Jesus’ Death that Saves All People (Jn. 19:31-42)
Let us bless and greet one another, “Happy Mother’s Day.” Upon all of the mothers, may the life, authority and resurrection of Jesus Christ be restored to save all of your family and the region. May the blessing of God be upon all of the regional churches that are worshiping with us at this time, including Yakima, Seattle, Washington, Alabama, and Mongolia.
The title of today’s message is, “Jesus’ Death that Saves All People.” The key of today’s message is, what saves and what kills, and that restores the blessing of our lives. It means the problem is not our hard work, and the issue is also not about our own weakness. The real question is, does it save or kill? Through today’s Word, may you receive the answer of coming to life yourself and saving others.
Last week, in the Scripture we received, Jesus Christ said Himself, “It is finished,” bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. The content of today’s scripture is, they are confirming if He is really dead or not, because He must really die in order for all the curses and disasters of our sin to be resolved. Through His death on the cross, all of the disciples who were once hidden began to reveal themselves. When the gospel is proclaimed, the disciples who are hidden will arise. Then, this is not about our hard work or our methods; it is the method of God.
1. Law of the Jews
1) Blasphemes the name of the Lord – Death (Lev. 24:16)
In our Scripture, it says, “This was the day of preparation,” they were preparing for the Passover. On the Passover Day, Jesus Christ was crucified just as a young lamb, it also happened to be the Sabbath. It is a law that bodies are not to be left on crosses on the Sabbath, but what’s more important is, why did Jesus come to die?
(1) I and the Father are one (Jn. 10:30)
(2) Man claim to be God – Blasphemy (Jn. 10:33)
(3) According to the law, crucified on the cross
Jesus Christ claimed, “I and the Father are One,” and according to the Jews, this was blasphemy and He must be stoned to death. For the Jewish people, they thought it was the right thing to do to kill Jesus based on the rules of the laws. If they had really received the grace of God, they would really be able to see that He is the King of the Jews and He is the Messiah, but they did not receive this grace. The Law is the Word of God, but if you put the Law above the gospel, then you will kill people.
But if you place the gospel above the law, then John 1:17 says that Grace and Truth begin with Christ. This is an incredibly important part. If the church becomes centered on the law and religion, they will only be fighting and be divided. Before God gave Moses the Law, God gave us the gospel in Genesis 3:15, He gave Abraham the gospel. When we receive the gospel of this cross inside of our hearts first, before anything else, then Romans 8:4 says the law is naturally fulfilled. On the other hand, the Jewish leaders were trying to fulfill their law, and that’s how they were killing Jesus. When churches begin to move, not centered on the gospel, but on the law, they begin to kill people, not with the sword, but with the law. That’s the characteristic of the law, that’s the characteristic of religion, so Satan in the background is continuously making people fall into religion and legalism, but the Lord desires to save us with the gospel of life.
2) Day of Preparation and Sabbath (Jn. 19:31)
(1) Passover and the Sabbath overlapped
(2) Did not want the bodies left on the crosses (Jn. 19:31)
(3) Must not leave the body hanging overnight (Dt. 21:23)
Because it was against the Jewish laws to have a body hanging on the Sabbath day, they asked to take the bodies down, but in order to take the bodies down, they had to confirm that they were dead.
3) Asked to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down (Jn. 19:31)
(1) Legs broken – Die quickly by suffocation
In those days, the way they would confirm if someone on the cross was dead, they would take a blunt object to break the shin bone so they would collapse and not be able to breathe, and they would die quickly.
(2) Two people – Legs broken (Jn. 19:32)
The two people crucified with Christ had their shins broken and were confirmed to be dead.
(3) Confirm Jesus’ death – Did not break his legs (Jn. 19:33)
But when they came to Jesus, they found He was already dead. He said, “It is finished,” in John 19:30, and He gave up His spirit and died right then. However, in reality, the fact that they did not break the shin bones of Jesus Christ was something already prophesied in the Old Testament. We just live our lives without thought but God is fulfilling His Word. Throughout your week and your life, God is fulfilling His Word exactly but some people can see it and others cannot see it. For example, if someone was holding onto the prophecies of the Word of the Old Testament, when they saw Jesus’ bones were not broken, they would see that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy; however, most people look at the circumstances of their lives based on their thoughts so they do not see the Word of God fulfilled.
Throughout your week, your situation, and the work you are doing, God is fulfilling His Word. How can we confirm that? If you hold to the Word that God is giving to you through worship today, and you look at all the work and the problems and circumstances through that Word, you will see it fulfilled. However, if you look at the circumstances of your life and the world based on your experiences and thoughts, you will not see the Word of God fulfilled. The way for you to see the Word of God to be fulfilled is that you must have the Word of God inside of you at all times. Especially on the Lord’s Day, completely fill yourselves with the Word of God because this is what God is giving you as a navigation system for the rest of the week.
What is prayer? Whatever you say to God in the name of Jesus Christ is prayer, then what should we pray for? Phil. 4:6-7 says you pray to God for anything in the name of Jesus Christ, then God’s peace and answers will come to you. Even right at this moment, if you take your thoughts and turn them into prayer towards Jesus Christ, they will turn to answers, but if you keep thinking about it on your own, your thoughts become worries. The next level of prayer might be, if you’re thinking of and praying, holding onto the Word God gave you, then you will see answers according to the Word, and when you simply tell others about this, this is evangelism. Since the beginning of time, God has been continuously carrying out His Word of salvation, power, and carrying out evangelism. Even right at this moment, God is carrying out that work, and it’s important to confirm if I am within that stream or not.
The Jewish people were not able to see that Jesus’ shin bones not breaking was a fulfillment of God’s Word. Galatians 5 tells us what it means to be under the law of the greed of the flesh or not. The acts of the flesh are this, division and hatred, all of the bad things, but on the other hand, those who are led by the Spirit of God will receive the fruit of the Spirit. In other words, when you go into the life of Christ, then God begins to work. For us, the gospel must not be first, but instead, the life of Jesus Christ must take place in our deepest center. Then that life of Jesus Christ has the power to heal and save our life and soul and body because from the life of Jesus Christ begins the power of Jesus Christ. That is where the authority of Jesus is revealed. Today, we must realize that our life will change based on whether we are centered on the Word of the law of religion or the gospel of life.
2. Jesus’ death
1) Roman soldiers
(1) Pierced Jesus’ side with a spear (Jn. 19:34)
(2) Flow of blood and water (Jn. 19:34)
(3) Confirmed that Jesus surely died
To confirm Jesus’ death, the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side to see there was blood and water. In John 19:35, it says, “The man who saw this,” that is, John, writes this so that you may believe that Jesus is truly dead, and that this testimony is true. Then in John 19:37, “They will look upon the One they had pierced,” meaning He will resurrect. Jesus Christ must die to set us free from the authority of death, sin, and Satan. The reason is in 1 John 1:7.
2) Jesus’ death
(1) Blood – Purifies sin (1 Jn. 1:7)
The blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from all sin. What is sin? It is, leaving the life of God. Whatever sin you can see with your eyes is just a revealing of that invisible sin, but we judge people based on the standard of what we can see with our eyes. Do you think there is poop inside of you right now? Sorry for the vulgar language. We have poop in us, but we don’t smell it. Is it dirty or not? It is, and even though we have poop inside of us, we don’t think of each other as dirty, but if someone pooped their pants right now, we’d point at them and say they are dirty. Everybody has this inner nature, but nobody looks at that but if someone commits an act of sin, they say, “That’s dirty.” The Lord never says it like that. When Jesus saw the Pharisees were keeping the rules of the law with their own actions, He doesn’t say they’ve kept the law. “If you lust for another woman, that’s adultery; if you hate, that’s murder.” The reason God gave us the law to begin with is so we can see what’s inside of us. But people don’t even look at or consider what’s inside of us, but we are sinners.
There’s a Korean Christian actor, and this person has a nickname, “Example of Morality.” He gave a speech and said, “You may look at me and think I’m pure with morals and ethics, but in reality, that’s not true. All I have is the skill to hide my sin from you. So it’s not that I don’t have sin, but you don’t see it because I hide it from you. Because I am able to hide my sin from you with such skill, you guys think of me as some kind of holy person. But the Bible, Romans 3:23, says that all have sinned. Because of this sin, we face curses, disasters, and death. No matter how righteous our thinking may be, our sin will never go away. Only the death of Jesus Christ on the cross can finish that problem. That is the only way we can escape from that sin.
But the Jewish people were looking at the external shell. Because their external actions seemed ethically clean, they thought they did not have sin, but that’s a misconception. Every single person, all have sinned. There is not a single exception. That’s why Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the death that saves all people. When they pierced His side, it says that blood and water flowed out. By spilling His blood, our sins are washed clean. There is no amount of effort, morals, or success that could do this.
(2) Water – Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:38-39)
When the water flowed from Him, that’s John 7:38-39, the “water will flow from us,” meaning, the Holy Spirit. So, when Jesus Christ spilled His blood and water, it was the incident that cleansed us of our sin, gave us the Holy Spirit, and made us Children of God. From His side was born the Church, the bride of Christ. Just as the first man, Adam, from his rib came his wife, Eve. Through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, the Church was born. Christ is the head and we are His body and we are now children of God. \
(3) Come to life
That means that Jesus Christ’s death contains my death as well. If Jesus Christ dies but I do not die with Him, then my sin is not resolved. When God created mankind, He created us in His image. Geh. 1:26, “Let us make mankind in our image,” meaning, the Triune God. Then, the fact that we are created in the image of the Triune God means we are meant to be with the Triune God. The spirit of the Creator God is with us, and He gives His Word and fulfills His Word. From the very beginning, God created the work of the Christ to carry out salvation, and the Holy Spirit was given to Adam so he lives with the power and guidance of God, because even before creation and before mankind was made, God already had a plan for salvation, meaning He already knew we would sin and die. By being with the Triune God, God blesses us to be fruitful and abundant, to rule over and subdue God’s creation. When God created Adam, we were already part of creation. Now, individually, people being born is already part of God’s time schedule, but we were already part of creation through Adam’s seed. Adam’s sin becomes my sin, and when Jesus Christ died, that also contains my death there, too. So, Jesus Christ’s death is actually a death that saves.
3) With Jesus
(1) My death – Old self (Rom. 6:6)
My old self dies on the cross with Christ. Romans 6:6 says our old self was crucified with Jesus Christ so our body of sin might be done away with, so we are no longer slaves to sin. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, it is the death of my old self, the “self” where I lived as my own god. Adam and all of mankind was created to live with God, but the moment He wanted to live on his own, deciding what was good or evil for himself, all problems began. Where do all of our problems begin? When we begin to think on our own, by ourselves. That incident of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, where I make my decisions and set my standards based on my knowledge, kills. People do not change because you judge them based on what is right or wrong; only through Jesus Christ’s death, when He comes to life inside of us, we come to life as well.
(2) New life (Rom. 8:4) – New creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
Romans 8:4 says that we who have died with Christ have received a new life. New life, meaning the old life where I lived without Christ has died on the cross. Now, the new life that I live is with Christ, with Christ as my Lord. 2 Cor. 5:17, He completely resets me as a new creation. That is my life, coming to life through the cross, then how must we live now?
(3) Live life by faith (Gal. 2:20)
Gal. 2:20 says that the life I now live, I live by faith in Christ. If you keep listening to the words of the gospel, then Romans 10:17 says that the words of the gospel will save and revive your spirit. The words of the law cannot save your spirit and soul. No matter what amazing thing is in the world, it cannot save your life. When you watch a movie or listen to music or go on a vacation and have fun, you may enjoy it but it cannot save your life. The life of Jesus is what saves me. No matter if even someone is addicted to substances or drugs, we can only save them through the life of Jesus Christ. No matter what mental illness someone is struggling with, if the life of Jesus Christ goes into them, that can save them. If you look at yourself and others and judge if they did right or wrong, you cannot save anyone. You have to give them the gospel: the Lord is with you, He has finished all problems on the cross and is with you now. That’s what saves them. The actions of what we do right or wrong, that changes naturally as a result of Jesus’ life in you, so if you continuously listen to the words of the gospel, you receive healing even if you don’t realize it. If you continue to strengthen your children with the words of the gospel, your children will change. It’s not enough to go to church. What happens if you go to church but the words of God do not go into you? What happens if you listen to the Word of God, but it’s not the gospel? You judge people what’s right or wrong based on the Law, but it still cannot save. By believing in Christ, we receive the blessings of Abraham as the descendants of Abraham. You will be a source of blessings, through you, all nations will be blessed. I will make it so that no one can go against you. It’s not because you think so well, but it is a blessing. “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. I will give you the blessing of the 318 foot soldiers as I gave to Abraham. I will bless you with 100-fold as was given to Isaac. I will give you the blessing of the Rehoboth economy. I will give you the spiritual blessing that I gave to Jacob. Through your future generation, God will give you the blessing of Joseph that will save the entire world.
The only condition is, do you believe in Jesus? Inside of you is the life of the seed of Jesus Christ; do you believe this will bear fruit? We are regarded as righteous by faith; it doesn’t matter if you have knowledge, but when you believe, it becomes faith, so we continuously listen to the words of the gospel of life, then our faith grows. Sometimes when I go back home, I mix the gospel with legalism and give it to my kid. Even this morning, she woke up early and put on eyelashes and makeup, and I said, “Why are you so busy so early in the morning?” “Today, one of my friends from middle school is visiting LA so I will meet them.” “What about during worship, can you at least take your fake eyelashes off?” “I can’t, it throws off the balance of my makeup.” With the law, if I told her what was right or wrong, I would kill her, whether your eyelashes are long or short, you are a child of God and He is with you. The life of Jesus Christ is within you and changes you.
Will you deliver the law first, or will you deliver the gospel of life first? That depends on you. Even when you apply it to yourself, will you come at yourself with the law or with life? I am a child of God, I am a source of blessings, and through me, all nations of earth will receive this blessing. That’s the blessing of being a new creation and a new life. That’s who we are, now. Then, exactly according to God’s promise, it will take place in your life, and I hope especially on Mother’s Day, you’ll become 10 years younger because that was like Moses. When you enjoy the life of Christ, even your cancerous cells go away. When the life of Jesus Christ even comes into your body, even your diseases are healed. Even our negative emotions, things like depression begin to change with the power of the life inside of us. I hope you will go to the hospital and save your spirit, mind, and body. For students, instead of worrying and wondering, “How can I study better?” Try studying with the Word of Jesus Christ, then your studies will be used to bless all nations.
3. Power of the cross
1) 2 disciples
Today, through Jesus Christ’s death, two people came out with their faith.
(1) Joseph of Arimathea – Kept a secret that he’s a disciple (Jn. 19:38)
(2) Asked for Jesus’ body (Jn. 19:38)
In John 19:38, it mentions Joseph of Arimathea who at that time was at the highest level of society, but he was a disciple of Jesus in secret because if the Jewish leaders found out, he may have lost his position, but today he boldly declares his faith by asking Pilate for Jesus’ body. “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ,” Jesus’ death on the cross reveals power that even overcomes our fear. When we enjoy the life of Jesus Christ, the disciples prepared in the field will arise. All the people shaking and trembling in the field now, when they enjoy the life of Jesus Christ, they will stand. When you yourself enjoy the life of Jesus Christ, you will arise as disciples. Your children who were once so scared, “How can I tell people about Jesus? I’m so scared,” they will receive strength and arise.
(3) Nicodemus – Mixture of myrrh and aloes, 100 pounds (Jn. 19:39)
There was another person who revealed his faith, Nicodemus who followed Jesus at night, he came with a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 100 pounds. That amount of myrrh and spices was the amount for a king in those days, so he was confirming, “Jesus is the King,” before all the Jews. The other priests were saying, “Our only king is the Roman emperor,” but Nicodemus confessed, “Jesus is the King.”
2) Experience the cross
(1) Disciple who will reveal the cross appears
(2) Power of the cross is revealed
(3) Powerlessness of humans disappear
When we confirm the death of Jesus Christ, the power of the cross is revealed. That is when the hidden disciples of Jesus Christ begin to arise. Our fear and our weakness begins to disappear by the cross. Our depression, our panic attacks, our addictions begin to disappear before the cross.
Conclusion
1. Complete death
2. Life of life
3. Life that saves
In conclusion, Jesus Christ completely died. If Jesus Christ did not completely die, we could not come to life. Jesus Christ’s death was complete, and that is how I gained life. If we enjoy that life through faith, we will come to save others. May you enjoy the life and death to save yourself and other people throughout the week.
Message Prayer
Let us pray at this time so we may be able to look at all circumstances through the word GOd gave us today and enjoy in prayer.
Offering Prayer and Newcomer Blessing
God, we thank You. We thank You because the complete death of Jesus Christ is the Life that saved me. Allow me to be saved in my mind, spirit, and body through Jesus’ life. May the life of Jesus become my power. May the precious works of saving the lives in the region take place through the authority of Jesus Christ.
We have returned your materials as offering, Everywhere this offering is used, we pray the life, power, and authority of Jesus Christ be used. May diseases be healed. May this offering be used to heal those who are suffering, mentally and spiritually. We believe You will work upon the hands that have given this offering with the blessing to do world evangelization. May this offering be used to save the next generation. In Jesus’ Christ’s name I pray, amen.
Announcements
1. Online zoom early morning prayer (Mon.-Fri. 5:30, Sat. 6AM) – Raise the bartizan of prayer
2. Church Leader session every 2nd Sunday of the month, 5/11 (Sunday) 12:30pm
3. Church officer’s message every Sunday at 1:30PM in Church officer’s room.
4. Offering can be given to the church venmo: @Antiochmissionchurch
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of our Father God, and the indwelling, guidance, fellowship, and working of the Holy Spirit, be upon the heads of all the people of God, the people of all nations, and the remnants who desire to enjoy the life of Christ to save themselves and others through the death of Christ, be with them from now until forevermore always, amen.