We sang a song a moment ago,
crown him with many crowns. Unfortunately, in that book,
that particular hymn book, they left out the best verse of the
song. It's crown him the Lord of life
who triumphed over the tomb and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save. How wonderful it is that the
Lord gives us eyes to see the work of Christ finished, completed,
and applied completely by His sovereign hand. So that there's
not a thing that a man can do to gain it, and by the same token,
there's not a thing that a man can do to lose it. because it
is that which resides in the bosom, the purpose, the sovereign
will of a holy God who does all things according to the good
pleasure of his will. And that is a comforting thought.
Now that's not a comforting thought to the man who believes in his
mind that he has the power to approach unto God when he gets
ready. That's a very disconcerting thought
and it's a thing that causes men to hate the preaching of
the cross. There is an offense in the preaching
of the cross because in the preaching of the cross is a declaration
of a sovereign God. because the crucifixion of the
Lord Jesus Christ did not occur by chance. It did not occur haphazardly,
nor did any aspect of it fall into any other realm than the
absolute purpose of God to magnify his name in the redemption of
a people. which he chose in Christ from
before the foundation of the world. Now that's a place of
great glory for the sons of God. That's a place of great consternation
to those who would fight against him. And it is that which prompted
the apostle Paul to write in his, in the ninth chapter of
Romans, Nay, but O man, who art thou that replyest against God?
Now why did he write that? Because he knew that it was endemic
in the nature of man to reply against God. Men don't like what
God has done. And they balk at it. And they
would war against it. They say it can't be so, it wouldn't
be fair, it wouldn't be right. Well, hath not God, the creator
of all things, hath not the potter power over the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and one unto dishonor? What can we say? Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? And so we bow down before Him
today and worship Him and thank Him that He has revealed to us
that He did send forth His only begotten Son to die for sinners.
He didn't come to die for righteous men, He came to die for sinners.
And righteous men will perish. because they will perish in their
own righteousness, thinking themselves to be something when they are
nothing. But the Lord Jesus came to die for those who have no
strength. He came to die for those who
have no wisdom, came to die for those who have no power. He is
that one who is the Savior of sinners. He said, I came to seek
and to save that which is lost. Until a man knows himself to
be lost, he'll never know himself to be saved. Because you see,
that's the place that the Spirit of God must bring a man, is into
the dust of knowing that he has no hope except that which is
found in Christ. He is the Savior. And this morning,
we're going to read a very moving account in the 15th chapter of
Mark, and there's quite a few verses, 47, I want to read the
whole thing and then we might make a comment or two upon some
of it. We certainly will not be able
to cover it all, but this is the place that Without this,
the occurrences that take place in this chapter, we would have
no gospel. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. He also said
that we would know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him
crucified. He's not sent us into the world
to unravel great mysteries of prophecy. Many do. You can buy hundreds of books. There's so many books written
on prophetic things, it's almost shameful to consider. And most
all of them's wrong. How'd I know that? Because they
all say different stuff. I mean, two things, you know,
two guys looking at the scripture, and one of them said, well, it's
gonna be like this, and the other one says, well, no, it's gonna
be like this. Well, they can't both be right, you know, if they're
opposite thoughts of one another. In fact, I had a gentleman just
this morning, he asked me what was my thoughts on the end times. I said, well, I believe they're
here. I said, These are the last times. He said, well, I mean, what about
the end? I said, it's coming. See, that's, I mean, we can be
sure of that, and I won't make light of the things, you know,
there are things in the scriptures that I would be the first to
tell you I don't completely and fully understand, and wouldn't
try to tell you what they are, but the thing about it is nobody
else does either. But many men will, in order to
sell a book, make some money or whatever, they'll write about
all kinds of stuff and to revel men with their knowledge and
their wisdom. But we don't have any understanding
except that which the Lord pleased to give us. So we're looking
at the 15th chapter of Mark. And straightway in the morning
the chief priest held a consultation with the elders and scribes and
the whole council and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered
him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou
the king of the Jews? And he answering said unto him,
Thou sayest it. And the chief priest accused
him of many things, but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him
again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many things
I witness against thee. But Jesus yet answered nothing.
So that Pilate marveled. Now at the feast, he released
unto them one prisoner. This was their custom. whomsoever
they desired. And there was one named Barabbas,
which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him,
who had committed murder in that insurrection. And the multitude
crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done
unto them. But Pilate answered them saying,
will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? For he
knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But the
chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release
Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said
again unto them, What will ye then that I should do unto him
whom ye call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again,
Crucify him. Then Pilate said unto them, Why,
what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly,
Crucify him. And so Pilate, willing to content
the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus
when he had scourged him to be crucified. And the soldiers led
him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together
the whole band. And they clothed him with purple
and planted a crown of thorns, and he put it about his head,
and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote
him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing
their knees, worshiped him. And when they had mocked him,
they took off purple from him, and put his own clothes on him,
and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon, a
Cyrenian, who passed by coming out of the country, the father
of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. And they bring him
into the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the place
of a skull. And they gave him to drink wine
mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And when they had crucified
him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what
every man should take. And it was the third hour, and
they crucified him. And the superscription of his
accusation was written over. the king of the Jews. And with
him they crucified two thieves, the one on his right hand, the
other on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled,
which saith, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And they
that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying,
ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three
days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise also
the chief priest, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes,
he saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the King of
Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified
with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And
at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthan, which is being interpreted, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that heard
by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias, or
Elijah. And one ran, and filled a sponge
full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink,
saying, Let alone let us see whether Elias will come to take
him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was
rent in twain from top to bottom. And when the centurion, which
stood over against him, saw that he so cried out and gave up the
ghost, he said, truly, this man was the Son of God. There were
also women looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James the less, and of Joseph and Salome. who also, when he was in Galilee,
followed him and ministered unto him, and many other women which
came up with him unto Jerusalem. And now, when the even was come,
because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited
for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate,
and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled if he were
already dead. And calling unto him the centurion,
he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew
it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought
fine linen and took him down and wrapped him in the linen
and laid him in a sepulchre, which was hewn out of a rock
and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene,
the mother, and Mary, the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was
laid. Now we had looked last week at
the fact that they brought the Lord before the council and this
was really a kangaroo court. It was a court wherein they had
already decided what the verdict was before they ever had the
trial but in order to satisfy their conscience they went through
the The motions of a trial sound sort of familiar to some of the
ways of our government, but nonetheless, they found him guilty, of course,
and said, well, they couldn't legally crucify him. They couldn't legally put him
to death, but the Romans could, so they took him to the Romans. and took him to Pilate, who was
the governor. And Pilate asked him as he came
there, art thou the king of the Jews? And he said to him, thou
sayest. Now some have said, well, why
didn't he just go ahead and tell Pilate? Because it wasn't given
unto Pilate for him to tell him that. The Lord told his disciples
not to cast pearls before swine. You see, he had ordained that
Pilate would pass sentence upon him. And he didn't ordain Pilate
to be one who would have an understanding of these things. Now keep in
mind, Pilate didn't care, did he? Pilate's not an innocent
actor in this situation. Because Pilate, had he acted
according to what was right, he would have turned the Lord
Jesus loose, would he not? Because he knew in his mind the
man had done nothing wrong, but on the other hand, Pilate couldn't
do anything but what he did, could he? Because the Lord ordained
that these things would occur. And so it was that it did occur.
Now that's a thing that should cause men to trouble, to consider
the power of Almighty God, to bring his will to pass. And there's
not a thing in the world that any man can do, stand in his
way or keep him from doing it. Now, you often hear men say,
oh, well, you know, man's got a free will, and you know how
it is. I mean, the Lord can't do anything.
Well, the scripture says the Lord will make his people willing
in the day of his power. See, the free will of man doesn't
mean anything to the Lord, because the Lord's the one that made
man. the Lord's the one that gave man. Such a thing is what
men call free will. But free will is not free because
men are bound to sin. See, men are not free. Men are
not in neutral. You know, if you put a car in
neutral, it can roll down a hill, but men are not like that. Men
are not in neutral. They're actively going away from
God. They're not trying to find the
Lord. in their own way. Well, I take
that back. Men do want to find God in their
own way. See, a lot of people, religious
men, it's natural for man to be religious, is it not? And
to think he can find God however he wants to. I mean, how many
is the man that said, oh, well, I can worship God just as good
down on the riverbank as I can going to church? Well, I wouldn't
ever dispute with anybody that such a thing could possibly occur,
but That's not the prescribed way in which God has ordained
for men to come together and worship Him, is it? And so it
is, that men are men. Pilate was a man, and he was
one whom the Lord had ordained to accomplish a task, and he
must do it. And so Pilate asked him again,
Or the chief priest accused him of many things. They said, well,
you know, this man is a wicked man. They tried to paint it out
that he was trying to turn the Jews against the government and
all of that sort of thing. Of course, that was foolish.
Pilate knew that that was not the case. But he said to the
Lord, aren't you going to say anything? I remember the scripture
says that he was as a lamb brought before his shearers as numb,
so openeth not his mouth. So he didn't open his mouth.
In fact, you know, it's striking how many of these prophecies
that are in the, in Isaiah chapter 53, that are
fulfilled in this very, The chapter that we just read, of course,
is the others who wrote the Gospels. Let's read that. Isaiah 53. Says, who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Now see, the arm
of the Lord has to be revealed to a man, because a man's not
gonna, he's not gonna see these things. A man can't understand,
even as Pilate's standing there before the Lord, he said, well,
are you a king? Now see, if the arm of the Lord
had been revealed to Pilate, he'd have fell down on his face
before him and worshiped him, would he not? but he didn't see
it. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant
and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness
and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire
him. There's nothing in the Lord Jesus
Christ that causes a man by nature to desire to serve him. Pilate looked at him, he thought,
well, you know, this is a weak man here. He can't do anything.
I've got power over him. Did he not say that? He said,
well, don't you know I've got power to send you to death? The Lord said, you don't have
any power at all. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and we hid, as it
were, our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He has brought his lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bared the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors. Now, over and over again, there
are many things that took place. in the activities that happened
that were direct fulfillments of those things that are spoken
of there in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, and of course in other
places in the scripture. As the Lord was brought there,
he was despised. Even by his own disciples, was
he not? They weren't there. They didn't
come to help him out, did they? When they brought forth the false
witnesses, none of them stood up and said, wait a minute. None of them said anything. But
Jesus, yes, yet answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled. And
so it was according to their custom that on the Passover,
at the Passover, that they would release a prisoner. Unto the
Jews, this was a custom that the Romans had started, and they
would do, this was supposedly a gesture of goodwill towards
the Jews who hated the Romans, of course, as they were their
oppressors. But the Jews, they would kind of, you know, play
with them, make them think that they were trying to be good to
them, and so they were going to release one. And as we knew,
they wanted Barabbas. Now, Barabbas, he was a uh... insurrectionist he was a terrorist
we might say uh... he had uh... the jews were constantly
fighting against the romans during this period of time that's something
i think sometimes we forget is the political turmoil that was
taking place at this point in time and there were many who
were rising up and seeking to overturn uh... the Romans, even
as after the Lord died, there were many who came claiming they
were the Messiah. Of course, the Jews' idea was
that when the Messiah came, he was going to relieve them from
the oppression of the Romans. They couldn't see it any other
way. If the Messiah came and he was going to deliver them,
this would have to be what it was that he would deliver them
from. I mean, that's how they looked at it. And so all of this
was going on, and this Barabbas, he was a terrorist. He had committed
murder during one of these insurrections. He was condemned to die. And
so Pilate said, well, you know, we can either let you have this
man, Jesus, or we'll turn Barabbas loose. Now, the to show how much
the Jews hated the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd rather have this
murderer released into their company than they had the Lord. Pilate was taken aback by this,
but rather than willing to content the people. See, he played right
into the hands of the Jews. Now again, all of this was ordered
by the Lord. Didn't just happen that way.
And the soldiers led him then, because he was in the custody
of the Romans at this time, so not only did the Jews put the
Lord Jesus Christ to death, but the Romans did as well. Jews and Gentiles alike were
those that crucified the Lord according to the good pleasure
of the Lord. And they clothed him with purple,
planted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began
to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews. Now they mocked him.
The scripture says that every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess. There's coming a day when these
same ones shall worship at his feet. and they will not be mocking
at that time for it will be revealed unto them that he is that king and they shall be cast away in
the presence of the Lord forever now again these things are things
that should cause us to tremble I mean when you consider the
judgment of God now if the Lord brought each one of us to that
place to make account for our sin, which one of us could stand? I mean, see, some people have
the idea that there's going to be this judgment and some people's
going to turn out doing pretty good because they were better
than other folks. No, all men are judged in the
same fashion and all are found guilty. And the only way that
God's people stand before the Lord and are not cast into destruction
is because they have a mediator. They have one that stands in
their place. They have one who pleads their case, as it were. And they're hidden in Christ.
And so when the Lord judges men in the final day, he shall judge
those who are in Christ as well as those who are outside of Christ.
And those who are in Christ shall be judged faithful. they shall
be judged as those who have not sinned. How can it be so? Because they're in Christ. See,
the man who's outside of Christ, he has no hope. But those who
are in Christ are those who are received. And so they clothed
him with purple. They made a mockery of him as
being some royalty. And they had mocked him, then
they took the purple off, put his own clothes on, led him out
to crucify him. And they compelled one Simon,
a Cyrenian, who passed by to bear his cross. Now I want us
to understand, you know, this is a puzzling
thing to some, but we must understand this, and that is that the Lord
Jesus was a man. Now he was God. He is God. But he was as much a man as any
other man. And in order to demonstrate the
fact that he had poured out his own soul unto death, we see him
as a man who's brought down to great weakness. In fact, I believe
it's in Luke's gospel, he speaks about the fact that when the
Lord was praying in the garden, that the Lord sent an angel that
strengthened him, that helped him. Now, what do we understand
by that? Well, we understand that he was
a man, and the flesh is weak. He said so, did he not? So we must understand that the
Lord poured himself out. You see, he had no strength. as a man his strength lay in the fact
that he was a man not like any other man for you see he had
the spirit of God without measure within him so while he was in
the flesh weak he was yet strong was he not because for the joy
that was set before him he endured the cross despising the shame
and no man took his life from him but he laid it down And when
it pleased him to say it is finished, it was done. And they compelled this Simon,
a Cyrenian, to carry his cross. Now it's interesting that he
points out that this man was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now we don't know who Alexander
and Rufus are, but it is interesting, if you look in the scriptures,
that there is a man in the book of Acts named Alexander, who
was a follower of Christ. And in fact, they brought Alexander
out and I think the crowd beat him in one place there in the
book of Acts. And then there is a man named
Rufus in the Roman letter of Paul mentioned. So I don't know
if these are the same ones or not, but it is interesting, you
see, how that the Lord names his children. He knows his sheep,
does not he? He said, I call my sheep by name. Oh, what a glorious thing to
consider. And they bring him to a place of Golgotha, which
is being interpreted the place of a skull. And they gave him
to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. Now this
was something that was often given to those who would be crucified
to numb the pain. kind of like a drug cocktail
and it was meant to let them endure this. But you notice that
it says he received it not. Remember what he told his disciples?
He said, I will no more drink of this fruit of the vine until
I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God. And so he refused
this wine. Because number one, he would
not be drugged in the time of his suffering for us. But he
bore our pain. He carried it all. And when they
had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon
them, whatever man should take. And it was the third hour, and
they crucified him. And that was an hour that was
set from before the foundation of the world. Well, you know,
when the world was created, the Savior was already the Savior. How do we know that? Because
the scripture says that the Lord has a people which he chose in
Christ from before the foundation of the world. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, as the Savior of sinners, those centers that were given
to him. He came into the world and he paid the price that he
set out to do. Oh, what a glorious Savior he
is and what a wondrous testimony of the mercy of God that we see
set forth on Calvary's cross. He died for sinners. Now, how
does a man know if Christ died for him? you know the world tells us the
religious world tells us well he died for all men well if he
died for all men then all men would be saved so we know that
that's not so the scripture said that he brought about the salvation
of many now how does a man know if the
Lord Jesus Christ died for him well I submit to you that uh...
You can't necessarily know that. But I tell you, this is the thing.
See, the Lord never said you got to know that the Lord died
for you. But this is the thing that he
called upon men to remember his death, to remember that he did
die for sinners. And he gives men the gift of
faith to believe that what Christ has done is sufficient. to take
away our sin. Oh, that He might give us faith
today to believe His Word. He is the Savior to those that
believe. They are not saved because they
believe, but belief is the avenue through which the Lord shows
them that He is the Savior. Do you believe today? Do you
rest in Christ? I mean, have you given up hope
in all others? He alone can save sinners, and
He saves such as call upon His name. What a glorious Savior
He is. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And He stands And He says to
those who know themselves to be sinners, I have died for sinners. Oh, that we might be given grace
today to call upon His name. I believe this is a true thing.
There won't be any cast out from the presence of the Father who
have called upon the name of Christ. For He will save those
that come unto Him. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a mind and heart to call upon Him today.