My subject this morning is the
crucifixion of our Lord. And my text is John chapter 19,
verses 13 through 37. Before we read our text, before
we read again the story of the crucifixion I ask that you pause
a moment, ask God the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts by that
which he has caused to be recorded here in this book of inspiration. Oh, Spirit of God, don't let
me read or hear or speak of the sufferings and death of my Redeemer
and my heart be unmoved." John chapter 19, verse 13. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment
seat in a place that is called the pavement. but in the Hebrew,
Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover and about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews,
behold your king. But they cried out, away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we
have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. And he bearing his cross went
forth unto a place called the place of a skull, which is called
in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him. and two other
with him, on either side one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate
wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus
of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many
of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh
to the city. And it was written in Hebrew
and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priest of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I
have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, and also his coat. And now the coat was
without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore,
among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it,
whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith
they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they
did cast lots. These things, therefore, the
soldiers did. Now they're stood by the cross
of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, and Mary, the
wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciple 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 unto his own home. And after this, Jesus, knowing
that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now, there was a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hyssop and 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 bodies should not remain upon
the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high
day, 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 of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was
dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out
blood and water. And he that saw it bear 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, they shall look on him
whom they have pierced. Oh, how great must be the love
of Christ for poor sinners. that he would lay down his life, suffering the death more cruel
than any imaginable, more shameful than any ever described in the
annals of history, more full of reproach, more full of bitterness
than any of us can begin to imagine, that he would suffer such a death
Being made sin, made a curse, and put to death for us that
we might live through him. Amazing love. Indescribable love. Oh, what a horrible, horrible
evil sin must be. That thing we naturally nurture
and cherish. That thing we secretly cling
to and feed with the depravity and corruption
of our vile hearts. Sin. That hatred of God that reigns
in us. That vicious, vicious malice
of man's heart for God. What a horrible, horrible thing
sin must be. All the acts of evil arising
from these polluted hearts. That it requires the blood, the
life, the death of a man who is perfectly innocent. A man
who is without sin. A man who is of infinite worth. A man who is himself God incarnate. What a horrible evil sin must
be. That it cannot be put away. It
cannot be forgiven. It cannot be taken out of the
way. It cannot be blotted out. It
cannot be pardoned. Not even by God himself. except
by the sacrifice of God's darling son. This part of John's gospel
gives us information, though it is a briefer description of
the crucifixion than the others. It gives us information about
our Lord's crucifixion and death at Calvary that's not revealed
by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We're not told why one of the
gospel writers would be inspired to record this, that, and the
other thing, and another inspired to leave those very things out,
and inspired of God to record other things concerning our Lord's
death. We're not told why that's the case, and we needn't even
ask why. These things are written by holy
men who were moved by God the Holy Spirit, inspired, as they
wrote, to write the very words of God for us, describing the
person and work of our Redeemer in the character they're setting
forth. John describes him here as God
the Incarnate One, the Word of God, who is put to death in our
stead. We just sang that hymn by Isaac
Watts, One verse, the third, I believe it is, goes, well,
might the sun and darkness hide and shut his glories in when
Christ the mighty maker died for man the creature said. In
recent years, men have altered the hymn. And they make it to
read just as I've quoted it and as we sing it for the fear that
somehow men might misunderstand theological issues. Watts wrote
the hymn like this. Well might the sun in darkness
hide and shut his glories in when God the mighty maker died
for man the creature sin. You see that Christ who died
for us, that man was and is God in human flesh. John's revealing
here certain aspects of his death as he does by the direction of
God the Holy Spirit. These verses describe the sufferings
of our Lord Jesus when he was made sin for us, when he was
hanged upon the cursed tree. John's brief record of our Lord's
crucifixion is not to be read casually or with thoughtlessness,
but carefully and with reverence. God, forgive me. Forgive me. for the very way I read such
words. It's amazing and marvelous in
our eyes when we remember who suffered these things. The one who suffered is God the
Son, the Holy Lamb of God, the only truly good and righteous
man who ever lived upon God's earth. The only one. It's amazing to consider these
things when we remember for whom he suffered these things. The
Lord Jesus died not for the righteous, but for the ungodly. He laid
down his life not for the upright, but for the filthy. the vile,
the sinner. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. When we were his enemies, he
died for us. When we were people who wished
that he should be made to die, he died for us. The Lord Jesus
laid down his life not for righteous folks, but for sinners. For sinners
who deserve themselves to suffer the wrath of God forever in hell
itself. Yes, that's what you deserve. Yes, that's what you deserve. Yes, that's what I deserve. Everlasting damnation. Everlasting separation from God
in darkness. relentless destruction, relentless
torment because of our sin against him. And it's amazing to read
these things when we consider and remember why he suffered
as he did. What's the cause of his sorrow?
His great agony of body, soul, and spirit? He suffered and died
as he did because he was made sin for us. He's the sin bearer. He who knew no sin was made sin. He who had no sin bore our sins
in his own body on the tree. He who is altogether holy was
made guilty. And justice drew forth its sword
and slaughtered God's lamb, for he was made sin for us. We've seen our Savior in Gethsemane
and his sorrow there, where he prayed three times, Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
as I will, thy will be done. Luke tells us the third time,
he prayed, he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling
to the ground. His holy soul, in the anticipation
of being made sin, was crushed within him. Our Savior
was scourged at Gabbatha. The judgment hall, the pilot,
called here in the Hebrew, Gabbatha, the pavement. There our Lord
was condemned in a mockery of justice incomparable in the annals
of history. There he was delivered to the
hands of cruel barbaric Roman soldiers to be scourged. They took him into the common
judgment hall and gathered an entire band of soldiers. between
five and 1,200 soldiers. And they took a Roman scourge
after they'd stripped him naked and whipped him and whipped him
and whipped him, put a purple a rag around his shoulders, and
a reed scepter in his hands, and shoved a crown of thorns
on his head, and cried mockingly, Hail, King! And they spit on
him. And they walked by, mocking him,
and beat him, and beat him, and beat him. Then they led him away
to crucify him. After our Lord was paraded through
the streets of Jerusalem as a common criminal, we come now to behold
the slaughter at Golgotha. And he, we read in verse 17,
bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the Place
of the Skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha. Hanging on the cursed tree on
Golgotha's dark hill, the Lord of Glory suffered and died in
the place of poor, ruined sinners that sinners like you and me
might live forever with God without seeing. Golgotha is called the place
of the skull. It's another word for Calvary's
Hill. called the Place of the Skull because there is where
folks were just commonly thrown, the poor, and a little dirt thrown
over them. And after a while, when the bodies
had returned to the dust, the bones would be popping out all
over the place. It was a garbage dump for Jerusalem. Now, I know if you spend a little
money and you get a little notion in your mind that you're going
to go to the Holy Land, These folks will take you to the place
called Calvary and then they'll take you to the tomb where Jesus
was buried. Don't spend your money. They
don't know where either is. It's just a religious hoax, just
a religious superstition by which Jews will make a lot of money.
I mean, nobody knows where Golgotha is, nobody knows where Calvary
is, nobody does. Our Lord had Jerusalem so thoroughly turned
in an upheaval by the Romans in 70 AD that nobody has a clue
where any of those things were. Nobody. Nobody. And it's best. You see, if we knew where our
Lord suffered and died, if we knew where he was buried, We
would do just like those superstitious idolaters who make their pilgrimage
to Jerusalem every year or so and they find a place where they
just feel near the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? I come to the Calvary's Hill
and oh, it's just a wonderful tingling feeling goes up and
down your spine. That's what Chris Matthews said
about listening to Mr. Obama speak. Oh, but it's so spiritual. Idolatry
is what it is. If you could find the piece of
wood on which the Lord of Glory was crucified, you'd worship
it. Just like folks do, they're images
of that piece of wood. Folks have their crosses, and
you'll see them. You'll see them once in a while.
Something comes up that kind of gives them a little fright,
and they'll rub that good luck charm. Worship it. Oh, not me. Well,
why are you rubbing it then? Why are you wearing it? Churches
have crosses on the steeples, on the roof, all over the buildings.
They worship the piece of wood. It doesn't matter where he died. It matters who died, why he died,
and what he accomplished there. Turn to 2 Kings 18. Hold your
hands here, John. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. How many of those Raiders of
the Lost Ark movies did they make? I don't know. It doesn't
matter. Folks, wouldn't you love to find that thing? Oh, man. Wouldn't that be something? Yeah,
you'd worship it. How about if you could find the
brazen serpent? Wouldn't you like to have that?
Oh, wouldn't that be great? Well, there was a king by the
name of Hezekiah who found it. 2 Kings 18 verse 1. Now it came to pass in the third
year of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the
son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty and five years
old was he when he began to reign. And he reigned twenty and nine
years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi,
the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father
did. Oh, what did he do? He removed the high places, and
break the images, and cut down the groves, and break in pieces
the brazen serpent. Skip that brazen serpent. Now remember, this was made when
Moses led Israel in the wilderness. And Moses kept that thing. And
Joshua kept it. And Samuel kept it. And David
kept it. Oh, how could we destroy this? What an emblem of God's power
and God's grace and God's salvation. A picture of Christ himself. We don't dare destroy this thing.
If you don't, folks will worship it. They'll worship it. They'll worship it. It's in the
nature of man to worship a stick. That's the reason you see that
old man in a Masonic order costume, dressed in drag, walking around
carrying that Jesus on a stick. And everybody bows down. Oh. Worship it. Oh, no, no. Let's see. Let's
see. And break it in pieces, the brazen serpent that Moses
had made. For unto those days, the children of Israel did burn
incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan, a worthless piece
of brass. It had nothing to do with idolatry
and the imagery of religion. There's no salvation, no grace,
nothing spiritual about religious pictures, religious icons, and
religious relics. All right, back here in John
chapter 19. Let's see who died, why he suffered as he did, what
he accomplished. I'll call your attention to four
or five things and I'll be very brief. The first thing to which
I call your attention is the fact that our blessed savior
went forth from the judgment hall to Golgotha bearing his
own cross. One portion of the shame imposed
upon the vilest of criminals was that they were required to
carry their own cross when they went forth to execution. And
thus our Lord Jesus left the judgment hall bearing his cross
because he was, by the arrangement of divine providence and divine
justice, in the fullest sense possible, made sin for us. numbered with transgressors Reckoned
a sinner Counted a curse for our sakes For another thing this was the
fulfillment of a great type given in scripture turn back to Leviticus
chapter 16 Leviticus chapter 16 Here in Leviticus 16 27 It is written
the Bullock for the sin offering, and the
goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the inn
to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth
without the camp. And they shall burn in the fire
their skins, and their flesh, and their dung." Little did these
Jews know. They were blind with their rage.
blinded in reprobation by the judgment of God. Little did they
know that by compelling Pilate and the Romans to crucify the
Lord Jesus, they were themselves bringing to perfection the fulfillment
of the type of the scapegoat in the end of the sacrifice of
sin offering in the Old Testament. Our Lord Jesus was taken like
that sin offering outside the gates. There where the sin offering
was burned and there where it's skins and it's flesh and it's
dung were all consumed with fire. The Lord Jesus bore his cross
outside Jerusalem and suffer for us without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also, we read in Hebrews, that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood suffered without the gate. Let us now take up
his cross and follow him. Follow him without the gate. Follow him out of this religious
world. Follow Him out of the religious
commotion of this day, the idolatry of this age, following Christ
alone, worshiping Him. If we would be His disciples,
we must take up our cross and follow Him. Take up the cross? Oh, I've got a bad back. That's
my cross. No, it's not. You didn't take
that up. Oh, my vision's bad. That's my cross. No, it's not.
You didn't take that up. What do you mean take up your
cross? It means to deliberately pick up that which is the offense
of men and carry it for the honor of the Redeemer. The cross is
the gospel of our Redeemer. To carry it with him or for him
without the gate. If we're persecuted for our doctrine,
so be it. If we're derided for our simplicity
of worship, so be it. If we're mocked for our practice
of the Lord's ordinances and simplicity just as he ordained
it, so be it. That's why those things don't
happen. You try telling folks the gospel
of God's free grace and watch the look on their faces and then
listen to what's said. You try telling folks about the
idolatry of this religious world and watch How does he dare say this is,
why everybody does things this way? Watch. Just watch it. And then listen to the yik-yak.
Listen. You try telling folks why we
baptize believers and only believers, immersing them in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, fulfilling all righteousness
by symbol rather than sloshing a little water on somebody's
face, baby's face, and calling it baptism, bringing a child,
they call it into the kingdom and church of God. Oh, that's
just one way of doing things. Well, why don't you give it up?
You know it's wrong. Because this is how we bring
ourselves to God. Not believers, we just confess
it. You try explaining why we observe
the Lord's table, take a piece of unleavened bread, a glass
of wine, and eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance
of Him, and insist on it being the right representation of our
Redeemer, and listen to the mockery and the jeering of men. If we're
counted the filth and all scouring of the earth for our dogmatism
and separation from the world, so be it. I call on you as our
Lord Jesus calls on his people everywhere, come out of her lest
you be partaker of her sins and of her judgments. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 7, 2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter
6. Verse 14, be you not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. Be you not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. Well, that means you can't belong
to the local trade union. That means you can't belong to
the Boy Scouts. That means you can't belong to
the Girl Scouts. That means you can't be on the
football team. You can't go in business with the unbeliever?
No. That's not what it's talking about. That's not what it's talking
about. Means you can't marry an unbeliever? It's not even
talking about that. Now, I highly recommend that
you don't, but it's not even talking about that. Well, what
are we talking about? For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? That's what it's talking about,
Bobby. Don't associate yourself with the infidels. Don't align
yourself with those who hate God. Don't associate yourself
with religion that opposes the gospel. And what agreement hath
the temple of God with idols? Don't mix the worship of God
and idolatry. For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Almighty.
Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, all
the filthiness of religious idolatry, perfecting holiness in the fear
of God, worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Second, the Holy
Spirit here tells us that our Lord Jesus was crucified as the
king. the king of the Jews. Pilate
said to the Jews, behold, your king. They said, we have no king
but Caesar. Pilate said, behold, the king
of the Jews. And then when he had the Lord
Jesus nailed to the tree, he had a superscription written
and nailed to the cross telling why he was crucified. It is written
on that superscription in three languages, Hebrew, Latin and
Greek. so that the Jews and the Romans
and the Gentiles could all read it in their language. Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And the Jews saw that and said,
that ain't right. Take that down. And for the only
time in this whole story, Pilate shows a little backbone. Wonder
how come? Because God made him. For the first time, he know what
I've written I've written. And there it hung. Why? Because
Jesus of Nazareth, that one who is the only true Nazarite who
ever lived. He wasn't of Nazareth. He was
called the Nazarene because he fulfilled the law type of the
Nazarene. But he's called Jesus of Nazareth,
the king of the Jews. Before he was born, The angel
told his mother he shall be great and he shall sit upon the throne
of his father David and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
He was born the king. He didn't come asking folks to
let him be the king. He didn't come here hoping they'd
let him set up his throne over in Palestine. He was born king
of the Jews. He went to Calvary that he might
die as the king of the Jews and dying as the king of the Jews
He bought the right to rule over all things and all flesh as the
king and he sits upon heaven's throne as the king the king of
kings and lord of lords and That's how you deal with him He will
either be your king. Are you going to hell? You will
either bow to Him as your Lord, or you will perish under the
sword of His justice. There's no in-between ground.
Believers are a people who willingly bow to Christ the King, bow to
His rule and His will. There's nobody sitting out here
this morning, nobody listening to my voice right now, or no
one who will hear this later, who wouldn't like to go to heaven
when they die. You all would. You'd all like to be saved in
the sweet by and by. That's not the issue. That's
not the issue. Who wants to go to hell? Please
raise your hand. What a foolish question. Who
wants to go to heaven? Raise your hand. Everybody does.
That's not the issue. That's not the issue. The issue
between you and God is his son and his son's right to rule over
you and do with you what he will. And He demands that you bow.
Bow. Faith in Christ, Don Lenari,
is no more and no less than the continual surrender of our hearts
and lives to Christ the King. Bowing to Him. Bowing to His
will, His word, His way, His providence. And it's not a once
and for all thing that we do. We bow to Him because He graciously
makes us bow. And we continue bowing to Him
because He won't let us not bow. Whatever it is He brings your
way, Merle, whatever it is He brings your way, no matter how
painful, no matter how hard you kick against it, sooner or later,
He'll make you bow to it, make you bow to Him. And when you
bow, you'll find His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Here's a third thing. We have
in this description of our Lord's crucifixion a marvelous display
of God's absolute sovereignty. In this scene of slaughter at
Golgotha, the Holy Spirit shows us God's total sovereignty over
everything in this affair by three things distinctly. The two thieves who were crucified
with our Lord give us a display of God's sovereign distinguishing
grace and salvation. You don't need me to remind you
that one of these two thieves was plucked as a firebrand from
the burning out of the very jaws of hell. Here they hang, one
on the left, the other on the right, both of them accusing
and cussing the Savior. Both of them mocking, both of
them. Hanging there with him as he dies and then suddenly
something happens with one of them. And he cries, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What happened? What happened? God stepped in
by his grace, revealed Christ to him and caused him to look
on him whom he had pierced. That's exactly what happened.
Understand this. The only distinction there is
between you and the damned in hell is the distinction that
God's grace has made. The only difference between these
two things, the only difference was God chose one and passed
by the other. God showed mercy to one and left
the other in his sin. And if God leaves you to yourself,
hell will be your portion. The only hope for your soul is
that God might intervene and reveal his son in you. Oh, God,
will you be pleased to make Christ known in the hearts of chosen
sinners? By the grace of God, we are what
we are. Here's the second thing that
shows God's sovereignty in this affair, and that's the fulfillment
of scripture. The fulfillment of scripture
by men who had no regard for the scriptures. The fulfillment
of scripture by men who were themselves the executioners of
the Lord of glory. These soldiers had no more regard
for the scriptures than hogs do for diamonds. And yet they
did exactly what God ordained they would do. and what God wrote
in the books of the prophets that they would do. I mean, did
exactly what God said they would do. The scripture said that they
would part his garments among them. So there are four soldiers
sitting by the cross and they cast lots and each one took a
portion. But then his outer garment, his
coat, was seamless and they decided, well, Well, let's not tear that. Let's cast lots for it. Why is
that? Because the scripture said it
wasn't to be torn. That's exactly right. They did exactly what
God ordained must be done. They gave our Lord wine and vinegar
to drink. Because God said, they gave me
also gall for my meat, and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar
to drink. And then we're told that they
parted his garments among them and cast lots for his vesture.
And then the scriptures tell us how that those who were involved
in the death of our Redeemer themselves attested to the truth
of every claim he made. Did you ever stop to consider
what that penitent thief heard that day? when God called him
by his grace. We know faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Well, what did this man hear?
What was it he heard? He heard Pilate say, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Jesus, the Nazarene. Jesus, that one who lived all
together unto God from the day of his birth to the day of his
death, he's the king of the Jews, the Messiah. Not only that, this
dying thief heard men declare, thou that destroyest the temple
and buildest it in three days, declaring exactly what our Lord
had said concerning his death and his resurrection from the
grave. They heard He heard folks pass by and beat him on the face
and laughing at him and said, take him down, let him come down
from the cross. He saved others, himself he cannot save. Aren't
you glad? Because he saved me, he couldn't
save himself. That's called substitution. They
said he trusted in God. He did as never a man did. And
we're justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, who trusted
in God as our substitute. They said, He said, I am the
Son of God. What? Did I hear that right? This Jesus
of Nazareth? Jesus the Nazarene? He's the
King of the Jews? He said that he trusted God? He said this man who's hanging
here right beside me, dying as I'm dying. This man declared
that he was the son of God. This man who because he saved
others cannot save himself. This one who said, destroy this
temple and in three days I'll raise it up again. That's the
king. Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And thus he believed. on the Son of God. Here's the
fourth thing. I remind you again that the sufferings
and death of our Savior at Golgotha Sproul were real. The Jews, because it was a high
holy day, these Jews who cried, crucify Him, crucify Him, didn't
want their Sabbath to be polluted with these dead bodies, or these
bodies hanging on the cross. And so they asked Pilate to send
his soldiers out to break the bones, the legs of these men
who were crucified. And Pilate said, go do it. And
he sent the soldiers out, and they took a mallet and crushed
the one's legs. And they took a mallet and crushed
the other's legs. And when they came to Jesus,
the Savior, They observed that he was dead already. Well, they
didn't really know. After all, they were just soldiers.
I expect fellows who've been on the battlefield a lot know
the difference between a dead corpse and a live one, don't
you? But just in case, just in case, one of them turned around
and shoved a spear through his side into his heart, and there
came out blood and water. Lord Jesus really did die. He really did die as a penal
substitute under the furious wrath of God as the sinner's
substitute. He really did suffer all the
horrid fury of hell in the room instead of his people. And they did this because the
scripture said not a bone of him shall be broken.
Because the scripture said, they shall look on me whom they pierced. Tell you one more thing. When our Savior had suffered
all that justice required, All that justice required. And God Almighty, the Holy Triune
Jehovah said, that's enough. He cried, it is. And the work was fully done.
Justice satisfied. Righteousness brought in. Sin atoned. Put away. Blotted out. Eternal redemption
obtained. A way open for sinners to come
to God. And the sure guarantee that he
will bring sinners, chosen, redeemed sinners to God by the sacrifice
of himself. It is finished. Amen.