Sin, life and temporal suffering (John 19:1-37)

In obedience to His father and as an act of love to those whom He calls His own, Jesus lays His life down. Even at this stage, Pontius Pilate does whatever he can to have Jesus released because there was no charge found against Jesus. But through the insistence and belligerence of the religious leaders, Pilate gives over and has Jesus crucified. In our talk today, we will see that it is our sin that held Him there to that cross, because of the wrong that we have done, though we deserve punishment from God, Jesus' love and the Father's love give us the great exchange where Jesus' life is offered up instead of ours. Jesus is paying for all of our debt of sin. And in this we have eternal life. Finally, as we examine the cross and the love of Jesus, we see a picture of our own lives as we are crucified to this world - no longer living for it but living for God, set free to love instead of being given over to the things that corrupt us and send us further away from God. We thank the Lord Jesus and the love of the Father in this section - Jesus' crucifixion.