Dead and Buried
Rev. Bruce Brown
John 19:31-42
March 28, 2021
I. The Certainty in Jesus’ Death (verses 31-37)
a. The Fulfillment of “No Bone Broken” (verses 31-33, 36)
b. The Fulfillment of “Piercing and Looking” (verses 34-35, 37)
II. The Consequences of Jesus’ Death (verses 38-42)
a. The Preparation (verses 38-40)
b. The Placement (verses 40-42)
““In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness." (Zech. 13:1.) When was that fountain so truly and really opened as in the hour when Christ died? What emblem of atonement and purification was so well known to the Jews as blood and water? Why then should we hesitate to believe that the flow of "blood and water" from our Lord's side was a significant declaration to the Jewish nation, that the true fountain for sin was at length thrown open, and that henceforth sinners might come boldly to Christ for pardon, and wash and be clean?... Faith in Christ is the one thing needful. "He that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life.” (1 John 5:12).” ~ J.C. Ryle
Under the Cross of Jesus
Rev. Bruce Brown
John 19:23-30
March 21, 2021
I. The Soldiers and Jesus’ Clothing (verses John 19:23, 24)
II. The Women and Jesus’ Provision (verses John 19:25-27)
III. The Scripture and Jesus’ Fulfillment (verses John 19:28-30)
“The Prophets who foretold the particulars of the crucifixion, were inspired by Him who foresees the end from the beginning; and the books they wrote under His inspiration ought not to be read as human compositions, but Divine. Great indeed are the difficulties of all who pretend to deny the inspiration of the Bible. It really requires more unreasoning faith to be an unbeliever than to be a Christian. The man who regards the repeated fulfillments of minute prophecies about Christ’s death, such the prophecies about His dress, His thirst, His pierced side, and His bones, as the result of chance, and not of design, must indeed be a gullible man.” ~ J.C. Ryle
Behold Your King!
Rev. Bruce Brown
March 14, 2021
John 19:12-22
I. The King’s Rejection (verses John 19:12-15)
II. The King’s Response (verses John 19:16-18)
III. The King’s Royalty (verses John 19:19-22)
“It is for this moment that the whole of the Bible has been preparing us. From the time of the Fall, throughout the whole Old Testament revelation, God was leading his people towards that day when he would send a Saviour and through him bring about salvation for all time. Similarly, from the moment of the conception of Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary, right through to the climax of his ministry in Jerusalem, the Gospels have been preparing us for this—his death, and everything that it would achieve. ~ Mark Johnston
Pilate and the King
February 28, 2021
Rev. Bruce Brown
John 19:1-12
I. The King in His Humiliation (verses 1-6)
II. The King with His Authority (verses 7-11)
III. Friends of the King (verse 12)
“We see the Savior of mankind scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, smitten, rejected by His own people, unjustly condemned by a judge who saw no fault in Him, and finally delivered up to a most painful death. Yet this was He who was the eternal Son of God, whom the Father's countless angels delighted to honor. This was He who came into the world to save sinners, and after living a blameless life for thirty years, spent the last three years of His time on earth in going about doing good, and preaching the Gospel. Surely the sun never shone on a more wondrous sight since the day of its creation!” J.C. Ryle
Pilate and the Kingdom of Christ
February 21, 2021
Rev. Bruce Brown
John 18:28-40
I. The Accusation: A Kingdom of Righteousness (verses 28-32)
II. The Question: A Kingdom of Truth (verses 33-38a)
III. The Substitute: A Kingdom of Grace (verses 38-40)
“Our LORD did not come (in His first advent) to win a kingdom with the sword, and to gather adherents and followers by force. He came armed with no other weapon but "truth." To testify to fallen man the truth about God, about sin, about the need of a Redeemer, about the nature of holiness--to declare and lift up before man's eyes this long lost and buried "truth,"--was one great purpose of His ministry. He came to be God's witness to a lost and corrupt world. That the world needed such a testimony, He does not shrink from telling the proud Roman Governor. And this is what Paul had in view, when he tells Timothy, that "before Pontius Pilate Christ witnessed a good confession." (1 Tim. 6:13.) … If we love life, if we would keep a good conscience, and be owned by Christ at the last day, we must be "witnesses.”” J.C. Ryle
The Faithful One
John 18:12-27
February 14, 2021
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. Jesus Bound: Apparent Failure (verses 12-14)
II. Peter’s Denials: Actual Weakness (verses 15-18, 25-27)
III. Jesus’ Trial: Amazing Strength (verses 19-24)
"One thing at any rate is very clear. The love of Christ to sinners is "a love that passes knowledge." To suffer for those whom we love, and who are in some sense worthy of our affections, is suffering that we can understand. To submit to ill-treatment quietly, when we have no power to resist, is submission that is both graceful and wise. But to suffer voluntarily, when we a have the power to prevent it, and to suffer for a world of unbelieving and ungodly sinners, unasked and unthanked--this is a line of conduct which passes man's understanding. Never let us forget that this is the peculiar beauty of Christ's sufferings, when we read the wondrous story of His cross and passion."
~ J.C. Ryle
An Arresting Lord
John 18:1-11
February 7, 2021
Rev. Bruce Brown
I. Jesus’ Lordship of the Circumstances (verses 1-3)
II. Jesus’ Lordship in the Confrontation (verse 4-9)
III. Jesus’ Lordship Through Consuming the Cup (verses 10-11)
"Nothing shines clearer in this account than the fact that Jesus goes willingly to his arrest. He who might have summoned twelve legions of angels, whose regal majesty could send his enemies reeling to the ground, accepts his arrest, trial and death in willing submission. His words to Peter unveil his heart: Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? The cup is the symbol of the judgment of God; it is the cup of the wrath of God against human sin. In the strange mercy of God the cup of His righteous wrath is given into the hands, not of his enemies, but of his beloved Son. And He will drink it, down to the dregs until the moment comes when "I thirst" gives place to "It is finished."
~ Bruce Milne
O Death, Where Is Your Victory?
April 14, 2019
Rev. Bruce Brown
I Corinthians 15:50-58
What Is Death? (verses 50-53; Genesis 3:17-19; Revelation 20:11-15)
What Does Jesus’ Death Mean for Death? (verses 54-57; 2 Tim. 1:10; Ro. 6:5-10)
Where Is Your Victory? (verse 58; John 11:25; Romans 4:25)
“The constantly recurring theme and the grand climax in the great symphony of the gospel is the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ… His triumph becomes our only hope of victory. If we subtract this from our message of love and hope, then we really have nothing to say, for it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that assures us of our own personal salvation.” ~ Charles Swindoll
Surely Not I, Lord?
Rev. Bruce Brown
April 7, 2019
Matthew 26:17-30
I. Before the Cross the Disciples See Jesus’ Self Control (verses 17-19, 30)
II. Before the Cross the Disciples Hear of Their Own Treachery (verses 20-25)
III. Before the Cross the Disciples Taste of It’s Coming Blessings (verses 26-29)
“But God did not abandon his people. Instead, he commissioned his prophets to promise a new covenant (Jer. 31:31; Ezek. 36) which Jesus inaugurated. The new covenant still involved blood, but it was Jesus’ blood – not the blood of a lamb and not the blood of guilty men and women. Jesus paid the debt we owed God. We owed him our life blood and he gave his blood as a substitute for ours. By this act he atoned for our sins, so that we have peace with God.” ~ Daniel M. Doriani
Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Pastor Bruce Brown
Matthew 27:45-54
I. At the Cross Jesus Experiences Social Rejection (Vss. 27-31; 35-37; 39-43)
II. At the Cross Jesus Suffers Emotional Desertion (Psalm 22)
III. At the Cross Jesus Enters into Spiritual Abandonment (Psalm 27; 2 Cor. 5:21)
“The pain that Jesus endured went beyond the pain that any other human being has ever endured. It may be that others have experienced equal or greater physical pain. But no other human being has ever been sinless like Jesus was. No other human being has ever known the fellowship that Jesus had with His Father in heaven before He came to this earth. So, no one else has ever felt the shock that Jesus felt, in His innocence, when He was forsaken by God.” ~ Phil Ryken
Who Has Believed Our Message?
Pastor Bruce Brown
Isaiah 53:1-12
I. The Cross is Shocking Because of Who is Suffering (Vss. 1-3)
II. The Cross is Shocking Because of Why He Suffers (Vss. 4-6, 10)
III. The Cross is Shocking Because of How He Suffers (Vss. 7-9)
“Why did God bruise His Son and bring Him to grief? … It was not for His own sin that the Father bruised him. I was becuase he wanted to show us mercy. He wanted to forgive and heal and save and rejoice over us with loud singing. But he was righteous. That means His heart was filled with a love for the infinite worth of His own glory. And we were sinners, and that means that our hearts were filled with God-belittling affections. And so to save sinners and at the same time magnify the worth of His glory God lays our sin on Jesus and abandons Him to the shame and slaughter of the cross.” ~ John Piper