As we are getting nearer to the end of the Gospel of Mark, we are seeing more and more prophecies of Scripture being fulfilled. We're seeing prophecies from Jesus that we saw earlier in Mark, things that He proclaimed would be, are beginning to be fulfilled. There's an example back in Mark chapter 8. Go ahead and turn there if you would. Mark chapter 8 verse 31. Mark chapter 8 verse 31. It says, And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. Now remember, think on what we've been seeing in the Gospel of Mark, through chapter 14 especially, some of the things that we have seen that Jesus has been suffering. He has been suffering many things. And to be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he was stating the matter plainly. Now we have seen, and we will continue to see, that the disciples were not expecting Jesus to be arrested. They were not expecting all these things that have happened after His arrest. But they should have been. They should have expected it, because it's happening exactly the way Jesus said it would. Now you may remember, or you may have read on as we stopped in the middle of a verse there, how Peter responded when Jesus told them what was coming. There in Mark 8, continuing verse 32, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Just think about that scene. What we know about who Jesus is, that he is holy, he is perfect, he is all-knowing. He has never made a mistake for all of eternity. And Peter has the audacity, the pride, to pull Jesus aside and say, no, Jesus, you're wrong. Now, that seems absurd when we think about who we know Jesus is. How could Peter be so naive? And yet, we do it too. Every time we sin. Every time we doubt God. Every time we complain about the circumstances that God has put us in. We're doing the same thing Peter did. God, come here. Let me tell you a few things. Let me set you straight on this. And we do it too. Verse 33 in Mark 8, But turning around and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's. Now that has been the problem for Peter and all the disciples up to this point, where we are in Mark. We've gone through chapter 14. They have been looking at Jesus. They've been looking at their relationship with Him primarily from the human perspective. They've been considering what would be best for themselves by worldly standards. Like when they've been arguing with each other about which one of them was Jesus' best disciple. Which one of them was the greatest? Their expectations about reigning with Jesus in His kingdom, and which one would be in the thrones closest to Jesus, they were looking at it selfishly. They wanted to be important. They were looking at this in a worldly way. But then remember, what Jesus taught His disciples and everyone else who was around, after that. Mark 8 verses 34 to 37. And He summoned the crowd with His disciples and said to them, If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospels will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit His soul. For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? It's kind of interesting going back to that now and considering those verses, what Jesus taught His disciples in relation to what's happening now as we've gotten through Mark 14. The rubber has really met the road now. Take up your cross and follow Jesus when He's been arrested, is on trial, is about to be killed. You think about the examples that we have seen of what Jesus has taught. Consider Judas. Judas was a clear example of someone who chose the world over Jesus. And he ended up losing both. The chief priests, the Sanhedrin, almost all the religious leaders of Israel, in Mark 14, chose the world over Jesus. Their temporary fame, their fortune, their power was more important to them than Jesus and their eternal souls. They've traded Jesus for the world. Last week we saw Peter beginning to make that same decision. Peter was severely tempted in that direction because he was so confident in his flesh. He was not prepared for this kind of trial and temptation that came. And even Peter began to walk away from Jesus. Because at that time, the world was looking safer and more appealing than Jesus. Thankfully we know that Peter didn't continue going that way. But today we're going to see in the passage we have for this morning that most of the nation of Israel decided for the world over Jesus. Most of the world decided for the world over Jesus. And the Roman governor Pilate, when he was faced with the truth, the only way of life, the gospel was standing right in front of him. pilot chose the path of least resistance. He decided to stay with the world and he too rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and sent him away to be killed. Now, as I have said in previous weeks, we are still, as we go on in the Gospel of Mark, we are spiraling downward into the deepest, darkest pit there has ever been in this creation and there ever could be. As we see Jesus humbling Himself more and more, going from all the glories of heaven, taking on human flesh, and all these ways that He's been suffering through chapter 14, every verse is one step lower into this pit. The Messiah, God in human flesh, He came to rescue us, but then being rejected by almost everyone. suffering unimaginably, dying in our place on the cross, to pay the incredibly high cost for our forgiveness. I want us to remember that again this Sunday. This is what we're looking at here. How much does it cost for your sins to be forgiven? It costs so much you could never pay it. As we see what Jesus suffered, this is what it cost. Salvation to you, if you have received it, is free. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. But that free gift came at an incredibly high cost to our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're moving into Mark 15 this morning. You can turn there in your Bible now. Mark 15. We recently saw the illegal trials of Jesus that happened at night. And we were in that Thursday night into early Friday morning. Those trials probably happened very early that Friday morning, which was illegal. It was against their laws. Those trials were not to happen at night. We saw those trials that happened at the private homes, first of all, of the former high priest, Annas. And then the home of his son-in-law, the current high priest Caiaphas, which was also illegal. It was not to happen at private homes. And they, these chief priests, along with the rest of the Sanhedrin who had gathered at Caiaphas' house, they sought evidence to convict Jesus, which was illegal. That's not how it was supposed to be. The Sanhedrin was to be a panel of judges to consider the evidence, decide cases impartially, but they had become the prosecutors. It wasn't supposed to be that way. It's amazing to see how hypocritical the religious leaders of Israel are being in trying to give the appearance of righteousness. They want it to look like they're still doing everything by the book. All while they are seeking to kill the Messiah. They want it to look like they are righteous while they're seeking to kill the Messiah. Caiaphas, tearing his clothes as we saw a couple weeks ago, pretending outrage when Jesus confirmed that he was indeed the Messiah and the Son of God. And that was exactly what Caiaphas wanted him to say so he could charge him with blasphemy for claiming to be equal with God. And yet, all the evidence, the real evidence, if they would have looked, pointed to the truth that Jesus really was the Messiah and the Son of God. They could have asked Lazarus. He was walking around that day. He had been dead in the grave for four days. Jesus raised him from the dead. Nobody's ever done anything like that before. Why didn't they ask Lazarus? They knew it had happened. it was obvious who Jesus really was. They didn't want to see it. Their hypocrisy continues in chapter 15, verse 1. Early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, immediately held a consultation, and binding Jesus, they led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Now this was a separate trial from the one that we saw in chapter 14 that was in the middle of the night. This one says early in the morning. It's morning now. So trying to maintain their appearance of righteousness. Once the sun came up, they had another quick trial and made sure the outcome of it was the same as the last one so that they could do it by the law. The real one happened at night when it wasn't supposed to happen. We've got to do this when there's daylight to check that off the list that we did that right. Now I'm guessing they probably held this trial in the right spot on the temple grounds where it was supposed to be because they were so concerned about doing the right thing. I say sarcastically, so concerned to give the appearance of doing the right thing. Now we need to note, we see it here, we see it all through scripture. God is not impressed with merely outward displays of righteousness. God knows perfectly the heart. He knows the intentions of the heart. Nobody's fooling God. Merely outward displays of righteousness do not impress God. He knows your heart. So they've got this technicality out of the way. We had a trial in the daylight. It was probably at the temple. And binding Jesus, they led him away. Now why do you suppose they bound Jesus? And how much good did it do? You think about how Jesus has been since they've arrested him. He's not fighting back. He's standing there taking everything that they're throwing at him. They didn't need to bind him, tie him up. It was all for show. So that when they took him to Pilate, it would give the appearance of them bringing in a very dangerous criminal. Pilate, you've got to do something about this guy. He's dangerous. How much good did it do to tie up Jesus? When you think about whatever ropes or chains or leather straps, whatever it was they used, Jesus was sovereign over every element and atom that made up those ropes or chains or leather straps. If Jesus had decided to, he could have said the word and they would have dissolved into nothing. As this happens, as we move through this passage, we need to remember that this is only happening because Jesus is letting it happen. Binding him did no good. If he wanted to get away, he would get away. But Jesus was letting this happen. Jesus was in control that day. Jesus was not a victim of circumstances of what was happening. that day, that Friday. It says they delivered him to Pilate. Why to Pilate? Of the four Gospels, Mark gives the fewest details, especially in this section here. We're going to try to stick mostly with what we have here in Mark, but piecing in a few details from the other Gospels gives us some important perspective, I think, in understanding some of the details we see here. They brought Jesus to Pilate because they wanted him to be killed and they lacked the authority to do it. Now, people have tried to kill Jesus in the past. Some have wanted to throw him off a cliff or stone him. You may remember later on the Sanhedrin would stone Stephen So why didn't they just do that with Jesus? Why didn't they just take him out and stone him? Well, a few reasons. One is because those other instances that I mentioned were mob violence. When they wanted to throw him off a cliff, when they stoned Stephen, that was mob violence. And they could have gotten in trouble with Rome for that. They weren't really supposed to do that. They also wanted this to be more official. And they wanted Jesus to be crucified. They didn't want to stone Jesus. They wanted him to be crucified. That was something they couldn't do. Only Romans did that. Crucifixion was a very gruesome, degrading, and humiliating way to die. And anyone who died in that way was considered by the Jews, because of scripture, to be cursed by God. They wanted that for Jesus. That tells us something about how much they hated Him. They wanted Jesus to be cursed by God, by hanging Him on a tree. Now keep that in mind as we go through these verses, is how much they hated Jesus. Also, taking into consideration, Jesus needed to be crucified. They didn't take Him out and stone Him because He needed to die on the cross. Because that's what was prophesied. And that's what it took for our sins to be forgiven. He had to die in this way. It had to happen this way. And this is another case of the wicked intentions of man carrying out the plans of God. They meant evil in this. God meant it for our good. It had to happen this way. Verse 2, Pilate questioned him, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, it is as you say. Now Luke tells us, so when they brought Jesus to Pilate, they had three primary allegations against Jesus. None of those three were the same issue that they convicted Jesus of in their court. They convicted Jesus of blasphemy. He made himself to be equal with God. The Romans would have cared nothing about Jesus claiming to be some son of some god. The Romans believed in all kinds of gods. And they believed in offspring of all kinds of gods. It was no big deal to them. So the Jews came up with other fake charges that they thought would mean something to the Romans. So according to them, First accusation, Jesus was misleading the nation of Israel. That maybe wouldn't be that big of a deal, but he was stirring up trouble among the nation. Where there has been peace, we want to be a peaceful people. Jesus is stirring everybody up, misleading people. That should concern you, Pilate. The second accusation was that Jesus was forbidding people from paying taxes. which was exactly the opposite of the truth. And people tried to catch Jesus, trap Him in saying that, but He didn't say it. He said, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. He said, pay your taxes. That was a completely false accusation. The third thing they accused Jesus of was that He claimed to be Christ a King. You know, there's shade of truth to that. But they purposely said or implied that what Jesus meant by that is that He is in direct competition with Caesar's throne. Jesus is a threat to Caesar, is what they were implying. Now that's the one that stood out to Pilate, and that's the only one that Pilate addresses. We asked him, are you the Christ? Are you a king? At that time, peace was very important to the Romans. We've talked about this before, the Pax Romana, Peace of Rome. At times, wars were needed. At this time, they wanted peace. They wanted peace in their nation. They went to great lengths to keep peace in the nation. Pilate's primary job as governor of that region was to keep peace in that region. Insurrections were greatly frowned upon. And so if Jesus was trying to stir something up by claiming to be a king and causing an insurrection, then Pilate would have considered that a problem. Mark says that Jesus answered him, it is as you say. Are you the king of the Jews? It is as you say. Now John tells us in his gospel that there was more to the conversation than that. In Jesus' response to Pilate, he made it clear that his kingdom was not of this realm. Meaning that his crown and his throne did not come by military conquests. It was not in his plans to overthrow the Romans by calling up his military to have a greater kingdom than Caesar had. He was a very different kind of king of a different kind of kingdom. In verse 3, the chief priest began to accuse him harshly of Jesus being in the condition he was in as he stood before Pilate. He was tied up. He'd been beaten. He was bloody. He was bruised. He was swollen. Probably also the fact that the Jews did this to one of their own. Pilate wasn't convinced. that Jesus was a significant threat. He didn't look like any kind of a threat standing there in front of him. So the chief priests tried hard to convince Pilate, something's got to be done about this guy. They accuse him harshly. They imply some blackmail in some of the things they say to Pilate. And again, according to John, the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. They knew that they had some leverage against Pilate because there had been some lapses in peace recently and Pilate was a lot to blame for that. Pilate was being held responsible for that so it wouldn't take very much to stir up some more trouble and get Pilate in some big trouble with Caesar. The Jews knew that, Pilate knew that. So even though Pilate makes it clear Several times. As you survey the different gospel accounts, he says several times. He finds nothing to hold against Jesus. He finds no guilt in this man. And yet he can't just let him go. Because the Jews know they've got him. And they're using it to their advantage. So verse 4, And Pilate questioned him again, saying, Do you not answer? See how many charges they bring against you? Have you think of a time when you have been falsely accused of something? How did you respond? Well, the normal way that people respond when they're falsely accused is to deny it. Probably to become defensive and even fight back against false accusations. A pilot in the position that he was in as a judge in this kind of context, he would have seen that happen a lot. False accusations made, denials of those accusations. That's what he expected from Jesus. Because it was obvious, even to Pilate, that these accusations were not true. Verse 5, But Jesus made no further answer, so Pilate was amazed. And Jesus is again fulfilling prophecy. Isaiah 53, about staying silent before his accusers. Jesus didn't need to defend himself. The truth was clear to anyone who wanted to know the truth. Jesus didn't come to defend himself. He didn't come to protect himself. He was here to suffer like this. He was here to suffer for us. Pilate had never seen anything like this before. He still saw no reason to convict Jesus or to sentence him to death. He could tell he had done no wrong. So he tried, again, several different ways of getting out of this. One of the ways he tried, Mark doesn't record it, but John does, is he sent him to Herod. Let Herod deal with it. But Herod also found nothing to convict Jesus of. They sent him back to Pilate. The pilot tries something else, verses 6 and 7. Now at the feast, he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. Now this releasing of one prisoner during the Passover, This was one of Pilate's methods of trying to keep peace by trying to win the favor of the Jews. Trying to keep them peaceful by getting them on his side as much as he could. In this situation, Barabbas, even though it was his intention in that insurrection to try to drive out the Romans, which is something that most Jews would be in favor of, they wanted the Romans out. But if they didn't accomplish anything, they just made life harder for the Jews. A failed insurrection would result in things like higher taxes as a punishment. Other punishments that were endured by the people that weren't even involved. So it probably would have been in everyone's best interests to not have someone like Barabbas loose on the streets. The Romans didn't really want Barabbas. The Jews wouldn't really want Barabbas. Nobody really wanted Barabbas. So Pilate offers this deal to try to get out of sentencing an innocent Jesus. How about Barabbas? Verses 8 through 10. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews? For he was aware that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy." Think about what Pilate knows about this situation. He knows that that's all this was, that they were envious. The chief priests were envious of Jesus. The chief priest didn't want to lose their position to someone who was becoming more powerful and popular than them. Now Pilate understood that because he would do the same thing. This is just politics. Pilate was a politician. The chief priests were politicians. It's what you do. If somebody is a threat to your power, get them out of the way. Pilate understood that. So he had some hope. offering this deal, either Barabbas or Jesus, that it would work. Now notice that he's now offering it to the people instead of to the leaders. He goes to the people, the crowd that has gathered. Would you like me to release Jesus, the King of the Jews? Jesus had been popular with the people, generally. So this should get him out of it. Verse 11, but the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Now considering what had just happened the Sunday before. You remember what happened just the Sunday before? Surely Pilate knew. He could remember what happened just the Sunday before. This guy, this same guy riding into town on a donkey Crowds of people shouting his praises. The whole town being stirred up because of this man coming into town. So yeah, he could see why the chief priests would be envious of this man. But it sure seemed like the general public really liked him. Their response in verse 11 would have been surprising to Pilate. No, don't release him. We want Barabbas. So verses 12 to 13, answering again, Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews? They shouted back, crucify him. Just the Sunday before, the crowds had been proclaiming Jesus as king of the Jews. Pilate thought they would want him back. Okay, you don't want him, what should I do with him? to crucify Him. How did we get here from where we were just on that previous Sunday? The Sunday of the triumphal entry. And now they're shouting for Him to be crucified. From proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah to wanting Him dead. What changed? Well, part of it could be that it may not have been exactly the same people in this crowd the crowd on Sunday. The makeup of the crowd could have been a little bit different. But things have changed through the week. Some things didn't go the way the people wanted them to go. The ones who wanted Jesus as their King, things through that week have not gone the way they wanted it to go. Instead of driving out the Romans, Jesus drove out the money changers at the temple. That's not what they wanted. Instead of preaching about the Romans being so bad and so wrong, He was saying the Jews and their worship was wrong. That's not what they signed up for. Plus, they had these expectations. We see in Scripture that the reason that they were praising Him so much on that Sunday, wanting Him to be their King, was because of the miracles they've seen. They had these high expectations because of the miracles they've seen Jesus do. Nobody should be able to defeat Him. He should be able to wipe out the Romans easily. And yet here He stands, tied up, bloody, bruised, seemingly helpless. It was the worst revolt they've ever seen. Jesus had failed. Barabbas was looking like less of a failure next to Jesus. So because of their expectations taking such a hit, along with the encouragement of the chief priests, they have completely turned on Jesus. He was such a disappointment to their worldly hopes. They want him dead, but not just dead. They want him killed in the worst way possible. They, too, want him to be cursed by God by hanging him on a cross. Now, Pilate still wasn't comfortable with that. Verse 14, But Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify him. It had no answer to the question, What evil has he done? He's done no evil. They just want him dead. They want him crucified. I've heard some Bible teachers who really want to be sympathetic toward Pilate because he really tried to let Jesus go. But he was just in a really tough spot. And I can see that. Pilate did try, many times, many different ways of keeping Jesus from going to the cross. And maybe later, maybe he did repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe we will see Pilate in heaven someday. But we won't know until we get there. Because there's not really any evidence of it here. I hope it's the case. But from the evidence we see of Pilate in scripture, verse 15 seems to be more where Pilate's heart was. Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. And after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. So what we know of Pilate, that day, pleasing the crowd was more important to him than Jesus was. He wanted to please that crowd because his job was on the line. If there was another riot, he would have been out. Pilate was making some good money in that position. He had power. He had respect in that position. And he really didn't want to lose that. Pilate chose the world over Jesus and his soul. I will talk more about the scourging that Jesus received next week, Lord willing. But even that, the scourging, Mark just mentions it, doesn't really say anything about it, but the scourging itself was so brutal that some people didn't survive it. Some people that were convicted to death to die on a cross didn't even make it to the cross because they died from the scourging that they received before it. The scourging was meant to shorten the time that they would be on the cross because it would weaken them so much they'd die sooner. We haven't gotten to the crucifixion yet, but Jesus is already suffering so much so our sins could be forgiven. We can't take that lightly. Just think about what Jesus went through for you. Considering where He came from, who He is, what He suffered here for you, we can't take that lightly. We can't take our sin lightly if this is what it cost Jesus to pay for our sin. The crowd that day, which was a cross-section of the people of Israel, that crowd represented the general thoughts of Israel toward Jesus, the general thoughts of the world toward Jesus. If He was not going to give them what they wanted, which was what? Freedom from the Romans. They wanted to be free to reign in their own land. They wanted comfort. They wanted riches. They wanted provisions all provided free. All the best the world has to offer. If they couldn't have that, then they have no use for Jesus. The people of Israel, in general, chose the world over Jesus and their souls that day. Now, there would be a few who didn't take that path. But most did. Instead of taking up their crosses to follow Jesus, they sent Jesus to the cross. Barabbas went free. Jesus took his place. According to historians, things didn't really improve for Pilate following this. He ended up taking his own life. Pilate died by suicide. Not necessarily directly because of this, but it is the way his life went and the choices that he made. That's according to history. According to legend, after Pilate killed himself, people tried to dispose of his body in several different rivers and lakes, but each body of water rejected Pilate's body and spit it back out because Pilate was so wicked. And that part's probably not true. But that's kind of the legacy that Pilate left. And we should take that as a warning. Don't be like Pilate. Don't follow the path that Pilate took. Don't be like the people of Israel. Don't be like the religious leaders of Israel. Don't be like Peter almost was. Don't be like Judas. If someone decides that they want the praise and the goods of the world rather than Jesus, eventually they will end up with neither. It always turns out that way. But taking up your cross to follow Jesus no matter the shame that may be involved or the temporary losses of fame or fortune that could possibly happen, if you have Christ by grace through faith in Him alone, then He has your soul. He has you protected for eternity. And you will belong to Him forever. You will live with Him forever. Your sins are forgiven through His death. There will be no condemnation of you forever. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Can you answer that question? What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? In eternity? Nothing. It profits him nothing. Just death and eternal suffering. Was it worth it? 40, 50 years of great wealth and fame and an eternity of suffering and hell, is it worth it? Well, you won't think so 120 years from today if that's the direction you take. You won't think so 5,000 years from today or a million years from today or forever. You won't think so. It won't be worth it. Don't be like Pilate. Don't be like the people of Israel that day. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.