Indeed, Jesus Christ of Nazareth is our Messiah, and I am not
ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone who believes, to the Jew 1st and then to the Greek.
Well, let us continue to relish and enjoy and wonder at this
Gospel as we come to the Gospel of Mark chapter 15.
And we will together at this time look at verse 21 down to
verse 32. We will begin to read this
immediately and see what the Lord has in store for us.
Mark 15 beginning in verse 21. And they compelled the passer
by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the
father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which
means place of a skull. And they offered him wine mixed
with myrrh, but he did not take it.
And they crucified him and divided his garments among them,
casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.
And it was the third hour when they crucified him, and the
inscription of the charge against them read The King of
the Jews. And with them they crucified 2
robbers, 1 on his right, and one on his left.
And those who pass by derided him, wagging their heads and
saying Aha. You who would destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from
the cross. So also the chief.
Priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying He
saved others, he cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the
cross, that we may see and believe.
Those who are crucified with Him also reviled Him.
But we ask that you would help us empower this time.
Change us. Let everything that is meant to
be said be said. Let things that you desire to
say be communicated clearly. We asked Lord again that the
only voice that we would hear would be yours.
And we trust that you will guide us at this time and your holy,
precious, sacred, eternal word in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
I've entitled this message something I've entitled this
message the fascinating details of Jesus's crucifixion.
And the reason for that is because as we come to this
passage, you'll realize that it is layered with profound
insights. And this is not going to follow
typical format of a sermon with headings and points because I
quickly discovered that each of the verses that we touched on
are brimming with thought provoking and heart stirring
revelation. And so how we're going to
approach this is like how you would if you've ever been on a
tour. I remember when I toured Israel,
what we did with most, if not all of our days was go from one
site to the next. And that's what we're going to
do with these verses. We're just going to visit one
verse, look at all the beauty has to offer, meditate on it,
and then move on to the next post to do the same.
Now, I'll tell you ahead of time that we will most likely not
cover every single detail presented here, though we could.
Instead, here's my prayer that whatever we touch on today would
so move you and stir you that you would linger longer at
Calvary and then on your own time, you would seek to discover
things that we did not. Look at today, that's all we're
going to do. We're just going to hold each
other's hands and go from one verse to the next and trust that
God will speak to us every single.
Time. If you recall, Jesus was
mercilessly scourged prior to his crucifixion.
And if that weren't enough, if you were destined to a Roman
cross, you had to carry your own instrument of execution until
you arrive to the place of your hellish death.
And it was no different. For our Lord.
But you have to understand, with the pain of the flogging and the
exhaustion and the blood loss, it's not difficult to imagine
how this trek would have been extremely difficult for the
Lord. And that was realized by the
very ones who led him. And so with all the multitudes
that followed this despicable parade, there was one individual
who seemed to be randomly selected to come to the aid of
Christ. And we could have just been told
that a man helped him. He could have remained unnamed.
Yet for some reason we are given his identity.
Look at verse 21. And they compel the passer by,
Simon of Cyrene. Mark is not the only one who
tells us about this man. We know that also Matthew and
Luke mention him as well. And it's helpful to stop here
and ask a couple of questions. Question number one, what is a
man from Cyrene doing here at Jerusalem?
That question is important when you remember where Cyrene is and
we have the answer from the Bible of exactly where this man
came from. Now you remember that when the
120 were stuffed in that upper room waiting on the Lord for the
Father that pour out the promise of the Holy Spirit, it was
during the feast of Pentecost. And we're told there in Acts
chapter 2 that multitudes, multitudes of Jews from all
across the world made pilgrimage to Jerusalem to honor the feast.
And when the Holy Spirit poured out on those 120, it made an
impact and an effect on the whole neighborhood, the whole
city. They began to hear in their own
respective languages the praises and the honors of God.
And then the Holy Spirit mentions the different places
where these Jews came from. Let me read to you Acts chapter
2, verse 10, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts
of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome.
There it is. Cyrene is a part of Libya.
This man was a North African. And the same verse where we're
told that we're also informed that there are many people from
Cyrene. They're also why?
Because again, we had the Passover feast and a few weeks
later we had what, Pentecost. So they're they're honoring what
the law commanded of them. And so while this man is here,
we have to understand that he would walk in one way and leave
another. This would be the most unique
Passover that Simon ever experienced.
We have every reason to believe that this would be a turning
point for him, and not just him, but others.
And I'll tell you why we can make that conclusion because
Mark does something strange, something that you should have
noticed that he doesn't just mention Simon of Cyrene.
Mark tells us that he's the father of Alexander and Rufus
and he doesn't give explanation of who these two are, implying
that Mark expects his original readers to know exactly who
Alexander Rufus are. So in other words, when this
gospel and we've determined when we when we open up the Gospel
Mark together some time ago that it's very likely that Mark's
original audience were Gentiles, specifically Roman Gentiles.
So when this letter was distributed and given and read
and and shared at this part, when they came to this part of
this account and they read and they compelled a passerby of
Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father
of Alexander and Rufus, the audience, the immediate author
of that. Oh, Alexander and Rufus's dad
helped him carry the cross. You're saying why is this
important? Here's why it's important,
because the name Rufus only appears in one other place in
all of the Bible. What do you think it is, Romans?
Interesting, right? Who is Mark's original audience?
Gentiles who are most likely Romans.
So years later, Paul writes his epistle to the Christians in
Rome. And look at Romans 16 with me in
verse 13 as he lists different names in that chapter, greeting
them and see what name comes up there.
Romans 16, verse 13, greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord.
Don't you love that? Also his mother who has been a
mother to me as well. If this is the same Rufus that
is referenced in the Gospel of Mark, then we have an amazing
testimony before us. Here's the testimony.
Simon of Cyrene, the faithful Jew who came to the city of
Jerusalem to honor the Passover, was chosen to carry and help
carry Jesus. Cross.
And after that moment he became a believer in the one who
carried that cross. And not only the Simon and
Cyrene acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, but his family came to
that same conclusion themselves. And evidently Alexander and
Rufus, the children of Simon of Cyrene, became well known
believers in the Church of Rome. Wouldn't you love to know how
that happened? I think one day we will, but for
now we can only speculate. What did Simon of Cyrene see as
he helped shoulder that cross? What did he hear?
And after that life changing experience, what did he say to
his wife who who became a spiritual mother to Paul?
By the way, what did he, what did he say to his sons about
what he experienced on that road to Golgotha?
We don't know. All we know is that it made an
impact. And what we have here also,
though the details are unclear, a very certain thing that Simon
carrying this cross for Jesus sake would have an impact and
would bless his family. And I want to say this, that the
same opportunity is granted to you and I, if you're willing to
answer the call of discipleship, which in the same Gospel account
we're told we are called to carry our own crosses.
And if you're willing to carry your own cross, it can touch
those that mean the most to you. I want to.
Specifically address my brothers in the house, husbands and
fathers, those who are heads of their households.
I want you to understand from a fellow brother who loves you and
prays for you all the time. Do not underestimate the impact
that your sacrificial walk with Christ can have and also the
impact that a lack of it can have on those that you care
about the most. I know many of the brothers in
this house. You are hard working men.
You are devoted men. You love your family well.
But here's my heart for you again.
Please hear my love for you, that I don't want you to be
known in your family as someone who just went to church once in
a while. I wanted to see a man who has a
supreme delight in Jesus over everything else.
I wanted to see a man who brings everything to God in prayer.
I wanted to see a man who is rich in wisdom, rich in counsel
because you're a wealthy in the Word.
I wanted to see a man who knows how to say sorry and ask for
forgiveness when they're wrong. I wanted to see a man who exudes
heavenly peace and joy because you have an eternal perspective.
I wanted to see a man who can love them stronger, better,
longer, because you experienced and you have tasted the
knowledge of Christ, love for you.
Men like Simon of Cyrene carry your cross and understand that
it can have generational blessings and He is right there
ready to energize you and animate you and empower you to
do that. So as you do what you need to
do, I know you're you're working maybe sometimes two jobs, maybe
long hours. You're exhausted.
You can barely offer anything else.
But understand what Christ your Lord said.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
He's willing to help you and He's willing to bless you and
bless those who are connected to you.
This is what we see here with Simon of Sirene.
This is no accident. This isn't just a random detail.
This is meant to show us that this man changed because of this
cross and his sons were willing to carry their own crosses.
Now let's read on. Simon help Jesus carry his
cross. But it came to a point where the
Lord needed to be helped more. Notice in verse 22.
And they brought him to the place called Golgotha.
They brought him. Compare that to verse 20.
Look how verse 20 begins. And they had mocked him, they
stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him,
and they led him. So went from the Roman soldiers
leading Jesus to doing what in verse 22 bringing.
Jesus, the strength of the Savior is waning.
It was a brutal, treacherous journey.
And so now it wasn't just Simon and Cyrene.
They had to in some way carry it and lift him up as well to this
place called Golgotha. Mark wants to tell us by the
Spirit the meaning of this Aramaic word, skull, place of
the skull. Now, if you are somebody who
reads the King James, the new King James, and you read this
part of the gospel from Luke's perspective, you're going to
find the word starts with the letter C.
What is it? Calvary.
Calvary, that is a word derived from the Latin calvarya, and it
means the same thing, skull. And the translators to the King
James were more familiar with the Latin, and so that's why
they did that. And you're saying, why are you
bringing this up? Because I want you to know what
you're singing and reading. I don't want any of us to ever
come to a point that we sing things or we read things and
commentaries or devotionals and we and we don't know what it
means. I'm here to tell you that
Calvary means skull and it's meant to tell you of the place
where Jesus died. So when we sing or when we read
something and the word Calvary comes because it's not something
that was just known in the Latin.
It was something that developed to be common in the English
speaking world for Christians at least.
We're singing, we're talking, we're studying about where Jesus
died, the physical location, Calvary.
But why was it called the place of the skull?
Some believe it's because it was a little hill and and depending
on the angle, that hill actually had the appearance of a skull.
Others would say it was just the name that it had as a reputation
because it became the designated regular spot for Rome's gruesome
executions. Those things are up for a
debate, but what's for certain is what the Bible says about the
geographical location of Jesus sacrifice.
Turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 13 and let's
read a few verses together to see what the Spirit says about
where Jesus died. Hebrews 1310.
You have to remember that the author of Hebrews is speaking to
Jewish Christians, Jews who converted from the law to
accepting Messiah in Jesus, and they are experiencing the
temptation and the tension of returning to the Mosaic system,
the Mosaic law. And so the author of Hebrews
here is making a wonderful defense for the case of Christ
and how he's superior to everything, including the
Levitical system. And at this final part, he is
now giving final exhortations. And notice what he says.
We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no
right to eat. For the bodies of those animals
whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest
as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify
the people through his own blood.
Now this is not just granted to us to satisfy our geographical
curiosity. This is given to us to draw a
spectacular gospel truth. We're told here that Jesus
suffered and died outside the gate, outside the city walls.
And he's reminding these Christians again, who have
sacrificed so much to put their faith in Christ.
They were rejected and denied from Jewish religious life and
social life. They were paying a high price to
follow Jesus Christ. But he wants to let them know
that as followers of this Jesus, they have access to something.
That others don't. Look at verse 10.
We have an altar. We have an altar with those who
serve the tent, which those who serve the tent have no right to
eat. So you have to remember that in
the Tabernacle. This is why it's so important to
study the Old Testament. Listen to me.
You cannot know the depths of the New Testament.
If you're lazy with the Old Testament, you cannot.
You'll be shallow in your understanding of God's Word,
especially in the New Testament. In the Old Testament with the
Tabernacle, the designated House of worship that later became the
temple, there was an altar that was called by God to be created
to be the instrument of making sacrifices, animal sacrifices,
and those sacrifices would serve to cover sins.
And so this language of altar was familiar to these readers.
And this author by the Spirit says, do you understand that in
the new covenant you also have an altar?
You have an altar saying, what kind of altar?
It's a spiritual altar. And more than just a spiritual
altar. It's a superior altar.
What is the altar? The sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God who shed his blood.
That is your altar and mine. And he goes on to say that
unbelievers, including Christ denying Jews, have no access.
They cannot participate at that altar that you have access to.
You're saying, why is that? Because look at verse 11.
Now he reminds the Jewish Christians of the sacrificial
system. And he says for the bodies of
those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by
the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the
camp. See, this is you will not get
this if you skip Leviticus, you will not understand what he's
talking about. You just think he's being
poetic. No, he's pointing back to
instructions. And there are a variety of
sacrifices that were made and were instructed by God to give.
One of them was the sin offering.
And this is the illusion that he's making.
He's making an illusion back to a particular right, an
ordinance, this sin offering. And depending on the sin and who
sinned, the sin offering was unique in this way, that you
would put some of the bull on the altar and it would be
consumed. But in many cases you would have
to take the flesh of the bull and the pieces of the bull, and
you would have to leave the tent.
Leave. The walls and burn it outside
the camp. It was not fit for consumption.
There were other sacrifices that the priest, this was part of
their payment where they would make a sacrifice on behalf of
people or even large groups of people or leaders, and they
would eat of it. That was part of their
compensation. But the burnt offering, or
rather the sin offering in many cases was not fit to be eaten.
You were supposed to take it, go outside and let it be burned on
wood. Why?
It was a symbolic picture of sin being separated from the people
of God. That the tent and within the
walls we are holy. So anything that's sinful, take
it outside. So they could not benefit from
that sin offering when it came to consumption necessarily in
many cases. So what's his point?
He reminds him of that and then he comes back and he says here
in verse 12 in the in the same way the sin offering was
sacrificed outside, Jesus was sacrificed outside.
You're saying, what's his point? Here's his point.
Pay very close attention. This is what he's saying.
He's talking to these Hebrew Christians that are thinking
maybe we should just go back to the law.
And he says as long as you cling to the old covenant system that
prevents you from eating the sin offering that is made outside,
you are also excluded from benefiting from the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, who was also sacrificed outside.
In other words, let me make it plain, he's telling these Hebrew
Christians, you got to make a choice.
Are you going to put your hope in the sufficient sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, which may call you, and it does call you to
turn your back on any other kind of sacrifice for your salvation?
Or are you going to back, go back to the law, embrace the
law, and in doing so, because Jesus was sacrificed outside,
your law prohibits you from benefiting from Christ who is
sacrificed outside. Let me make it relatable.
You have to make a choice. Everybody in this room.
Is salvation going to be by grace or by works?
Because you cannot, just like these original readers, you
cannot claim that you can receive the efficacy of Christ's
sacrifice, that it's sufficient, and then go eat at other altars.
It's either the altar of the Gospel or whatever altar your
choosing is. You can't have both.
That's what he's saying. So either take what Christ has
done and it will cost you. Yes, maybe some persecution and
denial and rejection, or you can go back to what you wanted.
But this tells you that you can't benefit from any sacrifice
outside the camp, including Jesus.
So you see how brilliant it is. You know, we're almost finished
marking some people saying, can we go to Hebrews next?
I'm thinking we're never going to get through it in a short
amount of time. If we ever go to Hebrews, we'll
be here for like 10 years. I think.
It's so deep. It's so deep.
You got to make a choice. Which altar will you worship at?
This is so powerful, so powerful.
But he doesn't even end there. Look at verse 13.
Now He makes it very practical. Therefore, let us go to Him
outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured.
So if a sacrifice was made outside the camp and it was
deemed as unclean, rejected, denied, separate, join it.
If Jesus was sacrificed outside the camp, discarded and rejected
by others, let's then join Him. It's a privilege to have this
level of loyalty to Him. And just as lepers and the
unclean and the disease were expelled and had to remain
outside, if following Christ means that we are treated the
same, so be it. Let's go outside with Him.
Let's consider the honor of bearing the reproach that he
endured. So this is what the Spirit is
telling these Christians, and it's no different for us.
There is a high price to pay. Are we willing to be shunned to
be associated with him? Are you willing to be scorned at
by your friends? Are you willing to have to
endure awkward Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners with your
extended unbelieving family because they know you're one of
those fanatical evangelicals? Bear the reproach.
Join him. Go outside.
Let them say whatever they want. Let them treat you however they
want to treat you. And and the Bible is realistic.
The Holy Spirit knows that it's a challenge for many of us.
So he gives at least one encouragement for us to pack our
bags and say if he went outside, let me go outside with him.
Look at verse 14. For here we have no lasting.
City, but we seek the city that is to come.
In other words, the rejection that you fear, the property and
the privileges that you worry about losing, all of that is
temporary. You must take and make this
decision with an eternal perspective.
And the same one who suffered outside the walls of the city of
Jerusalem will one day come again.
To establish a new world and a new city, where he will rule and
reign, and we who suffered with him will rule and reign with
him. Look beyond this life, my
friend. Look beyond the little aches and
awkwardness of your temporary existence on this planet, my
friend. And realize what's to come and
realize the honor that Christ will grant you for the reproach
that you're willing to receive on His behalf.
Do you see how even the location of?
Jesus death carries incredible insight and even application.
He suffered outside on Golgotha. Let's go and suffer.
Let's come back to Mark 15. It says there that they brought
him to a place called Golgotha once they arrived.
On Golgotha or Calvary it says here in verse 23.
And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh but he did not take
it. What is myrrh?
So at the station they had wine and it was infused with murmurs
like a gum like resin. It's a substance that can be
extracted from the bark of certain trees ahead of
fragrance. They did possess medicinal and
aromatic properties, but why was it being offered?
And I think there's one verse that gives us a little bit of a
clue. You don't have to turn there,
but let me quote it to you. From Proverbs 31, verse 6, we're
told there give strong drink to the one who is perishing.
So that might be an insight that tells us that it was an ancient
Jewish custom for the people to provide some kind of pain
numbing narcotic to those who have been executed or planning
to be executed to death. So this would be kind of like a
deadening thing for the census to help these criminals embrace
the pain that they were about to endure.
And it could have been a custom that followed all the way up to
Jesus day that was included even though the Romans were governing
and supervising these affairs. And that makes sense because as
Jesus is there ready to be nailed on the cross, He refuses
this wine mixed with myrrh. Do you know why?
Because he's a strong savior. Do you know why?
Because as he was ready to drink the wrath of God, he wanted to
be fully conscious of it. He would not numb himself.
He wanted the entire experience and untainted sacrifice and Lamb
of God. He denied it.
He shunned it. He rejected it.
Now what becomes even more moving is when you realize how
many times myrrh appears in the Gospels.
Do you realize that including this, what we find in Mark 15, a
total of three times, only three times in all of the Gospel
accounts are we told about myrrh.
So let's go on a little trip, right?
We're still on our tour, but we're going to take a little
rabbit trail and come back. Myrrh is mentioned here, but
myrh is also mentioned when Jesus was ready to be buried.
Look at John 19 with me in your Bibles.
Look at verse 39, John 1939. Nicodemus.
Also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night came bringing a
mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 lbs in weight.
You know some people criticize Nicodemus for going out at
night. I guess that you are trying to
be discreet. But how discreet are you when
you bring 75 lbs of ointment? You're not carrying that in your
hands. You're hauling that in some way.
So he's bringing all of this perfume, right?
Including myrrh. Look at verse 40.
So they took the body of Jesus and bounded in linen cloth with
the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
So now out of the the three references, we cover 2 with
myrrh, the first one at the cross, the second one at his
burial. So right here in terms of theme,
in terms of connection, the mention of mirror is strictly
associated with death, death and affliction and suffering, right?
If it's there at the cross, if it's there at the tomb, that's
what we're getting so far. But there's one more place.
You know this. Very well.
And as we come to the Christmas season, we'll be reminded not at
the cross, not at the tomb, but shortly after his birth.
So go to Matthew 2. This is the final reference of
myrrh in the Gospels. These are when the wise men from
the East came, these Gentiles who are looking for the king of
the Jews. And notice what it says in
Matthew 2, verse 11. And going into the house, they
saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and
worshipped him. Then opening their treasures,
they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
This is where we get a Christian myth.
That there were 3 kings that came from the East.
Because there are three gifts. We're not told how many of them
came. They just came.
It could have been a collective effort.
There could have been thirty of them.
There could have been much more. Remember when they came to
Jerusalem, it was a scene. But they did bring 3 gifts,
gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I I understand the value of gold
and frankincense, but myrrh? OK, it's a perfume, but I
believe it's more than that when you consider the Holy Spirit's
authorship. I believe what these kings are
doing, what these wise men are doing as they come, is that this
was a foreshadowing of what was to become of this child, his
destiny to be born so that he would die.
If myrrh was used as a custom for the burial of the Jews,
you're giving this to this child who came into this world for
that very purpose, to suffer, die, be buried, and then raised.
Now here's here's where it gets so exciting, because this is not
the only time that the King of the Jews and the King of Kings
will be offered gifts by Gentiles believing Gentiles.
No, there is a prophecy granted to us about the same Jesus who
in His second coming will come back not to die.
He will come back to redeem, to restore, and to reign.
And when He does, there will be another visit.
There will be plenty of visits where people will come to offer
their gifts to the same king. Can I show it to you?
Go to Isaiah 60. I know it's a lot of scripture,
but what else are we supposed to do at church?
What else is a preacher supposed to do?
And it's my prayer that you would leave here with the
Scriptures burning in your hearts.
Nothing else. The Scriptures, Isaiah chapter
6. This is a prophecy that when the
Lord returns and redeems the nation of Israel of what will
take place. So this is speaking about a
prophecy what will come to the Jewish people and their nation
in the millennial reign. And notice what it reads in
verse one just so we can understand the context.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover
the earth, and thick darkness the peoples.
But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen
upon you, and nations shall come to your light, and kings to the
brightness of your rising. So notice this distinguishing
factor of what will take place in the headquarters of Jesus
Kingdom, which will be Jerusalem.
Sorry, it's not going to be New Jersey, Jerusalem, He's going to
rule and reign from there. The glory of God is going to
shine from there and it's going to be the attraction of the
world, the glory of the Lord, and it's going to draw leaders
and kings and politicians and different peoples from different
places and as they come because they are drawn to this.
Notice after these verses, you can read it on your own time,
but I want to highlight verse six.
Look at this specific detail. A multitude of camels shall
cover you. The young camels of Midian and
IFA, all those from Sheba, shall come.
Pause, these are Gentiles, and notice what they will bring.
They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring
good. News, the praises of the Lord.
They shall bring what gold and frankincense?
Where's the myrrh? It's not there.
Why is myrrh not mentioned? Because if myrrh signifies
death, affliction, and suffering, it has no relevance
at this point. Why does it have no relevance
for King Jesus when he comes to ruling reign?
Because he already suffered and died, that's why.
Because Hebrews tells us that he came once for all with his
sacrifice. And Hebrews tells us that he's
going to come a second time, not to deal with sin, but to rescue
those who are eagerly waiting for him.
So myrrh doesn't matter anymore because Jesus fulfilled that
part of his destiny. He died, He suffered, He was
buried. Now here we are in the
millennial reign, and the nations are coming once more,
and they bring the gold and they bring the frankincense, but no
myrrh. What do they replace the myrrh
with? Read it again.
They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring
good news, the praises of the Lord.
That's what they're going to bring.
Do you see how brilliant the Bible is?
You see how glorious it is? Do you see why we go from
Scripture to Scripture? So they can burn on your hearts.
And you can see the brilliance of the supernatural author in
replacing of myrrh. There will be Mary, there will
be praises, there will be honor, and we will rejoice in his
sacrifice for eternity. We're still on our tour.
Let's go to Mark 15 again. It says in verse 23.
And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take
it. Verse 24 And they crucified Him.
4 words that in hearing them demands our silence, demands are
awe, our captivation, and our contemplation.
And they crucified Him. How much more for those who
stood there and witnessed it with their own eyes.
What a sight Jesus Christ of Nazareth murdered, hanging.
And not just hanging in pain, they shamed Him even more.
How much more shame can you bestow upon somebody?
Here's the shame, it says here in verse 24.
And they crucified him and divided his garments among them,
casting lots for them to decide what each should take.
You would think that even if you had an ounce of dignity, that
standing at the shadow of the foot of the cross would cause
you to think with a little bit of respect.
Instead, what do you find? You find Roman soldiers in that
same shadow. Gambling.
Maybe we've heard this enough where we come kind of numb to
this narrative. Let's make it.
This is a poor example. Can you imagine being at a
funeral and the person there in the coffin is there and you see
people gambling for their clothes and their possessions?
Now, do you feel it a little bit?
Being in the ICU with a loved 1? You see the nurses and doctors
gambling for that person's possessions while they're dying.
Now do you feel a little bit? Do you feel how gross this is?
Do you see how appalling this is now?
As much as we have loved ones and we hate to see them go, this
is the perfect sinless Son of God, and you have Roman soldiers
gambling for his outfit while he hangs there nearly naked.
He was stripped of his clothes so that you can be clothed with
his righteousness. And though this may seem like a
detail meant to highlight the dark drama of this moment,
actually sure serves to show us that yet another prophecy from
hundreds of years ago was fulfilled.
Psalm 22, one of the clearest unmistakable prophecies about
Messiah, the suffering Messiah. You know these verses well, but
let me quote them to you once again.
Psalm 22, verse 16. For dogs encompass me.
A company of evildoers encircles me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
You understand how powerful this is 1000 years before Jesus died,
hundreds of years before the crucifixion was even invented.
David by the Holy Spirit perceives that the Messiah will
be pierced in his hands and feet.
You know, this has bothered rabbis and Jewish scholars so
much who, who don't believe that Jesus the Messiah that they had
done a number on this text to try to make it sound or be
something else. But when you look at the
original Hebrew, when you look at the Septuagint, when you look
at some of the Masoretic texts, when you look at the original
writings, what you'll discover is that you cannot deny this.
This is talking about a piercing.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them.
And for my clothing, they cast lots.
There it is. How specific do you understand
1000 years before it actually happened you get a play by play
prophecy of what's taking place and what we're reading in Mark
15. I I hope that still blows your
mind to understand what we have in our hands.
What else can be said of prophecy in this brief section
so much we can discuss the timing of Christ's crucifixion
back in Mark 15. Notice it says here in verse 25,
it was the third hour when they crucified.
This is not random. This is not just to say here
here's an eyewitness account. I'm telling you what time it
happened. There's a connection between the
timing of Christ's sacrifice and the sacrifices in the Old
Testament. We can look at and discuss how
verse 27 fulfills Isaiah 53 verse 12, where we're told there
in verse 27 what that he was. He was there in the middle
between 2 robbers, 1 to his right and one to his left, and
Isaiah 5312 tells us that he was numbered among the
transgressions. We can look at verse 29, look at
verse 29 again. It says and those who pass by
derided and wagging their heads and saying aha, you would
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.
Save yourself and come down from the cross.
Jesus early in his ministry in John 2, you know this well.
He predicted what would happen, that they would destroy this
temple, my body, and I would raise it up.
I would raise it up, and here's how these unbelieving Jews
interpreted it. You're going to destroy that
physical temple, that glorious temple, and you're going to
rebuild it in a few days. And here they are mocking Christ
for that supposed prediction, failing to realize that he's
actually fulfilling it in their presence.
That temple was being destroyed right before their eyes, and
they were so blind, they were so caked with unbelief that they
said he said He would do this. That's another prophecy being
fulfilled. So how many prophecies can we
deal with? So many of them.
But I just want to come straight to the last few verses for our
consideration. Look at verse 31.
So also the chief. Priests with the scribes mocked
him to one another, saying He saved others, he cannot save
himself. Let the Christ, the King of
Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and
believe. Pause.
Aren't you glad that he didn't take that up?
Because if he did save himself, if he didn't want to prove
himself, none of us would be saved.
This is the humility of Jesus. Can you imagine having the power
in the blink of an eye to get off that cross, to restore every
wound that they inflicted upon you, and to look at them all in
the face and say, Now what? How tempting would that have
been? But what was he doing?
He chose to still stay there, being heaped upon heap with all
this scorn and mockery to save us.
The last part is what I want you to see in our closing time.
Those who were crucified with Him also reviled Him.
The robbers, the thieves. How much venom do you have to
have in your heart that as you are experiencing excruciating
pain, as you are approaching death's door, as you're about to
slip into eternity, instead of thinking like maybe I should get
right with God with my final breaths.
You use up the. Last energy, you have to join
the enemies of Christ and mock Him.
If there is, I mean, we talk about people who are beyond hope
of being saved. This is top of the list.
You're you're about to die, you're in your deathbed and
you're mocking the innocent, sinless Messiah.
And you know this very well, that something changes between
the third hour, the 6th hour later, the 9th hour.
We're ending here. So please turn with me to Luke
23 if you'd like to see it with your own eyes.
But we're very familiar with this, so allow me to just quote
it. One of those.
Thieves. Something happened to him.
He, like Simon of Cyrene, he perceives something and he makes
this strange, incredible confession and request, Jesus,
Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom.
Remember, he rebukes the other thief, and now he looks at the
Lord and he says, Jesus, Remember Me when you come into
your Kingdom. Do you understand how incredibly
amazing that statement is? Because it's a statement of
faith. What?
What is Jesus? What's happening to him?
He's dying. And yet this thief has the
revelation and has the faith that the same Jesus who's dying
will one day come with his Kingdom.
He one day will come with his Kingdom, meaning he's going to
be king. So the the thief.
Understood this is not the final stage for Christ.
This is not the end of the story.
He understood He is the King. He is going to come with his
Kingdom and I want to be a part of it.
So Jesus, Please remember me when you come with your Kingdom.
Now. Just moments ago he mocked them.
He slapped them around verbally. He despised him.
Now you would think that if you just experienced that in the
most painful point of your life, that you would say something in
response. You would remind that person of
what they did to you before you continue the conversation.
Christ doesn't address it at all.
He bypasses it and He assures them by saying truly, I say to
you today you will be with me in paradise.
What kind of grace is that? That He doesn't even address the
scorn. He sees past all of it and he
sees the repentance, He sees the faith.
And this is an example of how quick the Lord is to forgive us.
Now, the Lord could have said, I will.
I will keep you in mind in my Kingdom, but he doesn't say
that. He declares an immediate
enrollment into Paradise. Today you will be with me in
paradise. But more than listen, more than
a promised place in paradise, there are two important words
that he adds with me. You see this?
This man simply asked if he could be remembered.
Christ takes it far beyond that. I'm not just going to keep you
in mind. I'm going to bring you close to
me. You might be thinking that
sounds like a nice thought, and it's probably because this man
needed those comforting words because he was fearful of death
and scared of what was going to become of him in eternity.
But I want to tell you today that when Jesus says you will be
with me in paradise, it wasn't exclusive to this man.
It's something that he has in mind for every single one of us
who will believe with me. Listen to these words as Jesus
is now speaking to his disciples, preparing for them by
way of discourse for his departure into heaven.
He he, he goes through John 141516.
Then he ends up with a high priestly prayer in John 17.
But don't turn there. Just please, please pay
attention to these words as I read them to you.
This is Jesus to his own. Disciples, and not just to his
original disciples, the 12 apostles, but to all of us.
John 14, verse 2 Listen, listen, listen.
In my Father's house are many rooms.
If it were not, So what? I have not told you that I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and we'll take you.
Pause. How many of us would finish that
sentence? He's been talking about
preparing a place. Preparing a place.
I'm going to come take you. And you think what?
Take you to an ethereal destination?
Take you to a heavenly mansion? That's not what he says.
I will come again and we'll take you to myself.
That where I am, you may be also.
Heaven is not about a place, it's about a person.
Being saved is not. It's more than about escaping
eternal torment, it's about enjoying your Savior forever.
This is the essence of our faith.
First Corinthians 19 We are told that God is faithful by whom he
has called us into fellowship with His Son.
Fellowship with the Son of God. This is, this is the heart of
Jesus Christ, that when he was dying on that cross, the thief
beside him and all believers later who would trust in him,
that they would accept him so that they can be with him.
This is why we as Christians have liberty, as we witness and
as we testify that we have a personal relationship with our
God. That's the essence of salvation,
that we will be brought to Him, that we would be with Him.
So listen, you're not just say, then you have a number slapped
on you and you have some kind of slot in the Lamb's book of life,
and you're just a statistic in heaven.
He wants you to be with Him. Realize that that when you give
your final breath, and you will give it, as will I, you are
going to encounter a Savior who shed His blood so that you can
be with Him. That's what's awaiting you.
That's what's awaiting me. He's not going to be distant.
And then we have to go through all these appointments with
angels and seraphim and cherubim just to have an audience with
him. At one point in eternity he
purchased us so that we can stay with him and be with him and
enjoy him. This is your salvation.
This is this is the glorious gospel.
Our God loves us. You know, you have some people
go with extremes when it comes to presenting the gospel that
Jesus Christ died for the glory of the Father.
He did die for the glory of God, but he also died because He
loves us. He actually loves us.
He actually wants you to be with Him for eternity.
We're going to see this thief in heaven.
Undeserving. Sure.
Scandalous. You better believe it.
Welcome to Grace and the confidence that will he will
have as he is prepared to enter into that new world will be
because Jesus said it would happen.
And that's the same assurance that you and I have.
You put your faith in what Jesus said and listen here.
Here's the wonderful thing as we close, we're not just waiting to
have fellowship with him. I can have fellowship with him
now. What now?
And I was studying this late last night, not too late, but
into the night. And I just wanted to put my
stuff away because here's the thought that ran through my
mind. Lord, if you died for
fellowship, I want to fellowship with you.
Spend time with you, sit at your feet and meditate on your
beauty, your compassion. This is His love.
As there are other things that we could have discovered in this
passage, you better believe it. Go fellowship with Him in the
Word, and He will show you mighty and wonderful things.
But as our time concludes, I believe that we have enough to
think about and relish in. Shall we pray?
Let's pray. Well, what words can we put
together to communicate our hearts response to this truth?
Lord, if if fellowship with you is not real to anybody in this
place today, if the extent of someone's relationship with you
is just knowledge and moral codes, Lord, please open all of
our eyes to see the intimacy that you desire to have with
each of us. Help us believe that, Lord, help
us. Only your Holy Spirit can make
that real to us. We ask, Lord, that as we sing
that you'll be blessed. And we ask, Lord, in these final
moments of the service, that you'd give us a little sample of
the presence that we will know forever when you call us home.
Thank you, Lord, that as we're here serving you, you are in
heaven, preparing a place for us.
Thank you, Lord, that what awaits us is more than just
golden streets, glorious gates, even the reunion of loved ones
who also put their faith in you. We are promised to be with you,
to be with our Savior, and we will see the tokens of your love
in those pierced hands and those pierced feet and that pierced
side. And we know that forever and
ever we will remember the great price you paid for us to be with
you. Lord, if there's anybody here
who doesn't know you, may they realize your love for them.
We thank you for the cross. We thank You that you were
stripped so that we can be clothed.
We thank you that you thirst so that we would never thirst.
We thank you that you were isolated so that we would know
the warm face of God shining upon us.
We honor you today in Jesus name, Amen.
Let's stand, let's worship the Lord.
Are you somebody here who doesn't believe in what I just
preached? Are you visiting here today and
you have not put your trust in Jesus Christ?
I want to tell you today that everything can change for you,
just like it did for Simon of Cyrene.
He went into that place one way and he left another.
And I believe that the same destiny can be for you.
What you have to do is acknowledge what Christ has done
for you. Acknowledge that you're a
Sinner, that He's the Savior, and for this transaction from
you going to be an enemy of God to a friend of God is by
repenting and believing on Christ.
Have you ever, ever, ever made a conscious decision to repent and
believe on Jesus Christ? Why don't you make that decision
today? Why can't today be the day where
you become His own? Why can't today be the day where
you go home and you have the assurance and the peace as you
lay your heavy head on that pillow, that you have peace with
God? That can happen.
It's a free gift. You got an idea of the great
price that was paid on your behalf.
Will you reject it? Will you ignore it?
How can you? What about it?
Would you reject it? Why, It's his love, God's love,
your Creator, but not just your Creator, your Redeemer.
Receive Him. At any point while we sing, you
can speak to this God. You don't have to go through any
man. You can go straight to God in
the name of Jesus Christ. And if you're sincere in your
heart, with your repentance and faith, you'll be saved and
you'll know it. Let's sing.