I want you to take your Bible
and turn with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter 19. And I want to begin by reading
my text. Tonight, we'll be looking at
verses 16 to verse 30, which we'll end with, it is finished. John chapter 19, beginning in
verse 16. This is the Word of God. So,
he then handed him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus,
therefore, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called
the place of a skull, which is also called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him. And with him, two other men,
one on each, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate
also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written,
Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. Therefore, many
of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew,
Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews
were saying to Pilate, do not write the king of the Jews, but
that he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I
have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his outer garments and made four
parts, a part to each soldier, and also the tunic. Now, the
tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one
another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide
whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the Scripture. They divided my outer garments
among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Therefore, the
soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of
Jesus was his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife
of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw his mother
and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his
mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple,
behold your mother. From that hour, the disciple
took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, he
said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was standing
there. So they put a sponge full of
the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to his
mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received
the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit." I want you to come back with
me 2,000 years to this hill, Golgotha. It is 9 o'clock in
the morning. And Jesus has been nailed to
the cross. They have lifted up the cross
beam. And from 9 o'clock until high noon, Jesus has suffered
this horrific execution. It was during those three hours,
he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
It was during this time that he said, You will be with me
in paradise." And it was also during this time that we read
these words, son, behold your mother, and mother, behold your
son. But at 12 noon, as Jesus hung
upon the cross, the midday sun became as black as night. And
the sins of his people whom he came to save, were transferred
to him by the invisible hand of God the Father. And him who
knew no sin, God made to be sin for us. And Jesus entered into
the judgment on our behalf upon that cross, and God snuffed out
the sun, and the world became as black as midnight. And upon the cross, Jesus stood
in our place. He bore our sins. He suffered
our punishment. He incurred the Father's wrath
in our place. He satisfied divine justice for
our iniquities. He endured the punishment of
our lawless deeds, and He redeemed us out of the pit. He bought
us with His own blood. He reconciled us to the Father.
He took our sins far, far away. I believe that it would do each
one of us much good tonight for us to revisit the scene at the
cross. When I was a teenager, we used
to sing a song that said, were you there when they crucified
my Lord? Were you there when they crucified
my Lord? Sometimes it causes me to tremble,
tremble. Were you there when they crucified
my Lord? This afternoon, I want us to
revisit Mount Calvary. I want us to stand at the foot
of the cross. This is the highest mark of all
redemptive history, as the Son of Man, the Son of God, is lifted
up upon the cross to die in our place. I want us to walk through
this passage. I don't know how long it's been
since you have actually revisited Calvary and stood on those bloodstained
slopes of Golgotha, but I want God to remind us of this extraordinary
scene. Several things that I want you
to note from this passage. The first is, I want you to note
the condemnation of Christ. That's in verses 16 and 17. And
we read beginning in verse 16, so He handed Him over to them
to be crucified. It was Pilate who has examined
Jesus now twice. who buckles under the pressure
of the crowd and pronounces the death sentence upon the only
man who has ever lived without sin." And we read, he handed
him over to them. The them refers to the Roman
soldiers who will be the execution squad. And to be handed over
means he is being handed over into judgment. He's being handed
over to be crucified. Crucifixion was the first century
version of the electric chair. It was the gas chamber, if you
will, of ancient times. It was the most horrific death
ever designed to put someone to death publicly before others. But in reality, there was a greater
hand that was handing Jesus over than merely Pilate to the Romans. Because we read elsewhere in
the Bible that it was God the Father who was handing Jesus
over to be crucified. For Jesus was the Lamb of God
slain from before the foundation of the world. Jesus was born
to die. Jesus came into this world for
this very hour. He prayed in John 17, verse 1,
Father, glorify the Son that the Son may glorify you. The
hour has come. And so the hour has now come
for the sovereign hands of Almighty God the Father to hand over His
own Son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified upon the cross. And we read in verse 17, they
took Jesus, therefore, and He went out. He went out. unlike any other condemned man
has ever gone out. He puts up no resistance. He
knows that this is the path that has been marked out for him from
before time began, from before the foundation of the world. He is a lamb that is led to the
slaughter. And we read that he went out
bearing his own cross. He would carry the heavy horizontal
cross beam on his shoulders, and he would carry it through
the streets of Jerusalem as really a public statement of submission
to the Roman Empire and a public recognition of just his own humiliation. He took it to the place called
the Place of the Skull. And the place of the skull was
just outside the city limits. It was adjacent to the main highway
leading into Jerusalem. It was highly visible and it
was really a place of shame that was reserved for only the most
notorious criminals of the day. We read it was called in Hebrew
Golgotha, which means the place of a skull or a bald head, no
doubt because of the many untold numbers of men who have been
crucified there at this place. And so when Jesus carried the
crossbeam through the city of Jerusalem, It was on what has
come to be known as the Via Dolorosa, which was Latin for the sorrowful
road or the way of sorrows. He carried his crossbeam from
the Praetorium, which was the judgment hall where Pilate had
pronounced the death sentence upon Jesus, and it wound its
way through the streets of Jerusalem about a half a mile until it
would reach the city wall. And there, Jesus carried his
crossbeam. The people would turn out. They
lined both sides of the street, and it was intended by the Roman
Empire to strike fear into the citizens of Jerusalem, lest anyone
else rise up in opposition to our government over the holy
city We want you to see what will happen to anyone who would
provoke the peace of the city. As Jesus comes to the city walls,
there he begins to buckle under the heavy weight, and Simon of
Cyrene steps in and picks up the crossbeam and helps carry
it to the execution site, which is Golgotha. This is our Lord
and Savior. This is the heroic Christ. This is the manly Christ. This is the tenacious Christ,
full of courage and full of bravery, ready to do whatever is necessary
in order to secure our salvation, ready to pay whatever price would
be required to pay the debt for our sins. That's the condemnation
of Christ. And you and I will never stand
in the condemnation of God because Jesus took our place in our condemnation. That is why Romans 8 verse 1
says, there is now therefore no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus because Jesus stood in the condemnation place
for you and me. I want you to note second, the
crucifixion of Christ. That's in verse 18. Having arrived
now at Golgotha, that grisly, horrific site, the crucifixion
now takes place. In verse 18, these four simple
words, there they crucified Him. Four Roman soldiers, professionals
at this, who had no doubt perfected this to an art form, There they
crucified the Lord Jesus Christ in the most dreaded means of
capital punishment that has ever been devised. It was intended
to prolong death. It was intended to take the person
up to the very doorsteps of death, but not allow them the relief
of death that they would just continue to suffer under the
torture and the torment. There they crucified Him, and
we read, and with Him two other men. These other men were there
because they were insurrectionists, because they were involved in
guerrilla warfare, and because they were notorious terrorists. One of them was named Barabbas,
and Jesus now will be crucified in between the two most despicable
figures in all of ancient Israel. We read one on either side and
Jesus in between. He is surrounded by criminals,
which compounds the shame. But even this is in fulfillment
of prophecy, for Isaiah 53.12 says that he would be numbered
with the transgressors. Crucifixion was so barbaric. that no Roman citizen could be
crucified. It was too degrading. It was
too dishonoring. Crucifixion originated in Persia
centuries earlier, and it was passed on to the Phoenicians
and then to the Carthaginians, but it was perfected to an art
form by the Romans. And it was intentionally a death
that prolonged the agony of the condemned man. It was a slow
torture chamber, if you will, the most shameful form of execution
ever devised. It was scandalous. It was not
fit for public discussion in mixed company. And Jesus would
have been made to lie on the ground. His arms stretched out,
nailed to a horizontal beam. The nails would be driven through
his wrists and forearms to attach him to the crossbeam. The crossbeam
would then be attached to the upright post, and he would be
hoisted up by the four soldiers, his feet now no longer on the
ground, his feet nailed to the upright post. And Jesus would
now endure this agony of sagging down and his body being held
by the nails, and then having to pull himself up, something
like a gymnast would, in order to breathe, and then to collapse
back down. And all of this caused yet more
pain. which made it virtually impossible
for him eventually to move his arms that were now fatigued.
His muscles would have been cramped. He is now decreasing in his strength
to pull himself back up to fill his lungs with air. His pectoral
muscles begin to become paralyzed, his intercostal muscles unable
to act, and air would be drawn into his lungs, but he cannot
exhale. He will eventually die. He will
give his life up, but in the process, he will suffer air hunger. He fights to raise himself up. For a short breath, he collapses. Carbon dioxide builds up in the
lungs. The bloodstream now is filled
with carbon dioxide. And every time he pulls up, the
tissue on his back becomes more lacerated and further ripped
apart from his skeleton. The cardio… pericardial sac around
his heart begins to fill with liquid. They would later put
a spear through his side and water would come gushing out. And it is from the sac around
the heart, when the heart is under extreme pressure, fluid
begins to build around the heart to somewhat muffle the heavy
beating of the heart. And Jesus now, His heart is being
compressed upon the cross, and it will eventually lead to His
death. None of us can even imagine.
the physical pain that Jesus endured upon the cross. But the
greatest agony was not the physical pain, it was the sin of the world,
the sin of the elect of God being transferred to Jesus upon the
cross, and Jesus now suddenly becoming our sin-bearer and suffering
under the wrath of God upon Him for our sins. That is the crucifixion
of Christ. And if this does not move our
heart, then your heart is harder than stone. It is this very act
of crucifixion that melts the hearts of believers. Every time
we come to the Lord's table and every time we read this passage,
I want you to note third as we continue to walk through this
narrative. I want you to note third, not
only the crucifixion and the condemnation of Christ, but notice
the inscription above Christ. We read in verse 19, Pilate also
wrote an inscription. He had written on a placard,
a small board, containing the charge. that was brought against
Jesus, this was His crime and had it put on the cross for public
display. It was written, John records,
Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. This was intended
to insult the Jews who had applied so much pressure upon Pilate. And this is Pilate's now way
of getting back at them by posting this, Jesus the Nazarene, the
king of the Jews, this is your king? And he's from Nazareth? Has any good thing come from
Nazareth? It is intended to belittle and
to mock and to taunt the Jews that this is the one that you
claim is your king? Well, Jesus did claim to be king
before Pilate, but the Jews denied it, and they wanted to ridicule
Jesus. But in a strange way here, Pilate
is having the last word, though not intending for this to be
a gospel witness. But God is causing even the wrath
of man to praise Him. And even what they meant for
evil, God means for good, as there is now being broadcast
from the top of the cross this clear declaration of who Jesus
is. Verse 20, therefore many of the
Jews read the inscription. Large numbers. It is Passover.
This crucifixion site is right next to the main highway that
is leading into the holy city for this holy time. There are
thousands of people who are pouring into Jerusalem, and they begin
to read this inscription. we read for the place where Jesus
was crucified was near the city. The fact is, it was just outside
the city. Jesus was crucified outside the
city limits as an expression of utter rejection of Him. Those who were the worst of criminals
were not even allowed to die within the city. They had to
be put to death outside the city in utter disdain of them. This is just like our Puritan
forefathers in London and in many cities in England. that
they were not even allowed to be buried within the city limits. When you go to London today,
for example, you go to Bunhill Fields where John Bunyan is buried,
where John Owen is buried, and many of the Puritans. It's now within the confines
of London, but at the time they were buried, that was outside
the city because they were utterly rejected by the nation. And that
is what is taking place here. In the eyes of those that day,
he was unfit to even be crucified inside the city limits. And there's
an application here for us because the Bible says in Hebrews 13,
verse 13, let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his
reproach. that if we are to have the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we too must go outside
the city. He's not referring to geographically. He's talking about this in a
metaphorical way that we must be willing to turn our back to
the world. in order to embrace the Lord
Jesus Christ. We cannot have Christ in one
hand and the world in the other. No, in order to have Christ,
we must have burned our bridges behind us and have left this
world system, this evil world system, and go outside the city
where Christ was crucified there in order to believe upon the
Lord Jesus Christ and to have them. Now, we are in the world,
but we are not of the world. We have left the world, and we
have gone out to have Christ outside the city. We continue
to read in verse 20, and it was written, referring to the placard
above, nailed to the top of the cross. It was written in Hebrew,
Latin, and Greek. All three languages. Hebrew was
the language of the Jewish religion. Latin was the language of Roman
politics and power. And Greek was the language of
culture and commerce. And Pilate had it written in
all three languages so that anyone and everyone coming by would
have a clear understanding of who it is who is being nailed
on this cross and why he is here because in the eyes of the Jews,
it was a sin of blasphemy for he is claiming to be God, the
very Son of God. He is claiming to be the King
of the Jews, the Sovereign One. So, verse 21, so the chief priests
of the Jews were saying to Pilate, do not write the king of the
Jews. They protested. They pushed back
as if to say, he's not our king, but you need to write but that
he said, I am the king of the Jews. And Pilate, verse 22, he's
been pushed around long enough. He will not acquiesce to their
demands any longer." And Pilate answered, what I have written,
I have written. Pilate is defiant, he is stubborn,
and he is obstinate at this point. And he really stands as an example
of everyone who is outside of Christ, who is an unbeliever
in the Lord Jesus Christ, obstinate, stubborn, and uncircumcised of
heart. Note in verse 23, the confiscation. from Christ. The Roman soldiers
now treated Jesus like a piece of property. They began to cast
lots for His garments. And we read in verse 23, then
the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garment
and made four parts. This was customary for those
who are a part of the execution team to be able to divide up. the clothing of the one who is
being crucified. And by the way, this also tells
us that Jesus died naked upon the cross, adding to the shame
of His death, as He is now exposed before His own mother, exposed
before the other women who have gathered here. They… they took these four garments
because there were four soldiers. There was the outer garment,
which was like a coat. There was the belt. There was
the sandals. There was the head covering.
And then we read, a part for every soldier, and also the tunic. So there's a fifth part of Jesus'
clothing. And so they want to tear it into
four pieces so that each soldier will have one-fourth of the tunic,
which is like an undergarment of sorts. But verse 24 said,
so they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast
lots for it, to decide whose it shall be. And so these soldiers,
if you will, are all but playing games at the foot of the cross.
They are totally indifferent to this one who is hanging upon
this cross. They have seen untold numbers
of men die upon crosses. Josephus said there were so many
people crucified at this time that the city of Jerusalem and
the surrounding area, they ran out of trees upon which to make
crosses. They've gone down this path.
They have seen this so many times. They are heartless. They are
callous. They have no comprehension that
this is the Son of God, the Son of Man hanging upon this cross,
the Creator of the world, the Lord of heaven and earth. And
so they say to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots. for it, to decide whose it shall
be. Thus, this was to fulfill the
Scripture. And John records for us now the
Scripture. And by the way, a footnote here,
the only gospel writer who stood at the foot of the cross to see
this and to hear this was John. Matthew was not there. Mark was
not there. Luke was not there. They were
all dependent upon secondary sources. There is only one disciple
that hung with the Lord Jesus Christ, that stayed with Him,
that followed Him all the way to the foot of the cross. And
as John is recording this, he is like a newspaper reporter
recording everything that he sees, everything that he hears. He is not dependent upon the
witness or the testimony of others. And what is also amazing, as
John is writing this, is that it's been some 60 years since
he saw this and since he heard this. And it is permanently and
indelibly etched in the mind of the Apostle John what he experienced
that day as he stood at Golgotha and observed the Son of God being
crucified upon that cross. He could never get it out of
his mind. And as he now writes some 60 years later after the
fact, John is recording this as though he is observing it
take place in time, in real time at that very moment. And John
is consciously aware now that Jesus is intentionally fulfilling
Scripture as He hangs upon the cross. Jesus is meditating upon
Scripture. Jesus knows that He is fulfilling
the Word of God that has been recorded in the Old Testament. Even when He cries out, my God,
my God, why have you forsaken me? He knows that is Psalm 22,
verse 1, and He's drawing great strength from it. He, no doubt,
is meditating upon Psalm 16 and how He knows that He will be
resurrected after His death. And here we read that Jesus is
fulfilling another passage in Psalm 22. It's verse 18. And here's what's remarkable.
It's not Jesus that's fulfilling it. It is His enemies that are
fulfilling this prophecy, those who would have the most to lose
by the fulfillment of the Word of God. Even they are providing
validation for our faith as the Word of God is being fulfilled
by the foes of Christ. And so, we read this Psalm 22,
verse 18. They divided my outer garments
among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." And so, Jesus
is consciously aware that Scripture is being fulfilled. Even as He
hangs upon the cross, He no doubt is drawing great strength from
the fact that He is in the very center of the will of God for
His life, that it was for this hour that He came into the world.
And we read, therefore, the soldiers did these things. This is one of the greatest examples
anywhere in the entire Bible, if not the greatest example,
of how the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man
come together perfectly. Certainly, Jesus is here by the
eternal will of God. Peter declared that on the day
of Pentecost when he said that he is here according to the predetermined
plan and foreknowledge of God, Acts 2.23. And yet, God is holding
them accountable for their work, for their deeds, and charging
them with the first-degree murder of the second person of the Trinity
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to see how the sovereignty
of God and the responsibility of man come together perfectly,
look to the cross. Jesus is there because the sovereign
will of God has appointed Him to this death. And yet, all of
these who carry out this despicable deed, the greatest sin ever committed
in the history of the world, the most heinous sin, the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ, yet it all comes together to fulfill God's purpose
and plan. This leads us now to the last
half of verse 25, and I want you to note fifth, the dedication
by Christ. As Jesus hangs upon this cross,
He is concerned with the glory of God, and He is also concerned
with the care of others. And as He hangs upon this cross,
His heart is drawn to His own mother, that His mother would
be cared for, that His own mother would be under the protection
of someone who is capable to take care of her needs. And so
we read beginning in the middle of verse 25, but standing by
the cross of Jesus were, and there's four women listed here
at the end of verse 25, his mother, that's Mary, his mother's sister,
that is the mother of James and John, by the way, Mary the wife
of Clopas, that's the mother of James the lesser, And Mary
Magdalene, she is the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons. Of course she's there because
Jesus has set her free from the powers of darkness. And Jesus
has made her a new creature in Christ. The old things passed
away, behold, new things have come. Of course she's standing
here at the foot of the cross with these other women. And verse
26, when Jesus then saw his mother out of this huge crowd of people. thousands of people passing by
on the highway. And this enormous crowd that
is gathering around the cross that have lifted up their voices
and entered into the chant, crucify Him, crucify Him, crucify Him. Out of this huge crowd, Jesus
saw His mother because His devotion remained strong to His mother. And we read, and the disciple
whom he loved, that is John, the one who has written this
gospel. And John is so humbled to be writing this gospel account,
he feels unworthy to even pick up pen and write on parchment
this account of the gospel of John. And he refuses to even
use his own name to be recorded as standing here. So with all
humility, he just refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Nothing greater could ever be
said about anyone here tonight than that you're a disciple of
Christ and you are a disciple whom Jesus has loved. When Jesus
saw his mother and the disciples, whom he… and the disciple whom
he loved standing nearby. Well, they're standing at the
foot of the cross, and they're looking straight up at the Lord. He said to his mother, woman,
behold your son. Then he said to the disciple,
behold your mother. And Jesus is demonstrating here
for us his perfect obedience to the law of God. For it is
the fifth commandment that says you are to honor your father
and your mother. And Jesus is giving us an example
here, that we are to love our parents unto our death. We are
to care for them in their older years, and we are to provide
for them, and we are to be for them whatever it is that they
need. And that is what Jesus is doing
here. He is loving his mother, even
as he is hanging upon this cross, giving his life unto death. In verse 27, then he said to
the disciple, behold your mother. From that hour, the disciple
took her into his own household. He didn't even need to pray about
it. It was immediate obedience to the Lord. There is nothing
to pray about. Delayed obedience is no obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. And John immediately took her
in because Jesus said that he was to now stand in his place
and be to his mother what he had been to her. I wonder even
tonight how you need to show love to your mother, how you
need to reach out and care for her and to express your love
for her. No matter what challenge that
might even be for you, given where she may be with the Lord,
nevertheless, we are commanded to honor our father and our mother. This brings us now to the last
heading that I have for you. As we begin verse 28, I want
you to see the redemption by Christ. As we come to the final
part of this scene of the cross, everything is built up to this
final dramatic moment. And in verse 28, we read, after
this, Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished.
in full awareness of who He is, and why He is here, and what
He has come to accomplish. He is in full awareness that
all the steps that have led up to this one dramatic moment,
and all of this is to fulfill the Scripture. He realizes this.
He understands that His path has been marked out from long
ago. He said, I am thirsty. This is an expression of the
humanity of Christ. A man who would have been scourged
and bleeding and hanging on a cross and exposed to extreme heat of
sun would be desperately dehydrated. And Jesus was a man just like
you and me, yet without a sin nature, and he longs for for
a drink," verse 29, a jar full of sour wine. That's like cheap
vinegar was standing there. So they put a sponge full of
the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop. and brought it up to
his mouth. And this, too, is in fulfillment
of Scripture. Psalm 69, verse 21, we read,
for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And Jesus, with full
awareness that he is on a path of destiny that has been predestined
long ages past, comes now to the final climactic dramatic
moment. And in verse 30, we read, therefore,
when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Please note he did not say, I
am finished. He said, it is finished. The
work that he has come to do is now complete. It is the finished
work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. There is nothing that
can be added to the finished work of Christ upon the cross.
The work of redemption is now complete. The sacrifice has been
made. The Father has been propitiated. The reconciliation has been accomplished. The head of the serpent has been
crushed. The debt of sin has been paid. The ransom has been paid. Jesus said, it is finished. There are no good works that
can be added to the finished work of Christ upon the cross.
In fact, if anyone tries to add any of their own morality or
religiosity or own good works to the finished work of Christ,
you may not have the finished work of Christ. You may only
have it as you come as a beggar with an empty hand. In my hands,
no price do I bring, simply to your cross I cling. It is the
finished work of Christ upon the cross. It is the great pronouncement
totalisti. It means paid in full. And the Bible tells us in Colossians
chapter 2 that for all who will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of our sins were written on what is referred to as a certificate
of debt. And whenever a criminal was prosecuted
and the sentence pronounced upon him, he would be led to his prison
cell, and the certificate of debt would be posted to that
prison cell, and it would list all of the crimes that he had
committed. And then there was the corresponding punishment. For this crime, it'll be 10 years.
For this crime, it'll be 5 years. For this crime, it'll be 20 years.
And you will stay in this prison house until all of your punishment
has been paid off. That was the certificate of debt. In Colossians 2, Paul says that
our certificate of debt was nailed to the cross. And there, when
Jesus died upon the cross, he paid in full the certificate
of debt containing every sin and every crime that you and
I would ever commit. and that he paid it off with
the finality of his death upon the cross. There is nothing that
can be brought to the table. There is nothing that can be
added. It is the free gift of God as a result of the death
of Christ upon the cross. And then we read at the end of
verse 30, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. His life was not taken. He gave
his life unto death. Jesus was not a victim. He was
a victor upon that cross. And in full control of his life
unto this point of death, Jesus chose the moment, Jesus chose
when he would die, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. He died not in defeat. He died
in triumph. He died in victory, having accomplished
the work that he came into this world to accomplish. And so, as I close this message,
the question for you is, have you ever come to Mount Calvary?
Have you ever come to Golgotha? Have you ever come to the foot
of the cross? Have you ever looked up and seen the Son of God hanging
upon the cross 2,000 years ago? Today, He is seated at the right
hand of God the Father. and all who call upon His name
shall be saved." Every one of us must come to the place in
our life when we recognize that we are a wretched sinner and
we have no hope of acceptance with God and no hope of heaven
except through the blood that was shed upon Calvary's cross
when Jesus died in our place. Have you ever repented of your
sins? Have you ever Come to Christ
by faith and entrust it all that you are to all that He is. There is salvation in no other
name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself
a ransom for all, the testimony born at the proper time. It is
this Jesus who said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but
through me. If you have never come to faith
in Jesus Christ, I call you this moment to leave the world behind,
to turn your back on your own self-righteousness, and to turn
your back on all of your own efforts to save yourself, to
turn to Christ, and to surrender your life to Christ, to submit
to his Lordship, and entrust your soul to Jesus Christ, who
alone is the Savior of the world. If you have never done that,
tonight I urge you to take that step of faith and to believe
upon Jesus Christ. And one day when you die, he
will take you to the Father and there bring you into his very
presence. Let us close in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this vivid
description of the death of Jesus Christ that John has recorded
for us. And Lord, we think of the extreme
sacrifice that was needed to be made by Jesus on our behalf. Lord Jesus, thank you for being
so willing. We praise you and adore you for
your humble obedience unto death, even death upon a cross. And
we know as a result of this, therefore, God has highly exalted
you. and given you a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall
confess in heaven and on earth and under the earth that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Lord, thank you
for the power of the cross to forgive sin. We pray this in
Jesus' name. Amen.