Mark's gospel this morning will be in Mark 15. It has been my custom throughout the years to preach the story of the crucifixion the week before Easter, and I feel this prepares our heart for Easter Sunday and really gives us a compass throughout these weeks to fix our hearts and minds on the gospel on a bloody cross and an empty tomb. And so this morning we're really going to begin in earnest in verse 15 and we are going to keep our heads in the book this morning because I really would like for us to finish the whole story of Good Friday and that's quite a passage, and so I'll need to be disciplined in my remarks. We do wanna survey the wondrous cross upon which the King of Glory died, and we wanna go to this beautiful scene, this powerful scene, this dreadful scene, this scene of beauty as the Lord lays down His life for His sheep, and the scene of shame and pain and suffering and substitution, it is all these things. It's the paradox of Good Friday. It's central to the eternal plan of God. It's the outplaying of God's covenant of redemption before time began. It's central to God's saving plan to bring His people into His kingdom. It is the dividing point of human History, this is a marvelous, wonderful, fearful, dreadful scene, and we want to see it this morning unfold. You remember the story of Jesus being up all night long, betrayed by a kiss, arrested in the garden, brought before the Sanhedrin, false charges based on a misunderstanding brought before him. He's passed all night long between Pontius Pilate and between Herod. And now we are looking at early Friday morning when we see Jesus brought before the crowd. He's brought before the crowd and he is The crowd's given the chance to choose either Barabbas or Jesus. It was customary on Passover day to choose someone to be set free, and in this insane moment, the crowd chants, give us Barabbas, crucify Jesus. It's an amazing, sad moment. It is, of course, a fulfillment of Isaiah 53 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. And he opened not his mouth like a lamb, like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep that's before its shears is silent. He opened not his mouth. This whole scene, Jesus not speaking but being led to his slaughter. I'd like to say before we even begin that Jesus is not a victim. Jesus never saw himself as a victim. I like to remind us of these things often, that Jesus purposely came to lay down his life for sheep. He knew this is why he came. He said it three times in John 10, no one came to take my life from me, I lay it down. But he is submissive, submissive to the will of God, submissive to the eternal plan of God, and willing to lay down his life for his bride, for his church, for his sheep. And so the crowd desires Barabbas to be released on that Good Friday morning. And now this takes us to verse 15, where we see, first of all, in this unfolding scene, we see the scourging of Jesus. Verse 15 of Mark 15. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released to them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Very simply said in our text, but to be scourged was a dreadful, dreadful thing. It preceded capital punishment. Cases, and of course you've heard that this scourging was with a cat of nine tails. And they were whipped 39 times. Rome was very exact in their punishment. They wanted the maximum amount of pain. Understand, remember that Rome wanted people to be humiliated. They wanted to give a signal to anyone who caused a insurrection, that if you rise up against the state, you will be severely publicly punished. And they found out that if they whip somebody 40 times, they were more likely to die, but if you whip them 39 times, they might faint, and there's a small chance they may not live through it, but most people do. And so this cat of nine tails was a long whip with multi tips on it, covered in metal or bones. And that is how Jesus spent his early Good Friday morning, treated like a common man. murderer or insurrectionist, and he was scourged. Again, in Isaiah 52, we see verse 14, many were astonished at you. His appearance was so marred beyond human appearance and his form beyond that of the children of men. This happened, of course, to our Lord Jesus when He had His back whipped by this cat of nine tails, pinned, tied to a pole like a wild animal, and beaten by sinful men. He was despised and rejected by men. and Pilate sentenced him to crucifixion. Now in verse 16 we see the unfolding scenes of soldiers mocking. and the soldiers led him away to the palace. Of course, this is the governor's headquarters, the palace where Pontius Pilate would stay when he was in Jerusalem. He did not always stay in Jerusalem, but in times and seasons of potential uprisings like Passover's and other holidays, he would come to Jerusalem and do all that he could to keep peace. You know that insurrections and rebellions were increasingly common under Rome's rule and with all the messianic fervor of the nation. And here are these soldiers. By the way, these soldiers were not Jews. They were Romans. They had no dog in the fight, so to speak. They had no vested interest in Jesus. This is what these men did. They were a part of Pontius Pilate's innermost crowd. And in fact, we see, continue on in verse 16, they called together the whole battalion. Your translation might say cohort. This would be 600 well-trained men who acted as, well, personal bodyguards and doers of Pontius Pilate. And so they were selected soldiers, well-trained soldiers. This is what they did. They were good at what they did. They crucified men. They scourged men. They nailed men to a cross. They put down any potential uprising. They were known for being hard-hearted. There was no kindness in these soldiers. They got things done. And what we see unfolding before us is a mock In other words, they treat Jesus like they would treat Caesar, only with mock and contempt. We see in verse 17, they clothed him with a purple cloak. Most likely this was one of their cloaks they took off themselves. This would be the royal color of this royal guard. And so taking off one of their own outward cloaks, they put it upon Jesus to mock him. as king, and twisting together a crown of thorns they put it on him, a crown of thorns, again mocking his royalty. Remember that just days before on Palm Sunday, the crowds gathered together to scream Hosanna and to hail him Christ as king, and now they're mocking that with this crown of thorns. This is an amazing scene. The sign of the fall, remember thorns and thistles after the fall of man being put on our Lord's head. It's a sign of the curse. It's a precursor to what he's going to endure on the second half of his stay on the cross, where God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. They put a crown of thorns on him. And they began to salute him, again, hailing him as king. Hail, king of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed. Again, this would be their form of a scepter, a king's scepter, but now using it to beat him and to strike him, again, bringing up Isaiah's prophecy of being marred beyond recognition. and they're spitting on him. This is their mock form of praise. Instead of blessing him with words as they would with Caesar, they are spitting on his face. Now, again, we have the whole battalion, the whole cohort. I think we could assume this is all those who are not on active duty. How many men are this? We just simply do not know how many out of the whole battalion are there in front of Jesus. But this is a filthy scene, a degrading scene, a scene that shows us really the depravity of the human heart. Think for example of Ephesians 4, 17, where Paul talks of the futility of the mind. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. We see that here. We see ignorance. We see hardness of heart. Paul again says in 1 Corinthians 2a that none of the rulers of this age would do this had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Had they known this, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And so here they have the creator of all things before them, and they are beating him and mocking him. Continuing on in verse 19, they're striking him with reeds and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. Again, mock homage, mock honor. They dishonor him. They show their hatred and contempt for him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, no doubt putting it back on, the soldier it came from. And in leaving, we assume the crown of thorns on his head, they put him They put on His own clothes on Him and they led Him out to crucify Him. And by the way, one of the most common words in the four Gospels for this unfolding scene is the word led. You see throughout these four Gospels describing the crucifixion that Jesus was submissive to these men because he was submissive to his father's will. He was led like a sheep before the shears. His silence, so he opened not. His mouth, they led him to his crucifixion. This crucifixion was led by four Roman soldiers and a centurion that gave them oversight. And now the scene is unfolding where Jesus is gonna be walking down the main artery way of the city of Jerusalem to Calvary. The street was known as the Via Della Rosa, really was like a ancient highway. And don't forget that the city now is teeming with people. It is Passover, the city has now tens of thousands of visitors. You hear different estimates, 80,000, 100,000, I guess we don't fully know, but many, many pilgrims coming into the city for the feast. And so here you have this public spectacle of Jesus, the one the crowds knew of, who would raise the dead and give his sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and speech to the mute, who would cleanse the lepers, who would cast out demons, who had given this amazing teaching. And here he is, marred beyond recognition. Quite a sight. And we see now Simon in verse 21. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene. So see the picture in your head. You've got the road littered with people. And the Roman soldier, it seems at random, looks at one man and says, you, pick up his cross. So they pick Simon of Cyrene who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus to carry his cross. We know a few things about Simon, don't we? We see that he is from North Africa, most likely a very darkly skinned man. We know that he's coming in from the country that speaks of him being a pilgrim. that every day he's coming into the city from outside the city. We can surmise from that that he was a man who was most likely not very wealthy or at least the city was so packed there was nowhere to stay. We see that he was a father and he had two sons with him, Alexander and Rufus. Now the early church would have recognized the name Rufus at least because Rufus is mentioned in Romans 16 as a chosen servant. He was a leader in the early church. Many postulate that Mark wrote this gospel from Rome and very familiar to those believers in Rome. And so we see maybe this was Simon's conversion, we're not told here. Maybe later on, maybe his sons came to saving face, certainly Rufus did. And he's called to carry the cross. Now remember, Jesus is on no sleep, betrayed by sinful men, marched back and forth all night long, has been beaten with reeds and scourged with a cat of nine tails. He is enormously weak and enormously exhausted at this point. And remember that Jesus is not the Jesus of European artwork. He is not a fine and delicate figure. Jesus grew up as a carpenter's son, his, you could say, adopted father. was a carpenter. We can assume that that skill, as it typically was, was passed on to Jesus. And Jesus, who was known to walk long distances, this is not Jesus weak. This is Jesus beaten and exhausted and losing blood and has no more strength to carry. If it's just a crossbar, 100 pounds, if it's the whole cross, 200 pounds, Very, very weak, and so Simon is compelled to carry his cross. Again, this is a calculated move. Rome wants there to be this public walk of shame for the crucified. It's part of the humiliation, and it's part of the fear. Rome wants everyone to see, if you get out of line, this is you. So they march him publicly to, next, the scene of his death. Verse 22, the scene of his death. And they brought him to a place called Golgotha, which means place of the skull. Golgotha is an Aramaic word, of course, that means skull. It's outside the city, it's where the trash would be burned. Now think about what is being said about Jesus. We don't want you. There's no place for you here. You're trash to us. We don't want to see your face. So they march him outside the city to an area known as Guyana, a place that Jesus spoke about as a reference to hell, a place outside the city where the garbage was burnt. where sacrifices were taken. He was marched up a hill, Golgotha was a hill. It's believed to have the appearance of a skull. There's a few sites where people believe might have been Golgotha or Calvary in Latin. So a few scientists disputed, but it had the appearance of a skull, and of course, this became a place of death, and so it took on this double meaning. But it was a public place, and that's the point, a place where everyone could see, everybody was meant to look up and to see this terrible crucifixion. Crucifixions were public. In Acts 26, Paul, when he gave the defense of his ministry and his conversion, as he reasoned with Festus and Agrippa, said, this thing, speaking of the crucifixion of Jesus, this thing was not done in a corner. Certainly it was not. It was done on a hill before all to see, the most public spot outside the city. In verse 23, we see the sip Offered. And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Of course, the issue here is not the use of wine. Jesus turned water into wine. The issue here is that this would be a narcotic. It was not a sign of compassion for the soldiers. They had no compassion. These guys were killers. It's what they did. They had no care or concern. But they did like men to be pliable. You have to remember, men would fight with every ounce of strength they had to not be nailed to a tree. And so they offered this drink as a narcotic to numb Jesus. Jesus refuses. I think one reason for that might be that he wants to be fully alive and aware as he bears upon himself the wrath of God for his people. And now in verse 24, we see our Savior crucified. We see it so simply stated by Mark, and they crucified Him. And they crucified Him in just these short words, these amazing eternal truths. They crucified Him. By the time of Christ, 30,000 people, 30,000 men had been crucified. It's very common. Mark's audience would have been very familiar with crucifixion. It was a shame to be crucified. Cicero, the Roman philosopher, who died in the fourth century, fourth decade, rather, BC, 43 BC is when he died. Cicero said the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible was crucifixion. It was common and it was horrific. And it was a visceral scene. Crucifixion would have struck every one of your senses. You would have seen the sight of blood. You would have heard the sounds of scream. You would have smelled the smell of burning flesh and smoke. It strikes your senses. The cruelest form of death that man could ever imagine would be death by crucifixion. It maximized shame and humiliation. When you were crucified, you were treated like the scum of the earth. It was invented, of course, by the Persians who believed that if a man who was crucified was a curse, then the ground that he touched would be cursed, and therefore their food and their water and children would be cursed. And so the Persians invented a way to die that would keep a man off the ground. And they believed if he was suspended between heaven and earth, the curse would not be spread. And the practice of the Persians went on to other cultures and was picked upon later by Rome, who perfected the art of crucifixion. They would take four soldiers, the soldiers would bind their hands, kneel on their forearms, drive the nails in one arm at a time, twist their legs together, drive the nails in, prop up the cross, drop it into the hole with a jarring effect on the body. And crucifixion was meant to be a long-lasting, dreadful death. Some people you know hung on the cross for two to three days, and the typical death by crucifixion was by asphyxiation. You just run out of breath, you suffocate. And we can ask ourself, why did Jesus die on the cross? What was it about crucifixion that was fitting in God's timing? Why wasn't Jesus just poisoned? or tossed off a cliff, or stabbed in the back. What is it about a crucifixion that the Lord chose to use that as the means of his death? Why such a terrible way to die? Brethren, a cross shows us the depth of our sins. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. It's the curse of sin. Galatians 3.13, Paul quoted Deuteronomy 21 where he says, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And so there's our Lord hanging between heaven and earth as a curse, as a wrath bearing sacrifice. This way of dying communicates the seriousness of sin. Now, think of our culture for a moment that laughs at sin and minimizes sin. sings about it, celebrates it, loves it, drinks it like water. The cross shows us how serious sin is in a way that poisoning or knives in the back could never communicate. It also highlights the sovereign grace of God, the depths of God's covenant love for his people displayed on the cross. While Jesus is being nailed to a tree and hanging between heaven and earth, we see soldiers gamble. Again, this is an insane scene from verse 24. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots. for them to decide what each should take. Jesus said himself, the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Jesus was not a man of means. What he had, he had on his back, he had his sandals, he had his cloak, he had his belt, he had his outer garment. And most likely they're betting on this outer garment useful for Roman soldiers, maybe for a variety of reasons. Maybe just for sports and boredom. This is what these men do, day in, day out. I nail people to a tree, looking for a way to spice things up, make their day more entertaining. Again, a very depraved scene. In verse 26, we see the sentence explained. Verse 25 and verse, Verse 25, it was the third hour, so now we're looking at nine in the morning, the first hour had been 6 a.m. It was the third hour when they crucified him. Verse 26, and the inscription of the charge against him read, the king of the Jews. Again, this is a typical way of increasing shame for the one that was to be crucified. A Roman soldier would walk before the goddamned man with a sign that gave his name and his crime. If you compare the four gospels we have, The total language of the sign saying, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And of course, Pilate is in some way using this sign to goad or get at the religious crowd by calling him King of the Jews, and they took offense at this. We see in John's Gospel, they said, it should say, he said he was King of the Jews, and he wrote, what I wrote, I wrote. But this is the sign of his condemnation. In verse 27, we see that he was surrounded by sinners, surrounded by sinners. And with him, they crucified two robbers, one on his right, and one to his left, and the scriptures were fulfilled which said he was numbered with the transgressors. So here we have our Lord hanging on the cross that was meant for Barabbas. When we see these men were robbers, they're not cat burglars. They did not steal gum from Walmart. These men were surely, well, in fact, they're told in the other gospels, insurrectionists and murderers. They were violent, wicked, cruel men. Here our Lord is between two sinners. He's numbered with the transgressors. He's treated as if he had done everything wrong that they did. Now we see the scoffers, beginning in verse 29. This scene had its scoffers. We see travelers scoffing him, we see religious elites scoffing him, we even see the other criminals scoffing him. Verse 29, and those who pass by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, uh-huh. You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it three days, save yourself, come down from this cross. Of course, they are twisting the words of Jesus. Jesus back in, we saw in John's gospel in chapter two, when he was asked for a sign by the religious leaders, he said, I'll show you a sign. Destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up. He was speaking about his body, but they twisted his words to make him out to be some potential insurrectionist that was gonna tear down the temple. He was speaking here about his body, and he would rise up. These scoffers here are looking for every excuse. They're like sharks in the water with blood, looking for any reason to come after him and to taunt him and to ridicule him. And you can hear the smell of sulfur and the hiss of the serpent when they say, you saved others, you can't even save yourself. Come down from that cross, they said. And that has a smell of sulfur to it. And so also the chief priests and the scribes, these are the men that should know the scriptures. They should know Psalm 22. They should know Isaiah 53. They should know the prophecy of the one who would crush the head of Satan from Genesis 3, but yet they don't see. The scribes, the chief priest, mocked him to one another, saying, he saved others. He can't save himself. Their self-righteous, blind religion prevents them from seeing what the Bible clearly taught, that there would be a suffering servant who'd be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. They can't see. They are blind. They are dead in their trespasses and sins. They are in a dead religion of self-righteousness. It has many names, many titles. It is the dominant religion of the world, self-ism, and they're in it. And so there they are. They should be. doing their temple duties, carrying out their responsibilities for the Passover week, but here they are, too busy taking advantage of mocking the Lord. Here we have in verse 32, let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe. These men were liars. They had seen and heard the miracles of Jesus for over three years, and they did not believe, and when a greater miracle of the resurrection of Jesus happened, they still refused him. They saw, and they did not believe. Many times, faith family, I've had people say, if God would show himself to me, I would believe, As they breathe God's air, and they squint into God's sun, and they deny all the light that God has given them. And so they lie. And those who were crucified with him also reviled him. And so here we have even those who were next to Jesus reviling. Now, we know that one of these men did put his faith in Jesus. And Jesus told him that today you will be with me in paradise. Family, all these things happen between, you know, All these things happen between nine and noon on Good Friday. And now with our remaining time, I would like for us to get into the heart of the gospel. This is the richest part of our passage. It's the very heart of substitution. Verses 33 and following, substitution. And when the sixth hour, that's noon, And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land. This is God veiling the terrible crucifixion of His Son and also showing in public display His anger and wrath over sin. It's creation itself displaying the Father's Propitiation, or Christ's propitiation, His wrath-bearing sacrifice for sin, enduring the wrath of God. Sorry. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabbatani, which means my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Quoting Psalm 22, the great messianic psalm. What's happening here? I think it would help us to briefly turn back to Mark 14 to go back to the garden of Gethsemane, to Mark 14 and verse 32. And now we see the silence in the garden. Mark 14, 32, and they went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, my soul is greatly, I'm sorry, very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch. And going a little further, he fell on the ground and prayed. that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will be done. What is this? Jesus on the cross, noon to three, is drinking the cup. What Jesus is so greatly sorrowful for in the garden of Gethsemane is the cup. Jesus is not afraid of physical suffering. Jesus recognizes that on the cross, he will endure the wrath of God. We see in the Psalms, in Isaiah, and even Jeremiah, references to this cup of God's wrath. An example of that is Psalm 75 and verse eight. And what Jesus is shedding drops of blood over is the wrath of God. Jesus, who's always had perfect fellowship with the Father, recognizes that on the cross, he will be forsaken by The Father in that cup is your hell. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, and that's why he prays, Father, take this cup from me, this cup of God's wrath. And you'll notice there's silence in that garden. And I want us to see this morning the love of God in that silence. That our Savior Jesus went to the cross and he drank your cup. That cup was meant, apart from sovereign grace, for you. It is the cup of hell. Jesus was not held to a cross by nails. Jesus at any moment could have called a legion of angels. Jesus was held to the cross by the bonds of white hot love for his bride. He loves his bride. And he gave himself up for his bride and he drank the cup. And he drank all of it on the cross. And so on the cross, going back to Mark 15, He cried out, my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me? Jesus never ceased to be God. But in God's eternal plan to save his church, the father turned his face away. Jesus was always holy, sinless, and undefiled. But in this moment, there is the great exchange where the Father treats Jesus as if he's done every wicked, sinful, vile thing that we have done. This is the moment where he became sin for us. Faith family, how should this change our life? Faith family, this should focus our eyes on the love and mercy of God toward you. That God has loved you with an everlasting love. That you are a product of God's sovereign grace. It should show us the seriousness of sin. We dare not take the stance of the world where we laugh at sin or mock at sin or belittle sin when sin is what nailed our Lord to a tree. He died for sinners. He laid down his life for his sheep. Brethren, it should help us think about missions and world evangelism as we see our Lord on a cross. He died for a people, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. It should cause us to be patient and steadfast in our witnessing with our family. Many of you, I guess all of us, have someone in our life that we love who's lost. and we wanna see them come to know Jesus. Friends, be patient with those that are still lost and look for every opportunity because Jesus died for sinners. He hasn't lost one, he will not lose one. Keep praying, keep seeking, keep knocking, keep witnessing, be persistent, don't give up, be steadfast. Remember you were once dead in your trespasses and sins and God made you alive. So we keep praying and seeking for our friends. Bear in mind that in our culture, there's still an openness around Easter time to hearing spiritual things and even coming to church. And perhaps you have someone in your life this week that you'd like to invite to be a part of our Resurrection Sunday service next week. It'll be a great opportunity to share the gospel and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. I would encourage you to do that. I know a lot of preachers get discouraged about Easter because it seems like you see the same faces and sometimes it seems like nothing but nominal Christians who just show up for Easter. I don't see it that way. I always see it as an opportunity. And I think we should take every opportunity to make much of Jesus. So I would encourage us to do that. And if there's someone in your life that you would like to invite for Easter Sunday next week, let's take advantage of that. Well, this would be a good time for us to close. I intended to carry on the rest of the day, but this will be good and we'll come back next week. Let's bow our heads and we will pray. Our Father, we thank you so much that you have Look at the words, Phyllis, that you have shown us such extraordinary grace. What can we say at this scene? Jesus, the eternal Son of God, dying for a wretch like me. If it were not for this scene, no one would be in heaven. And yet because of this scene, all your church will be in heaven. Lord, we believe in a victorious cross. We believe and teach particular redemption. And so we recognize that while this scene is full of shame and pain and suffering and loss, We also recognize this as the scene of victory, where you disarmed the rulers and powers and you paraded them. This is the foundation of our life and eternity. So Lord, we thank you for this scene. We thank you for such a great salvation. Lord, we would pray that if there would be any in this room who have not yet come to saving faith in Jesus, that today by sovereign grace, they would trust in Jesus alone, not themselves. Lord, help all to avoid the error, the deadly error of the scribes and Pharisees. But Lord, would they only trust in you and forsake all trust in Christ. Pray, Lord, that you would bless us this week. Fill our minds, we pray, with the things of heaven, the things of eternity. We pray that as we gather next Lord's Day to celebrate the victorious resurrection of our Savior Jesus, we do so with hearts full of Calvary love and Calvary's joy. And that we ask in Jesus' name, amen.