The Suffering and Death of our Lord

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Greetings to each one in Jesus' name. This message is something that has been expounded on again and again. But at the same time, it's a life-giving message. And it's the message that works. [00:00:31] It's the message that we need to carry forth. The suffering and death of Jesus Christ. And it's something that I need to be reminded of again and again. If I don't know for want of better words, I'll just say it like this. I believe that this is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, that we remember why we are free, why we can be free, why we have the opportunity that we have. [00:01:05] I would like to, and I desire to look at that message again as we commemorate the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. I was reminded again of the sacrifice that was made, but also of the hope that it brings to all ages, to us, to the world and everybody around us. And I've titled this message, The Hope of the Cross. I'll just leave it at that. You can title it however you feel. [00:01:38] There's also a song that went through my head as I was studying something like this. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. And isn't that true? Because he lives. That's where we are anchored in that hope, in that trust. because of his victorious death and resurrection. I think I'll just look at some of the prophecies, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time here looking at these. [00:02:12] There was something that I noticed as I was studying about the... Well, looking at some of the prophecies in the Old Testament, Immediately our minds go to Isaiah 53, I think, most of us that read, and that's alright, that's where a lot of the prophecies are found, and my Bible has a star beside each prophecy, and there's I don't know how many in there. [00:02:44] But there's more, there's a whole, if you have a computer program, there's a whole list of prophecies And what amazed me is the accuracy of the prophecies You can almost preach a message from the prophecies and be as accurate as actually reading the account If you condensed all that, it was a blessing Hardly had man fallen in the garden when there was something that would bring us back to right standing. [00:03:18] And if you read Genesis 3.15, you'll see that, a prophecy. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Isaiah 28.16 says this, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste. That word haste is rather a, is not what we would think of as the proper definition. [00:03:58] And I don't have the word, but I just remember in studying this. You know, we needed something. Mankind needed some way to come back to right standing with God after man fell. And I recognize this is not in the Old Testament, and I don't even know if it's proper or fits in here, but Hebrews 11.39, at the end of the faith chapter, this is what it says, And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, [00:04:28] God having provided something better for us that they without us should not be made perfect. They did not receive the promise. All these heroes of faith, and there's a whole list, but they were looking forward to that promise. And by their faith they were justified. They were looking forward. Someone to rescue God's children. It just struck me that even these men of old were looking forward. We're waiting on it, but they died before it came to pass. [00:05:03] Someone that would make the ultimate sacrifice for us. And now, some prophecies on the crucifixion. I just have a few here and there, and I didn't have time, but if you look at the prophecies, look at the fulfillment, and it's amazingly all there. I have one of my fellow ministers. We were at a meeting some time ago and one of my fellow ministers, I believe, said this, that one one thing about our faith versus any other faith is that it is so well documented that you cannot refute. [00:05:50] Isaiah 50 verse 6 talks about Jesus when they were mocking him when they spat in his face it says I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting and you can bring that over in the new and we'll talk about that later Zechariah 12.10 says this, [00:06:21] And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Talks about the piercing of his hands and feet. And a lot of these are tucked in in a passage where you have to be watching for the prophecy, but they're there nevertheless. [00:06:59] Psalms 22, 7 and 8 talks about him. They sneered and mocked at him. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake their heads saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. let him deliver him seeing he delighted him in him and sure enough it did come to pass exactly like that and of course Isaiah 53 3 he is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted [00:07:30] with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not And there is something about this rejection. He was rejected by his own people. And there's, I don't know of anything that hurts more than the rejection that we feel from our families, from other church, brother or sister in the church. [00:08:01] Someone that we hold dear hurts probably more than anything else that we face in life. Now I am minded to do a lot of reading this morning. And I think I'm going to read the entire chapter of St. John 19 if you want to follow along. Maybe I'll stop occasionally and maybe talk just a little bit. There's something that came to my attention as I studied for this. [00:08:32] John was an eyewitness to the happenings. And I don't know if the rest of the gospel writers were. And I know that if I read just John chapter 19, even in its entirety, There will be some things that will not quite, I won't be covering quite everything. But nevertheless, I think I'm going to read that chapter this morning, the entire chapter, and maybe even on into chapter 20 a little bit. [00:09:05] Why don't we stand and I'll read the first 16 verses and then I'll stop there. Verse 1 of chapter 19. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. [00:09:44] When the chief priests, therefore, and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. [00:10:23] Then saith Pilate unto him, Speaketh thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin and from henceforth from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him but the Jews cried out saying if thou let this man go thou art not Caesar's friend [00:10:55] whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar when Pilate therefore heard this that saying he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement But in Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king? [00:11:30] The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified and they took Jesus and led him away I'll stop reading there for now you may be seated well let's just go back and look at some of this the scourging the whipping that and we read the prophecy and here's a fulfillment I think I noted I think I have at least six prophecies in this chapter that were fulfilled in my Bible at least [00:12:01] There's a star beside each one. That scourging is, I think, something that we're totally unfamiliar with. We have no idea what kind of pain that people go through or the prisoner or whoever is being whipped. And it says that it often, or one commentator said, often it preceded crucifixion. If there was a crucifixion of anybody, they had that scourging and it was a whip, a flagellum I think they call it, if I'm pronouncing that right. [00:12:41] It was a whip split in several strips, and it had sharp bones embedded that cut the flesh. And I think we've all had a picture in our mind, at least, of the cruelty and how they were treated. and yet every time I read this I get a picture of a person that may have had strips of flesh flying off his back [00:13:12] and that was for me, it was my whipping that I deserved I guess you could say and many of the prisoners, many people died in that stage they didn't make it through the scourging according to the commentator And also they put a purple robe on him And the purple robe was equal in value to gold in their day [00:13:42] The purple robe And the reason, if we took note there The reason that they did this was because And we didn't read this But in chapter 18, I'm thinking it's in verse 37, he professed that he was the king, he was a king, and truly he was, he was king But they could not abide, they could not handle that, and that was the reason for the crown and the robe [00:14:17] and also probably the reason they mocked him and said hail king of the Jews and then they hit him and not sure one commentator said they hit him with the fist in this situation and I'm not sure of that but nevertheless I'm sure that we have this picture of our Savior Blood running down his face, his back cut open, bleeding, must have been a horrible situation. [00:14:55] I don't understand, I've never been, I don't think I've ever been in a place where I saw one person treating another person like that. But it would hurt me to see any one of you treated like that. But when it's our Savior, the person that's suffering for each one of us as individuals, it would make it even worse, much worse. There's another thing that happened in these first verses here. Pilate was in a difficult spot. [00:15:30] Pilate tried to prove his innocence. He tried to escape and yet there's something within me that says he was responsible because he was in control. He was a leader. And we see that according to the Roman law here, they had no need to crucify him according to the Roman law. But according to the Jewish law, because he claimed to be God, in Leviticus 24.16 you read that, because he claimed to be God, they felt that he should be crucified. [00:16:16] But note that when Pilate heard that he claimed to be the Son of God, he became more afraid. And if you read Matthew 27, 19, you'll find out that his wife had a dream and that she did not want him to have anything to do with crucifying him. I think I'll just continue reading. There's much more that could be said, of course, but we'll continue to the end of the chapter. [00:16:48] and then they were ready to take Jesus down the path to Calvary the sorrowful way and he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull which is called in Hebrew Golgotha where they crucified him and two others with him on either side and Jesus in the midst Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross and the writing was [00:17:20] Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews This title then read, Many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not the King of the Jews but that he said, I am King of the Jews I would answer, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to every soldier, to every soldier a part, and also his coat. [00:18:00] Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it. Whose it shall be that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith They parted my raiment among them for my vesture They did cast lots These things therefore the soldiers did Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother And his mother's sister Mary The wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene [00:18:30] When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved He saith unto his mother Woman, behold thy son Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother, and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled the sponge with vinegar, and put it upon his sop, and put it to his mouth. [00:19:05] When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was an high day, he sought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him [00:19:35] But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already they break not his legs But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood and water And he saw that it bare record and his record is true and he knoweth that he saith and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe for these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled [00:20:05] a bone of him shall not be broken and again another scripture said they shall look on him whom they pierced and after this Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave and came therefore and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. [00:20:38] Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury. And in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. I think I'm going to read on into chapter 20, verse to verse 5. [00:21:11] The first day of the week cometh, Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark unto the sepulchre, and see of the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together and the other disciple did outrun Peter [00:21:44] and came first to the sepulchre. and he stooping down and looking in saw the linen clothes lying yet was he not in it in I'll stop reading there and the reason I read wanted to read that is the empty tomb is what we look at this morning if that tomb was not empty where would our hope be this morning where would we go what would we do Would there be a message to preach? [00:22:16] They crucified him like a robber. They crucified him like an evil man. But I noticed that he had the burial of a king in a brand new sepulcher, and he's not in there anymore. That brings hope this morning. Now, maybe this is almost too practical, but I thought about this in a practical sense. What do we get? What do I get out of this crucifixion? [00:22:47] Two thousand years later, what do we get out of this? His victorious death and resurrection. And again, many times the things of God are not as they appear to man's eyes. There they were beating him, and Jesus said, you couldn't do a thing if I didn't let you do it. He allowed them to do it. But what happens now? How do we profit from this? And I'm just going to, this is just some random thoughts that I have, nothing organized. [00:23:23] But the first thing I thought of is direct fellowship with God. When that curtain rent in the temple in Matthew 27 51 you read about it We are allowed to enter in with a direct fellowship with God Paul says in Ephesians 2 13 and 14 and this is in the middle of he's talking about their rituals I believe circumcision maybe even And he says this, But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [00:23:59] For he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. He was the sacrifice, and we are able to speak to him directly this morning. And I don't know what that does to you, but I appreciate that. I appreciate being at work and being able to communicate with the Lord in times of difficulty. Times when we are faced with insurmountable things, insurmountable odds. [00:24:33] The second thing that I noticed that this did is it established a pattern. And that pattern is submission. Jesus was the ultimate example of submission. And if we are to be part of God's family, we need to follow that pattern of submission. We have no other, there is no other option but to surrender all for the Lord. And I had to ask myself, am I doing that? Have I surrendered everything for Him? [00:25:09] You know, Jesus was faced with this thing in the garden. He knew what was coming. And it was probably especially difficult because his disciples were asleep. But in Matthew 26, 39, you read this phrase, Not as I will, but thou wilt. Jesus said that, and we need to say the same thing. I think many of us have been faced with events that have looked impossible. But we need to bow down and allow God to do his work. [00:25:42] When we identify with Jesus, when we profess to be following the Lord, it doesn't matter what it costs, what it costs me. It might cost us everything, but it's worth it. It's worth it. And the third thing I would like to look at just a little bit is the hope that it brought. The hope and the salvation that it brought. It opened up the door and I don't know what goes through your mind as you think about this, but almost every time that we have communion service or commemoration of the death and suffering, I think of the love of God. [00:26:29] John 3.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Everlasting life was brought to us because of that experience on the cross and the love that God had for us. [00:27:05] Peter says this, Blessed be God the Father, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, for us this morning, for us. Where would that lively hope be this morning if there had not been death and resurrection? [00:27:42] It is the core of our gospel, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, in a very practical sense, I think all of us would agree that the world around us is looking for something to cling to, Something that would give us hope. And may I just say this morning, there are people that are facing death without that hope, without that inheritance, that incorruptible inheritance. [00:28:15] And without hope, man surmises that there's no use in keeping on. It's hopeless. Hope is as essential to man as air is to a jumbo jet. If there's no hope, there's no reason to keep going. There's no reason. And if you take hope away, our existence comes down to the level of despair and depression. [00:28:49] And I think that many people have experienced that and maybe I've experienced that to some level before I was a Christian. But today, what kind of hope do many people have? People pin their hope on many things, earthly success, wealth, good looks, successful career, and you fill in the blanks, maybe a family where we have successful children, or you name it, but that is not really what brings hope. [00:29:30] And I think many people have had that hope crushed, and it doesn't seem like it's working. Show me a person that can give you the hope, enduring hope that Calvary can. I don't think there's another person that can do that. And momentary gain does not bring lasting hope. And I know, I recognize by saying what I am, we like to use the word assurance, not hope. But I'm simply talking about what Calvary can do for us. [00:30:03] It does that. It does that to the world around us. When there's no hope, the door is open, but we have to step through the door. There's something that we need to do in order to have that assurance. We have hope that goes beyond the grave. Something solid to anchor. So now, I've been talking about the world around us. I would guess that all of us, and I trust, all of us have anchored ourselves this morning. [00:30:37] So do we need to contemplate about the hope that lies within us? Something just became very real to me, and I wasn't sure how to explain this, but what about the born-again believer? You know, where, okay, let's just say it this way. Do we need to hear the message of hope? I would say absolutely I need to hear it. Have any of you, maybe I shouldn't say it that way, I'll just say it like this. [00:31:14] There are times when I make some missteps. When I fall, when I don't do, I just don't say it quite right. And where do you go with that? You flee to the blood and there's hope again. And you can get up and move on. But if it weren't for that hope this morning, even the believer would stumble and fall. And I'm not, by saying this, I'm not trying to make room for sin in our midst. [00:31:51] And I don't think that, I hope you won't take it like that because Paul says this, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And he says, God forbid, no, we shouldn't do that. But there was enough bloodshed to cover all of our sins. And we can continually go back and we can be cleansed if we only allow that to happen.