WEBVTT 00:00:17.783 --> 00:00:20.652 Well, good morning Valley View. 00:00:20.652 --> 00:00:21.855 It's it's great to be with you. 00:00:21.855 --> 00:00:31.664 In fact, this morning, as we were singing I was just thinking, I'm so grateful for all who take the time to come here on a Sunday morning. 00:00:31.731 --> 00:00:34.167 I mean, think of all, well, don't think too hard about it. 00:00:34.167 --> 00:00:37.770 There are a lot of other ways you could spend Sunday mornings. 00:00:37.837 --> 00:00:40.240 No better place to be. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.575 But we come here and we worship together. 00:00:42.575 --> 00:00:51.017 I got to tell you, I'm edified by hearing so many proclaim the name of Christ, proclaim the truth of who He is. 00:00:51.084 --> 00:00:54.020 Each of us here are bolstered. 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:55.954 our faith is increased by seeing that. 00:00:55.954 --> 00:00:57.789 So thank you. 00:00:57.789 --> 00:00:58.825 Means a lot to me. 00:00:58.825 --> 00:01:02.929 It means a lot to the whole church. 00:00:58.825 --> 00:01:02.929 And it's a powerful time together. 00:01:02.996 --> 00:01:08.268 And of course, part of what we do here is we worship in song, but we worship and we study God's Word together. 00:01:08.268 --> 00:01:11.771 And we're continuing in our study of the Book of John. 00:01:11.837 --> 00:01:13.972 We're coming near the end here. 00:01:13.972 --> 00:01:21.980 Last week, we looked at Jesus's death, and now we're going to look at some of the aftermath of that and ask a few questions. 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:27.620 In fact, I remember back when I got an email from a guy, it's a guy I had known quite a while. 00:01:27.686 --> 00:01:33.825 He had been a supporter of our work in ministry when we were serving with family ministry. 00:01:33.893 --> 00:01:40.400 And he sent me this random email and it said, Hey, John, I just want you to know I was sorry to hear about your dad. 00:01:40.465 --> 00:01:43.001 He was a great man. 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:44.804 And I thought was? 00:01:44.804 --> 00:01:48.408 Hold on or is there something I've missed here? 00:01:48.474 --> 00:01:50.043 And of course, we lived in Arkansas. 00:01:50.043 --> 00:01:52.811 Things are a little slower to get there Takes time. 00:01:52.811 --> 00:01:56.215 Sometimes I thought maybe something has happened I don't know about. 00:01:56.215 --> 00:01:58.850 So I call my mom, but I don't want to sound panicked in my voice. 00:01:58.850 --> 00:02:00.787 I don't want to, you know, disturb her. 00:02:00.787 --> 00:02:04.590 And I'm like, Hey, mom, how's it going? 00:02:04.689 --> 00:02:06.492 Fine. I'm doing good. 00:02:06.492 --> 00:02:07.959 How are you? 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:08.294 Okay. 00:02:08.294 --> 00:02:09.228 Things sound normal. 00:02:09.228 --> 00:02:10.796 Is Dad there? 00:02:10.796 --> 00:02:13.800 Yes. Can I talk to him? 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.436 Sure. Dad. How you doing? 00:02:16.436 --> 00:02:17.302 Is everything okay? 00:02:17.302 --> 00:02:18.570 Do you feel okay? 00:02:18.570 --> 00:02:20.338 Finally. Like, what's. What do you want? 00:02:20.338 --> 00:02:22.275 What's going on? 00:02:22.275 --> 00:02:25.444 Well, this guy emailed, said, you know, John was a great. 00:02:25.544 --> 00:02:28.713 It's like, let me tell you what happened this week. 00:02:28.814 --> 00:02:34.753 Another guy named John Majors who lived in this part of town who went to a church in this area, was also a veteran. 00:02:34.753 --> 00:02:37.757 He died. The same week. 00:02:37.789 --> 00:02:41.060 Obituary John Majors. 00:02:41.127 --> 00:02:44.030 I was glad to hear that dad was not dead yet. 00:02:44.030 --> 00:02:46.632 Right. That was encouraging. 00:02:46.632 --> 00:02:48.700 I think that relates to our story today. 00:02:48.700 --> 00:02:52.671 Just in terms of the question of and this is some of what John was trying 00:02:52.671 --> 00:02:56.609 is Jesus really dead? 00:02:56.709 --> 00:02:57.075 Right? 00:02:57.075 --> 00:03:02.681 And behind that question is the bigger question, who really is Jesus? 00:03:02.681 --> 00:03:07.086 We're going to see a couple of different layers addressing this issue. 00:03:07.186 --> 00:03:09.288 Who really is Jesus? 00:03:09.288 --> 00:03:11.289 In fact, we're going to see three things in this story. 00:03:11.289 --> 00:03:15.594 I'm going to flash these on the screen so you can anticipate those as they come. 00:03:15.661 --> 00:03:21.500 We're going to be in John chapter 19 and wrapping up that chapter today. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:24.203 But there's three things there in particular that we'll see. 00:03:24.203 --> 00:03:27.038 First is his humanity. 00:03:27.139 --> 00:03:29.140 We'll see that exposed in the passage. 00:03:29.140 --> 00:03:32.144 Also we'll see his divinity in his death. 00:03:32.144 --> 00:03:35.814 Both of those emphasized. 00:03:35.881 --> 00:03:49.194 But then we'll see, interestingly enough, a courageous response to these two aspects of his nature, his humanity, his divinity, and a courageous response to his death. 00:03:49.228 --> 00:03:51.163 Humanity, divinity, courageous response. 00:03:51.163 --> 00:03:53.264 So turn to John, Chapter 19. 00:03:53.264 --> 00:03:57.937 If you have a church Bible that page number, that'll be on the screen. 00:03:58.104 --> 00:04:00.473 And if you don't have a Bible, we have those in the connection corner. 00:04:00.473 --> 00:04:01.306 Those are free for you. 00:04:01.306 --> 00:04:03.808 Keep those, read those on your own. 00:04:03.808 --> 00:04:09.448 But we love for you to turn in God's Word, your own copy, and follow along while we read and study His word together. 00:04:09.448 --> 00:04:11.317 So, John, Chapter 19. 00:04:11.317 --> 00:04:19.024 And I'm just going to read the first couple of verses of this section, starting at verse 31, to get our context for what's happening here today. 00:04:19.125 --> 00:04:38.009 Verse 31, since it was the day of preparation and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 00:04:38.009 --> 00:04:45.550 So the soldiers came, broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 00:04:45.617 --> 00:04:45.817 All right. 00:04:45.817 --> 00:04:52.358 The context here is Jesus and two other guys on either side of him are crucified. 00:04:52.458 --> 00:04:55.394 And this is what's called the day of preparation. 00:04:55.394 --> 00:05:01.100 In fact, this was the day before the Sabbath, which would be a day where you prepare for the Sabbath. 00:05:01.100 --> 00:05:13.879 But this Sabbath in particular was especially important because you notice in the passage it said this was a high day, a high Sabbath, meaning it fell on one of the Jewish festivals, which made it a little more significant than others. 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:18.283 Kind of like for us, maybe on Easter or Christmas, it gets a little more special attention. 00:05:18.416 --> 00:05:48.480 We do things a little differently that day now, with this Sabbath in particular, there would have been even more preparation that would have gone into it than normal and I want to pause for just a second and talk just a little bit about Sabbath, because we even if you consider Sunday to be a Sabbath and you tried to rest on that day and consider it maybe a little more important than a normal day, we still probably don't hold to the Sabbath nearly at all in the way that the Jewish culture at that time would have. 00:05:48.547 --> 00:05:55.487 Like, for instance, you weren't allowed to work on the Sabbath at all, which even meant things like cooking a meal. 00:05:55.553 --> 00:05:59.425 And so you would have prepared everything you were going to eat on their Saturday. 00:05:59.425 --> 00:06:01.860 I'll just use Sunday. 00:05:59.425 --> 00:06:01.860 That's what we view as the Sabbath. 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:07.199 If you were going to eat on the Sabbath, you prepared all your food the day before. 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:09.935 You had to think ahead to that. 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:09.935 That's what's called a day of preparation. 00:06:09.935 --> 00:06:13.137 You got to get everything ready to be able to rest. 00:06:13.237 --> 00:06:17.975 And let's say you need a fresh tunic on Monday that you want to sure, make sure is clean, washed, pressed. 00:06:17.975 --> 00:06:20.045 You've got to take care of that the day before. 00:06:20.045 --> 00:06:22.113 You can't do that on the Sabbath. 00:06:22.113 --> 00:06:35.060 There's all kinds of little things you want to put in place side note for us, because we spent some time talking about Sabbath during the Habit series back in January. 00:06:35.127 --> 00:06:44.269 If you're running 100 miles an hour every day of the week, it's really hard to just come to a screeching halt on the Sabbath and to rest on that day. 00:06:44.269 --> 00:06:45.704 And nobody even said Amen. 00:06:45.704 --> 00:06:50.041 That tells you right there how heavy that hits us, right? 00:06:50.141 --> 00:06:54.913 Like almost all of your week has to look a little different to be ready to rest. 00:06:55.047 --> 00:07:02.454 In fact, one of the books I mentioned in that time together was this book by John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. 00:07:02.454 --> 00:07:03.288 It's a great book. 00:07:03.288 --> 00:07:05.656 I really recommend reading that book. 00:07:05.656 --> 00:07:07.459 It's challenging. 00:07:07.459 --> 00:07:16.367 It's clear to read, but it's not easy to read because of the challenges with our pace of life that you'll be encountered as you read that. 00:07:16.367 --> 00:07:28.245 But let me throw up one quote on the screen that he mentioned in that in that book, in terms of observing the Sabbath, Aright look, he says here,“There is a discipline to the Sabbath... 00:07:28.245 --> 00:07:31.249 It takes a lot of intentionality. 00:07:31.348 --> 00:07:33.785 It won't just happen to you. 00:07:33.785 --> 00:07:38.689 It takes planning.” There's that word preparation. 00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:39.891 Here's another phrase that got me. 00:07:39.891 --> 00:07:44.295 “It takes self-control.” It takes me saying, No, this can wait. 00:07:44.295 --> 00:07:46.764 I don't have to do this today. 00:07:46.764 --> 00:07:58.175 “People who keep the Sabbath live all seven days differently.” Now, as I say that, I know that, like you probably feel like I'm putting some huge burden on you right now. 00:07:58.175 --> 00:08:04.249 You're saying I've got to change every day of my week and change everything so that I can make the most of the Sabbath? 00:08:04.315 --> 00:08:05.916 Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. 00:08:05.916 --> 00:08:09.987 No, look, here's the reason why. 00:08:10.088 --> 00:08:14.793 Why would we find windows of time to rest and focus on God? 00:08:14.793 --> 00:08:20.531 Well, partly is because the command of the Sabbath is to remember. 00:08:20.598 --> 00:08:23.134 Remember, I'm not God. 00:08:23.134 --> 00:08:23.869 He is. 00:08:23.869 --> 00:08:26.605 Remember, I have limits on my life. 00:08:26.605 --> 00:08:28.807 Remember? He rested on the seventh day. 00:08:28.807 --> 00:08:31.509 Maybe that would be good for me to remember. 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:33.879 He is the one who created me, not myself. 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:36.380 I don't self-determine my existence. 00:08:36.380 --> 00:08:39.384 I remember that He is God Almighty. 00:08:39.618 --> 00:08:41.119 Holy, holy. 00:08:41.119 --> 00:08:44.990 No one greater. 00:08:45.056 --> 00:08:50.061 Now, here's what He says in this next quote that helps point us towards that. 00:08:50.128 --> 00:08:50.828 Look at this next one. 00:08:50.828 --> 00:09:02.807 “Sabbath is a way to stay free and make sure you never get sucked back into slavery.” Isn’t that a powerful way to say that? it's not a legalistic thing. 00:09:02.874 --> 00:09:08.178 I'm not waiting at your door, making sure you don't slip out to work or send a text message to an employee. 00:09:08.178 --> 00:09:10.749 No, it's not a legalistic thing. 00:09:10.749 --> 00:09:13.784 It's freedom. 00:09:13.851 --> 00:09:17.589 Literally, at this time, they would have been celebrating the Passover. 00:09:17.589 --> 00:09:20.125 This would have been that high day. 00:09:20.125 --> 00:09:22.559 Which what was the Passover? 00:09:20.125 --> 00:09:23.394 What was that a celebration of? 00:09:23.394 --> 00:09:26.898 What was that a remembrance of? 00:09:26.965 --> 00:09:32.604 The exodus, literally taken from slavery, taken out of slavery. 00:09:32.736 --> 00:09:45.850 And when we practice the Sabbath, it's just a little bit reminder that God is the one who takes us out of slavery and this world wants to enslave you to all the ways it says you should be driven into madness. 00:09:45.984 --> 00:09:50.822 All the things it says are way more important than knowing Christ. 00:09:50.922 --> 00:09:57.294 The Sabbath is just one way to say I will not be a slave to this world. 00:09:57.361 --> 00:10:06.538 So this was a day of preparation pointing towards the Passover, but there was a problem. 00:10:06.604 --> 00:10:13.010 Part of the problem was we want to celebrate the Passover, but we don't want these three guys hanging around dead and ruining things for us. 00:10:13.076 --> 00:10:15.113 And that's kind of a killjoy in this moment. 00:10:15.113 --> 00:10:17.248 Our laws don't really jive with that. 00:10:17.248 --> 00:10:22.287 So the Jews go to the Romans and they say, Can you speed things up a bit? 00:10:22.352 --> 00:10:27.225 That explains why they came and broke their legs, is what it said, broke their legs. 00:10:27.225 --> 00:10:29.360 Now, why would they do that? 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:33.965 I mean, they're already suffering enough. Isn’t that pretty cruel? Yes, it's extremely cruel. 00:10:33.965 --> 00:10:35.432 That was the point. 00:10:35.432 --> 00:10:43.740 They wanted people to suffer incredibly because they wanted everyone else to see how much they were suffering and to think, I don't want to do whatever they did and end up there. 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:57.322 The punishment was meant to be instructive, but the main I've often heard it describe the main way that people died during crucifixion wasn't necessarily unless they had so much trauma from the beatings and things that they bled out. 00:10:57.554 --> 00:11:03.660 But usually it was from suffocation The way they hung on the cross when they droop down, their lungs would feel liquid. 00:11:03.660 --> 00:11:04.128 Over time. 00:11:04.128 --> 00:11:09.866 It was hard to breathe and they would eventually, slowly, torturously over time, suffocate. 00:11:09.933 --> 00:11:14.806 And the one way to avoid that was to push up with your legs and get a deep breath. 00:11:14.871 --> 00:11:19.543 And if your legs are broken, that's a lot harder. 00:11:19.543 --> 00:11:22.547 Probably can't do that or it's incredibly painful. 00:11:22.580 --> 00:11:26.417 It speeds things up while also increasing suffering at the same time. 00:11:26.417 --> 00:11:28.052 Isn't that wonderful? 00:11:28.052 --> 00:11:31.254 It wasn't like the Jews were going, Hey, let's show mercy on these guys. 00:11:31.254 --> 00:11:34.424 Let's let's make sure that they've suffered enough. 00:11:34.424 --> 00:11:37.562 Let's take them down and by Jews, again, I want to say it over and over again. 00:11:37.562 --> 00:11:49.606 We're talking about the self-righteous religious leaders overseeing all of this monstrosity of injustice that's happening at this time, not Jewish people in general. 00:11:49.673 --> 00:11:56.147 But when John uses that phrase, he usually is speaking to the self-righteous religious leaders. 00:11:56.214 --> 00:11:59.750 What they were most worried about in this moment was their law. 00:11:59.817 --> 00:12:05.188 We want to keep our law, so let's get those guys down. 00:12:05.389 --> 00:12:06.657 So they come to the first guy. 00:12:06.657 --> 00:12:10.595 He's still alive, break his legs, go to the second guy, he's still alive. 00:12:10.595 --> 00:12:11.729 Break his legs. 00:12:11.729 --> 00:12:14.532 But then look what happens when they come to Jesus. 00:12:14.532 --> 00:12:18.869 Look at these next couple of verses, verse 33. 00:12:18.970 --> 00:12:29.513 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:34.985 And at once there came out blood and water. 00:12:35.086 --> 00:12:37.120 He who saw it has borne witness. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:46.029 This is John, the author of the book writing. His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth. 00:12:46.129 --> 00:12:51.302 That you also may believe. 00:12:51.402 --> 00:12:55.639 So they come to Jesus and they see he's already dead. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.241 That phrase is really important here. 00:12:58.241 --> 00:13:03.380 This speaks to that issue that I said we’d address at the beginning the humanity of Jesus. 00:13:03.380 --> 00:13:12.222 This shows us the humanity of Jesus in all that we're going to see in this next little portion that we're reading here. 00:13:12.288 --> 00:13:16.559 The Romans were really good at killing people. 00:13:16.626 --> 00:13:18.461 They knew how to do it really well. 00:13:18.461 --> 00:13:19.397 They weren't fooled. 00:13:19.397 --> 00:13:30.441 If you just pretended to be dead hanging on the cross and you will hear various heresies over the centuries and millennia have said, well, maybe he didn't really die. 00:13:30.441 --> 00:13:33.110 Maybe he just appeared to be dead. 00:13:33.110 --> 00:13:34.912 Or one is called the swoon theory. 00:13:34.912 --> 00:13:39.115 Maybe he just fainted in the midst of all the pain and torture. 00:13:39.182 --> 00:13:46.023 Now, look, these guys did this every probably every day Just by looking at him they knew that guys dead. 00:13:46.023 --> 00:13:49.025 He's done. 00:13:49.125 --> 00:13:57.234 Now, just to be sure, though, they stick the spear in his side and out comes it says blood and water. 00:13:57.467 --> 00:13:59.436 Now, why blood and water? 00:13:59.436 --> 00:14:01.205 Why is that significant here? 00:14:01.205 --> 00:14:02.706 Why does he point that out? 00:14:02.706 --> 00:14:07.577 There have been a lot of explorations of that idea of blood and water. 00:14:07.644 --> 00:14:14.217 Some have taken the medical side of things and gone down that route and seen, well, this is what happens to a body after it dies. 00:14:14.217 --> 00:14:18.855 And there have been these instances where blood and water come out and there's a lot there to explore. 00:14:18.855 --> 00:14:19.856 I think that's interesting. 00:14:19.856 --> 00:14:26.163 I think the main point, though, that is emphasized here is, again, his humanity. 00:14:26.230 --> 00:14:31.402 He was a real human, a real person with blood and water in his body. 00:14:31.501 --> 00:14:33.537 It didn't just appear to be human. 00:14:33.537 --> 00:14:37.941 He was really only God just had the appearance of human. 00:14:38.008 --> 00:14:44.114 No, we see his hu-- I think that's the main emphasis, is his humanity. 00:14:44.181 --> 00:14:56.259 Now, I think also, though, there is some symbolism here for us to take note of. Some things that are maybe a little more nuanced, but we don't have to guess. 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:59.028 We don't have to wonder what does he mean by why would he say blood in water? 00:14:59.028 --> 00:15:03.167 Because he's going to tell us by quoting the Old Testament. 00:15:03.232 --> 00:15:06.235 So let's look at this next section, because this is his humanity. 00:15:06.470 --> 00:15:12.676 But in this, we also see what we're going to see is the emphasis on his divinity as he quotes the Old Testament. 00:15:12.676 --> 00:15:13.476 So look back here. 00:15:13.476 --> 00:15:26.557 Keep reading in verse 36, Blood, borne witness, I say all this that you may believe verse 36 for these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 00:15:26.657 --> 00:15:30.159 Not one of his bones will be broken. 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:37.100 And again, another scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced. 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:41.104 Last week we spent some time looking at that word fulfillment, fulfilled. 00:15:41.337 --> 00:15:45.341 John is quoting the Old Testament more and more as we go through the book of John. 00:15:45.475 --> 00:15:48.378 He's saying everything that's happening now was predicted. 00:15:48.378 --> 00:15:53.082 What you read long ago was all pointing forward to this moment. 00:15:53.149 --> 00:15:56.485 And he's unveiling that in different ways and different layers from different passages. 00:15:56.485 --> 00:15:59.089 It's Psalm and and Isaiah. 00:15:59.089 --> 00:16:02.491 And here we see two other references. 00:16:02.592 --> 00:16:06.830 And so the first one, he notes where he says not one of his bones will be broken. 00:16:06.830 --> 00:16:10.734 That goes back to a passages, a passage in in Exodus. 00:16:10.801 --> 00:16:12.802 In fact, I'll throw the reference on the screen. 00:16:12.802 --> 00:16:15.706 You can look it up on your own later, Exodus 12:45. 00:16:15.706 --> 00:16:23.312 It also appears in Numbers and the context there specifically is the Passover. 00:16:23.413 --> 00:16:37.626 And the reference is to the Passover lamb. And so the Passover lamb would have been killed and the blood would have been used to paint over the door post to protect the first born of the home. 00:16:37.727 --> 00:16:47.169 The lamb was slain and the blood spilled as a sacrifice in place of the firstborn of the home. 00:16:47.269 --> 00:16:53.009 And his special emphasis was not one of his bones of that lamb was to be broken. 00:16:53.110 --> 00:16:56.746 It was to be unblemished, spotless and not broken after. 00:16:56.812 --> 00:16:59.916 And so when we see Jesus hanging on the cross, not a bone broken. 00:17:00.082 --> 00:17:02.052 Here's the imagery we see. 00:17:02.052 --> 00:17:05.922 He is the lamb of God that has come to take away the sin of the world. 00:17:06.088 --> 00:17:11.094 He fulfills what the Passover was pointing towards. 00:17:11.161 --> 00:17:22.939 And so this verse going back to the blood and water that comes out of his body, this verse is showing that that blood symbolizes his blood spilled on our behalf to take away the sin of the world. 00:17:23.006 --> 00:17:25.008 He fulfills the Passover lamb. 00:17:25.008 --> 00:17:27.877 He fulfills the Passover. 00:17:27.877 --> 00:17:29.813 So that's the first half of that blood and water. 00:17:29.813 --> 00:17:34.217 But look at the next verse and what this symbolizes, what this points towards, he says. 00:17:34.217 --> 00:17:39.055 Again, another scripture says they will look on him whom they have pierced. 00:17:39.122 --> 00:17:45.595 Now, this one is going to take us to kind of the dustier part of your Old Testament, probably some of these prophets in Zachariah. 00:17:45.595 --> 00:17:48.530 That's the next to the last book in the Old Testament. 00:17:48.530 --> 00:17:53.970 If you got a church Bible, it's on page 750. Flip over there because I want you to see this verse in context. 00:17:54.037 --> 00:18:18.394 Zachariah Chapter 12 and Zachariah is especially this chapter 12 through 14 is all about the return of the Lord, the day of the Lord, the day, the coming day of the Lord, looking forward to the day the Messiah will come. 00:18:18.494 --> 00:18:26.568 So no coincidence that this is a section that is quoted in reference to Jesus, this in particular verse we're going to look at 00:18:26.568 --> 00:18:34.978 10 is also quoted in Revelation about the return of Christ to come looking forward to His return to come. 00:18:35.077 --> 00:18:37.346 So that's the context that is set here. 00:18:37.346 --> 00:18:39.048 Now look at we're going to look at verse ten. 00:18:39.048 --> 00:18:47.824 We're going to look at it carefully because there is a couple of words in here that will help us understand what Jesus meant by blood and water and how this connects to Christ. 00:18:47.824 --> 00:18:50.059 Look at verse ten. 00:18:50.059 --> 00:19:06.809 It says, I will pour out on the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him, whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him. 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:13.782 As one mourns for an only child and weeps bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 00:19:13.849 --> 00:19:22.759 Now there's a lot happening in this verse, so stay with me for a second, because there is a couple of things we need to point out to see the connection to Christ hanging on the cross. 00:19:22.826 --> 00:19:29.231 He says in verse ten, When they look on me, this is the Lord speaking. 00:19:29.231 --> 00:19:34.203 When they look on me, who you have pierced? Who has pierced him? 00:19:34.369 --> 00:19:37.606 David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 00:19:37.673 --> 00:19:39.474 He's not talking about somebody else. 00:19:39.474 --> 00:19:44.681 He's not talking about some other nation that has attacked the Lord. 00:19:44.747 --> 00:19:45.949 Here. Me. 00:19:45.949 --> 00:19:47.016 You're looking on me. 00:19:47.016 --> 00:19:49.919 The one you have pierced. 00:19:49.919 --> 00:19:54.590 The very situation that Jesus is encountering in this moment. 00:19:54.590 --> 00:19:58.560 His own people have pierced him and hung him. 00:19:58.661 --> 00:20:01.230 This was predicted back in Zachariah. 00:20:01.230 --> 00:20:02.464 But look what he says after this. 00:20:02.464 --> 00:20:04.067 Look at chapter 13, verse one. 00:20:04.067 --> 00:20:09.439 And this is pointing us all to the symbolism of the water, the blood, the fulfillment of the Passover, the water. 00:20:09.439 --> 00:20:21.718 Look at verse 13. On that day I shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. 00:20:21.817 --> 00:20:27.789 On that day, when they looked upon him whom they have pierced, there will be a fountain. 00:20:27.890 --> 00:20:37.500 And of course we know in the book of John, we've already seen in chapter seven the Holy Spirit will come and flow from you like rivers of living water. 00:20:37.567 --> 00:20:42.105 So the symbolism here, blood, fulfillment of the Passover; water, the coming of the Holy Spirit. 00:20:42.270 --> 00:20:46.209 Jesus said, I got to go away so someone greater will come. 00:20:46.308 --> 00:20:55.518 And here it is, cleansing of his blood, the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit with you, the water, the cleansing. 00:20:55.585 --> 00:20:57.720 You know what's powerful about this? 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:08.564 As I read verse ten, his own people are piercing him and persecuting him and what does he do? 00:21:08.631 --> 00:21:12.167 He pours out life on them. 00:21:12.268 --> 00:21:26.781 And I know, look, there have been times when any number of us have looked at Jesus and persecuted him and have said, I don't want anything to do with you. 00:21:26.848 --> 00:21:42.698 And I've only looked at him out of hate or anger and his response to that is to pour out his grace, his mercy, his love, his spirit upon you. 00:21:42.798 --> 00:21:53.375 He loves you so much that blood and water that spilled out represents that he was willing to go to any length for you. 00:21:53.476 --> 00:22:02.084 And that's why John says, Look back at John Chapter 19, because there's one word I skipped over, but it's the central point of this whole passage. 00:22:02.250 --> 00:22:05.688 It's the central point of the whole book of John, Chapter 20:31. 00:22:05.688 --> 00:22:18.401 He says, I've written this so that you may believe, and right here in the crux of the whole passage, I'm writing all this, I'm telling you this, I'm telling you the truth so that you may believe. 00:22:18.467 --> 00:22:35.683 And so to put all this together, because I know we were wading through some heavy stuff here, Jesus in his humanity, fully human, died as a human, blood and water spilled out Jesus in his divinity, fully God, fully in control, died in his strength. 00:22:35.884 --> 00:22:38.186 Died in his timing. 00:22:38.253 --> 00:22:41.089 On our behalf. 00:22:41.089 --> 00:22:46.127 Both are true and both are part of belief. 00:22:46.127 --> 00:22:52.902 In fact, I'm going to throw don't put it up yet, but I'm going to put a big phrase up on the screen that summarizes this. 00:22:52.902 --> 00:23:01.544 And let me explain why, because I know sometimes churches and pastors can throw around big words to try to sound important and maybe confuse you a little. 00:23:01.609 --> 00:23:06.115 But big words and big phrases oftentimes have a purpose. 00:23:06.182 --> 00:23:08.784 We use them to summarize up big ideas. 00:23:08.784 --> 00:23:11.353 I could say to you, God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. 00:23:11.353 --> 00:23:13.888 All three are equally God, and yet there is one God. 00:23:13.888 --> 00:23:16.491 Or I could say God is Trinity. 00:23:16.491 --> 00:23:23.932 We use that one word, that short word, some words, not even in the Bible, but we use it to summarize what the Bible teaches. 00:23:23.999 --> 00:23:26.835 And I ran across this word in seminary. 00:23:26.835 --> 00:23:29.371 I was surprised by it, but I found it so helpful. 00:23:29.371 --> 00:23:31.807 I was a couple of years in before I even heard about it. 00:23:31.807 --> 00:23:34.009 I'd probably heard about it skipped right past me. 00:23:34.009 --> 00:23:36.679 But this summarizes up this whole big idea. 00:23:36.679 --> 00:23:39.647 It's called the hypostatic union. 00:23:39.914 --> 00:23:41.282 Use that in a sentence this week. 00:23:41.282 --> 00:23:44.019 I challenge you. Good luck. 00:23:44.019 --> 00:23:45.186 Here's why I present it. 00:23:45.186 --> 00:23:46.855 Not so that we can try to sound smart. 00:23:46.855 --> 00:23:48.856 First of all, I know you're thoughtful people. 00:23:48.856 --> 00:23:50.558 You come to me with questions. 00:23:50.558 --> 00:23:51.759 I know you're thoughtful. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.662 I know you want to understand Scripture better. 00:23:53.662 --> 00:23:54.730 I want to know you want to. 00:23:54.730 --> 00:23:57.732 I know you want to understand the ideas of Scripture. 00:23:57.932 --> 00:23:59.268 This word is not in Scripture. 00:23:59.268 --> 00:24:01.804 It summarizes up this idea, and here's what it is. 00:24:01.804 --> 00:24:05.007 Jesus fully human and Jesus fully divine. 00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:10.679 Two natures coexist perfectly in one body, the hypostatic union. 00:24:10.679 --> 00:24:16.785 It's a it's a mouthful, but it's an important idea. 00:24:16.785 --> 00:24:18.686 And it comes back to that idea of belief. 00:24:18.686 --> 00:24:24.292 We want to believe in the Jesus who Jesus says he is, not the Jesus we've made up. 00:24:24.358 --> 00:24:30.665 And too often I know my temptation is to say, You know what I really like Jesus as human a little more. 00:24:30.865 --> 00:24:32.667 He's a little more approachable. 00:24:32.667 --> 00:24:35.537 I kind of feel more relatable to him as a human. 00:24:35.537 --> 00:24:36.805 I'm going to emphasize that. 00:24:36.805 --> 00:24:39.307 I'm going to believe in that Jesus. 00:24:39.307 --> 00:24:41.542 Or you might say, that seems like a weak Jesus. 00:24:41.542 --> 00:24:43.278 I like the divine Jesus. 00:24:43.278 --> 00:24:46.280 In fact, I like seeing him come down with wrath and revelation. 00:24:46.315 --> 00:24:53.788 I'm going to believe in that Jesus more than this kind of soft Jesus that dies on a cross. 00:24:53.888 --> 00:24:56.057 But the Jesus we're called to believe in. 00:24:56.057 --> 00:25:00.328 The Jesus that is true is is both of those realities. 00:25:00.394 --> 00:25:04.098 And it's a lot easier to just take one and ignore the other. 00:25:04.165 --> 00:25:11.640 Our call is to believe in him as he represents himself fully, man, fully divine. 00:25:11.740 --> 00:25:23.184 Those two natures perfectly coexisting in one person perfectly, neither overtaking the other, neither pushing aside the other. 00:25:23.251 --> 00:25:26.622 Hypostatic union. 00:25:26.688 --> 00:25:28.589 Believe, believe in Jesus. 00:25:28.589 --> 00:25:30.726 Now, we've seen his humanity. 00:25:30.726 --> 00:25:32.227 We've seen his divinity. 00:25:32.227 --> 00:25:40.469 What I want to see in this moment, and I want us to reflect on it, is a courageous response. 00:25:40.469 --> 00:26:07.762 It's really surprising who he brings up after this, the ones that go to care for him, in that we see a courageous response. So look back at verse 38: after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission. 00:26:07.762 --> 00:26:11.732 So he came, took away his body. 00:26:11.833 --> 00:26:23.912 Nicodemus also who earlier had come to Jesus by night he came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 lbs. in weight. 00:26:24.011 --> 00:26:33.221 So they took the body of Jesus, bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 00:26:33.288 --> 00:26:39.126 Now, in that place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 00:26:39.126 --> 00:26:49.471 So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. 00:26:49.570 --> 00:27:02.250 There's a couple of little details dropped in here to just remind us about the humanity of Jesus, the death of Jesus, that he wasn't just sort of dead or partly dead or fainted or mostly dead. 00:26:57.444 --> 00:27:02.250 He was really dead, fully dead. 00:27:02.317 --> 00:27:09.924 Couple of just small things like the gigantic amount of perfume and spices that were put on him and the cloths that would have been tightly wrapped around him. 00:27:09.924 --> 00:27:12.794 He's not coming out of that on his own. 00:27:12.794 --> 00:27:18.365 And the fact that he was laid in a new tomb, the specific part of that is there was no one else in there with him. 00:27:18.365 --> 00:27:19.534 There would have been no confusion. 00:27:19.534 --> 00:27:21.603 Maybe this other guy was raised. 00:27:21.603 --> 00:27:22.136 No, no, no. 00:27:22.136 --> 00:27:25.740 No one else has used this. He was alone in here. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:29.176 Just a couple of little tidbits to point back to that reality. 00:27:29.344 --> 00:27:39.386 But the surprising part of this part the shocking part of this part is who we see caring for the body of Jesus. 00:27:39.453 --> 00:27:51.732 At first we see Joseph of Arimathea and notice how he's described a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. 00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:54.169 Now, I'll tell you what's shocking about that. 00:27:54.169 --> 00:28:03.411 Flip back to Chapter 12, because John, when he's talked about that kind of disciple, has been very critical of that kind of disciple, look at chapter 12. 00:28:03.411 --> 00:28:08.782 We're looking at verse 42. 00:28:08.849 --> 00:28:17.258 Many of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. 00:28:17.258 --> 00:28:19.493 Now, why was that? Look at this. 00:28:19.493 --> 00:28:27.634 Is this how you want your faith described? For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. 00:28:27.734 --> 00:28:31.071 He was very critical of that kind of person. 00:28:31.138 --> 00:28:33.907 But but not here. 00:28:33.907 --> 00:28:36.711 We don't see that hint. 00:28:36.711 --> 00:28:43.852 We don't see him being hard on Joseph. 00:28:43.852 --> 00:29:01.935 In fact he's highlighting that Joseph, in fact, in Mark it says he took courage and went to Pilate, he took a courageous step and then along with him Nicodemus and Nicodemus is interesting because this is the guy that had argued with the religious rulers. 00:29:02.002 --> 00:29:04.638 I don't think we're going about this the right way, guys. 00:29:04.638 --> 00:29:09.544 There's rules we are meant to follow, and it seems like you're skipping over those to accomplish your own agenda. 00:29:09.544 --> 00:29:10.979 He comes to him by night. 00:29:10.979 --> 00:29:11.546 He comes. 00:29:11.546 --> 00:29:16.884 He approaches Jesus as as a learner. 00:29:16.951 --> 00:29:17.919 We don't know. 00:29:17.919 --> 00:29:18.653 We aren't sure. 00:29:18.653 --> 00:29:24.125 John never explicitly says that Nicodemus was a disciple of Christ. 00:29:24.224 --> 00:29:35.103 Man. But the inference here is he's he's coming out of the night, out of the darkness, coming to take a courageous step. 00:29:35.202 --> 00:29:39.941 In fact, I've tried to put myself in this situation. 00:29:40.008 --> 00:29:52.086 You know, the Romans, when they killed someone for sedition, someone for claiming to be Caesar, they wouldn't bury-- they wouldn't let you take them and bury them in a known grave. 00:29:52.286 --> 00:30:00.027 They would just throw them in a common grave because they didn't want you turning that grave into a shrine. 00:30:00.127 --> 00:30:05.599 I mean, we experienced this when they found Osama bin Laden and executed him. 00:30:05.599 --> 00:30:11.638 They didn't then hand him over to the government and say, here you go, have a burial, celebrate his life. 00:30:11.739 --> 00:30:15.542 They dumped him in the middle of the ocean where no one would ever find him. 00:30:15.643 --> 00:30:23.951 We're not going to take a chance that he becomes a martyr that his grave becomes a shrine. 00:30:24.018 --> 00:30:33.161 Now, try to imagine Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, part of the religious ruling elite. 00:30:33.227 --> 00:30:36.230 This is going to sound so gross to us. 00:30:36.329 --> 00:30:46.840 And it should. Try to imagine some of the Cabinet members, a couple of senators, go to the military and say, no, no, no, no, don't dump his body. 00:30:46.907 --> 00:30:49.544 We want we want Osama's body. 00:30:49.544 --> 00:30:51.811 We want to make sure he gets a proper burial. 00:30:51.811 --> 00:30:57.151 We want to make sure he's cared for. 00:30:57.250 --> 00:31:00.253 That's the kind of courageous step these two guys are taking. 00:31:00.387 --> 00:31:04.491 That wouldn't be courageous from our perspective with Osama bin Laden. 00:31:04.557 --> 00:31:09.829 But you can understand that the Jewish leaders are looking at them going, what are you doing? 00:31:09.829 --> 00:31:15.435 You want to take our worst enemy and you want to care for his body. 00:31:15.502 --> 00:31:23.210 You want to wrap his body, put spices around it, put it in a tomb. 00:31:23.277 --> 00:31:28.782 Now, look, whatever their faith was, it wasn't secret anymore. 00:31:28.848 --> 00:31:33.953 Everybody knows now where their allegiance lies. 00:31:34.020 --> 00:31:41.662 And as I thought about their example, their courageous example, I thought there were a few lessons for us to take from that. 00:31:41.662 --> 00:31:45.199 I'm going to run through these quickly. 00:31:45.266 --> 00:31:47.667 How did their acts of courage inspire us? 00:31:47.667 --> 00:31:50.503 Even? What was their model for us? 00:31:50.503 --> 00:31:52.239 What do we learn from their lessons? 00:31:52.239 --> 00:31:55.576 Let's look at this first one. 00:31:55.643 --> 00:31:59.980 First of all, know you are not alone. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:09.123 I imagine there were moments where Joseph thought am I the only one who sees that Jesus seems to be fulfilling all of this I've read in Scripture? 00:32:07.221 --> 00:32:10.924 I imagine there are moments where Nicodemus thought, Am I the only one? 00:32:10.924 --> 00:32:14.561 Am I the crazy one here? 00:32:14.627 --> 00:32:22.469 And I'm guessing that at work there are times you feel like, am I the only one who knows about Jesus? 00:32:22.569 --> 00:32:30.778 I'm guessing there are times in school you feel like, am I the only one that even maybe wants to follow Jesus? 00:32:30.845 --> 00:32:33.314 But you're not alone. 00:32:33.314 --> 00:32:35.182 It might feel like you're alone. 00:32:35.182 --> 00:32:38.551 It very well may feel that way, but you never know. 00:32:38.586 --> 00:32:39.853 It might be years from now. 00:32:39.853 --> 00:32:44.090 It might be decades from now until that person comes to you and said, I saw you. 00:32:44.157 --> 00:32:46.492 I saw you being faithful. 00:32:46.492 --> 00:32:49.063 I noticed you. 00:32:49.063 --> 00:32:52.266 I wanted to be like that. 00:32:52.333 --> 00:32:53.933 That's the first one. You're not alone. 00:32:53.933 --> 00:32:54.902 May feel that way. Really? 00:32:54.902 --> 00:32:57.904 Well, maybe, but you're not alone. 00:32:58.071 --> 00:33:01.674 Number two, and we've talked about this one a lot. 00:33:01.741 --> 00:33:05.346 Live out your faith as a public face. 00:33:05.445 --> 00:33:09.083 Our faith is personal, but it's not private. 00:33:09.148 --> 00:33:13.252 That's why when we do baptisms, we do them up here for everyone to see. 00:33:13.319 --> 00:33:14.954 We're not hiding. It's not in secret. 00:33:14.954 --> 00:33:19.759 When people join the church, they come down front for everyone to see and to celebrate together. 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:23.063 Yes, our faith is very personal. 00:33:23.163 --> 00:33:24.964 It's not private. 00:33:24.964 --> 00:33:27.201 We live out a public faith. 00:33:27.201 --> 00:33:35.209 And for these two guys, what was once secret now has become open. 00:33:35.409 --> 00:33:47.488 And when I think of them, one of the beautiful places to get in life is to where you're no longer worried about what anyone else thinks when it comes to following Christ. 00:33:47.587 --> 00:33:50.289 All the inhibition is gone. 00:33:50.289 --> 00:33:51.724 You don't care anymore. 00:33:51.724 --> 00:33:53.926 You don't care what happens. 00:33:53.926 --> 00:33:58.198 All you care about is following him. 00:33:58.265 --> 00:34:01.067 We call that freedom. 00:34:01.067 --> 00:34:03.202 Following him. 00:34:03.202 --> 00:34:06.606 We're free from all the worries and anxieties and concerns. 00:34:06.606 --> 00:34:10.110 We just want to worship him and follow him and tell others. 00:34:10.177 --> 00:34:12.579 We don't care anymore. 00:34:12.579 --> 00:34:16.016 That's a great place to be. 00:34:16.083 --> 00:34:20.987 Now, as I say that, let me give a little caveat and this will be number three. 00:34:20.987 --> 00:34:26.260 Let's be gracious and patient with new believers. 00:34:26.360 --> 00:34:27.693 Yes, we want to live free. 00:34:27.693 --> 00:34:31.197 Yes, we want to live open. 00:34:31.297 --> 00:34:47.179 And yet with a new believer, someone who is just coming to know Christ, there's a season of care, like a new seed planted in the ground that needs protection, it needs fertilizing, it needs water, it needs sun, it needs a net around it to grow, to establish roots. 00:34:47.246 --> 00:34:53.820 And let's don't confuse reluctance with being ashamed of God. 00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:55.554 Let's be patient. 00:34:55.554 --> 00:34:57.224 Let's be kind. 00:34:57.224 --> 00:35:06.032 And I'll say this, though, at the same time, one of the most powerful things you can do is if God has worked radically in your life is that same day, go tell others. 00:35:06.132 --> 00:35:08.168 And you can even say, Look, I don't have it all figured out. 00:35:08.168 --> 00:35:09.536 I might spout heresy here. 00:35:09.536 --> 00:35:12.005 I don't know. But I know he changed me. 00:35:12.005 --> 00:35:14.440 I know he is at work in my life. 00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:17.344 When we worked with college students, we tried to do that all the time. 00:35:17.344 --> 00:35:19.445