The sermon by Scott Brown, titled 'The Meaning of Christ's Death,' examines the theological and practical significance of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and death as depicted in John 19:31-37. It highlights key elements including the theological importance of Jesus's death as a fulfillment of scripture, the predetermined plan of God, and the practical implications for believers, emphasizing that Christ's death was necessary due to humanity's sinful nature rather than any inherent worthiness. The sermon further explores the role of prophecy, as Jesus's death fulfilled various Old Testament predictions, such as the unbroken bones and the piercing of his side, and illustrates the brutality of crucifixion and the Roman soldiers' actions. The speaker stresses the importance of understanding Christ's death as an act of substitutionary atonement, highlighting that Christianity is anchored in the historical events of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection, rather than solely on his teachings or esoteric principles. The sermon urges believers to recognize the gravity of sin and the necessity of Christ's sacrifice, encouraging personal reflection on the meaning of the gospel and the role of Christ as an everlasting advocate for sinners.

Please open your Bibles to John 19. I'll be reading from verse 31 to verse 37. John 19, 31 to 37. Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and immediately water and blood came out. And he who has seen has testified. And his testimony is true.

And he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe for these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled not one of his bones shall be broken and again another scripture says they shall look on him whom they have pierced. Let's pray. Father we pray that you would take these events and make them what they were intended to be in our thoughts, in our lives, in our emotions, in everything Lord that you would come and give us wisdom to see these marvelous life-giving deeds that you have done. Amen. Please be seated.

Well, we're picking up in the Gospel of John where we left off a few weeks ago, if you recall, I spent several weeks trying to explain the biblical doctrine of the church in its relationship with the civil government and touching on some of the jurisdictions that God has established and its relationship to civil authority. And Now we turn back to the Gospel of John, where we left off before we started that series. Now, the message that is in this section of scripture can be captured in two words and that is dead and buried. Dead and buried. So our text today is highly focused on this essential pillar of the Christian faith that Christ was crucified, it was dead and he was buried And these are the things that are the focus of this text.

And the whole narrative here in these verses focuses on the dead body of Jesus Christ and the transporting him to the tomb. We'll deal with that next week. You have an outline in front of you. I'd like to open up and just speak for a bit about the theological significance of the death of Christ and then I want to explain some of the practical, very practical, significances of the death of Christ, and then I want to walk through the text beginning in verse 31, and you can see the outline there. We'll focus on the particular day of Christ's death.

Second, we'll focus on the precise timing of Christ's death. Thirdly, we will speak of the abuse of Christ after he died. Fourth, the eyewitnesses of Christ's death. And then fifth, the fulfillment of scripture in Christ's death. So this is the focus of this narrative here that we find ourselves in.

You know, we love to sing that song, don't we? Behold, before the throne. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul was counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me, to look on him and pardon me." So the significance of Christ's death in terms of its theological and practical implications are as follows. And the significance of Christ's death can be illustrated in many ways.

And one of the most profound explanations of the death of Jesus Christ is found in John Owen's book, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. And you would find tremendous encouragement and help if you read J.I. Packer, the late J.I. Packer's introduction to John Owen's book. It's a marvelous argument for the power of the death of Jesus Christ.

It's really a polemical work that argues against universal redemption and argues for the doctrine of salvation that we hold dear. Now the theological significance of Christ's death. First of all, the whole of scripture points to Christ's death. In 1 Corinthians 15, three, we read that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. In Acts chapter 10, verse 43, we learn that all the prophets prophesied of his death.

To him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. Christ's death was predetermined by God. That's very clear in Acts chapter 2, verses 22 to 23. He was delivered by the predetermined purpose and foreknowledge of God. You have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death." Christ's death actually summarizes God's love for sinners.

In Romans 5 verse 8, we read these words, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We also know from the Gospel of John and other places that Christ actually died at the right moment of his own judicial appointment. He died by his own power. No other person has ever died when they wanted to die. They die when they're supposed to die.

Well that's true of many things. You're born when you're supposed to be born, you're married when you're supposed to be married, and you die when you're supposed to die. And God has ordained all those things. Jesus said, no one takes it away from me, meaning his life, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.

This charge I have received from my father. He said that in John 10 verse 18. So Christ died by his own power. Jesus Christ died in obedience to his father. Now the practical significance of Christ's death is very important for us to understand.

Christ did not die because we were worth so much, not primarily. Christ died because we were so unjust, so depraved, so evil, so dominated by sin, so much under the bondage of the devil, so dead to him, so deserving of death and wrath, so spotted, so wrinkled, so defiled, so dark, so alive to sin. Jesus Christ died not because you were worth so much, but because you were so sinful. Let me illustrate. In 1st Peter 318 we learn that Christ died because we were hopelessly unjust and he did it to bring us to God.

For Christ also suffered once for sins for the just, for the unjust. That he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. In Romans 5 6 through 8 we learned that Christ died for us because and while we were ungodly. The text reads, for when we were still without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die but God demonstrates his own love toward us that in while we were still sinners Christ died for us In Romans 6 10 we learned that Christ died so that we would be dead to sin. In Romans 6 10 he says death no longer has dominion over him for the death that he died he died to sin once for all but the life that he lives he lives to God likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15, we learn that Christ died so that we would be released from living for ourselves. I want us to understand that Christ didn't primarily die for us because we were just so great and he loved us so much. He died for us because we were lost in sin and he died to deal with our sin. In 2nd Corinthians 5 14 we learned that Christ died that we would be released from living for ourselves. For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died.

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again. In Hebrews 2 14 we learn that Christ died to destroy the works of the devil in you and in me and his redeemed. In Hebrews 2, 14 we read, inasmuch as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to his bondage. In Galatians 1-4 we learn that Christ died to deliver us from the evil infiltrations of the world in our lives. He gave himself for our sins, the text says, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father.

In Ephesians 5, 25 through 27, we learn that we were so unclean that we needed someone to cleanse us. We read these words, he loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present her to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish. In Galatians 3 13 we learn that we were cursed by a slavery and Christ died to purchase us off of the slave block. We read these words in Galatians 3.13, he redeemed us from the curse being made a curse for us. We were so cursed, so defiled, so soiled in our souls that Christ died for us.

In 1st Thessalonians 5, 9, and 10 we learned that Christ died to save us from the wrath that we deserved so that we would live with him. The text reads, for God did not appoint us to wrath but to abstain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that when whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him. It's very interesting that even one of the great unbelievers in the Gospel of John testified to this. Caiaphas said it was expedient for one man to die for the nation. That was prophetic.

The Lord Jesus Christ himself said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. It's very important that we understand the significance of the death of Jesus Christ. And the reality that's really spoken here in this text is that death is a picture to show us the power of sin, and that sin kills, that sin is the mega virus, and it's in all of the human race. And to fulfill our responsibility to preach the gospel to people, and I think this is very important, we must clearly proclaim that Christ died for their sins.

Did Christ primarily die to clean up your life? Did Christ primarily die to heal you? Well I think these things are implied but Jesus Christ died because we were sinners. That's why he died And any gospel presentation needs to have that at the center or else it's not a true gospel. The seriousness of sin cannot be underestimated and it certainly is not underestimated in this text.

The soul that sins shall die, that's Ezekiel 18 verse four. In Psalm 917, we learn that the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. It's devastating to your eternal soul to forget God and not have your sins be dealt with. And that's really the focus of this passage here. In Romans 5 10 we learn that we were reconciled to God.

Literally when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life and not only that but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation and we've seen this in our studies so far in the Gospel of John that Jesus Christ labored for us in the midst of as a result of our sinfulness. In 1st Peter 2 24 we learn that he labored for us his own self bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. But at the same time we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins. That's Romans 3, 23 through 25. So it is in his death that we have remission, redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, as the Apostle Paul told the Colossian Church in Colossians 1.14.

So as we think about the death of Christ, I think it should be a calibrating consideration for us all as we think about the gospel and how to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ both to ourselves and also to those who are around us. Here's one reason. We often approach Christianity on the basis of the improvements that are necessary in our lives. We want to get better. We want to be healed of the maladies of our personalities and our thoughts.

We want to be happier. We want to be better men. We want to be better women. We want to be better husbands. We want to be better wives.

We want to be better students. We want to do better and we often approach Christianity that way But the death of Jesus Christ makes it very very clear that we are not primarily flawed people in need of reformation. We are a sin saturated people who stand accused before God. That's the big problem that we have before God. And this is the heart of man's problem.

Donald MacLeod in his book on the cross of Christ says it like this, our condition is not first and foremost medical. As if our need were only for healing. The whole scene is forensic. Our problem is that we stand accused and the fact that Christ's advocacy is directed specifically to the Father makes it plain that he is the accuser. We are in trouble with God.

He hates sin and he alone can forgive it, but why should he? And he continues, but now sin has ruined his masterpiece, men and women, filled the earth with hatred and violence and turned the world into an idolatrous blasphemous conspiracy against himself and against all good order. How could he forgive it? That's the way Donald Macleod describes it. Well, he forgives it through his death and the advocacy of his son.

And instead of his hearing the blood cry out in accusation for all of the sins that are resident in our lives, what does he hear now? He hears the advocacy of his son. And so it's very important that we understand the heart of the meaning of the death of Jesus Christ. It's very often that people say You know Jesus Christ went to the cross because he loved you so much That's really only part of the story Jesus Christ went to the cross because our sins were so magnificently condemning so absolutely devastating that we needed his death to die for us and that's why John Owen penned the title of his book, The Death of Death and the Death of Christ. Now another thing I'd like to say about this passage of scripture is that Christianity is not simply the proposition that there are truths that you must embrace.

It is that. But Christianity actually is also based on Jesus Christ and his life. It's not only built on his words, but it's also built on his works. It's not only his teachings that matter, they matter tremendously, but what he did matters because all of what he said rests upon what he did. And What he did when he died is really the heart of Christianity.

And what he did when he rose from the grave matters. And what he did when he ascended to heaven matters. What he did when he sat down at his father's right hand matters. It matters what he did not just what he said. And this passage I think makes that clear.

We learned as we were contemplating the cross that the cross speaks, the blood of Christ speaks something. What he did has something to say. And when we get to the end of John, we'll read these words. And truly Jesus did many other signs. He did many things.

He did many things before many signs in the presence of his disciples, Which are not written in this book But these these things that he did are written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and then in Believing you might have life in his name So it's not just the things that he said but the things that he did are designed to help you believe. We've been asking the question all throughout this series, what would it take for you to believe? What would it take? And we've reviewed the life of Jesus Christ over these couple of years in going through the gospel of John and we see him doing many things. What else does he need to do in order for you to believe?

That's really a very important question. Well let me just speak briefly since we're coming back cold into this text after quite a while. We're in this section of John where John devotes enormous amount of space to the last 24 hours of Jesus's life. This long section that began in chapter 13, we're in chapter 19 now, covers Thursday night through Friday at 6 p.m. A very short period of time.

He died, Jesus Christ died on Friday at 3 p.m. And but during this time Jesus began with his disciples the day before in the upper room and then he went to the garden of Gethsemane for his arrest and then he experienced his trials all night long and then to his crucifixion and All of this text that we've been reading up to now really spans Friday and Saturday or Thursday and Friday of Jesus life. This section has been called the Holy of Holies of the Gospels and It's a very long section that explains the person and work of the Holy Spirit and really the longest sermon of Jesus Christ that appears recorded in the Bible. And as you know, This whole, just the day before the events that we're reading about here in John chapter 13, Jesus was washing the disciples' feet. And from there ensues the longest sermon, the longest single sermon of Jesus Christ, teaching his disciples what kind of men they must be and what kind of things, particularly persecutions that they will experience when he leaves.

He's telling them that he's leaving the most significant person in their lives, the person who healed the sick, who raised the dead, who cast out demons, who fed 5, 000. He's leaving. How about that? What if that kind of person was telling you they were leaving and that's what he's doing and so in chapter 14, he comforts them and he says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

In chapter 15, he says, I'm the vine and you are the branches. Abide in me. In chapter 16, he says, these things I'm writing to you that you may be kept from stumbling and he's warning of Persecution he's telling them you will be put out of the synagogues your religious Friends will reject you and John 17. Of course is that prayer? Where he first prays for himself and then he prays for his disciples and then he prays for all believers.

In chapter 18 he's arrested and in chapter 19 is the progress of the crucifixion. So in this section, in the near context, Jesus has been scourged, Pilate has declared him innocent over and over again, and then he delivers him up to be crucified because of fear of the crowd. And the Lord Jesus Christ suffers on the cross. He cries out my God my God Why have you forsaken me he breathes his last he declares it is finished. That's where we pick up the text here He's dead.

We Pick up the narrative where Jesus Christ has died. All of the breath is out of him. And he is now a dead man hanging on the cross. So this is a very remarkable section. One commentator says that there are 28 prophecies that are fulfilled in this section I haven't counted them but we know that the devil attempted to kill Jesus Christ several times and and and he failed every time the devil will always fail in his attempt to deal with God's people until it is his time to glorify himself through them.

And so what we find here in verse 31 is the particular day of Christ's death. You can pick up the outline now. The particular day of Christ's death. Therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day. So this was a special day, it was a special preparation day.

It wasn't just a normal Sabbath, evening of the Sabbath, the day before the Sabbath, the preparation day before the Sabbath. It was a very special week because they were celebrating Passover. Thousands and thousands of people were in Jerusalem at this time. And this was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was a super Sabbath because it also happened at the time of Passover when the Jews celebrated that great event in the history of redemption.

Now, the Jews, because of this, wanted to get that body down from the cross because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. Crucified bodies among the Jews were not allowed to remain hanging on the Sabbath. The Mosaic law required that the body should not be hung on a tree overnight. And in Deuteronomy 21 verses 22 to 23 we see the background for this. This is what was driving the Jews.

They were in quote unquote obedience to Deuteronomy chapter 21. The problem was when the Romans were conducting a crucifixion, they wanted to leave the body on the cross to rot. They wanted, first of all, for the crucifixion to be as painful and as elongated as they could make it. They didn't want the man to die, and so they kept doing things to keep the man alive hanging there on the cross. And they desired really that the body would would exist on the cross long enough for a lot of people to see it and to be terrified by it and that finally the body would begin to rot and then the vultures would come and pick the body.

So that's what the Romans were waiting for. But now it's three o'clock in the afternoon and Jesus has just breathed his last and it's the Sabbath, the high day, and they've got three hours to get that body off the cross or they're gonna find themselves in disobedience to the law of Moses so they've got to get that body down and you can imagine you know John is ushering his new mother away the disciples are scattered We'll read about Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus next week. But the Jews want to get these bodies down, and there's not that much time to get those bodies down off the cross. And it didn't bother them so much that they had killed the holiest, most loving person who ever walked the face of the earth. But what they really cared about is looking good before Deuteronomy chapter 21.

And they, I'll just put this in scare quotes, they kept the Sabbath in that way. You know, it is common that people keep the Sabbath, but they're not really keeping the Sabbath. It's not really a day of delight. It's not really a day of obedience and love for Jesus Christ. It's not really a day of drinking in the goodness of the Lord.

It's just something that's done out of habit or out of self-righteousness. But these folks were keeping their religious duties while actually hating the righteous. They were straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel because the true religion had fled them and they were fastidiously trying to avoid breaking the law to keep their religious scheme going and they were neglecting the weightier matters of the law. Now we find examples of this all over the Bible where you have fake worship, worship that dots all its I's and crosses all its T's but it's lifeless And there's no love in it, there's no joy in it, there's no desire for the authority and the goodness in the word of Jesus Christ. That's what we find here.

So I think when you read something like this, I think we should all ask, are we keeping the Lord's day as a day of delight or is it simply a dutiful obligatory lifeless joyless drudgery? Well maybe it's like maybe you're feeling that right now. Cry out to God. Ask him to change your heart and give you the delight that he desires on this day as the Bible speaks of. Well we move from this to the precise timing of Christ's death.

That's in verses at the end of verse 31 through verse 33. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him but when they came to Jesus they saw he was already dead and they did not break his legs so the timing of Jesus death is marked by an event and it's these, it's secondarily these Roman soldiers who did not break his legs. He was already dead. He had already breathed his last.

Nobody took his life from him. He took his own life as a result of the work of salvation that he was performing for sinners. And so at three o'clock he said it is finished and he gave up his spirit at the predetermined moment. Now because the crucifixion was such a lengthy drawn-out torture session and that the Romans wanted to keep this going, the Jews had a different timeline that they had to keep there on this high day. But the soldiers mark the truth that Jesus died and they came to make sure that those that were hanging on the cross were dead and when they arrived they discovered that Jesus was already dead that he had already given up his own life.

We learn in Mark 15 that that this actually blew Pilate away he couldn't believe that Jesus had died he was told that Jesus had died and in Mark 15 says Pilate marveled that he was already dead. It was so unusual. And so the Roman soldiers they come up to the three crosses and they break the first man's legs. They look at Jesus. They're not going to break his legs they break the third band's legs and they use a mallet perhaps an iron mallet and the word that's used really depicts the brutality of it the word break means to shiver to pieces literally to just shatter the bones to pieces.

And this would hasten the death. The dying man could not push himself up by his legs with his legs broken. Once the legs were broken, the person on the cross would be asphyxiated. But if he could push up, he could take breath into his lungs. But once the legs were broken, he could no longer do that.

So it was the quickest way to death to take the mallet and shatter their bones so that they had no strength to push up any longer. And so they skip, they skip Jesus. And of course all of this was in fulfillment of prophecy of the Old Testament prophecy and even of the Old Testament sacrifices. When it comes to the sacrifices in Exodus chapter 12 verse 46 when we read of the Passover lamb, remember Jesus is the Lamb of God who was slain but The lamb in Exodus Which was a figure of Jesus Christ the lamb of God we read these words you shall not break a bone and That's consistent with the death of Jesus Christ in the Messianic Psalm 34 verse 20 we read these words he guards all his bones not one of them is broken so this was in fulfillment of prophecy Jesus Christ died at the moment that he designed from all eternity so that he would fulfill all of Scripture. Now there's something really interesting here about the thief on the cross who repented.

The thief that Jesus said, today you will be with me in paradise. I think it's very interesting that Jesus uttered those words he breathes his last but that man's suffering didn't end there. Christians often think that if they turn to the Lord all their sufferings will be over. And that just is not the case. And all you need to do to prove that is read your Bible.

But this man had more suffering to endure after he turned toward the Lord Jesus in obedience and his bones would be broken while he was still alive. You know we just should not expect that all the promises of glory and our tears being dried mean that we don't have suffering in the Church of Jesus Christ. When Jesus saves us, He does not always save us from pain and loss here on earth. And this man experienced even more torture after he turned to Jesus Christ. And frankly that was true of the disciples as well.

They turned to the waters of life and they were punished severely and all of them except the Apostle John were executed because they had such a contrary message and a contrary life of those around them. So he died. Just a quick note, the Muslims don't believe he died and that's one of the tremendous differences in Christianity. The Muslims embrace many Christian doctrines but they do not embrace the doctrine of the death of Jesus Christ. And that's very significant.

Well we see thirdly the abuse of Christ after his death, right at his death in verse 34, where we read, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. Now, We've already reviewed the brutality of the mistreatment of Jesus Christ on the cross. It was legendary. The inhuman, unfeeling brutality of the soldiers is displayed right here in verse 34 as well. Historians believe that the Romans carried seven foot long spears with an iron head on it and a wooden shaft.

And what you find is these hardened Roman soldiers, they have a job to do. They want to make sure these guys are dead. Well they see that Jesus is dead so they don't break his legs but they're not done yet. They feel like they need to abuse the body of Jesus and so they spear him. I just think we should stop and recognize the brutality that exists in the human heart and don't underestimate it.

Man is sinful And you see that here in this abusive spearing of Jesus Christ. But at the same time we can't miss the fact that this too was in fulfillment of prophecy. God ordained that this would happen. In Zechariah, prophesied this moment in Zechariah 12 10, we read these words, and I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, And they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn.

Almost every word in that verse is significant. And it's fulfilled right here with the spearing of Jesus Christ, the piercing of his side. In Revelation 1-7, John tells us that when Jesus Christ comes in the cloud everyone will look on him whom they have pierced. Literally. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him.

So this was in fulfillment of prophecy, but even further than that it was figurative that what happened here, the blood and the water actually was designed to tell a story of redemption, of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and there there are of course two substances that came out water and blood and This is significant the blood of course stands for justification or remission of sins that sin is so bad that there must Be shed blood as the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 9 verse 22 without the shedding of blood There is no remission of sins and Then there's water secondly and the water stands for sanctification and the purification process that God launches in your life when you turn to him. He does actually begin to heal you and clean you up after he justifies you by your by faith. But the blood the blood was shed to satisfy God's wrath towards sinners and the water was poured out as a result of God's mercy to make them clean. Matthew Henry makes a big point of this if you get a chance to read his commentary on these verses. He says, they signified the two ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper, by which those benefits are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.

They both owe their institution and efficacy to Christ. And he speaks of the washing of water and regeneration and the water flowing from the rock, the clear, beautiful streams of life that make glad the city of God. That's his point. Now this kind of language we find in the language describing baptism. Many of you have been baptized, praise God.

When you were baptized you were picturing this very thing, the water and the blood. In Romans chapter 6, we learned that we were baptized into his death, literally saying, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." So the whole matter of baptism pictures this this whole scene. Of course Paul tells the same thing to the Colossian church in Colossians 2 verses 12 through 14 that we are buried with him in baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Praise God for the death of Jesus Christ that accomplished all that for sinners. We sang that great song earlier today, Rock of Ages by Augustus Toplety. Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure cleanse me from its guilt and power nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I cling what's the double cure? Well it's justification and sanctification.

That's the double cure that the blood and the water have accomplished. Well then we turn to the eye witnesses of Christ's death in verse 35 and of course, John testifies that he saw all this happen. Imagine the Apostle John, he's now, he's late in life, he's writing this and he's remembering that he saw these things with his own eyes. Verse 35, and he who has seen has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. Now we've seen the importance of eyewitnesses and the narratives of the life of Jesus Christ.

This eyewitness says Jesus died. John saw that he died. John saw the soldiers break his legs because he died. John saw the soldier run a spear in his side and the truth is that John is testifying that he saw him die. Really speaking directly to the followers of Muhammad, who believe in the authority of scripture.

They believe in the virgin birth, but they do not believe in the death of Jesus Christ. And then after recording that John is an eyewitness, we see the fulfillment of scripture in Christ's death in verses 36 through 37. For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled that none of his bones shall be broken and again another scripture says they shall look on him whom they pierced so of course this mistreatment was governed by God God choreographs all calamities market all your calamities God has choreographed. All injustices God has choreographed. Yes, all injustices committed against you.

You personally. You against your family. You against your church. God is the one who choreographs all injustice and he does it for his own glory. It's like David when he was being terribly persecuted.

He turns around and he says, Lord, it was you who did it. It was you. One of the most important parts of being a mature Christian is recognizing that God is sovereign and that you have no reason to fear, which is why the most often repeated command in the entire Bible is do not fear. It's always important for us to grow up and look at the things that happen from heaven's perspective and not fear. But these were fulfilled prophecies all over the Word of God.

And so this entire narrative of the cross presents a fulfillment of scripture. And almost every paragraph contains a fulfillment of prophecy. It's absolutely amazing. Just speaking of the authority of scripture, the sufficiency of scripture, and its perpetual relevance to all of us. Now in the next scenes, we're gonna encounter two wealthy men who took the body of Jesus down from the cross and buried him.

We'll speak of this next week. But I think it's very made very plain here that Jesus Christ suffering death and burial were all according to the scriptures. That it is the Word of God that stands for these things. Now in this sense I think it should be very clear to us that man does not make peace with God. God makes peace with man.

We often exalt ourselves so much when we talk about our changed life and how we how we did this and we did that, but it is God. It is God who is the peacemaker. We were dead in our sins. He did not save us because we were so compellingly good. He saved us because he desired to save sinners.

Well, I just wanna make a few concluding remarks here. These verses make some things very clear. First of all, the sinfulness of man, The fact that Christ died for sins makes it clear that man is sinful and we must understand who we are. We are sinners and this is why we must tell people that Jesus Christ died according to the scriptures. You know the beginning of our message to man and men is not God has a wonderful plan for your life.

The beginning of our message is that you are hopelessly lost in sin and Jesus Christ died because of that. Because Christ did not die because we were worse so much. He died because we were so unjust, so depraved, so evil, so lost, so dominated by sin, so dead, so spotted, so wrinkled, so alive to sin and dead to God that he sent his son to die. And in his death we are told how devastatingly harmful sin is and the great lengths that God would go to to save sinners. Sin must be punished and the truth is that hell is the most fitting place for unrepentant sinners.

There no one has any excuse that will justify them. That's what Romans 1 makes very, very clear. So the death of Christ is God's response, his cure to man's condition. Let me read from Donald Macleod again. It is the deliberate, measured, judicious response of God to our collective revolt against his rule and to the systemic injustice which marks human society.

And that's why Jesus Christ died. And he was buried and he rose again. And here in this passage is a testimony to the authority and the purity and the sufficiency of the scriptures. It illustrates the power of the gospel, that we died and our life was hidden with Christ and God, that we were buried with him in baptism and raised up to new life, literally baptized into his death, literally buried with him through baptism. And so I hope we've been given enough reasons to flee to Christ and say what David said, have mercy on me oh God according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

And when a person does that he receives mercy, but he doesn't just receive mercy, he receives something far far more helpful. He receives an everlasting advocate Who pleads for him? Before the throne of God So these verses narrowed down on the death of Jesus Christ and they focus on what Jesus did not particularly his teaching and that's why the Apostles Creed reads Christ was crucified dead and buried and I think this passage makes it very clear that Christianity is not simply based on principles it's not it's not it's not primarily about fixing your life as Donald MacLeod said it's not primarily medical it's that God is angry with sinners every day as the Bible says And the redemption that's accomplished for us was accomplished by deeds, what Jesus Christ did based on historical situations with real people on real dates in time, in specific places, in space, and in time. In this sense, you know, our faith does not rest on esoteric principles. It doesn't rest on our feelings.

It doesn't rest on what people think. It rests on God. It rests on what Jesus Christ did on the cross and I hope that today your faith is based in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. That he suffered and he died and he rose again to save sinners. It was what he did that matters.

I praise God for that. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To God our Savior who alone is wise be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and forever amen would you pray with me father we are so thankful for truth We're so thankful for the deeds that stand Behind the truth. We thank you for what you did for us so that we would be delivered from our feelings From our perspectives and that our whole faith would rest on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thank you.