In Mark 14, the Holy Spirit gives
us, or chapter 15 rather, he gives us the record of our Lord's
sacrifice as the Lamb of God. We will today look at verses
1 through 15 together. Mark 15, verse 1. 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. 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
they witness against thee? But Jesus yet answered nothing. So that Pilate marveled. Now at the feast he released
unto them one prisoner, 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 the 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 you that I release unto you the King of the Jews?' For
he knew that the chief priest had delivered him for envy. But
the chief priest moved the people, that he should rather release
Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said
unto them, What will you then that I shall do unto him whom
you call the King, the King of the Jews?' And they cried out
again, Crucify him. And 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 when
he had scourged him to be crucified. Now, whenever we think about
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sacrifice that he made upon
the cursed tree two thousand years ago, we ought always to
remember three things. These three things ought always
to be at the forefront of our thoughts. The first is this. The Lord Jesus Christ died upon
the cursed tree as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. He did not suffer for any crimes
of his own. The Son of God was cut off out
of the land of the living, but not for his sake, but rather
for our sakes. He died not for his own sins,
but for our sins which were imputed to him. He died not for his own
transgressions, but for our transgressions which were made to be his by
divine imputation. He died not because of his iniquities
he had done, but because our iniquities were laid upon him
so that he was made to bear our sins in his own body on the cursed
tree. Listen to the scriptures. 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 like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned every one to his
own way, but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken, says the Lord God. He was cut off, but not
for himself, but for the people. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." Listen to this. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. being made a curse for us. And it was evident that he was
made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree. Secondly, understand this. Not
only did Christ die as a substitute in our place, as a substitutionary
sacrifice, but ever remember that the substitutionary sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ is the focal point, the essence, and
the message of Holy Scripture. Now, I cannot emphasize this
sufficiently. I want you to turn to 1 Peter
1 for a moment. 1 Peter 1. The law that was given back at
Sinai was given to show us our need of Christ. All the sacrifices
that were offered in the tabernacle and in the temple, the morning
and evening sacrifices, the annual sacrifices, those sacrifices
that came every seven years, all the sacrifices were designed
to show us the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. All
the priests, all the priestly garments, all the priestly ceremonies,
all the priestly rituals, all the priestly services, every
miracle, all the deliverances, the manna that fell from heaven,
the rock out of which came the water, the healing of the waters
of Myra with the casting in of that stick. All those things
are determined by God to be representatives and pictures of Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for us. I'm not suggesting, I'm
not even implying in the slightest way that this is the most important
thing revealed in Scripture. I am saying to you, as plainly
as I know how to say it, this is the whole revelation of Holy
Scripture. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is not a book about morality. It is not a book about law. It
is not a book about religious dogma. It is not a book about
politics. It's not a book about religious
history. It is a book about Him who loved us and gave Himself
for us. Now, let's see if I can make
good on that in the Scriptures. Turn to 1 Peter 1 and verse 23. The Apostle Peter has told us
now about the death of Christ, how He redeemed us with His precious
blood as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He says in verse 23 that we who believe have been born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. I was challenged
just recently, a fellow said, now the Word of God teaches that
we're converted by the instrumentality of the Word, but not regenerated.
I beg your pardon. Now, I don't beg anybody's pardon.
This is what it says. You're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God. This book right
here, this book, the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof falleth away. In other words, we're just nothing.
We're just nothing. Flesh is flesh, never anything
but flesh, withering, dying, decaying, rotting, worthless
flesh. But the Word of the Lord endureth
forever. Now look at this. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." What on
earth are you saying, Peter? The whole word, this word, the
whole thing, the whole thing, this whole book is preached to
you when the gospel is preached to you. And when the gospel is
not preached, this book is not preached. When the gospel is
not declared, those who open this book do but mock your soul
in not preaching the gospel. Listen to this. The Apostle John
says, These things are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might
have life through his name. Now, here's the third thing.
Understand this. The death of Christ was a substitutionary
sacrifice. The death of Christ as our substitute
is the sum, the essence, the message of Holy Scripture. And
thirdly, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is the doctrine
of substitution, is both the revelation and the glory of God
and the glory of the gospel. How do men see the glory of God?
How can you see it? Well, I see the glory of God
in creation. Now, I'll just say a little bit of it. I see the
glory of God in the handiwork that he has made. No, just a
little bit of it. I see his wisdom and his power in the stars, in
the sun, in the sky, in the earth, in the wonders of his hands.
I see his wisdom and his power. But Paul tells us plainly that
you see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, our crucified
substitute. That is, we see how that God
can be both just and justifier. We see how that God can be both
merciful and absolutely unrelenting in his wrath. We see how that
God can both punish our sin to the full satisfaction of his
justice, and yet forgive our sin on the ground of perfect
justice satisfied. That's only in Christ Jesus the
Lord. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace
have kissed each other. No wonder the Apostle Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto
the world. Now, listen carefully to me.
When we talk about the cross, when I speak of it here, or when
the book of God speaks of the cross, it is not speaking merely
about the historic fact of Christ's death. We don't glory in that. There's no gospel in that. Most
folks seem to think that the preaching of the gospel is simply
announcing the fact that Christ died and was buried and rose
again according to scripture. That is just not so. The preaching
of the gospel is declaring how, how, how, that Christ died for
our sins was buried and rose again the third day, according
to the scriptures. So it's not the fact of the cross
we glory in. It certainly is not that wooden
Roman gibbet upon which the Lord Jesus Christ died. In all probability,
we had the idea, we've had the movie pictures for years, we've
had those Roman Catholic Artists show us pictures of that idolatry
for years of Jesus stretched out on a cross like this. That
wasn't typically a Roman cross. More than likely, he was just
nailed to a tree, a post shoved in the ground, like so. It is
not the fact of the cross, nor the wood on which he died. Now,
I want to tell you something. It may shock the life out of
folks. It won't you, but it will some folks. If I could find that
piece of wood on which the Son of God died, I'd burn it up,
scatter the ashes, and I wouldn't tell you where it was. Oh, how
could you do that? Because folks would worship it.
They'd worship it. That's the way men are. We don't
worship the wood on which he died. We worship him who died. And I certainly don't have any
reference for the symbol of the cross or emblems of the cross,
any of those things, just silly. Idolatry and silly. If something
should happen that some false accuser came and arrested Bobby
Estes and took you and put you in an electric chair and executed
you, I can't imagine that woman sitting beside you wearing an
electric chair around her neck for the rest of her life. I just
can't imagine that, can you? I just cannot imagine it. No,
no, that's horrid, just the thought of such a thing. So that's not
what Paul's talking about. We don't sing about the old rugged
cross. You know, our hymn books, our
religious world is just so permeated with ungodly idolatry. We don't do it. Well, preacher,
what are we talking about? We're talking about glorying
in the cross. The doctrine of it. The doctrine of it. We glory in the doctrine of redemption
accomplished by God's substitute, Jesus Christ the Lord. Do you
understand that? That's the message of Holy Scripture.
Let's look now at what's revealed here in Mark chapter 15, as we
begin to deal with this glorious, glorious fact that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, is read as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is done, so he opens not his mouth. I
want to show you four or five things in these first 15 verses,
and I won't be long doing it. First, we have before us in verse
1 a fulfillment of prophecy. Hold your hands here in Mark
15 and turn back to Genesis 49. Let me show you. Why do you suppose
that these Jews, these Jews who prided themselves in their great
religious tradition and in their great authority as Abraham's
children, The chief priests, the scribes, the elders, they
all got together with the whole council and they decided, this
man, Jesus, will kill him. But they didn't do it. They didn't
do it. Was it because somehow they just
thought, well, we're too civil to stone him to death? No. Why is it that they carried him
over to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, and turned him over
to him and asked him to kill him? We don't want to be guilty
of this." No, that wasn't it. That wasn't it. By their very
act, they demonstrated a fulfillment of prophecy. And by their very
act, they testified that they knew, if they simply opened the
scriptures, that the times of the Messiah were present, because
now they had absolutely no legal, civil authority to execute the
Son of God. Their power was gone, but they
were captives of the Romans. They were in Roman bondage and
captivity. The power of law had departed from under Judah's feet,
and Judah no longer had power as a political nation. Let's
look in Genesis chapter 49. This is exactly what Jacob said
was going to happen as he gave this word of prophecy to his
son Judah. He says in verse 10, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah. nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be." These Jews did what they did because Shiloh
has come. And Israel as a nation no longer
has political power. It no longer has civil power.
It no longer has legal power. If they would execute any man
legally, it must be done by the Romans and not by the Jews. Not
only that, but they must also fulfill the scriptures in their
deeds. And the scriptures required that our Redeemer be crucified,
not stoned. Crucified as the Romans crucified
a man, not stoned as the Jews did. That he be crucified because
it was required that he be put to death in a publicly shameful
manner. And the book of Deuteronomy only
describes one manner of killing as being a public shame. Cursing
is every one that hangs on a tree. So the Son of God must be hung
on a tree. But He must be hung on a tree,
not tied and hung with a rope. Not tied and hung up there just
to suffer and die being tied to the tree. No, no. They shall
look on me whom they pierced. He's got to be pierced. His hands
and his feet and his side must be wounded. Our Lord Jesus, then,
must be crucified with nails driven in the extremities of
his body. He must be crucified, not stone. He must be crucified by nails
and not a bone in his body broken. That's all required in the scriptures.
Therefore, when the Jews wanted him dead, they took him to a
Roman governor, and the Roman governor hung him on a tree.
And the Roman governor didn't just hang him there, he nailed
him to the tree. And not only did he nail him
to the tree, when they sent his man out to execute the rest by
breaking their legs, the Lord Jesus was hanging there already
dead. He had given up his life, and
they didn't crush his legs like they did anybody else's. Listen to this, Against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." Remember this, my brothers, my sisters in Christ. Wicked men are never out of God's
control. All hell and all the peoples
of this world, Satan and all the demons of hell, are but unwitting
vassals of our God to fulfill his will in all things. So that these ungodly, reprobate,
wicked men, the Jews and the Romans did exactly what they
wanted to do, but they did so exactly according to the purpose
of God. Exactly. And then look in verses
2 Here is an example of patience. The Lord Jesus was accused of
many things, and it didn't answer a thing.
He made no effort to defend his name, made no effort to clear
his reputation, he made no effort whatsoever to stand in defense
of himself. But the scripture says he committed
himself to God who judges righteously. Oh, what an example he gives
us. We can do nothing more dishonoring
to our God. We can do nothing more contrary
to our faith than grumble, complain, and murmur against our God when
he sends trouble our way, no matter by whom he sends it. You
see, the one who brings the trouble is just the messenger. The one
who sends the trouble is our God. And we can never more dishonor
him than when we murmur against him, complain and grumble at
his providence. And we can never more glorify
him We can never more exemplify the character of our Savior than
when we bear afflictions and false accusations and injustices
patiently. Turn back to the passage we read
earlier in 1 Peter 2. Verse 20. What glory is it if when you be buffeted for your
faults, that is, you suffer because you acted like somebody who deserved
to suffer. What glory is it if somebody
said, Boy, I'm being persecuted because of the gospel. Most of
the time it's because you've got a sharp mouth. Most of the
time. What glory is it if you suffer because you've acted like
someone that folks look down and know that his behavior is
repugnant. That's what you deserve. You
get what you ought to. What glory is it if you suffer, you're buffeted
for your faults. And you take it patiently. But,
now this is something else. If when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently. Now that's acceptable to God.
For even here unto where you called, that is you were called
by God to do well and suffer for it. Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Now that's the example our Savior gives. God teach us to follow
him. to take heed to our ways, to
set a bridle upon our mouths, that we sin not with our tongues."
God guards our hearts and our mouths and teaches patience. Thereby we exemplify the character
of the Son of God. Then look at verse 15. What an
abuse of power we have here. Pilate, willing to content the
people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus when
he had scourged him to be crucified. In verse 10, we're told that
Pilate knew the priest had delivered Jesus to him because they envied
him. They were jealous of his power,
Jealous of his reputation, jealous of his influence, but he was
a poor man. He didn't have anything except
what they wanted, respect. He didn't have anything except
what they wanted, the ear of the people. He didn't have anything except
what they wanted, leadership, character. And for India, they
delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate knew it. He knew they
didn't have a case against him. He understood there wasn't one
charge there that wasn't trumped up. There wasn't one witness
that wasn't hired to buy, and bribed to give his testimony.
And yet Pilate, being a typical politician, being a typical political appointee,
was willing to content the people. Now listen to me. Even if it
meant, Lindsay, sacrificing his conscience and the life of an
innocent man, you say, well, no man would behave
like that. And Pilate's behavior was typical.
Now I say that here and now not to stir up more anger. and greater
disgust against our President, Congressmen, and Senators. They're
managing that pretty well on their own. I mention it here
to remind you, and myself, that we ought to take a higher ground
than the rest of the world. Men in high places, without the
knowledge of Christ, without the constraint of moral integrity,
are to be pitied. because they have absolutely
nothing to restrain them except our prayers on their behalf. I said that the way I meant to.
Listen to what Paul says. I exhort, therefore, first of
all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, especially for kings, for all that are in
authority. How come that we may lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Lord God, in these dark days,
teach us to bridle our tongues, and rather than joining the world,
teach us to pray, recognizing that those who are set in authority
over us are set in authority by your hand, and do only your
bidding for the good of your people. Let us then pray that
you may direct them for our good and your glory. Now then, here's
a portrait of human depravity. In these days of universal compromise,
in these days of ecumenical religion, everybody is trying to remove
every possible point of offense. and trying to make it possible
for all guilt and all blame to be taken away from everybody,
so that we can fix things up. At least if we can't say that
the behavior of men is saintly, at least we can excuse it and
not say that it's terribly reprehensible. Historians are rewriting history
every day to suit the trends of modern thinking. Theologians
are rewriting the word of God to mold it to the opinions of
men, without regard to what the scripture says. But all the rearranging
of things in the world by men will never alter facts. And here's
a fact. The Jews, the religious leaders
of the day, bear the guilt of crucifying the Son of God. They
had opportunity at the eleventh hour to change their minds. But
they stayed with him. Pilate said, here, take Barabbas
instead. He did what he could to try to alleviate his own guilt
and soothe his own conscience. He said, I'll release Barabbas
to you. That's my custom. You know, Jesus,
he's innocent. What did he do? I washed my hands of this matter. But the Jews said no. Knowing
that Barabbas, I mean, this wasn't something in the corner. They
knew Barabbas was a murderous insurrectionist. Now, try to
stop and picture this. Here's this herd of religious
men, this herd of wild beasts in the name of religion, and
they say, turn this murderous man loose on our wives and children
and crucify the Son of God. How could they do so? Because
man's heart is desperately wicked. Depraved, and no man can know
the depths of his depravity. No man. Let us take care that
we don't make the same decision. Choosing the world and rejecting
Christ. Choosing our way and despising
God's Son. Choosing to walk after our lust
and despising the Son of God. And yet, Skip, we will certainly
do so unless God intervenes. That's the depravity of man.
You will not come to me that you might have life. No man can
come to me except the Father which is sent, and he draw him."
Now here's one last thing. Here's a glorious picture of
substitution. What a beautiful picture it is.
Barabbas sitting in jail, justly condemned, as guilty as hell
itself, fixing to die. And can you picture, old boy?
He hears a guard coming and the keys rattling to open that door.
And he takes one deep breath. And he said, well, it's time
to go. And the guard says, you go and grab us. What? What? You're free to go. What did you say? You're free
to go. The governor, with the stroke
of the law, has said, you're free to go. Jesus of Nazareth
is going to be crucified in your place. And the guilty one is
spared. And the innocent one is crucified. That's what the Son of God did
for us. We're guilty. We're guilty. We're sitting in a prison house,
waiting execution, and now the gospel comes and says, set us! You're free to go. The Son of
God died in the place of his people. Now, take off. You're free. You're free. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bear our sins in his own
body on the tree, and thereby set us free. Amen. Thank you. Come, ladies and gentlemen,
here please.