this evening. And as Joe indicated,
we have several people who are sick, and we're especially mindful
of those who are in the hospital. Bob had an oblation today, and
he is in St. Mary's. And he'll be there for
roughly three days or something like that. And they put him on
some new medicine. He needs to be kind of under
observation. So we hope that this is about
his fifth oblation, I believe. They just need to watch him with
this new medicine that he's on. But I talked to Connie today,
and she said he was uncomfortable, of course, having gone through
the procedure. It took a little less than three
hours. So continue to remember Brother
Bob McSweeney. I was down visiting also today
with Stan and Sister Sheila. She is doing a little bit better.
She had her surgery yesterday. The hardware that they needed
to take out, that was successful. It went better than they anticipated. And she now has a pacemaker on
the outside, which will be like that till they make sure all
the infection's gone. And after they estimate 10 days,
that's kind of a guesstimate that she'll be there. put a new pacemaker in, and then
they're going to have to address the issue. She's got gallbladder
issues. But it was a good visit with
her and a good visit with Stan. And we continue to pray for her. I also remember Janet Lester
visited with Janet for a bit. And it may be that she went home
this afternoon. I'm not really certain of that.
But it was good to see her. She's had a couple or three different
issues. And she was just about asleep
when I went in. Aaron was with her. But once
again, I had a very good visit with them. So we ask God to undertake
for these, our brother and sisters who are in the hospital, and
of course, as Joe indicated, remember Carolee and Kurt who
are down here in the nursing home, and others who are of our
congregation who are just sick. As you know, there's quite a
bit of sickness going around at that time of year, the flu season
and that sort of thing. And so we ask God to hedge us
about and protect us. And we trust that he will. And we are mindful of each other,
that God would bless us and give us a keener interest in the things
of God, and keep us ever looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. Now this evening, I want to read
to you from John chapter 19, and then endeavor to bring you
a message on this. I'm going to back up and begin
reading verse 23. And this is such a, I don't know,
powerful portion of scripture because we're reading of our
Lord's substitutionary sacrifice. And we know that here is the
gospel, here is the message of redemption because everything
is dependent upon the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so
this is a most significant portion. And may God bless as we read
it together, as you read silently, as I read out loud. And may God make us even more
sensitive to how critical it was that our
master laid down his life for his sheep. And so I'll begin
reading in John 19, 23. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, 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. And, of course, the soldiers
had no idea that in their actions they were fulfilling that which
God had determined. And yet we're very specifically
told that the scripture might be fulfilled. And we continue
reading in the middle of verse 24, which saith, they parted
my garment, or my raiment among them, and for my vesture did
they cast lots. These things, therefore, the
soldiers did. Now, there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas,
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus, therefore, saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, 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 into his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now, there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, that is sour wine that the soldiers drank. They
filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon the hyssop. They
put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head, and gave
up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because
it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, and then John, by the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, gives us this additional bit of information
for that Sabbath day was a high day. They besought Pilate that
their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first, and then they walked around the Savior
who was in the middle, and then of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they stepped back and
came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already, they break
not his legs. But one of the soldiers with
the spear pierced his side, and forthwith there came out blood
and water. And he that bare it, he that
saw it, bare record, and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith
true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that
the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again, another scripture
saith and shall look on him whom they have pierced. And we'll
see if we can get down to verse 37 tonight in our study. Let's seek the face of God together. Our gracious Heavenly Father, when we read of the sacrifice
of our Savior, and we are reminded of his sufferings, of his agonies,
not merely physical, though they were horrible, but of his soul's
sufferings and agonies, and of his death. Lord, our hearts are
moved within us because we know this was necessary in order for
us to be saved. There wasn't any other way for
your justice to be honored. There was no other way for our
sins to be put away except that one who is equal to yourself. humble himself and be made like
unto sinful flesh, entering into this world without any sin of
his own. And he had to be made under the
law in order to redeem them that were under the law. He must as
a man meet all the demands of your righteous and just precepts,
and then he must die an agonizing, soul-wrenching death, because
all of our sins deserve a horrible penalty, the suffering of the
wrath of God. And our Lord Jesus, all we read
of Him as far as physical agonies is when He said, I thirst. But oh, how He suffered. And
we read that His soul suffered. As our brother read to us from
Isaiah 53, He made His soul an offering for sin. It pleased
the Lord to Bruese. Lord, here we fall prostrate
before you. And we give thanksgiving. And
we bless the name of our God who sent his only begotten son
in order to save us. And we bless the name of the
great and good sheep shepherd who came into this world in order
to lay down his life for the sheep. And we bless the spirit
of Christ Jesus who has come to us through the word of truth And He has been pleased to give
us spiritual life. He has been pleased to give us
spiritual light. And we have been made to see
something of our own neediness. And we've been enabled to see
something of the beauties and the glories of the one who died
for us. And we can justify you, O God,
in punishing our Savior, in order to save us. We see what sin is
deserving of. Indeed, it enables us to understand
more of what you said to Adam. And the day you eat thereof,
you'll surely die. And we see our Savior enduring
the punishment for all of our sins. And we rejoice that he
who died in our stead, he has conquered every enemy of your
people. And he ever lives. He lives even
now. And he represents us. And he
is our intercessor on the high. Thank you for such a glorious
advocate. Jesus Christ the righteous. Lord, we ask on behalf of these
who've been mentioned and others as well who are sick of your
people, Lord, we ask that you would undergird them with your
strength. And Lord, lift the spirits of
your people, encourage your children. whether sicknesses are gotten
over or not, whether you grant physical healing or not, we know
the body eventually is going to get weak and die. And so that
which we ask for specifically is for a spiritual strengthening
and encouragement of your dear children. And Lord, of course,
we pray If it be your will, you'd give them some physical strengthening
as well. Remind us that all things work
together for good for those who are your people, for those who
are called according to your purpose. And now as we focus
in on this scripture, give us a blessed time of worship as
we think about our wounded and smitten Savior. and rejoice in
him. These things we ask in the name
of the Savior and for his sake. Amen. The book that I'm preaching from,
of course, is all of it is the word of God. Specifically, the
book of John is a book written by John, who's the son of Zebedee. one of the sons of Thunder. James
is his brother. John was one of the favorite
three. Peter, James, and John was so
often to be found in the company of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
in this specific man, John, in this disciple, was kind of a
wonderful mixture of gentleness on the one hand, and yet force
on the other hand. He was a humble man, as is indicated
by the fact that when he refers to himself, he usually refers
to himself as that disciple whom Jesus loved, the disciple who
leaned upon the master. But he was also, in addition
to being a humble man, he was an assertive man, and he was
a bold man. Our Lord had predicted, and he
told this to his disciples, and indeed, this is a fulfillment
of an Old Testament prophecy, that all men would forsake him,
and that the disciples would be dispersed, and they were. Peter is gone, he's weeping,
he's embarrassed, and the disciples filled with all kinds of shame
because of his denials of the Savior. Of course, Judas is dead.
The other disciples, we don't know where they are, but they've
been scattered. But there is one disciple who
stayed. It's John. John stayed. And he has this to say, and here
I get my title from this, The Record of John. If you'll notice
at verse 35, notice what he says. And he that saw, and the word
it is italicized. He who saw all that happened. He who saw bear record. And his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith
true. He said, I know it's true, because
I saw all of this. I was there. I observed all that
happened at Calvary. And he said, I'll tell you this.
I'll tell you the truth that you might believe. that you might
believe. And indeed, doesn't he say even
a little later in the book of John that this is why he wrote
the book? Look at the next chapter, chapter
20, the last two verses of chapter 20, verses 30 and 31, and many
other signs or wonders or miracles truly did Jesus in the presence
of His disciples, which are not written in this book. They're
not written in the book of John, and they're not written in the
book of God, all of the book of God. But these are written. We have more than enough evidence. There are more than enough works
of our Savior that have been recorded These are written that
you might believe. What's the purpose for this?
That you might believe. That you might believe. That
I might believe. That Jesus, the one John writes
about, and He begins in chapter 1 saying, in the beginning was
the Word. Who's he writing about? He's
writing about Jesus. He's writing about the Son of
God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
the Word was God. In the beginning He was with
God, right from the beginning. And then he goes all the way
through the book, establishing the deity of the Lord Jesus,
that he is indeed the Son of God, and that's evidenced by
the miracles that he did, and all of the works. In fact, our
Lord said he would say to the Jews, believe me, if you don't
want to believe my words, believe me for my works. for my works. And even one of the Jews, one
of the Sanhedrin said, we know that you come from God because
no man can do the miracles that you do except God be with him. And of course, Nicodemus said
that. And so John, right from the beginning, he establishes
the eternality of Jesus of Nazareth. And then as he goes through the
book, he doesn't deal with the birth of our Savior at all. He
doesn't deal with the early years of our Master. He goes right
into His public ministry. And then He presents our Savior
throughout the book, who reveals the Father, who is the Father in the flesh,
because he said to Philip, have I been with you so long, and
you don't understand that he who's seen me has seen the Father.
He's establishing the deity that Jesus of Nazareth is the I Am,
and of course John uses that expression quite frequently throughout
this book, throughout this gospel narrative, and then he gets up
to the point that he preaches, our Savior preaches, and John
records this, our Savior teaching and preaching to His own. And then He shows Him in prayer. Did the Son of God, the great
I Am, that One who is God over all, bless forever, did He find
it necessary to pray? Or how much more should we find
it necessary to pray? And I'm sure if there's any rebuke
due to, for any of us, for all of us, it would be we just don't
pray enough. We have this privilege to address
the God of glory anytime we will. The psalmist says his ear is
open to our cry. He's never deaf to the voice
of His children. He's never deaf or unfeeling
toward our own, what do you call it, size? Our own feelings? Even when you
can't express yourself. Like in Romans chapter 8, the
Spirit of God puts into words what we can't even express. I
was talking with someone just the other day, and they were
saying, you know, sometimes I just can't put into words what I want
to say. And I said, the Spirit of God
knows that. And He interprets your feelings
to the Father through Christ Jesus. And I said, sometimes
we're just like, and I said to this person, I said, don't you
feel like sometimes you're like Simon Peter You're going down,
you're sinking beneath the waves, the storm is crashing around
you, and you have taken your eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all you can utter are just these few words, Lord save me. And that message goes right to
the heart of God. And He hears. And He saves. John is presenting our Savior
as the God-man, and in John 17, he pours out his heart in prayer,
and he prays for us. He said, I pray not only for
these here that are with me, but I pray for those who will
believe as a result of their word, and we believe as a result
of their word, don't we? as a result of the words of,
and it may be, I may be speaking to somebody and the Lord used
something right out of the Gospel of John in your conversion. So you know what I'm talking
about. We believe through their word. And then John sets forth the
arrest and all the sufferings of our Savior. And he says, lest
we lest we forget. He wants us to know, listen,
my record is true. I was there. Now this is no more
inspired than any other portion of Scripture. This is no more
inspired than like what Moses wrote toward the end of the wilderness
journey when he wrote the book of Genesis. Well, he wasn't there
on creation day. Day one, day two, three, four,
five, and six. He wasn't there, but he wrote
with accuracy according to the Holy Spirit, as did all of the
inspired writers. But John goes, if I may put it
this way, a step further. We know his words are inspired,
but he wants us to know, listen, I know these things happened,
I was there. I was an eyewitness. And I'll
tell you, you know, an eyewitness to something, you can't improve
on their testimony. John's testimony is indeed true. He was there, and I was thinking
about this. Oh, how much this precious disciple,
how much he saw and how much he heard. He heard the thieves
railing on the Son of God. He heard the Jewish leaders mocking
the master. He heard one of the thieves all
of a sudden have a change of mind and heart, and tell his buddy, listen, we're
suffering indeed justly, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And then he said, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. And John said, I heard him say
that. I was there. I was there. And I heard the
master say, today, today, you'll be with me in paradise. And John
could say, that record's true. And you know, it's interesting,
isn't it, that the Spirit of God didn't lead John to write
that. He led Luke to write that. And Luke wasn't even an eyewitness. John heard it and he'd say, listen,
what Luke wrote, it's exactly right. I was there. I was there. And John was there when all of
a sudden darkness was everywhere. He was there. He experienced
it. He said, I'm an eyewitness of
it. And I heard the Master cry, my
God, my God, why has He self-forsaken me? I heard Him. That's what
John said. My record's true. I'm not making
anything up, he says. He was there. He was there when
the The Savior said, it's finished. He was there when He was watching. And no doubt amazed that the
Master was so strong. He wasn't weak. It wasn't like His strength was
ebbing away. He heard him, he heard him cry
with a loud voice, Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit. And then our Lord Jesus, his
head had been erect, and then he just bowed his head
and gave up the ghost. John said, I saw him. That's
my master. That's my savior. See, unlike Stephen, remember
when Stephen over in the book of Acts, and you know the passage
well, Acts chapter seven, Stephen being stoned, he said, Lord,
receive my spirit. Receive my spirit. You see, with
Stephen, his spirit, his life was taken away. Our Lord Jesus
didn't say, receive my spirit. Our Lord Jesus said, here it
is. I commend my spirit. Father into thy hands I commend
or I commit my spirit. Because you see, nobody could
take his life from him. Now those men who were stoning
Stephen, they had taken his life, they were murdering him. He didn't
have any control over that. And he was gracious through it
all, as we know, Stephen was. But our Lord Jesus, he's still
full of strength. How strong was he? He saved a
sinner. The scripture says he's almighty
to save. And then John said he bowed his
head and he gave up the ghost. And John could tell us, you know,
I was there. When the ground shook, and the
rocks rent, and the graves burst open, I
was there. I was there. He was an eyewitness to all of
it. And he said, when that old centurion
When he cried out, truly this was a righteous man, this was
the Son of God, John said, I was there. I heard him, had no question
about it, John said. And John was there to see all
the women crying when the Savior died. Back in 1899, One of the African slaves on
one of the plantations down south wrote a song. Were you there
when they crucified my Lord? The second stanza was, were you
there when they nailed him to the cross? The third stanza,
were you there when they pierced him in the side? And the fourth
stanza was, were you there when the sun refused to shine? And John could say, I was. I
was there. I was really there. And he beheld
all of this. And led by the Spirit of God,
he records this. Quite significant, the record
of John. He records the Savior's last
words. It is finished. It is finished. Really, this is the, even though
it's three words, it is finished. And the original, it was just
one word. It was the briefest of all the
seven sayings upon the cross of Calvary. And there's so much
in this, and you've heard messages, I'm sure, Brother Henry preached
many messages on this. I got on the internet and I saw
a bunch of messages he preached on. I'm sure Brother Bill preached
on this as well. And I would say that all of eternity
will be, a good bit of eternity will be spent in our Savior fully telling us about all that was
involved when He said, it is finished. It is finished. I know this, He came to redeem
and when He suffered, bled and died, that was finished. He redeemed
us. Scripture says he came to save
his people from their sins. That's the reason his name is
Jesus. When he said it is finished, he had saved his people from
their sins. Scripture says he came to put
away iniquity. When he said it's finished, that's
put away. You're not gonna find him. Because he buried him in
the depths of the deepest sea. He buried him in his own tomb.
And he came out without him. It is finished. Everything in
the Old Testament that foreshadowed him and his substitutionary death,
it's all finished. That's what he's saying. Everything
the Father gave him to do, it's finished. Everything the law
demanded, it's finished. Everything divine justice required,
it's finished. That's what he said. It's finished.
And you can't add anything to it. Your faith doesn't add anything
to it. Your repentance doesn't add anything
to it. Nothing can be added to what
Christ did. Salvation is finished. That's
what he said. And John said, I bear record,
that's the truth. That's the truth. And when he said it is finished,
he's not just said, well, it's finally over. I've come to the
end of my sufferings. That's not what he's saying at
all. He's saying the reason that I came into this world to do
the Father's will of redemption, it's finished. It's finished. I paid the debt. I satisfied justice. Everything
is fully done. He did what the ceremonial law
could never do. All those sacrifices. You know,
and I'm sure you're quite aware of this, that every day in Israel,
at 9 o'clock in the morning, there was a lamb sacrificed. And every afternoon at 3 o'clock,
a lamb was sacrificed. Every single day. Think of that. Every single day. But we read
in Hebrews chapter 10, they could never put sin away. They couldn't
put one sin away. They pictured the substitutionary
sacrifice of Christ Jesus. But every day, blood flowed. Blood flowed. Somebody said,
you all have a slaughterhouse religion. We do. We do. I'm not ashamed of the blood,
are you? I know some religions and preachers
water it down. They don't like to talk about
blood. They don't like to talk about sin. One preacher said
it's too offensive to people. Well, the gospel is an offensive
message to the flesh. And the only way sin could be
put away is by blood being shed, the blood of the Son of God. He shed His blood. He did what nothing else could
do. And He finished it. Here's the second thing I want
to show you. Religious traditions were still upheld. Look at verse
31, the Jews therefore, because it was a preparation that the
body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for
that Sabbath was a high day, besought Pilate that their legs
might be broken, that they might be taken away. Now Jewish law
said, The person who was hung on a tree, and you can read this
in Deuteronomy chapter 21 verses 22 and 23. A person who was hung
on a tree, their body could not hang there past evening. It couldn't go into the evening.
It had to be taken down from the cross. Now, with the Romans,
of course, crucifixion was an awful way to die. It was an awful
way of executing a person. And typically, they would leave
the bodies of the crucified ones on the cross. Usually it took
two to three days for them, on average, to die. Because when
they put the spikes in their hands and in their feet, they
didn't wound any vital organs. And so it's like life just ever
so slowly seeped away as they bled. And they died an agonizing
death. And it's hung there. And then
with the Romans, when they were finally dead, they just left
them there on the cross for their bodies to rot And the birds of
prey, the vultures and the buzzards and the crows and the ravens
and whatever else wanted to pick at the meat of the bone, off
the bones, the bodies were left there until finally there was
no meat left. They took the skeleton down and
threw it out. Thus it's called Golgotha's Brow. The hill of a skull in the shape
of a skull, all those bones. And that's what Pilate, in his
own mind, that's what he had in store for them. But the Jews, very much aware
of the law, they're sticklers for the law, when the law was
convenient for them. They had killed an innocent man,
even Pilate, and Herod agreed, I find no fault in this man.
They had to pay false witnesses so it'd look right. But they killed him. And then, knowing the law, got
to get that body off. Can't hang up there overnight. They also insisted that the bodies
come down because The next day was a Sabbath day. And so they go to Pilate and
request that their bones be broken. And it's interesting, you can
read, there's a reference in Mark 15, and I forget exactly
the right verse, but you can read there in Mark 15, oh, I
jotted it down, Mark 15, 42 and 44. When Joseph of Arimathea,
when he went to Pilate and said, could I have the body of my dear
savior? Pilate said, you mean he's dead? He was shocked. I've just been up there six hours.
Most men lasted, positive, two to three days. Six hours is the
Savior's day. So you mean he's dead? And he
asked the centurion, he said, is he really dead? The centurion
said, yeah, he's dead. What about those other two? No,
they ain't dead. And so they came up with this
way. of break the bones in the legs. They crushed the legs. Literally,
when it says break the bones, it means they pulverized it.
Just took a big piece of heavy metal and just hit their legs
to where they couldn't hold their weight up anymore. Not being
able to hold their weight up anymore, they slouched down and
then they'd suffocate and drown in their own blood. So go to
the first thief, and that's what they did to him. Go to the second
thief, what they did to him, bust their legs. By the way,
one of those thieves was a child of God. But he wasn't spared suffering. Even the Lord's people in this
world have some difficult times. Just because you're a believer,
it's a wonderful thing. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, but that doesn't mean that your leg's not going to
be broken. It doesn't mean that somebody's
not going to put a piece of iron to your legs and pulverize it.
It doesn't mean you're not going to wind up in the hospital sometime.
It doesn't mean you're not going to wind up flat on your back. He suffered too. They came and broke their legs,
but then they go to the Savior. He's already dead. So one of them takes a spear. See, the Savior has died at the
time of the evening sacrifice. Ain't no use to kill them lambs
anymore. God's lamb has died. A lamb of
God. One of the soldiers, he just
jams a spear up in the side of the master. There came out blood
and water. There's justification and sanctification. Blood to wash our sins away,
sanctification to wash us in the water of the word. Preacher,
what about sanctification? Is it progressive? No, but it
is continual. It is continual. It's like our
Savior said there earlier in the book of John. He's washing
his disciples' feet. He was talking about feet washing.
Marty and I were talking about feet washing at some churches
in Franklin County, Virginia. Sunday night, I think it was.
Our Lord washed their feet, and Peter said, well, just wash me
all over. And our Savior said, well, he
that is clean, need not be washed all over, just his feet. And
the Lord washes our feet, come in contact with the world. It's
a continual washing of the water by the word. Did not David say
in Psalm 119, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by
taking heed thereto to the word of God? God uses the word of
God to wash us. We're washed in the water of
the word. And so then John says, all of
this that happened, I witnessed it. And over and over again,
he says this, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Why did it happen like that?
That the scripture might be fulfilled. And isn't that the same thing
Brother Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15? For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. That's what it says
in it, Ron. According to the scriptures. And that he was buried
and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures. You see, all of the Old Testament
is about our master. And it lays out for us the way
he's going to die and the things that are going to happen to him,
unusual things that men, men were used themselves in order
to bring about what the scripture had said would happen. And the
men that God used didn't even know, didn't even realize they're
fulfilling the purpose of God. Had no idea. Listen, the hand
of God is always at work in everything. And you see that especially in
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And John comes along and says,
listen, I was there when they crucified my Lord. And what I
say to you is the truth. Is the truth. Brother Scott Richardson, and
I even mentioned this to somebody Sunday. Somebody had a nice comment
about the message, and I appreciate that, but somebody said something
nice about my messages. And I said, well, like old Brother
Scott used to say, it's the truth even if I didn't tell it. And
I'll tell you, this is the truth. It is the truth about him who
is the truth. And He's the way, and He's the
life. And no man comes to the Father
except by our Master. Well, let's sing a closing.