Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 15. We are drawing closer to the conclusion of Mark's Gospel. We'll do verses 1 to 15 tonight. Listen now to the Word of the Lord. And as soon as it was morning, the chief priest held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, are you king of the Jews? And he answered him, you have said so. And the chief priest accused him of many things. And Pilate again asked him, have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer so that Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them saying, do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priest had delivered him up. But the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have him released for them Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Amen. Father, we pray your blessing on this study tonight and what is for us a very somber occasion, but yet one full of instruction and even glorious to our Lord. Bless us through this portion of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. John's gospel, when John says that Jesus came as a light into the world, he makes the comment that the world did not receive him because their deeds were evil. And it's certainly true of all of Jesus' life and ministry that his ministry, his person, his character expose the sinful corruption of the world. But if that's true of all of his ministry, it's certainly particularly true of the events of Jesus' death. We're some weeks into this now, the series of events starting with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, then his arrest, and the sham trial, and mankind is not coming across very well at all. And it's not the primary purpose of the cross to expose and to really shine a spotlight on the depravity of man, but it is an effect of it. We think the chief priests who acted so unjustly, they're so hypocritical, Their own righteousness is based out of scrupulous legalism, and yet they just cast it all away. They violate the procedures. They violate practically all the Ten Commandments. They bear false testimony against Him. They're blasphemous. They're violent towards Him. They break so many commandments so callously. Peter, doesn't show off for the disciples, don't show up very well. They all scattered. Peter went there and his bravado failed under pressure. And we add to that tonight Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate represents the Gentiles. He represents Rome. Rome was of course famed for its discipline and justice. That's why the Roman legions conquered so much of the world, because of their discipline. And the Pax Romana was based upon very high legal standards. Well, We'll see how high they really are tonight. And in the midst of all this, we see the glory of Jesus. Well, let's look at these characters one by one, starting with Pontius Pilate, who we are introduced to tonight. Pontius Pilate was just another high-level bureaucrat. were it not for the role he played in the crucifixion of Jesus. I remember vividly, a couple times I've been in the U.S. Senate, and I like to go to the statuary gallery. Every state of the Union gets to have two statues. So I like to go there because I recognize almost no one among them. There are some states, like my native Virginia, where we have memorable people. But half the time, these states, who knows? And I love to go there and go, these people are people who are great enough that their state gets two statues and they're one of them. And I probably know 40% of them, just from general history. Most of the time, history doesn't even remember them. And that's the way of the world. Pontius Pilate is a Roman. Because of his marriage, he gets advanced. He's the governor of Judea. He's extremely unpopular among the people because he's so arrogant and cruel. uh... josephus tells us a lot about ponce's pilot that uh... he uh... he offended the people by bringing the emblems of the roman eagles into the temple court not in the temple itself but on the temple mount that's just provoking them uh... of course we know from jesus uh... ministry there was a time when that his soldiers slew people on the temple mountain he finally was after these events this was Not something that Rome noticed, but there was so much unrest. His rule was so provocative, he was so hated. But finally, there was a group of people who were on Mount Gerizim, some Samaritans were on Mount Gerizim. He had them slaughtered and he was fired over that. And according to the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius, written in the fourth century, after he was ultimately cashiered, he took his own life. He's like so many power people today. He lives for it all. You think of people who, when the stock market crashes, they jump out of windows. This is Pontius Pilate. But he's an interesting person all the more. He's a very shrewd person. You don't get to be this high in Roman Empire without being pretty shrewd. Look at verse 10. And he's no dummy, for he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priest had delivered him. Now, the setting is, backing up a little bit, the Jewish trial had taken place at night, even though it was forbidden to be at night, and they had convicted Jesus of blasphemy, we're told in verse 68, and they all, is it 68 or 58, 48, that they all agreed that he must die. The whole Sanhedrin convicted him. But the problem was the Jewish authorities did not have the power of capital punishment under the Roman rule. So it wasn't enough for them to consign Jesus to death. They have to get Pontius Pilate to go in on it. And so what they do, it's not stated clearly, but it's pretty clear. Pilate asks him, are you the king of the Jews? Now, where does that come from? Well, if they go to Pilate and they say, well, he says he's the Messiah, Pilate's going to say, what is a Messiah? And they're going to say he's a king. And so they accuse Jesus of political insurrection, the very last thing you could actually charge him of. But they insinuate to him that he is committing treason and insurrection against the Roman Empire by claiming to be a king. That was the way they spun his admission that he was the Messiah. But Pilate's shrewd enough, for verse 10, he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. So he could see through them. He could see they didn't have the goods on Jesus. He actually declares, and other gospels put it in different terms, he actually declares Jesus innocent. In verse 14, what evil has he done? He says in John's Gospels, I find no guilt in this man. Now that's not just someone's opinion, that's the magistrate in the courtroom declaring an innocent verdict on Jesus. So he's a pretty perceptive individual, he's shrewd, and yet he is weak. He is weak. Look at what it says here. Oh, do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? Because he perceived it was out of envy. They wanted Barabbas. He says, what has he done? What evil has he done? He sees through it, but he's not willing to fulfill his office. I think one thing happens the longer you live, just the less confidence you have in everybody other than the Lord. probably including yourself. Certainly government officials, it would be nice if we lived in a world where the campaign pledges produced character and if the campaign ad was reflective. We do not live in such a world. And he is weak. He is not willing to do what is his duty, even under Roman law. The Romans, they intended there to be pretty strict justice, but he is too weak to do it. And then he's corrupt. His conscience is afflicted. We're told at various times, particularly in Luke's gospel and John's gospel, that Jesus shook him up. He was, in verse 5, he was amazed. And it's very clear, he goes, in John's gospel, he goes back in and talks to him several times. His conscience is quite alive to the extent of the injustice, but he is corrupt. He will just do a miscarriage of justice. The crowd demands it. Now, John, here's one of the passages where, you know, the early church said that John wrote his gospel quite late, probably, 85, 90, maybe mid-90s, because there were some details in the other gospels he didn't see. And you get a lot more in John's gospel about this interview. And one thing in John's gospel is that the crowd insinuates that if he doesn't put Jesus to death on the charge of insurrection against Rome, they're gonna report back to Caesar. You're no friend of Caesar. And they're gonna cause, he's gonna get a bad efficiency report. Well, we wouldn't want that. And so he is willing to do a miscarriage of justice. And then he's cruel. Having declared Jesus innocent, the last verse says, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. The scourging was horrific. In John's gospel again, he has Jesus scourged, which was that whip with bone fragments, and literally just tearing his flesh apart. Usually they died of the scourging. And you'll see some medieval and renaissance portraits of Pilate presenting Jesus, here's the man, and they're pretty polite. If we had been there, we would faint if we saw what they did to Jesus or any other man. The cruelty of him. Well, here we have a man whose job it is to do justice, and he has the authority to do it. But though he is shrewd, he is weak, and he is corrupt, and then he is willing to be cruel, Jesus exposes that of mankind. Well, let's take a look at the Jewish people. Now the leaders, you know, had accused Jesus. Again, they had accused him by, it's virtually certain, Messiah equals king. He's claiming to be a political rival to Caesar. That is, of course, outlandish, and they would have known that. And we're told they accused him of other things. So it's this very unseemly, it's verse four, very unseemly situation where they're trying to get, by the way, they hated Pilate. They really hated him, and their whole lives were bent on opposing Pilate, but now they're curing his favor, and now they're making these accusations against Jesus. Well, the issue comes up that at this is a feast of Passover, and Pilate had a procedure where, at their request, one prisoner would be let free, and he offers for that prisoner to be Jesus. Now, you'd expect a Jewish people. I mean, let's just Take out what we know and just what they knew. A week earlier, Jesus had raised a man on the outskirts of town, Bethany's two kilometers from Jerusalem, right over the hill. People were aware. Think of his teaching in Galilee. You think of his miracles. You think of his appearance. You know, all through John's gospel, he shows up at the feasts, and you have the, I'm the light of the world. You have the, whoever comes to me, let him drink, and rivers of living water will flow from within him. You think of the, the feeding of the five... I mean, it's not like this had happened years earlier. Jesus' whole ministry is three years. He had healed the lame. He had cleansed the leopard. He had cast out demons. He had raised the dead. He had taught the way and the truth of God. One would think he would be the one they would want. One would be wrong. and it exposes the wickedness of the world. One thing that's going on here, the people, when he says, I'll give you Jesus, no, we want Barabbas. Now, Barabbas is called a murderer, but it's pretty clear, it says here in the insurrection, Barabbas is a zealot. Barabbas is what they were hoping Jesus would be a week earlier. Remember, I've often pointed out that on Palm Sunday when Jesus came in, the palm branches were the emblems of the Hasmonean party. They were actually the emblems of the zealot movement. They wanted a military, they wanted him to be what they were falsely accusing him of being so he could be put to death. Well, Barabbas was a zealot, and he had killed a Roman soldier. He was probably something of a hero to most of the people. But when they say, give us Barabbas instead of Jesus, they are owning the responsibility of this. Now, we don't want to go...particularly in the Middle Ages and Europe, people have persecuted the Jews because they killed our Lord. You know, as far as I'm concerned, the person who killed our Lord was me. And so we don't, it's an illegitimate thing to hate the Jews for it. But once you strip that out, it is a terrible thing to see that this is where it leads. The people publicly owning their rejection of the one who has fulfilled the prophecies, who has revealed himself to be the son of God, and yet they, then they say crucify him. They want him killed in a terrible way. Now, why would the people do this? Well, let's not forget they were served up by the leaders. And part of the problem with Jesus is he was a threat to illegitimate leadership. And we should always pause and say, are we capable of that? You know, one way you know that you're not doing that is when you let God's Word tell you what to do. It's so essential that the church, that the elders of the church, the pastors of the church, the church as a whole, be under the authority of God's Word. And so when God's Word says...when God's Word convicts us of something, what we ought to do is be convicted and repent and to put the Word of God into practice. But there's often...I was thinking of a situation in our denomination where it was very clear that a group of ministers were angry because someone had brought a biblical report. I thought, well, that is a chilling thing. Lord, prevent me from... It's so easy. We have our agendas. Our agenda is to be His agendas. Our agenda is to be the gospel. But the leaders resented the threat to their power and position because He wasn't playing ball with them. You go back three years earlier, Jesus' first visit to Jerusalem at the beginning of His ministry when Nicodemus, who was part of the Sanhedrin, by the way, comes to him at night and says to him, in effect, you know, you're awfully impressive. We've seen the things you're doing, that water into wine, that's very impressive. You know, if you let us take you under our wing, we can have quite a partnership. And Jesus responds, you must be born again. Jesus is not playing along with them. He is the Lord. He's going to act as the Lord. He's calling them to repentance. Well, although Nicodemus ends up being saved, they opposed him because of the threat he was to their power. Secondly, he did not meet their expectations. Again, Barabbas did. They were carnal people. They were focused on hating their enemies. And Jesus was not the kind of Messiah they want. You know, you hear a lot today about people saying, well, you know, I'm disappointed with Christianity. I'm disappointed with God. I'm disappointed with Jesus. And I don't want to be unsympathetic because often there's a lot of pain behind that. But it has to be said, what were you hoping that he would do? God has sent his son to die on the cross for your sins and he has told you and me that there will be trials in this life and that we may suffer greatly, but this life is for the service of God and the witness of his gospel and it leads to an eternity in glory. What are our expectations of Jesus? They rejected him, so many people reject him because he does not meet our expectations. And then he exposed their unrighteousness. And that was probably the kicker. If we are clinging to a righteousness of our own, if we're not willing to be convicted of sin, I remember talking to someone who's a family member and another family member had died and had come to fight faith in Christ shortly beforehand. And I said to the family member, you know, I want you to be confident that he's in heaven having confessed his sins to the blood of the Lord. And I'll never forget the offense saying, I'll never call that person a sinner again. It kind of takes you back. Because that's what we are. But that takes the grace of the Holy Spirit. And even as believers, when we're convicted by sin, what are we to do? We're to repent of our sin. And He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and forgive our sins. Well, I do have to say that what happened to Jesus there has happened to the church throughout church history, and it will happen to you. It will happen to us. All through church history, there is almost a crazy hatred of the people of God. And it waxes and wanes. There's some generations where it's more so, other generations where it's less so. But the savagery that can be inflicted, you think of Louis XIV with the Huguenots in France. And yes, there was a political battle behind the scenes, but these were people who went around doing good, living holy lives, and they slaughtered them in France. One of the people I read for this was talking about when the Salvation Army was started in the mid-1800s in England. England's a Christian nation. And they were really focused then. They've been in the news lately, so let me give some good press on the Salvation Army. But William Booth was really ministering among the poor in London. And they had set up tents among the poor, they were feeding them, they were clothing them, they were witnessing the gospel. And it's amazing how much violence was inflicted upon them. And the people behind it was largely the establishment. It was the slumlords who didn't want the people to be released from the slumlordedness. It was the liquor makers who did not want the people to be sober. It was the church which did not want to lose control. And to me, the reason they're called the Salvation Army, it turns out, is because of the sheer violence done against them, whereby not a small number of them were killed because of the violence inflicted upon them. And I'm not endorsing everything about the Salvation Army. I don't know everything about the Salvation Army. But you look back and you go, Well, why would you do this? You have all this. This is Dickens' England. You know, this is Oliver Twist. You think, why would you hate Christians? Well, did you think the world was loving? Did you think that the world really wants people to be blessed? Do you not know that there's exploitation, there's evil? You think of pornography today. There's a lot of money in pornography. People don't like attacks on that. You think of human trafficking, which is such a scandal in our times. And pretty much today, whenever there's a big sports event, Whatever city has a national championship of that, there will be mass exploitation and human trafficking in that city. And they're not going to take it well if that is exposed. You just go on and on and on. And then you say, and it'll happen to you in the workplace and in families where your life improves. It becomes more wholesome and more gracious. Very often there will be hatred against you for one of these reasons. You're a threat. You're a You're not meeting the expectations. You're exposing their unrighteousness. Well, here's what Peter drew a direct application from this. Let me read 1 Peter 2, 19-21. I can't pass this by without pointing this out. He says, this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps." Well, this is what the world did to our Lord. By the way, it's what I did to the Lord. It was my attitude to the Lord. It's always better to be a covenant child, but one of the benefits of being converted at age 30, like I was, is I remember things I actually said. I remember the way I actually treated believers. I remember the scoffing, the mockery, and all of those things, and how great is my sin. Everyone in this passage is exposed in utter depravity Accept the Lord Jesus. Accept the Lord Jesus and his glory is shown. How remarkable it is that he allows himself to be bound and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. This is the second person of the Godhead. This is the one by whom all things remain. This is the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. And again, you think of the angels watching this, just being blown away at the offense to them. But he willingly submits himself to this, though he is the Almighty God. And then he's accused, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, you have said so. I think we should take that as Jesus answering yes with qualifications. And the qualifications are given in John 18, verses 36 to 38. My kingdom is not of this world. But Jesus answers truthfully. In this scene, the only person who answers truthfully is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so you have said so. He is speaking the truth. He's going to qualify it with the right understanding. And then you have the remarkable thing. They have you no answer to make. See how many charges they bring against you. The chief priest accused him of many things, but Jesus made no further answer so that Pontius Pilate was amazed. Now here he is, the sheep before his shearers. Jesus' silence before his accusations is an expression of his active willingness in the travesty that's being committed against him. You think of Isaiah 53-7, which, of course, that whole passage is so relevant. But, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. You know, in fulfilling that prophecy, Jesus was giving a clearer declaration for those with eyes to see who he really was. He was fulfilling the prophecy of the Savior, yes, the Messiah, who would come, and he accepted the injustice silently. There's nothing wrong with defending yourself in appropriate ways. And of course, you and I, there's a parallel between us and Jesus, and then there's a difference. He's making the atoning sacrifice. But there will be times when all we can do is be silent. Doing what Jesus did, committing ourselves to God, and God will be faithful, and he will deliver us either from or through death. Well, Jesus was silent before his shearers. He revealed himself in majesty. Here's his whole situation, laying bare the utter depravity of humanity. No matter who you are, you've got a place on the depraved list here. because we have participated in the same weakness, corruption, cruelty, unbelief, bitterness at God for not meeting our expectations, a desire for the things of the world, Barabbas, over the things of God. He alone shines forth in this passage as righteous. And the last thing to say is, particularly in the contrast between Barabbas and Jesus, we see the purpose for which he all did it. Why did he do this? Well, we know the answer, but it's seen here in Barabbas. It's the irony that is God's will. The guilty man went free. The innocent man died. The guilty man was justified. The innocent man was condemned. Why is that? By the will of God. That is the way by which God saves us. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Every one of us has gone to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Every one of us. On the one hand, the crowd evilly calls for Barabbas. But when it comes to his elect, when it comes to his people, it is God who says, let her go free. Let him go free. Let my son die in their place. The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. You know, the verse that really blows me away about all this, because Jesus' suffering was so real, and there's no, this is the worst thing to ever happen in all human history. It is the most offensive, it's the grossest injustice, it's the greatest blasphemy. God made it into the best thing for the sake of His people. Remember that when bad things were happening to you. God has a purpose in them to redeem and to bless. But the verse that blows me away is Hebrews 12.3, which summarizes, going all the way back to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was so horrified that he fell to the ground. And the biblical summary is, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross, suffering its shame. What was the joy of the Lord? It was His knowledge that He was doing it for me, personally, for you. Not just for us in the abstract. The Arminian can hold that view, but the Calvinist cannot. The Bible will not allow that. He died for His particular people. He did not die for us on condition of us believing. We believe because He died for us personally. part of the joy in the midst of this anguish that was set before him. was His knowledge that He was redeeming your personal sins, and if this is what it took, with all, it wasn't just being nailed to the cross, terrible that is, the whole, we're gonna go on to the mocking, the shame, the being rejected by your people, the being betrayed by your disciples, the whole shame, suffering, the wrath of God, if that is what it took, It was with joy that He did it for you. Well, I like to say, if Jesus died for us, let us live for Him. Father, we pray, thanking You for Your Word and thanking You for Your Son. And it's a horrible thing to see, Lord. I mean, it's not good, but You have wrought good out of it. And Lord, it's so dark is our sin. that this was necessary if we sinners were to be forgiven and justified. It had to be this way unless you abandon us, and you would not abandon us. Jesus would not abandon us. Thank you, Lord, for the redeeming grace that's in your son. Let us never forget it. And indeed, Lord, may we not only live for him, may we also tell others the same story that they might be saved. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.