Crucifying the King

So they took Jesus, and he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of a skull, which in Aramaic is called Valgatham.

They had been crucified with them and with them, one on either side and Jesus between them. Pauline also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross.

It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this inscription, but the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

And it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pauline, do not write the King of the Jews, but rather this man said, I am the King of the Jews.

Pauline answered, what I have written, I have written. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part to each sold.

As also his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, that is not scary, but cast lots for it to see who he shall be.

This was to fulfill the scripture, which says, they divided my garments among them, and for my clothes they cast lots. So the soldiers did these things.

The standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Colossus, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and his disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son.

Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. From that hour, the disciple took her to his home home. That is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Thank you. You've seen this before, I'm sure.

Sometimes when someone is famous, from a famous, and they're looking good at something, he gave him the honorific title, King.

Alright, here we go. Just going back in time, moving forward. B. Goodman is called, The Killeder Swin, thank you very much. Elvis Presley is, thank you very much.

Johnny Carson, King of Midnight, very good. Michael Jackson, LeBron James, King James, no, uh, different.

Jordan is the king. Amen. Don't let's say amen, I know it's wrong for you. But when we see these, we give these guys this title, or when their king, their king is always limited to a particular sphere.

But when we come to Jesus, he is just the king. That's it.

Supreme King. The greatest king. The divine king. If you want to add something, you can add creation. Or the phrase, all things.

He is king. Yet he was crucified as a criminal for his people. Let that sit here. Normally, subjects lay down their lives for their leaders, their kings, their generals, and whatnot.

But not just king. The character of his death is so different from anyone else in all of history. No one died like him.

So the question is, how do you view his death? How do you view the cross? What do you see there? At the cross. Keep in mind, the Jewish leaders have been working.

They sent out emails. They got on Instagram. They publicized what they wanted. They got the people riled up to crucify Jesus.

They manipulated the crowd, and they manipulated the Roman governor, Pilate. These guys are great manipulators.

So Jesus is being led away. Details are relatively few. But this is the most holy moment. Three points.

First of all, Jesus is the crucified king of the nations. Jesus. Okay. Yeah. I hope you have the Bibles.

You're looking down at it. I'm going to refer to the past. I'm going to read everything. Listen. This is 1622. All right. He sat out carrying the cross beam of his own cross.

Gospel writers mentioned that he had been brutalized, that he couldn't make it all the way. And so an African man from Cyrene named Simon was conscripted to help him.

Now, Simon didn't volunteer for this job. Right. He was probably an African Jewish man who was in town for the Passover, and they grabbed him and said, you carry it.

So he does. John doesn't record this, but it seems he's just focusing on how Jesus bore the cross only she was to die.

The Romans did everything to shame you. They know how to really shame you. Even making you carry the very instrument of your death.

Almost like you were saying, it's your fault. It would be like today if we made death row inmates carry the case of the vials and needle with which they would be injected as they go to the place of execution in the prison.

The king was taken, it says, to an execution place called the place of the skull. Flightly, that means that that was an outcropping of rock there that kind of had the visual image of a skull.

And in the way, the language of the Jewish people of that era, the place of the skull was translated, it says, go gatha. But we sing at Calvary, don't we?

Calvary is the Latin word for go gatha. Comes from the first complete Bible of the Latin Vulgate by Jerome. So that's why we sing at Calvary.

We could be singing at go gatha. It's the same thing. He was crucified on... Look at that. He was crucified... And John gives us details for a reason.

He was crucified outside the city, which is where capital punishment by custom was quindered. It could not be done within the city, probably for the desire for ceremonial purity, because there were laws, Jewish laws, against being...

coming close or touching a dead body. So likely, he's punished outside the city, because the people are so concerned with being religious.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And yet, they're killing the king of kids, the very one who gave them their religion. The writer of Hebrews picks up with this, though.

He picks up with this. Hebrews chapter 13, 11 through 14. Now, the Bible, turn there. I can't wait for you, but turn there. If you like, put this down. Hebrews 13, 11 through 14. Here's what he says.

For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest, as they sacrifice for sin, are burned outside the camp.

Sacrifices, the priest take them outside the camp and burn them. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here, here, we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Do you see it? Jesus is set aside, set outside the earthly Jerusalem that we may be led into the new Jerusalem.

He's put outside of an earthly city so that people can be brought into a spiritual city. He is set apart that we may be set apart for God.

But that's what sanctify means, to be set apart as holy. Holy, set apart. We belong to him now. Jesus suffers outside the gate, outside the city as a criminal so that you and I, who are the true criminals, may be made holy, may God's special possession, his special prize for his use and service alone.

We are holy to the Lord because of that sacrifice outside the city. much like of the day of atonement, Jesus brings his own brother to the altar of God.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. One sacrifice for all before eternity. When grasped, this produces in us a desire to follow him, even if it means we too will suffer insults and more outside and inside our cities.

Yeah. Amen. I'm wondering sometimes, do I really get it? Mm-hmm. Because I am a comfort-seeking, easy, easy, life-loving one.

Me and non-origine, that's why we easy. I want some of them too. I want it smooth. I don't put bumps in the road.

I don't want pain. I will avoid this. It's like, pain for me is like driving on the highway in Atlanta.

I will bring things more for you. But when you see Jesus suffering through you outside the gate to make you holy, you who are the criminal who deserves the cross, no, he suffers through you outside the gate as the criminal so that you, the true criminal, might be brought into the kingdom of God.

And when you grasp that, and the more you grasp that, you are willing to follow him even if it means suffering for him. Because we know, as the text said, we have a lasting and better city that is to come, the new Jerusalem to reveal the coming of our Lord.

Now, we're still talking about the kingdom nations. Notice the four doxicles mention that Jesus is crucified with two others. John says to others who called them criminals, just criminals.

Matthew and Mark called them robbers who were violent type men like Barabbas. In each case, Jesus is the criminal in the middle. Maybe that was where Barabbas was supposed to be.

So this face, remember? Right, right. I don't know what that means that Barabbas was the worst criminal and now Jesus is being called the worst criminal because he's in the middle. I don't know. It's possible that they keep saying that.

But it doesn't matter. He is now the criminal crucified between two others. John and the other doctor writers say this, they're they crucified.

That's it. They don't, there's no great details of the nails or how it was done. Everyone knew how it was done at that time.

It was horrific. Theologian Andreas Kastenberger says, in ancient times, crucifixion was synonymous with horror and shame, a death inflicted on slaves, bandits, prisoners of war, and revolutionaries.

Former years ago, Cicero, the Roman statement and the statement of warrior said, he was born before the time of Christ, he spoke of crucifixion as a cruel and disgusting penalty.

A Roman citizen could not be crucified without the permission of the emperor. That's how bad it was. It was the worst shame they could become. They died from the Persians, but the Romans protected it.

It was nothing worse than being crucified. That's why we have a word that talks about great pain. You know the word. Say it, come on.

Excruciating. It means our cross. That's where the word comes from. Something that hurts you with the pain that you've never felt before in your life. And you don't want to feel again.

That's what Jesus is enduring. what is very important is the signage. Can you see the sign?

The victim's crimes and reasons for crucifixion were generally put on a plaque and fixed on the vertical pole above the head of the person on the cross.

That listing of crimes would be a threat or warning to anyone else who thinks they might try it. Right, right.

You want to be like him? That's it. You want to get what he got? Try this. Do it. That's it. I can. We'll take you out too.

What was his sign? Isn't it funny? What was his sign? Pilate wrote it. Jesus imagined the king of the Jews.

He's the king of the Jews. That's his crime. Pilate didn't know it, but he was acknowledging the truth. He wasn't trying to.

He wasn't bowing down to Jesus. He didn't really care about Jesus being the king of the Jews all that much. I think he was impressed by Jesus. I think when he saw how Jesus handled him, I think he was like, whoa, this guy is something.

But his lettering there wasn't designed to honor Jesus. It was designed to stick a needle in the eye of the Jewish people.

Look at what we're doing to your king. He puts it in several languages. Now, he knows something going on here. He puts it, first of all, in Aramaic.

Aramaic is the language of the Jewish people. Similar to Hebrew, but not quite the same. They spoke Aramaic that day. He puts it in Latin, which is the language of the Roman government and the Roman army.

He puts it in Greek, which is the universal language of their empire. The Jewish leaders want him to change it.

God won't change it because he's sticking it to them. But here's the real truth. He couldn't change it. God wouldn't let him change it.

The Father wouldn't let him change it. Because that was the truth. He was preaching the truth and didn't even know it. He was an unbeliever but still he had a small grass tiny grass of the truth.

Jesus is the king and he's reigning from the cross. He's actually reigning. If I be lifted up from the earth he said before this I will draw all men unto me.

Jesus is not a victim he's reigning. He's the king of kings on the cross. He's suffering because any rival to Caesar had to be executed.

I don't think Pilate thought Jesus was a real rival to Caesar. But how would it look if he said no to the Jewish leaders and the word got back to Rome.

He was already in trouble with Rome before. By the way, three years after crucifixion Pilate is removed. So it's coming for him. It's coming. But here, right here, he's placating the Jews.

He didn't want to do it. He gives them a little jab in the face while he's doing this. Okay, you got me, but I'm going to get you. So Jesus is crucified as a threat to the Roman empire even though Pilate doesn't believe it.

And the Jewish people cry out when Pilate is trying to release him. We have no king but Caesar.

Reminds of the parable in Luke chapter 19 when Jesus tells the parable of a king who goes away to receive his kingdom and he leaves his servants with finances and resources to do business until he gets back.

But here's what happened. As he went away the Bible says in Luke 19 14 but the citizens needed him and sent a delegation after him saying we do not want this man to reign over us.

Here it is. We have no people of Caesar. We do not want this man to reign over us. Crucified it. Crucified it. We do not want this man to reign over us.

There it is on the cross. The people are insulted. You dare say you're crucifying our king.

This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, 22-24. Jews demand signs. Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified. The most just, what is it? A stumbling block to Jews and falling to Gentiles.

But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, that's us by the way, Greeks, as it were, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God on the cross.

When it says that to the Jews it's a stumbling block, that's where we get our word scandal from. It literally makes a stick that triggers a trap for an animal.

And to the Jews, the cross was a trap. They didn't know anything but that.

Scandal. It's a trap. It's a trick. We can't, we will never accept the fact that our king was crucified. Cursed. Because that's what was happening.

Galatians 3, 13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursing is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

That wasn't the Old Testament quote. The idea here is that if you were hung on a tree, and the cross is a symbolic tree, if you were hung on a tree, you were suspended from the earth, but yet not in heaven.

It was like the earth didn't want you and neither did heaven. And so they hung you up there, and that was, people were pronouncing a curse on you. But here's the thing.

We falling under the curse of the law because we've broken God's law. The soul that sins, it shall die, the Bible says. All have sinned, all, and fall short of the glory of God.

So we are under the curse of the law, the curse of the fall. We cannot escape. But then we see Jesus. Yeah. Who became cursed for us.

Yeah. That we might be glad. That we might become the children of God. How about advocates?

Some applications. Some thought. He's crucified for us. Just some thought. Jesus turns our understanding of leadership upside down or really right side up.

Leadership makes sacrifices for those who they leave. In order to get both to the same good destination. Amen. Leaders in our world don't in general sacrifice for us.

That's not the way we do things in the world, especially in America. Yeah. Leaders get all the perks. Yeah. They get the golden parachute. Even when they lose their job.

This will make millions, though, in that situation. But leaders don't die from us. Our human leaders don't do this. They don't see themselves as called to sacrifice for us.

But leadership in the kingdom is different. In the kingdom of God, husbands lead their families in sacrifice. Wow. That's not even a good idea.

I got a question. Husbands love your life as Christ loved the church and gave himself a firm. You want to be a husband in the kingdom of God?

You want to lead a family? You want to care for a wife and children? Learn to die. Amen. Amen. We're not those guys who walk in and say, Woman, where am I?

Where am I? Children, get my son. That's not us. That's the world. Husbands in the kingdom of God who have been, who've come under the cross of Christ, lead by sacrificing.

Yes, Lord. I'm also about that. Sorry. Yeah. Church officers lead in sacrifice. That's right. There was a few elders here on Friday evening, making sure the tables and chairs were set up so you can enjoy it.

Don't mean you shouldn't do it. Hello. Hello. But these men exemplify. That's the best. Even you who lead in the world, you lead in occupations, you're a manager, you're a boss of some sort.

Will you lead in a Christ-like way by being willing to sacrifice for your employees? Let me tell you something. You'll get their attention.

That's right. Because they're not used to that. We don't lead the way the world leads. Sometimes, even in our evangelism, to lead people to Christ may call for us to sacrifice.

But we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us, because he, our great king, sacrificed himself for us.

Yeah. I have to look for the cross. In order to lead in. Jesus, the king, is crucified as a helpless criminal.

I mean, this is, this is, this blows my mind. 23 and 24, this is with his garments. Remember, they stripped him.

It was a four-man squad that crucified Jesus. And each guy was willing to get pieces of his clothing. It was customary.

This is nothing really different. But John gives us this detail about how they healed him his clothing. The casting of lots.

To see who would get his tunic. Because there's one, there's an undergarment. Tunic is an undergarment that he wore next to his skin. It was all one big piece. There were no seams in it. And they didn't want to rip it and tear it up.

We'll do it if we did it. So they said, okay, let's cast lots. Let's roll dice if you want. To see who would get the tunic. Why has John given us this detail?

I'd like to ask that question. Here's what I think. It shows the utter helplessness of Jesus. Jesus. When they take your clothes, family, you're pretty helpless.

Right. Right. If you can't keep someone from taking your very clothes off your back, that's pretty helpless. It's important because Jesus has been showing so much control.

Over his arrest, remember, I and me, they all fell to hell. Remember, he's standing before the Jewish leaders and he's holding his own. He gets before Pilate and tells Pilate, you have no power here.

You have no power here. The leader has given to you from above. He's getting all this control. But now, now on the cross, at this moment, he's helpless.

We can't, and the writer, John makes it clear, this comes from the Old Testament. It's fulfillment of a prophecy. We'll talk more about that prophecy idea later, but I just want you to see this.

It comes from Psalm 22. One of the most messianic prophecies. There is, Psalms, there is, because it so accurately portrays the agony of Christ's profiction.

Do you know how it begins in verse 1? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus will save us on the cross. John doesn't mention that, but he puts us to the close.

David, who read of that Psalm, is surrounded by enemies. He's, he's so beat down that he's so frustrated. He says, the dogs encompass me.

This is Psalm 22. He says, a company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. Woo! I can count all my bones.

He's emaciated, he says. They stare and blow over me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing, they cast lots. He rises in these two wild dogs, who have dipped his hands and feet.

He feels weak and emaciated. He's emaciated. He's staring at me. They're acting at me. They see him as dead. They are speaking metaphorically. Right, right. This is actually happening to Jesus.

Yeah. David has helped us before his enemies. He had no way out. He thought they were tearing him apart. He couldn't stop them, he says. He said.

He said. And now we see Jesus. Taking up David's lament. He is.

They cut out of his clothes. They gloat over his ripped apart body. He's dying. People need that too. He'll be dead soon.

He hates God. Yet even in his helplessness, God is still in control when we try to suffer.

And this is also true of our suffering. We too are often truly helpless concerning our own suffering. If you could control suffering, you'd never suffer.

That's right. That's right. You have no control over your suffering usually. Sometimes our suffering includes losing things or people that we value. Suffering may include losing a car, a home, a child, a parent, a job.

It all seems so wrong and it might be unjust at the hands of people. Or it could be just the promise of God of living in a falling world where evil happens to all people.

But whether it's wrong or not, God has willed that it happened. So we can learn that he and what he gives us in Jesus are what we can never lose.

I understand loss. I understand loss. And I want to stay more of it. I'm sure I've lied so long. But I'm convinced more and more, brothers and sisters, that Jesus wants me to understand that there's some things I cannot lose that which he's given me.

I think Paul wouldn't understand that too. 2 Corinthians verses 1, 8, 9. You know this passage. Paul has been, he's hurting.

He's writing to the Corinthians. He said, I can be down. He says, we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.

For we were so utterly burned beyond our strength that we dispaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we have received the sentence of death that I have following.

This is the great apostle Paul. He's saying that whatever happened in Asia, it was involving probably mission work. Whatever, he caused an affliction. It was painful.

Yeah. He said it was so bad that he thought he was going to die. Yeah. It stopped like death. He said it was so bad.

He said it was so bad. He said it was so bad. And then he says something marvelous. He brings the good news in. He said it so beautifully that the reason for this happened, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the day.

Amen. Come on, y'all. Amen. He said, listen, the affliction, the suffering, the pain, the loss that I was experiencing, it wasn't for nothing.

It was so that God could wound me off of the self-dependence. Yeah. Right. He could wound me off of depending purely on what people can do.

That's right. That's right. Because sometimes we're not depending on ourselves. Sometimes we depend on other people. They don't come. They don't come through. But me, they will. Praise God. But listen. God wanted the apostles to learn dependence upon him.

And then Paul needed to learn repentance and persistence. What does it say for Kevin Smith? Right. I put me in. I ain't seen you. I said me. I know y'all better. I can stay.

I'll sit. That was to make us. Make us. Make us. We have to be made. That's right. We're resisting God's dependence.

We resist God's dependence. We want to be self-dependent. That's right. We're Americans. Although, hey, we're Americans. That's okay. They admit to that. But that means self-dependence.

We're not on nobody. Trust no one. And you can do it. And yet God says, I'm not an American. Yeah. That's right.

I cannot. I'm not an American. I want you to learn to depend what you need. That's the approach of Christian grace throughout your life.

You're learning more and more to depend on God. Amen. Who raises the dead. I love that phrase because he's telling me that whatever you're going through, I don't care how bad it is.

It ain't worse than death. And if you're going through death, guess what? Amen. I can raise the dead. I ain't coming to you. Don't you fear me. Don't get into fear and doubt and be scared.

No. I got you. Even if I need you, I can raise you. Right. And he will raise us. We know that's nothing. That's hell. I love this gospel. Trust in him.

In the midst of your loss, realizing that you're, you may feel helpless, but he's not. Amen. Okay, last one.

I'm done. How much time is that? Only 10 minutes. Only 10 minutes. Okay. Last one. He's crucified. Jesus, the crucified, through the first place.

Now this is real, because you know what's happening. They always should be married as well. Right? In people's dying moments, you find that what's really important to them. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And I've been privileged to decide, maybe, when we're done. Some of them have been in great pain. And I want to tell you, the pain occupies their minds.

When you were excruciating, pain, come on nurses and doctors out here, you know. All they can think about is getting in a comfortable position so the pain can lessen.

Right. They can't have deep, in-depth conversations. They're trying to get rid of the pain somehow. Jesus is in excruciating pain on the cross.

He can't, he can barely breathe. Because that's how crucifixion works. You die of a fixation. You just, you can't breathe. So what happens is, they put a board under your feet.

They nailed him there. The board under his feet is already here. When he slumps, he can't breathe. So the prisoner will push up Right. To expand their lungs and take a breath.

Right. Jesus is in the midst of this. And in the midst of this, he pushes up. Behold, woman, behold your son.

Son, behold your mother. What? The fact that he couldn't even do at all.

Right. Is right, isn't he? What's he doing? He's taking all his mother. He's living before the commandments are honored his father and mother to his very death. He kept them all for us.

Yes. He kept them all the way for us. Never failed, not even here in his last moment. He's not failing. He's obeying the law. He's obeying God in love and care with daily he breathed after this body.

He's taking care of her, providing her. Now listen, listen. We were there too. We're standing inside there.

And when Jesus pulls up to breathe, it's like he's reading remember the Bible says our names are written on the palms of his hands.

On the nail-scarred palms. On his palms bleeding, bloated, sweating, agonizing palms.

Your name is written in his palms. I wonder if he as he slumps down and pulls himself up, he says, Father, here's your son Freeman.

Then he slumps again. Then he pulls up, I wonder if he says, Father, here's your daughter Becky. Yeah, yeah. Then he slumps again. And he raises up and he says, Father, here, here's your son Michael.

Then he slumps again. He can't breathe. He's going to pull up again. Father, here's your daughter Becky. I'm wondering because the divine mind lives in Jesus.

Yeah, right. He knew exact, he did not give his life for an undiscriminate model people who may or may not come to believe in him.

Right, right. He gave his life from specific people so that he knew they would come because he's dying for their sins so their sins cannot be held against them.

He's dying for our sins who believe and our sins cannot be held against us because he didn't pay for at time. Amen. I'm done.

Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Okay, I'm done. Amen. I just got to apply this one more time.

Because you see his love is consuming him. His love for us is consuming him. For love's sake, what held him at the cross was not the nails, it was love.

That's right. And the Paul picks up on this, I got to show you this, 2 Corinthians 5, 14 and 15, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, all will believe, all the things he died for, he died for all, that those who live, listen, those who live, might no longer live for themselves, but from him who for their sake died and was raised.

The word control can be also, you said to me, compel, the love of Christ controls, compels, when you experience his all consuming love, that he demonstrated for you at the cross, when you are growing and knowing that love, it takes over.

Because as Paul Tripp says, I think, this text shows us the heart of sin. We live for ourselves. Husbands and wives have so much trouble because they're living for themselves.

You have home, you and your friends. You're your best friend. Don't get on the house. Why? Because one or both of you is living for themselves. Right. Right. That's the cultural relationship breakdown across the world.

We live for ourselves. We want what we want. As Tripp says, one of the things we forget is the major big ideal war in our lives.

It's not a war with things outside of us. It's the war that still waits in silence. In every situation, vocation and relationship in our lives, there's a war for the control of our hearts.

cross. The cross, the grace of God at the cross, liberates you from you. Amen. Amen. Amen. I love the truth.

Will we live for ourselves, reducing life down to the small confines of our wants, our feelings, our needs, our demands, our expectations, and so on, or will we live for Christ?

Will you allow that love to consume you? For that through you, he might truly show you what it means to live, no longer for yourself, not even for your neighbor, for yourself, first of all, for him.

Yeah, we love our neighbors, that's all, we love you're wrong. First of man, we love God. Let me get the word wrong. You agree with me?

Amen. Amen. Because we all were born and grew, we're living in the cross. Right. And then you have to cross and that's the cross.

And we're still in the cross. Every day, walk with Christ and you hold his cross recognizing that your sins were laid upon him.

You're the criminal. Not him. You're the criminal. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves the cross and said, I love you. Don't take the head out of me. And I want to turn my back on you.

And I want you to live for me. Give your limit to you. And that pops up. It pops up. Yeah, pops up. Sandy, you're living for me, girl. I'm Jesus that's saved.

Slow down for me. Amen. Amen. Who you living for? You being consumed by the love of Christ.

Do you feel helpless? If he's not, he's got you. when you submitted today, we're living for everything to the nationalist love.

They won't let you go. They won't let you go. They won't let you Father, thank you for your word and may it go down deep in our souls.

May we give ourselves to Jesus each and every day. Remember what it means not to live for our sons and for them who for our sake died. May we walk in the midst of life.

For Jesus to be