Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Well, I think I've said good morning to about the majority of you. So good evening. Uh, my name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the Village Church. And, uh, actually tonight is gonna be fairly similar to what a normal Sunday morning looks like. We're going to read scripture together, we're going to worship together, we're gonna open up the word, and we're gonna teach through a text, and then we're gonna celebrate communion together at the end because we are people of the cross and of the resurrection of Jesus. And it's, it's not just a once a year thing. It's, it's an everyday thing to be honest. And so, I'm so glad you're here. I want to invite you open up your Bibles to the book of John chapter 19, because, um, and most of our Sunday mornings we've been teaching through you about the last year and a half or so, the Book of John.
Speaker 1 00:00:48 And so, uh, we're gonna finish up chapter 19, and then Sunday morning we're gonna come back and we're gonna celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We're gonna be in John chapter 20, which is John's personal eyewitness testimony in account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So I wanna invite you back Sunday if you don't already have plans. Now we're in the book of John, and I want you to imagine being John who wrote this gospel and, and trying to figure out of all the things that happened this week, and particularly this day, which parts of the story do you pick to put in your gospel that Christians are gonna read for hundreds or thousands of years? And there are so many aspects of the crucifixion to address. And interestingly, John spends almost no real estate discussing Jesus's agony, his physical suffering. In fact, almost none of the gospel writers focus on this, and he spends almost no time processing with all of us.
Speaker 1 00:01:49 Jesus' emotional agony, the Book of Luke does that really well. But John, John doesn't pick on that thread, but John has a very specific goal under divine oversight as he cherry picks which parts of this story to put in his gospel. And I wanna share that John wants everybody who reads his gospel, who reads the stories in life of Jesus Christ who reads the account of his crucifixion and his resurrection. He wants all of you to know this for certainty. He wants you to know as a firsthand witness, that Jesus Christ is not just some random dead guy, but he has God in the flesh. And every single person on the planet must personally believe in him. Now, if you were gonna write a gospel, right, wouldn't you have an an agenda, right? Uh, if you're gonna write a persuasive paper, wouldn't you have an agenda that you want to convince somebody?
Speaker 1 00:02:41 And John is unashamed. He wants you to take whatever notions you have of Jesus, and he wants to make sure that you lay any notion aside that doesn't align with his account, that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. And and he has a personal objective with every single person who picks up his gospel. His objective is to convince you, not just that Jesus is the son of God, his objective is to get you to believe in him and to give your entire life to him once for all and forever. He is unashamed about that objective. So everything he puts in John chapter 19, it is there to try to convince you that Jesus Christ isn't just a random guy, but he truly is God in the flesh. And, and as John reflects on the crucifixion, it needs to be crystal clear. John does not see Jesus as a victim.
Speaker 1 00:03:32 He is not a victim of cosmic child abuse or anything of the sorts. But what he sees is that Jesus Christ is a mastermind planner who meticulously planned the entire events of the passion week millennia before this thing ever took place. Uh, we need to listen. It's 50 days after the crucifixion, the resurrection of Jesus, the apostle Peter as he kind of ponders this whole event. Here's, here's what he says about the crucifixion and the resurrection. He says in Acts 2 23, this Jesus, he was delivered up according to the, what's the word, definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Who, whose plan was this, by the way? It was the Trinity's Plan. Father, son and Holy Spirit, they came up with this plan from the foundations of the world. And this plan is finding its fulfillment right here in John 19 and John 20. This entire series of events was planned, not randomly, but in eternity past all of creation, all of history.
Speaker 1 00:04:36 It's culminating to John 19 and to John 20. So what we're gonna be talking about is a little bit of prophecy because here, here's what John thought. He apparently felt that one of the best ways to convince all of us throughout history that Jesus is the son of God, is to show how many prophecies he fulfilled. So we're gonna talk a little bit about Old Testament prophecy. Um, there are some of you who are new to the Bible, so allow me to give you, um, about a, a 32nd primer on Old Testament Jewish prophecy. Most people think of Old Testament prophecy as, um, predicting the future. And that's true. But Old Testament prophecy is way more, I would say, nuanced and interesting than that. And so number one, you do have this idea of forthtelling, this idea that, um, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years later, they prophesy, uh, really, really nuanced specific things about the Messiah, who would be Jesus of Nazareth.
Speaker 1 00:05:34 And they got it down just to a t There's a, a second notion of Hebrew poetry that most people aren't familiar with in America, and it's called foreshadowing. There's a, a synonym for this. It's also called topology, or it's called shadows. And this is a person or a thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows or looks forward to Jesus and the New Testament. So great storytellers, what they do is they utilize foreshadowing and, and typically foreshadows. They're sort of kept secret until the big reveal at the end of the book, right? And then what happens is it, it heightens the emotional response of the reader. So a really good storyteller is gonna drop all of these foreshadow bombs all throughout the book. You're not even gonna know they're happening until you get to the end. And then you gotta go back and you gotta reprocess the whole thing in light of new information.
Speaker 1 00:06:26 And what we find in the scriptures is that, is that God is, he is dropping one foreshadow after another, after another, all throughout the Old Testament. And by the time you get to Jesus, these guys gotta go back in their head and reread the entire book through the lens of Jesus actually is the Messiah. And the plan was that he would be killed and then he'd be raised from the dead. He would ascend into heaven and he'd come back sometime later. And, and for them this was like novel. And so when they saw an experience, the crucifixion and the resurrection, this was the fulfillment of so many forthtelling and, and, and, and, and foreshadowings. Now, uh, uh, a shadow, it could be a person. So in the Old Testament, you have this guy Isaac Pop Quizz, who's Isaac's dad, Abraham good jobb. Some of you're like, I don't wanna get that wrong.
Speaker 1 00:07:11 Uh, and, and Isaac is a foreshadow of Christ. He is a type he looks forward. He was going to be sacrificed for sin by his father. You have Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of a fish for how many days? Three. Three. Good job. You didn't let my fourth finger get trick you there. I'm proud of you. Uh, David was the king of Israel, and he suffered and led and had no idea at the time that he would actually be a shadow, a type of foreshadow of the greatest king in all of human history. Jesus shadows can also be things. Uh, you have the sacrificial system, the Passover lamb, the high priest, the bronze servant, the tabernacle. All of these are little foreshadows that God drops into Old Testament Jewish history so that when the Messiah came, they would look back and say, holy smokes.
Speaker 1 00:08:00 Jesus truly is the fulfillment of of, of not just the Forthtelling prophecies, but also of all the foreshadows. Now, John 19, did you know that for almost every verse happening in John 19, there is an Old Testament prophecy, forthtelling it or foreshadowing it. When you think about the events that, that John Cherry picked to tell this story, every single happening in John 19 can be found forth, told or foreshadowed in the Old Testament, every one of them. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna, we're gonna see at the end here, there's, there's about over 15 in this chapter alone. Um, but what he actually does is in John 19, is he breaks it up into three big sections. And each of these revolve around a specific testament prophecy. So let's just take a look at these. Open up your Bibles to John 19 verse 23.
Speaker 1 00:08:55 Here's what he says. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. And, and, and on the one hand you're like, why are you telling us this? Tell us about the blood. Tell us about his suffering. Tell us about his agony. Tell us about what it was like to bear on his body and soul and emotions, the full weight of the wrath of God. But, but here's what John wants you to know, that this wasn't just random. This was actually a part of the, of the plan. Look what he says next. This was to what fulfill the scripture, which says, they divided my garments among them.
Speaker 1 00:09:45 And for my clothing, they cast lots. This was from Psalm 22, verse 18. This was, uh, a psalm of David. Uh, if you read the Psalms, David went through a ton of personal suffering. And David, uh, realized probably when he got to heaven, uh, that his life was a big foreshadow. His life was a big type. He, he existed to point people to Christ and that there becomes somebody who actually would suffer more than David. And what I love about this is that Jesus, he didn't suggest this. He wasn't like, um, Hey guys, in the Old Testament, there's prophecies about where you divvy up my clothes and cast lots. Why are you gonna do that? Nothing perk of, of being godded, putting a master plan over millennia together is that you have omni missions and you know all the things that people are going to do.
Speaker 1 00:10:31 And so what what God does is he drops a foreshadowing breadcrumb and prophetic history so that when the events happen, we look back and go, wow, at some point there are so many of these forthtelling prophecies and these foreshadowing prophecies, and they all fulfill so perfectly and the death and resurrection of Jesus, we would actually have to be fools to ignore the statistical impossibility of one human being fulfilling this many prophecies. The the second prophecies in verse 28, just one verse says, after this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, now what's the phrase to fulfill the scripture? This is very important for John. And he says, I thirst. This is from Psalm 69, 21. It's another Psalm of David. And Jesus knows exactly who he is. He has no identity crisis. There were some prophecies that were fulfilled around Jesus. He didn't have to do anything to fulfill them.
Speaker 1 00:11:32 But then there were a handful of prophecies that Jesus actually had to take time and make happen. So in the middle of him being tortured, every word he says, he chooses carefully. And what Jesus is doing here is he wants everyone to know, even by these little words like I thirst, that he is the fulfillment of the, the type or the shadow of David. He, this is what all of the Jewish people and all of the prophecies and really all of the world have been waiting for. The third prophecy, it happens in verses 31 to 36, it says this, since it was the day of preparation and so that the bodies would not remain in the cross on the Sabbath. For that Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked pilot that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and they broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him.
Speaker 1 00:12:28 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. And at once there came out blood and water. He, he who saw it has born witnessed. I want, I want you to remember this John, the author of this gospel is the John that's witnessing this. And John reflects for a moment and he says to you and I who are reading this, he who saw it, me, the one penning this, his born witness, his testimony is true. And this is normal for them to speak about themselves in the third person when they're writing a story like this. And he knows that he is telling the truth that you may also believe. So John's writing this that you could believe, but then he says in verse 36, for these things took place that the scriptures might be fulfilled, quote, not one of his bones will be broken.
Speaker 1 00:13:25 And, and again, another scripture says, quote, they will look on him whom they have pierced. And these, these are just the three prophesies explicitly identified. So there is a whole bunch more. And I want to just take a moment and I want to read a handful of them for you. And, and I wanna show you that through every single verse of John chapter 19, John chose portions of the story so that anybody reading it would know that Jesus Christ is the long awaited fulfillment of scripture. We'll start with John chapter 19, verse one through three. This records how the soldiers beat Jesus and mocked him, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 50, verse six, and I, I'll read a handful of these, but not all of them unless you wanna be here for three hours. John 19, four to six records how pilot declared that he found no basis for a charge against Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:14:17 This was prophesied in Psalm 69, 4. This says, those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs in my head. Many are my enemies without cause those who seek to destroy me. John 19, nine to 11 records how Jesus did not respond to pilot's questioning. This is prophesied in Isaiah 53, 7. He was pressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. John 19 six and verses 14 to 15, it records how the crowd shouted for Jesus's crucifixion and rejected him as their king. This was prophesied in Isaiah 53 verse three, John 19, verse 16 to 18, records of the soldiers mock Jesus. And this was prophesied in Psalm 22, verse seven through eight, John 1916 to 18 records that Jesus was crucified before between two criminals. This was prophesied in Isaiah 53 12 that one reads, he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.
Speaker 1 00:15:08 Yet he bo the sins of many and makes intercessions even for the transgressors. John 1918 describes how the Roman soldiers crucified. Jesus nailed him to the cross. This was prophesied in Psalm 2216. They have pierced to my hands and my feet halfway through, you still with me? John 1923 to 24 describes the soldiers dividing Jesus's clothing and casting lots for it. This was prophesied in Psalm 2218. They divided my garments among them and they cast lots for my clothing. John 19 verse 28 to 30 records how Jesus was given sour wine to drink. And this was prophesied in Psalm 69 21. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. John 1930 records how Jesus says it is finished and then died. And this was prophesied in Psalm 31, 5 John 1934 to 37 records how the soldiers pierce Jesus side with a spear.
Speaker 1 00:16:03 And this was prophesied in Zakiah 1210 and Isaiah 53, 5 Last but not least, and there's actually more, but this is a good beginning, John 1938 to 42 records how Joseph of Aramathea, a very rich man buried Jesus in his own tomb. This was prophesied in Isaiah 53, 9. He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, there was any deceit in his mouth. The cru, the crucifixion from John's account, it culminates with a really wonderful verse. Verse 30 summarizes this whole thing perfectly. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit at just the right time. When every single forthtelling prophecy and foreshadowing prophecy was complete and fulfilled, Jesus willingly gave up his spirit. Jesus did that incomplete and total control, even to the very end, choosing every word he says so that all who watch and hear know for certain this man was not having an identity crisis.
Speaker 1 00:17:29 He was the son of God. And it is impossible that he was anything else because statistically it would be impossible for one man to fulfill this many prophecies in himself. When Jesus finished his work on the cross in English, he says three words, it is finished. And in the Greek language that this was written, and it's actually one word and the word is tok. In tok, in the ancient Greek literature, it's actually used in a few very interesting ways. And I'd like to share a handful of these with you. These are Jesus's final words. And, and when the Greek round people around him who spoke this language heard this, so much imagery would go through their brain. When a servant finishes his master's task, he comes back to the master and he says to tele I, when an artist would finish their masterpiece and it was done, they would step back and they would say the words to telli.
Speaker 1 00:18:31 When merchants received payment in full, they would say the word to telli as a declaration that all debts and payments have been settled legally. When somebody had completed their sentence, whether it was a fine prison or lashings, uh, the guards or someone in legal control would step back and say to telli, it is finished. And and lastly, when the priest would examine a lamb and they would find it acceptable for temple sacrifice, do you know what they would say to telli? Isn't that interesting? And so as you, as you pull back this, this phrase, isn't it so fitting, it's finished. I have accomplished every single thing the father has given me to accomplish, to tell ay, I'm a servant, to tell ay debt paid in full to tell a i what a masterful story God is writing to telli. The pure spotless lamb has been sacrificed for your sins in your place to tell ay it is finished.
Speaker 1 00:19:43 Now, we, we said earlier that John believe that focusing on Old Testament prophecy was one of the most strategic ways to convince us that Jesus isn't just another dead Jew who is killed by crucifixion. Uh, he really believed that if you understood the reality and the quantity of Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled, you'd kind of be stuck. You would have to say something like, well, I have to consider him now because to ignore him would be complete and utter foolishness. So let, let, let's talk about statistics for a moment being struck by lightning in a year. Do you know what the chances are? One in 700,000. Mm, I know that seems that's a little, yeah. <laugh> being killed by lightning in any given year is one in 2 million. All right, I got better news. What are the statistics, the chances of you personally being hit by a meteorite?
Speaker 1 00:20:40 One in 20 trillion, thank God <laugh>. What are the chances of you dying one in one? There we go. That's a little higher probability. <laugh>, if you were to take the eight most crystal clear, explicit prophecies about the Messiah that Jesus fulfilled perfectly, the odds of one person fulfilling all eight would be 10 to the 17th power, or 10 with 17 zeros. That's just the eight most clear Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. I if there were 48 fulfilled prophecies, which is an easy case to make with Jesus, the odds would be 10 to the 150 seventh power. By the way, that's improbable. And some scholars estimate that there are as many as 456 forthtelling and foreshadowing prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament. I don't even wanna begin to do the math. Statistically, what John wants you to know is that it is almost impossible that Jesus of Nazareth was anybody else but God in the flesh, the Savior of the world, the godman.
Speaker 1 00:21:54 And, and the reason it doesn't end with John chapter 19, it keeps going to John chapter 20, is because the resurrection was a declaration from God that the payment that Jesus offered through his body and blood was accepted. The resurrection was a declaration. He's not crazy. Amen. The resurrection was a declaration that he is the son of God with power. He is the only name under heaven by which men and women, students and children can be saved. It's Jesus. And that is it. And the death and resurrection for John are so central. And if John were here, he'd have a couple. So whats I think for everyone in this room, again, if you're new to Village Church, we end our messages with a so what? Like what do we take away from this? God, what is the demand of this on my life? And and I think if John could get up here and he would look at all of you.
Speaker 1 00:22:40 And if you have never personally trusted in Jesus as your savior, if you have never believed in him as the son of God, if you have never personally said, God, I'm so sorry. Forgive me of my sins. I believe that Jesus is God, that he died in the cross from my sins and was raised from the dead. Like if you've never done that, John would look at you and say, believe today is the day to believe trust in him. Because if you don't, there is no other way to receive forgiveness. And, and, and in fact, if you engage John in a dialogue, he'd probably start telling you story after story after story about how Jesus was the perfect awesome fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. He'd probably tell you something like, yeah, you couldn't believe it. Like we were dense as at door nail. We didn't even see any of it.
Speaker 1 00:23:28 And then all of a sudden he was raised from the dead and everything made, made sense. And you know those great movies that you watch and you get to the end and you're like, ah, no, I gotta go back and watch the whole thing all over again. He would probably go back and say, I had to reread the whole Bible from beginning to end in light of the fact that I saw Jesus murdered. I saw a sword in his side. I saw blood and blood and water come out, and then I actually got to meet the resurrected Jesus. Like he would say to you, like, in light of that fact, like now we gotta go back and reread all this. And he would convince you, he would plead with you. He would look at you and say, I'm telling you I saw it. I'm a firsthand account.
Speaker 1 00:24:00 I'm writing all of this down because I just want you to believe so many lies in this world. Jesus Christ is the son of God. He was crucified for your sins and he was raised from the dead proving that his, his substitute sacrifice was accepted. And anybody can be forgiven, anybody can be forgiven if they would believe in trust in Jesus Christ. So he would look at you, he'd sit down with you one-on-one and he would just plead with you because he knows what's at stake. This is the second. So what that I think John would give is, is he would look at all of the Christians in the room and those who have trusted in Jesus personally, and he would look at you and he would say, never forget what he has done for you. I'm not just writing these things so that people who don't believe can meet the real Jesus.
Speaker 1 00:24:47 I'm writing them for you so that you never, ever forget what your God and Savior has done for you on the cross. And, and those moments where you lack faith or confidence, come back to the word of God, come back to Jesus Christ, never forget what he's done for you and so on. Good Friday. This is every year we do this as a communion service. And communion is about remembering, it's about taking time, setting time apart to look back and to remember what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. And so you may be here with us and you might be visiting family, you might be from a different church, and we have what's called an open communion. It means this, we don't care what church you go to, we don't care when last time you went is, and we do care. But for communion, we personally care that you have trusted in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 00:25:38 We, we want to know that you have personally come to him, confessed your sins, believed in Jesus Christ. You may have been strained for some time, and this might be your first time back. And you know you've trusted in Jesus, but you have pushed him away for a long time. I have good news for you. You don't get your salvation by being good and you don't lose it by being bad. Amen. And so you might be here again, and and I'm gonna encourage you if you're here, and it's been a while, but you have personally trusted in Jesus Christ, partake of communion. If you go to a different church and, and, and you worship there every week, but again, you're with family and you're here, take communion moms, moms and dads. We're gonna have three songs before we celebrate and partake of the elements. But um, you might have kids in the room and this might be a new circumstance for you, uh, mom and dad, you can talk with each other about whether or not you want your kids to take communion in this moment.
Speaker 1 00:26:28 But here's the ask. If your kids have taken or or personally trusted in Jesus and you are comfortable, then they can partake of communion. But that's, that's the, that's the rule. Have you, you personally trusted in Christ? And if so, we wanna invite you to celebrate and partake of these elements together. And, and you might be here and you might be thinking to yourself, uh, first of all, I'm not a Christian. Second of all, like I don't wanna be the weird person who does not partake of communion, uh, because I don't believe in Jesus. And I just want to look at you and say, nobody's gonna look at you, nobody's gonna judge you. If they do, come talk to me and I'll have a conversation with them. Don't partake, pray, ask God if you're really there, if Jesus is really the son of God, would you just with overwhelming clarity, would you reveal that to me?
Speaker 1 00:27:18 Would you, would you show me that there're gonna be some of you here? And as we approach communion, you're gonna feel unworthy because of something foolish and sinful you did either today or earlier this week. And I have good news for you. I don't take communion because I was a good boy this week. I take communion because I'm a sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God. I'm taking communion to remind myself that my salvation was never of my righteousness in the first place, but it was all of Jesus. And so maybe you have struggled this week or this month or this year, and as you partake of communion, it is not a declaration of your goodness, but a declaration of the righteousness of Jesus. And so if you're a believer in this room, we're gonna celebrate, we're gonna partake of these elements together.
Speaker 1 00:28:10 And as we do, I want to give you a time of silence. And this is an opportunity to reflect and to pray. And uh, then, then we're going to sing a few songs together. And I wanna encourage you, if you didn't get the elements on the way in, um, anytime during the next three songs, you can get up outta your seat. You can go grab them. They're to my right at the column to my left. And then between the double doors, you can get up anytime and go grab them. At the end of the, at the end of the three songs, I'm gonna come back and then we're going to read some scripture and we're gonna partake together as a symbol of our unity in Jesus. Sound good? Let's have a time of silence together.
