Home Group Study - Sermon Date: 19 April 2019

Text: John 19:28-30

Opening Discussion: For some people the Easter weekend is all about chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies. When was the first Easter that you celebrated as a believer and how different was it from the year before as an unbeliever? What has been your experience? Share your story.

Summary:

The Lord Jesus has become man. He has lived an absolutely perfect life of self-sacrifice and obedience. He has been despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His enemies have been many. His friends have been few. He is at last handed over to those who hate him. He is arrested while in the act of prayer. He is betrayed by one of his very own disciples.

He is put on trial before the spiritual and secular courts. He is beaten beyond recognition. He is robed in mockery, and then unrobed in shame. He is declared innocent, and yet he is delivered up by the judge who ought to have preserved him from his persecutors. He is dragged through the streets of Jerusalem which had killed so many of his prophets who had come before him and now would cover itself with the blood of the prophets’ Master. He is brought to the cross. He is nailed to the wood. He is hanged up for all to see. He loses blood. He dislocates his bones. He suffocates and can hardly breathe. His own disciples desert him. People mock and ridicule him.

Even his Father deserts him, so that he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). He looks everywhere, and there is no one to help him. He casts his eye around, and there is no one who can share in his suffering. He must suffer alone.

On and on he goes. He is determined to drink to the very last drop of that cup which cannot pass from him if he is to fulfill his heavenly Father’s will. At last he cries, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And then, a little while later, he dies.

Investigation & Interpretation:

Read: 

• John 19:28-30 & Luke 23:44-49

1. What was the true nature of the charge against Jesus? John 19:7-11
2. What is significant about the soldiers dividing Jesus clothing? John 19:23-24
3. How is the humanity of Jesus displayed in John 19:25-27?
4. What is the Greek word for “It is finished” in John 19:28 and 30? What does it mean?
5. Why was fulfilling scripture important to Jesus? v.28
6. How is Isaiah 53:3-5 fulfilled in Jesus Crucifixion?
7. What is the significance of Jesus “giving up his spirit” in v.30 (c.f. John 10:17-18)
8. Who confirmed the death of Jesus? John 19:31-37
9. Who buried Jesus body? John 19:38-42

Application

How must I change?

• Is there a Truth to be believed?

Why do you think the New Testament makes such a strong point about Jesus' physical suffering? What difference would it make if Jesus were a divine person who didn't actually suffer on the cross? What difference would it make if Jesus were only a human being martyred on the cross?

• Is there an Attitude to be fostered?

Over the centuries, Christianity has been called a “bloody religion”. Why do you think God decided on such an bloody and even sick form to take away sin? (c.f. 1Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 9:22-26)

• Is there a Behavior to be changed?

Regardless of how obedient we might be, salvation does not come from our good works, but through the grace of God. The definition of grace is receiving what we do not deserve. What do we deserve? The gospel has implications for the way we should live and think. How then should the death of Christ affect our behaviour?

Conclusion

John Mac Arthur writes: “ Everything had come to pass exactly as He said it would. Not only Jesus, but also His killers, and the mocking crowd, together with Pilate, Herod, and the Sanhedrin – all had perfectly fulfilled the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God to the letter…..Christ calmly and majestically displayed His utter sovereignty to the end. It seemed to all who loved Him -  and even many who cared little for Him, like a supreme tragedy. But it was the greatest moment of victory in the history of redemption, and Christ would make that fact gloriously clear when He burst triumphantly from the grave just days later.”

Jesus Christ became a curse for us, but once His mission was “finished” the fellowship with His Father was restored. He was raised from the dead, and He ever lives to make intercession for those who come to Him in repentance and faith.  Jesus, we are told, ‘endured the cross, despising the shame’ because of ‘the joy that was set before him’ (Hebrews 12:2).  That ‘joy’ was the restored fellowship with His Father.  He knew that He would be forsaken, as He became sin for us.  But He knew that that would not last forever.  He understood that He would soon be restored to that eternal fellowship with His Father, and He kept His focus on that even as He suffered separation from God.

Prayer Points:  

1. Thank God for the redemption Jesus secured on the cross on our behalf. Praise God Jesus has risen!
2. Pray that we would never allow the wonder of the gospel to lose its power and effectiveness.
3. Pray that we would be used by God to share the wonderful message of the Cross.