Returning to John 19, I want
you to begin reading with me John 19 verse 19, 1919. Pilate wrote a title, put it
on the cross, there where the Lord was nailed to the cross
and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, That's where he grew
up. He grew up in the carpenter shop
there in Galilee. Jesus from Nazareth, the King,
the King of the Jews. This title then read
many of the Jews for the place was where Jesus was crucified
was near to the city. Golgotha was just outside the
gate and it was written in the Hebrew written in the Greek,
written in the Latin, king, king. Then said the chief priest. They didn't like that. They said
to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said,
I am the king. I am king. Now here's the title of the message.
Pilate answered, said, what I've written, what I've written, you're
not changing it. What I've written, I've written,
I've written, couldn't be changed. Couldn't, what I've written,
I have written. Pilate did not, and did not do this accidentally,
nor was it a mistake what he is writing, although the Jews
didn't like it. What is done is done and it cannot
be undone. He dies as our King. He dies
as our Savior. It cannot be changed. This is
the King. Has always been so. For He is
King and God of all the earth from eternity to eternity. Thou art God. The Lord Jesus
Christ indeed is King of kings and Lord of lords. We read about
in Revelation 19. Romans 14 9 it says for to this
end to this purpose Christ both died and rose and revived that
he might be Lord King of the dead and of the living he's every
man's king everybody's going to acknowledge bow Our Lord said,
Jehovah said to the Lord, sit thou at my right hand till I
make thine enemies thy footstool. Every knee will bow, every tongue
will confess in lordship. When he came here, he came as
an infant of days, born of a virgin. But the wise men, they said,
where is he that's born king? He was king when he got here.
He's always been king. He is the eternal king. He lived
among men as the king of all things. He had power over all
diseases. He had power over death. He's
king of death. He had power over the elements,
over what we call Nature, weather, wind, he controlled it. You remember
the disciples said, what manner of man is this that even the
wind and even the sea obey him? He's king. He's king. He's always been king. He came
as king, lived as king, and my friend, make no mistake, he died
as king. He died as God, our Savior. He arose from the dead as King
over death, hell, and the grave. We study in Revelation 1 verse
18, I'm he that liveth and was dead, behold, I'm alive for evermore. And because He lives, you remember
John 14, 19, He said, because I live, you shall live also. You see, He arose as King. He
reigns forever right now as King. He is the governor of the universe. The government is upon His shoulder.
He is King in all things, creation, providence, and in salvation.
When He had by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on the throne
of glory as King. He's King. King in all things. And my friend, he's coming back
pretty soon. He said, I'm gonna go away, but
I'm gonna come back. I'm gonna come back and receive
you to myself. He's not coming back as a defeated
man. He's coming back as king. King. He's coming back as king. And
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is
king. He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus Christ, now listen to this
statement. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
your Savior if He doesn't reign right now in your heart as your
Lord, God, and King. Did you get that? Jesus Christ
is not your Savior if He doesn't reign in your heart right now.
Right now. as God, as Lord, as King in all
things. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty, manifest in the flesh. Now keep in mind, the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ was not accidental. He just wasn't the
victim of circumstances. The Lord Jesus Christ, His coming
was no accident. His life was no accident. His death was not accidental
or incidental. He's not the helpless victim
of godless men. He's appointed sacrifice of a
thrice holy God. This is God's sacrifice for sin. John identified the Lord Jesus
Christ. Behold, the last of the Old Testament
prophets. All them prophets before said,
someone's coming, someone's coming. And John said, there he is. Behold
the Lamb of God. This is God's Lamb. Always has
been. It's the Lamb of the Lord Jesus.
It's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is God's Lamb being sacrificed
for our sin. No man, he said, remember our
Lord said in John 10, I lay down my life for the sheep. No man
takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment, this decree,
this decree, this commandment have I received from God. Pilate says to him, don't you
know? You want to know something? Don't you know? Can you imagine
the arrogance of this pious, pompous, peon, Pilate the peon. Pilate the Peon, that's a good
name for him. Pilate the Peon says to the omnipotent God, I've
got power over you. What a fool. What an idiot. And the Lord corrects him, Pilate
the Peon, you don't have any power over me. I have all power
in heaven and earth. And the only thing that you do
and the only power that you have is what I give you to exercise
over me. You see, the eye of faith looks
beyond the instruments of the cross to the author of the cross
and knows that it is of the Lord. It says down here in the text,
verse 16, then delivered he him therefore unto them. And he did. But remember what
Peter declared in Acts chapter 2. Him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and with
wicked hands you've crucified and you've slain the Lord of
glory. They did what God determined
before to be done. He was delivered up by the determinate
decree of God. When Paul wrote to the Romans,
he writes, he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. Therefore, being justified by
Christ, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, when Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 8, we read
about him being delivered God delivered up his own son. He
delivered up his own son being predestinated to that end. He
delivered his own son, delivered him up for us all. How shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Now one of my
all-time favorite verses in the word of God is found in the lamentations
of the prophet of God named Jeremiah. Don't turn, let me just read
it to you, but jot this text down, Lamentations 1, verse 12,
you remember? You remember how it goes? Is
it nothing to you, all you that pass by? And I can put these
words upon the mouth of the blessed Savior as he dies there on Calvary,
as they mock him, as they look at him and say of him, he saved
others, himself he cannot save. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Now,
it was not what wicked men did that day at Calvary that accomplished
our salvation, is it? Was it what wicked men did? The
Roman soldiers that drove the nails? The Roman soldiers that
took the spear and pierced his side? Was it what men did that
day? No, my friend, it's what God
was doing that day. That's our hope. You see, men
couldn't make Him sin for us. Men couldn't lay on Him the iniquity
of us all. Men couldn't make the Lord Jesus
Christ our sin offering, our sacrifice for our sin. It's not
what wicked men did that accomplished our salvation. It's what God
did. You see the difference? We look beyond the instruments
of death to the author of the cross and say it's of the Lord. It's the Lord's doing. The Lord's
doing. Now, let's pick up a few things
here in John 19 verse 12. Pilate, when he hears that the
Lord Jesus Christ has all power, from thence Pilate Thenceforth
Pilate sought to release the Lord Jesus Christ. He tried this
on many occasions, but it was not to be. The Jews cried out
saying, if you let him go, if you release him, you're not Caesar's
buddy. Now this is hitting close to
home. Being Caesar's buddy paid the bills. Being Caesar's friend
got him a governor's mansion. If I'm not Caesar's friend, then
I'm in trouble. For they say, the Jews, whosoever
maketh himself a king is in rebellion against Caesar. If you line up
with the Lord Jesus Christ and release him, then you're an enemy
to the state. Therefore, you too should be
crucified." You see their argument? Pilate would be charged with
treason. If this got back to Rome, that a man down in Judea
claimed to be the king and Pilate released him. What do you think?
Caesar, Tiberius, would have thought about that. Pilate, you're
dead. I'm going to kill you. Now look
at verse 13. Well, Pilate therefore heard
that saying, He brought the Lord Jesus forth. Pilate sits down
in the judgment seat and he passes judgment upon the one whom he
just said three times, I find no fault in him. And he unjustly
condemns this sinless man to death. I find no fault. He unjustly condemns him. Look at verse 14 and 15. It was
the preparation of the Passover. This was a high religious day
in Jerusalem. This Passover feast was observed
for seven days, and then they killed the Passover lamb. Now
all this was to make Israel to know how God, when they put the
blood on the door there in Egypt, how he delivered them to the
blood of a substitute. God said, when I see the blood
on the door, I'll pass over you. And he said, this memorial feast
you should keep until I come, until the Messiah comes. And
they were observing this Passover day. And it was about the sixth
hour, somewhere from nine until noon. And Pilate brings forth
the Lord Jesus Christ and says to these Jews again, Behold your
King. Behold the King. While the Jews
were preparing the Passover feast, remembering how God had delivered
their forefathers from 400 years of Egyptian bondage, God was
also preparing He was preparing THE Passover lamb. The Lord Jesus
Christ is now going to fulfill the type of that special lamb
slain to put away our sin. You reckon there's any accident
that the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified on Passover day? No, sir! This is the hour appointed
of God. He said the hour has come. The
time has come. The Lord Jesus dies at the appointed
hour, at the appointed time for the appointed people to accomplish
God's appointed means. God was preparing his lamb Behold
the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
is now going to fulfill all that was pictured of Him. And God
still says of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Not when I see your goodness.
Not when I see your church membership. Not when I see your baptism.
Not when I see anything that you do. God said, when I see
Christ. And I see you in him, I'll pass over you. It's the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanses us from all
our sin. Pilate again utters this blessed
truth of God, Behold your King. Before he said over here in verse
5, Behold the man, Here's a man that is king. Here is the king
who is the man. And I said in the message last
week that the Lord Jesus Christ is a real man, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh, but he is God Almighty, manifest in the
flesh. He is the God-man mediator. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that is the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the man, Christ Jesus,
and he is our God. You see man can't satisfy and
God can't suffer but the God-man did both. Both satisfied and
suffered. Pilate may have said this and
done this to mock the Jews or to ridicule them in presenting
the Lord Jesus Christ as the King. You know by this time he's
been beaten He's bloody. He doesn't look like a king.
And piled in a way to mock them, here's your king. Have a king. You want a king? Here's your
king. But what he says is the absolute truth. He is king. Look what they say. They cried
out, away with him, away with him, crucify him, kill him. And Pilate said, shall I crucify
your king and the chief priests? Now not the common priests, the
chief priests. They answered, that we have no
king but Caesar. What? They used to say, God is our
King. In Psalm 47 we read, sing praises
to God, sing praises unto our King. Sing praises for God is
the King of all the earth. Sing with understanding. Now
they proclaim, we have no king but the God of this world. The Jews vowed to the God of
this world. We have no king but Caesar. Look at verse 16, then delivered
he him, therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took him,
they took him. And they led him like a lamb
to the slaughter, like a sheep before shears. He opened not
his mouth. Him and led Him to this place
designated for His execution, bearing His cross. He went forth
to this place called Golgotha, Calvary's Hill, where they crucified
Him, and two others with Him on either side, and the Lord
Jesus Christ in the middle." I wish I could get a good sight
of this. Here's the question. What do you see in Jesus Christ crucified. What do you see? I turn back
to Matthew 27. I read this verse last week,
I believe. Matthew 27. Matthew 27. We read
there in Matthew 27, verse 33. Matthew 27, 33. When they were come unto the place called
Golgotha, That is to say, the place of
a skull. They gave him vinegar to drink,
Matthew 27, 34, with gall, and when he had tasted thereof, he
would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted
his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophets. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture they did cast lots. This was given
from Psalm 22. Now here's the phrase. Do you have this underlined in
your Bible, verse 36? And sitting down they watched
him there. Sitting down. They just sat down
on the ground And they watched him. Here's this man from Nazareth,
nailed to a tree, bloody, beaten, battered. They sat down and they
watched him die. What did they see? What did they
see that day? Most of them, the Pharisees,
they saw an evil man. They said, you're a winebibber. You're a gluttonous man. You
do these things in the name of Beelzebub. That's who you are.
We know who you are. The Roman soldiers saw that day
just another day's work. Just putting another old Jew
to death. Nothing to me. Others looked upon the Lord Jesus
Christ as a defeated man, a beaten man. They looked upon Him and
this man surely is a loser. He's dying with other thieves.
This man's a loser. He's a nobody. He's a beaten
man. He's just another Jew being put
to death. Most folks who looked in his face that day saw no salvation,
no glory in this man dying. But the Lord's people, especially
now with the completed Word and the blessing of God the Holy
Spirit upon His Word and upon our heart, what do you see? What do I see in the Lord Jesus
Christ crucified? Let's sit down right now and
let's, by faith, look once more to the Lord Jesus Christ as He
hangs in all the blood, all the filth, all the wrath of men,
and may God give us a sight of the blessed Redeemer. What do
you see in Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Well, I don't want
to shock you, but I've got 11 things written down. 11 things. Can you stay with me for 11 things?
We've got about 20 minutes. Can you stay with me for 11 things?
What do I see in Christ crucified? I see the invisible hand of God
Almighty directing and controlling all things, all events of that
day. You see, He planned it from eternity.
He planned this day from all eternity. This is the hour. This
is the day. You remember many times they
tried to take the Lord on other occasions. You remember what
the Lord said? My hour has not yet come. And then finally in
John 17, He said, Father, the hour is here. This is the hour
planned from all eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ dies as
God's sacrifice for sin. God the Father planned it from
all eternity. He presided over it. God was
in charge this day. Pilate was not in charge, was
he? God was in charge. Not only that, God planned the
cross, presided over the cross, and he participated in afflicting
his own dear son, and whom he said, this is my beloved son,
and whom I'm well pleased. And yet we read in Isaiah 53,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him in our room and in our stead. Why did God bruise him? We read
it a moment ago, in a day of his fierce anger. How can God
be angry with his well beloved son, being made sin for you? For me, for God's people. Secondly,
what do I see in Christ crucified? I see all Scripture fulfilled. All Scripture being fulfilled. All that was written of Him in
the Old Testament to Him give all the prophets witness. Don't
turn, let me just read this to you. We've read this many times
in 1 Corinthians 15. Where we read, Paul said, I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That he was buried,
that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Everything that happened to him
that day, even the gambling over his garment was written 700-800
years before it actually happened. All these things were written
of the Lord Jesus Christ and prophesied of Him, and He dies
according to the Scripture. All that was pictured in the
Old Testament about the way of salvation is fulfilled in Christ
crucified. He's Abel's Lamb. He's Abraham's
sacrifice for Isaac, caught there in the thicket by his horns.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of that Passover
lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that smitten rock. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of that brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness.
Even so, the Lord preaches in John 3, 14, even so much, the
Son of Man be lifted up. And He says, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw all my people unto me. You see, He dies for our
sin according to Scripture. Thirdly, I see the eternal covenant
of grace ratified, established, confirmed in Jesus Christ crucified. Here's the covenant of grace,
the eternal covenant of grace ratified, established, and confirmed,
sealed, signed, and delivered by the blood atonement of Jesus
Christ. Now don't turn, but let me just
get this for you quickly. So I want to get through all
these 11 points here. In Hebrews chapter 13, we're
familiar with this scripture. Now the God of peace hath brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. This everlasting covenant is
signed, sealed, and delivered by the blood atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. To enable God to be a just God
and Savior. To enable Him to be just and
the justifier. How can God save me and not at
the expense of His holiness? How can God show mercy to me,
not at the expense of His justice? Justice must be honored. Justice
must be satisfied. Only in Christ crucified. You
see, I see in Him that eternal covenant signed, sealed, and
delivered. justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ through
his redeeming blood. Fourthly, I see the great love
of God's toward his people on full display. Hearing his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and he sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sin. For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He so
loved this world. Now what does that mean? That
does not mean every individual that ever lived upon the top
of God's green earth. This is the world of his elect,
and the world for whom he loves cannot perish. The world for
whom he died cannot suffer condemnation. He loves his own in this world
and they cannot perish. He loves them with an everlasting
love, therefore with love and kindness does he draw them to
himself. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ
died for us. Don't you see in Christ crucified
God's great love unbounding? Toward us he was rich in mercy,
for his great love were with he loved us, even when we were
dead in our sin. I see the display of God's love,
don't you, at Calvary? Here's the fifth thing. I see
not only the love of God displayed, but I see the wrath of God. The
wrath of God. against our sin being fully and
totally consumed by the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrath of God
fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ as all the sin of God's elect
were made to meet on Him. And all the wrath and holy justice
of God fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ and He consumed God's
wrath. Therefore, there is no condemnation
to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ." Back under the
law, the fire consumed the sacrifice, right? The fire burnt up the
sacrifice. But here, just the opposite happens.
The Lord Jesus Christ consumed the fire of God's wrath for our
sin. Isn't that a glorious thought?
We see the wrath of God against our sin being fully and totally
consumed by the Lord Jesus Christ. So much so, Paul writes this, who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Come on, bring them forth.
Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God who
justifies, yea rather it is Christ who had died, yea rather is risen
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. Now come on. Can you charge me
with sin? You might, but God can't. He
said their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Will God punish sin? Oh yeah. Take a good look at Calvary.
God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. God will either deal
with you throughout all eternity, punishing, punishing, punishing
your sin, or He'll punish your sin in the Lord Jesus Christ
and make an end of it. But God will deal with sin. Here's the sixth thing. I see
not only the love of God and the wrath of God, but I see the
debt of my sin against God fully paid. Now it's not that he paid
a part and I pay the rest. It's not that he put a down payment
and I pay the balance. That's not the way this works.
God said, I found a ransom. Deliver him from going down to
the pit. I found a ransom. The Lord Jesus Christ fully paid
my sin debt. I don't owe one penny, one speck. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Did he
get it done? Did he attempt to do that? Did
He die in such a way as to make salvation a possibility for all
men if they'll meet certain conditions? That's what's being preached
today. That's a lie. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die to make salvation a possibility. He died to accomplish salvation
for God's people and He did put away their sin as far as the
east and from the west. the blood atonement of Christ
is not something as weak and anemic, it's powerful and prevailing. He said their sin and their iniquity
will I remember no more. Number seven, you with me? You still there? Okay, I see
in the Lord Jesus Christ crucified, I see salvation attempted. That's not what I see. That's
what a lot of folks see. I don't see salvation attempted.
I see salvation accomplished. Mission accomplished. We read in John 19 verse 30,
it is finished. It's done. Done. I see the Lord
Jesus Christ in him crucified. I see salvation finished, completed. We read it a moment ago. or a
week or two ago, in John 17, our Lord prayed this, I have
glorified thee on the earth, I finished the work you gave
me to do. I'm trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
who finished salvation for me. Now notice how I said that. I'm
not trusting the finished work. I'm trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
who finished salvation for me. And that makes salvation by His
grace. For it's God who saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose, His own grace, given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Here's number eight. I see in
the Lord Jesus Christ Crucified, I see redemption obtained. Obtained. You remember from our
study in Hebrews 9 verse 12? where it says in verse 11, we
have a great high priest who didn't bring the typical animal
sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us, having obtained eternal redemption for us with His own
blood, with a sacrifice of Himself. Now this blood that was shed
on Calvary's tree that day is not the blood of a mere man,
although he was totally man. But Paul said in Acts chapter
20 that God bought the church with His own blood. This is special blood. This is
the blood of God Almighty. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. who is Emmanuel, God with us. I see redemption obtained by
His blood." Peter writes about it this way, "...in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according
to the riches of His grace." That's rather Ephesians 1.7. Peter said this, "...we are not
redeemed with corruptible things, but with the precious blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ." Here's number 10. Number 10. I see in the Lord Jesus Christ
crucified the wisdom of God and the power of God. We read that
just a moment ago, didn't we? We preach, for the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness,
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ crucified
is the power of God. power of God and the salvation.
That's why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
It is a power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes,
to the Jew and to the Gentile. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. I see in Christ crucified
the very wisdom and power of God. Therefore I see in the Lord
Jesus Christ crucified the only message to preach. Right across the page in 2 Corinthians
2, 2, Paul said, I'm determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I'm determined. I'm determined
not to know anything for salvation, not to know anything for redemption,
not to know anything for reconciliation, not to know anything for righteousness,
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What do you see in Him? I see
everything. I see God put all of His eggs
in one basket. If we can put it that way. Christ
is all and in all. Lastly, I see this. I see this. In Christ crucified I see the
only ground for boasting. The only ground for boasting. God forbid I should glory God
forbid I should glory, God forbid I should rejoice, except in Jesus
Christ in Him crucified. That's Galatians 6.14. God forbid! You see, it's the only ground
that we can stand upon and boast of what He's done for us. I see the only ground of boasting. In the Lord Jesus Christ I don't
see defeat, I see victory. Victory over sin, He put it away. Victory over death, He lives forever. Victory over
the grave, He walked out, ascended to glory and sat down. And victory
over Satan himself, this is the woman's seed. that crushed His
dominion. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want to close
this message by reading Psalm 2. Turn over there. Psalm number
2. I made it through all 11 points.
What do I see in Christ crucified? I see the King. I see the King
coming. I see the King living. I see
the King dying in my room and in my stead. This is God's King.
Psalm 2. Let's read this whole psalm.
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing,
the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed, against His Christ,
saying, We have no king but Caesar. Let us break their bands asunder. Let us cast away their cords
from us. What does God think about that
rebellion? Is He upset? Is He walking the banister of
heaven, wringing His hands, hoping somebody will let Him save them
He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh, the Lord shall have them
in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet, verse
6, I've set my king. He set up the king. He sent the
king. I've set my king upon my holy
hill Zion. He's king among God's people.
I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me thou art
my son this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost
parts for thy possession. For thou shalt break them with
a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. Be wise now therefore, you kings of the earth. Be instructed,
you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Now,
kiss the sun. Kiss the King, lest he be angry,
and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but
a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son.