[0:00] There's some days in life and we look back on these days as days that had real significance and we can speculate over the different days you can think about a day where you spent a special time with one whom you loved who's maybe no longer with you in this world we can maybe think of our wedding days we can think of different milestones within life and we look back on these days we recognise them as days of real significance in retrospect and we wish in the present tense that we could go and revisit them again we look back on them and we think if I only knew the significance that that day had I would have taken my time and looked and listened and tried to take everything in and receive every bit of the richness of the experience some days we just recognise them as days that we wish we could return to and note the details of because at the time we just didn't realise how important it was and in John chapter 19 the Holy Spirit is reminding John and inspiring John to record the details of everything that could be seen and everything that could be heard on that Friday morning it was as verse 31 tells us it was the day of preparation and in reality it was the day which was to be the most significant day in all of history and what I'd like to do today is is simply note some of the details that John records we know this account well most of us I think so we come to passages like John 19 and we think well
[2:14] I know the story of the crucifixion I've been here many times but there are details here that John includes and I want to just note some of these details as we look to Jesus and that's what we're doing we're looking to Jesus on the journey to the cross which we've been on for some weeks maybe even months now we've travelled with Jesus as he went from the upper room and through the garden and into Pilate's palace and now at the cross and as we've travelled with him we've been encountering many people we've looked at the disciples and all their failures we've looked at the crowds as they shouted thirsty for blood we've looked at the religious leaders and the officials and the hardness of their hearts we've looked at the soldiers and all that they were doing but today
[3:17] I don't want to look at any of these people today we fix our eyes upon Christ and we pray that the Holy Spirit will open our ears that we would be able to hear Jesus and the first thing we hear in this passage that I want to know today is the sound of silence first point is Jesus is silent he's silent now when we anticipate suffering and when we begin to experience suffering we tend to be anything but silent if a nurse or a doctor starts to approach me and I anticipate suffering I see a needle coming it's not silence that can be heard Jesus here at this point he anticipates the suffering of the cross
[4:22] Jesus has already experienced and is continuing to experience the suffering from the flogging and the mocking which was continuing he's suffering the injustice of this illegal trial everything about it was a stitch up and yet he doesn't roar and protest he's silent Isaiah 53 note verse 7 he was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is silent so he we're looking at Jesus here in Isaiah 53 he did not open his mouth Jesus is silent and Jesus silence speaks to us about the fact that in light of Isaiah's prophecy he is the promised
[5:31] Messiah as silence testifies to that fact and Jesus silence speaks to us about the deep deep love that he has for us that he would go willing to this and through this for us Isaiah 53 5 but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed Jesus is silent he didn't need to be silent he had all the power of heaven to rouse but he remains silent and that silence reassures us of his love for us but that silence also serves as a warning to us because we note the detail here of the silence of Jesus before
[6:52] Pilate Pilate presses Jesus for answers in verse 10 Jesus is silent verse 10 Pilate says where do you come from he asked Jesus but Jesus gave him no answer silence now that is an unsettling verse because that's a verse that when we take in the application of it that's a verse that tells us that there may come a time in our life and our experience when Jesus stopped speaking to us just as he stopped speaking at this point to Pilate why was Jesus silent why did he refuse to answer Pilate's question well we're not told that but
[7:54] I believe that the reason for Jesus' silence at this point is that Pilate had all the information already that he needed to be able to see who Jesus was and what he was doing so Pilate needed to trust Jesus not question him further not spark off another debate Jesus was before Pilate Jesus is silent because Pilate needed not to talk but to trust do you see your sin today do you see Jesus on this cross as the saviour do you see what he was doing and trust him says
[9:04] John don't try him with all your questions there's a time for questions but there's a time when we have had been given so many answers from Jesus that no more questions trust him Jesus is silent secondly we see here Jesus is substituted let me touch on this with the children verse 17 another detail so the soldiers took charge of Jesus carrying his own cross that's the detail I want to underline Jesus is carrying his own cross another little detail that John records for us in the passage the fact that Jesus had to carry his own cross now why did he have to carry his own cross we know that also in this journey Simon of Cyrene carries the cross because Jesus would have been crushed under the weight of that cross such was the flogging that he'd endured such was the weakness of his physical frame that he wouldn't have been able to carry it for long but it was necessary and it's recorded that Jesus for some of this journey was carrying his own cross why did he have to do this well he had to do this because he was being treated as a criminal it spoke to the crowd it speaks to us of the fact that
[10:41] Jesus was being treated as a criminal JC Ryle says this one portion of the punishment imposed on the vilest criminals was that they should carry their own cross when they went to execution and this portion was laid upon our Lord in the fullest sense he was reckoned a sinner and counted a curse for our sakes we sang it bearing shame scoffing rude in my place as my substitute condemned he stood Jesus we see here carrying the cross of the criminal the guilty one when he was innocent so what was he doing he was being our substitute you know we see something of this happening at the beginning of Jesus ministry also in Matthew chapter 3 we have this account of
[11:53] John the Baptist and John is baptizing and John says in Matthew 3 verse 11 he says I baptize you with water for repentance but after me will come one who is more powerful than I whose sandals I am not fit to carry he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire excuse me so John is baptizing with water for repentance who needs to repent the sinner verse 13 of Matthew 3 then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John but John tried to deter him saying I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me Jesus replied let it be so now it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness then John consented why did Jesus have to be baptized with water for repentance only the sinner needs to repent and Jesus never sinned so why is he standing there and why is this water being poured over him for repentance why because he's our substitute so at the beginning of Jesus ministry he stands in that
[13:31] Jordan river in the place of the sinner and now at the end of Jesus ministry in time he carries the cross for and he takes the punishment for and he hangs in the place of the sinner as our substitute I don't know who told me this story maybe you can come and tell me at the end who it was I couldn't remember when I was visiting within the last few weeks somebody told me a story about two Harris men and one of the men I think had lost his wife in child birth and so there was many children in his family and the father of the children got himself into trouble and he was called he was summoned to stand at the court and he was given a date this was many years back before computers and the intricacies of the system now but he was given the date to appear in court so the story goes and his brother who lived with him said well
[14:45] I have the same name as you you're D McLeod I'm D McLeod so when that date comes I will go your children need you at home I will go and I will take the punishment if there needs to be a sentence I will bear it as it happened the system was such that the judge's compassion meant that the man didn't have to take the sentence but Jesus took the sentence for us justice had to be done and so he carried the cross and he bore the shame and he took the punishment as our substitute so Jesus is silent it's the first detail the second detail is Jesus is our substitute we see that as he carries the cross the third point is
[15:47] Jesus is sacrifice he's our sacrifice look at verse 17 again it's just a small detail but it's one that we should note and we're just scratching the surface of the details of this passage verse 17 John tells us he went out to the place of the skull which in Aramaic is called Golgotha Jesus went out he doesn't stay within the city walls he went out we sang in the hymn this morning there is a green hill far away outside the city wall you might have thought as you were singing that why do we need to speak here why are we given the coordinates of where this happened what's the significance of this is this another clue John is this another detail that should send us deeper and send us further to investigate what's going on here well it is this little detail of
[16:49] Jesus going out takes us back to Leviticus 16 and in Leviticus 16 you don't need to go there but it deals with the day of atonement and the sacrifices that had to be made in order that the people of God could be forgiven that their sins could be atoned for and Leviticus 16 and verse 27 says this the bull and the goat for the sin offerings whose blood was brought into the most holy place to make atonement must be taken outside the camp and here we see Jesus and he is taken outside the camp Jesus is taken outside the city walls where his blood would be shed as the once and for all perfect sacrifice for our sin
[17:57] Hebrews 13 12 the writer of the Hebrews reflects on this and he says and so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood he sang it there was no other good enough to pay the price for sin he that perfect sacrifice he only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in Jesus is sacrifice 1 John 4 10 this is love not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins
[19:07] Jesus is silent Jesus is our substitute carrying the cross Jesus is our sacrifice the perfect once and for all sacrifice taken outside to make atonement for our sin fourth point Christ is cursed more details here that we might overlook but John sees them and John records them John draws our attention to the thorns verse 2 the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head verse 5 when Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe Pilate said to them behold the man behold him behold him where else do we read of thorns in the bible question to think about for a second where else do we read about thorns we read about thorns in
[20:25] Genesis 3 and what was happening in Genesis 3 well mankind was falling into sin and as Adam took the apple as Adam disobeyed God and as sin crashed in to this world the Lord said to Adam because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree which I commanded you you must not eat of it cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life it will produce thorns thorns and thistles for you why because of your sin Adam and all the sons and daughters of Adam because of our sin one of the commentators said thorns are hugely symbolic of the curse that had come upon the first
[21:30] Adam as a result of his fall and Jesus now as the second Adam and the last man bears that crown of thorns and these thorns speak about the fact that Christ is willingly taking the curse of sin upon his head and the cross that he carried that he was soon to be nailed to spoke about the curse that Jesus was willingly becoming in himself for us for us for us Galatians 3 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree and Jesus was hanged on a tree next point the fifth point
[22:36] Christ Christ is crucified Jesus is silent he's a substitute he's our sacrifice Christ is cursed and now Christ is crucified and this is the central factor in all of this it's the cross so Paul says remember when he's speaking about his preaching his calling he says we preach Christ crucified that's what we're about I'm not going to give you my thoughts I'm not going to give you my anecdotes I'm not here to tell stories says Paul he says I've been called and commissioned to preach Christ crucified I'm going to point you back to the cross time and time again and the central fact in all of this is the cross in fact the whole of the Bible is pointing to the cross from Genesis 3 through the psalm psalm 22 which we sang
[23:40] Isaiah 53 which we're flicking back and forth to we see the cross and every chapter in between points us to the cross and here in this chapter we read that all the prophecies of scripture are fulfilled every detail of them as Christ is crucified verse 17 so the soldiers took charge of Jesus carrying his own cross verse 18 here they crucified verse 20 many of the Jews read this sign for the place for the place where Jesus was crucified verse 23 when the soldiers crucified Jesus and we can go all the way through this and the emphasis over and over and over again is that
[24:45] Christ is crucified you know when we pick up a biography we read lots about the life of the person we read lots about the character of the person and the work of the person but we read very little about the death of the person but here John takes the time and he gives us such detail as he builds to and then reports the fact that Christ is crucified we say it so often it doesn't impact us as it should Christ is crucified the most excruciating awful death that was ever devised willingly lovingly determinedly
[25:52] Christ is crucified and John records it he's seen it and Matthew and Mark and Luke give us more details of it and Isaiah and David the psalmist take us into the sufferings of the cross as Jesus went through it and Paul and Peter and John will take us back time and time again to that same cross why because of the eternal significance of this because of the power of the cross it was there that Jesus became a curse for us it was there that Jesus became the atoning sacrifice for your sin it was there that Jesus hanged as a substitute when you and I should have hung it was there that we see the innocent one in the place of the guilty it was there that we see the saviour in the place of sinners there is great power in the cross that's where we must survey it that's where he took the pain that's where he bore the wrath that's the only reason that we can stand forgiven it's because of the fact that Christ is crucified sixth point we're almost done
[28:10] Christ is king first of all here you see he's the king Pilate verse 19 had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross it read Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews many of the Jews read the sign for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and the sign was written in Aramaic Latin and Greek the chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate do not write the king of the Jews but that this man claimed to be the king of the Jews that Pilate answered what I have written I have written and what he wrote was the fact that Christ is the king and he wrote in one local dialect so a few people would see this
[29:14] Jesus kingship was proclaimed in Greek which was the language of the culture and it was written in Latin which was the language of law and governance and it was written in Hebrew which was the language of the street so everyone who passed everyone who gathered everyone who looked to Jesus as he was lifted up as he promised he would be in John 3 and elsewhere everyone who looked whether they were on the street whether they were wearing long important governmental gowns where they were entrenched in the culture of that day they could see the fact that Jesus Christ is the king he's proclaimed to be king over all and we've seen that a few times in these last few chapters
[30:20] Jesus was and Jesus is and Jesus ever will be the king the king of kings despite what our culture says despite what we hear in our schools despite what we see in the media and the papers every day as they are a victim and as they trample his name the fact remains eternally Jesus Christ is the king but the question I want to draw to a conclusion with is is he your king that's the question the fact in eternity and time is he is the king whether you see it or not whether you agree with it or not whether you profess it or not he is the king one day you will see that all of us will but today is he your king verse 18 here they crucified him and with him two others one on each side and
[31:33] Jesus in the middle and John gives us that detail but John doesn't give us the conversation but in chapter 23 he does give us the conversation that's going three ways on that cross and on that cross one of these criminals sees Jesus and trusts Jesus to be his personal king and his lord and saviour Luke 23 verse 42 the criminal says Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom Jesus answered him I tell you the truth today you will be with me in paradise have you prayed that yet Lord Jesus I see my sin I see that you are the king will you remember me will you take me into your kingdom have you asked us
[32:45] Christ to be your king your sacrifice your saviour your substitute that's how we're saved it's what it means to believe you have to ask him we see him and we ask him Jesus is silent Jesus is substitute he carries the cross for us Jesus is the sacrifice for our sin Christ was cursed for us Christ was crucified for us
[33:50] Christ is the king and he calls us to receive him as our king the last thing we see here is Christ is all compassion and just note this don't worry note this in the last three sentences as Jesus hangs there as he suffers in a way that we cannot enter into as the physical pain and the spiritual pain is crushing him one would think every ounce of his strength would be channeled into enduring that and yet at that point when Jesus was descending into hell for us as the apostle puts it still he has such compassion that he sees his mother and he cares for his mother and he ensures that after he goes from time into eternity she will be cared for
[35:14] Jesus near the cross stood his mother his mother sister Mary and Mary Magdalene and when Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby he said to his mother dear woman here is your son and to the disciple here is your mother care for her and from that time on this disciple took her into his home ryle says and we'll finish with this let us take comfort in the thought that we have in Jesus a saviour of matchless tenderness matchless sympathy matchless concern for the condition of his believing people the heart that even on the cross felt for
[36:20] Mary is a heart that never changes Jesus never forgets any who love him and even in their worst estate remembers their need no wonder Peter says casting all your care upon him for he cares for you he cares for you do you need to hear that again this morning he cares for you and as we survey the wondrous cross we see how much he cares for us and we're going to sing that hymn to conclude mission praise 755 when I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died my richest gain
[37:21] I can't but loss and poor content on all my pride