The Cross's Centrality

All that God does is the glory of God and everything that is done is done for the glory of God. The Bible says do all things for the glory of God and if the Lord wants us to do all things for the glory of God, then He is certainly going to promote the glory of God, the glory of Himself through our life and that means that anything that you can do in your own strength that might give you glory is going to be eliminated. And everything that God can do through you in His strength is going to be magnified.

And so we can thank God for repentance and fear and salvation and all those things because apart from Him, we would be helpless and hopeless. So we can glorify the Lord that we're even here today and probably in a million years you'll still be thinking, you know, that short life I had on the earth, God opened up my heart and mind to not only to His fear but also to the salvation that is in Christ Jesus and I don't know where, you know, I'd be in that other place, I don't know where that's at, I haven't seen it for a few, a million years or so, this place called hell and so, but thank God that He opened up my heart. Now I realize and the Scripture teaches this, I realize that God can shine light and He can give and give and give and we can block it and we can turn and we can, the Bible says, harden ourself against Him, a lot of sinners do that.

Okay, let's open our Bibles this morning to John chapter number 19. We're continuing on here and we're getting to the place where the story of the crucifixion, Jesus has stood before Caiaphas and He's also stood before Pilate and now Pilate has pretty much given over Jesus to the soldiers and to the mob to be crucified and in truth we've come to what is at the center of the human timeline, I don't know if you ever thought about it this way but the cross is the center of everything, it is the center of the human timeline, we even have our time based upon the cross, time went on, they kept track of time until Jesus, they started new time and from here we're in 2020 AD, they talked about DC but He, the Lord and the cross is at the center of the timeline in human history. Old Testament and New Testament convene, converge, excuse me, here at the cross and something amazing when I think about that as I thought about it this morning is all those Old Testament saints, they were looking this way with their eyes to the day when Jesus would come and God had designed all the law to point to one person and that was the Lord Jesus, all the Passover lands, all the sacrificial system, the high priest, everything was designed for them to look with faith to a coming Messiah and of course Jesus came then 2,000 years ago, however our eyes are up here, you and I have been given the opportunity to live in the year 2,000 AD and all eyes are looking this way to the cross and so we point people to the cross, that is not something that in the Old Testament they were looking forward to in the future and not seen yet but today we are here and we are pointing people back and so you notice that all eyes, whether they're in the Old Testament or in the New Testament are looking in the same direction, they're all looking to this one point here and that is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and so all those animal sacrifices and all the sacrificial system was pointing them to the cross and that is why, this will help your theology, that is why everyone was saved by looking to the cross.

In those animals, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews that these blood of bulls and goats and animals could never take away sins, they were only a type and a shadow of good things to come that God intended for people to look to the Messiah, look to the Lamb that would come. John the Baptist would say in John chapter 1, behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world and those were words to the Israelites, to the nation of Israel. Here He is, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and so this is the pivotal point, we've come to it right now, the point of the cross of the Lord Jesus and this transition, I don't know if you've ever thought about it this way but it's found in basically one or two verses in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 26, you don't have to turn there, listen to me as I read, this is the Passover night, in Matthew 26 verse 19 it says, and the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them and they made ready the Passover, they've come to eat the Passover lamb, we're still in the Old Testament.

Now when the evening was come, he sat down with the twelve and as they did eat, he said, verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me and they were exceeding sorrowful and began every one of them to say, who is it Lord? Then it goes on to verse 26 and as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it for this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And right there at that table, you have these individuals coming with Jesus to eat the Old Testament Passover lamb, that lamb that was appointed to Christ, after they ate the meal, Jesus then takes some bread and wine and transitions them now into the New Covenant and pointing them now to his sacrifice that you and I are looking back on. Remember when we come here on the first Sunday of the month, we don't look forward, we remember.

We remember his death. And so right there at the table, there is a transition and we are transitioning from Old Testament to New Testament. But both Old Testament and New Testament are encouraged to look, look to Jesus.

And so God intervenes and I don't have time to go back to the virgin birth and all the things that the Lord is doing, but God is intervening in human history for one purpose and that is to deal with sin and to set sinners free from the fear of death, from hell and from the captivity of sin. And so we have the incarnation of Christ and all the things that happen. God is coming to this world, taking upon himself the form of a human being and offering himself up as a sacrifice for sin.

And so I thought of what is written in the book of Hebrews. For those of you who are still on the outside of God's kingdom, Bible tells us this, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And God intervening for human beings, becoming a human being and offering himself up for the salvation of all human beings. How can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And even in that same book, the psalmist is quoted as saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? What is man that thou visited him? God, what is so special about these human beings down there on that little ball called the earth that you would actually visit them and you would come to them and walk amongst them as Jesus walked? And so these are big things.

I try to magnify them. These are big things for each one of us. And the cross is at the center of it all.

And so we're here in John 19 and we're going to discuss the cross and the crucifixion of the Lord. Let's pray and then we'll start going down through some of these verses. Heavenly Father, we do pray that we could magnify the cross.

The scripture says that the cross is the glory of God. And may the cross be magnified today, this point in human history where you intervened in the affairs of men to deliver them and to save their soul from eternity separated from you in a lake of fire. And so Heavenly Father, open our eyes and help us to appreciate the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross that is done for our sake, Lord.

We give you the glory and honor. Help me today to think clearly and to communicate your word properly. We pray your blessing on our day.

In Jesus' name, amen. All right, we're going to come down here and start in John chapter 19. We left off in verse 15.

Pilate succumbs to the cries of the Jewish people to have the Lord Jesus crucified. They reject Barabbas and they want Jesus. And you remember why? Envy.

They envy Him. So they convince Pilate and Pilate delivers up the Lord. So we come to verse 16 and we read in verse 16, then delivered he, Pilate, delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified and they took Jesus and led him away.

Now John's account doesn't go into what happens here after Pilate gives Jesus over to the mob. But I want to go back and read to you what happens after Pilate says, okay, we'll crucify him and you can have him. In Matthew chapter 27, and it's in most of the accounts, the gospel accounts, it's just not in John.

Let me read to you what happens. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see to it. Then entered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children.

Then released he Barabbas unto them and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. So there's a scourging there. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe.

And when they had plated a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him saying, hail king of the Jews. And they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head. Doesn't tell us how many times they did that.

And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. And it says then they found this man Simon who was there to help in taking the cross. And so Jesus, let's just face it, he's had a pretty difficult night.

I started off with the garden of Gethsemane and him there in agony, sweating great drops of blood, visualizing what is coming upon him in the next few hours. He is betrayed, taken into custody by the soldiers. He stands before Caius.

There's a little bit of violence mentioned there when Caius' servant smites him on the head for something that he says. He goes from there. He has no sleep through the night.

He goes from there and stands before Pilate. Of course, Pilate beats him up some to make the people pity him. He stands before them and there's a possibility that even alongside of that he then is taken by these soldiers, and these are military individuals, probably not treating him very kindly, but these soldiers then take him, mock him, spit on him, take a rod and begin to beat his head.

And so it's a very difficult and a very trying five or six hours here that the Lord is going through. And that is why when Jesus begins his journey up to Golgotha, up to Mount Calvary, that he cannot evidently make the journey. Because of his physical condition, he is so badly beaten that finally the soldiers hand this or give this cross to a man named Simon.

They compel him. It says, hey you, get over here. And if you're a soldier, I mean if you're a regular citizen and the soldiers say, hey you, get over here, you better get over here.

But Simon comes, picks up this cross, puts it on his back, and he follows Jesus then and carries the cross for the Lord all the way up there to Calvary. So needless to say, the Lord is in a pretty bad way. He's in a pretty bad shape.

And there's a number of ways we know that. And I want to talk a lot about prophecy here this morning, but the Scriptures talk and give a prophetic voice from way back 1,500 years in the Psalms of what Jesus was going to endure. We even have some examples here in the New Testament of his condition.

The prophet Isaiah said about 700 years before this, in Isaiah 52, his visage, his appearance, was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. Now I understand that to mean that if you looked at him, you couldn't hardly tell whether he was male or female. Maybe you couldn't even tell he was human.

He was so badly beaten. His visage was so marred more than any man. Now a number of years ago you might have heard the movie The Passion, The Passion of the Christ, and I've never seen it.

I haven't seen it to this day, but it really had an impact. I think it was in the early 2000s. Some of you probably remember that movie, but we in the church, a couple of us men, they had the movie on the theaters here.

It was a big thing and a lot of controversy about it. And so we went up to the theater and during the show there we would stand outside the theater. Actually in the opening entryway when people go in, it was empty.

And then they were in watching the film and we stood there with gospel tracts and we waited for them to come out of this show, this theater. And I was amazed at how people came out of that place. It was very, very sober.

Some women were coming out, they were weeping. It must be that the end of the movie is the crucifixion. It must be a very graphic and detailed thing, but people came out and they didn't want to talk.

I mean, they just went out and went right to their car. Some of the women were crying. You could tell they were deeply moved by what went on in that theater there.

And so I think, you know, we really don't understand. Oftentimes we see those pictures of the Lord and who he had a little blood on his face and things. But Isaiah said that he would be so marred more than any man, even more than the sons of men, he says here.

I'd like you to turn with me to Psalm 22, because this is a psalm that describes Jesus, his own heart and his own thoughts as he is there on the cross. I'm not going to read the whole psalm, but there's a lot of prophecy in this psalm. A lot of things that are given here that we read about in the gospels.

But in Psalm chapter 22, starting in verse number one, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Do you remember that one? Here the Lord is on the cross and his cry is, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the first prophetic utterance that you see here in Psalm 22. Jump down to verse number six. But I am no worm and no man, a reproach of men and despise of a people.

All that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him.

Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. If you go to the gospel, you'll see these people. It says they walk by and they shake their head and they laugh and they deride him and they say, hey, you that raised the dead, you that healed the blind, can't you not deliver yourself? Even the scribes mocked him, saying he saved others.

Himself he cannot save. And so 1,500 years before this event happened, the psalmist here, it's a Psalm of David, prophesied of what would happen to Jesus on the cross. Look down to verse number 12.

Many bulls have come past me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me around. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.

Now that's a pretty bad beating there. As the Lord is hanging there, he is thinking all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax.

It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. Why those people tried to give him some vinegar or some water.

And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have come past me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.

And here's another prophetic statement. They pierced my hands and my feet. And so 1,500 years ago, David had a psalm and the Israelites would sing this psalm.

It was probably a familiar psalm to them. But it's a psalm of the Messiah and his suffering. And so if someone truly, I thought if someone truly loved God and loved his word and knew the psalms, they would stand there and all these psalms would come back to them.

All this testimony and prophecy throughout the Old Testament of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. Verse 17. Here's an amazing one.

I may tell all my bones. That doesn't mean like me. I can see all mine because I'm so skinny.

But you know, Jesus was so badly ripped. He was scourged, so badly beaten. And he literally said, I can see all my bones.

His flesh was torn to such an extent. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me.

So much of his flesh was ripped. Verse 18. They parted my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.

And we're going to read about that here in John. John tells us that they took his clothing, parted their garments, parted the garments among them, the soldiers, and they cast lots for his garments. So here's the psalmist.

I'm going to talk about prophecy here in just a little bit, but this is the suffering that Jesus is enduring here on the cross. And of course, I think the greatest suffering I've thought is that statement he made at the end. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And I don't understand all the depths of that.

I've been meditating a little bit about another message I might bring here someday. I was thinking about bringing it to the church up in Hicksville. But you know, there's a passage in 2 Corinthians that talks about, Paul says, I become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

You know, Paul was willing to be whatever he had to be to save some. He said, I'll eat no meat while the world stands. I love meat, but I'll eat no meat while the world stands.

I'll do whatever I have to do. He even went so far as to say, I'm willing to give up my life for the salvation of other men's souls. And that's a great sacrifice.

But I will say this, he went even a step further than that. Because in Romans chapter 9, he says, I would be willing to be a curse from Christ for my brethren. If my brethren, the Jews, could be saved, I would be willing to go to hell.

In other words, I'm willing, Paul said, to sacrifice my soul for the salvation of others. Boy, you talk about going to the extreme. You know, a lot of us have a hard time sacrificing our life, or maybe even our money, or even our inconveniences for the souls of men.

Here's someone who says, I'll give whatever it takes, my money. I'll give up food. I'll dress whatever I'm supposed to dress.

I'll do it. I'll even die for it. I'll even go one step farther.

I'll even go to hell. I'll even be a curse from Christ. Now, you talk about someone who loves souls.

There isn't a good example of someone who loves souls. You sit here this morning and you say to yourself, I'll go to hell forever for the salvation of people here in this church. Wouldn't that be something to say that? Wouldn't that be love? Now, you know, how could Paul say that? Brother David mentioned God gives us all those things.

Paul could say that because there was someone who went ahead of him who said, I'll be a curse from my Father. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Jesus Christ was willing to go there. And not just offer up his body, but to be separated from his Father for the sake of the salvation of humanity.

Paul's just following his example. And so, you know, I would love for all of us to give our life for the souls. But you know, you give your life for the souls of men.

You die, you go to heaven. You get a great reward. But you know, once in a million or one time in a million, one person in a million, I'm willing to give my soul.

I'm willing to go to hell. Well, of course, the Lord was willing to suffer great agony for the salvation of the souls of men. But this is the prophecy of the sufferings of Christ 1,500 years ahead of his coming.

Back to John here. In John 19, let's keep reading verse 17. And he, bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha.

Now, John doesn't tell us here about Simon. Although in other places we read about Simon, Simon was called upon because Jesus was physically unable to carry the cross to the place of crucifixion. And I can just visualize this scene as the Lord is heading up towards Golgotha.

I experienced what I, in my mind, said, this is probably what Jesus, similar to what Jesus faced many years ago, probably 10 years ago, when I was in Columbus. And we were there, a number of us were there preaching at a gay parade in downtown Columbus. And I would have not done this of my own accord, but because there were other brothers there, probably 15 or so of them that were preaching at this gay parade in Columbus, we had stood along the side of the road and watched the whole parade go by.

It was ungodly. It was just this wicked. And I won't even tell you some of the things that were going on in this parade.

But after the parade, some of the more bold individuals said, let's just jump into the back of the parade and we'll be the last float, in a sense. We'll be the last display on this parade route. And so there was about 15 preachers with signs and the people, you know, this parade, when it went by, they just hated you.

And so we jumped in. I'm telling you already that I wouldn't have done it if I was there by myself. But I had another brother with me that was from our church here, actually.

And we jumped in and we walked. And I'll tell you what, when I'm walking down there, I said, this has to be similar to what Jesus faced. You've got crowds of people on both sides of that.

We walked for probably a mile. I'll tell you the truth. We had probably 10 police motorcycles around our group and the people on each side were just, it was just, they were just vicious.

And I just was, I walked down there. I looked on both sides and good thing we had these police around us. I said, this must be exactly how Jesus felt.

Heading up to Golgotha, both sides, this mocking and ridiculing Him. Of course, when He gets to the cross, those are the same things that happen when He gets there. But praise God here it says in the book of Luke that there were some of the women, praise God for the mother's hearts.

Amen. Some of the women were there and they were lamenting Him. They were lamenting His condition.

And I don't know if they were believers. I tend to think that they were probably just tender hearted women who see a man, a young man who is just beaten and their hearts goes out to Him. Let me read to you what it says in Luke 23.

And as they led Him away, they laid upon one Simon, a Cyrenian coming out of the country and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed Him a great company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning unto them said, daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

For behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bear and the paths which never gave suck. So these people are having empathy for Jesus. He looks awful and they're weeping and lamenting Him.

But then the Lord reminds them that they ought to weep for themselves and for their children. And just think about this for a minute. You know, in Israel in those days, if you didn't have a child, if your womb was barren, you were cursed.

It was considered a curse for you not to be able to bear children. And here Jesus says to those who are barren children, who are fruitful, you are going to be cursed. In other words, that which was a blessing in Israel is going to turn to a cursing.

And that which was a cursing is going to be a blessing. It's going to be so difficult. And it's an interesting historical read if you want to read what happened in 70 AD.

And that's what Jesus is talking about here. The nation of Israel was annihilated. Basically the Lord said there should not be one stone here that shall not be cast down.

It was leveled to the ground. Thousands of people were martyred and killed in a savage way. And most were scattered, made refugees.

They actually went to the four corners of the earth. That's why there's Jews everywhere all over the world. So the Lord is heading up here to Golgotha.

That's the scene. Golgotha is the Hebrew word for the place of crucifixion. Calvary is actually the Greek word.

So when you sing about Calvary, you're actually, Calvary comes from the Greek word, which means skull. If you look it up in your concordance, Golgotha is the Hebrew word which means skull. So this place of crucifixion looked like a skull.

If you looked at it, it was a hill and it had the appearance of a skull. That skull or that hill was outside the city. It was outside the gates.

And the Lord Jesus is considered a cast off, not worthy to die in the city. Do you remember when Stephen was stoned in Acts chapter 7? It says they stoned him, they took him outside the city and they stoned him because he was not worthy to be stoned in the city. And so I called the song this morning.

When the songwriter said, on a hill far away, he is referring to Golgotha outside the city. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. Let's look if you would to Hebrews chapter 13.

Here's some lessons for us, some practical things for us with regards to the cross. The cross is a centerpiece of our Christianity. Do you remember if you see Jesus heading up to the hill here to be crucified and he says to us to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.

Well here in Hebrews chapter 13, I'd like to begin reading here in verse number 12. This is for us. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate, meaning he was outside the city.

Let us, verse 13, go forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. Let us go forth unto him. That is a commandment.

I know it's not a commandment a lot of us talk about. I've never heard anyone bring that commandment up in meetings or concerns about we as a congregation are not actually going forth unto him like we ought to. I hear a lot of people talk about a lot of other commandments.

But this is a commandment. Let us go forth therefore unto him. Where is he? He is outside the camp.

He is on a cross. He is being ridiculed and mocked and beaten and we're encouraged to go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. Bearing his reproach.

Now what is his reproach? What do we ask to bear? What is the reproach of the Lord? There's a couple of things I think about. You think about what was happening there to the Lord. He was cast out.

He was cast out. And we don't want anything to do with you. Not only that, we're not going to crucify you here.

We're going to take you outside the city. And you know it's a part of our calling in life to bear the reproach of the Lord Jesus. And one of those reproaches to be cast out.

Oftentimes, as a Christian, you're going to find yourself cast out. And maybe cast out of family, cast out of friendships, even maybe cast out of brotherhoods. You're going to find yourself being cast out.

Another thing I thought of with regards to Jesus, he was despised. You know when you think of the word despised, it's not so much hated. It's just that to despise someone means to treat them as if they're nothing.

You know, ah, who are you? Like despised. Like you have no value. You have no worth.

And so Jesus was despised. Who are you? What a fool. You know, and all the things that the people were saying to him, making a mockery of him.

They wouldn't have done that to Pilate because Pilate was somebody. But Jesus is a nobody in their eyes. And so he was despised.

The Bible says he was also mocked. Some of you might be mocked, laughed at, ridiculed for being a Christian or for standing up for the truth. And so that's a part of the reproach that you and I are supposed to be bearing to follow him.

Shame. This is, I know, one that we have a hard time with. Shame.

Jesus was shamed. He was stripped there on the cross and he was shamed. And a lot of people don't like to be shamed.

They don't like to be ridiculed, laughed at, made fun of. But that's a part of bearing his reproach. Shame.

Lied about. There were false accusers. He was slandered.

He suffered wrongfully. And notice what it says here. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

This is the call of God upon our life to follow his example and to bear his reproach. Let me ask you this. Just think about your own life, where you're at today.

When Jesus was there on the cross and the multitudes were around there mocking and laughing and ridiculing him, how many of you just sitting there would say, I'm going to go up and stand right there by the cross and I'm going to associate myself with him? That would be a challenge, wouldn't it? As a matter of fact, the Bible says all his acquaintances forsook him and fled and many of the women stood far off from him. Nobody wanted to get close to him. People were around that cross and they were laughing and ridiculing and mocking and those disciples had stayed away because they didn't want to participate in that mocking and that laughing and associating with him in his reproach.

And I know, I'm a human being, I know that's a challenge for all of us to be willing to stand with him in those kind of situations and to bear his reproach. Who of us stands in the midst of ridicule and mocking and shame and lying? Who of us are willing to stand as a Christian? You know, when Lazarus was raised up, I can just see the Christians then, when Lazarus was raised up or the blind man is made to see or the leper is made to walk, we're all there saying, I'm standing with Jesus. Wouldn't you have stood with him when Lazarus came out of the grave? Hey, I like this, we're standing with him.

Power, authority, we'll stand with him. And all of a sudden, now it's time to go to the cross and shame and mockery and ridicule and we're not standing with him anymore. And you know, I find the church is that way, the church at large is we'll stand with Jesus when all these good things are happening and the power and the miracles and the good preaching and all this, but when it comes time to the mockery and the reproach and the shame, we'll stand far off.

We'll stay back. And so let's, we're encouraged to, to verse 13, let us, that's talking about the church, go forth. We don't have to wait.

By the way, there is a, there is a mocking and a ridicule and all those things that are waiting for people just need to go, go forth. By the way, that usually doesn't happen here. It's not, the camp represents the people of God.

The city represents the, the beloved, the people of God, but outside the camp is where the reproach is. Outside the camp is where the ridicule is. You're probably not going to be shamed and ridiculed and mocked here in the church.

Let's hope not. But it's outside the city, out there where that shame and mockery comes. So let us go forth without the camp bearing his reproach.

We can be in the same place that Jesus was. And I know it's not something that many people desire. We like the miracles and, you know, we like to have a church where things are really happening and all that.

But to go out there and stand with Jesus and be ridiculed and mocked is not something that many people take part in. But I'll assure you, 1 Peter 4, 14 says, if you be reproached for the name of Christ, what's the next three words? Happy are you. Now that seems so unusual.

If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. For the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of.

Can you see them? You, you're a betrayer, you're a false prophet, you're a liar. All this mockery. He's evil spoken of.

But on your part, he is glorified. And it's hard for us to imagine how that we can glorify God by being ridiculed and mocked and reproached. But he is glorified when that happens.

So blessed are you when men shall say all manner of evil against you. Let's go back to John 19 here. So the Lord is heading up and he's in a bad condition and probably he cannot carry his own cross.

And so Simon is called upon to, to carry that cross on the way up. And so let's keep reading here in verse 17. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of the skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two other with him on either side and Jesus in the midst.

Now here I want to get into the idea of prophecy and we'll finish our time here on this subject of prophecy. But throughout this crucifixion, prophecy is being fulfilled. And John is going to emphasize that here in the next number of verses.

We'll see that this is a fulfillment of prophecy. And that's important that we understand that these things were prophesied and that they were fulfilled. So when the scripture says he was crucified amongst thieves, how does that fulfill prophecy? Well, Isaiah 53, 12 says that he was numbered with the transgressors or he was amongst thieves or murderers or robbers.

He was numbered among the transgressors. And here's another prophecy that was fulfilled and he made intercession for the transgressors. And that was in Isaiah about 700 years before the cross.

So here Jesus is in the midst of transgressors and what's he doing for them? Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He was interceding for the transgressors. Now I thought about this here this morning as I was putting this message together.

Just imagine yourself for a minute, an Old Testament scholar. You love the Word of God and you have say a hundred prophecies on a piece of paper of the Messiah and you're standing there at the cross and you're watching what's going on and you're saying to your buddy that's with you, hey George, look here, he is numbered with the transgressors. Isaiah, Isaiah 53, not only that, listen to what he says.

Father, forgive them. He is interceding for the transgressors. And you're just going down this list and you're checking them off, checking them off, and checking them off.

700 years prior we're told all the things that would happen. Now just to give you an idea, this is like someone in the 1300s, all right, the 1300s, that's a long time ago, writing down what I'm doing here today and you sit here with his writings 700 years ago and you're saying Jerry's doing this, he's doing this, he's doing the exact thing that was written in the 1300s. That would amaze you, wouldn't it? Wow, who is this guy that wrote in the 1300s, doesn't even know I existed, and he told me what I'm going to do 700 years later.

That's what prophecy is. Prophecy is God telling us about the future. Now why does God do that? Why does he do that? Why is the Bible filled with prophecy? Well here in John, we read in John 14 verse 29, listen to what Jesus says, and now I have told you before it come to pass that when it come to pass you might what? Does anybody know? Believe.

I have told you what's coming so that when it does come to pass, just like I said it was going to come to pass, that you might believe that this might strengthen your faith. Boy, prophecy does that. Some of you have little faith in the truth of God's word.

All you've got to do is go back and study prophecy. Go back to the Old Testament and look at all the prophecy and how it's all been fulfilled. Look at the New Testament.

Look at the prophecy of Jesus. I'm going to share a few things here in just a little bit, but prophecy alone is a testimony of the validity of God's word, and it ought to strengthen your heart to believe God's word is filled with prophecy, the foretelling of the future, and that prophecy authenticates the word of God to our hearts, and there were many prophecies about the birth of Christ. There were many prophecies about the life of Christ, and there are many prophecies about the death of Christ, and as we go on we'll see it's all about the resurrection.

All of this was foretold. So I'd like to just walk down through some of these here, because it seems like John pays special attention to this very thing about prophecy. So let's keep reading.

Jump down to verse 23 here in John 19. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout.

Now who cares about coats? Who cares about garments? Well here John is going to tell us something, and here's why. Verse 24, they said therefore among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. Now that's Psalm 22.

We just read that this morning. John says this happened in fulfillment of what was written 1,500 years ago in Psalm 22. Now if I'm a Jew, let's just put yourself in the position of a Jew.

If I'm a Jew, and I'm paying attention to what's going on here, and I notice Isaiah prophesied he'd be number with the transgressors, he'd make intercession, and I noticed in the Psalms that the soldiers are going to part my garments, and I'm standing there watching these soldiers throw dice for my garments, and it tells the details of what's going to happen to the Messiah, I'm certainly going to believe he's the Messiah, wouldn't you? If it's being portrayed right before your eyes. Well, there are many like this, and John's going to go on and talk about some. I may tell all my bones, Psalm 22.

Verse 28, look at John 19 verse 28. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith I thirst. There's a lot of this.

That the scripture might be fulfilled, said I thirst. Now jump down here to this next one. This next one is another interesting one.

In verse 31, the Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. Now what happens is when you're crucified, you usually die of suffocation. So what happens is to keep alive on a cross, you would use your legs to push yourself up and down to get breath.

And so what they would do to speed up a person's death who was on the cross was to break their legs. And if you broke their legs, they could no longer push up and to get a breath, and they would just die of suffocation. And so to speed up the death of those that were on the cross, they were told to go and break their legs, to get them off the cross because it was a special day.

They didn't want them up there. And so the soldiers come out, they come to the first guy, he's pushing up and down to try to stay alive, and they break his legs to speed up his death. They go to the other guy, the same thing's happening, he's trying to stay alive, and they break his legs to speed up his death.

They come to Jesus, and he's already dead. Now there's a couple of things we can learn from that. First of all, Jesus laid down his life for us.

Jesus did not try to save himself. He came and he laid his life down. He was already dead.

He wasn't there striving to stay alive like the others. He knew it was the will of God, and he laid his life down. And so his bones were not broken.

But prophecy, Numbers chapter 9 says the Passover lamb should have no broken bones. If the lamb is to be offered up, it's to have no blemish, no broken bones. And Jesus here has no broken bones.

But look what it says here in verse 32. Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs.

But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. Now I can just imagine this soldier is frustrated, you know, he's kind of angry at Jesus anyway, and he says he's hoping to get a chance to break this guy's legs too, and he's already dead. So in anger, he just shoots it right into the side.

And in doing so, he fulfills prophecy. Because back in the Psalms 22 it says, they'll pierce me, they'll pierce my side. They'll pierce my feet, and they'll pierce my hands.

And so even in the anger of a man, a Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus, that in and of itself was a fulfillment of prophecy. So if you're standing there at the cross, it's like check, check, check, check. He's dead now.

He can't have any bones broken. He won't be the true Passover. The Bible talks about a spear piercing his side, so you're still standing there, and all of a sudden here come these soldiers, and they don't break his legs, and they pierce his side.

It's like check, check, check. Everything. And so John wants us here to know that Jesus fulfilled all the prophetic scriptures that related to his death.

There was not a bone broken, and his side was pierced. Look down to verse number 36. For these things were done, that the scriptures should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken, and again another scripture saith, they shall look upon him whom they have pierced.

And so all of this John is bringing to our attention to fulfill the scriptures. A bone of him was not broken, and his side was pierced. By the way, that was also a prophecy in Zechariah.

Zechariah chapter 12, along with the psalm, psalm 22. So all of these things were spoken between 600 and 1500 years before Jesus came and walked on the earth. And it shows us something about the Lord.

He knows the future. He knows the future. And he has often times taught us the future.

I'm going to give a couple of examples of things that if you're an unbeliever here today or your faith is shaken, there's some things the Lord has told us that we ought to believe because he's prophesied. Many of them already come to pass. And I think anyone who studies prophecy would come away being a sure believer in the word of the Lord.

But look at one more passage here in Luke chapter 24 with me. This is a familiar one. Jesus is on the road to Emmaus.

In Luke 24, in verse number 25, they are having doubtful hearts about what happened, the crucifixion. He was buried. They've heard that he is now risen from the dead.

And their minds are confused. And in Luke 24, he's speaking here to a couple of the disciples as they walk on the road to Emmaus. Verse 25, then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

You have not been a believer in all that the prophets have spoken. These past 1500 years, these past 2000 years ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory. It's almost like he's saying, you didn't get out your checklist.

You didn't get out your checklist. Listen, didn't you know all the prophecies of the Messiah that he would have to suffer? Go back to Psalm 22. Read Isaiah 53.

Read Isaiah 52. Why don't you read the Psalms and the prophets? And then he goes in verse 27, And beginning at Moses, by the way, Moses had some things and prophecies too. And all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

I'd love to have been there for that conversation. I don't know how long it took, but Jesus went back and he went over the checklist. Well, what about that virgin birth? Did Jesus, was he born of a virgin? Yeah.

And he went on to talk about, what about those, the prophet Jeremiah, all the two year old children killed weeping lamentation in Jerusalem. What about that one? Oh yeah, that came to pass. Yeah.

Let's come on up to the death of the Messiah. What about his hands and his feet pierced? What about, I might tell all his bones. What about, he was number one of the transgressors.

What about Moses when he said a bone of him would not be broken? What about this? What about that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it all pointed to me. It all pointed to me.

I'm not saying me, I'm saying Jesus. And so he expounded unto them. He brought all the passages.

I don't know how long it would have taken, but they're walking. And so prophecy is important, especially here with the crucifixion. I want to give you a couple of prophecies that I think you ought to pay attention to.

You know, we can look back upon those that have already been fulfilled and we can be blessed and see that Jesus is the Messiah in truth. But Jesus also spoke for the future. He said, I'm going to show you some things are coming.

And he told the disciples, here's something coming and you need to be, believe me, you need to be prepared because I'm telling you ahead. I've told you already the things that are coming upon me. They've all been fulfilled.

Now let me tell you some things that are coming. Let me just give you a few. We don't have time to go through a lot of them.

But one thing he said that the Jews probably didn't even believe him when he said it, but he said that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. He even told his disciples, look at this. They came and said, Jesus, look at this great building and temple and all that.

He said, listen, all this stuff is going to be thrown down. And so he speaks to the women, you know, weep not for yourselves, weep for your children. And that was a prophecy.

And in 70 A.D. that came to pass and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies. Here's a prophecy. Some of you were studying with me on Saturday morning, but here's an interesting prophecy that Jesus gives during his ministry in Luke chapter 21.

He talks about how Jerusalem will be destroyed. And then he says, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

That's a prophecy. The Lord is looking forward to the future. Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

And so that destruction would wipe Jerusalem, the city out, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And that's why a lot of prophecy people who study prophecy were excited when after 1900 years, Jerusalem, the city, was controlled and trodden down by Gentile nations. Until 1948 when Israel became a nation again, but especially Jerusalem.

And here's something important. Jerusalem is still trodden down by Gentile feet because if you go to Jerusalem right now, even though Israel is a nation, half of Jerusalem is still in Arab control and half of it is under the control of the Jews. And so this is an important prophecy that Jerusalem will be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

And God is sharing with us slowly and warning us that the end is very near. Because one day you're going to wake up and you're going to realize that the Arabs have been removed from Jerusalem. And Jerusalem will be under the control entirely of the nation of Israel.

And that prophecy will be fulfilled. And then the next verse says, and there should be signs in the sun and the moon, the stars and upon the earth, the stress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring. I think it's going to trigger the end as we know it.

And so then we have all the signs of His coming. Jesus told us ahead of time all the signs that would precede His coming, just like in that day when He first came to the earth and He walked amongst men, people were given signs to warn them of the Messiah and give them scriptures and prophecies to prepare them. The very same way the Lord's second coming.

Signs, prophecies to prepare us for His coming. And just as you look out into our world, as some of us who've been studying the prophecies, globalism, one world, it's just telling us that we're near. We're near the end.

And God is giving us the future ahead of time. Let me close with one of my favorites here. And we talked about this on Saturday morning, but turn with me to Revelation chapter 11.

This is a prophecy in the book of Revelation that I'd like to bring out. I think it's an interesting one. Revelation chapter number 11 talks about these two witnesses that will be preaching in the end.

And here is something that when it was written by John 2,000 years ago was not even a possibility, was even probably not even in the imaginations of man. But this is a prophetic passage. And I'm going to close with this here.

Revelation 11. These two witnesses are killed. Their dead bodies are lying in the streets.

It says in verse number 8, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations, this is all over the world, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry and shall send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

He goes on to talk about after three days, God gives them life and they are raised up. But think about this. I read this once and I thought, wow, this is not even a possibility in John's day.

I couldn't even imagine it. But in verse 9, all the people's kindreds, tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies. You ever thought about that? Can you imagine John 2,000 years ago on the cross, these two dead bodies in Jerusalem, the whole world will see their dead bodies.

You'd probably say, I could get my eraser out. That's not possible. Let's erase that and let's figure that thing out.

No, they'll see their dead bodies. You know, we're living in a day right now where we can understand. It's almost common knowledge.

A hundred years ago, that was absurd. For the whole world to see two dead bodies lying in a street. But now with our technology, the whole world can see their dead bodies lying in the street.

And the whole world is happy and they're rejoicing. And I know this may be a little bit comical, but it says they send each other gifts all over the world, one to another. They make merry.

I view it this way. I think Apple has made it possible through that phone and through technology for you to see those two dead bodies wherever you're at in the world. I think the whole world will see those two dead bodies.

For 6,000 years, that was never possible. And probably those who read these verses for years and years and years in the 500s, the 700s, 1200s, they thought, how is that even possible? But we're living in a day where the prophecies of the scriptures are coming to pass. And then I think of the Amazon sending gifts one to another all over the world.

They see their dead bodies. They rejoice. It says they send gifts one to another everywhere.

And so this Bible is filled with prophecy. It's filled with God predicting the future. And so John spends a lot of time in the Bible talking about how all these things were prophesied, were spoken of by Moses, by Zechariah, by Isaiah, by David the psalmist.

And so people should have recognized who the Lord Jesus was. Do you know why most Jews didn't recognize who Jesus was? Because they didn't love the law, loved the law of God. They didn't love God's law.

And the amazing thing was, there's no doubt that they sang it. They sang the Psalms. It was a part of their religious services.

But you know how it is. You can sing songs, and if your heart's not in it, you don't learn anything from it. It's just a song.

It's just what we do. It's just a tradition. And so they would sing Psalm 22, and they would talk about the Messiah and all the things that the Messiah would go through.

But yet they stood before the Messiah, and I'm sure they had those songs in their hearts. Their kids could have probably sung them. And yet they didn't even know what they were doing.

And I believe there's a lot of people who can probably tell you the signs of Jesus' second coming too, and the prophecies. But because their heart is not in it, they'll be in the same place, unprepared for the Lord's return. So let's love the word of God and understand that the Lord has told us ahead of time that we might believe when we see all these things come to pass.

And if you're here this morning, and you're not a child of God, my, and if you would study all the prophecies of the Scriptures and all the prophecies that have been fulfilled, just taking the death and the crucifixion, then you're taking light and just turning away from it. And so the Lord has given us a prophetic book so that you can see and believe that His word is true. And in believing that, embrace His Messiah, the Savior of the world.

All right, let's close, and then we'll close