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Good morning to everybody. Welcome back to Free Grace Baptist Church and a warm welcome to any visitors with us this morning. It's good to have you with us for the worship of our triune God. Just a few announcements before we move into worship. Uh first, we have the evening service tonight, of course, at 5:00 p.m. Uh there is no Wednesday night Bible study uh in July and August. Just a reminder, we'll be reconvening uh the Wednesday after Labor Day in September. Uh that also applies to the theology study, the Saturday Saturday morning theology study. Uh and then lastly, there are some lost and found items upstairs uh in the fellowship hall by the fridge where the phone is on the table there. So, if you could uh have a look at that, it's going to be overflowing soon and we're going to have to order new tables. So, uh if you can have a look, see if anything is yours and take it with you, that'd be great. Well, let's move to the worship of our triune God. Then, if you'll turn with me in the book of Psalms, we're going to read from Psalm 118. Psalm 118. And we're going to read from verse 19 to the end of the psalm. Psalm 118 beginning at verse 19. This is the word of God. Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go through them and I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you for you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Lord. Oh Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifices with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will praise you. You are my God. I will exalt you. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endures forever. Amen. Well, let's stand together as a church. Our first hymn is going to be Psalm 104A as in alpha. Psalm 104a and we're singing stanzas 8 to 11. [Music] Are your wonders you have made them all of your creatures living things and small So vast and spacious fil with that mass. [Music] All your creatures look to you, Lord, praising for a [Music] praic. Can you hide or face their trust down? And you sent your spirit to create them and the ground. May the glory of the Lord our Godet. May the Lord rejoice in all his mighty work and glorious. He looks on his creation earth shake. He makes all the mountains tremble. spoke and flames of fire. I will praise the Lord my God with all my life and all my voice with my pleas for I rejoice. Let all soulish. Let the wicked be. Bless the Lord my soul. Oh, praise him. Come soul and praise the Lord. [Music] Well, let's go to our great God in prayer. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this your Lord's Day Sabbath. We rejoice in the goodness of our great God. We thank you that you've caused us to arise on a new day to behold the glory of your creation to avail of your providential governance and to be able to come into this place unhindered to gather together with the saints of Christ to rejoice in the one and only living and true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we confess, Lord God, that you are the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity. That you are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of your glorious perfections. That you look down upon the sons of men and you find none glorious, none that deserve your blessing, your salvation. And yet you condescend in grace and in mercy and sending the son of your love into this world to be born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. We thank you for the blessed incarnation of the son of God that he came down from heaven sinners to save. And we thank you that not by our own deeds of righteousness, not by our own works, but solely and alone by the perfection of the work of Christ, we're brought forth by your grace from deadness and sin to life in Christ. And we do pray uh we do praise you for so great a salvation. We pray that you would help us then as we have gathered for worship to worship you a right in this place this morning. We pray for those measures of your holy spirit that our souls might be lifted up to a high and lofty worship of the one who is himself high and lofty transcendently exalted above his creatures. We do pray that you would give you honor, that we would give you praise, that we would be marked by those who uh are not marked by external religion, but that internal confession, that internal uh presence of the reality of salvation, those who in spirit and in truth worship you are right. So as we pray, so as we read the scriptures, as we as we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and as we engage in that central act of worship, the preaching of your holy word, we do pray that you would be with us and that you would be the recipient of all honor and praise, that your name would be hallowed in this place this morning. We do pray, Lord God, that you would forgive us, aresh of our sins. We thank you that we do have an advocate Jesus Christ the righteous who is the one who has forgiven us who has uh done that work that perfect work that is the the the ground the sole ground of our forgiveness that Lord God he lived a perfect life of obedience to your law in the place of all who believe that he died upon Calvar's cross not not a redemption of maybe not an atonement of perhaps but he perfectly secured the salvation of a mult multitude that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. We do pray Lord God that you would cause us to rejoice in forgi in the forgiveness of sins in that righteousness of Christ that solely avails with you that that is imputed to us and receive by faith alone. We rejoice in your gospel. And we pray, Lord God, that churches throughout the world this day, not only near to us, from a far but but a far from us as well, that they would proclaim the true and saving Christ, that they would proclaim the true and saving gospel. That a multitude of believers throughout the world would rejoice in the triune God today. And Lord God, by your amazing and victorious grace, you would bring forth a multitude of sinners to faith in our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do pray God that as Pastor Butler comes up to proclaim your word in a number of minutes that you'd strengthen him in this pulpit. As we often pray, we know that ministers of the true and saving gospel don't rest upon their own strength, their own vigor, but rather they rest upon the strength that the triune God affords those ministers of his. And so we do pray for that this morning. And we pray Lord God that you would be with us as we continue in worship. Help us uh to worship you a right. We pray Lord God that any who have come in to to this place this morning outside of Christ in unbelief that they would by your power, by your grace, by uh the the ministry of the Holy Spirit attending the preached word that they would leave singing the praises of Christ. And we do pray that our savior Christ, the one resurrected, the one exalted, the one ascended to your right hand, would be lifted up upon the praises, the the the singings and uh the worshipings of this gathered assembly. And it's in his precious name that we pray. Amen. Well, let's stand and sing together. Our next hymn will be 457. In your hymn books, let's stand and sing 457. As a church, My love and thy beauty are my glorious rest. This great world in peace. How great with shall I lift up my head. All shall stand by for my sh and hear your guilt and shame and from the just my [Music] shall be I Jesus. live and for him Jesus the endless gra who boundless mercy for me for the Oh, [Music] let the hear now in my rejoice. Their beauty is their Jesus thy blood and rightous [Music] turn in your Bibles. with me to the Gospel of Luke. Our New Testament scripture reading this morning will be from Luke chapter 8. The beginning of the chapter, we'll read from there to verse 21. Luke 8, beginning at verse one. Once again, the word of God. Now it came to pass afterward that he went through every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. and the twel were with him. And certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna, the wife of Chuzza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for him from their substance. And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to him from every city, he spoke by a parable. A swer went out to sew his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock, and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop of hundfold. When he had said these things, he cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Then his disciples asked him, saying,"What does this parable mean?" And he said, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who when they hear receive the word with joy. And these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among the thorns are those who when they have heard go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having heard the word with a noble and good heart keep it and bear fruit with patience. No one when he has lit a lamp covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore, take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him. Then his mother and brothers came to him and could not approach him because of the crowd. And it was told him by some who said, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside desiring to see you." But he answered and said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it." Amen. Well, just an observation on the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and encouragements to discover that the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, though no one can be the son of God incarnate, is a pattern for how the proclamation of the good news advanced after his resurrection and his ascension. We see this wonderful these wonderful opening words in Luke 8. Now it came to pass verse one afterward that he went through every city and village preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. Uh so far removed from the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry. We are not removed from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in his ascended glory as he sends his spirit empowering his ministers to proclaim the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ. uh Christians here this morning were the were the blessed and undeserved recipients of the preaching and the bringings of the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And praise God for his grace in that regard. And those of you this morning who are outside of Christ, we pray that by the grace of God, you would be found even this morning to be those who heard the word of God and who did not have it choked out, who did not uh who are not going to be carried away by the allurements of the world, by the temptings and the swayings and the assailings of the devil, but rather you would know the mysteries of the kingdom of God that by the spirit spirit of God, you would be brought forth to to life in Christ, to behold uh those things with eyes that see and with with ears that hear. And it's the prayer of this church that all of you, young or old, uh who came into these doors outside of Christ this morning would leave these two doors singing the praises of Almighty God. It is possible with God. It's not possible with men, but with God all things are possible. Believe on the Christ who preached the kingdom, that kingdom that is about him, about his glory, and about the perfection of his work. Believe on him and you will be saved. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word. We rejoice in your goodness to us in disclosing the mysteries of God. We thank you for our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the glorious gospel, who proclaimed himself as the one who came into this world, sinners to save, and that all who look to him in faith will be saved. We do pray that you would, Lord God, do an act of amazing grace this morning upon the hearts of those outside of Christ, that you would bring them to the precious knowledge of our savior. We pray for the persecuted church, our brothers and sisters throughout the world, in in Africa, in in Asia, in in South America, in Central America, and every nation under heaven, Lord God, where there is such a hot persecution and an opposition to the truth of Christ. We do pray that you would be with our brothers and sisters, that you would watch over them, that you would protect them in the midst of tyranny and opposition, Lord God, that you would bring forth those two saving faith who are presently opposed to you, that you would conquer hearts and and cause them to know uh the Christ whom they formerly persecuted. And we do pray for those, Lord God, that would remain in that reprobate opposition to your church, to the living Christ. And we pray that you would take them out of the way, that you would cause them to wither away as the snail, that they might not bring violence against our precious fellow Christians. And God, we pray for the governments of the world, that you would cause them to rule in righteousness, that you would cause those who would seek to uphold wickedness to be cast down. that we that they would stumble like drunken men and that you would raise up Lord God those to rule in righteousness to those uh those who would rule according to a proper justice. We do pray that you would do this throughout the world Lord God because you are king of the nations and the nations of this world are the nations of our God and of his Christ. We do pray that you be with us in worship as we sing this next hymn. We pray that yes, we would raise our voices to you in worship, singing this hymn and also as the scriptures say that we would be singing to one another, lifting each other up in uh in praises. And we pray as we move to the worship of your your truth, Lord God, the the or the the preaching of your truth in the worship of you, our God. We pray that you would cause us to be attentive, that our thoughts would not wander, that we would not be carried off uh by things uh by anything other than uh the whole sold worship of the triune God. Do be with us and might it be to the praise of your glory and your grace. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. Well, let's stand and sing our final hymn before the preaching of the word. It's 352. Let's stand and sing 352. [Music] Let us for the son of God to hallelujah. What a savior. Every shame and soft in my place. Seal my blood. Hallelujah. What a savior will helpless of God. [Music] Hallelujah. What a And he to [Music] his hallelujah. What a savior and he comes our glorious king. All his grandson hope to bring a new song will sing. Hallelujah. are a savior. [Music] Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to John's Gospel, John chapter 19. John 19. as we continue to work our way through the passion narrative of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our focus this morning will be on verses 16b to 24. But I do want to begin reading in verse one. We'll read to the verse 24 just to set it in a context. So John 19 at verse one. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him and the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put on uh put on him a purple robe. Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews." and they struck him with their hands. Pilate then went out again and said to them, "Behold, I'm bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him." Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the man." Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "You take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him." The Jews answered uh the Jews answered him, "We have a law and according to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the son of God. Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid and went again into the ptorium and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. And Pilate said to him, "Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have power to crucify you and power to release you?" Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin." From then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat uh brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the preparation day of the Passover and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your king." But they cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he delivered him to be to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led him away. And he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgatha, where they crucified him, and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write the king of the Jews." But 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 each soldier apart, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." Therefore, the soldiers did these things. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we come to a very holy, very glorious, very wonderful passage of scripture this morning. We pray that as we approach this, we would with with reverence and awe. The thought of what our Savior went through on our behalf, the fact that he was tried under godless men, that he's delivered up to be crucified, that he is ultimately raised the third day and ascended to the to the right hand of God. We call this the gospel. Truly, it is good news and we thank you for it. We thank you that there is forgiveness of sin to be had in in our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for that righteousness that is that is given freely by you to us received by faith alone. And we pray for the proclamation of your truth here and elsewhere. That that word would run swiftly and be glorified. We pray that you would forgive us now for all sin and unrighteousness. Cleanse us in that precious blood of the lamb. and do go uh guide us by your holy spirit. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, after Jesus is arrested, he first stands trial or a preliminary sort of a hearing before Annis the high priest and then he's delivered over to the Jewish Sanhedrin. Caiaphas leads that and then they send Jesus to Pontius Pilate because they didn't have the authority or the prerogative to execute criminal offenders in the body politic at that time. So they needed to try and convince Pontius Pilate to give him a death sentence. Of course, Pilate hears Jesus. At a certain point, Pilate knows that Jesus is from Herod's jurisdiction. So, he sends Jesus over to Herod. Herod basically mocks him and sends him back to Pontius Pilate. So, here we have the verdict given by by Pontius Pilate in chapter 19, specifically at verse 16. And prior to that, there's a great deal of tension between Pilate and the Jews. Pilate knows that Jesus isn't guilty. Pilate confesses that three times in his dealings with Jesus in 1838, 194, 196, and then in 1912. From then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out saying, "If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend." Pilate knew as a civil governor, he did not have the authority to to kill innocent men. He didn't have the authority to judicially execute a man that he found no fault in. So the Jews here resort to political blackmail. That is precisely what they're doing. If you don't do what we say, then you're no friend of Caesar. And if you don't do what we say, Caesar's going to hear about it and you're going to lose your job as the governor in Judea. So a lot of tension, but uh Pilate is prevailed upon by their threats. And as we see in verse 16, it says, "Then he delivered him to them to be crucified." So we'll pick up the narrative in verse 16b. We'll see the crucifixion of the Lord in verses 16 to 22. And then secondly, the division of the spoil in verses 23 and 24. This was a perk of being a Roman soldier that when you executed people, you got to take their stuff. And they do this according to their own lawlessness and according to their own rebellious hearts. But it's in accordance with the scripture. We'll see that. But first note the verdict. I just want to again address this because if you read John's gospel, you're met in the very first verse with a an amazing statement. It says, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God." And then dropping down in 114 you say the word became or you read the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. And as you continue reading John's gospel see that this word is the Lord Jesus Christ the son of God himself who assumed our humanity to come to this world to save us from our sins. And if you get that John 1:1 and John 1:14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then you see what Jesus does in his earthly life. He he preaches sound doctrine. He he heals sick people. He he uh feeds multitudes. He he heals blind men. He raises a dead man. When we get to a section like this, we got to ask the question, how did we get here? How did we end up in this place where the only holy, harmless, and undefiled man that has ever walked this earth is being treated with such contempt and with such enmity and with such rage. Pilate three times confesses his innocence. I find no fault in him. In him. And it's met each time with this rising cry. Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him. And I think if you ask that question, how did we get here? On the one hand, it's the sinfulness of man. Man is lawless. Man is wretched. In fact, in our narrative, we see that Pilate is sinful according to John 19:11. Therefore, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. Which implies necessarily that Pilate was sitting. Pilate shouldn't have condemned a just man. Pilate shouldn't have delivered up to execution a man who had committed no crime. Pilate is wicked. But as well, the greater sinfulness of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. Why would they have the greater sin? Because they had the prophetic word. They had the Old Testament which announced a man born of a woman would be their champion. Which announced that that man would also be divine. That he would be a son given. He would be a child born. He would be the one upon whom the government would be laid on his shoulders. They had that. They had that writing. But they rejected him. They resisted him. They mocked him. They scourged him. And they ultimately cry out, "Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him." As well the betrayal by uh Judas. It was Judas that sold them out for 30 pieces of silver. But then you've got the multitudes. The multitudes are prevailed upon by the religious leaders. Matthew 27:20. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabus and destroy Jesus. So if you ask the question, how did we get here? Certainly the wickedness of man. But John's reader knows even more than that. John realizes it's not just man, but it's God. The sovereign will of God most high. This was the purpose. This was the plan. This is why the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The prophet Isaiah says in chapter 50 uh 53 that it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. Daniel 9 talks about Messiah being cut off. Acts two, the apostle says, "Him being delivered by the determined purpose and fornowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands have crucified and put to death." Romans 8:32, "He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all." So when you look there at verse 19 in verse 16, or I'm sorry, chapter 19:1 16, then he Pilate delivered him Jesus to them, the soldiers to be crucified. We know there's a greater purpose and plan behind this. It's God most high. 2 Corinthians 5:21, God the Father made him who God the Son who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So we get to the crucifixion. Yes, by the hands of lawless men, but it's predetermined and for ordained by a gracious and merciful God who does what he does here in order to save sinners like us from our rebellion, from our transgression, from our wickedness. Jesus is not on that cross because of his sin. Jesus is not on that cross because of his criminal activity. Jesus is on that cross as a substitute, as atonement, as a sacrifice, as announced by the Baptist in 129, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The gospel message is very simple. God sent the son of his love into this world to live for sinners, to die for sinners, and to be raised again for sinners such that every sinner who looks to him in faith receives forgiveness and a righteousness by which will stand acceptable in the sight of a holy God. So we got here, yes, because of wicked men, but we got here even more powerfully because of a gracious and glorious God. So then we pick up the narrative. Verse 16b says they took Jesus and led him away. And then we come to the actual crucifixion in verses 17- 22. I want to look at first the location, second the crucifixion, and then third the charge. But the location, notice in verse 17, he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgatha. Now there's an antityype in this particular verse. And what is an antitype? An anti-ype is that for which a type was typological. Not to confuse everybody, but a type in the Old Testament is a person. It's a place. It's a thing. It's an event that points forward in God's redemptive plan to a greater thing. Jesus was a type of the temple. Jesus was, I'm sorry, the temple rather was a type of Jesus. He's the antitype. Jesus is obviously why there was a priesthood in the Old Testament. The sacrificial system in the book of Leviticus was typical and it prefigured the work of the lamb of God. Well, here specifically, notice what the text says in verse 17. And he bearing his cross, the antitype of Genesis 22:6. So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together. We've already seen John connect Jesus with the binding of Isaac in John 18:12. It says there then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. So all that was written before was ultimately foreshadowing the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice and he bearing his cross. Now in terms of the practice of bearing the cross, I just want to read what's involved here. We're not going to get super detailed in the description of the crucifixion because the text doesn't, but it does help us to understand what's what's going on. So the cross that he bore refers to the cross member, the horizontal beam. The condemned criminal bore it on his shoulders to the place of execution where the upright beam was already fastened in the ground. The victim was then made to lie on his back on the ground where his arms were stretched out and either tied or nailed to the crossmember. The crossmember was then hoisted up along with the victim and fastened to the vertical beam. Remember they had done this. They knew what they were doing. They had perfected this manner of of execution by way of crucifixion. But as well, there's something that we ought to notice when we compare John to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we learn of a man by the name of Simon the Sirene that they employed to help Jesus carry that crossbeat. John doesn't mention it here. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. That doesn't mean there's a contradiction. But John's emphasis, as we recall, is to highlight the sovereignty of God in all of this. Go back again to chapter 18. Remember, after his arrest in the garden, when Peter takes out his sword and shoots for the head of Malchus, the Lord Jesus tells him not to do that in 1811. Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me. All throughout John's gospel, there's been a recurring emphasis on his hour, Jesus' hour, and now on this cup. In other words, we can see the severity of human suffering when they take this man Simon the Sirenian and help him or use him to help our Lord. The focus here is on the sovereignty of God, the plan and purpose of God, the predetermined will of the father, the reality that Christ is the obedient son, that he is not going to shrink back, that he is going to carry the cross, that he is going to go to the very dregs of the cup to drink it for us men and for our salvation. And I would suggest then with reference to the place name, place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgatha. We usually use the Latin term which means place of a skull, but it's Calvary. Either way, Calvary or Goltha means place of the skull. And there's a lot of ink spilled on as to why it was called the place of a skull. The the the rock formation perhaps looked like a skull. Some argued that that Adam was actually buried at that particular site. That was one of those odd duck views. I wasn't going to spend, you know, countless hours searching out. I'm not saying Adam wasn't buried there, but I just don't know. And I don't think I'll ever know. But I I connect it. I know my brother Cam does as well with that proto evangelis 3:15 when God promises the seed of the woman would crush the skull of the serpent himself. This is the skull place. This is where Christ has come to do business. This is where Christ is going to deal the death blow to the devil himself. See, sinners have big problems. Their own sin, but also the devil, that one who roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. When we preach Christ and him crucified and resurrected, we preach one who is absolutely sovereign, one who's absolutely powerful, one over whom the devil has no control. So there is good news in that power. Christ triumphed. Christ kills uh uh the effects of the devil. Christ crushes at this skull place. I think that's the significance of Golgathon. And then note in terms of the actual crucifixion itself, notice in verse 18 where they crucified him. Not a detailed gory description of all the ins and outs associated with crucifixion. We need to exercise caution here. There are some churches, there are some communities of Christians that celebrate the physical gore of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think RT France in his commentary on Matthew is very good here. He says, "The overenthusiastic attempts to draw out the physical horror of crucifixion which disfigures some Christian preaching and at least one recent movie find no echo in the Gospels. Perhaps the original readers were too familiar with both the torture and the shame of crucifixion to need any help in envisaging what it really meant. The focus is not on the physical torture." Now having said that we need to understand what is involved in the physical torture and I think DA Carson describes or at least summarizes this well. He says in the ancient world this most terrible of punishments this listen again we're not you know stations of the cross incense snorting papists here but it helps us to appreciate the lengths to which the redeemer went on our behalf to save us from our sin as well. If you're not a Christian here this morning, you need to hear the lengths to which the redeemer went to save his people from their sins and to realize that wow, if he did that to save wretches like them, then what's keeping a wretch like me from coming to him? That's the way you should think. The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1 says, "This is a trustworthy statement or a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And then Paul says, "Of whom I am chief." I've always thought that's great. If he saved the chief, he can save the not as chief. If he saved the worst, then he can save you as well. But this is what was involved in crucifixion. And again, this is just reading it. I mean, if you were there and you were witnessing it, I'm sure the horrors would far exceed anything that I'm about to read. So Carson says, "In the ancient world, this most terrible of punishments is always associated with shame and horror. It was so brutal that no Roman citizen could be crucified without the sanction of the emperor. Stripped naked and beaten to pulpy weakness, the victim could hang in the hot sun for hours, even days. To breathe, it was ne necessary to push with the legs and pull with the arms to keep the chest cavity open and functioning. Terrible muscle spasm racked the entire body. But since collapse meant asphyxiation, the strain went on and on. This is also why the sedcula that was the little block of wood that they placed there not to relieve the suffering but to prolong it. Not to relieve the suffering, but to prolong it. you could fight manfully onward. Every time you found that little block of wood, push yourself up and get a bit more error. He says this is also why the sedacula prolonged life and agony. It partially supported the body's weight and therefore encouraged the victim to fight on. Do you know even behind this brief description of what was a barbaric practice in terms of execution, Deuteronomy 21:23 says, "For he who is hanged is accured of God." I don't think it's accidental that the crucifixion was the means and the purpose by which our savior died for his people. So, we've got this brief statement where they crucified him. But note this statement concerning his company and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the center. By this, he's fulfilling the prophetic word. The prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 53:12, says, "And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors." He was numbered with that. It's an amazing thing. That's not how we function. That's not how we would ever conduct ourselves, but he's numbered right along with them. But as well, we see not only this prophetic fulfillment, but we see the power of Christ in this event. Turn to Luke's gospel at Luke 23. Luke chap 23. We get a bit of a glimpse into the company themselves just mentioned by John. Again, not differences in terms of contradiction or tension or whatever, but theology. John wants to emphasize the sovereign purpose of God most high and the hour is fulfilled and the cup of wrath is being uh being drank by the son of God. The go uh the synoptics kind of give us some more information. Notice in verse 39 of Luke 23, then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed him, saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us." But the other answering rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God? Seeing you are under the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." So you've got these two men on either side of the Lord Jesus. The fact that Jesus is in the center, the center is typically a place of honor or when you're on a cross, the place of more shame because the multitudes that were there for the feast would see him as that one in the middle flanked by these two men on the side. These two men on the side began the day the same way. The synoptics tell us that both of them blasphemed or Matthew tells us both of them were hurling insults. Both of them were mocking our Lord Jesus Christ. But at some point in the midst of their time on the cross, the one thief, we call him that, he was a terrorist, an insurrectionist, some sort of a a murderer. You know, they didn't just crucify you for being a thief in, you know, in the Roman Empire. Oh, the guy stole from Walmart. Throw him on the cross. That's not how it happened. The the the thief that it it kind of suggests this sort of rigorous harsh appeal in the Roman system to just willy-nilly execute criminal offenders. No. Again, Pontius Pilate feels that tension. I find no fault in this man. I find no fault in this man. I can't I can't just put him on a cross and kill him. That's not legit. But you got these two men blaspheming. But along the way, one of them by God's grace comes to see who Jesus is. If you look again at verse 40, the other answering rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God? Seeing that you uh seeing you are under the same condemnation, and we indeed justly at a certain point, we call it the new birth. We call it the work of the Holy Spirit. We call it his eyes having been opened by that power such that he now sees his own sin before a holy God. and he sees the glory of the savior to save him from the wrath of that holy god. So it says we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds. He's not up there saying you crucifying an innocent man I repent. I reject. No no no no no. He understands these are the consequences for a life of rebellion. He goes on to say but this man has done nothing wrong. Everybody around Jesus saw that Jesus had done nothing wrong except the Sanhedrin. Everybody around Jesus who came into that particular orbit all said the exact same thing about him except the Sanhedrin. They had an axe to grind with them. Pilate was moved by cowardice. They were moved by prejudice. They resisted. They rejected and they wanted to to destroy Jesus. So this man has done nothing wrong. Then note verse 42. Then he said to Jesus,"Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." You, you got to really think through the implications of this. The apostles, that means the close associates of our Lord Jesus Christ, they had seen Jesus heal sick people. They had seen Jesus take a few loaves and a few fish and multiply it and feed thousands and thousands and thousands of people. They had seen Jesus walk on the water. They had seen Jesus raise somebody from the dead. They had seen all these things. So for them to say, "Lord, it it makes perfect sense." But what is this thief looking at? He's looking at the fellow that's in the center on a cross, covered in blood, covered in spit, covered in gore, and he calls him Lord. This thief had eyes of faith. Listen to Riyle on this verse. He only saw our Lord in agony and in weakness and in suffering and in pain. He saw him undergoing dishonorable punishment, deserted, mock, despised, blasphemed. He saw no scepter, no royal crown, no outward dominion, no glory, no power, no signs of might. And yet the dying thief believed and looked forward to Christ's kingdom. He not only confesses him as Lord, but he acknowledges the presence of his kingdom. Verse 42, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. But that notwithstanding, I mean, it's amazing, right? Dying on a cross, looking at the next guy on the cross, confessing that next guy on the cross as a Lord who possesses a kingdom, and casting himself upon his mercy, saying, "Remember me." What's even more amazing is Jesus' response. It's not It is great that this thief called upon Jesus, but what's greater is that Jesus can be called upon. Do do you see that? at a point in time where none of us want to be called upon. We don't want to be called upon for help at the best of times during a day. I mean, I I think we do, you know, call upon me. I'll try and help you. But I'm on a cross. I'm covered with spit. I'm bleeding. I've got a crown of thorns buried into my head. I've got spikes in my hands. I've got spikes in my feet. I've got mocking, rebellious people taunting me and blaspheming me. I don't know that my priority is, yeah, I really want to help this fellow next to me. Look at the priority of the son of God as he's hanging there on the cross. Jesus said to him, "Assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." That's the promise of Christ to every sinner that looks to him in faith. Today you will be with me in paradise. This man deserved to be punished by Roman crucifixion. This man deserved to go to hell as a transgressor of God's holy law. But this man cleansed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving that righteousness of Christ by faith would end in heaven on that very day. Today you will be with me in paradise. So the thief and his statement is amazing. But the fact that the Savior heard it, the fact that the Savior responds, and the fact that the Savior promises that today you'll be with me in paradise, I think affords great hope to anyone and everyone to say, "Lord, remember me. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, please cleanse me in your precious blood and give me that righteousness that avails with your father." In other words, Lord, I want the benefits that you have purchased through your own life and death and resurrection. That's the beauty, the glory of God in the gospel of our blessed savior. He's in Christ reconciling the world to himself, trustworthy or a faithful saying, worthy of all accept uh acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Don't you love that? Not the righteous, but sinners. Not the polished, but sinners. I I mean, honestly, brethren, you can't get much worse than an insurrectionist or revolutionary or terrorist or murderer hanging on a cross in a Roman Roman crucifixion scene to sort of highlight you're not a great person. In fact, you're one of the worst sorts of people. I think this is offensive about the cross, isn't it? Oh, that guy's saved. That guy's going to heaven. That guy's got real religion. Yeah. Because it's not about that guy. It's about his savior. It's about his God's grace. It's about mercy. It's about forgiveness. It's about those things that our God abounds in. That's what it's about. That's offensive to the carnal mind because the carnal mind thinks that if I do enough good to sort of even out the scale of bad, then God has to receive me in. See, the problem with that is there's no evening out the scale. The problem with that is is that the best of men are worthy of God's wrath and curse both in this life and that which is to come. Every one of us has sinned against God. Now, some of those sins are obvious, like a thief on a Roman cross executed for his murderous rebellion in the civil state. Some seem to be more subtle. You know, we didn't really go out and, you know, knock over a bank. We didn't ever shoot anybody in the head. We've been pretty moral. We've been pretty upright. We paid our taxes. We cut our grasses. We don't yell or cut our grass. We don't yell at people on the road. We're respectable people. Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse both in this life and that which is to come. And you see the Lord Jesus here extending mercy and grace and promising a kingdom to a guy who had no title to it. It really is an amazing scene that our Lord is doing on the cross. And then I want to we won't get to the division of the spoil with the soldiers, but let's look at the charge in verses 19 to 22. Again very simple statement in verse 18 where they crucified him and two others with him one on either side and Jesus in the center and then it moves on to the base of the cross moves on to the foot of the cross moves on to that activity that is surrounding the cross so far as the cross is concerned it's a brief statement not celebrating the physical torture or the gore simple statement they crucified him two others with him one on either side and Jesus in the But here in verses 19 to 22, you see first the charge in verses 19 and 20, you see then uh an objection to that in verse 21 and then you see the resolve of Pilate in verse 22. Again, what's happening at the foot of the cross here? What's happening with reference to the human players? Note the charge. It says in verse 19, "Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross in Matthew 27:37. It's called an accusation. Matthew 5 uh Mark 15:25, it's an inscription of his accusation. Luke 23:38 inscription. Again, not differences in terms of contradiction, but coming from theological backdrops. Why title? This is Pilate's last great act of defiance. This is between Pilate and the Jews. But Pilate unwittingly is confessing truth about the Lord Jesus. The official nature of the charge, the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. The governor Pilate was not convinced that Jesus was a rival king to Caesar. He's not they didn't make their case. Luke 23, that's what they present to Pilate. He's another king. He forbids paying taxes to Caesar. That's why you need to execute him. Well, they didn't make their case. In fact, in 18 John 18, it says when he bring when he asks for an accusation, the official charge, well, if he wasn't guilty, we wouldn't have brought him to you. Okay, that's the way we do court now. If he wasn't guilty, we wouldn't have brought him to you. They never formalize the charge, but they do in Luke 23. They say he's a rival king to Caesar and he forbids paying taxes. This didn't get Pilate's conscience. He does not think this for a moment. He has personally interrogated Jesus in terms of the nature of Jesus' kingship in John 18:36 and 37. Jesus affirms that he's a king. Jesus affirms that it's that its origin is not of this world. Jesus affirms that the vehicle by which that kingdom goes forward is truth. So Pilate rightly surmises he's not a threat to Tiberius. He's not going to launch a a revolt against the Roman state. And he's certainly not forbidding people to pay taxes. But what is it that Pilate does a light on? He lights on that which is most offensive to them. Now, I'm not again a pilot apologist or defender, but you got to admire his particular course along the way. The governor unwittingly proclaims the truth concerning Jesus. As Gil says with reference to the title Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, Gil says, which both expresses his accusation and asserts him to be so. This is true. The reader of John's gospel knows it's true. The reader of the Bible knows that he is the king of the Jews. This is all accurate. Now, I'm not suggesting Pilate knew that at its fundamental theological foundation. No more than Caiaphas did when he preached substitutionary atonement by Jesus in John 11:49-52. But they were unwitting participants in proclaiming the truth of God. The psalmist says, "Even the wrath of man shall praise you, oh God." This is one of the evidences of that. So Pilate does what Pilate does and notice it's teased out a bit. Verse 20. Then many of the Jews read this title. For the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. So the public nature of this. This wasn't done in obscurity. This wasn't done off the beaten path. Paul tells us in Romans 3:25-26 that the father set forth Christ as a propitiation through his blood. Again, not in obscurity, not hidden behind a wall, but right there near the city. So the many of many of the Jews that were there for the feast of the Passover could see it. It was public. It was out there. Christianity isn't a mystery religion in the sense that we just kind of think something once happened. No, Christianity is focused around the place of the skull outside the city of Jerusalem under the reign of Pontius Pilate or under the governorship of Pontius Pilate under the reign of Tiberius Caesar. The these are not mysteries. These are not esoteric. This isn't you got to suspend your mind to become a Christian. No, you got to suspend your mind to run from Christianity. When we come to a narrative like this, it's important for us to understand why in such a public place for maximum traction and why Hebrew, Greek, and Latin again for maximum traction. I think that the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the the the languages of the day, was probably for a warning. If you speak Hebrew or Aramaic, you speak Greek or you speak Latin, let this be a warning to you. Don't claim to be the king of the Jews. Right? Why would Pilate put that title up there? Yeah, he's got a dig on the Jews, but he's also got a a province to run. And if you're another contender thinking you're the king of the Jews, this is what you'll get. So, it's probably for a warning. But I think there's a theological dimension in terms of universality. Doesn't matter whether you're a Hebrew. Doesn't matter whether you're a Greek. Doesn't matter what tongue you speak. In other words, in Jesus, Jews and Gentiles are welcomed by God's grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And it may foreshadow what Paul speaks of in Philippians 2:11, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So then note the objection in verse 21. Remember we asked the question, how did we get here? Lots of men involved, lots of sin involved, lots of guilt involved. If we asked the specific sin of the Sanhedrin, what was going on with them? Yeah, it was an obvious theological debate. They rejected and resisted Christ's claims to having been sent by his father. Christ's claim saying that, you know, you you you read Moses, but you don't believe in me. But it's Moses that wrote about me. When when Jesus says before Abraham was, I am, they take up stones to throw at him. So, so in its substance, it was theology. They rejected and resisted the Messiah that was sent by God to Israel to save his people from their sins. But as well, they had envy, right? Doesn't Pilate sort of vet that in Matthew's gospel? He he knew why they delivered him up. And it doesn't say that Pilate knew because Jesus was a fake and a fraud and a deceit. No, because the Jews were filled with envy. Remember that Pilate's wife had a dream and she comes to Pilate and says, "Have nothing to do with this just man. I've just had a very troubling dream about him and you you probably best thing is to see him in your rearview mirror. You don't want to be saddled to that." And then Pilate himself tries to distance himself by washing his hands in front of everybody and absolving himself at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. These men envied Jesus. They wanted to deprive Jesus. I shared that last week with my fish fishing illustration. I might go out fishing with you and be jealous of the fish that you caught, which just means I want them. Envious means I don't want you to have that. I was a troubled young man that took my cousins catch. I let the stringer go and go down the river because I couldn't catch anything. He shouldn't have any either. These men were envious of our Lord Jesus. But now, let's just keep going here. They're petty. Petty, but also perceptive. Note verse 21. Therefore, the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write the king of the Jews, but he said, "I am the king of the Jews." There's a big difference there, right? Pilate, are you ascribing to him kingship of the Jews? No. No. He just he just said that he is the king of the Jews. Aquinus says the title king of the Jews was a praise for Christ but a disgrace for the Jews for it was a disgrace to the Jews that they had cru had their king crucified as it stands as it's written as it's displayed there on that that inscription Jesus the king of the Jews this is how you treat your king and then note Pilate's resolve in verse 22 this is what I meant by his last act of defiance. What I have written, I have written. You guys may have tried to politically black, well, you didn't try. You did politically blackmail me. Look at 1912. It is as crystal clear as can be. If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. This isn't just sort of banter between them. The implication is obvious. Pilot, if you don't go the way that we think you ought to go, Caesar's going to hear about this. Caesar's going to know. Tiberius is going to get an earall that you are allowing this enemy of Caesar to go unexecuted. They pressured Pilate for this verdict. Pilate says, "What I have written, I have written. I am not going up there to change it. I am not going up there to fix it. I'm not going up there to better it for you. It is as it is. And again, Pilate unwittingly preaches the truth concerning our Lord Jesus. John will not let us forget what we're dealing with. John will not let us forget how did we get here. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. That word is the lamb of God who takes away that the sin of the world. That word is the king of kings and lord of lords. That word is the great high priest. That word is the prophet. That word is the one in whom alone there is forgiveness. There is righteousness. There is benefit with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I just want to make one observation and then we'll tease it out next week just to sort of add to what we've seen thus far in what Jesus is going through on the cross. What do you think it means when they stripped him of his garments and he's hanging there on that tree? It means he was naked. Spurgeon has this observation. He says the person of Christ was stripped twice and although our painters for obvious reasons cover Christ upon the cross. I'm not saying it's good to paint paintings of Jesus. Believe the second commandment forbids that because Jesus is divine. Can't put divinity on canvas. But for the sake of argument and for the sake of reality throughout history people have been drawing pictures of Jesus or movies of Jesus or paintings of Jesus. So Spurgeon's that's the nature of his statement. He says, "Although our painters for obvious reasons cover Christ upon the cross, there he hung the naked savior of a naked race. He who clothed the liies had not wherewith to clothe himself. He who had clothed the earth with jewels and made for it robes of emeralds had not so much as a rag to conceal his nakedness from a staring, gazing, mocking, hard-hearted crowd. He had made coats of skins for Adam and Eve when they were naked in the garden. He had taken from them those poor fig leaves with which they sought to hide their nakedness, given them something wherewith they might wrap themselves from the cold. But now they part his garments among them. And for his vesture do they cast lots, while he himself, exposed to the pitilous storm of contempt, has no cloak with which to cover his shame. You just can't go any further to demonstrate the reality of what John tells us in John 3:16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. How much did God love the world? He sent his son. How much did God love the world? He delivered up his son to this shame, to this cruelty, to this mockery, to this torture, to this death. Why? Because God so loved the world. This is gospel. This is good news. If you are not a believer, believe it. Be like that thief on the cross. Look beyond all the things that your eyes may may tell you otherwise. He's filled with blood. He's filled with spit. He's got a crown of thorns on. He's dying by Roman crucifixion. This man saw Jesus as a Lord who possessed a kingdom and as one who was merciful because that thief cast himself upon the mercy of Jesus Christ and that night entered in well that day entered into paradise with our blessed Lord. That's what Christians are. Not upright people, not good people, not polished people. Why are you Christians the way you are? because Jesus saved us from our sins. We're not going to heaven because of our lawkeeping. We're not going to heaven because we're good. It's just about here that every redeemed Christian gags a little bit at the thought of them being good enough to go to hell. No, it's not that. Christians are Christians because of Christ, because of God's grace, because of the power of the gospel, because the Lord Jesus Christ does what Jesus does in this very passage and is then raised again. in the third day, such that everyone who looks to him in faith will have everlasting life. May God be pleased to encourage the saints with a fresh view of our savior and sinners with a brand new view of the savior look to him in faith. Well, let us pray. Our father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the glory of the Christian gospel, the message of Christ and him crucified and resurrected. And we pray for your blessing upon that word as it goes forth throughout the earth. May it go forth conquering and to conquer. And may you save from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And may you bless in this place any and all who are dead in their trespasses and sins. Awaken them by your spirit. Cause them to see Jesus as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. and may they by grace believe on him and know the joy of being found in him. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let us stand and close our worship by singing praise to the triune God of heaven and earth. 572. [Music] Glory. Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen. Amen. Amen. [Music] Oh Israel, hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is abundant redemption and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Amen. Well, please be seated for a brief time of meditation.