turns
to. That's who comes to His feet. That's who was at the cross this
day. That was who at the foot of the cross this day. Mary Magdalene,
a harlot. She didn't want to be anywhere
else. Now, our Lord is hanging on the
cross, and the Word of God is very graphic, isn't it? He's hanging there naked in front
of all these women. Isn't it? He doesn't have a loincloth
on like they depict Him. You can't paint the picture of
what our Lord looks like on that cross. His visage was marred
more than any man. He sure wouldn't put it on your
wall. And he's hanging there naked,
okay, before all these women. But he has no shame. He has no sin. Before sin, there
was no shame. There was no lust of the eyes,
no lust of the flesh. Adam and Eve were naked. No shame. This is the second Adam without
sin. No shame. No shame. Scripture says in Hebrews 12,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
which we're going to look at in a moment, despised the shame,
meaning he thought nothing of it. It wasn't shame to him. Like
a woman giving birth, you know. All of her modesty is gone, isn't
it? In that room where she's about
to give birth to a child, it's all gone. She doesn't care. This
is a joyous occasion. And though she's full of pain
and sorrow and exposed, it's her joy, isn't it? She thinks
nothing of the shame. And then when that child is born,
it's worth it all. Worth it all. But I'll tell you who is ashamed.
These women are ashamed. These women at the foot of the
cross. They're the reason he's naked. They're gomer. Mary Magdalene is gomer. She realized that she spent her
whole life making herself naked before people, exposing herself
to others, sinning against her Lord, her faithful husband, abusing
her body and letting anyone and everyone have her body but him.
And now she's ashamed of herself because he's taking her shame
for her. He's taking her blame. He's naked
so she'll be clothed. She's ashamed. She sold herself. They sold theirselves. We sold ourselves for naught,
for money, for pleasure. How many years? How many years? And they sold our Lord for 30
pieces of silver. And we sold him out. And bless
God, the price he paid for us. Why would he do that? Why would
he pay such a price, his own precious blood, for such unfaithful
women? Because he's the Lord. Because
he's our faithful husband. He's our Josiah, isn't he? Oh,
they're the ones ashamed. You know the only thing that
will strip us of our pride? You know the only thing that
will strip us of our boasting, of our bragging, of our self-love
and our goodness? You know the only thing that
will strip us? Seeing Christ hanging there naked. Seeing Christ
hanging on the cross. That's right. There's no room
for boasting. When you see what Christ did
for you, only when you see what He did for you, you can say,
oh, I believe Christ died for sinners. Well, it won't mean
a thing to you until you believe He died for you. That He did
this for you. That He was stripped for you.
So you won't ever be exposed by God to anyone. He was made sin, who had no sin,
who knew no sin. It was the most repulsive thing
of all to him. The Lord laid on him the iniquity
of the soul. In his body, on the tree, sin. Ah, boy. So, here stand these women at
the foot of the cross. Boy, that's where they belong.
That's where we belong. Ah, boy. And they're looking
on, they're beholding their Lord, their faithful husband who loved
them, who gave himself for them, who stripped himself to cover
them, who's dying that they might live. Now listen to it. Our Lord is
dying a slow and painful death on the cross. He chose to do
so. We looked one time at Philippians 2 on a self-made man. And it's
a good message if you want to hear it again. How that Christ
chose everything for himself. He chose his physical appearance.
Not beautiful. He didn't choose to be tall,
dark, and handsome. That's not beauty. He didn't choose. He chose his
friends. He didn't choose the rich and
the famous. He chose poor and the needy. He chose his parents. He didn't choose the rich. He
chose the poor with nothing. He chose his life, a life of
sorrow, a life of grief, a life of pain. He chose his death,
die alone, a long and painful death. He chose to do that. Would
you choose that? No. He didn't. We did. Our Lord is dying of slow and
painful death, unimaginable physical pain. I'm certain no one has
endured physical pain like He did. But that's not the greatest
pain and suffering our Lord endured. The pain and suffering our Lord
endured was spiritual pain, soul pain. His Heavenly Father is
about to forsake Him. And He's doing battle with all
the forces of evil. We've done a little bit of it.
We've been tempted just a little bit to heed the whole forces
of evil, spiritual wickedness in high places against this one
man hanging there on a crop. Unimaginable heart and soul pain
along with the physical pain. He's already endured beatings.
He's already endured beatings with their fists and with their
hands and with the whips. He's already endured them jerking
the beard out of his face. He's already endured them spitting
in his face. He's already endured them hounding
his head with thorns. He's already endured that. He's
already endured carrying a cross on his ripped open back, a big
piece of wood with splinters in it, carrying it. A police
week, he hadn't slept in three days, he hadn't eaten anything
in a week. He's already endured that. He's already endured the
laughs, the insults, the mockery of these soldiers and everybody.
And then they laid him on that cross and they drove big spikes
in his hands and in his feet, the most tender part of your
body. And then they lifted him up and drove him down in that
hole, four feet, where every joint in his body is out of there.
He's already endured that. And the whole crowd is laughing
and jeering and mocking his pain. And yet our Lord looks down from that cross. These are not the first words.
The first words he spoke, looking at those who are laughing at
him, Looking at those who hate Him and mock and jeer Him and
those who have tortured Him, and He says, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. And our Lord looks down at these
women. He looks down upon these women.
And he looks upon them with great love and care and concern. He
loves them all. He loves them. He came for me.
He gave himself for me. Now he's giving life for me.
And in spite of his suffering, I didn't adequately describe
our Lord's suffering. Nobody can. In spite of that great suffering,
in spite of all of that, he looks down and he looks straight at
the woman who bore him. Him who was made of a woman,
made under the law. He chose his mother. Had to be a virgin, you know. The woman's seed. But he looks
upon Mary. Now imagine her grief. Imagine Mary's grief. What if
that was your son? All that done to him. Mary. Just
try to imagine. You can't, can you? Unimaginable.
His great pain and grief and sorrow. And she's full of grief
and sorrow. One time, when he was carrying
his cross, remember? When he was carrying his cross.
It's not written in John, but I think Luke. He's carrying his
cross, and the women who loved him, they're all weeping, weeping,
sorrowing over him, his pain and suffering. And he, in great
strength, and he looks at them and says, don't weep for me. You see, our Lord wasn't, we've
already looked at this, but our Lord wasn't falling beneath that
cross. He wasn't struggling to carry
that cross. He wasn't struggling. His back was ripped open. He
was in great pain. He wasn't struggling at all.
When he died, we're going to see, Lord's Day, next hope we
hope. When he died, he did not head
drop and die like we do. He bowed his head. He gave up the ghost. But he turned and said to these
women with all the pain, he's going, don't weep for me. Don't
weep for me. Daughters of Jerusalem, weep
not for me. Rejoice, but weep for yourselves. And weep for your children if
they don't know me. Oh, weep for them. But Mary's full of grief, she's
full of sorrow. You know, I just mentioned Brother
D. passing away, and we've all been
through this. You know, it's harder, I believe,
on the loved one watching their loved one suffer than it is you
lying there suffering. You'd whole lots rather it be
you lying there than them, wouldn't you? Seriously, wouldn't you? It's a whole lot harder watching.
Imagine watching your child die. Some have. I can't imagine. So she's full of grief. She's
full of grief. She's full of sorrow. It's very real. Her sorrow is
very real. And he's touched with a feeling
of her infirmity. Though he's in pain, he's touched
by heartfeel. Though he's full of sorrow, yet
he's more concerned about herself. He knows. Daughters of Jerusalem,
he knows. He sees. He hears. Every cry. Every tear. Every time. Every sin, He knows. Every sin,
every sorrow, every suffering, loneliness, He knows. He was
there and you didn't know it. Watch. He knows. He knows it all. So here's the thing to do. Cast all your care on Him. Unload
your burden upon Him. He'll care for you. He's hanging
on the cross. He's caring for His mother. Caring
for His mother. And He says in our text, in verse
26, He says, Woman, behold thy son. Woman. He says to her, Woman, or I can't,
I can't say it like He said it. I'd like to, but I can't. In
a voice so tender and so kind, in a song we sing, come to the
garden and his voice, the birds hush their singing. With a voice
so tender and kind, though in pain and suffering, a voice of
comfort for her woman. Later on when he rises from the
grave, Mary's going to hear his voice again. He says, woman. You know, this is the same one
who told Eve in the garden, who spoke to the woman in the garden,
said, I'm going to greatly multiply your sorrow. You're going to
be so full of sorrow. Your whole life is going to be
sorrow after sorrow. Multiply your sorrow. This is
the second Adam, you see, who's come to bring joy. He said, sorrow,
your sorrow will return to joy. As your sorrows will multiply,
your joy will be much more multiplied. You're going to forget all the
sorrow. This is the one who said to that woman. And this is the
one in the end who says to this woman. Notice he called her woman. We've looked at this many times.
He'd never called her mother in public. He did. He called her three times. All
of them in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is the gospel
of his deity. This is God. God doesn't have
a mother. He asked one time, what saint
think ye of Christ, whose son is he? Remember? Well, he's the son of Mary. Hold
on a minute. He's never called him. Mary's son? He was never called the son of
Mary. Mary had to have a son. Mary had to have a male child,
according to the Scripture. But he existed long before Mary
did. In fact, he's Mary's father. The one whom Mary held is the
one who held her when she was a baby. And when he died, Mary
did not hold him in her arms like the Catholics depict it.
He held her when she died. He came for her. This is her
father. This is her husband. And yet
he made himself her son. And no son could ever love a
mother like he did, could he? No way. Obedient? Honor thy father
and thy mother? He's in pain. Who's he honoring?
He's suffering. Who's he thinking about? He's
all alone. Who's he going to provide for?
Who's he going to take care of in her old age? Who's going to
take care of who? He's leaving. He's going to provide
for her. He's going to see to her every need. This is the one that cares for
her. Oh, behold, what manner of love. No son ever loved a
mother as he. No son was ever so faithful,
loving her to the end, providing, caring for her. And so he does
for us all. All of us. All his people. And so he says to her, Woman,
behold thy son. His hands are nailed. I'm certain he looked over at John.
Behold thy son. He's not talking about himself. He's committing her into the
care of John. Behold thy son. This is now your
son. This is now the man that's going
to take care of you. This is your son. Go home with
him. He will care for you. He's going
to love you like I did. That's the only people that will. That's
the only man that will. Young ladies, the only man that
will love you like Jesus Christ is a man who's like Jesus Christ.
Don't get involved with a man who doesn't know Jesus Christ.
Ladies, don't do it. Men, don't do it. They won't
love you like Christ did. There's no promise that marriage
will last. But if that person knows Christ, they're going to
love you like Christ. They're going to give themselves
for you. Don't do it now. John was the
disciple whom Jesus loved, wasn't he? Huh? Did he love Christ? Listen, he commits her, the one
whose breast he lay upon. The woman whose breast he laid
upon as a child, he commits to the man who laid on his breast. That's who you can commit to.
That's who you can commit your life to. That's who you can marry.
This is your son, John. Boy, did the Lord bless me with
a wonderful son to take care of my daughter. I chose him,
you know that, don't you? I betrothed him. Marvin and I
betrothed the one. I had no choice. No, the Lord
chose him, didn't he? And I'm so thankful. He's a Christ-like
man. He loves my daughter. He better
like Christ loves the church. Woman, behold thy son. Behold
thy son. Then he looks over at John. He saith to the disciple, Behold
thy mother. Thy mother. What an example our
Lord shows us. example he is, what a lesson
he teaches us. Now, in closing, go with me to
Ephesians chapter 4, in closing. All the disciples learned this
from our Lord, learned this love and this care and this sacrifice
and compassion, and hopefully we will. Do you remember when
Paul had been beaten, Paul and Silas and Timothy, not Timothy,
but Paul and Silas, at Philippi? And they were in jail after being
beaten, and started singing and praying, and the Lord let them
out. But, well, heck, they were put
back in jail. And Paul back in jail again.
He writes to the church at Philippi. And he says, Fulfill ye my joy. That you have the same love.
Let each esteem other better than himself. That's what he's
doing. That's what Paul's doing. Christ-like
man. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory. Esteem other better than yourself.
That's who you are. Think on. Look not every man
on his own thing, but every man on the things of others. Let
this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. Don't think
about yourself. That's a bad person to think
about. That old man's self is not worth thinking about. He
needs dead and gone then. Oh, think on the things of others.
In Ephesians 4, and I'll quit with this, Ephesians 4 verse
23 says, Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. He's still in jail.
Paul's in jail. Like our Lord on the cross. Put
on the new man, which after God's created in righteousness and
true holiness. What is true holiness? It's love. It's mercy. It's grace. It's
compassion. It's thinking on others. It's
not thinking of yourself. It's not thinking too highly
of yourself. It's thinking on others. That's holiness. Christlike. And down in verse 31, let all
bitterness... Who had a right to be bitter
more than Christ? Hmm? Naomi said, the Lord had dealt
very bitterly with me. Call me tomorrow. Hold on, Naomi.
Oh, no. This is all good. This is good. Boy, the Lord dealt very bitterly
with Christ on the cross. It's all bitterness, wrath, anger. We're only getting mad. Who are
we getting mad at? God's the first cause of all
things. Isn't it? We're just getting mad at God.
Clamor and evil speaking, put away from you. All malice, be
ye kind one to another. Tenderhearted, forgiving one
another. How much do I have to forgive
my brother, Peter said. Our Lord looked at him 490 times
a day. And he would wait. In a little
while, Peter's going to know just how much he needs to forgive.
When he sees Christ on that cross, now I say, I forgive everything. He forgave everything. Why can't
I? Forgive. Forgiving one another,
even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Who? You. Me? Yes, you. Bless his holy name. Stand with me.