Jesus Mocked and Murdered

Father, as we look to your son's death, lead us to have confidence in what he's accomplished for us. Lead us to boast in him. Lead us to the life that he won for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. This morning, we are going to be thinking about the cross. The cross is arguably, and it would be hard to argue against this, arguably the most important symbol we have as Christians. We are a people of the cross. Last week, as we looked at the King of Truth, I had us all hold our Bibles overhead as a symbol that we are all a people of the book. We come to submit together under the word of the King. We can also do the same with the cross. We come together to submit to the God, the King, who died for us. Now, it's interesting that this is our symbol. Historically speaking, this is a strange symbol for a people to gather under. It was once a symbol of shame and punishment, but now it's one of love, hope, in glory. A transvaluation has taken place. A change of value has taken place because the cross used to be used for the worst sinners, for the worst criminals. A shameful, horrible, painful death. That's what the cross represented. But the value has changed. It's now a symbol not of shame and pain It's now a sign and symbol of love, hope and glory. How did that happen? It's because God came down and died for sinners on a cross. God came down and died for sinners on a cross. He came down to take the shame that we created for ourselves and our sins. He came down to take the pain of God, of the wrath that we deserve. so that we now have love. We now know His glory. We're now a people saved by a King who died on the cross. We've been purchased by the blood of God. The cross is central to who we are and what we do. Our new identity is found on the cross. Our new purpose, as Romans 5 says, for while we were still weak At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person. Though perhaps for a good person, one would dare to even die. But God shows His love for us. That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We're sinners that have been redeemed on the cross. And that's why the value of the cross has changed. This morning we're going to simply be thinking about the cross. We're looking at the sentencing of Jesus to die on the cross and specifically we're going to be looking more at the cross. Last week we considered how Jesus was being tried. The week before that we looked at Jesus' betrayal and his disciples denying him. Jesus has been directing and controlling everything up to this point and will continue to direct everything so that He is led, so that He goes to the cross. The message this morning is that Jesus died for us so that we might live. We're in John chapter 19. If you're using a Pew Bible, that can be found on page 905. If you don't have a Bible, please take that with you. Let that be our gift to you. We'll be in chapter 19, and we've got quite a few verses, so I'm going to give you the summary of the couplet, or the few verses I'll first read, and then we'll look at them together. So, John chapter 19, the first thing we see is that Pilate punishes Jesus. Pilate punishes Jesus. This is verses 1 through 3. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him, and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and arrayed Him in a purple robe. They came up to Him, saying, Hail, the King of the Jews, and struck Him with their hands." If you recall, and you just want to look right back up the last few verses, Pilate questions the high priest and their motives. He's questioning the charges they've brought against this man, Jesus. When he goes and he asks Jesus questions, he realizes there must be something wrong with the charges that have been brought against him. He goes back out to the priest and he says, I find no guilt in him. I have a custom. Let me release him according to the custom. And they cry out, no, we want a thief. released instead. Here, Pilate takes him and he flogs him. Now, there's three different kinds of beatings that we know about that would be sentenced upon a criminal. The first was simply that, just a beating. The Roman guards would go and they would beat someone. And this was to teach them a lesson. It was for the common criminal. The second one, a whip might be used, but it was more severe for a more severe crime. The third beating was the one we usually think of. This is the one that uses the cat of nine tails to take a whip and they would put in the whip bone and glass and stone and it would rip the flesh off the back of the victim. They'd be tied to a pole and they would be beaten with an inch of their life and that was always done before crucifixion so that they did not last long on the crawl. Now, when we ask which beating is being mentioned here in John chapter 19 verse 1, he flogged him. I don't think it's the last most severe yet. I think it's very probable that Jesus was beaten twice. I believe that it's very likely that John is recording here, Pilate has gone back in and he had Jesus beaten. They would line up and they would punch him in the face and mock him as the king of the Jews. The reason Pilate would do this was to hope to appease the priest. Let me punish him, not the most severe, not to crucify him, but let me punish him and maybe teach Jesus a lesson. The Roman guards would line up after putting a crown of thorns on his head, after putting a purple robe on him. Hail the King of the Jews. There's tragic irony here again. Throughout John, we've seen tragic irony. Someone is saying something and they don't actually realize what they're saying. There were Caiaphas, chapters ago, said, it's better for one man to die for the entire people. He had no idea what he was really saying. Here, these Roman guards are praising Jesus as the King of the Jews. They should be. They're using the words that we're praising Him, but instead they're mocking Him. They're beating Him. They're setting Him up as if a weak and defeated King. What they don't realize is that Jesus is a sovereign King. He set this up. He intended for this to happen. He has given Himself over to this beating. His victory will be won by being mocked, by being beaten, by being killed. What's amazing here is if Jesus is who He says He is, God has just subjected Himself to being beaten and mocked by sinful men. God who created these men, He created their mouths to sing His praises. He created their hands to be used to worship Him. He created their tongues to sing of Him. And they're using their hands to punch Him in the face. They're using their mouths to mock Him. And He's subjecting Himself to this. He's subjecting Himself to save everyone who takes the good gifts of God and abuses them for their own sinful intent. To really appreciate what's happening here, we have to realize that we're very much like these Roman guards. God created us. worship Him. Our mouths were designed to edify the body. Our mouths were designed to sing of Him, to proclaim of Him, to shout of Him, to boast of Him. But instead, we gossip, we slander, We have to see, before we get to the cross, we have to see that everything we have is a gift from God and is meant to be used for His glory. Instead, we use it for our own selfish gain. We are guilty as sinners. Now, the good news is Jesus Christ has committed Himself through this abuse to save us from those very sins. Let's continue. Pilate presents Jesus to the priest. Verses 4 to 8. Pilate presents Jesus to the priest. Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns and the purple robe, most likely bloodied and bruised. Pilate said to them, Behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to the law, he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God. Not just Pilate, He first says, you have a custom, let me release him to you. You have a custom, let me find out if this will get me out of this particular bind because he knows something's not right. Here he comes out, I find no guilt in him and I think he's mocking them. Behold the man. Jesus is sitting there, meek. He's sitting there quiet. He's sitting there beaten and bruised and dressed up in a mockery, not fighting back at all. Behold the man. Is this the one that's been threatening you? Is this the one you're claiming is a threat? Behold the man. Hear the anger in the priest. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. Jesus is a threat to how they are using the good gifts of God for their selfishness, and he must die according to the priest. Zabella said, take him yourself. I find no guilt in him. Take him yourself. They respond, he has made himself the son of God. He's guilty of blasphemy, unless he is the son of God. Third section. Jesus reveals the source of Pilate's power. Verses 8-11. Jesus reveals the source of Pilate's power. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He's afraid of the Jews, because if they start up a rebellion, he's going to lose his power. He's afraid of the situation, because there's something about Jesus he's not really quick to want to say, crucify him. The Romans weren't a merciful people. They were usually fairly quick, just killing if they're causing a problem. But there's something in Pilate that recognizes this isn't right. Verse 9, he entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, where are you from? The Jews are usually asking the wrong questions. Pilate has been asking the wrong question, but here he actually asked the right question. The whole message of John that we've been reading, Jesus says, I have come down from my Father. Where he's from matters. Who he's from matters. Pilate's finally asking the right question. Jesus gives him no answer. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. and like a sheep before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth." I don't know if he'd have answered him. Pilate would have repented and turned and not crucified. Jesus is going to lead himself to the cross so he sits quietly as a sheep ready to be led to die for sinners. Pilate, frustrated, says that, do you not see who I am? Do you not know that I have authority to release you or to crucify you? Jesus wants to make sure he's very clear. You would not have that authority if it was not given to you from above. This has been granted to you. At this time, you have been given this authority to do this task, to crucify me, because this is the plan of God. This is the plan that comes down from above. Jesus then adds, therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. I believe he's referring to Caiaphas here. Let's look at our next section. Pilate hands Jesus over to be crucified. From then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement in Aramaic Gabbatha. That was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, Behold your king!" They cried out, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar. So he delivered him over to them. be crucified. If you're a Jew and you're reading this, you are absolutely confused. If you're a Jew in the first, second century, this is baffling. The Romans are occupying your land. They're ruling over you and they're keeping you from worshiping the way you want to worship. The Romans have come in and they defiled the temple. They slaughtered a pig in the temple. The Jews want the Roman oppression gone, so they can worship the way God intended them to worship. They want a Messiah to come and free them. And here, the Messiah is there, and they're saying, are you going to be a friend of Caesar? Pilate? When he says, this is your king, they say, we have no king but Caesar. This isn't just denying Jesus as king, this is denying God. God always intended to be the king of His people. Every Israelite king was nothing but a vessel to be used by the real king and ambassador to the people to rule them. Here, they're not just denying Jesus, they're denying the entire Old Covenant promise. They're denying we no longer want to be the people of God. We want a king who's strong and mighty. We no longer want to be a people under the God who says he's our king, Yahweh. They're denying the entire covenant. It's amazing how their sin has led them to these consequences. We have no king but Caesar. They've changed their allegiance out of hatred. So they took Jesus, verse, well the end of verse 16, Pilate declares Jesus the king of the Jews. So they took Jesus and he went out bearing his own cross to the place, to the place called the place of the school, which is in Aramaic, it's called Golgotha, where they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. Remember, He's dying in the place of Barabbas, among seas. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put on the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this inscription for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, do not write the King of the Jews, but rather this man said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Here we see how this is being played out. Pilate's insisting, you're going to be crucifying the man who is the king of the Jews, whether Pilate recognized it or not. According to Philo, Pilate is actually doing this to rub it in at them. Because they're denying Jesus is the King of the Jews, He's doing this to mock them. Because the Jews have forced Him to act this way to crucify Jesus, who He does not want to crucify. According to Philo, He's doing this out of a motive to mock them by saying, you know, He is the King of the Jews and you're crucifying. Regardless, what we see here is a Gentile, a Roman, making the one declaration that's true. Jesus is dying as the king of the Jews and his people are rejecting him. Let's continue verse 23. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. Also his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture which says, which we have heard, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sisters, Mary, the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and his disciples whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother, from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. It's interesting that John adds these details. As Brian said, Psalm 22 is used in every gospel account, different parts of it. But this one's very interesting. It's a Psalm of David. That means it was written a thousand years before Jesus existed in the flesh, before he walked this earth. Here, They're fulfilling Roman guards who would be ignorant that this was predicted, that those who were crucifying the king would cast lots for his garments. This is pretty amazing to see how God is in complete control to make sure that His plan of salvation is accomplished. A thousand years before it was written that those who don't even know the Covenant, that those who would not even be aware of these promises, they are doing exactly what God intended them to do so that His Word is fulfilled. So that we can see and be encouraged, God is in control, the Sovereign King over our salvation, which is good news. Let me skip down and show how this control continues. Verse 31, since it was the day of preparation, this is Friday, the day before the Passover, and so the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. Jesus has been crucified and he is dead now in verse 31. We'll go back and look at the other verses. The Jews ask Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they may be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead. They did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe. For these things took place." I'm sorry. that they take place in Phil, I'm sorry, that is correct. I thought I jumped ahead to verse 21 there, or chapter 21. Let me start over at verse 35. He who saw his born witness, his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe, for these things took place that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another Scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced. The cross is brutal. And the point is, you typically suffocate. They would actually nail your feet to increase the pain as you try to keep pushing yourself up so you don't suffocate. So, here we see Jesus, they're saying, let's break their legs so they quit trying to push themselves up, so they collapse down and they can't breathe anymore. That's the whole point of the breaking of the legs. You stop being able to push yourself up to get breath. So they want to end their life quickly. It's part of the long torture to let them even try to keep themselves alive. So they go to break their legs, but they see Jesus is already dead. He gave up his spirit. Then they pierce him with a spear. Blood and water come out. We see that there's actually two passages being fulfilled. Zechariah 12.10 is quoted. They will look on him whom they have pierced. But the broken leg, that actually is fulfilling something very significant. In Exodus chapter 12, the Passover lamb was to be without blemish. The Passover lamb that was sacrificed for Israel, so they took the blood, and they put it at their doorpost, and the wrath of God would go over that house. The lamb could not have a broken leg. Here, we see Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. He does not have his legs broken. He's in absolute control so that all scriptures are fulfilled. So, when we look at this book, we see it from cover to cover. We see that it's all pointing to the cross, to the resurrection, and to His return. Finally, this is where we're going to spend most of our time. Jesus loves His church. He dies for her. Verses 28 through 30. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, to fulfill the scripture. Notice how often that is mentioned in this account. He said, I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge pulled the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it out to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Before we look at these verses, I want to look at verse 18. He carried his cross. There they crucified him with the two others on either side. If we go back, we can see Jesus was carrying His own cross. Now, the cross pole would have already been in the ground. He's only carrying the beam. So here He is, Jesus, He's going to be walking up to the place of His own death, carrying the own instrument of His death. And this should remind us of something. It reminds us of Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 22. God told Abraham, take your only son, your beloved son, sacrifice them. They come to the mount. Abraham takes his son down. He takes the wood. He puts it on Isaac. And they start marching up the mountain. Isaac carrying his own instrument of sacrifice. And Hebrews tells us, Abraham believes God. He obeys God because he believes that even if he sacrifices his son, God could raise him from the dead. So they go up to the mountain. They put the wood in order. They tie Isaac. Abraham ties Isaac to the wood. He brings back his knife and then all of a sudden he hears, Abraham! Abraham says, here I am. And Abraham looks and there's a lamb. There's a substitute. Isaac's life is spared because there's a substitute. This is very much like what happens to Isaac. Jesus is carrying the instrument of His own death. Intentionally going to die. Let me restate what I just said. Isaac is a prefigure. It's pointing to what Jesus does. Because when Jesus is there on the cross, when Jesus is nailed to the cross, when His Father is about to come down with His wrath, He doesn't stop. Because Jesus was the real sacrificial lamb that had to die for Isaac, for Abraham, and for every other sinner who has ever believed in Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ dies on the cross, when He dies on that piece of wood, He becomes a curse for us, and God crushes Him. He does not spare His own Son. Because that's the only way He could spare us. He does not keep His wrath from His own Son so that He could forgive us. Isaiah 53, again, He poured out His soul to death. He was numbered with the transgressors, yet He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. The pain of the cross is brutal, but it's nothing compared to the suffering Christ went under as He was forsaken by His Father. There are seven sayings of Jesus on the cross. Let me tell you them in what I think is the proper chronological order. Take all the Gospels, we can hear all these sayings together. Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Second, truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise. Next, He said to His mother, Woman, behold your son. Then He said to the disciples, Behold your mother. Next, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? I thirst. Then, it is finished. Finally, Father, unto your hands I commit my spirit. Of these sayings, we have three in John. All of which are unique to John. First, woman. behold your son. He's speaking to his mother. At one level we can be thankful. Here's Jesus on the cross in anguish and he's thinking of his mother. It's very human of him. Now, I want you to see something as we think about the significance of this declaration and how it connects to the next one, I thirst. Woman, behold your son. And then He says, after this, knowing that all was now finished, Scripture was fulfilled, He said, I thirst. I think these two are connected. I think what happens in this particular scene is connected. Now thirst would have been part of the suffering. They wouldn't have given the prisoners anything to drink. They would have been parched as part of the torture. I don't think Jesus is saying, I thirst, just because He's literally thirsty. I think he's doing it to fulfill scripture. Psalm 69 21, For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. He's intentionally saying this so that we know he's fulfilling Psalm 69. It's the same Psalm quoted in chapter 2 of John when he cleanses the temple. As he says this, they take a sponge of sour wine, they give it to him, and he drinks. Now, I'm going to try to make some connections. In John chapter 2, John introduces to Jesus the beginning of his ministry. It's a wedding. They ran out of wine. So, Jesus' mother, knowing there's something unique about her son, takes the servants and he says, do whatever he says. He responds, woman, what does this have to do with me? It is not yet my time. My hour is not here. That phrase happens throughout John, remember? My hour is not yet. My hour is not yet. Well, now we're looking at the hour. So, he's at a wedding. His mother says, just ask him. He can produce the wine. So, there's Jesus. He obeys his mom, who he calls woman. The only time we have Mary in the story. Wedding of Cana, the beginning of his ministry, at the cross, end of his ministry. Woman is used both times. That's how he references her. I think it's very probable that John wants us to connect these two events. The wedding at Cana where Mary is there and Jesus makes too much, a boatload, of sweet wine to help celebrate a wedding. Here, Jesus calls out to his mother, woman. He says, I'm thirsty. And he drinks sour wine. I think what we might see here is Jesus' wedding day. The wedding day that he said was not yet time, when he's sitting there drinking and hearing others celebrating with a sweet wine, he's looking ahead to the day he's going to have a wedding day. And this is not like a normal wedding day. This isn't where people are all dressed up nice, there's no flowers, but it's the wedding day of the king. It's the wedding day where He drinks the sour wine which I think is symbolizing the wrath of God for sinners. See, Jesus is the perfect bridegroom. He's the perfect bridegroom and on the cross He is claiming His wife for His own by washing her and purifying her and sanctifying her by dying for her sins. That's us. We can look to the cross and we can see the love of God. We look to the cross and we see the perfect love of the perfect Bridegroom who knows there's no way that we can hear His love and experience His love unless He is crushed for us, unless He is punished for our sins so that we can be washed. There's no celebration on Jesus' wedding day. That has to wait. Next, the final words John declares, or puts in Jesus' mouth, it is finished. It is finished. This carries a notion of completing a religious obligation. Now what we have to see here is this is not a cry of defeat. This is victorious. He has taken the wrath of God. He has drunk it. He has taken it for ourselves. He has finished the work the Father sent Him to accomplish. Again, the whole message of John, I have come from the Father to accomplish the work He has set before me. It is finished, He says. The King has completed the work. He died for a people. The people God gave to Him, He has washed them. He's cleansed them. Now death is dead. Sin is crushed. He is victorious in His death. He bows His head and gives up His Spirit because, again, this is God. They can't kill Him. So, He gives up His own Spirit to them. This is why we praise Jesus. This is why the cross is a symbol that we look to with great praise and adoration and reminding of glory because God came down and died on a cross for us. Listen to what's finished. Jesus took away our guilt. Our guilt is finished. We're no longer guilty. We're counted as righteous. We are forgiven. Jesus took away our wrath. It is finished. We are no longer subject to the wrath of God for the sins that we've committed. Next, we're brought near to God. We're reconciled to God. We're no longer far off. We are now brought into His loving presence as His own children. It is finished. We are not distant. We're brought near. We're delivered from the power of sin and death. Finally, we're given new life, eternal life. We were dead and God made us alive. If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. Friends, this is the message of the cross. It's not that we need help. It's not that we need better advice. It's not that we need more education. It's not that we need better examples or morality. It's that we are under the wrath of God because of our sin. And we must have a substitute. Someone who takes that wrath in our place. Someone who takes that sin and our guilt on Himself so that we are forgiven. So that we're moved out from underneath the wrath of God and into His family. God sent His Son to be that substitute. To be that Lamb of God. If you profess Him, if you say, I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and He is risen again, you can be delivered from death and wrath and be given life. Will you pray with me? Father, we pray with You and we thank You that we can see how You have orchestrated this plan for us. While we ourselves are guilty of blasphemy. While we ourselves are guilty of using the good gifts You've given to us and using them for our own selfish gain and using them to even deny You. Forgive us, Lord. We looked at Jesus and we know we are forgiven in Him. Lord, give us confidence in Christ and what He's accomplished for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.