John Chapter 19:31-37

Not a Lamb of God, not one of the ways to heaven. You know, if you're here this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus, I can understand that you might think that there's more than one way to heaven. I don't agree with it, but I can understand that you might think that. But looking at the character of God, it would be out of the character of God to allow His Son to go through such a painful death to provide yet another way to heaven. It would be out of the character of God to hear the prayers of His Son in the garden and say, Dad, if there's any other way, let this pass from me, but not what I want, but what you want. But what I have a really hard time with is those that say that they're Christians, those that say that they're following Jesus, say that there's more than one way to heaven.

I'm sorry, you can't say that. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. When Jesus arose from the grave, he showed the world that He is powerful and that He alone is the Lamb of God who's there to take away the sin of the world. Today, Pastor David explains the power of Jesus as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 19.

Here's David Magee with his teaching, The Tomb. We are taking a look at the crucifixion of Jesus. And we finished with verse 30 last week when Jesus says it is finished. And we talked about what that means to us as Christians and believers and what that means to somebody that has yet to make the decision. Because Jesus didn't say it was almost done. He didn't say it was almost finished.

He said it is finished, the Greek word to telestai, paid in full. And that's significant to us as believers because that means we can start in our relationship with Jesus from a place of rest, of knowing that we have a clean slate, we've been forgiven. And because of that, then you want to begin to serve the Lord. But serving the Lord doesn't earn your righteousness or earn your forgiveness. Now, as basic as it is, a lot of churches today have it backwards. That you serve God and then you achieve forgiveness or God-given righteousness.

No, because you've been given forgiveness, that causes you to desire to serve the Lord. So verse 31. Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. Again, I'm struck by the irony, or we use the word often, perhaps even too often, of the hypocrisy of the religious leadership. They were asking, and get the picture, guys, they're asking that the legs of an innocent man be broken so that they can respect their religious holiday.

How twisted is that? But, as usual, when we're tempted to throw stones at the Jewish leadership, we probably ought to take a good look at our lives and church in America today, because we tend towards the same thing. We tend towards that same hypocrisy. Now, I'm not talking about, the Greek word is hypocrites. Let me explain that. What that means is wearing a mask.

It came from the Greek plays. It's not talking about the struggle that we all have between doing what's right, and sometimes we fail and we do what's wrong. It's not talking about that struggle. See, if you paint a wide brush like that, let's face it, everybody in here is a hypocrite. Why? Because there's no perfect people in here. There's no perfect people allowed in here. I mean, if you're looking for the perfect church, I'm sorry, this is not it, and you're not going to find it down the street. This is a church of people who have sinned and will still occasionally stumble, occasionally fall, but we have a passion to serve the Lord, to learn about the Lord. That's not being a hypocrite.

But here, these leaders were engaged in deep hypocrisy. I think the church in America can be in danger of that or is in danger of that. We often turn away those who need what we have to say and what we have to offer. And even in your own life, how many people do you think, well, I really want to invite so-and-so to church, but they won't come. No, they're not ready. No, they drink, they smoke dope, they do this.

Those are the very people that you need to be inviting. Do you know what I found? I found more people open to the gospel in situations where actually drugs and alcohol are involved than a church that denies the salvation experience through Jesus Christ.

Did you hear what I just said? You can go into some churches that don't even say you need to be born again. They don't even present the gospel. And you go to talk to somebody about needing Jesus in that situation, they're like, I'm good, I'm okay, I'm fine. But you go into a situation where people are encumbered and people are in chains and people are in bondage and they're struggling with drugs and alcohol and all these things, and you say, man, you don't have to live that way.

And they say, man, good, because this is getting old. I'm looking for another way to live. And yet those are the people that we hesitate to talk to.

Why is that? Religious tradition. The church is a place to go if you don't need it.

That's kind of the mentality, isn't it? And even churches themselves, well, this person seems to have their life together. Let's invite them to church. Is that what Jesus would do?

No, that's not what Jesus did and that's not what Jesus would do. So a lot of things that we do, here we want to make sure that when you bring people, when you invite people, that they have a place here to come that they're going to hear about Jesus. That's why we do that every Sunday morning. Some of you go, okay, end the service, here he goes again.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Do you understand what happens here on Sunday morning? Almost, if not every Sunday morning, both services. People come in here that don't know Jesus. People come in here that aren't going to heaven. And here in this place, in what used to be a warehouse, they come forward and receive forgiveness of their sins.

And now they're going to heaven. Sometimes when we're doing that, let me be honest with you, if you're here for the first time, don't look at your watch. Because sometimes when we get towards the end of the service, it takes a few minutes to do this because I want to give people an opportunity to respond. Don't sit there and go, oh, come on now. Eternity is at stake as these people come forward.

What an awesome blessing. And so I want to keep it real. I don't want to engage in hypocrisy and all those things because you know what? I think people are fed up with that from the church by people posing and acting like they're following Jesus and nothing's wrong with them. Let's be honest.

You know what? There's something wrong with every one of us. Now, you might be fooling a lot of people. You're not fooling God. God sees everything. And there's something wrong with each and every. And yet God still loves us and God still draws us and woos us to come to him. That's the remarkable thing of it all. But the moment we begin to act like we've arrived and we've got it all together, we're missing the point.

Because then people will look and say, well, I can't do that. I can't attain that. Ask people what they think the gospel is if you don't think hypocrisy is a problem in the church in America today. Ask them, what do you think it takes to be forgiven of your sins? Try that. You know what you're going to hear?

A lot of twisted legalism. Well, you know, you've got to be a good person. You've got to go to church at least twice a week.

You've got to do this. Now, I think you should be in church twice a week, but that's not the way you receive forgiveness. And the moment we engage in that, we engage in hypocrisy. I'm hoping that was speaking to people because that was like a spiritual rabbit trail. The reason they talked about the legs being broken, and I'm going to speak honestly, and this is one of those times when I'm kind of grateful that the young ones are in children's ministries, because what was going on here, understand, and we have these cute little nails that we see sometimes, and even I've got railroad spikes in my office, which I have three of them sitting there, and what I do honestly is when I think I'm having a bad day, I pick one of those up and kind of press it into my palm, and I think, you know, today's not that bad. But even those railroad spikes fall far short of what was actually probably used. And they didn't necessarily put it through the palm because what would happen is the hand could be torn and the person fall off the cross, so it was usually put through the wrist. The reason it would tear out of the hand, you see, crucifixion, it became very hard to breathe as you hung like this.

And what you would have to do is push yourself up to catch a breath, and then you would fall back down. And so as you pulled yourself up, if it had been through the palms, there would have been a danger of it ripping through, so they put it through the wrist. That same nail was going through the feet.

Some crosses had little platforms, most of them didn't. So what you were pushing up on was the nail that was going through your feet, pulling on the hands that had nails through them, so you could catch a breath, and then you'd sink back down. Don't forget, Jesus had been scourged, not just whipped. We've talked about this before. It was a whip with pieces of bone and pieces of metal that they would sink into his back that would grab and find a place, and then they would jerk it, ripping the skin, exposing vital organs, sometimes the spine itself.

It was this back that pushed itself up on a wooden cross to catch a breath. Yeah, that's graphic. It is, because you know what? I don't think it registers with us a lot of times. I don't think it registers with me personally sometimes.

Why? Because I get in the midst of a little trivial tribulation or trial, and I think I'm going through a hard time. And then I think about what he went through, and it doesn't compare. So what would happen is they would break the legs of the person being crucified, and they could no longer push themselves up. And they would hang there.

They would not be able to breathe, and they would die quickly. Other than that, the death on the cross took hours, sometimes days. Jesus, because of his scourging, loss of blood, those things, had already passed away. Now, this is amazing. And actually, in 1968 or 69, they found the remains of somebody that had been crucified in Jerusalem, just north of Jerusalem.

And the nail was still embedded into the heel, and they found that the shins had been broken. Once again, archaeological finds proving that what the Bible says is accurate. We'll be right back with more from David Magee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor D.A.

Brown. God, I pray that you would fill people with faith to say yes, that they would put their hope in you, Jesus. Lord, we pray for the town governments, the town council, the mayor, the police chief, those in the fire department, all those working to lead in these cities. We pray that you would give them wisdom and discernment, that they would be people of your word who would look to your Bible for answers. And God, we pray that you would pour out your Holy Spirit on these cities for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David Magee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 33. 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 immediately blood and water came out.

Now, this is amazing for a lot of reasons. The blood in the water is significant for a couple of reasons. Now, cardiologists will tell you today that when the pericardium of the heart is torn, it will cause immediate death. And what happens after that is that water can gather around the heart. But it only happens at death. So here again, we have modern medical knowledge showing that Jesus indeed was dead at this point.

Wasn't passed out, as the Passover plot and other nonsensical things say. Jesus had died. Jesus had died. And that's important to remember the humanity of Jesus, too, because, you know, we've talked about the heresies floating around that say Jesus wasn't God. But do you understand another form of heresy said that Jesus wasn't man, that he was the Christ spirit?

And you have guys like Salvador Dali and other artists who have kind of perpetuated that myth. No, he was 100% man, 100% God. And in his humanity, he died. And he died, if you will, of a broken heart, of a heart that had been pierced by a world without hope, a world without forgiveness, a world that was cold and hard and bitter and cynical. Jesus looked at us, struggling under the weight of our sin, and it killed him of a broken heart. He knew there was no other way that we could find entrance into heaven, except he lay down his life for us. His heart has been broken for you, friend, so that you might have access to forgiveness here in this life and have access to heaven when you die.

This is what he did for you. It's interesting that out of this blood and water, if you will, the church was born. The bride of Christ is what the church is called. The church is not perfect, and yet God instituted it. He looks down, and he's forgiven those who are in the real body of Christ.

I'm not talking about just the people playing. It was birthed out of his side. Why is that significant? Because you remember how Adam's bride came to be? Out of his side, born out of his side while he was at rest. What's rest a picture of?

Death. Remember they got confused over Lazarus, and they said he was asleep, but he was really dead. The bride of Christ birthed from the side of Christ, if you will. Verse 35, and he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling truth so that you may believe. See, we have these things. You understand how many people have tried to disprove the Bible, how many people have hammered the Bible, how many people have tried to show inaccuracies or geographical or archaeological or linguistic problems with it, and all of them have failed? Oh, granted, there's books out there that say this, that, and the other, but nobody has ever come with an argument sound enough to rattle the faith of those who are following Jesus Christ. You understand how remarkable that is?

I mean, men have spent their whole lifetime trying to do that and have failed. John says in chapter 20, verse 31, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name, that you may have life. Let me ask you a question. Do you have life? Do you have life? The life lesson, the first one, the follower of Jesus should be living an extraordinary life, extraordinary difference.

Why do I say this? Jesus said he came that we might have life and that more abundantly. So why do we walk around beat up and in defeat?

Why are we not living that life? Things get in the way. Things get in the way that you need to let go of. And the weird thing is those very things that are getting in the way of you living an extraordinary life, you cling to. You hold on to.

And as the Lord tries to pull it out of your grasp, you grab all the more. God wants you to live an extraordinary life. Do you have life? Do you got life? Are you living that kind of life? Are you just kind of existing and maintaining? Oh, loved one, you have a blood-bought, God-given right to live an extraordinary life.

And if you're living anything less than that, you're being ripped off. Verse 36, For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. Not one of his bones shall be broken. Now, this is incredible.

This is incredible. Consider this. Pilate sent an order that these soldiers would go and break the legs of all three people who were being crucified. The soldiers, under penalty of death, a painful death, not only disregarded that order and didn't break the legs of Jesus, but then one of them did something he wasn't supposed to do in putting a spear inside of Jesus. So what they were supposed to do, they didn't do.

What he wasn't supposed to do, he did do that all Scripture might be fulfilled. And guys, we're not talking about a bunch of ragtag wannabe soldiers. We're talking about Roman soldiers. We're talking about some of those highly skilled, highly trained soldiers in the history of mankind. And under the penalty of death, they disregarded what Pilate told them to do to fulfill Scripture that they were not aware of.

It's amazing. Jesus was a picture of the Passover lamb. And speaking of the Passover lamb, in Exodus 12, 46, it says, In one house it shall be eaten.

You shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. Now that's speaking about the Passover lamb. Jesus was and is the picture of the Passover lamb. That's why in John chapter 1, verse 29, John the Baptist speaks of him and it says, The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now if you were a Jewish person standing there, you knew exactly what John was saying.

In John 1, 36, he says it again. And looking at Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. You realize that 27 times in the book of Revelation, Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God? There's a picture there, guys.

And part of that picture is that none of the bones would be broken. He is the Lamb. He's not just a lamb. He's the Lamb.

Life lesson here. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Not a Lamb of God. Not one of the ways to heaven. Now if you're here this morning and you're not a follower of Jesus, I can understand that you might think that there's more than one way to heaven.

I don't agree with it, but I can understand that you might think that. But looking at the character of God, it would be out of the character of God to allow his son to go through such a painful death to provide yet another way to heaven. It would be out of the character of God to hear the prayers of his son in the garden saying, Dad, if there's any other way, let this pass from me, but not what I want, but what you want. But what I have a really hard time with is those that say that they're Christians, those that say that they're following Jesus, say that there's more than one way to heaven.

I'm sorry, you can't say that. If you're following Jesus, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, Jesus said there's one way. So either you're following Jesus and there's only one way or you're not following Jesus, and that's open to you to say that there's many ways. Well, Pastor David, this is pretty basic Christianity. Yeah, but you realize there's churches here in this town that are teaching people there's more than one way to heaven?

I think it's pretty basic, but evidently there's some confusion. He is the only lamb. Verse 37, and again, another scripture says they shall look on him whom they pierced. It's interesting referring back to the Passover in Exodus chapter 12.

You can read the whole chapter. It lays out Passover. Chapter 12 verse three says, Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying on the 10th of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. Verse four, and if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Notice the progression. A lamb, the lamb, your lamb.

That's the progression we all make, isn't it? I mean, we recognize in the beginning when you became curious about Christianity, or that may describe some here this morning, a lamb, yeah, I believe Jesus died. I don't know about he died for the sins of the world.

I believe he died. And then you get to the point where you go, no, he died for the sins of the world, and he's the only one. But still, that's head knowledge.

So you can know about God in your head and not be going to heaven. Many people in many churches don't know Jesus. Oh, they know about Jesus, but they don't know him. He's a lamb, maybe the lamb, but he's not their lamb. Is he your lamb? Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the Internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Today, you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee.

Those are terrific. And it's easy, and it's free. So, folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.