Our Sinbearer

[0:00] Well, let's turn back to John and chapter 19, John chapter 19 and taking as our text the words of verse 17.

[0:16] And he went out bearing his own cross to the place called the place of Asgal, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

[0:38] Well, as we prepare, God willing, to sit at the Lord's table towards the end of the services, right and proper, to focus our thoughts for a few moments on the death and the sufferings of our Lord and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[0:57] Now, the cross itself, the events of the cross, in many ways it is the pivotal moment of the whole of the Bible, isn't it? We were talking about hinge moments on Friday night.

[1:08] Well, this is the big hinge moment in the whole of the Bible. It is the pivotal moment. And in fact, not just the pivotal moment in terms of the biblical narrative, it's the pivotal moment in the whole of history as well, because this is the moment that the God-man, the Messiah himself, faces one of the most painful and the most cruel forms of death or forms of execution that man has ever invented.

[1:36] The God-man here is crucified. And of course, it's not just a physical thing either. It's a spiritual thing. He is crucified for the sins of his people.

[1:49] And of course, this particular event, the cross, it's an event which all four of the gospel writers recount for us. We have four different versions of these things.

[2:02] And you can see the Lord's wisdom in the fact that he's done that, because there is so much going on in the scene of the cross. You have lots of other narratives in scripture and you don't have this level of detail.

[2:12] But this is the pivotal moment. This is the most important event in the whole of scripture. So it's right that we have multiple angles, multiple perspectives, multiple accounts of this same event, the cross of Christ.

[2:27] And the Lord's wisdom is very apparent in that, because there's lots of little details and things that were going on at the cross. Lots of little details. And when you gather all those details together, when you take all the different gospel accounts and you gather them all together, you see a whole list of little things.

[2:45] Sometimes small details, but even some of these small details can be highly significant. Because the little details that you see in these passages about the physical sufferings of our Lord, in the wisdom of God, he uses these little details about the physical sufferings of our Lord to teach us about the spiritual nature of the sufferings of Christ.

[3:08] And so all these little things that they're packed with theological and spiritual significance as well. That's why it's so important that we have all of these details here.

[3:19] And today, what I want to do for a few moments is I want to focus, of course, on John's account of the cross, but I really want to focus on one particular detail.

[3:30] This very simple detail of the Lord, our Saviour Jesus Christ, actually bearing his own cross, carrying his cross, and carrying that cross all the way to the hill of Golgotha itself.

[3:45] And we're going to be looking really at verse 17 to verse 22 over the course of the service and God willing at the table as well. So verse 17 to 22 is the section that we're looking at.

[3:56] And what I want to do is I want to follow Christ. I want us to follow him. So as he takes the cross, as he actually bears the cross on his back, and as he walks through Jerusalem, walks out to the hill of Golgotha itself, and there we see him being crucified as he's nailed to that cross that he is carrying.

[4:17] And of course, I don't want to just look at the physical nature of this carrying of the cross. I want to look at the spiritual significance that lies behind these things as well. So in verse 17, we read, And he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of Asgol, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

[4:38] So here we see Jesus carrying his own cross to the place of his execution. Now, that was common procedure during times of Roman crucifixion.

[4:54] That's how they did things. They would make the victim, in this case Christ, they would make them carry the cross. They had to actually bear their own crosses from wherever they were taken from, and they would have to then carry these things to the actual site, the location of the execution itself.

[5:12] Now, Jesus probably wouldn't have been carrying the whole cross. Now, we can't be absolutely sure on that. He might have been carrying the whole cross, but probably he wasn't carrying the whole cross, because there's evidence that what tended to happen was that, whether it happened in Jesus' time, we can't be sure, but what tended to happen was that the vertical part of the cross was set in place, that that was put in place, that was left there, that was stationary.

[5:41] And the part that would generally be carried would be the crossbeam. Now, the crossbeam, that's the part that your hands are actually nailed to. And that seems to have certainly happened, and perhaps, indeed, that was the case for Christ himself, that what he's actually carrying is not the full-blown cross, but this crossbeam.

[6:04] But even if it was just a crossbeam, it would still have been a pretty significant and a pretty heavy piece of wood. It would have been a large piece of wood. And if you were going to carry a large piece of wood like that, probably he would carry it on your back, or he would carry it on your shoulder, this kind of large thing.

[6:24] It would be the easiest way to carry it. So, more than likely, it was on his shoulder. He was bearing the weight of this physical cross underneath him. And that would have been tremendously difficult for Jesus to do that.

[6:38] And it would have been difficult for him to do that, because we know from the earlier part of the narrative, that Christ has already been tortured by this point. Christ has already gone through a flogging and a scourging by the Roman soldiers.

[6:54] Remember Pilate, he sent him off to be flogged and to be scourged. And part of that process is, it's effectively a whipping, but it's more than a whipping, because the whip would have, at the bottom of the ends of the whip, they would have tied on them hard things, bones and things that would cause damage.

[7:12] And the result being that when you're scourged and lashed with this particular device, it would effectively be ripping the skin from your back. So, it's not just a whipping, it's almost a removal of the skin from the back, and it would cause a lot of blood as well.

[7:28] So, Jesus here, before he's even taken, or before he's even bearing the cross, he's drained. He's drained, he's bloody, and he's beaten, and he's in great pain.

[7:40] And physically speaking, he would have been weak, because even that lashing, that scourging is going to drain him of his energy. And then after all that, now all of a sudden, he has to actually bear his cross, carry this cross towards the place of Golgotha.

[7:54] Golgotha. Now, some of you might be thinking when you're reading this, but wait a second, I thought somebody else carried the cross of Jesus. I thought Simon of Cyrene carried the cross of Jesus.

[8:08] Because, after all, is that not what the other three gospel writers tell us? They tell us that Simon of Cyrene actually carried the cross of Christ. So, for example, in Matthew chapter 27, and in verse 32, we read, Now, as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and whom they compelled to bear his cross.

[8:30] So, what's going on here? Is there confusion in the gospel writer's account here? Is there someone got their facts wrong here? Well, of course, that's not the case at all.

[8:42] Did Jesus carry the cross, or did Simon carry the cross? Well, the answer is quite logically that initially, Jesus was bearing his cross. Jesus was carrying the cross, as every criminal would, but perhaps because of the fatigue and the pain that he was in, and the fact that he'd been scourged and tortured before, and that his energy was very low, perhaps he was struggling so much that they then saw this man Simon coming in, and they compelled him to come, and they compelled him to help Jesus bearing and carrying the cross.

[9:14] So, there is certainly explanation for it. We don't have to look at all these contradictions and think they're contradictions. They can be certainly explained. But here, John doesn't talk about Simon.

[9:24] He doesn't mention Simon. The other three gospel writers, they mention Simon, but John doesn't mention Simon at all. He focuses on the fact that Christ carried his own cross.

[9:35] Now, why did he do that? Why does he not mention Simon? The others did. Why did John not? Well, the reason is that John is trying to keep the focus here on Christ, and Christ being obedient to his father.

[9:49] Obedient to his father by carrying this cross, and by actually walking to the place of crucifixion with this cross. Yes, Simon was also there, but that's not what John focuses on. John is focusing on the obedience of Christ himself bearing this cross.

[10:03] And that's why I read earlier on from Genesis and chapter 22. Because I want to think just for a few moments back to Genesis 22 at this point.

[10:15] And there, back in that narrative that we read, that's of course the story of Abraham and Isaac at Mount Moriah. And there God tested Abraham.

[10:28] God tested Abraham to see if Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son. To test him. To see if he was willing to actually do that.

[10:39] And there, when we look at that particular narrative, we tend to maybe focus on Abraham and the obedience of Abraham and the faith of Abraham. And I suppose rightly so.

[10:50] But when you're actually reading it, you can't help but notice as well the obedience of Isaac here. The obedience of Isaac is something that comes out in that passage in Genesis. Because in this scene, we picture Isaac carrying the wood for the sacrifice.

[11:05] Because remember, Abraham placed that wood on his son. It was Isaac who carried the wood. He is carrying this wood. He is carrying it, the wood that's going to be intended for his own sacrifice.

[11:17] He is carrying it himself and he's carrying it to the place of sacrifice. Just as Jesus does. Exactly like Jesus here. Jesus is carrying this wooden cross to this place of sacrifice in the same way that Isaac was doing it back in that passage in Genesis chapter 22.

[11:34] And Isaac did that. Why? Why did Isaac do that? Isaac did that quite simply out of obedience to his father. That's why he carried it. Out of obedience to his father.

[11:46] And so does Christ. When you picture Christ here carrying this cross, he's not doing this because Roman soldiers told him to. He's not doing this because Pilate has told him to or the Jews have told him to or that the crowds around have told him to.

[12:01] That's not why Christ is doing this. He is doing this because this is what the father wants. This is the will of God the father that he that he bear this cross, that he carry this wood to the place of his own sacrifice.

[12:16] But of course, in that passage in Genesis, when Abraham had laid his son on the altar of sacrifice, and as he had that dagger, and as he was just about to slay his son, famously, of course, the Lord, the angel of the Lord, the Lord himself, steps in.

[12:33] And the Lord says, no, don't lay a hand on the boy at all. And God is going to provide another sacrifice. He's saying, don't kill your son.

[12:43] I'm going to provide a sacrifice. I'll provide a sacrifice. And in the Genesis narrative, that sacrifice is a ram. It's a ram caught in a thicket. That ram was going to be the substitute for Isaac, the substitute for Abraham's son here.

[12:59] But of course, the ram is a pointer forward, isn't it? That's obvious. The ram and the thicket is a pointer forward to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a pointer to Christ.

[13:10] And here we see instead of Abraham sacrificing his son, God is going to sacrifice his own son. And that's exactly what's happening here at the hill of Golgotha and at Calvary.

[13:24] And as we're picturing this, as we're picturing Jesus carrying the wood for his own sacrifice in the same way as Isaac did, when we look at that scene, you cannot help but see Christ as bearing much more than just the physical weight of a piece of wood.

[13:40] He's bearing much more than that. He's bearing something far, far heavier than that. He's bearing the very weight of sin itself. And you see that. Jesus is making his way to Golgotha.

[13:52] And he is there bearing and holding and carrying the very sins of his people. And it's as though the weight of that burden of sin, the weight of the sins of his people, it's as though it gets heavier and heavier the nearer he actually gets to the cross itself, the nearer he gets to Golgotha.

[14:12] He is the sin bearer. You see, he's not just a cross bearer. That picture of him being a cross bearer is a reminder to us that he is bearing something else. He is the sin bearer, not just the cross bearer.

[14:25] And is that not exactly what Isaiah the prophet saw in the picture of the suffering servant in Isaiah chapter 53? He reads, or he writes, For he shall bear their iniquities.

[14:39] Bear them. Bear them. Carry them. He bore the sins of many. Bearing. Bearing the sins. Not just carrying a cross. Bearing the sins. And Peter tells us as well in his epistle that Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

[14:55] He's not just carrying this wooden cross. He's carrying the sins of his people. He carries a physical weight, yes, but there's a spiritual weight there as well. A spiritual burden.

[15:06] The very sins of his own people. Now, you sometimes hear the question being asked, when did Jesus become the sin bearer? In other words, when was the weight of sin actually placed on him?

[15:22] Well, that's a hard question, I suppose. For sure, on the cross, absolutely, we can categorically say that he is bearing the sins of his people there.

[15:32] Because there he's receiving the punishment, the just punishment for the sins of his people. So there's no doubt at the cross he's absolutely, certainly bearing the sins of his people. But does he begin to bear them before then?

[15:44] Surely, surely his sin bearing begins actually before then. Surely he comes into the world as the sin bearer. He comes into the world as the Passover lamb of God.

[15:56] There's a sense in which he is bearing, he is the sin bearer throughout his life. Although, as you're actually reading the account of the Gospels, it's almost as though the weight of that sin bearing, the weight of that is getting heavier and heavier as he's actually approaching the cross itself.

[16:15] So, for example, just to illustrate what I mean by that. In John chapter 12, after Jesus enters into Jerusalem a few days before his death, he says, Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?

[16:30] Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I came to this hour. So, even at that point, you're beginning to see something of the sufferings of Christ as the sin bearer.

[16:44] There's something there, isn't there? There's something there. And then as you progress through those next few days, it's as though the awareness of that weight of sin is getting heavier.

[16:55] It's getting heavier and heavier as the suffering seems to be getting worse. And then you come to the Garden of Gethsemane. And there it seems to go up a notch, does it not? And there he says, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.

[17:10] And he's sweating drops of blood at that point. And again, you're seeing there the weight of sin bearing down on him. He is the sin bearer, and he's making his way.

[17:22] Of course, it peaks on the cross because that's when the wrath of God comes. But the weight of sin, it's almost like you see it on him. It's almost like you feel the weight of it on him as he's making his way to the cross.

[17:35] So then, as we see Jesus struggling under the weight of his own cross there, as he carries it on his shoulders in this physical suffering, we cannot but see, in a spiritual sense, that he's carrying something much more, carrying the sins of his people.

[17:53] Sins, of course, which his soul was about to suffer for, in ways that we can't even begin to describe and to articulate. We can perhaps try and imagine the physical nature and the physical element of these sufferings.

[18:09] And we're thankful that we have that because we can perhaps in some way relate. But how much more difficult it is to enter into the weight, spiritual weight that he carried there, bearing the sins of his people.

[18:20] The sinless one as well, bearing the sins of his people. Now, to go back to him carrying the cross itself, one of the reasons that the Romans made people carry their cross was to humiliate them.

[18:35] They wanted to humiliate people. That's why they made them carry the cross. So here, as Christ is carrying this cross here, there's a tremendous sense of shame attached to the process itself.

[18:47] And as we see Jesus carrying our sin, it's as though we also see him carrying our shame and carrying our humiliation. He's carrying these things that belong to us, things that belong to us because of our sinfulness.

[19:01] And he is carrying it. And that's quite remarkable when you stop and think about that. The Son of God, the God-Man, bearing that humiliation and shame.

[19:13] The one through whom everything was created. The one through whom the very cross that he's carrying was created. The one through whom the very soldiers who are leading him before him, he's the one who gave them life.

[19:26] Because through him all things were created. Through him all things were made. And yet here he is, shamed and humiliated in an unspeakable way. It's quite hard to get your head around that.

[19:37] When you just see him as a man, it's perhaps not that impressive. But when you realize he's the God-Man, it's quite overwhelming what's actually going on here. And the nature of the cross-carrying exercise as well, it wasn't just to humiliate and shame, but it was also to act as a deterrent to others.

[19:56] As a deterrent to others from breaking the laws of Rome. So that was one of the reasons why it was so public. And it was public. The spectacle was public. In other words, when you would carry the cross, you wouldn't take necessarily the direct route or the quick route to Golgotha.

[20:14] You would be taken on the most public route possible. You'd be taken on the most public route possible so that bystanders would see, so that people would see, and so that people would remember what happens when you break the laws of Rome.

[20:28] And here we are, a couple of thousand years later, and we are like bystanders now. As we're reading the account here, we are almost like the bystanders.

[20:38] And we are watching and we are seeing our Lord and Saviour carrying this cross, bearing it, and actually making his way towards Golgotha.

[20:49] And we have to ask ourselves, what do we see here? When we stand by, what is it we're actually seeing? What is it that every one of us in here is seeing?

[20:59] Now, some people might look at these events, perhaps some people in here, and you might see an innocent man that was dealt with in a horrible way. He was dealt with in a horrible way by a bunch of religious extremists.

[21:12] Of course, we hear a lot about religious extremists in our day and age. Well, perhaps that's what some people see here, just an unfortunate man who has been dealt badly by these religious extremists.

[21:26] And you might look at him and you might feel sorry for him. You might genuinely feel compassion for him when you think of what he went through. But the Lord's people see much more than that. To look at Jesus and to feel sorry for him, that is not enough to save you.

[21:42] You need to see a lot more than that. When we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when the Spirit opens our eyes, regenerates us, and enables us to put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we look at Christ here bearing this cross, and we see much more than a poor man who we have compassion on, and a poor man who we feel sorry for.

[22:02] When we look at him here in this narrative, we see him carrying our sin. The Lord's people, we see him carrying our sin, we see him carrying our sin. We see him carrying our humiliation.

[22:15] We see him carrying our cross. And we're very aware that when we see him there, he is doing what we should be doing. He is carrying what we should be carrying. We are very aware that he is taking that from us.

[22:28] We're not detached from this. We're not detached from this at all. You see, the Christian realizes that we are not independent bystanders. We're not bystanders.

[22:39] We're not. We are absolutely involved in this scene because this man is bearing these things. The God man is bearing these things for sinners such as us. We are responsible for the suffering of this man.

[22:54] And when you see it like that, it's completely different. When you see it like that, you cannot but worship. You cannot but see this tremendous love from this man. You no longer just feel sorry for him and think, well, it's unfortunate what happened.

[23:05] You are in awe. You are in absolute awe of what the Lord is doing for you. And then, as Jesus carries on through, as he makes his way out of the city, carrying the cross, probably at this point being helped by Simon as well, and then he makes his way out of the city.

[23:25] Now, there are many Old Testament parallels to what's going on here. I've already mentioned the parallel with Isaac and Isaac carrying the wood and making his way to the place of sacrifice. But there's another parallel here as well.

[23:37] There's another parallel here with the scapegoat. Remember, on the Day of Atonement, the Day of Atonement, there, the high priest, he would take a goat, or a couple of goats, and one would be sacrificed, and one goat, the scapegoat, he would place his hand on the scapegoat.

[23:54] And the high priest would then confess the people's sins, and that was symbolic of these sins being transferred onto the scapegoat. And then what happened after that was that the scapegoat was led out of the city, and the scapegoat was led out into the wilderness, led away from the people, and that was symbolic, really, of sin being taken, removed from the people, and taken far away, taken into this abyss of the wilderness, removed from them.

[24:24] Well, here, here you see Jesus, the sin bearer, bearing the sins of his people, and it's like the scapegoat, because he's been led out of the city, he's been led out of the city, and there he is, carrying the sins of his people, carrying them away.

[24:40] Of course, the main difference is that, unlike the scapegoat, the Lord isn't taken away into a wilderness somewhere. He goes to an abyss, but not the abyss of the wilderness. He's led to this hill of death, he's led to this place of the skull, known as Golgotha.

[24:59] And, it's at that point that the soldiers lay Jesus on this cross beam, if it is just the cross beam that's there, this beam that he has been carrying, and at that point, his hands would have, of course, been driven into, through nails, into that piece of wood, and that piece of wood would have been elevated and lifted up and set in place against the upright beam.

[25:24] His feet would then have been nailed into that beam, and there, then, the effect of gravity itself would take place. Then the physical sufferings of the Lord enter into a whole new realm, indeed.

[25:39] Now, he's no longer bearing the cross. Now, the cross is bearing him. Now, he is there, nailed to this cross. cross, the cross carrying him.

[25:51] He might have felt the weight of that cross, or that cross beam, when he was making his way to the place of Golgotha. He might have felt it quite heavy on him, but now, as he's actually nailed to this cross, now, his sufferings enter a whole new depth entirely, as the weight of his body is hanging there, hanging from that cross.

[26:14] Here is physical sufferings, they come to their climax, and of course, spiritually speaking, the same is true. We have noted that we've been seeing Christ bearing this wooden beam as he walked to the cross, but he was bearing much more than that, as I mentioned.

[26:31] He was also bearing the sin of his people, and I mentioned that we see something of the sufferings even in the lead-up to the cross itself, and there is something of the sufferings there, but as he comes to Golgotha here, the spiritual suffering is about to enter into a whole new phase entirely as he's nailed to that cross.

[26:52] You see, back in John chapter 12, yes, his soul was troubled, that's true, and back at Gethsemane, there again, he felt this sense of suffering as he said, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death, that's true, but here on the cross he plummets to depths, spiritual depths, which far exceed even all these other things, as he bears the wrath of God himself for the sins of his people, and there, of course, he cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[27:28] And as he's nailed to that cross, it's almost as though he's nailed to the very sins of his people, and the Lord deals with him as sin.

[27:38] Now, don't get me wrong, Christ was never a sinner, Christ was never a sinner, but there on the cross the Father is dealing with him as sin, he receives the just reward for the sins of his people, his punishment, the Father's punishment is unleashed on his own son.

[27:58] Now, earlier on, I mentioned about the similarity between Jesus and Isaac here, remember Isaac carried the wood, so too, Jesus carries the wood of his cross, and similarly, Isaac is bound to that altar by his father, and here, you can say the same thing, here, the father is binding his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to this altar, because make no mistake, yes, it's the soldiers who are physically doing it, and the Jews are behind it, and perhaps the crowd are all wanting this to happen, but it is the plan of God, the Father himself, this is the will of God, the will of God, the Father, to bind his son to this altar, to the cross of Calvary, so there's similarities, but there's one big difference with the Isaac narrative, and here lies the big difference, I mentioned it a few moments ago, because as Abraham takes his dagger, and as he gets ready to slay his son, that's when God speaks, that's when the angel of the Lord says, no, do not harm this lad, do not harm this boy, but here,

[29:10] Calvary, God doesn't say no, God doesn't say stop, God does not intervene, at all, here at Calvary, he takes the very sword of his own justice, and he thrusts it through, the very heart and soul of his own son, now that's quite overwhelming to actually take in, and here, although Christ endures the physical pains of torture, that's true, but he is enduring a much more painful torture, spiritually speaking, as the wrath of God the Father, in an active way, it's not necessarily just that the Father is not there, there's an active sense of which the sword of the Father's justice is going into the Son, he is receiving the wrath of God, as the soul experiences the very pains of hell itself, and how could God treat his son like that, how could he do that, and some people say that, don't they, how could a loving Father treat his son like that, but of course the reason is because when God looked at his son at that moment, he saw your sin and mine, that's what he saw, he saw our sin, and the Father is dealing with Christ as though he is dealing with our sin, he is our sin bearer, not just the cross bearer, the sin bearer, the wrath of God has been poured out upon him, and as we sit here,

[30:36] God willing, in a few moments time, and as we sit at the Lord's table, we're going to marvel at that, we're going to marvel at what our Lord and Saviour has done for us, not just in carrying that piece of wood, but more importantly, in carrying our sins, in bearing our sins, and in dying on that cross for our sins, your sins, and mine.

[31:01] Amen, and we pray for God's blessing on that portion of his word that we've meditated upon, we're going to look at it a bit more in a few moments time, but before we do that, we're going to sing, and we're going to sing, in Psalm 116, that's the Scottish Psalter, Psalm 116, and we will sing from the verse marked 7 to 14 there, 7 to 14, so that's page 396, O thou, my soul, do thou return unto thy quiet rest, for largely lo, the Lord to thee his bounty hath expressed, for my distressed soul from death delivered was by thee, thou didst my mourning eyes from tears, my feet from falling free,

[32:11] I in the land of those that live will walk the Lord before, I did believe, therefore I spake, I was afflicted sore, I said when I was in my haste that all men liars be, what shall I render to the Lord for all his gift to me, in other words, what shall we do when we consider, everything we've been thinking about just there, those few moments, about what he has done, what he has carried, what he has borne, what will we do for him when we consider the extent of what he has done for us, I'll of salvation, take the cup, on God's name will I call, I'll pay my vows now to the Lord before his people all, that's the least we can do, when he has done that for us, we come to his table, we come, we take the cup, and we pay our vows, and doing so publicly, professing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who is our sin bearer, so we'll sing those verses for 7 to 14 to God's praise.

[33:08] Amen. O thou, my soul, do thou return unto thy quiet rest for Lord Lord the Lord the Lord to thee his bounty hath expressed for my distressed soul from death death delivered delivered was by thee the dead my war in eyes from tears my feet from falling free

[34:18] I in the land of those that live will walk the Lord before I did believe therefore I say I was afflicted sore I said when I was in my haste that all men liars be what shall I render to the Lord for all his gifts to me

[35:26] I love salvation take the car on God's name will I call I pay my heart not turn the Lord before his people all well we now come to the part of our communion service which we call the fencing of the Lord's table and this is where very simply we just consider who it is that should sit at the Lord's table and I like to focus our thoughts just for a few moments following on from what we were looking at there in

[36:31] John chapter 19 and the verse there marked 19 the pilot also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross and it read Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews now there's tremendous irony in lots of the details of what happens at the cross of Christ there's tremendous irony in lots of parts of the Bible but there's tremendous irony in certain details that take place at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is certainly one of them usually what would happen was a title would be placed above the cross of the criminal or whoever it was that was being crucified and that title would show the charge or the crime that that particular person had actually committed but here pilot possibly in an attempt to annoy the

[37:38] Jews you know pilot wasn't happy that he was forced to crucify Jesus he did so out of his own pride but I don't think he was happy about that and perhaps out of out of a sense of trying to almost humiliate and annoy the Jews pilot doesn't write down the charge as such he doesn't write down the crime as such he writes down the words Jesus of Nazareth king of the Jews and the Jews weren't happy about that no no don't write that write that he said he was the king of the Jews don't write that he is the king of the Jews that's not correct and they weren't happy about that and indeed that angered them but of course pilot says here look what I have written I have written and of course pilot wrote more than he knew did he not he wrote more than he knew because although pilot here in this passage although he's trying to annoy the Jews in the providence of God this title here is actually incredibly profound because this man who is hanging here on the cross this man is indeed a king he is the king of kings he is the lord of all glory now you might look at him and say he doesn't look like a king and in many ways humanly speaking he doesn't look like a king but he is a king he is a king and he's a king elevated up the cross of execution itself you could say in a sense becomes his throne of exaltation and before us today here in the events of the crucifixion of the

[39:18] Lord Jesus Christ is not a poor criminal he's a king he is a king and a king far greater than any earthly king he is a mighty exalted king and the question for us is will we bow before this king as we look at Christ and as we see him in his sufferings how do we react how do we respond what do we think of this man do we fall on our knees homage to our lord and our king do we take this man as the lord of our lives do we seek to serve him by our heart and our mind and our strength and our souls do we love him is this man here is he just a poor criminal who unfortunately died or is he your king that's the question is he your king and if he is our king then our place is at the banqueting table that he prepares for us if you bow before him and you acknowledge him as your lord and savior if you acknowledge him as your king then he invites you to this royal banquet in in in in in in in in fact he doesn't invite you to sit at this royal banquet he commands you to sit and to feast from the provision that he provides for you is this your king is this your lord if it is then your place is here in spite of your weakness we all have that in spite of your failures in spite of your sin in fact you could say because of your failures and because of your weakness because this table is a table for sinners a table for sinners a table for weak people for failures for sinners but crucially for people who bow before the lord jesus christ and take him as our lord and our king and if that's the case today very simply if he's your king then you should be at his table and

[41:31] I hope that we will do just that we're going to sing psalm 118 and we're going to sing from the verse marked 15 and during the singing if there are anyone who perhaps as of yet is not at the table you can come forward to the table at this point and sit at the banqueting table of our king and we're going to sing from verse mark 15 and we'll keep on singing until the elements are on the table so in dwellings of the righteous is heard the melody of joy and health the Lord's right hand doth ever valiantly the right hand of the mighty Lord exalted is on hand the right hand of the mighty Lord doth ever valiantly

[42:31] I shall not die but live and shall the works of God discover why will we live because of what Christ has done because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord doth me just tize its sword but not to death given over so we'll sing from 15 downwards until the elements are ready and we'll stand to sing and dwellings of the righteous is heard the melody of joy and death the Lord strident that never might be the right hand of the mighty Lord exalt this on high the right hand of the mighty

[43:48] Lord of ever valiant glee I shall not die but live and shall the works of all discover the Lord have me chastised it sore but not to death give no worth all said ye I