The faithfulness of Christ
John 19:1-37 ~ Terry Phillips
November 4, 2018
The Faithfulness of Christ
John 19:1-37
I ask you to turn with me if you would to John's Gospel once again, and I'd like to read this morning from the 19th chapter verses 1 through 37.
“Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him, and the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head arrayed Him in a purple robe and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him blows in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus therefore came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” When therefore the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”
When Pilate therefore heard this statement, he was the more afraid and entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release You and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above. For this reason, he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin. As a result of this,” Pilate made efforts to release him. But the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”
When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover. It was about the sixth hour and he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” And they therefore cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
So, he then delivered Him to them to be crucified.
They took Jesus therefore, and He went out bearing His own cross to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side and Jesus in between. And Pilate wrote an inscription also and put it on the cross, and it was written, “JESUS THE NAZERENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore, this inscription many of the Jews read for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. And so, the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus took His outer garments and made four-parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. They said therefore to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be;” that the scripture might be fulfilled: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore, the soldiers did these things.
But, there were standing by the cross, Jesus, His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ”Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
After this, Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine He said, “It is finished!” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
The Jews, therefore, because it was the day of preparation, so that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man, of the other man who was crucified with Him. But coming to Jesus, when they 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 there came out blood and water. And he who has seen has borne witness and his witness is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass that the scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone, of Him shall be broken.” And again, another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
As we ponder together the account of our Lord's suffering and death-- it’s really a gruesome description and in fact were given very little of the details. The death of our Lord, death on a Roman cross was exceedingly brutal and gruesome. The details are excruciatingly painful to consider, but were given a very brief account of what actually took place. We’re given a few extra details, if you consolidate the different accounts that we have from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then as well as John. But even all of them together very, very small, very brief account of our Lord’s suffering and His death.
As I've been pondering this passage of Scripture, I have to acknowledge there are there is the-- the reality-- of just the fact, that this is an intimidating portion of God's word, if I could say it that way. There’s so much in this portion of Scripture. There is, there’s so many things to consider--so many things to think about. And I trust that the Lord will give us opportunity and direct us to think on those things that are important.
This morning I would like to just step back and consider it as a whole. First of all, the significance of this event. There are undoubtedly many noteworthy events that have transpired in human history. I think all of us would recognize that. There are many things, maybe that would come to our mind. Some of us would maybe-- the same things would come to minds, I don't know. But you think back on different things. What are some of the most important things that have happened in human history? Some people would go back and think and talk about the fact of that point in time when a man landed on the moon. Some people might talk about other specific points in time where electricity was discovered where the internal combustion engine was discovered, or where a particular incident caused a war, a massive war-- particular assassinations that have taken place-- all sorts of different events like we could go on and on. Think back, even the children of Israel, all the events that took place in their history. Some of them remarkable. You think of the parting of the Red Sea, the parting of the Jordan, what took place at the Mount Horeb-- at Mount Horeb at the giving of the law. Think of the experience we’ve just been considering at Mount Carmel, remarkable things that God has done-- you think of the walls of Jericho, I think of David and Goliath. You can think of one event after another and we could go on and on but none of the events that have ever transpired in this world were even worthy to be compared with this moment in time. The atoning work of Christ on our behalf.
I want you to think about this just for a moment the significance of this one event just from a broad perspective we could, there is no event that is ever taken place in all of human history about which so many words have been spoken. Think about all the times, all the words that have been spoken, the words that we have spoken here today about this event, that have been spoken amongst God's people for centuries. No incident has ever occurred in all of human history about which so many books have been written. No occurrence about which so many songs have been stung. Not as much is this one event. Nothing that so captures the attention and genuinely stimulates the souls of countless sinners than the suffering and the death of Jesus Christ. Think about the impact that this has had on the world and IS HAVING. This is, indeed-- the defining moment for all time and eternity. As the writer of Hebrews says it is--it took place at the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGES. Nothing in the eternal ages even as well as human history equals this moment in time. That's how significant it is. This is the moment that God focused upon immediately after the fall, you recall. It wasn't long after God created us in his own image that Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord. God created man in his own image, God created man with the ability to make a decision as to whether or not he would obey the Lord, to whether or not he would be faithful, he would honor God. And, of course that's not what man chose to do. Adam and Eve chose to sin. They were deceived by the serpent. They were tempted and they fell into sin. God was not caught off guard. Very soon after this event occurred. God said in Genesis 3:15 as He’s speaking to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman in between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise you on the head,” that ‘He’ is Christ, that ‘you,’ is Satan, “and you shall bruise him on the heel,” that's the cross. This is what's has been in view from the very beginning, and it's what is in view when you go all the way to the revelation of Jesus Christ and you look at the scene in heaven and you see a Lamb standing, as if slain. This is the theme. This is the moment that the sacrifices in Israel's temple worship all foreshadowed. They were looking ahead to this point in time. Every time those animals were sacrificed. This is what they were looking ahead to as that blood was dipped out and sprinkled on the altar. This is the moment that all of human history was leading to, its the moment, upon which all confident expectation for the future is grounded-- on this point time, this one moment. This is the moment that is central in the revelation of Jesus Christ concerning those things which are to come. One of the things that we I trust are aware of, and I think about every once in a while, as I read through this account, that is, that as these moments unfolded before the eyes of the Lord's followers they could not have known the wonder and the glory they were witnessing. They could not. They did not understand it, did they? And in fact, they were STUNNED, they were despairing, they were overwhelmed by sorrow and grief. We read here of these women standing by the cross--His mother, His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopus, Mary Magdalene, His followers, some-- most of them probably at a little bit of a distance, but they’re witnessing something that they can't possibly understand the significance of. In those moments, for them, if they were devastated, but as we know it wouldn't be long and their sorrow would be turned, as Jesus had told them, into joy, inexpressible joy. Remember at the one point we’re told they couldn't answer Him. They couldn't come up with words. Why, because of their joy, they were so filled with joy-- but in these moments pure depths of--of sorrow and despair.
Now, as we think of the significance of this moment and all that it entails, and it's impossible for us to just too --grasp all of it, much less at one point in time. I wanted--the one thing that I wanted to focus our attention on this morning, as we look at this from a broader perspective as it were, and that is: that none of this would have been possible apart from the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was faithful to the Father's will and God's redemptive plan from beginning to finish.
I was struck by this recently as we've been going through and we've been considering, meditating upon the events that led up to the Lord's arrest then His actual arrest and the events-- His interaction, very limited interaction, with the way He was treated by the Jewish leaders, the interaction between Pilate and the Lord Jesus Christ-- as we've been looking at the last couple of time—and I'm thinking through all of this, I'm thinking-- I'm just sort of trying to cast my glance at Jesus and look at Him as all these things are transpiring-- and these men are these men-- these Israel--these Jewish leaders, and you see them, the prominence of the Chief Priests and Elders, by the way this passage—It’s like they’re foaming at the mouth with hatred. And I don’t know if you've ever thought about-- what if Pilate had released Jesus? It seems very likely to me that they would have beaten Him to death on the spot, this mob. And Pilate knew that. Things were getting out of control we’re told in other passages. Pilate recognized that, that a riot was beginning. The hatred that they had for Jesus-- and I see Jesus-- picture Jesus through all of this. These men hurling all kinds of false accusations at the Lord and then as they put this robe on Him, as they pushed His crown of thorns on His head and began to hit Him, and spit at Him and mock Him and ridicule Him as a king, making fun of Him. As Pilate is questioning Him and Jesus is silent and you notice in this passage, when Jesus-- when Pilate hears the statement that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God it says, “When he heard this statement, he was THE MORE AFRAID.” I find that fascinating. Pilate was afraid through all of this. There was a fear of this man. We know from the other accounts, that his wife had warned him, she suffered greatly in a dream, on account of the Lord, and told him to leave Him alone. Pilate was in a bad spot. He was fearful and through all of this, Jesus is like a Lamb being led to the slaughter. He's not responding in kind to His tormentors. He's patient, He’s loving. He willingly endures what’s being done to Him and yet there's a sense in which there can be no doubt that He is in control. What faithfulness!
I think of the Lord's faithfulness. I've been thinking of this and pondering it, even from the standpoint of the of the Word becoming flesh His humble birth. Jesus was not born to royalty. He was born into a family that was a very lowly position in life, even born in a stable and yet Jesus is faithful. This was God's ordained plan and purpose for Him to come into this world. He's faithful even though His parents at times don't understand who He is and what God-- what He is to do, what He is come into this world to do. He continues and He’s gracious to His parents and we’re told that He continues in subjection to them. You see the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus in His home life, His birth, His home life, His growing up, and then in His earthly ministry-- His faithfulness in living, His faithfulness in teaching, His faithfulness in confronting sin, His faithfulness to, when the time had come, there had been many times where they had sought to kill Him—we’re told it wasn't His time, but when the time came--what are we told about the way Jesus made His way to Jerusalem? That He just kind of slowly inched His way there, or, ya know, sort of resisting every way? It says He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem. He was determined. Even in those moments of inconceivable agony. Many times people in this world know what they're about to face. They know it's going to be bad, but they can't know the way Jesus knew what He was going to face. And in spite of that, those moments you see Him being faithful, “Not my will but Your will be done,” He says to the Father. And then His faithfulness to be arrested. Jesus Himself even makes the statement that He could call legions of angels to aid Him, to rescue Him at a moment, but he didn't do that. He tell-- He rebukes Peter, “This is God's plan, put the sword away.” He faithfully subjects Himself to death, even the most shameful, the most agonizing, the most humiliating death on a Roman cross. As He who knew no sin, who’d been tempted in every way as we are, yet was sinless as He bore our punishment, He bore the punishment that was due our sin, on the cross in His very own body.
I remind you of what we read in the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews the last part of the second chapter and the first part of the third chapter emphasize this aspect of our Savior, His faithfulness. I want to begin with Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14.
“Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly, He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendent of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren, in all things that He might become a merciful and FAITHFUL high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted and that which He has suffered He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him as Moses also was in all his house.”
This aspect of our Lord is emphasized as we consider-- as we are called upon to consider Him as our high priest, our perfect advocate and representative before Almighty God.
In the book of Revelation, the first chapter, the introduction of this portion of God's word, John says in verse four,
“John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood-- and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-- to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen”
It’s through the faithfulness of Christ that He has come to be our Savior, our Lord, the ruler of the kings of the earth. It’s to His faithfulness that you not been released from our sins by His blood. And then I want to remind you-- turning back towards the very end of the book of Revelation. In the 19th chapter and the 11th verse, John is given a vision of Christ returning to this earth, returning in judgment. Notice what he says,
“And I saw heaven opened,” (this is Revelation 19:11) “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True,” Faithful and True, “and in righteousness he judges and wages war.”
I just want to ask you to ponder that this morning with me. The faithfulness of our Savior the faithfulness of Christ. I think it's something we take for granted. We know what Jesus endured-- we have a record of it. We read this account and there are so many different things that we can glean from it as we listen to what the Lord said, as we see what was done to Him but to recognize through all of this that Jesus was faithful to the very end. From beginning to finish. He came into this world to save sinners. And that's what he did. Even though it-- even though it involved ALL OF THIS, all of this suffering.
Now as I was thinking about this and I want to challenge you and myself this morning to consider this. It is this very matter of faithfulness that our Lord delights and emphasizes in His followers. We’re to be faithful. He was faithful so we should expect nothing less than ourselves as followers of Him, than faithfulness. Jesus emphasizes this matter of faithfulness. Quite often I just give you a couple passages in this regarding Matthew's gospel chapter 24, verse 45 Jesus says, “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave.” In chapter 25 the parable that He tells in the 21st verse, his master says to the servant, “Well done good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.” Same thing is repeated in the 23rd verse, “Well done good and faithful slave.” Jesus makes a real point of that to in these passages, I think you're familiar with them. The point is not how much they did or how much they accomplished, God is not impressed with that, what God, what God rejoices in, if you will, what God points out, and what God has to say in terms of what it is that we would look at and say this is to be admired, it’s their faithfulness, whether it’s a few things are a lot of things-- faithfulness. God is looking for faithful servants because the truth is that our Savior was faithful, and is faithful and has been faithful, even to death. And it just struck me how often this is emphasized throughout the New Testament--the, the apostles mentioned by name people who were faithful. This is the trait that they that they emphasized. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 Paul speaks of Timothy in this way. “For this reason, I have sent to you, Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.” In Ephesians, Ephesians, chapter six, verse 21, “But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make everything known to you.” A beloved and faithful brother. He’s mentioned again in Colossians chapter 4 verse seven in the same way. Colossians chapter 1, Paul mentions another fellow servant, verse seven, “Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.” Colossians chapter 4 verse nine, “And with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother.” Peter, in first Peter chapter 5 verse 12 mentions a man by the name of Silvanus, “Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, (for so I regard him).”
Why is this so important? I would just ask you to stop and think about this with me for a moment. Why is this matter faithfulness so important? I think you and I know without faithfulness, what do you have really? If Jesus hadn’t been faithful we had would have no Savior. If there are not those who are faithful in serving Christ the Lord's not going to be honored. His purpose is not going to be accomplished in this world apart from faithfulness.
I want to also direct your attention to this fact that this is not just something that is to be expected of certain saints. Notice how Paul begins his epistle to the saints at Ephesus. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.” The saints in Colossae. Colossians chapter 1 verse 1 and 2, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colassae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” This is a noticeable trait in followers, the followers of Christ. I want you to notice back in the book of Revelation as you see the confrontation with between the beast and the Lord. Verse 14 of Revelation 17 says this, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings,” as we talked about just last week, “and those who are with Him are the called and chosen,” and one last designation, “the faithful.”—They’re the called, chosen and faithful. One of the reasons it seems to me that this needs to be-- is emphasized so often in the epistles, is this one reality, our tendency is to be just the opposite of faithful. We tend to take the easy way out. Things get difficult-- when things get difficult, and they WILL get difficult at times, and we all know that if we live very long, we know that things will get difficult and sometimes they'll get VERY difficult-- and if you could-- how can you imagine a difficulty greater than what Jesus Christ faced-- and faced in in His humanness. This is a solemn exhortation to God's people. I want you to I want to remind you of what Jesus says in the letter to one of the churches in Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 He says this, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer.” Jesus is someone who can say that. Don't fear what you're about to suffer. “Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days,” then He says this, “be faithful until death.” That's our Lord's word to us of encouragement, “be faithful until death.” In other words, there is not to be a limitation to our faithfulness. Well, I could see been faithful up to this point, I could see maybe been faithful and going this far, BUT TO DEATH? but to the point of giving up anything and everything else that God may require me to give up in order to be a faithful follower of Him? That's a different story. We have a tendency to want to confine faithfulness to our comfort zone, and say, “Well, I can be faithful in this. I can be faithful this way and this way and this way,” cause I don’t have any problem with that. But Jesus was faithful in everything. He was faithful to death, to the point of death, and a terrible death at that. And the thing that I want to encourage us with this morning it is, is this fact, that we are given a blessed assurance and encouragement in the Lord in regards to this matter of faithfulness.
Our faithfulness ultimately doesn't depend upon us, it depends upon the faithfulness of God Himself. Several passages I want to remind you of. I think that you're familiar with them, but 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 24 says this, “Faithful is He who calls you,” God is faithful, Jesus is faithful, “and He also will bring it to pass.” That's what faithfulness is, it’s ‘follow-through’. Second Thessalonians chapter 3 the first three verses,
“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also, with you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men, for not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”
The only way you and I can be faithful is that we rely upon, we DRAW upon the faithfulness of the Lord ultimately. He’s faithful. Yeah, there's gonna be lots of opposition against us. As Paul says here, not there—there’re perverse and evil men. Not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful. He’ll protect us. He’ll take care of us through all of it. It doesn't matter what we face. We can be faithful because our God is faithful. I remind you too of the passage in 2 Corinthians, or 1 Corinthians rather, chapter 10, great encouragement that we’re given regarding the good Lord in His faithfulness to us. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13,
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”
God is faithful. He’ll provide a way. We may not always see that way. We may not always-- it may take us a while to be humbled before the Lord, to the point where we can see that way. It may not be the way of our choosing, but He’ll provide the way because He is faithful. It’s who God is. It’s part of God's nature. I love the passages throughout the New Testament—or the Old Testament, that speak of God's faithfulness. I remind you also, the passage in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19,
“Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
What an encouragement! He who promised is faithful. Now the reality is, and you and I know this to be true, that faithfulness by and large is not our strong point, is it? It’s just not. Not for any of us. Some of us are more faithful than others, that may be true, there's differences in the degree to which we faithful but we all struggle with this, because the reality is that it's a lot easier to start things than it is to finish them. Jesus didn't just start to work through God the Father's plan of redemption, He finished it and the finish was not easy. It was exceedingly difficult. Faithfulness is what we need when things get very, very difficult. It's easy to start, it's easy to say or to make a verbal commitment to things. Wouldn’t you agree? All of us can do this, it is really not difficult at all, but following through is something very different. And the followers of Christ are to be follow through or, or, people-- people who follow through with Christ. It I’m a follower of Christ-- He's faithful--He set the ultimate example for me. We’re told, “He kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” He kept doing that. He didn't just do it at one point in time, He kept on doing it, moment by moment by moment he's trusting the Father, though the moments are getting worse and worse, things are worse by the moment, but He kept entrusting Himself and that's what you and I can do--keep entrusting ourselves to God.
So, I just want to, I want to end by giving you some brief questions this morning. This is just all I want to be thinking about and consider this morning together with me.
Are you and I been faithful as we should be? Are we following our Lord's example of faithfulness, and then maybe too – the question; To what extent are we doing so? Surely all of us are to some extent, the question as to what extent. I want to ask you some pointed questions in this regard.
Let’s bow together in prayer.
John 19:1-37
I ask you to turn with me if you would to John's Gospel once again, and I'd like to read this morning from the 19th chapter verses 1 through 37.
“Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him, and the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His head arrayed Him in a purple robe and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him blows in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus therefore came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe and Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” When therefore the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”
When Pilate therefore heard this statement, he was the more afraid and entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate therefore said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release You and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above. For this reason, he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin. As a result of this,” Pilate made efforts to release him. But the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”
When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover. It was about the sixth hour and he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” And they therefore cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
So, he then delivered Him to them to be crucified.
They took Jesus therefore, and He went out bearing His own cross to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side and Jesus in between. And Pilate wrote an inscription also and put it on the cross, and it was written, “JESUS THE NAZERENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore, this inscription many of the Jews read for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. And so, the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus took His outer garments and made four-parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. They said therefore to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it shall be;” that the scripture might be fulfilled: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore, the soldiers did these things.
But, there were standing by the cross, Jesus, His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ”Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
After this, Jesus knowing that all things had already been accomplished in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine He said, “It is finished!” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
The Jews, therefore, because it was the day of preparation, so that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man, of the other man who was crucified with Him. But coming to Jesus, when they 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 there came out blood and water. And he who has seen has borne witness and his witness is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass that the scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone, of Him shall be broken.” And again, another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
As we ponder together the account of our Lord's suffering and death-- it’s really a gruesome description and in fact were given very little of the details. The death of our Lord, death on a Roman cross was exceedingly brutal and gruesome. The details are excruciatingly painful to consider, but were given a very brief account of what actually took place. We’re given a few extra details, if you consolidate the different accounts that we have from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and then as well as John. But even all of them together very, very small, very brief account of our Lord’s suffering and His death.
As I've been pondering this passage of Scripture, I have to acknowledge there are there is the-- the reality-- of just the fact, that this is an intimidating portion of God's word, if I could say it that way. There’s so much in this portion of Scripture. There is, there’s so many things to consider--so many things to think about. And I trust that the Lord will give us opportunity and direct us to think on those things that are important.
This morning I would like to just step back and consider it as a whole. First of all, the significance of this event. There are undoubtedly many noteworthy events that have transpired in human history. I think all of us would recognize that. There are many things, maybe that would come to our mind. Some of us would maybe-- the same things would come to minds, I don't know. But you think back on different things. What are some of the most important things that have happened in human history? Some people would go back and think and talk about the fact of that point in time when a man landed on the moon. Some people might talk about other specific points in time where electricity was discovered where the internal combustion engine was discovered, or where a particular incident caused a war, a massive war-- particular assassinations that have taken place-- all sorts of different events like we could go on and on. Think back, even the children of Israel, all the events that took place in their history. Some of them remarkable. You think of the parting of the Red Sea, the parting of the Jordan, what took place at the Mount Horeb-- at Mount Horeb at the giving of the law. Think of the experience we’ve just been considering at Mount Carmel, remarkable things that God has done-- you think of the walls of Jericho, I think of David and Goliath. You can think of one event after another and we could go on and on but none of the events that have ever transpired in this world were even worthy to be compared with this moment in time. The atoning work of Christ on our behalf.
I want you to think about this just for a moment the significance of this one event just from a broad perspective we could, there is no event that is ever taken place in all of human history about which so many words have been spoken. Think about all the times, all the words that have been spoken, the words that we have spoken here today about this event, that have been spoken amongst God's people for centuries. No incident has ever occurred in all of human history about which so many books have been written. No occurrence about which so many songs have been stung. Not as much is this one event. Nothing that so captures the attention and genuinely stimulates the souls of countless sinners than the suffering and the death of Jesus Christ. Think about the impact that this has had on the world and IS HAVING. This is, indeed-- the defining moment for all time and eternity. As the writer of Hebrews says it is--it took place at the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGES. Nothing in the eternal ages even as well as human history equals this moment in time. That's how significant it is. This is the moment that God focused upon immediately after the fall, you recall. It wasn't long after God created us in his own image that Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord. God created man in his own image, God created man with the ability to make a decision as to whether or not he would obey the Lord, to whether or not he would be faithful, he would honor God. And, of course that's not what man chose to do. Adam and Eve chose to sin. They were deceived by the serpent. They were tempted and they fell into sin. God was not caught off guard. Very soon after this event occurred. God said in Genesis 3:15 as He’s speaking to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman in between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise you on the head,” that ‘He’ is Christ, that ‘you,’ is Satan, “and you shall bruise him on the heel,” that's the cross. This is what's has been in view from the very beginning, and it's what is in view when you go all the way to the revelation of Jesus Christ and you look at the scene in heaven and you see a Lamb standing, as if slain. This is the theme. This is the moment that the sacrifices in Israel's temple worship all foreshadowed. They were looking ahead to this point in time. Every time those animals were sacrificed. This is what they were looking ahead to as that blood was dipped out and sprinkled on the altar. This is the moment that all of human history was leading to, its the moment, upon which all confident expectation for the future is grounded-- on this point time, this one moment. This is the moment that is central in the revelation of Jesus Christ concerning those things which are to come. One of the things that we I trust are aware of, and I think about every once in a while, as I read through this account, that is, that as these moments unfolded before the eyes of the Lord's followers they could not have known the wonder and the glory they were witnessing. They could not. They did not understand it, did they? And in fact, they were STUNNED, they were despairing, they were overwhelmed by sorrow and grief. We read here of these women standing by the cross--His mother, His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopus, Mary Magdalene, His followers, some-- most of them probably at a little bit of a distance, but they’re witnessing something that they can't possibly understand the significance of. In those moments, for them, if they were devastated, but as we know it wouldn't be long and their sorrow would be turned, as Jesus had told them, into joy, inexpressible joy. Remember at the one point we’re told they couldn't answer Him. They couldn't come up with words. Why, because of their joy, they were so filled with joy-- but in these moments pure depths of--of sorrow and despair.
Now, as we think of the significance of this moment and all that it entails, and it's impossible for us to just too --grasp all of it, much less at one point in time. I wanted--the one thing that I wanted to focus our attention on this morning, as we look at this from a broader perspective as it were, and that is: that none of this would have been possible apart from the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was faithful to the Father's will and God's redemptive plan from beginning to finish.
I was struck by this recently as we've been going through and we've been considering, meditating upon the events that led up to the Lord's arrest then His actual arrest and the events-- His interaction, very limited interaction, with the way He was treated by the Jewish leaders, the interaction between Pilate and the Lord Jesus Christ-- as we've been looking at the last couple of time—and I'm thinking through all of this, I'm thinking-- I'm just sort of trying to cast my glance at Jesus and look at Him as all these things are transpiring-- and these men are these men-- these Israel--these Jewish leaders, and you see them, the prominence of the Chief Priests and Elders, by the way this passage—It’s like they’re foaming at the mouth with hatred. And I don’t know if you've ever thought about-- what if Pilate had released Jesus? It seems very likely to me that they would have beaten Him to death on the spot, this mob. And Pilate knew that. Things were getting out of control we’re told in other passages. Pilate recognized that, that a riot was beginning. The hatred that they had for Jesus-- and I see Jesus-- picture Jesus through all of this. These men hurling all kinds of false accusations at the Lord and then as they put this robe on Him, as they pushed His crown of thorns on His head and began to hit Him, and spit at Him and mock Him and ridicule Him as a king, making fun of Him. As Pilate is questioning Him and Jesus is silent and you notice in this passage, when Jesus-- when Pilate hears the statement that Jesus had claimed to be the Son of God it says, “When he heard this statement, he was THE MORE AFRAID.” I find that fascinating. Pilate was afraid through all of this. There was a fear of this man. We know from the other accounts, that his wife had warned him, she suffered greatly in a dream, on account of the Lord, and told him to leave Him alone. Pilate was in a bad spot. He was fearful and through all of this, Jesus is like a Lamb being led to the slaughter. He's not responding in kind to His tormentors. He's patient, He’s loving. He willingly endures what’s being done to Him and yet there's a sense in which there can be no doubt that He is in control. What faithfulness!
I think of the Lord's faithfulness. I've been thinking of this and pondering it, even from the standpoint of the of the Word becoming flesh His humble birth. Jesus was not born to royalty. He was born into a family that was a very lowly position in life, even born in a stable and yet Jesus is faithful. This was God's ordained plan and purpose for Him to come into this world. He's faithful even though His parents at times don't understand who He is and what God-- what He is to do, what He is come into this world to do. He continues and He’s gracious to His parents and we’re told that He continues in subjection to them. You see the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus in His home life, His birth, His home life, His growing up, and then in His earthly ministry-- His faithfulness in living, His faithfulness in teaching, His faithfulness in confronting sin, His faithfulness to, when the time had come, there had been many times where they had sought to kill Him—we’re told it wasn't His time, but when the time came--what are we told about the way Jesus made His way to Jerusalem? That He just kind of slowly inched His way there, or, ya know, sort of resisting every way? It says He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem. He was determined. Even in those moments of inconceivable agony. Many times people in this world know what they're about to face. They know it's going to be bad, but they can't know the way Jesus knew what He was going to face. And in spite of that, those moments you see Him being faithful, “Not my will but Your will be done,” He says to the Father. And then His faithfulness to be arrested. Jesus Himself even makes the statement that He could call legions of angels to aid Him, to rescue Him at a moment, but he didn't do that. He tell-- He rebukes Peter, “This is God's plan, put the sword away.” He faithfully subjects Himself to death, even the most shameful, the most agonizing, the most humiliating death on a Roman cross. As He who knew no sin, who’d been tempted in every way as we are, yet was sinless as He bore our punishment, He bore the punishment that was due our sin, on the cross in His very own body.
I remind you of what we read in the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews the last part of the second chapter and the first part of the third chapter emphasize this aspect of our Savior, His faithfulness. I want to begin with Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14.
“Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly, He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendent of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren, in all things that He might become a merciful and FAITHFUL high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted and that which He has suffered He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and high priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him as Moses also was in all his house.”
This aspect of our Lord is emphasized as we consider-- as we are called upon to consider Him as our high priest, our perfect advocate and representative before Almighty God.
In the book of Revelation, the first chapter, the introduction of this portion of God's word, John says in verse four,
“John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood-- and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-- to Him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen”
It’s through the faithfulness of Christ that He has come to be our Savior, our Lord, the ruler of the kings of the earth. It’s to His faithfulness that you not been released from our sins by His blood. And then I want to remind you-- turning back towards the very end of the book of Revelation. In the 19th chapter and the 11th verse, John is given a vision of Christ returning to this earth, returning in judgment. Notice what he says,
“And I saw heaven opened,” (this is Revelation 19:11) “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True,” Faithful and True, “and in righteousness he judges and wages war.”
I just want to ask you to ponder that this morning with me. The faithfulness of our Savior the faithfulness of Christ. I think it's something we take for granted. We know what Jesus endured-- we have a record of it. We read this account and there are so many different things that we can glean from it as we listen to what the Lord said, as we see what was done to Him but to recognize through all of this that Jesus was faithful to the very end. From beginning to finish. He came into this world to save sinners. And that's what he did. Even though it-- even though it involved ALL OF THIS, all of this suffering.
Now as I was thinking about this and I want to challenge you and myself this morning to consider this. It is this very matter of faithfulness that our Lord delights and emphasizes in His followers. We’re to be faithful. He was faithful so we should expect nothing less than ourselves as followers of Him, than faithfulness. Jesus emphasizes this matter of faithfulness. Quite often I just give you a couple passages in this regarding Matthew's gospel chapter 24, verse 45 Jesus says, “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave.” In chapter 25 the parable that He tells in the 21st verse, his master says to the servant, “Well done good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.” Same thing is repeated in the 23rd verse, “Well done good and faithful slave.” Jesus makes a real point of that to in these passages, I think you're familiar with them. The point is not how much they did or how much they accomplished, God is not impressed with that, what God, what God rejoices in, if you will, what God points out, and what God has to say in terms of what it is that we would look at and say this is to be admired, it’s their faithfulness, whether it’s a few things are a lot of things-- faithfulness. God is looking for faithful servants because the truth is that our Savior was faithful, and is faithful and has been faithful, even to death. And it just struck me how often this is emphasized throughout the New Testament--the, the apostles mentioned by name people who were faithful. This is the trait that they that they emphasized. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 Paul speaks of Timothy in this way. “For this reason, I have sent to you, Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.” In Ephesians, Ephesians, chapter six, verse 21, “But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make everything known to you.” A beloved and faithful brother. He’s mentioned again in Colossians chapter 4 verse seven in the same way. Colossians chapter 1, Paul mentions another fellow servant, verse seven, “Just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.” Colossians chapter 4 verse nine, “And with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother.” Peter, in first Peter chapter 5 verse 12 mentions a man by the name of Silvanus, “Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, (for so I regard him).”
Why is this so important? I would just ask you to stop and think about this with me for a moment. Why is this matter faithfulness so important? I think you and I know without faithfulness, what do you have really? If Jesus hadn’t been faithful we had would have no Savior. If there are not those who are faithful in serving Christ the Lord's not going to be honored. His purpose is not going to be accomplished in this world apart from faithfulness.
I want to also direct your attention to this fact that this is not just something that is to be expected of certain saints. Notice how Paul begins his epistle to the saints at Ephesus. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus.” The saints in Colossae. Colossians chapter 1 verse 1 and 2, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colassae. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” This is a noticeable trait in followers, the followers of Christ. I want you to notice back in the book of Revelation as you see the confrontation with between the beast and the Lord. Verse 14 of Revelation 17 says this, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings,” as we talked about just last week, “and those who are with Him are the called and chosen,” and one last designation, “the faithful.”—They’re the called, chosen and faithful. One of the reasons it seems to me that this needs to be-- is emphasized so often in the epistles, is this one reality, our tendency is to be just the opposite of faithful. We tend to take the easy way out. Things get difficult-- when things get difficult, and they WILL get difficult at times, and we all know that if we live very long, we know that things will get difficult and sometimes they'll get VERY difficult-- and if you could-- how can you imagine a difficulty greater than what Jesus Christ faced-- and faced in in His humanness. This is a solemn exhortation to God's people. I want you to I want to remind you of what Jesus says in the letter to one of the churches in Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 He says this, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer.” Jesus is someone who can say that. Don't fear what you're about to suffer. “Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days,” then He says this, “be faithful until death.” That's our Lord's word to us of encouragement, “be faithful until death.” In other words, there is not to be a limitation to our faithfulness. Well, I could see been faithful up to this point, I could see maybe been faithful and going this far, BUT TO DEATH? but to the point of giving up anything and everything else that God may require me to give up in order to be a faithful follower of Him? That's a different story. We have a tendency to want to confine faithfulness to our comfort zone, and say, “Well, I can be faithful in this. I can be faithful this way and this way and this way,” cause I don’t have any problem with that. But Jesus was faithful in everything. He was faithful to death, to the point of death, and a terrible death at that. And the thing that I want to encourage us with this morning it is, is this fact, that we are given a blessed assurance and encouragement in the Lord in regards to this matter of faithfulness.
Our faithfulness ultimately doesn't depend upon us, it depends upon the faithfulness of God Himself. Several passages I want to remind you of. I think that you're familiar with them, but 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 24 says this, “Faithful is He who calls you,” God is faithful, Jesus is faithful, “and He also will bring it to pass.” That's what faithfulness is, it’s ‘follow-through’. Second Thessalonians chapter 3 the first three verses,
“Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also, with you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men, for not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”
The only way you and I can be faithful is that we rely upon, we DRAW upon the faithfulness of the Lord ultimately. He’s faithful. Yeah, there's gonna be lots of opposition against us. As Paul says here, not there—there’re perverse and evil men. Not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful. He’ll protect us. He’ll take care of us through all of it. It doesn't matter what we face. We can be faithful because our God is faithful. I remind you too of the passage in 2 Corinthians, or 1 Corinthians rather, chapter 10, great encouragement that we’re given regarding the good Lord in His faithfulness to us. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13,
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”
God is faithful. He’ll provide a way. We may not always see that way. We may not always-- it may take us a while to be humbled before the Lord, to the point where we can see that way. It may not be the way of our choosing, but He’ll provide the way because He is faithful. It’s who God is. It’s part of God's nature. I love the passages throughout the New Testament—or the Old Testament, that speak of God's faithfulness. I remind you also, the passage in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19,
“Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
What an encouragement! He who promised is faithful. Now the reality is, and you and I know this to be true, that faithfulness by and large is not our strong point, is it? It’s just not. Not for any of us. Some of us are more faithful than others, that may be true, there's differences in the degree to which we faithful but we all struggle with this, because the reality is that it's a lot easier to start things than it is to finish them. Jesus didn't just start to work through God the Father's plan of redemption, He finished it and the finish was not easy. It was exceedingly difficult. Faithfulness is what we need when things get very, very difficult. It's easy to start, it's easy to say or to make a verbal commitment to things. Wouldn’t you agree? All of us can do this, it is really not difficult at all, but following through is something very different. And the followers of Christ are to be follow through or, or, people-- people who follow through with Christ. It I’m a follower of Christ-- He's faithful--He set the ultimate example for me. We’re told, “He kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” He kept doing that. He didn't just do it at one point in time, He kept on doing it, moment by moment by moment he's trusting the Father, though the moments are getting worse and worse, things are worse by the moment, but He kept entrusting Himself and that's what you and I can do--keep entrusting ourselves to God.
So, I just want to, I want to end by giving you some brief questions this morning. This is just all I want to be thinking about and consider this morning together with me.
Are you and I been faithful as we should be? Are we following our Lord's example of faithfulness, and then maybe too – the question; To what extent are we doing so? Surely all of us are to some extent, the question as to what extent. I want to ask you some pointed questions in this regard.
- First question: Am I more faithful to the Lord than I am to my means of livelihood? I'm asking myself that question, I'm asking you, that to you who are in that position. You men who have a have no choice but to have a form of some form of livelihood, are you more faithful to Christ than you are to your means of livelihood. I was tempted to say, are you AS faithful--because that's generally how we think, isn’t it? In fact, that's the first thing I thought, Am I as faithful to the Lord as I am my means of livelihood? But the question SHOULD BE, am I MORE faithful? Surely, He's more worthy of my devotion and commitment than my job. So that’s a question I have to ask myself, Am I more faithful to my Lord than to my means of livelihood?
- I’ll ask a second question: Am I more devoted to the Lord than I am to my own family and my friends? Am I more devoted to Christ that I am to my own family, and my friends? Is He worthy of that level of devotion, of more devotion than my family, my friends-- you can fill in from there?
- A third question: Am I more committed to Christ, then I am to my own personal hobbies and interests? Am I MORE committed to Christ that I am to my own hobbies and interests? And that could be a wide-- obviously cover a wide range of things. We’re different-- all of us are different. There's different things that were interested in. It’s not a bad thing, an evil thing to be interested in different things and to pursue different things, but, to what EXTENT do we pursue them in relation to faithfulness to Christ? That's the quite simple question I'm asking. We need to ask this question, each of us of ourselves--not worry about somebody else but, where do I stand before the Lord? Faithfulness is not-- does not come naturally to us and especially when it comes the difficult things. It's important understand this. There are somethings that are easy to be faithful in. It is the things that really count that are NOT. They’re hard.
- Another question: Am I more faithful to the Lord Jesus than I am to my routine? Some of us have established good routines but has that routine become the thing I'm most faithful to? Am I more faithful to the Lord Jesus than I am to my routine, or to my own personal comfort, to my own fleshly desires, to various causes that I may be involved? And some of them may be very good causes. The bottom line is, is Jesus everything to me? Is He really everything to me or are these just words. Faithfulness is evidenced in the way I live my life the things I give priority to. Is spending time in prayer and God's word an absolute MUST for me, or is it something that I do if I have time? Again, am I more devoted to Christ than to my routine, my livelihood, my hobbies, my interests, or even to the crises that come up day after day in our lives? Am I more devoted to Him? Yeah, I know this is happening--someone comes and says, look what’s happening, you gotta something about this. What are we gonna do, what are we gonna do? But I'm first of all, I'm gonna pray. First of all, I’m gonna spend time in God's word. God has instructed us to be devoted to prayer. Are we devoted to prayer? That's one of the ways we exhibit whether or not we are more faithful to the Lord than to all the other things that clutter our lives, or that we used to rationalize away the commands, the clear commands that God is given to us. What about our responsibility in the body of Christ? Tom had talked about this several weeks ago, are we doing our part, are each of us doing our part building up the body of Christ? Am I more devoted to Christ and I am too---and you can fill in whatever it is that's keeping me from devotion to the Lord, from being faithful. Being faithful, this is one thing that we can never, never forget, being faithful to the Lord will always, always, require sacrifice. If we could just remember that you get that in her head. It will always require sacrifice on some level, to some extent. I realize it's not always the same. Some areas some points in time in our lives it requires more sacrifice than others, but it will ALWAYS, be absolutely certain of this, it will always require some level of sacrifice, and if I'm not willing to make that sacrifice, I cannot be faithful to the Lord, to the extent that He DESERVES. That's what's at stake here. What does the Lord deserve from me? WHAT DID HE DO FOR ME? We look at this scene we look at Him writhing in agony on the cross. How can we question whether or not He deserves our faithfulness?
Let’s bow together in prayer.
