Our sermon title this morning is that you may believe, that you may believe. We're in John chapter 19 verses 31 through 42. As we come to our text this morning, we're reminded that in John chapter 19 verse 30, the Lord Jesus Christ has died. Having accomplished all that He came to do, having accomplished all the Father's will, having done all those things which are pleasing to Him, He now cries out with a loud voice from the cross, it is finished. And He yielded up His Spirit to God and He breathes His last. Some now standing around the cross are here standing by waiting to take Him away because they loathed Him. They want to see Him removed from their sight. Others are now here at the cross standing by waiting to take Him away because they loved Him. To the many there who hated Him, who despised Him, they want to felt vindicated by this scene. In their hard-hearted rebellion, in their wicked, rebellious sin, they went right back, unmoved by this scene, to their false worship, their empty ritualism. Many might have gone back to the Passover celebration that was taking place in the temple at the time. Unmoved. Some may have been seemingly indifferent, but really how can you characterize their indifference, considering what's happened here and the scene that's set before us from the pages of Scripture? He was just another criminal and they went right back. To those that loved Him who were standing by, this was tragic. This was tragic, almost inexplicable. Doubts and confusion would have swirled around in their head. All their hopes would have evaporated, not understanding the implications of the death of Christ, not understanding what would happen next, certainly not understanding that He was about to be raised from the dead, not understanding what was going on on the cross in those dark three hours for them. Their expectations were crushed, their hopes evaporated, their minds full now of doubts. What are we to do? Is He not the Messiah? They don't yet understand the place or importance of His death. And in those dark moments, those dark circumstances surrounding the cross, it must have appeared to many that His promises would go unfulfilled. The God's Word is settled in heaven forever. The promises of God in Him are yes and amen. The promises of salvation are sure to those who will turn from their sin and put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him. We'll soon see all of that come to a harmonizing, congealing understanding when the Lord is raised from the dead. Death is not the end. Death is not the end. Death is a doorway. Death is a beginning. In the grace and mercy of God, in infinite wisdom, God often chooses to strengthen our faith through circumstances that would most seem to weaken it. Does that make sense? He refines us through fire, removing our dross. And what we see in John chapter 19 verses 31 through 42 are powerful encouragements to faith. The fulfillment of Scripture is to reinforce our faith. What happens here at the cross now after the Lord bows His head and breathes His last are to encourage unbelievers to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. These events, these circumstances, these fulfillments of promises, fulfillments of Scripture are to encourage believers to press on following after Him, not to turn back, to persevere in the faith, to be emboldened in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's promises are true. God's word is true. These things are so. These things represent reality. When the world seeks to paint before you a false mirage, this is what is true. This is what God has said. These things will come to pass. They have come to pass. And all those things that the Lord has said will come to pass. These are God's promises and they are fulfilled. This is God's word and it is affirmed. It's affirmed in the life, the death, the person, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you think with me for a moment about that, there's much here for a believer to be encouraged by. For a believer to be emboldened by. We should serve the Lord Jesus Christ selling out for him because he is the Son of God and he has redeemed us from our sin. But as sure as those things are true, there's also a warning here. And the warning is as much as those things are true, the promises of damnation, the promises of condemnation, the promise of God's coming judgment is also true. And be sure your sin will find you out. God has promised wrath for the unconverted. All his testimonies are sure. John understanding that reality, knowing that that reality has been affirmed at the cross.  That is true. God's judgment is true and God's judgment is coming. God's wrath against sin will be poured out and it will be poured out on those who have rebelled against him. That judgment is coming. All these things are true. This is reality. This is God's word and God's word here is affirmed. John writes, understanding that reality, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, that you may believe that he is the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name. So as we come to John chapter 19 now, verses 31 to 42, we're going to divide this text under two headings. First, the testimony of Scripture in verses 31 to 37. The testimony of Scripture. Secondly, the testimony of his disciples in verses 38 to 42. Two headings, the testimony of Scripture and the testimony of his disciples. Let's take a look first at the testimony of Scripture beginning in verse 31, where John records in verse 31, therefore, because it was the preparation day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that 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. 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. And he who is seen has testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken. And again, another Scripture says they shall look on him whom they pierced. The testimony of Scripture. Now we're going to consider the testimony of Scripture under three headings also. The testimony of the Old Testament verses 31 to 34, the testimony of the New Testament verses 35 to 37 and then the purpose that John gives for that testimony. So let's first together as we walk through our text, let's consider the testimony now of the Old Testament, the testimony of the Old Testament beginning in verse 31. John writes therefore because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. As we consider in verse 31, now the testimony of the Old Testament, it's really important to understand our setting. Verse 31 says that it was the preparation day, the preparation day, right? Considering our setting, it's Passover week in Jerusalem. The preparation day, it's a common term referring to the day before the Sabbath on Saturday. The preparation day is referring to Friday of that week, the Friday before their regular Saturday Sabbath. This particular Sabbath, according to verse 31, was a high day. It was a high day, it was considered a high day because this particular Sabbath fell during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, during the Feast of Passover. This was the first month of the year for the Jews. It was the month of Nisan. And at a time, during this month, three Old Covenant Feast days all fall within a one-week period of time on the Jewish calendar. Those three Old Covenant Feast days were the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of First Fruits. Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. So in John 19 verses 31 to 37, John in this text is making a reference to a connection here between the circumstances surrounding the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and Passover in particular. He's making this connection. Now we know John's reason for making this connection is so that you and I would believe. In the believing we might have life in his name. So we want to examine that connection together. What's the connection biblically between the Lord Jesus Christ's death, these circumstances around the cross, and this Passover, which was extremely important in Jewish worship. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 12. Exodus chapter 12. And what the Lord has done in redemptive history is under the Old Covenant set up worship for his people. But in setting up worship for his people, he's also establishing types and shadows that point forward to their ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's this connection that the Lord establishes between the picture and its reality, right? The picture and its substance. We see that beginning in Exodus chapter 12. And look in Exodus chapter 12 at verse one. We're to see the Lord Jesus Christ in these things. That's the connection that John's trying to make, right? And seeing the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling these things is to bolster the faith of believers and to motivate or compel faith in unbelievers. So examine with me, think with me. As we work through Exodus chapter 12, what John would have us see in these circumstances? Verse one. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to do. This is the month of Nisan or the month of Aviv. We see here in John chapter 19. Verse three. The Lord spoke to Moses, right? And he tells him, verse three, speak to all the congregation of Israel saying, on the tenth of this month, every man shall take for himself a lamb. According to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. Now the Lord is establishing a Passover observance. Incidentally here in verse three, the tenth of the month or the tenth of Nisan is when the Lord Jesus Christ makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. All that took place on the tenth of Nisan. That's the day, so to speak, where the Lord Jesus Christ presents himself to the people as the Lamb of God, the sacrificial Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. What's being done here on the tenth of the month, every man, verse three, shall take for himself a lamb. It's gonna take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for his 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 account for the lamb. Now what would happen traditionally during Passover, small groups of people, households would gather together, maybe 10, maybe 12, maybe 15, would gather together and they would observe the Passover together, all partaking of the lamb with slain and then prepared for a Passover meal. The Lord gives us in verse five specific instructions with respect to that sacrifice and that meal, verse five. Your lamb shall be without blemish. Now we can understand what that points forward to with Christ, right? Without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it, verse six, until the 14th day of the same month and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Now words there at twilight literally mean between the times or between the evenings. So here in Exodus chapter 12, Leviticus chapter 23, Deuteronomy chapter 16, Numbers chapter 28, all dictate that the Passover begins on the 14th of Nissan. Once the temple is built, these sacrifices aren't made in houses any longer. These sacrifices are to take place at the temple where God's presence is thought to dwell and the Jewish people now would gather together in the city, come to the temple with their sacrifice and prior to the sunset on the 14th where at sundown would begin the 15th they would kill their sacrifices. Historians record that the sacrifices in the temple being so numerous would be collected, gathered together, beginning at about 3 p.m. in the afternoon so they would have time to kill all the sacrifices prior to sundown which would begin the 15th. Their days began at sundown. So the transition or the time between the evenings, between the times would take place at twilight or in the evening of the 14th. They would prepare the sacrifices, prepare the meal to be taken at the beginning of the 15th at sundown. Does that make sense? Sundown. It was reported at one time by King Agrippa. King Agrippa is reported by Josephus. King Agrippa wanted to take account, wanted to understand the number of sacrifices being made in the temple. And so they decided to count the kidneys, the pairs of kidneys that were taken out of the animal this was something that was to be done according to commandment. And that year that King Agrippa counted, they counted 600,000 pairs of kidneys. Now what would happen if these sacrifices, the throat of the animal would be spilt, or the throat of the animal would be slit, the blood would be spilt, collected into bowls and then poured on the altar. 600,000 pairs of kidneys that year. Now for those Israelites in Egypt at the Exodus, Moses writes this in verse 7. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night. The night is the 15th of Nisan now. Roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Most things have significance to the Passover meal. Verse 9, do not eat it raw, nor boil it all with water, but roast it in fire. Its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it.  It is the Lord's Passover. So the Jews would slaughter the Passover lambs late in the day on the 14th of Nisan and they would eat the Passover meal immediately after sundown, which was at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan. Now what did this all commemorate? Look at verse 12. What did this meal memorialize? The Lord says in verse 12, I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. So what was the Lord then delivering his people from? From judgment. They were certainly undeserving, weren't they? God had intended to judge the Egyptians, but they would have been caught up in the judgment of God had it not been for God's gracious and merciful deliverance. Look at verse 13. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be a sign for you.  And so this day, verse 14, shall be to you a memorial and you shall keep it as a feast of the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Incidentally, as we consider these things, as you consider and you think and you meditate on the events of the Exodus and on the significance of this pass-over memorial, what was the means through which God actually delivered his people from his wrath or his judgment? Well, if you think about it, he saved them by his grace. They certainly didn't deserve it, right? Through the means of their faith in him for his deliverance. Do you see? He saved them by grace through faith. They trusted in God. In the grand scheme of things, they weren't trusting in the blood. Do you see? They were trusting in God. They were trusting in God's provision. They were trusting in God for his provision of an acceptable sacrifice. There was nothing magical about the blood, right? The blood didn't magically turn into the actual blood of their deliverance. They trusted God. They trusted God. And then they simply did what God told them to do and they did that in faith, obeying him in faith, trusting him when they obeyed. He saved them by grace through faith. A drop down to verse 21. Drop down to verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, considering what the Lord had done, considering the Lord's deliverance, the Lord's mercy toward them. Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, go out and take lambs for yourselves, according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. This is the Passover observance.  Didn't we see hyssop at the cross, right? You shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lentil in the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on a lentil in the two door posts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.  It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as he promised, that you shall keep this service.  That you shall say it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. And what was the result of that deliverance? The end of verse 27. So the people bowed their heads and they worshiped. Then the children of Israel went away and did so just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did. Look at verse 29. It came to pass that at midnight the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. From the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night. He, all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Lord kept his promise, Lord kept his word as surely as the Lord delivered his people by his grace through the means of their faith through the means of an acceptable blood sacrifice the Lord certainly visited his judgment on the Egyptians. He visited his wrath upon those for whom he said there will be wrath. So the Lord delivered his people from judgment. This is the Passover. Passover was meant to point back to God's powerful deliverance to his gracious and his merciful deliverance from the people in Egypt. But Passover also meant to point forward to God's future and ultimate deliverance when the Messiah comes. Deliverance from what? Deliverance from judgment. Deliverance from his wrath, his just and holy wrath that has been set apart toward sin. His wrath against sinners. Passover is meant to point forward to God's future deliverance also. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 or 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. So Passover, right? Passover, the Feast of Unliving Bread both the actual events that precipitated the memorial and all that the memorials themselves are intended to signify those events, those symbols all point to and are all fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment of God is coming. Do you hear? The judgment of God is coming as surely as the Lord Jesus Christ came in his first advent, right? To die for sinners is as surely as the Lord Jesus Christ will return to execute judgment on the ungodly. Passover points to these truths a divine verdict has been rendered and you are awaiting execution if you're not found in Christ. That verdict is guilty. You and I guilty because of our sin. If you're outside of Christ, you are guilty. Praise God that God has made a provision for your sin, for my sin. The question that we all have to answer is what are we going to do about our sin? You can do nothing apart from your sin, apart from the grace of God and the mercy of God in the person and work of his only son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The executioner, the executioner of God's divine wrath is coming back. He's coming back apart from repentant faith alone in Christ alone for his provision of an all sufficient blood sacrifice.  You will perish. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13 verse 41 that the Son of man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness. He will gather out of his kingdom all those things that offend all those things who practice lawlessness and what will he do? He will cast them into the furnace of fire and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. The Lord also says there in Matthew 13 that it's then that the righteous will shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover. Lord Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb and God has declared a judgment on the Egyptians. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Paul says that we who are once far off are brought near to God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pictured in the blood that was shed and spread across that lentil and on those door posts Paul says that now we who are once far off are brought near to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says we weren't redeemed with corruptible things like gold and silver. We were redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. I've been thinking recently about how plastic and fake and flaccid and blunted so-called Christianity has become.  You don't want to offend anyone and so all the rough edges the sharp points are blunted off the blood is taken away so it's all just nice. It's all just superficial. We just need to love one another just need to pray for one another that's not the Christianity of the Bible. There is the reality of judgment that is bearing down on this world like a freight train and you will be crushed under the weight of it if you're not found in him.  If you are not plunged beneath that flood you will perish all the lambs all the goats all the blood pouring over the altar flooding out of the Temple Mount down into the Brook Kidron flooding that ravine as the Lord steps over it to go to the garden on that fateful night all that blood pointing to the judgment of God against sin as the Lord hangs in agony upon the cross the wrath of God poured out upon him all that wrath that torment all that anguish as the perfect sinless son of God takes the full sacrifice for his people in himself on his body on the tree in one time three hours upon the cross the wrath of God against sin the sacrifice of Christ for sinners this is a bloody religion it's a bloody faith why? because of the sole damny seriousness of our sin it took that cost that price for God to redeem his people and we we put on this plastic cheap veneer whenever we belittle or demean those things in our worship whenever the church just they come together in a nice building and they put on the air conditioning and they want to be comfortable just the fake superficiality of it all don't let don't let that be true of us praise God for a nice building praise God for the air conditioning praise God for our fellowship praise God for fellowship food praise God for all those niceties all those things but praise God for his sacrifice and worship him and serve him and obey him and preach that truth he's the only hope you are without hope without God in this world if you don't have Christ if you won't bow the knee if you won't put your faith and trust in him you are lost and God's righteous justice will rain down on this wicked world just pray that you're not a part of it when it does turn from your sin how does the Lord as we consider this picture of Passover and the plague of the death of the firstborn in Egypt how does God in his word make that connection in his infinite wisdom and grace how does he communicate this staggering earthquake earth shattering infinitely profound glorious truth in John chapter 19 we'll look at Exodus 12 and drop down to verse 43 how is this communicated by John how is this communicated by the Holy Spirit Exodus 12 verse 43 the Lord said to Moses said to Aaron this is the ordinance of the Passover no foreigner shall eat it but every man's servant who has bought for money will sacrifice him then he may eat it a sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it 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 turn me to John 19 verse 31 therefore because it was the preparation day that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day and the soldiers asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and they might be taken away then the soldiers came broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs they did not break his legs why why this is just a coincidence verse 36 for these things were done the scripture should be fulfilled not one of his bones shall be broken all this in fulfillment of Passover the Passover he Christ is our Passover and he was sacrificed for us this is a quote of Psalm 34 verse 20 and is revealed by the Holy Spirit to be a reference to the fulfillment of the Passover by the Lord Jesus Christ not one of his bones will be broken Old Testament type New Testament anti-type fulfilled by its anti-type of Lord Jesus Christ Old Testament shadow now replaced in the Lord Jesus Christ by the reality the word of God is fulfilled the identity of the Son of God the perfect sinless Son of God who is God the Word who became flesh the Son of God is validated the sovereignty of God displayed all communicated here in such simple but powerful and profound terms not one of his bones shall be broken now in addition to this there is a glorious sense in which the Passover having been positionally fulfilled in its entirety by the Lord Jesus Christ is still awaiting the final practical aspect of its fulfillment in other words there's an already and there's a not yet to this Passover fulfillment turn with me to Luke chapter 22 Luke chapter 22 I want you to see this Lord Jesus Christ being so merciful to give us great encouragement to our faith listen if you turn from your sin if you trust Christ you follow him these things these promises belong to you they belong to you in him Luke 22 and look at verse 14 here the Lord institutes the Lord supper when the hour had come verse 14 he sat down the 12 apostles with him then he said to them with fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer a lot of debate over the timing of these events the supper that the Lord and his disciples have together in the upper room is a Passover meal they're celebrating the Passover meal together we'll talk about the timing of these things in a moment Matthew, Mark, and Luke all attest to that fact the Lord says with fervent desire I've desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer for I say to you verse 16 I will no longer eat of it eat of what? the Passover until it what? the Passover is fulfilled in the kingdom of God I think with me there's a future aspect of the Passover that won't be fulfilled until the kingdom comes look at verse 17 then he took the cup and he gave thanks and said take this divided amongst yourselves for I say to you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom comes and he took bread gave thanks and broke it gave it to them saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me likewise he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you God died shed his blood to purchase the new covenant so what does the Lord mean here what aspect of the Passover is yet to be fulfilled now and won't ultimately be fulfilled until the kingdom of God comes think with me the Passover lamb the Passover lamb was slain to redeem God's people to deliver God's people our Passover Christ the Messiah he was the fulfillment of all those Old Testament pictures the Lord Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all those things he is our Passover the Lord Jesus Christ the perfect spotless, blameless son of God the lamb of God who came to the world to take away the sins of the world he came to deliver his people all of those people who were his then all of his people now all of his people who remain to be saved people from every tribe every tongue every nation as many as our Lord God will call the Passover lamb the Lord Jesus Christ came to redeem all of his people the Lord said in Matthew chapter 24 verse 14 that the gospel of the what of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then what the end will come the end will come we're in that process if you will now the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come so the Passover isn't fully isn't finally fulfilled until all of God's elect are redeemed and the kingdom is established Isaiah 11 prophesies that God will set up a banner for the nations who is that banner? it's the Lord Jesus Christ he will set up a banner for the nations he will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth he will seed of Judah all those who by faith trust in Christ turn from their sin and trust him it's then that the kingdom will be fully established Jesus said I'm not going to eat the Passover again until that day until that day you eat it remember me and my sacrifice buy it through it persevere in the faith be diligent in your mission and the next time I eat of it I'll be eating it with you in the kingdom amen so brothers and sisters now is the time to preach the gospel now is the time to preach the gospel that's what we are here to do if you've never turn from your sin turn from your sin and trust Christ now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand you don't want to find yourself sitting on the outside right back to John chapter 19 with respect to point one on your notes in the testimony of scripture in John chapter 19 verses 31 to 37 we are looking specifically now at the testimony of the Old Testament in verses 31 to 34 one important aspect of that Old Testament testimony referenced by John here is the Lord's fulfillment of Passover we've looked at John's reference to Passover in that not one of the Lord's bones were broken but two there's also a reference here to the fulfillment of Passover in the timing of these events points to of course the sovereign control of God over all these circumstances the Lord Jesus Christ now is dead and he's hanging upon the cross and he still is in control over all of these circumstances the purpose John chapter 19 of these selfish self-serving murderous hypocrites in verse 31 is to get Jesus in the ground for sundown in order to obey Sabbath regulations the Romans otherwise would have just let them rot that was their custom let them stay on the cross until their bodies literally rotted away let them be eaten by vultures eaten by animals but the Jews want them off of the cross because of Deuteronomy chapter 21 verse 23 Deuteronomy 21 23 stipulated that a man hung on a tree must be buried the same day for he who is hanged the bible says is a cursed of God he became a cursed for us so that cursed sinners could go free he hangs there the Jews believe cursed of God Deuteronomy 21 Deuteronomy 21 not necessarily in their minds envisioning crucifixion but hanging they apply to the crucifixion and they want to take them down before sundown in order to obey their Sabbath regulations now having murdered their Messiah the son of God having lied having given him up to a savage brutal death all because of their wicked envy they seek to obey Deuteronomy 21 23 the continuing hypocrisy is sickening it's absurd speaking to hasten the death of those crucified they ask pilot for their legs to be broken this was brutal they would use a large heavy iron mallet called a crucifragium similar to a sledge hammer and up against the hard upright beam of the cross they would swing that mallet and literally crush the bones of their legs against the post now apart from the excruciating pain of that and the further blood loss it made it impossible for them to push up with their legs to keep their chest cavity open so they could catch a breath remaining strength in their arms would soon give out asphyxiation followed and they would die from asphyxiation verse 32 records this then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him incidentally after they did this one of those hanging there closed his eyes in death and opened his eyes in hell the other hanging there right astounding grace and mercy he's hanging on a cross and in that excruciating pain having closed his eyes in this life he opens his eyes in paradise let that sink in right verse 33 but when they came to Jesus and they saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs and we know from verse 30 that he was already dead not because death took him but because all things being accomplished he said it is finished bowing his head he gave up his spirit he laid down his life death didn't take him he delivered up his own spirit to death now consider with me the timing of these events and the timing of his death we know that Passover from Exodus chapter 12 began on the 14th of Nisan when the Passover lambs would be killed late in the day to prepare for the Passover meal that would take place right after sundown after sundown it became the 15th of Nisan which was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and the day that the prescribed Passover offerings were made at the temple you have those lambs killed for the Passover meal but then the Bible instituted sacrifices to be made on Passover in the temple the 14th of Nisan during passion week the week leading up to the Lord's crucifixion fell on Thursday Matthew, Mark and Luke all record that Jesus sent Peter and John into Jerusalem right to find the man who was carrying a pitcher to prepare the upper room for their last Passover meal together on that Thursday evening as they were preparing for the meal the Lord intending in his heart and mind to establish the Lord's supper with him in the upper room the Passover lambs by the thousands were being slaughtered in the temple in preparation for the meal after the Lord observes the meal with his disciples in the upper room Christians would no longer observe the Passover meal the Lord institutes the Lord's supper and as often as we eat of it to eat in remembrance of him as the sun came up then on Friday morning it's the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and the Passover would continue until that evening so Passover running from essentially sundown on the 14th to sundown on the 15th Friday Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover on Friday turn with me to Numbers chapter 28 Numbers chapter 28 Numbers chapter 28 Numbers chapter 28 in Numbers 28 you have the sacrifices prescribed sacrificial system established you see Numbers 28 verses 1 through 8 you see daily morning and evening sacrifices commanded they were to sacrifice both morning and evening often times in the temple according to Josephus those sacrifices the daily sacrifices at 9 a.m. or the third hour with the morning sacrifice. The evening sacrifice was set for 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Again, literally meaning at twilight, meaning between the times. So between evening, so to speak. So morning and evening sacrifices, 9 a.m. 3 p.m. So Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ is condemned by the Jews to die, the first lamb of the regular daily sacrifices being tied to the altar. Now in addition to the daily sacrifices, there were specific sacrifices commanded for Passover. Look at Numbers 28 and drop down to verse 16. On the 14th day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And on the 15th day of this month is the feast. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. You shall present an offering made by fire as a burnt offering to the Lord. Two young bulls, one ram, seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. Their grain offering shall be a fine flower mixed with oil. Three tenths of an ifa you shall offer for a bull. Two tenths for a ram. You shall offer one tenth of an ifa for each of the seven lambs. Also one goat as a sin offering. To make atonement for you. You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. In this manner you shall offer the food of the offering made by fire daily for seven days as a sweet aroma to the Lord. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. The Passover sacrifices took place between the regular morning and evening sacrifice. You had the daily sacrifices, morning and evening. Lambs being slain. Passover sacrifices took place in the middle. Turn back with me to Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 23. Again, Passover was on the 14th of Nesod between the times, or at twilight as the Bible says, that literally translated between the times overnight into the 15th. Look at Leviticus 23, he dropped down to verse 4. These are the feasts of the Lord. Holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the 14th day of the first month at twilight or between the times is the Lord's Passover. And on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Bread in haste, right? Bread not able to be leavened, so to speak. Not able to take time to rise. You need to eat it in haste. This is urgent. Get out the judgment of God is coming, right? Eating in haste. Verse 7, on the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. So in John chapter 19 then, verse 14, keep your finger there in Leviticus 23. John chapter 19 verse 14, John notes that the Lord Jesus Christ was before Pilate at the sixth hour. But considering that John was likely referencing Roman time, what we're accustomed to, the sixth hour would have been 6 a.m. 6 a.m. Mark 15 verse 25, then Mark referencing Jewish time, records that Jesus was crucified at the third hour. That would have been 9 a.m., we know that to be true. Counting from sunrise at 6 a.m., that puts the crucifixion of Jesus at 9 a.m. The Lord Jesus Christ spent six hours on the cross, right? At the same time of the sacrifices between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., do you see the connection? The first three hours as it were, under the contemptible and mockering gaze of men, last three under the wrath of Almighty God for our sin. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11, our author to the letter to the Hebrews says, every priest stands ministering daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. They're just temporary covering, right? Temporary, awaiting final fulfillment. But this man, Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with him after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them. Then he adds this, their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, where sins have been fully remitted, there is no longer an offering for sins, that sacrifice forever done away with, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ of himself for sinners. That's interesting, back in Leviticus 23, it's interesting also, considering our text in John 19, that the feast of first fruits also fell during this time. You had the feast Passover, had the feast of unleavened bread, and the feast of first fruits. Look at Leviticus 23 and look at verse 9. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. What day was the Sabbath on? It's on Saturday. So what day was the day after the Sabbath? Sunday. Sunday is the Lord's day, right? Sunday is the Lord's day. You shall offer it on that day when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year without blemish is a burnt offering to the Lord. Its grain offering shall be two tenths of an effo of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord for a sweet aroma. And its drink offering shall be of wine, one fourth of a hen. You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever throughout all your generations in all your dwellings. The Jews celebrated first fruits to acknowledge God in providing a harvest. Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20. Paul says, But now Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive, but each one in his own order. Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ that is coming. Christ is the first fruits of a great harvest, as the seed falls into the ground and dies so that that seed can then spring up and bear much fruit to the glory of God. Even so the Son of Man must die first fruits of a great harvest of souls at the end of the age. All combined, this was a powerful testimony to the Jews concerning the claims of Christ. The Jews would have seen Christ as a cursed hung on a tree. Why should we believe in a Messiah who's dead? But just as God delivered Old Testament Israel from their bondage in Egypt through the blood of the Lamb and the Exodus, he also provided deliverance for the penalty of sin, ultimate deliverance from his wrath for his people through the substitutionary death of his only begotten Son. John wants them, wants us to make this connection to see Christ for who he is and what he's done. Back in John chapter 19, with respect to point one on your notes, the testimony of Scripture in John 19, 31 to 37, we're looking specifically at the testimony of the Old Testament. One important aspect of that Old Testament testimony referenced by John is Lord's fulfillment of Passover. Jesus fulfilled the Passover. In the circumstances of his death, Jesus fulfilled Passover in the timing of his death. The feast of first fruits looks forward to its fulfillment in Christ. Let's look at one more example pointing us to the testimony of the Old Testament. That's the prophecy of Zechariah referenced in verse 34. Look first at verse 33, John 19 verse 33. When they came to Jesus, 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 one thing I want you to note first, this is important, Jesus died. Jesus Christ died. This piercing of his side wasn't to check and see. If he was already dead, the verse 33, these soldiers who knew what they were doing, had already presumed him dead. They already pronounced him dead. Jesus died. He hasn't swooned. He's not in a coma. In verse 33, they saw clearly that he was already dead. So this was no more than a one final gruesome, grotesque abuse of the Lord's body. It could have been a despicable curiosity wanting to release the fluids that had collected in his chest cavity. However you look at it, Spurgeon called it the last kick of the old enemy. It's just another final grotesque abuse of the Lord's body. There's been much speculation over the water and the blood, whether the spear pierced his heart or the pericardium. What seems to make most sense to me is recent research that I read concerning hemorrhagic fluid, this fluid that collects in the chest cavity when there's been severe trauma to the torso or to the chest. As it collects, this hemorrhagic fluid separates. There's a clearer serum at the top and the heavier deep red layer sinks to the bottom. And so with trauma to the torso, trauma to the chest cavity, this internal bleeding, this internal fluid would collect, they say as much as two liters of it, so that when a chest cavity then would be pierced, would be opened here by a spear, both of those layers, essentially looking like blood and water would flow out. The point is here that John is making, he's dead. The Lord Jesus Christ has died. This signifies death beyond any doubt. His blood was shed. Incidentally, his blood being shed. The only way that sinful man can be right with the Holy God. The idea that we would shun in our praise and worship the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that hymns would be changed to remove the blood is absurd. And John is once again faithful to point us again to the Old Testament in reference to this fact. Look at verse 37. Again, another scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. This comes from Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10. Turn there with me quickly. I want to wrap this up for us considering these fulfillments of Old Testament scripture. Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 where Zechariah says, I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on me whom they've pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. And notice first, the subject of the prophecy here is David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Pilate is certainly guilty, right? The soldiers bear responsibility. Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 quotes this passage and John says that every eye will see him and will mourn because of him. However, here specifically Zechariah signs guilt for the crucifixion to the Jews. Now notice the progression. God pours out a spirit of grace, pours out a spirit of supplication. Then he says they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn. It's true of anyone who comes to Christ.  Then you will look upon him whom they pierced and you will mourn. We're to think of this passage against the backdrop of Isaiah 53. He was pierced for our transgressions. If you remain indifferent to these things, you can sit here and listen to these accounts and be unmoved by the Lord Jesus Christ.  God, soften my wicked hard heart. Turn my heart to you. Turn my mind to you. May I be moved by these things, by the sacrifice of Christ. May I look on him who's pierced. May I consider the filth of my own sin. And Lord, may I for your glory and my own good mourn for what I've done against you, right? Pour out a spirit, God, of grace and supplication. Look on him whom they pierced and mourn for your sin. Considering the Bible's clear teaching here on the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, notice that God says they will look on me, a clear reference here to God, and they will mourn for him, a clear reference to Christ. John recalls this passage in Zechariah and applies it to the Lord Jesus Christ. All the Old Testament testimony points to Christ. The testimony of the New Testament is quickly summed up back in John chapter 19 verse 35. The testimony of the New Testament here again quickly summed up by John in verse 35. He who is seen has testified, John speaking of himself. His testimony is true and he's telling the truth. John is giving an eyewitness account. Now records all this evidence. In the New Testament gospel that bears his name. John would later write in first John chapter one verse one, that which was from the beginning, the Lord Jesus Christ. That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, our hands have handled concerning the warrant of life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father, with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you so that your joy may be full. John says, listen, I saw these things. I handled him. I touched him. I hugged him. I was with the Lord. My eyes have seen. My ears have heard. And what I'm saying is true. Won't you believe on Christ? Believe on him. The testimony of the Old Testament points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the testimony of the New Testament all points to the Lord Jesus Christ. And John communicates two reasons for giving us this testimony, that you may believe that the word of God might be fulfilled. Verse 35, He who has seen is testified. His testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth. So that you may believe. These things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled. Not one of his bones shall be broken. And again, another scripture says they shall look on him whom they pierced. John says, consider with me who he is. Consider with me what he has done. Consider with me the testimony of God about him. Consider the whole of God's word is about him. Consider how God in all his redemptive plans, all his redemptive purposes is working in him and through him to accomplish his aims. Consider how all of the promises of God are yes and amen in him. And turn from your sins and put your faith and trust in Christ. He is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world. The only acceptable sacrifice, the only sufficient sacrifice is Jesus Christ our Passover. I love this hymn. Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed. Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure. Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law's commands. Could my zeal no respite know? Could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. Foul eye to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath, When mine eyes shall close in death. When I soar to worlds unknown, See thee on my judgment throne. Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. All blessing, honor, glory, power. Be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Forever and ever, amen.


Today we're changing the course of NBA 2k history. NBA 2k21 is right around the corner. All kind of news is dropping. It's getting me excited and I'm trying to calm myself down. That's how you get let down. You get your expectations too high. But still man, it's been a whole year and nothing has changed. This somethings community we've been asking for forever now. We still don't have it in the game. It's just a little bit frustrating. So this is the conclusion I came to. If they're not going to hear it from me, maybe they'll hear it from celebrities. This is brilliant concept. Ladies and gentlemen, if they don't want to listen to Agent Zero, maybe they want to listen to Brett the Hitman Heart. Ah, there's nothing Ronnie loves more than meeting more celebrities. This video is brought to you by Keeps. In these videos, I'm usually wearing hats, right? But under the hat, you might not be able to tell, but I do have a luscious head of hair. You might not be able to see some of it. 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If you use my link, you'll get 50% off your first order. And who doesn't like saving money? Ladies and gentlemen, again, huge shout out to keeps y'all do something about your hair for you lose it, man. It's good for you. Link in the description keeps.com slash agent 00. Let's get back to the video. That's his favorite thing. That's why he has a whole gallery on his phone of him taking photos with other celebrities. So I'm going to get these celebrities to send Ronnie an NBA 2k message for me. One that hopefully is going to change the course of the game's history. So let's get started asking for what we want. Well, first of all, we got to find somebody. This is my favorite website. I believe to waste an abundance of money on dumps. I had half a mind to make an agent beam star on here, but I don't really want to do that. Okay, okay, okay. Leo has changed a lot. Wow. I thought that was Dave Chappelle for a split second. I had to drop 10,000 to get Dave Chappelle to say something for me. The video. I just wanted to say hi. I just want to talk to you, Dave, man. Hey, I ain't tell you how to do this at the beginning of the video, but be sure to subscribe. This video is most definitely going to hurt my pockets. So if you subscribe and make me feel better and drop a like, let's try and hit 50,000. All right, just for fun. Oh man, here's a good one. Hopefully I'm sending this to the right one. I don't know if seniors like his dad. Junior is the one in high school. I'm pretty sure. Hey, Kenyan, huge fan. I play a lot of NBA 2k and I was so excited that they made a my team card of you this year. Can you ask Ronnie 2k to add more legends to NBA 2k 21 for next year? I love to play with players. I spent my whole childhood watching who I mean, I can't see why he said no to that. Pretty simple. The request is booked. I really just want to see Charles Barkley in an NBA 2k game again for real. It's not all NBA 2k fault, but they could push harder to get that and get, you know what I'm saying? I kind of want to hear Kenyan Martin. I think he's a funny character. He might say something funny in the video. You never know.  Seven dollars? Okay, I'm curious. Oh, okay. So we got Bruce Bowen. I sent a message to my friend, Ron, booked by Dean. Hey, Bruce Bowen, huge fan. I play with you a lot in NBA 2k 20, but I noticed that the game never rewards good defense unless the player has tons of badges. Can you explain to my friend, Ron, that a perfect defensive read should always be rewarded? What guys? I'm doing the world of favor here. I get the purpose of badges, but in NBA 2k 20, they were way too strong. If I read a play perfectly, click square in the lane, there's no reason a ball should just go through my hands. Zero, which is why I enjoy playing team up so much. That doesn't happen on team up. But when you create your player, you're so narrow. Sometimes you have zero badges. Now you can't do no more, regardless of how you're playing. That's frustrating to me. Let's reward good skill and good play. Badges should matter. Not that much. You're welcome, everybody. And that was only $35, guys. It cost me $35 to help improve the game just that much. And it's so sad, by the way, on a side note that when we say something on Twitter, on YouTube, on Instagram, it literally does not matter. The amount of times I've heard we've passed it on to the devs, infinite, infinite times. Oh my God, Ray Lewis. Oh my God. Wow, Ray Lewis. Wow.  This is the greatest use of money I do every year now. I'm going to make this a ritual.  Roll the clip, will he? I'm going to pay celebrities to tell Ronnie 2k what I want to happen to NBA 2k20. Then the game will be perfect. Do you see the level of thinking? And so I'm back to waste thousands of more dollars for everybody's entertainment and hopefully for the good of the game. Hey, Ray. Huge fan. I want to be a professional NBA 2k player one day, but it's hard to train without a dedicated practice mode. Can you ask Ronnie 2k to include a practice mode so players can improve and hopefully one day go pro? I'm ready to grind because I swear to God, man. When you look at fighting games, they do it so well. Everything. Wow. And the my court can be that. It could be a dope practice mode, but 2k never tries on the my court. They never try and improve. In fact, they be taking features away for real. So a good practice mode will be dope for everybody.  Then the my court works half the time.   It does not whip me back and forth like this every time I step on the half court line. There should be dedicated dribble, shooting, all of that practice should be in the game for real. 2kU is a garbage, garbage version of what could exist. So Ray Lewis, hopefully you do us all a favor here. 2kB! Oh my dreams are really coming true. This is great stuff. This is great stuff. I'm gonna have to do both of them. Pause. Well, obviously not. Nobody assumed that until I said that. My bad guys. Sorry. So I'm Jeanette.  Hey Kareem! My husband is a huge fan. We have our anniversary coming up but he always plans the same thing every year. I'd love to do something new for once. Can you ask my husband Ronald to get a little more creative when planning so we have fun content on our big day? Guys. YUP! Listen, if we could get Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to tell Ronnie 2k to give us more content, how could he say no? We'd be unstoppable, fellas. And for the measly price of $500, I'd say it's well worth it. So much money, man. I just want new content. Please, please, Ronald. That can't be Matumbo. For $100 home, man. It's a bargain. I play a lot of NBA 2k20 and I love playing with you. But when I'm on the neighborhood, I wish I could talk to more people. Can you ask Ronnie 2k to add proximity chat so I can make friends in game chat with the people around me? Brilliant! I swear to God, I think proximity chat would transform 2k. No cat. And I asked it can be this purposefully because everyone's going to be like, it's going to add more toxicity. Like that's ever stopped you from wanting something fun in the game. Y'all enjoyed 2k15. That was the most toxic, broken, seven foot demigod game of all time. Y'all sat there and played that bull. And so the reason I asked it can be is because there should be a great block feature. I just wish there was more character so I could ask him to say that. If you don't want proximity chat, block it. Just, just remove, there's an option. Click no. I don't want that. But for the rest of us, man, we want to have a great time. God damn! Yo! Hey, what's up, y'all? You already know this is Cheyenne Parker with the Chicago Sky. Hold on, hold on. What's your name? What's your name? Hold on, hold on. We're trying to change the course of history here. Focus, agent. God damn it, man. Just remember, we're all going to make it time to turn up.  You feel me? Like it was just LeVar ball. I ain't see this. I ain't see this. I promise. Okay, we have to do LeVar ball without saying. This one's going to be pretty simple just because I genuinely think he's going to do it, hopefully. Hey LeVar, huge fan. I play a lot of NBA 2K 20 and I'm happy they just added Lamello on my team. I forgot to add that. He's a lot of fun to play, but I was hoping you'd asked Ronnie 2K to add more fun dribble and finishing animations in the neighborhood. And that's facts, bro. For real, they need to add a lot more. Instead of taking them away and nerfing them, they need to add more and make them more fun. The answer to an incredibly overpowered animation is to nerf it. But an answer to an effective animation is to add more effective animations. There's a difference. I just taught you all a lesson right there. Hopefully LeVar follows through. Your request has been booked. Oh my god, Steven Jackson. Steven Jackson would be funny. We in this quarantine, I can get no haircut, man. I know y'all probably looking rough, but you still gotta enjoy your birthday. So happy 32nd birthday. You did what I'm saying. I got one. I got one. Let's go. Okay. So, yo, the way I have to word these so that they actually do them because last time they didn't do plenty of them. So I want to have 100% success rate. Well, my controller fell. That's great news. I've been at home in quarantine playing a ton of NBA 2K, but I'm not really feeling the rewards in the neighborhood this year. Can you ask Ronnie 2K to spend a lot of time making fun rewards for 2K21 so I can play all day?  Your request has been booked. So if there ends up being fantastic rep rewards in NBA 2K21, you're welcome. Oh my god, I just thought of a brilliant idea. Now, I know y'all be watching Netflix. Y'all probably know who this is, right? If you don't, then you're missing out. He's actually not going to do this, but I'll try it anyway because it's funny to me. It's funny to me. I am bored. This is what boredom looks like. It's me, guys. Drop a like, subscribe to the channel, be bored with me. Hey, Carol, loved you on Tiger King. Coincidentally, I play a lot of NBA 2K and I remember having a Tiger pet in NBA 2K15 once I hit Legend Rank. I actually forgot what rank it was specifically, so I just said Legend Rank. She doesn't know neither, so it doesn't matter. Can you ask Ronnie 2K from NBA 2K to add that reward back into the game? I loved my virtual big cat. The lady who despised owning Tigers. I'm asking her, please. I want to own a virtual one. If she does it, she's going to be a legend. Also, Carol Baskin. I'm kidding. I don't really care that much. It was a good show, though. Charlemagne? Is this real? Peace to the planet. Charlemagne the god here. I got to say, what's happening, Shyvana? I just want to say happy 29th birthday from Jabaric. Are you going to cancel like me, Shyvana? Ah, the boredom. It's hit full-fledged at this point, ladies and gentlemen. Hey, Charlemagne. Huge fan. It's my friend, Ronald's birthday, July 2nd.  He dropped the ball on a big project we were working on for school, so he definitely deserves it.  Okay, so this one was for me. All right, the rest of them for the community. This one here, for me. When is enough? When is enough? I guess when my accountant calls me like, hey, is that you spending thousands of dollars on this website? It was me. Yo, what up, Serge? This is Trillo G. Bumbi, repping UGK for life. Ellie hit me up because y'all turning 40. Okay, cool. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. So innocence. Hey, Bumbi. Huge fan. I play a lot of NBA 2K and I was wondering if you could ask Ronnie 2K to add new parks so we have different places to play when I'm with my friends. It would make the game so much fun to play and I think it's a great idea. Oh my god, man. So we got celebrities asking for new parks, for new content, for proximity chat. That alone is going to change everything. For better dribbling and animations, for a training mode. Oh my god. I'm taking credit for every good thing that happens NBA 2K21 and I'm blaming Ronnie for everything bad that happens.  Hey, so I'm going to catch you guys in a few days, but hopefully I get all 100% success rate on these responses. If I don't, I'm going to have to hop back on here and spend even more money, which I'm oddly excited but very, very petrified to do. So drop a like, subscribe to the channel, second channel link in the description. I'm almost at 200K. I'll see you guys in a few days. Hey, man. So we got a response from everybody except Stephen Jackson. Shout out Stephen Jackson to expire. So we're going to react to them now and then hopefully by the end of this video we didn't change the course to NBA 2K history, ladies and gentlemen. We're looking to make big changes. You ready, David? I'm so ready. He's the most ready I've ever been. So this is Bun B. I'm not going to lie to you. I forgot what I asked most of them already. And I'm not trying to be disrespectful. I have no clue who he is. He's like an artist. He's a dope artist. Yo, Ronnie 2K. This is Trello G. Bun B reppin UGK for life, man. Yo, the homie Matthew hit me up, man, because they be playing a lot of NBA 2K. They was trying to see if you could get some new parks added, man. So they got some different places to play. You know what I'm saying? I know it's been a minute, Ronnie. I hate to hit you up like this, man, but it's very serious for these boys. How low back? Keep it true. Keep it true, Ronnie.  It's all we wanted. That was not music to my ears. I don't know where it has been, bro. We haven't seen new parks since 2018, bro. Let that settle real quick. Let that settle, man. So Bun B, man, that's a lot of love coming from you. And Ronnie might not listen to me in the next man, because we just content crew. We just internet people. But Bun B, man, he's, yo, he's that guy. Ronnie probably grew up listening to Bun B. I'm playing. He probably listened to Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears. He's probably all that type of B. And when Womanizer dropped, he was like this. Okay, cool. We got Charlemagne. Charlemagne is the champion? Yo, there's a bunch of new people on there. No cap. Yo, if y'all want to see me run at part two, let's get 50,000 likes. Did you catch Tyrone? No, I didn't. I wanted to switch it up, but I got an equally kind of funny person. Peace to the planet, Charlemagne the godhead, man. I got to say happy born day to my man, Ronald. Ronald, what's happening?   Already see it coming. Already see it coming.   I'm just going to have to. Okay. I'm going to have to. Also, I heard that you dropped the ball on a big project that y'all were working on, you know what I mean?  I'm going to tell you why. In life, what's for you will not escape you. Oh, he's dropping gems. It just won't. Even if you do drop the ball on something, if it's meant for you to have or if it's meant for you to do, it's still going to happen. I want you to always remember that. What's for you will not escape you, Ronald. Happy born day. Cancer game. Was it actually his birthday? No, no, I just, I needed him to make, I needed a good reason to make him do Ronnie donkey of the day. Donkey of the day. Oh man. I don't know why he was saying all that stuff about the owner. I didn't mention none of that. I just said, my friend, Ronald dropped the ball on a big project. Can you help him? Cause he's not listening to us, the community. He doesn't listen to us. I didn't think I'd see the day and Ronnie, but you don't get a day today, man. Don't worry though. There's plenty of people that have been donkey of the day, but they went on to do great things for me. So always time to turn that around. And he dropped some gems for the people, man. Hopefully we will. We learned something or two from Charlie Mayors will always be yours. It was something like that. Yeah. I already forgot it, but I definitely tweeted out a quote. I'm gonna write that down. Oh yeah. We got to do it for sure. Oh yeah. Oh, I don't watch Netflix, but I've seen the Tik Tok, Carol Baskin. Now cut that out. Actually cut that out. The Carol, I actually listened to her. No, they cut that out. Actually, it's the Carol Baskin, Carol Baskin. Hey all you cool cats and kittens. It's Carol at Big Cat Rescue. And I understand one of the coolest cats out there is Ronald according to James. And he's saying that you guys loved the Tiger King.  And that you guys play a lot of NBA 2K. And he remembers having a pet tiger in the NBA 2K15 once he hits a legend rank, which must be pretty high to get a tiger. And he wanted to know if Ronnie 2K from NBA 2K could add that reward back into the game because he loves the virtual cats as do I. We just released our first Oculus Rift game for free. God dammit, Carol, stop it. This is why people don't like you, Carol. Free promo in here. Get that out of your Carol. Dammit, Carol. You had one job. Yeah, I don't know why I thought it was 15. Oh my God. That was the coolest thing ever. Yeah. And it was out of left field. No one knew what was happening. And then you just saw people walking up with the tiger in a basketball game. And how is that not the most, you drop your game. You probably you probably finish your game and watch the Tiger the rest of the time. Because literally, it's a tiger. And they're like, yeah, that's not coming back. Ever again. Until 2K21, hopefully. I can't believe you tried to slide her virtual game probably. I know. I don't know. We got Karim. Davis. Davis, right here. It's this cream of bilge bar. Feel me? This one was actually $500. So Ronnie, Ronnie, you have no choice but to follow what Karim says. And hopefully. I agree. Happy anniversary, Ronald. This is why I thought, I wonder, you see the presentation in the background. He had love. Then he got purple and gold too. Look at this LeBron magic Kobe. Stop. Karim's presentation is a woman. I know. I know. That's why he could charge a premium. Yeah, I'll pay it. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. You're making it weird. I was going to ask, what are you going to get him to say? Anything. Stop, bro. Anything about 2K. You're making it so weird. Play, bro. Play. Hey, Ronald. Karim Abdul-Jabbar here, wishing you a very happy upcoming anniversary. Jeanette tells me you're a wonderful husband, except for one small thing.  This is the year you really surprised her with something new to show her how creative you can be and how much you love her. Then next year you can tell her she has to do all the planning. No. No. I hope this is your best anniversary. Karim, no. No, Karim. No. You did though. If I'm not mistaking, her is us. Yes. We are her.  You can't keep doing the same thing. Every time it comes, I don't want to just look at the same thing and you just spice it up or the relationship will get stale. Exactly. If you think of NBA 2K gaming as a relationship, then this metaphor makes sense. Karim, we're going to strike what he said off the record, that last thing about next year, we got to do it. We're not getting paid to do that. They are. All right, he's not done yet. You take care. In the small end though. Thank you, Karim. He's not like a producer in the bag. You see that? He's amazing. I love Karim. Hey, Ronnie, man, you didn't hear from me. You heard it from Karim. All he said is like, we love you. Ronnie, we love you. But it's getting a little repetitive. We're going to need some new content fresh thing. You know what I'm saying? I remember it wasn't me. If it was me, you probably did the opposite. This is Karim saying and all I know is I would never disrespect a Lakers and NBA legend, one of the greatest players of all time. I would never do it. I had no choice but to just give us new stuff now. Oh my goodness, I see his name. Ah, hopefully LeVar delivered. You know what I'm saying? Love you, LeVar. You don't, you don't like it. That's a pass. That's a pass. You got that score. Ronnie 2k. What's going down, man? I'm glad you, uh, you likes to get down on that, uh, NBA 2k. Yes, sir. Your boy Jonathan said is you like to get down with that thing, boy. And now that Melo's on the team. Hey, you can put him in the game and do what you do. Yeah. But hey, he said you can run. Jonathan said you got to add more dribbling and finishing animations in the neighborhood to keep the game live. Hey man, keep playing the game, have some fun with it. Big ball of brand in the building. Yeah. And I'm a holla. This is from your boy Jonathan, man. Ronnie 2k. Okay. Oh, God, I cringe at the end of it, but hey, he's big smiley at the whole time.   The amount of lighting is so unnatural. It's like, but listen, man. You hear what he said, Ronnie? He said all he wanted is more dribbling and finishing animations. I couldn't agree more. You know what I'm saying? Remember at the beginning of the year, there was just that one little behind the back and they took that out. We had nothing. There's literally nothing. People just hop. Yeah, look, just you're like, like, like, we average in four to five hops per part game. Like, think about it. I say per possession, but you know, per possession, you think? I think so too. All right. But hey, listen, man, wasn't me. All right. Oh, that's my guy. He goes to our gym too. Man, look at his jawline. Can we just appreciate Dakemi Matambo's jawline? That's incredible stuff right there. I choose a lot of gum. A lot. Like bubble gum. Yeah. Like the jawbreak. You choose jawbreak as David. Hello, Ronnie. Okay. This is Dakemi Matambo, your big friend, man. I know you play that game all the time. You might know who I am. The guy who does that. No, no, no. But I have a great message for you. Can you just edit more proximity in a chatroom? So my buddy here, Matt, can you have more room to play or to chat with the people around there?  Say, no, no, no. Not today. Not in my house. Is that his real voice? That is the deepest voice of, like, if I took my voice and used change pitch and applied negative 40, we need to put Dakemi Matambo on broadcast. You've been asking for that for years, for years. Now they can be actually, I mean, as a change happening. Right.  Yeah. And they got rid of that too. When I'm walking around, like, if I see Davis in the park, I just want to be able to talk to Davis. You know what I'm saying? And then for the people that immediately shoot down every good idea because it's not perfect, obviously it's going to come with toxicity. But all you have to do guys is actually mute button, right? Literally. It's like one click. All you have to do if you don't want to participate in the fun. You could be boring over there. We're going to have fun over here. Exactly. Ronnie. Listen, man. It wasn't me who said it, but he did say he would block you. Now he didn't describe how it could be on Twitter. It could be in real life. We don't know, but we shouldn't try and find out. This is Dakemi Matambo we're talking about. Bruce Owen. Davis. What? You don't know this guy? Why are you assuming that? Oh, you know who Bruce Bowen is. What team you play for, his whole career? Spurz. Good. Good. Okay. I'm not going to say it right there. I've never seen this man do in my life. He was like Tony Allen, but better. Like, he just fouled a lot of people. Some people really disliked him actually. He's like Pat Baff. Oh, okay. Okay. Nothing easy bad. Exactly. Exactly. Hey, Ron, Bruce Bowen here, free time NBA champ. I just want to kind of explain something when we talk about defense and we talk about offense.  Break it down, Bruce. 2005 or 2007. We knew that the Phoenix Suns were fantastic offensively. And in order to attain the goal of a championship, you got to do it on a defensive side. Yeah, offense wins games, but defense wins championships. So what's sexy when it comes to basketball, dunks, high flying moves, things like that, not defense. So the fact that NBA 2K20, you know, the video games, they don't reward defense. Why would they? That's not what sells. You've got to understand that it's the defense that does everything and they need to have more badges in video games and rewarding individuals for the defense. You heard it here, Ron. Now, be a good friend of Dean and understand that he's only looking out for you. All right? Enjoy your day. I love you, Bruce. That was such a good message and he had actual passion behind his voice. You get he gave us, he told us a story about the time he played against the Suns. Ronnie, the whole badge thing, I'm not sure why he said that, but what I'm trying to say is like badges should be effective. But if you don't have them, your defense should still, like if I'm in the lane, I click square, it should be a steal.  I shouldn't need hall of fame intercepted to reward my defense. If you don't have interceptor equipped, if someone throws the ball, you're just gonna, like, you know. Sometimes it just goes through you. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. So Ron, Ron, you're here for his defense, won championships. Bruce said it. I think Vince LaBardi said it before him, but it's fine. Bruce said this. I don't like that. Thanks again. Man, do you see us, Davis? Changing the course of history. This is what it's all about at the end of the day. It's not about you, it's not about me. It's about the change that we make for 2K21. And I think that with all these, you know, messages here from these famous celebrities that Ronnie's a huge fan of, I think he's going to listen up, man. We're going to bring everything down to earth, Kenyon Martin. Might not actually. He might. No, it will. I thought he's a basketball player. Why does he have a Cowboy's name? I know he's a basketball player. Okay. Oh, no, Juniors, the basketball player.  What up, Ronnie? I heard that you're a huge 2K fan, man. That you play with us. Old Nets days or Nuggets days, man. It is what it is. As long as you get them W's and we out here doing what we supposed to for you. It's a great thing, man. Hope all is well. Stay safe out here. Wait. Let's make it happen, man. Happy July. Much love to you. Oh, you guys can't. Oh, man. Oh, yeah, yeah. 2K21 ends up being horrible because of Kenyon Martin, man. It's because he could have delivered the message. I don't even remember what the message was, but what I do know. Tell me, have a good 4th of July. Ronnie's going to take that advice and be like, yo, I'm going to have a good 4th of July. That's the only thing he will listen to in his whole video. Why is he so fit, man? You can see his chest, even though he's doing this right here. Imagine that. This is for Ronnie 2K, okay? And this is booked by Beam. All right? Beam. Beam wants to be a professional NBA 2K player one day, but it's hard to train without a dedicated practice mode. So Ronnie 2K, I'm asking you, can you include a practice mode so players can improve and hopefully one day go pro? Yes. Beam says, I'm ready to grind. God bless you all. Hope you worked that out. God bless you too, Ray Lewis. Right. All the fighting games got it because they know how they work. It could be to my court. If they actually cared about the mic or it could be to my court. So what do you mean by practice? Like a training mode. Like I should be able to go in there and instantly change any kind of animation. I should be able to plot an AI defender in front of me and get him to defend me. Harsh. Get him to sag. I should be able to like add latency. This game is so basic too. Exactly. I was watching some Tekken literally yesterday and the depth they have is, yo, I'm going to put some b-roll on the screen. It's so ridiculous. It makes no sense. Like this should be framed out of like you released a ball at 300 milliseconds. And so you'll know the next time you shoot it, it was at 298. A little bit earlier. All of that stuff could be available. They have access to a lot of that information. It's just not available. Upgrade the mic court really. Because they're... Exactly. And like you can invite players to your mic court and stuff like that. Sometimes, sometimes they just go to an oblivion. They don't even make it there. It's all like they disappear. Oh wait, never mind. You can't even join your own mic court at the time. So I'll forget about it. But it could be to my court though. If they just took time to work on the mic court. So yeah, I mean, it wasn't me. And remember, I wasn't the one who said any of this. Ray Lewis was the one who delivered that message. You know what I'm saying? We're talking about a Hall of Famer. Hopefully we change the course of history. 50,000 likes. We run it back, man. Davis, link in the description. Thanks for joining me today, Davis. No problem, dude. Did you just like... So a lot of people do the Facebook map, you know? Oh, that's some California stuff. No, no, no. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amen. Drop a like. Some videos on the screen right now, man. Actually, I'm going to link last year's video I did on Cameo. It was iconic. You got to watch it if you haven't already. I'll see you guys in the next one. I'm out. This is how I end videos now. Peace. Oh.


Oh, what's up everybody once again is brand man Sean and this is inside the network where we show exclusive clips and artist sessions from inside of brand man network.com and this particular clip right here is a great session where Corey talks about something that's mysterious for a lot of artists and artists ask him about LinkedIn but not just, you know, regular LinkedIn. How do I build my profile? How do I network on LinkedIn and do it effectively? And I must say, Corey dropped some gems in this one y'all. Check it out. It's the network. On the book, digital book, I think it's master music, networking online, that one. Sean was talking about LinkedIn.  And they were talking about the part where there's like A&Rs in the search and and like what would be like the best way to like set up a LinkedIn page for your personal brand? Like would you have to make it look I guess corporate type stuff or like do you make it like to the style of how like you'd have your Instagram or Twitter? No, you would definitely want to be a lot more businessy. So LinkedIn, you got to think about the type of people that are on LinkedIn. They don't they don't care about your cool pictures. They don't care about, you know, to an extent like they want to see things like that. But it's a lot more very similar to what I was talking about with influencers. It's a lot more like bottom line kind of thing. Like what are you doing a professional level? Is your business well put together? Are you the type of person where, you know, where we can do a lot of B2B and I feel pretty comfortable and have good faith in it. So it's just a matter of, I mean, from an artist standpoint, I would say how on Instagram, you would kind of show up a lot more of like your personality, like what's your fantasy on the back end or something like that. It would just be communicating information to these people, posting information to ladies. People know you have like a solid understanding of like the business. So maybe doing like small case studies on certain things you've done to like build yourself out. Or even down to kind of having it like portfolio style. So the main thing you want to do is like optimize your page off really. You want a clean profile picture, something professional, something clean.  Something that if a chief financial officer of Atlanta came across your profile, he may not be the A&R, but he knows the A&R at Atlanta, right? But he'll be more likely to communicate to you because you look like someone wants to talk to. And then of course you want any accolades, anything that makes you stand out. You want to list it on your page, listing skills. Like you want it to be listed the exact same way you would do it as if you were going for a job interview just for like a regular night to five. You just want to tailor it towards like the kind of things that people in the music industry care about. But a lot of that, to be honest with you, like a lot of those guys, they had to do business, right? LinkedIn is a place where business professionals come meet with each other to potentially talk about business stuff. Back to, we want to know how we can help them make money. So even just like reaching out to people, it's always good to have an example.  This is what I was able to generate. This is the type of attention I was able to generate. This is the numbers I was able to get, the viewership I was able to bring in. This is how much I was able to retain, how much money I was able to make off of it, all that stuff. And then packaging neatly, like a proposal type for you. And then just people that when you come across people who you feel like can help you on some type of way, just use that to kick off the conversation. Because people on LinkedIn are usually pretty open to talking, as long as you have something to talk about. All comes down to how to, you know, like, what's going to make you stand out from the thousands of artists that are reaching out to these professionals on LinkedIn is all, all the other thousands are going to be reaching out saying, yo, how can you help me? What can you do for me? You're going to be reaching out to them with examples and what you can do for them. Like, look, man, if we work together, if we're able to do business, this is what I will be able to help you guys with, able to bring, this is how I'll be able to bring back. You know, okay, man. I hope that helps. I know you asked about setting up the page for SAFE, but it's really no, it's really no, like, special way. Like, the main thing you gotta have is just wait until you do one there. Like, if you're setting an example, man, that's what matters the most.  When you have examples of work, when you're able to have proof of your work ethic and just the results that you generated from it, that speaks, you know, way louder than just, I'm an artist, my music is lit, you know, or I can, I'm a producer and my beats lit. It's like, okay, well, prove it to me. What did you do to show that it's lit? Like, how can you show me that your stuff is lit? At that point, like, would you present like an EPK? Um, EPK for those who ask for it, so those would probably be a lot more beneficial to, like, people on the press side, and maybe even, like, promoters who are on there. Promoters are on, everyone's on LinkedIn. Anyone that makes, has to fill out a W2 or, no, five chapters of their music business is on LinkedIn. But it's, I would say have an EPK on file. Like I said, just examples of ways that you've been able to generate traffic for yourself, and then just like any accolades or anything like notable that has happened since you've been kind of doing what you're doing. Just have those tucked away. Well, have them on your profile, easy to view, just like one click, like, where they get to it very easily. And they just always, like, kind of have them stashed away and ready to send out.  But a lot of people, like, if you're able to get those conversations started, most people are going to ask this, like, do you have a website? Do you have an EPK? Do you have something where I can see, like, know what you have going on? It's the network. Cory nailed it on that one, y'all. Like, it starts with the business mindset. People are there to do business. They're there to do business connecting with other business professionals to do business. So you have to approach them like a business professional, approaching them like, oh, please go check out the link to my music. And all that stuff on LinkedIn is really setting yourself back. In the same way you approach people differently when they're with their kids versus, you know, if they were just out by themselves or something like that, that's the same way you need to think about LinkedIn, right? You're taking a different approach here. One of the big tips that I help a lot of artists out with is just this, right? You can find A&Rs on LinkedIn. You can find managers on LinkedIn. You can find people who work at Spotify, Apple, all these good things on LinkedIn. However, using LinkedIn sometimes to just prospect and find people is a great thing when you also take what you find and just reach out to those people on social media. It's an extra step. I know it's a little bit harder, right?  But at the end of the day, you don't have to worry about being good at communicating in that business fashion, particularly if you aren't comfortable with that yet. A good thing to do is once again, find the people because when you find A&Rs and if you use some of those processes in master music networking online, I'll put a link to that in the description below of you, some of that stuff, right? You'll be able to find people that you never even knew existed but are able to help you. But if you aren't comfortable with actually speaking to those folks, right? You need to make sure you reach out to them, google them, take their name, and say whatever Mark Mathis Instagram, you know, you found Mark Mathis, the A&R at Apple on LinkedIn and then you go just basically Mark Mathis Instagram, maybe even A&R or music or something like that in Google and you'll probably find his Instagram or his Twitter or something. Super simple step. Now, when we talk about building a professional profile, being keen on results and just showing your streaming numbers or something like that or that the name of your label, if you signed yourself, right? Having some of that information that poises and positions you as a business professional, some of your brand partnerships, maybe some of the festivals that you perform that, right? This is almost like an EPK but it's not your EPK. This is your resume, right? That's essentially what LinkedIn is. It's the resume and what makes me credible. What says that I'm a business professional and shows that I'm established. Many people have different things. So if you don't feel like you have a lot and you aren't impressive, don't worry about that. Write what you have. All that stuff can be updated as time goes on. And once again, if you're that worried about it, you can just find the people on there and then, you know, reach out to them on LinkedIn. As a matter of fact, I have another video about certain prospecting that you can find on my channel. Type in brand man, Sean LinkedIn. I'm sure that video will pop up. And then other than that, though, that's it. This is another episode of Inside the Network, where we show you some artist sessions and other exclusive clips from brandmannetwork.com. If you're interested in talking with me, call me Resby and just some of the other parts of the process. Then check us out because we're here to help you develop your brand and build with your fan base in a way that you receive mentorship along your process. So you have infrastructure where you don't necessarily need a full-time marketing manager and you still get the impact. You still get the insight because you're able to deal with this same situation on a budget. If you like this video, go ahead and like button. If you like it, you might as well share it. And if you're not subscribed, hit that subscribe button. But of course, just last but not least, it's the network and this is Inside the Network. Let's go. It's the network.