Well, at this time, this morning, I invite you to turn with me to our scripture reading, which is in the gospel of Mark, continuing our series through this gospel. And we find ourselves still in chapter 15. And just a few verses for our consideration, verses 16 Mark chapter 15 verses 16 through 20. Hear the word of God. Then the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison, and they clothed him with purple, Then they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews. Then they struck him on the head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing the knee, they worshiped him. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, put his own clothes on him, and let him out to crucify him. So for our reading of God's holy, inspired, infallible, and blessed word, may he add his blessing to the preaching thereof. Well, congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it often the case that we are more prone to think of our own sufferings than the sufferings of Jesus Christ? That we more easily think about our own pains and our own difficulties than we do to think about what Christ had suffered. Now I think one reason for that, and indeed it is the case so often, and one reason for that is because we are, just by nature, those that are selfish individuals, and we're prone therefore to think about ourselves. Another reason is perhaps that when we feel all those pains in our own bodies, at least physically, then we do Christ. We're not a part of Christ's literal physical body in that sense. We have our own bodies, but maybe it's also because it's difficult to read something like this that we've read and think about just how horrendous it is to really be subjected to such ridicule and mocking. And so maybe that's why we don't think about it. Not as much as we ought, but I think it's encouraging to remember that every word that is written in the gospel accounts, including ones that we have read here this morning, all of it is a part of the good news, the gospel. including these awful things that we have read. It's a part of the gospel. So as we read of this horrendous mockery of the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, we should know that what's being revealed for us is the gospel. things for our salvation. Yes, it is ugly. Yes, it is brutal and grotesque. It's shameful. But as we read this, we may ask ourselves, well, why does our Lord subject himself to this and endure this? And the answer is one I hope we're all familiar with. The scripture makes very clear He endures this because he's doing it for our sake, to rescue us. And so we must understand all of the details that are here in verses 16 through 20 are things that were required for us, his people, to be saved from eternal condemnation. And so we must believe that the insults that we read of here this morning were not added for no reason at all. The Father, God the Father, doesn't just heap upon Jesus all kinds of auxiliary or needless sufferings that were really not so necessary for Him. No, God wouldn't expose His Son to anything He didn't have to go through for our salvation. But what we also need to see here is that what's done to Christ here, this bitter mockery and ridicule, being poked at, made fun of, these things, we must know, are things that we deserve, not Him. Listen to what John Calvin said in commenting on this passage. He put it beautifully. He said this. Our filthiness deserves that God should hold it in abhorrence and that all the angels should spit on us. But Christ, in order to present us pure and unspotted in his presence, resolved to be spat upon and to be dishonored by every kind of reproach. That's what we need to believe today. That's what we need to see. That we deserve to be humiliated and expose our sin. It deserves eternal and everlasting contempt and shame. But instead, we inherit everlasting glory. Because Christ sat there and took it in our place. This is the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge and all understanding. And so we have before us the King of Kings is mocked. And we'll look at that today under two points, which you might notice have been pretty much taken right out of our form for the celebration of the Lord's Supper. The first point, he suffered countless insults. And secondly, that we might never be put to shame. And so first, we consider that he suffered countless insults. And we come in our text to the Roman guards. And just to note a bit of context, Jesus had been deeply shamed and insulted even before this. He'd been rejected by the religious leaders and they mocked him. He had been rejected by his own people who desired a rebel and a murderer, Barabbas, and they actually cried out for his crucifixion. He had been shamed and humiliated by Pontius Pilate, who did not give him his legal rights under Roman law, but he's throwing him instead to this bloodthirsty mob. Pilate had him scourged already. whipping he endured was brutal in and of itself. It was typically a whip that had bits of bone and metal that were tied to the ends of that whip in order to rip a person's back to shreds. And Christ here has endured all that already. Physical beatings and insulting. And as you read through the Gospel of Mark, and any of the other Gospels too, you just know how the sufferings of Christ just keep piling on top of each other, and they seem to increase and increase, and this is another step forward in the sufferings of Jesus, who's been condemned, who's been rejected by the religious authorities, by Roman authorities, and now by Roman soldiers. Jew and Gentile alike. The whole world. But as we read it, we notice that Mark especially doesn't focus so much on the physical sufferings, does he? Rather, the emphasis is very clear. It's upon the derision and the mockery that Jesus endures. Notice how that was the case with the Sanhedrin before. The false witnesses came before him and he endured the slander. And how they particularly mocked him in his prophetic role. They mocked him as a prophet. Remember that the religious leaders blindfolded him and they slapped him and they said, prophesy, tell us who hit you. But here, among the Roman soldiers, this mockery focuses around Christ as king. So here we are in the setting of this place called the Praetorium. This would have been the governor's headquarters but apparently it's also the garrison or the place where all of the personal guards of the governor and those who are specially assigned to this, they would be housed. And they would live there and dwell there and live life there. And if you've been in the military, you know how soldiers at times get bored and they look for some kind of distraction, some kind of diversion to keep themselves entertained. And so here an opportunity presents itself and they think that they're going to have some fun. And so they called together, in verse 16, the whole garrison. Now this may have been up to about 600 men. Now we don't know the exact number of how many this garrison was, but the fact that it's a whole garrison being called, we don't have just the execution squad of just four or five men that are gathered here. There's perhaps hundreds of them that have come here just to have a little fun. It's not for the usual card games or whatever soldiers did in those days. They're called together because, well, here's this prisoner who's already been roughed up by a couple of crowds. He's on death row. He's been condemned and sentenced to death. He's bloodied and beaten. And he claims to be a king. The Romans' eyes, they think this is a ridiculous claim. This guy thinks he's a king. He's as good as dead already. He's going to go to the cross soon. His life at this point is totally worthless, it seems to them. This is just something very clear and obvious to ridicule, and so here's an opportunity, they think, to gather around, to make fun, play a game with Jesus. make sport of him. And it proceeds in a few stages. They have this mock coronation ceremony, as it were. They're gonna dress him all up. And so they strip him naked of all of his clothes and put on him a kind of purple robe, which is the color of royalty. Now Matthew's account of this, the Gospel of Matthew, suggests that what they used for a robe may have been something like a military cloak. So it's not going to be this royal cloak. They didn't go to Herod's closet and get something. This is something they probably had lying around for a while, this old smelly Roman coat and just threw it on Jesus. The dirtier and the smellier, the better. And so it fits. He's a phony and a pretender after all, in their eyes. Well, a king needs a crown too, doesn't he? And so they have someone weave together a crown of thorns to put it upon his head. And again, taking from Matthew's account of this, a crown wasn't enough and a robe wasn't enough. And so what they needed to do is, well, a king needs a scepter, right? And so they put a reed in Jesus' hand, a flimsy, weak little stick. All really what's going on here is some kind of parody. A mockery. And it must have pleased them so much. This is really what this word mocking means. It means to poke fun at, to make jokes, and to laugh at. It would have been funny in their eyes. And perhaps one of the funniest things in their eyes must have been what verse 19 speaks of, is that they struck him on the head with a reed. And they spat on him. What could be funnier than a king being hit with his own scepter? And then they get him all dressed up, he's coronated as king, and then they need to pay him homage. Verse 18, they salute him, hail the king of the Jews. And now all these hundreds of men, each one of them can come in and join in on the fun. They fall down and they go through this whole charade. Now in their minds, Jesus deserved this. Anybody that would claim to be king in this position, it's ridiculous. Anything ridiculous is deserving of ridicule. He's coming to them beaten, bloody, broken, bound, and he claims to be a king. So they have fun. And then when they are satisfied, they get on to business and lead him out to crucify him. Kind of shame, mocking, teasing, derision. is sickening. It's a terrible display of really what human nature, depraved human nature, is capable of doing. Think of that in terms of just anybody, a regular person like you and me. being subjected to something like this. It is sickening, but this isn't just anybody. This really is and truly is the king of kings, the blessed one who is fairer than all the sons of men. This is the depths of human depravity that is on display. And what does this mean? What is this about? And maybe the first thing that comes to your mind when you think upon this terrible scene Is it anger? Anger that they would do something like this, especially to our Lord? Is it disgust? Is it sorrow for Jesus? Compassion, the one who suffered all this. Many feelings may come to our hearts and to our minds when we think about the sufferings of Jesus, but the one thing that we need to ask ourselves when we come to a passage like this, do I see the glory of Christ? Do I see the majesty of Christ? Where is the glory? Where is the majesty in something like this? Now it is the case many times our feelings and especially response to this really rise no higher than just some kind of fleeting emotion or something like that. And there are others who suggest that the real response of faith after reading something like this is to feel sorry for Jesus, have compassion for him, And if you have those poignant feelings, then well, really that's what Christ is after. But the gospel accounts never try to tell us that feeling sorry for Jesus is the goal. If that was the goal, then they could have focused more upon the physical sufferings of the Lord, but they don't. Jesus doesn't suffer these things to gain our sympathy. He does these things to win, to merit, to earn our salvation. Jesus is not here as some kind of helpless victim who can't do anything about this and is one we should feel sorry for and hope and wish that we could rescue him. Nothing here is happening by chance. Nothing happens here that wasn't expected, that wasn't God's will, that isn't unnecessary. There's not a single detail of suffering here that is senseless or without meaning. What happens to Jesus here is that what happens according to the sovereign will of God and for the purpose. And the one who suffers here does it on purpose. He chooses every second to remain in submission to these sufferings for our salvation. So with that in mind, we'll ask again, do you see the glory of Christ and the majesty of Christ? The glory of His humility, that He stooped so low to this, subject Himself to this disgusting treatment, the creator of heaven and earth, for his people. You see the glory of his patience. Ridicule after ridicule, slap after slap, lie after lie, spit after spit. He sticks with it. But the glory of his love. He loves his father. has come to do His will. And He so loves His church, His bride, that He bears this for her. The glory of His faith We speak of faith with Christ, especially his human nature, confidence or hope of things not yet seen, promises that are given to him, that despite the fact that all of these soldiers and everyone else is telling him that he's a worthless man, that his claims of kingship are utterly absurd, and yet he believes and knows that this is what God has given to him, and that God, after he is crucified, will raise him from the dead and sit him upon the throne at his right hand. The son believes this and knows this. So He endures. So what we see that even in the midst of these terrible hours of agony and this deep humiliation in the midst of all this darkness that Christ reigns as King. He reigns in this majestic silence. Christ here did not open his mouth. They dress him up, he's silent. They mock him, he's silent. They beat him, he's silent. This is the very Christ who spoke the world into existence, the very Christ that could summon a host of armies of angels, and whose very appearance of glory could cause the Romans to scatter, and yet he says not a word. Why is that? It is not because he is weak. Because he is strong. He is ruling. These are the things that Jesus had already foretold back in Mark chapter 10, verse 33 through 34. Just turn back there a couple pages and look. Mark 10, 33 through 34. There he says, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed unto the chief priests and to the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles. And they, the Gentiles, the Romans, will mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him. And the third day he will rise again. Christ suffers, yes, but not as a helpless victim. He suffers, yes, but not in vain. There is nothing that Christ will not bear for us that is necessary for our good, our well-being, our salvation. He knew this even before he went to Jerusalem. In fact, all the way in Isaiah chapter 50, verse six, it says this, I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Christ knew full well, before he even came to this earth, in our flesh and in our nature, that this was his calling as Christ, as the Messiah, to be obedient to his commission and not to hide his face from spitting and from shame. That's why it is not weakness, it is strength. Our natural reflex is to turn from shame and to turn from spitting, but Christ would bear it. He bears it for us. Brings us to our second point. He does it that we might never be put to shame. This means so much, yes, for Christ and his obedience to his calling, but he does it for us and for our salvation. We recognize, I hope we do anyways, I trust we do anyways, that what he endures here, is what we deserve. As proud as we can be at times, don't we all know something of being ashamed of our sin? Is that what you encountered in this week of self-examination? As we were called to do last week, Did you examine yourself? Well, we're called, and the Spirit calls us even through this, to examine ourselves in light of this. In fact, it is often the case that pride is that which keeps us from bringing to light and exposing our shame and our sin. And there are things in our life that if they were exposed today, and paraded on this stage of the world as it were, that we would be embarrassed about, wouldn't we? Ashamed of things that we thought or said or done that we say to ourselves, I can't believe I did that, I can't believe I said that, I can't believe I thought that. We deserve disgrace. In the beginning, God had made us to be rulers over his creation. He called and said, have dominion over this world. And so in that sense, we are to be kings and queens, as it were, unto our God. But as we know from the account of the first three chapters of Genesis, we did not fulfill our assignment. We failed as kings and queens, as rulers. We dealt wickedly We are those disgraced rulers. You can think of what a disgraced ruler looks like in images that are published in news media about, you know, you think, at least in my day, of the disgraced dictator, former dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. Images of him previously living in opulence and riches until afterwards he was found cowering in a dirt hole. It was dragged out to be executed. Why? Because he ruled wickedly. And justice was served. But you see, that's what we are by nature. What we see here, Jesus, in terms of how he appears in the eyes of the Romans, this pathetic, this weak, this bloody, this worthless, contemptible, failed king, this failed ruler, the one who is to have dominion. But what we need to see is that this is our place. That's what we are. And that we deserve this ridicule and mockery, and we deserve the ridicule and mockery of hell. The ridicule and the disdain of heaven. To repeat what Calvin said, that the angels should spit on us. The God should laugh us out at the idea that we would ever be able to appear before him and restore it to honor of our own accord, of our own strength. It's a joke. We deserve the contempt of heaven and of earth by nature because of our sin. But instead, Christ is being robbed with our indignity here. All the contempt and the shame that we and our sin deserve, Christ bears. There is a certain grace to shame. A shame that is informed by scripture and that impressed by the word. There is a false shame indeed that people need to be set free of, but there is a real shame that is connected with our guilt, and it's not something that we can just push away. We could try, we could pretend in our own strength, but that doesn't make it go away, because at the end of the day, sooner or later, we will be ashamed. But Christ takes the shame of his people to himself. You find that amazing that he took that. So as you think on your life today, what is it that you are ashamed of? What is most shameful to you? What is it that weighs you down? Maybe the things you've said in your marriage. Those ugly things and ugly moments. Maybe it's a failed marriage. Maybe it's failed parenting. Maybe it's sexual immorality. Maybe it's laziness at work, a temper we can't seem to put away. Maybe it's the way that we've hurt people, our selfish quest to get our own way. Maybe we're ashamed of our entertainment and the things that we have looked at. Maybe it's our greediness. The question is, what is it that clings to us, that makes us ashamed? You see, as we look at our sin and every sin, we hear that about the forgiveness that is in Christ. Maybe we wonder, well, what about my shame? Am I ever set free of this? Do I bear this forever? Can I ever stand before God and before his people? Is there a place for a sinner like me? with spirit is setting before us the reality that indeed we are complete failures as kings and as rulers, that we have failed to be the husband we ought to be, the wife we ought to be, the worker we ought to be, the parrot we ought to be, the single person we ought to be, the man of truth and integrity that we ought to be. All of our failure as kings and as image bearers that deserves the mockery of heaven and hell has been born by Christ. For his people. Those who believe in him. That's what's here to remind us, to strengthen us. His blood was shed. His body was broken. For our sakes, he took away our guilt. He took away our shame. And so one day soon in his timing, we will be clothed in garments of glory and splendor. Think of how Revelation 19 describes the wedding feast of the Lamb. It says, hallelujah for the Lord our God, almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready with fine linen and bright and clean. It was given her to wear. On Judgment Day, Christ isn't going to bring out those old smelly Roman uniforms that mock garb and dress you up and mock you in your kingly office. In His grace to His believers, He's going to bring forth to His bride this bright, clean, righteous linen. And He's gonna delight over her. as he bestows upon her all glory and all honor everlastingly. And our garments of shame will be exchanged for garments of everlasting royalty. That's because Christ has stood where we ought to stand. He bore it in our stead. He bore countless insults that we might never be put to shame. so that we will be washed in his blood and presented spotless before the everlasting throne of God. Isn't this something that stirs your heart with gratitude and with thanksgiving? Does it move you to bow the knee? Praise Him. Worship the King of Kings. It's ironic that the Romans prophesy in a sense of what will happen, of what Philippians 2 describes, in the sense that every knee will bow. The garrisons will be gathered together. All of humanity will be there to confess Jesus as Lord, to bend the knee before Him. Will you bow in faith, in love, in humility? As we are, those by nature, shameful. But this is why we glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world laughs at the cross. And they say so many cruel things about Jesus still, and about our faith, and about the cross itself. They mock this whole idea that he would die on a cross. The Corinthians did. To the Greek, the cross is foolishness. To the Jew, it is a stumbling block. But to us who believe, it is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. But a rebellious heart refuses to embrace this kind of a king, this kind of a savior. The natural heart doesn't want a lowly king, a humiliated king. They want a tall, proud, fit individual. It's like a comparison of Saul, the King Saul in the Old Testament versus King David. They want somebody that looks like a king. But if you have a tall, proud ruler, you don't have to confess your sin. You don't have to say, I deserve this kind of ridicule. You could say, I have a good name. I'm a good person. I'm worthy of honor. I fight for my rights and I fight for my place. But to embrace the Christ of Scripture and to confess him as Lord, you have to say, I deserve everything that he got. And those who won't humble themselves To acknowledge that in their sin they deserve this kind of disdain. They're left to reject Jesus and to fight for their own dignity. Is that what you want to do? To climb the ladder of achievement? Clean yourself off? Gain respect for yourself? Take away your own shame? At the end of the day, That will be vain. It will be empty. What a blessing it is then, isn't it? That we who do believe on the Lord Jesus Christ can say by the grace that God has given us, because Christ bore what I deserved, to be able to say that I am not in need of cleansing my own name, cleansing my own refutation. I'm not in need of taking away my own indignity and shame. I couldn't do that. But Christ has done that for me. He stepped into my place. He took my spot, bore the shame, bore the wrath, shed his blood that we may never be put to shame. Amen, let us pray. Our gracious God and our Father in heaven, we thank you for the great glories of our Lord Jesus Christ, his endurance, his humility and meekness, and how beautiful and bright that shines here in our hearts. So we pray that you will give to us the eyes of faith to see and a humble heart to go forth in praising your name in gratitude and thanksgiving. So bless us as we remember the crucified body and shed blood of our Lord. Feed us and nourish us. Abide through faith. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.