verses 25 through 27. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and 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 disciple,
behold thy mother. And from that day forth, that
disciple took her unto his own home. Woman, behold thy son. Woman, behold thy son. This is
the third saying of our Savior on the cross. Third time he spoke. The first time he prayed for
us to be forgiven. Thank God that he prays and God
hears his prayers. Been forgiven because Christ
prayed for us. His prayers are effectual. His
prayers are always heard. Second one was, you know, that it was a word
of salvation. He saved that thief. when he
said, today, today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year,
not a hundred years from now, but today, you're gonna be with
me. You're gonna be with me where
I am, because wherever I am, that's paradise, paradise. This is the third saying, and
this is a saying concerning love, concerning affection from our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's three groups here
gathered at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. They're gathered
at his crucifixion. There were the Jews. They utterly,
utterly hated the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, they despised
him. Came unto his own, his own rejected
him. They despised him. They hated
him with a passion. You know, and they kept telling
him, there's nothing wrong with him. Nothing worthy of death.
And they would rather own Caesar as their king than Christ as
their king. They'd rather own the Roman emperor
than to owe the Lord Jesus Christ as being who he is. And I know
this, when he was gonna let them go, they cried crucify him, crucify
him. And now they're there to do one
thing, to taunt him, to ridicule him, to deride him, to mock him. They mocked him as a king. They
put a crown of thorns on his head. They mocked him as a prophet
when they slapped him. And they mocked him as a priest.
He saved others, but he can't save himself. They mocked him
in every office that he had. They hated the Lord Jesus Christ. They're there to enjoy, enjoy
his sufferings. That's hard to believe that somebody
could enjoy somebody else's suffering. But there's people that do in
this world. When they cause you to suffer,
they say, boy, he's got it coming. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
they came there to taunt him, to ridicule him, and to enjoy
watching him suffer. Watching him suffer. And then
there was the Roman soldiers. These Roman soldiers, I guess
suppose that they wasn't the same ones who did the crucifixion
all the time. I suppose that they took time
about because it was a regular thing, a common thing for thieves
and criminals and murderers to be crucified. That was the way
the Romans killed people, slew people. And they were there because
it was their time, it was their duty, it was their obligation,
it was their time to come and crucify these three men. So they
were used to this. They didn't bother them. It didn't
bother them a bit to take men and nail them to a cross. Didn't
bother them a bit. They never batted an eye to see
the blood flowing from those people, to hear them cringe as
those nails went in them, hear them to cry out and holler as
they drove those nails through these people. Our Lord's hands
and these other men's hands. They didn't have it. They didn't
bother more than I owed him. And you know why we know it didn't
bother them? They were there at the foot of the cross, there
in the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ. They took all the clothes
off of him. He didn't have a little little
orange cloth around him like they show in these pictures.
Our Lord was hanging there naked before his own creation. Bloody all over. You think those
Roman soldiers cared? You know what they did? They
said, listen, you take his shoes, you take this part of his clothes,
you take that part of his clothes, and you take that part of his
clothes, but he's got this wonderful coat that he just pulls over
him. It ain't got no seams in it.
He said, I tell you what, let's gamble for this thing, and whoever
gets it gets the whole thing. Now that's how much they cared
about crucifying people. That's how little they cared
about Christ and what they did to Him. And then there's His
people. Five of them. Five of them. And they're all identified here
in the first two verses. They're stood by the cross. They're
standing there. Five people are standing by the
cross. There's His mother. There's his mother's sister,
that's two. And Mary, the wife of Cleophas. And Mary Magdalene. Three Marys. Three Marys. I don't know what
his mother's sister's name was, it doesn't say. Four women there
and one man. And that disciple standing by
whom he loved. They were standing there. Now
you gotta understand what's going on here. So for these people
to come out here and be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ, and
this crazy, crazy, crazy, God-hating, Christ-rejecting mob, that they
would come there and stand by His cross to be identified with
Him. Do you know what a danger they
were in? They were in danger of being
attacked, to being hurt, to being misused and being abused. But
they stood there. They stood there. Can you imagine,
go with me to a mother standing watching her son being so cruelly,
cruelly mistreated. To stand there watching her son
Blood all over him, beaten, and a crown of thorns on his head.
Mother standing there, she birthed him. She came out of his womb, her
womb, and she stood there and watched her son being so cruelly,
horribly mistreated. And then that's what the saying
was when Simon You know, saw the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation
of the Lord. And he looked at his mother and
said, a soul, a sword shall pierce thy soul also. But here it is,
it's piercing her soul. The sword is piercing her soul. And there's these four women
and one man. And I tell you, compared to the
multitude that was there, that's a very, very small number. and
compared to the multitude that falsely worshipped our Lord Jesus
Christ. A multitude that hate Him today. I looked up humanism this week. I looked up what humanism means.
You get home and you look it up. It started in 1903, and that's
what it says. It says, we don't need religion.
Religion's the awfulest thing that's ever happened to the whole
human race. Said only humans can save the
race. Only humans can save the nations.
Only humans can bring peace on this earth. Only humans can progress
to the place where everything. And some of the most famous people
in the world are humanists. What they're saying is, we don't
need God. We don't need a cross. We don't
have any sin. We're not rebels. And they were just as well cry
out, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him, and rejoice at what
he did. And I tell you, I have this multitude,
so here's five people numbered among this crowd, numbered among
them. Five people of the Lord's people. I tell you, not very many people
identify with the Lord Jesus Christ. Not very many people
would identify and go to His cross and stand there and watch
what happened. Not very many people would do
that. What do you think about the cross?
Well if you was there, what would you be doing? I know what I'd be doing if I'd
have been there. Just what I did all my life till
he prayed for me, God forgive him. He knows not what he does.
I'd have been right there screaming with the rest of them. I'd have
been right there mocking them. Crying against him. Speaking
against him. I wouldn't have had a good thing
to say about him. I'd have said, yes, I want Caesar. I don't want
this king of the Jews. I'd have done that. You may not
have done that, but I know me. I know what I am. And I know
what I am apart from the grace of God, and I am nothing. As
old Scott Richardson used to say, I'm a donut hole. And I tell you what, here's these
disciples standing by there. And let's look at these people.
The first to identify here is the Lord's mother. There stood
by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary, the Savior's mother. And I'll tell you, 30 years earlier,
Simeon said, a sword shall pierce thy soul also. So there she is. She's standing there. She's a
widow now. She's 48, 50 years old. And then there's his mother's
sister. It doesn't say who she is. And then there's Mary, the wife
of Cleophas. Mention him in 1 Corinthians
15. And then there's Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he cast seven devils. A woman notorious, notorious. But she notoriously loved the
Lord Jesus Christ too. She was the one that anointed
his body when he was sitting in Simon's house. When old Judas
Iscariot said, oh, this could have been sold for 300 pence
and given to the poor. Not because he cared for the
poor, but he loved the money and he wanted it in the bag. And you know why it says three
Marys here. And you know what, you remember
when Mara, Mara same as Mary, said that means bitterness. I
went out there, amen, I came back as Mara, I came back with
bitterness, and that's what the word Mary means. Bitterness,
bitterness. And they really knew bitterness
this day. And then there stood by this
disciple, John. You know every time you hear
his name mentioned, that disciple whom Jesus loved. Everybody wants
to talk about how I love Jesus, but oh my, I'd rather him to
love me. I'm thankful he loves me. He loves me with an everlasting
love. His love didn't start when I
started. His love started before I ever
existed, before God ever put a man on the earth. Huh? Oh my. and that disciple whom
Jesus loved. You know there was 11 disciples
left, but he was the only one that was there. The rest of them
didn't show up. The rest of them was overhead
somewhere for fear of the Jews. So here's five people with this
great screaming mob. Mothers standing there while
they part his garments, part his garments. And when he says
that disciple John was there, they all forsook him and fled.
Even John fled, but he come back, the only one that came back. And then, after our Lord Jesus
started his public ministry, very little is seen of Mary,
very, very little. His disciples, and I tell you
this, very little sin of Mary, but His disciples may desert
Him. His friends may forsake Him. His nation may despise Him
and reject Him. But there's people there that
loved Him. And His mother stood right there with Him. She was near Him. in his death
as she was when he was born. He come into this world and I'm
gonna be here when he leaves. Huh? I Lord Jesus. Now none of these women, I want
you to notice this too. You know Wes, I've dealt with
a lot of funerals in my life, a lot of. And I've seen people
faint at the casket, fall on the casket, screaming, hollering,
crying, fainting. But none of these women standing
there watching our Lord Jesus die. His mother, Mary, Magdalene,
None of them women acted hysterical. None of them fainted. None of
them act like, oh, I can't deal with this. I can't face this. I can't stand it. None of them
acted that way. You know why they didn't act
that way? God gave them grace. He always gives his people grace. You say, well, I hope I can do
this when I die. Well, God will give you grace
to act right when you die. He'll give you, He's always given
you grace for whatever you went through so far, hasn't He? He's
always upheld you what you went through so far, hasn't He? Has
He ever forsaken you in any situation you ever been in? And He's gonna not forsake His
mother either. He's not gonna forsake His mother.
None of these women acted hysterical or fainted or
carried on in any way. They stood there and viewed this
awful, awful, awful scene upheld by God's omnipotent hand. God's
omnipotent hand. And now look, they're standing
there and look what it says in verse 26. When Jesus therefore
saw, he don't miss nothing. Our Lord don't miss nothing.
When Jesus therefore saw, who deceived? Well, he saw the
Roman soldiers, we know that. He saw Pilate, he saw Herod,
he saw the Jews, he saw everything that went on
around him. But he took special notice right
here when Jesus therefore saw, looked, looked right at him.
And I'm gonna tell you my view of this. Now I'm gonna quit preaching
and tell you what I think. I think our Lord Jesus Christ
was, his feet was probably only about that far from the ground.
They didn't put him way, way up high. They didn't put him way, way
up high. because they stood by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'll tell you what, they
stood so close that our Lord Jesus Christ looked over and
saw them. Now he saw those soldiers at
the foot of his cross, of course he saw them, but this is a look
that Christ only gives people that he loves. He only gives a satellite look
that people loves. And oh my, when Jesus therefore
saw his mother, and look at this, verse 26, when Jesus therefore
saw his mother and the disciples standing by, standing, they're
all standing together, whom he loved. He saw his mother, he
saw Mary, Magdalene. She was the one when our Lord
Jesus Christ was in Simon the leper's house. She was the one
who our Lord Jesus Christ said, though thy sins be many, they
are forgiven. And I tell you what, she stood
right there. She was the first one to the grave. this Mary Magdalene
was, first one to the grave. And I tell you, Jesus beheld
his mother and his disciples standing by. And they said, woman,
woman, behold thy son. Now you look what he is going
through. Here he is, he's suffering. He's got blood all over him. He's thirsty. Oh, he's so thirsty. His tongue is swelled up. Scripture tells us. His bones
were seen. His bones were seen where they
beat his back. You could see his ribs. You could
see the bones. And he's nailed hand and foot
to a cross. And yet he looks down at his
mama, looks down at his mother, looks right at her, looks right
at her. He sees past her looks, sees
past everything about her, and sees her. She said, God my Savior. You know when our Lord Jesus
Christ, when she found out, you know, when she went up to Elizabeth's
house, when Elizabeth was fixing to marry John the Baptist, our
Lord's first cousin. When John the Baptist, you know
what she began to sing Mary's song, and she said, oh my soul
rejoices in God my Savior. She's looking at her own Savior. She's looking at her son, but
she's also looking at her Savior, her Redeemer, the lover of her
soul. And every time they came and
told her something, Scripture says she pondered it, pondered
it in her heart. Pondered it in her heart. And
I'll tell you something, yet, when this situation is, he takes
care of his mother. Here's another instance of our
Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling the law. You know that, I believe
it's the fifth commandment, maybe it's the sixth, I don't know
which. But anyway, the scripture says, honor thy father and thy
mother. This is the first promise, first
promise, first law that has a promise attached to it. Honor thy father
and thy mother, and thy days shall be long. And our Lord Jesus
honored his father and honored his mother. You remember when
our Lord was 12 years old and they went up to Jerusalem. They
went up to Jerusalem and they went up there to the feast. And now Lord Jesus, they all
started home. And they went a whole day's journey.
And they're supposing that Jesus was with them. They're supposing
that he got in the caravan, got in with his family, got in with
somebody else, and they was with him. They went a day's journey
and said, where's Jesus at? Where's my son at? Where's he
at? I don't know. He's not with us. He's not with
us. So they turned around and went back. Where did they find
him? Seton, confounding the wisest
men of his day. And the scripture said why? They
thought him sorry. You know what our Lord said?
Now this is not a rebuke when he said this. Mother, he said,
mother you know, you know I have to be about my father's business,
you know this. And the scripture says that she
kept these things in her heart and pondered them and that Jesus
went home and was subject unto them when he went home. Subject unto his father and his
mother. And that's a wonderful thing for you kids, you young
people. You honor your father and you honor your mother. You
respect your mother and you respect your father. And you care for them. You care
for them. They care for you all your life,
you care for them when they get old. You make sure they don't
owe for nothing. You make sure that they don't
need anything. You make sure if they get sick
that somebody's take care of them. And here He is, our Lord Jesus
Christ, showing obedience to His mother, honoring His mother,
loving His mother, caring for His mother. She's a widow. She's a widow. And you know what
He does? He provides her a home in her
old age. You know, I think of this all
the time. I think of this all the time.
What a blessing it is to take care of one of God's people.
And if your mother or your father is one of God's elect, what a
privilege, what a blessing to take care of them, to love them,
honor them. And she's a widow now, and he
provides her a home. This shows us that he's the absolute
perfect, glorious Son of God, that sinless kept the law. And He's the perfect Son of Man.
He loved and cared for His mother. And then He called her woman.
There in verse 26, When Jesus therefore saw His mother and
the disciples standing by, whom He loved, He said to His mother,
called her woman. He called her woman twice. at
the first miracle he performed in
the marriage of Cana. He performed a miracle. And he
called her woman there. And here he calls her woman here.
Why didn't he call her mother? Why didn't he? I'm going to tell
you what I think, and I tell you this is what all the commentators
think. To keep people from worshiping
her. Call her woman. didn't say Hestia is the mother
of God, because he called her a woman so that people wouldn't
end up worshiping her, but they do anyway. They do anyway. And that's why they call her
Mary, the mother of God. And they have her play for them
instead of Christ. That he called her a woman, to
keep people from worshiping her. And he said, Woman! You know that angel told Mary
and Joseph said, you know what I want you to name this child?
I want you to name him Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. Mary knew that. His father, earthly
father, though he had none, but Mary's husband, she heard that
too, he heard that too. So that's why he called her woman. Then he said to that disciple, then he says to the disciple
in verse 27, he said, Behold thy mother. Oh, I tell you that somebody
loves me. I love this man. That's what I, Lord, every time
you mention John, I love John, that disciple whom Jesus loved.
And he looked at him and he loved him, he loved him, he loved him. He loved him enough, cared for
him enough, and loved his mother enough, and he says, now, woman,
there's your son now. Disciple, John, this is your
mother now. I'm gonna leave, but I'm not
gonna leave you without somebody taking care of you, brother.
I'm not gonna leave you without somebody taking care of you.
And John, I'm going to put the responsibility on you. I'm going
to give you the privilege. I'm going to give you the blessing.
I'm going to give you the opportunity to take my mother and let her
become your mother. My, my, my. You're talking about
somebody loving somebody. Huh? Oh my. You remember when our Lord Jesus
Christ told all of his disciples, He said, all of you is going
to be offended of me this night. And they all forsook him and
fled, ashamed to be found in his company. And Warren came
back, and it was John. It was John. Woman, behold thy
son. Behold thy mother. And what our
Lord's telling her, and telling him, you take her home with you. And you treat her with the tenderest
care. You treat her with the most glorious
affection. You love her like you love me.
You treat her like you treat me. And look what it says. And from that hour, from that
hour, that disciple took her unto his own home. Now let me
say this about this. They took, the Lord, John took
her away from that cross. So they didn't, they left before
there was three hours of darkness. They left before they seen the
Lord Jesus Christ when the sun went dark. When everything shut
down. From that hour, from that hour,
he took her unto his own home. And let me give you a few things
in closing. First, our Lord set an example
for children to honor their parents. Honor your parents, love your
parents, be good to your parents. Secondly, it revealed his tender,
tender love and compassion. Oh, what tender love and compassion
our Lord showed for John, for Mary, For all those people gathered
there, they was there, they didn't care, they wasn't offended by
being there now. Oh my, He revealed His tender
love, His tender blessed compassion. And I tell you the third thing
it revealed about our Lord Jesus Christ, Him as the Son of God,
He is the protector of all of His people. And he's the provider
of all of these people. He protected these disciples.
He provided for his mother and he provided for John. And he'll
always protect us and he'll always provide for us. Huh? Never ever fail. Oh, he protects
and provides for his people. And fourthly, our Lord confirmed
the law of love while on the cross. You know, when they ask our Lord,
what's the greatest commandment? You know what Jesus, our Lord,
told that lawyer? He said, love the Lord thy God
with all your heart, mind, body, soul, and strength. Love your
neighbor as yourself. Our Lord fulfilled that law of love on
this cross. He loved, he protected, What
he did is he took these people and he united them. He united
his mother and he united John. Those people that loved him,
the one that he loved and the one that loved him, he unites
them together. And that's what he does by his
love, by his power, by his prayers, by what he did on that cross,
he unites his people in love. And you know the only law that
we have to live under in this world is the law of love. Oh no man anything but to love
one another. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples. Why? Because you'll have love. Listen to this. One toward another. Toward another. And I tell you
what. And another in closing, let me
say this. Mary rejoiced in God her Savior. If Christ was her Savior, and
she needed saving like anybody else, how could then she save
anyone? How could she care for anybody
when somebody had to take care of her? And oh, how our Savior,
loved his people, and protects them, and provides for them.
You think he loved his mother? Oh, he did. You think he loved
John? Oh, he did. But I tell you what,
his love is not like ours, and I'm thankful
it ain't. I'm thankful it ain't. Our Father, in the precious name,
blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your gospel,
thank you for your love, thank you for your prayers. Lord, you
let us see what you say, what you went through on that cross,
how you treat your people, how you love your people, how you
care for your people. Provide us homes, someone to
take care of us, And so, Lord, we praise you and
bless you and thank you. As for your mercies, be shown,
and let the words of this message be put in hearts, minds, and
understandings by the Holy Spirit. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Oh, what's that? I don't know if we got it in
here or not. I don't think we got all of it. The love of God,
is it in here? Where's it at? I can't see it. Where? 34. Let's stand together and
sing this. The love of God. The love of God is greater far
than tongue or pin can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star
and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bow down with
care. God gave His Son. As every child he reconciled
and pardoned from his sin. O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure the
saints' and angels' song. When holy tide shall pass away,
And earthly throng and kingdoms fall, When they hear the oyster
falling, And rocks and hills and mountains fall, God's love
so sure shall still endure A day to land and storm. Redeeming grace through water,
flame, and saints in angels' song. For with God, our rich
and pure, our nation's land, Let me tell you something I've
seen happen and then you can go. You know Todd and Ivory's
mother got real sick. She didn't even know she's in
the world. But he'd go over there, sit and read the Bible to her
and pray for her. Loved and honored his mother.
My son would bathe his own mother when she is sick, help me clean. Whatever you do, our Lord showed
how mothers ought to be treated. See you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.