Penny and Spencer, so thankful you're here. Church family, Penny and Spencer are mourning the loss of a good man. And we are praying for you, and we're praying that the memory of him would be cherished in your hearts, and that the Lord will help you in this season of mourning. We found out just this week that him is a good friend of Indy and I, was a good friend of Indy and I, and we found out that He's also a neighbor to the Connors, and we have such sweet connections. We pray for you. Thankful you're here. Friends, our sermon text for today is from Mark 15, verses 16 through 20. Mark 15, 16 through 20. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the governor's headquarter. And they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak. And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, hail, king of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him. They stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him, and they led him out to crucify him. What is the difference between embarrassment and shame? Perhaps you intuitively know these are different, but you really haven't thought much about what makes them different. Back when I was working as a music teacher, I taught two siblings that were my last students of the day. I remember once receiving a text message from their mom saying early that they were not available for class that day. This was a very dignified family. The mom was a law professor at the University of Miami and the father was a zoning judge in Miami-Dade. They were always very proper. Well, once I received the text message, I informed the parents that it was OK. We would make up the lesson the following week. And then I sent my dear wife, Indy, a message telling her that I was glad to inform her that my last student had canceled. So we were going on a date, except that the message didn't go to Indy, but to the very dignified, very proper parent of my students, and well, That was embarrassing. Now, embarrassment can be quite shallow, right? It's temporary, not really connected to a wrongdoing or a sinful action. Embarrassment is not lasting and does not need to be dealt with in depth, proof of that. is that I can tell you this story and laugh about it. Shame is different. Shame, on the other hand, is deep, lasting, significant. We often don't know what to do with shame. The truth is we all carry shame. Shame is different from embarrassment because shame necessarily involves Sin. Either sin that we have committed against others or sin that have been committed, sins that have been committed against us. Or perhaps what is more common, a combination of both. Shame is so important in the biblical narrative that it is the first consequence we see for the sin of Adam and Eve. After they sinned, they hide, because they realized that they were naked and ashamed. Genesis 3, verses 9 and 10, But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked. Exposed, ashamed, and I hid myself. That's shame, isn't it? To hide oneself. Notice how Ezra later also sees this connection between sin and shame. He's speaking of the sins of the people, and he says in Ezra 9 verse 6, Oh my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our Iniquities, that's another way of saying sin, have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. Shame has always been a consequence of sin. From Adam and Eve to Ezra to the burden that we see today in Christ. The relationship between shame and sin is clear. But shame doesn't have to be the final word. Last week, we saw that Jesus atones for our sins. And he does that by becoming a substitute for us. On the cross of Christ, our sins are pinned on him and his righteousness is granted to us. He takes our place by carrying on himself our guilt. We often think in terms of guilt and innocence. This is the main paradigm in Western culture. We are innocent until proven guilty. And if we are innocent, we walk away. But there's another paradigm, the paradigm of honor and shame. And Jesus atones not only for guilt, he atones for shame as well. So here's my main thought for today. Since shame is ultimately a result of sin, the only true and lasting solution for shame is Jesus. Jesus himself. Now all of us carry shame. We all feel the burden of shame. And I don't approach this message lightly. If you're here this morning and you're overwhelmed with your shame, know that I have been praying for you, that you may receive through the Word of God, through the proclamation of the gospel, relief for your burden. My prayer is that you might know that through Jesus, You can not only be free from the guilt of sin, but also from the shame that it creates. Friend, Jesus knows what it's like to be ashamed. He understands you in the hiddenness of your soul. For there was no greater shame than the shame that Jesus himself bore on the cross. And He wants to lift your burden and dress you in dignity. Jesus wants to exchange your shame for His honor. And He will do that if you will humbly come to Him, recognizing that you don't deserve honor. But honor is something that He gives freely to those who believe in Him. As we look at our text today, We'll see two ways that explains Jesus' experience of shame. First, we'll see His shame through mockery, and then we'll see His shame through violence. So those are my two points, mockery and violence. So consider first the mockery of Christ. There's another, I see a lot of new faces here. I'm so thankful you're here. You may be wondering why am I preaching this? The reason why I'm preaching Mark 15, 16 through 20 is because last week I preached Mark 15, 6 through 15. So at Central, We believe that the best diet for us is to sequentially go through the Gospel or through the Word of God. We've been in the Gospel of Mark since my daughter was born, and she's about to turn three. So you see how we've moved slowly through this, right? We've taken some excursions into other books of the Bible, but we've tried to go slowly, trying to understand the full argument of Mark presenting to us Jesus Christ as the Son of God. So that's why, We're here. So as I refer back, I'm actually referring back to years of studying this together with the church. The good thing is all our sermons are actually on our website. If you want to get caught up, it's going to take you a little bit of time, but you can go ahead and listen to them. And I think you'd be helped and edified. So there's a subtle change of place here. We've seen several, several subtle changes of place since chapter 11 of Mark. Jesus here is led to the courtyard, and we're told that this is the governor's headquarter. This is a place that was known, that was called the Praetorium. This was likely a place, likely at a place called the Antonia Fortress. It was named after Mark Anthony, the Roman emperor, and it was close to the temple and it functioned as a military base. that was designed to keep the Jews in Jerusalem, especially in the temple, under control. So Jesus is taken there. The place here indicates a complete change of guard. So before, we still had interactions between the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and the crowd, the chief priests. So there was this interaction between Jews and Romans. But now it's all under Roman jurisdiction. Perhaps what's most important for us to see here is that the Roman soldiers led Jesus away. Jesus is here subjugating himself to the will of men. This is not a sign of his weakness, for Jesus commanded myriads of angels. Even in the gospel of Mark, we've seen a legion of demons come out of a man at Jesus' commandment. So Jesus is not subjugating himself to the will of men here because he's weak and unable to defend himself. Jesus' subjugation to the Roman soldiers was not a sign of his weakness, but of his obedience to the Father. You know, it takes a lot of strength to obey God. Strength, friend, that you and I don't have. You know, you know how I know that, right? Because I know that you, like myself, and like the rest of us in this room, still struggle with sins that God has told us to put away. And some of us have been Christians for a long time. It takes an incredible amount of strength to obey God. And it is a strength that is not native to us. But Jesus, The creator of all things, the king of the universe, powerfully bows his will to the will of the father. And where does this power come from? And the answer is from his humility. Philippians 2.8, and being found in the human form, he humbled himself. To what point? By becoming obedient to the point So Jesus' death is obedience. It's not weakness. It's obedience. Even death on a cross, which we're going to see next week. Jesus wasn't fighting for his rights or finding strength in his determination or his inner self. No, when Jesus needed supernatural strength, he found it in humility. It's puzzling, isn't it? The supernatural strength comes from humility. Humility is what rescues marriages, restores relationships, reconciles relatives. Humility is what heals churches. Humility is trusting God to accomplish His purposes, even when His will goes against our will. Remember the prayer of Jesus in the garden. Lord, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but yours. So even the son who has a divine will in his human will, bows his will to the will of the father. Why? Because the son entrusted himself to him who judges justly. This was the cry of Jesus at Gethsemane. So Christian obedience is not asking God, Lord, what is your will so that my desire might be... Christian obedience is asking God, Lord, what is your will so that my desire might be to do your will? But you say, Pastor Lucas, it doesn't seem like Jesus is doing the will of the Father here. It seems that Jesus is doing the will of the Roman soldiers. And very often this is what it feels like in my life. Other people dictating what I ought to do. And that's right. Jesus is fulfilling the will of the Roman soldiers. Because in a strange way, we see in this story, the sinfulness of man accomplishing the purposes of God. The sinfulness of fallen human beings accomplishing the holy and divine purpose of God the Father. God uses human agents to accomplish His purposes. Consider the brothers of Joseph who sinfully sold Joseph into slavery and yet, through that accomplished God's purposes. Or consider Cyrus, a pagan king who God calls his own anointed in Isaiah 45, whose hand God strengthened to bring about the chastisement of Israel. There's a brief application here for us, even when it seems like God is not at work. Even when it seems like the powers at work are the powers of Satan in the world. Even when it seems like the powers of sin are prevailing, we can trust that God is always in control. Even if you're suffering under the direct consequences of the sins of others. This does not mean that God is not deeply at work in your life. As a matter of fact, He is actually using these very circumstances that are so difficult and often detrimental to you in order to accomplish His perfect will in your life. So if you're suffering, if you're feeling the weight of shame, Take heart, weary saints. The purifying fire of God may be overwhelming to you right now, but God sees something in you worth purifying. He sees the final results and your current trial, even in light of sin, is bringing about a greater, more glorious version of you that you cannot, at this moment, even imagine. 1 Corinthians 2, 9, "...what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him." This is the work of God in our lives. But let's return now to the actions of the soldiers. So when they come to the Praetorium, to the headquarters, the soldiers called together a battalion. This battalion was probably about 600 soldiers. The soldiers would be the personal army of the governor. Now, did Jesus, an unarmed Jewish man, alone, warrant 600 soldiers? What threat did he represent? And really the answer is none. So why this exaggerated number of soldiers? And for one single purpose. The answer is they intentionally longed to mock Jesus. And yet their mockery was filled with irony. Their mockery ended up revealing the true identity of Christ. They picked up the accusation that the Jews brought to Pilate that Jesus was the king of the Jews. And they mocked Jesus' kingship. They put on him a purple cloak. Purple was a color associated with dignity, majesty. Kings wore purple. Perhaps you remember the story of the rich man or the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, that the rich man wore purple garments. So, what we start seeing here is a great irony. Where Jesus was the most dignified person to ever set foot on earth, these soldiers lacked the most basic human decency. and they mocked him for apparently lacking dignity. They fashioned a crown for Jesus from a thorny reef. Crowns are associated with authority and power. A crown is to a king as a horn is to a bull, a constant visual reminder of might. So they pierced Through Jesus' front, this crown of thorns. And the irony grows. They think of themselves as great, as more powerful than the Son of God. But they're actually standing before the most powerful man in the universe. And then they begin to salute him. the King of the Jews. This would be a salute similar to what they would present to the Caesar, Ave Caesar, Hail Caesar. Caesar was viewed as a monarch, but also as a deity. A salute is a recognition that someone occupies a higher rank than yours. And since Jesus is the creator of all things, the irony here is unmeasurable. I think the point of all of this is that they are unknowingly getting Jesus right. In what travesty to stand before the King of Kings to actually get him right externally, but internally get him completely wrong. How tragic it is to look at God and mistake his humility for weakness. Friend, do not mistake a God who is patient, a God who forbears, a God who is long-suffering for a God who is weak. Christ's judgment may delay, but he will come. And we do well to have an attitude of reverence before God. If you are persistent in sin, do not assume that God will not bring you to account, your sins to account. The time to repent and to turn from your sin is today, because tomorrow, might be too late. Paul tells the Romans, Romans chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? You see what Paul is saying here? If God has not judged us for our sins, it's because He's given us an opportunity to turn from our sins, that's what he's doing it's not that he's too weak to judge or that he will not bring about judgment but it is because he's saying repent now because today's the day of salvation Tomorrow will be the day of judgment." Verse 5, "...but because of your heart, an impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed." In other words, why hasn't God fully judged us for our sins that we have committed? Why sometimes... Do we sin with no apparent consequence? It is not because God is unaware or unable to do something. It is because God is giving us an opportunity to repent and to turn to Him. So, the very fact that God doesn't immediately judge our sins is a demonstration of His love and compassion. But Paul says, do not presume. Do not assume that this will be there tomorrow. Turn to Him today. So my question to you is, are there unrepentant sins in your life that you need to turn away from today? Are there people in your life that you need to go and ask for forgiveness? Are there habits, hobbies, vices, tools you need to get rid of? Are there influences in your life that you need to eliminate? Do you need help? Do you need accountability? Do you need others to counsel you, pray for you? Friends, holiness is priceless. The Bible says that there is a holiness without which we will not see God. So we must value holiness. You should pursue it with all your heart. Now, unfortunately, the shaming of Christ does not end here. It escalates. So consider with me now the movement from mockery to violence. So consider violence. So now in verse 19, we read, And they were striking his head. with a reed and spitting on him. So the verbal mockery wasn't enough. Now these men were trained to kill, resort to physical violence towards Jesus. The reeds were probably the back of arrows that would have been a common weapon for a Roman soldier. More than physical pain, these blows were designed to humiliate Jesus. And they spat on him, showing false homage towards Jesus as they knelt before him. Mockery wasn't enough. The picture tells us that wickedness always tends towards escalation. Wickedness always tends towards growth. Sin is like a powerful magnet. And the closer we come to it, the stronger the power it has to bring us in. I had a professor that used to say back in seminary, by nature we drift. That's true. By nature, we become more and more rebellious towards God. This is what we see in these soldiers. In the times of Noah, we see this increase, right? We just saw the sin of Adam and Eve. And then we saw the consequences of that fall in the heart, the hardened heart of Cain and killing his brother Abel. And then we have these genealogies in chapter 5 that are just a terrible reminder that so-and-so lived and then they died. And they lived and then they died. And there's this death march in chapter 5 of Genesis. And then we come to Genesis 5 and we're reminded there's a reason for that. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Depravity runs deep in our hearts. The assessment the Lord makes of our hearts is that every intention of our hearts is always evil. It's not partial. We are not partially good, partially evil. No, the Bible tells us that apart from Christ, we only harbor wickedness in our hearts. Friend, do you believe God's assessment of your hearts? Do you believe in the total wickedness of the hearts? Do you believe that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, we would do nothing different from what these soldiers, The reality is that the Roman soldier's shaming of Jesus simply represents the natural inclination of the human heart to reject God. All week I've been thinking of this passage in light of Moses and Meribah, where God told Moses to speak to the rock so that the rock would provide water. for the people. And that's why last night I sent Jeff a message saying, can we read this passage? Moses, the great prophet, the most humble man on earth, a man much greater in character than you and I, is told by God to speak to the rock, so that the rock could bring about God's providence to God's people. But out of unbelief, he disobeys God. Let's actually read the passage together. Numbers 20, verse 6, Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle. And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, And he commanded him, as he commanded him, then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. And he said to them, here now, you rebels, shall we bring water from you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice. And water came out abundantly. And the congregation drank and their livestock And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in Me, to uphold Me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." What a harsh punishment. God tells Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses strikes the rock. And because of this small act of rebellion, He is prevented from entering the Promised Land. I mean, Moses so faithfully led the people, a hard, difficult people who grumbled and complained incessantly. Why, Lord? Why such severe punishments? Now listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians about this experience in 1 Corinthians 10. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank from the same spiritual rock. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. And the rock was Christ. Not like Christ, not a representation of Christ. The rock was Christ. Moses, godly Moses, God-fearing Moses, a much greater man than anyone we have met, struck the very provision that God made for his people. Now, These soldiers, because they did not believe Jesus was who he was, fell into the same sin of Moses. They struck the face of the Son of God. What the soldiers didn't realize is that Jesus was the very provision for their sin. He was the provision that God had made for them to be forgiven, changed, transformed. What a travesty to stand before the provision of God and strike it on the face. What an awful thing. And yet God purposed salvation to come through the suffering of Christ. Because by suffering, Jesus becomes a substitute for our suffering. Friends, maybe we don't see ourselves as the soldiers But we surely see ourselves like Moses, trying to serve God, trying to lead God's people, trying to be faithful to God, but at the same time, not believing the provision of God. Do you notice what we read that God told Moses? What was the problem? You didn't believe me. At the end of the day, unbelief is the root of every sin. We don't trust the Lord in His provision. We believe that the God is withholding that which is good from us. We believe that the allotment that the Lord has given to us is not because He loves us. Let me ask you a question. Why do you think Jesus didn't just walk up to the cross? Or why was Jesus not born in a mature age so he could immediately incarnate and go to the cross? Why was Jesus born in a humble manger? Why did Jesus as a baby have to flee to Egypt or experience hunger and thirst? Why was Jesus tempted? Why did Jesus have to learn so many things as Hebrews tells us? Why did Jesus have to suffer so many things? Why did Jesus have to be betrayed, forsaken, arrested, tried, found guilty, mocked, beaten? Why? Why not just the cross? And the answer is simple. Jesus had to endure suffering because he didn't just die for our sin. He also suffered for our shame. The shaming of Jesus is our shame being put on him. You see, shame is a result of sin. This is why it's so difficult to deal with shame. We try to cover it up. We try to mask it. We try to forget it. But nothing seems to work. The shame of our past sins or the shame of sins that were committed against us linger, don't they? So what do we do with this shame? The answer is we believe the provision that God has made us through Christ. We trust in the atonement of Christ. We come to the cross of Christ, the cross where Jesus took upon himself sin and shame. Well, let's get a little more specific here. If you carry shame for sins that were committed against you, here's how the atonement of Christ helps you. Perhaps you were mocked. Perhaps you were a victim of violence, abuse, mistreatment. That's the case. I'm so sorry. My heart aches for you, and I have prayed for you this week. If you need help, come talk to me. Go talk to one of the deacons. If there is ongoing physical abuse in your life, call the police. Do not remain in it. But more importantly, remember that since Jesus suffered shame, You do not worship a God who is unable to understand you. You do not worship a God who is unable to identify with you, your sufferings and your burdens. So bring your burdens to Jesus. Remember also that the cross of Christ is a reminder that justice will ultimately be served. If someone has sinned against you and brought about great shame in your life, God will bring about justice. That person will not walk away free. We entrust ourselves with the judgment that God provides. for the sins that were committed against us. Also remember that you're not alone. Shame feels very lonely, but you're not alone. You are in a room filled with people who understand shame because we all to different degrees deal with it. The church is a good place to find help. Those who can be the tangible, presence of Jesus in our lives. But don't forget that even if you have been victimized by shame, you still need Christ to cover your sins. So confess your sins to Christ. Perhaps you carry shame because you have committed sin against another. You have shamed another person. Perhaps you think God cannot forgive you your sin. Friend, no sin truly confessed cannot be cleansed. Every sin that is confessed is a sin that is forgiven. God will forgive you. Again, you're sitting in the midst of a congregation that has, in different ways, people who have significantly sinned against God and against others. room in many way is a place where you can see others coming to the cross of Christ. Additionally, if you carry shame because you have sinned against another person, God makes another provision for you. You can reach out to that person and ask for forgiveness. Confess your sins to one another that you may be healed. They may or may not forgive you. But ultimately, if you seek reconciliation with others, God will forgive you as long as it is possible. Leave at peace with everyone. Perhaps you're not able to ask for forgiveness to someone you wronged. Trust the Lord. Confess your sins to him and trust that he is faithful and just to forgive you, then believe in the Lord's provision for you. We fight shame with faith. Shame is like a great weight we carry on our shoulders as we seek to run the marathon of life. But God is able to cover our shame, not by ignoring it, but by placing it on the cross of Christ. What an incredible thing it is to be known by God, even in our deepest weakness and shame, and yet be loved. This is what the church is, a congregation of those who were once naked and exposed, but who now have been clothed in dignity, with robes dipped in the blood of the Lamb. What a great hope we have in Christ. Would you pray with me? Father, thank you because Jesus didn't just take the cross. Thank you, Lord, because at his baptism, he said, I must be baptized because I must fulfill all righteousness. It is not just the work on the cross that is accredited to us. It is his entire obedience unto the law. Thank you, Lord, because our Savior was shamed. And by that shame, He's able to identify with us and is able to cover our shame. We believe help in our unbelief. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Stan?