The King Crowned in Our Shame | Pastor Cody June 2nd, 2025- Mark 15:1-20

king? 1 Corinthians 15:24-29 says, "Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Amen. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is expected accepted who put all things in subjection unto him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all those things in subjection unto him that God may be all in all. Psalm 110 1-2 says, "The Lord says to the Lord or to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your foottools. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. [Music] The mystery of the cross. I cannot compreate. the agonies of [Music] Calary. You the perfect holy one crush your son who drank the bit cup reserved for me. Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you. The father's completely satisfied. Jesus thank you once your enemy now seated at your table. Jesus thank [Music] you. By your perfect sacrifice I've been brought here. Your enemy your friend. Pouring out the riches of your glorious grace. Your mercy and your kindness don't know no end. Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you. The father's wrath completely satisfied. Jesus, thank you. Once your

enemy now sit at your table, Jesus, thank you. [Music] of my soul. I want to live for you. Lover of my soul, I want to live for you. Mother of my soul, I want to live for you. Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you. The father's completely sisfied. Jesus, thank you. Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you. The Father's completely sisfied. Jesus, thank you. Once your enemy now seated at your table, Jesus, thank you. Once your enemy, now seated at your table. Jesus save you. You don't have to stay standing if can't or just don't want to. [Music] As morning dawn and day, to you I bring my need. Oh gracious God, my source of strength. In you I live and brea. Each hour is yours by wisdom. Each deed and power thy sovereign hand. Renew my spirit. Help me stand. Be glorified today. [Music] As day unfolds, I seek your will in all of life. And though the temp tries me

still, I cling to your command. Let every of my life display the worth of Christ. Make me a living sacrifice. be glorified today. [Music] As sun gives way to darkest night, your spirit still is here. And though my strength is like the light, new mercies will appear. I rest in you. abide with me until our child and suffering. Give way to fight all victory. Be glorified today. I rest in you. Abide with me until our trials and suffering. Give way to final victory. Be glorified today. [Music] You may be seated. Dear heavenly father, we thank you so much for loving us even enough to give up your only son to die for each and every one of our sins. Thank you for bringing us all together. to worship you and learn more of your truth through your word. Open our hearts to you and help us to apply the teaching today to our daily lives. I pray for guidance and wisdom for Pastor Cody and speak through him as he preaches your word. We love you and thank you for being a loving and great father in Jesus name. Amen. All right, kids. It's uh children's lesson time. Did I hear someone say, "Yeah, candy." Okay. All right. I got to rethink this here. Just kidding.

Hey. Yeah. No. No money today. All right. I got to ask you guys a question. How many of you guys like stories? Okay. Right. Movies are stories, books are stories. Right. There's there's all kinds of stories that you guys like stories, right? Um when you guys are you find a really good story and you really you really like the main character or you really like where the story is leading you. How many of you guys like it when all a sudden something bad happens? Me. You you like that when something bad happens? Why? I'm curious to know why. Why do you like that? Suspense. Okay. Sure. Yeah. At least the drama. Thank you for saying that. Yes. Yeah. Samuel. Um because it's because it actually gets to the good part. Okay. All right. Yeah. Okay. Well, I was expecting you guys to say, "Oh, I don't like it because I love the main character and I don't want anything bad to happen to them." But you guys actually are You're pretty sharp. It's good. Uh yes. When something bad happens, it often adds to the drama of the story and draws us into it. And you know, like today I want I'm just going to read this story to you guys uh just because there is so much drama being built up as we get closer and closer to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And there's something really important in this story. Often times when we we read a story, we watch a story, we see, oh yeah, I can I can see how that person was bad. But rarely do we really identify uh ourselves into the story. And today I want you guys to draw near to the story. Draw near to the what's happening here and say, "Hey, you know what? Maybe I am a part of this story as well." All right. So let's read. Today we're talking about the story of Barabus being chosen to be freed over Jesus. You guys know that story? All right. I'm going to read it here. Okay.

And as soon it was morning, okay, this is right after Jesus got arrested in the garden. Do you remember that? And it as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Pilate was the ruler of that area. Okay? He was the main ruler. And Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus said, "You have said so." And the chief priests accused him of many things. And Pilate uh again asked him, "Oh, let me let me let me back up. Uh in in this in this uh in this uh area here where uh Jesus is being uh asked all these questions, all the all the main religious leaders are there with him." And when pe when Pilate asks Jesus um are you the king of the Jews and he says you have said so. And then the chief priests accused him of many things. They were accusing him of being blasphemous. They were accusing him of being a troublemaker and a true insurrectionist. Okay? And keep that in mind because you we're going to see something happen here that's really really kind of ironic. Uh and Pilate asked Jesus again, "Have you no answer to make? See all these charges that they bring against you." But Jesus made no further answer. So Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, he used to release for them one prisoner to whom they asked. They did that on on Passover. They would release a prisoner back into the crowds. And that was just part of their justice system. Maybe somebody got accused of a wrong thing or I or there's other reasons so why they would release them. But every year they would release a prisoner. And among the rebels who were in prison who had committed murder and who was an insurrectionist was a man called

Barabus. You guys say that word. Say Barabbus. Barabus. Barabus. Bad Barabus. Yeah. It's kind of a fun word to say. I Yeah. Bad Barabus. And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. The crowd said, "We want you to release a prisoner to us." And he answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to 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 priests persist uh in and and stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabus instead. Now, I want you guys to think about this. Think for a moment. You guys are at a courthouse and before you is Jesus, okay? The one who can heal all things. The one who had kids sit on his lap and made them laugh and taught them about the kingdom of heaven. The one who could forgive your sins. The one who could raise people from the dead. Who never um who never did anything wrong. And he was there. And on the other side was a murderer, someone who was insane and unpredictable. And you stood there and said, "I want Barabbus to be released." Just imagine that for a second. That Barabus would come into your community and he would you don't know where he would be or what he would do. The fear that would be among you because you know that this maniac is wandering around. Why would someone choose Barabus over Jesus? This is the darkness. I want you guys to feel this. The darkness is growing as a drama unfolds. The darkness is growing and growing and growing. It's not all the way there yet. Something worse happens next. Then Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call king of the Jews?" And what did they say? Crucify him. Crucify

him. And Pilate said to them, "Why? What evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, release for them Barabbus. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Oh, what evil and travesty it is to witness a sinful heart, a blind heart, and a hard heart. And uh you know, we're not going to talk too much more about that, but what I want you guys to just feel right now is the the the intensity of evil in the in the sinful human heart. And the response that Jesus has when he's up on the cross and he looks down at the people who did this to him, what does he say? Lord, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. And in Romans 5:8 we read that g that uh that while we were still sinners while we were sinning while while we were still sinners and had wanted nothing to do with Jesus wanted nothing to do with righteousness wanted nothing to do with goodness all we really wanted in our heart whether we knew it or not was evil. Christ died for us. What a wonderful savior we have. What a beautiful story. It's tra it's tragic to read that and to and to maybe even say, "Oh Lord, I was once or am that way. I don't really want goodness. I want my own thing." And that's the thing that the that the that the scribes and Pharisees wanted. They wanted their own glory. They didn't want to g They didn't want God to have it. I want you guys to think about that and and and talk to your parents about that. So, let's pray. Dear heavenly father, Lord, thank you for this word, for this story, for adding all these details into it that draws us in that uh that can draw more than just our minds, but our our souls into the story. Lord, thank you for for loving us and displaying that love for us on the cross. And I pray for these little ones that they would they

would know you and they would know that and they would turn in repentance um uh and in faith towards you, Lord. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Well, good morning church. It's good to see each and every single one of you here this morning. Uh my name is Cody. I'm the pastor here and uh very glad that each one of you are able to worship with us this morning. Uh first Sunday of the month we do family worship Sunday. So we have all of our kids with us. Uh Thomas and all the volunteers do a fantastic job and of course the kids are happy to get some candy too. So um today we are looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh and he is meeting Pontius Pilate. Um the Apostles Creed is one of the oldest historical creeds in Christianity. And uh a creed is simply a statement. It comes from the Latin word credo. It just simply describes what you believe. And uh this the apostles creed it finds its earliest origins at uh 140 AD. So very very early Christian confession. Okay. There's a couple of linguistic things that I want to address before we get there. Uh firstly, when it uh describes hell, that Christ descended into hell, it's used not in a place of torment and punishment, but the place of the dead. Secondly, it has the phrase Catholic in there. You'll notice that's a lowercase C because Catholic literally means universal. Okay? So don't get weirded out. It's not the denomination. That's simply the language and it's an archaic form of the word. But here's the Apostles Creed uh as it's found on uh uh the Billy Graham website. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontious Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and siteth on the right hand

of God the Father Almighty. From then he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Now, that's uh the confession. But for those of us that are familiar with this creed, why on earth is Pontius Pilate of all the people included in the oldest historic Christian confession? I mean, Judas's betrayal isn't in there. Peter's denial isn't in there. Caiaphas's sham of a trial isn't in there, but Pontius Pilate is. And why? Well, firstly it bases the the the events of Jesus's life around historical reality. We have a historic faith based on real actual events that we can go to and we can document and prove that Jesus is who he said he is that he lived when the apostles say that he lived that he did the things that the apostles said that he did. Christianity is true. It is historical and it is based in reality. Secondly, no one else had legal authority to execute prisoners. Caiaphas didn't, Judas didn't, no one, no one had. The Roman governor, Pilate, he could spare life and he could take it away based on his word. Also, thirdly, it fulfilled prophecy. In Isaiah 53:8, we're going to be in Isaiah 53 quite a bit today, too, but it says, "By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation who considered that he was cut off of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, you see, there had to be someone with authority that could pass judgment. And God chose Pontius Pilate. God appointed Pilate for this purpose. Pilate, he was the longest tenur Roman governor in this region for over 11 years. And it wasn't because he

was really great at it either. It was actually the bottom rung of governors in Roman society. He was actually a really bad governor. And he was banished from government and fired by Emperor Caligula in AD.37. Not a good guy. Pho Josephus, they teach us that uh Pilate, he was actually inflexible. He was stubborn. He was cruel. He put down many rebellions in very brutal fashions. A couple of the stories uh that he tells is that as he came in as the as the governor, he uh brought in gold shields that had Caesar's face on them and he set them up in the temple. Of course, to the Jews, this was blasphemous. This is not what our place of worship is for. We do not worship any images. We don't have any images of anyone in our place of worship. Right? That's what the Jews believed. And um and so the people got upset. They petitioned Pilate, "You can't do this. This is not right." Uh they petitioned, petitioned, petitioned until finally there was an uprising. And then Pilate squashed it violently and killed a lot of people. One time he built an aqueduct that ran for 23 miles to bring fresh water into Jerusalem, which is a really good thing, but that took a lot of money to do. And instead of him using uh the the resources that were allocated to him, he actually went in and he raided the temple treasuries, money that was given to God in order to build this infrastructure, which of course was not okay and the people rebelled and he violently squashed them as well. This is the kind of man that Pilate is. And we're going to see Jesus's interaction with this man. And we're going to learn about Jesus Christ, our king. We're going to learn about his rejection, his condemnation, and his humiliation. If you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Mark 15 1-20. God's word, it says this.

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests 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 the king of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You you have said so." And the chief priests 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 Barabus. 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 release for them Barabbus 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 they done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!" So Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd released for them Barabbus. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace that is the governor's headquarters. And they called together the whole battalion. And they twi 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 they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes

on him and they led him out to crucify him. Let's pray. Father, we do uh thank you uh for this testimony, this true word of u the suffering and the sacrifice that Christ begins to endure uh for my sake for the sake of every Christian that's here. Lord, he endured the humiliation, the alienation, the mockery. God, he uh he suffered so much. Lord, we just thank you for it. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for taking my place. Thank you for suffering on my behalf. Uh thank you that uh this word is true. Thank you that you have called us uh out of darkness and and into your light. Thank you that you've given us new life by faith in your son. And I just pray for anyone that's here that maybe they don't know you that today that they would be born again to a living hope. Father, we uh submit ourselves to you. Give us ears to hear and understanding hearts in Jesus name. Amen. Well, the gospels uh they all record these events as occurring at sunrise. Now the Sanhedrin, they met again at this time uh to keep some semblance of keeping their rules and their laws. And the fact is is that they had already condemned Jesus and they were simply steamrolling the opposition at this point. But once the decision was formalized, they bound Jesus like a violent criminal. Why? It wasn't like Jesus was vicious. He wasn't an insurrectionist. He wasn't violent. He was the lamb of God that was going to cross. But these men, they couldn't simply kill Jesus. Okay, we might look later on in the book of Acts and go, well, well, we see a another crowd uh killing Stephen. What? Why did that happen instead of this? Well, it's because that was a mob that was taking over there. This is orderly judicial

systems in place. And so the Sanhedrin, they had to bring Pilate into the situation. Now Roman governors, they held court at sunrise. Sunrise was the time of productivity and uh it was his custom at the time. And they led Jesus bound and they brought him to Pilate. And here's what they accused Jesus of very specifically. They began to accuse him saying, "We have found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar." It's not true. None of that. and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. Jesus did say that he was the the promised one, but they're they're putting words in his mouth at that point. Couple verses later, they say, "But they were urgent, saying, he stirs up the people. This is a bad guy, teaching them throughout all Judea from Galilee, even to this place." And it's interesting that they tell Pilate this even though Jesus was not even convicted by them of these accusations. And why is that important? Well, Pilate didn't care if someone blasphemed the Jews God. He wouldn't kill anyone as a result of that. And so, they made up all sorts of stories and testimonies against Jesus. These men, they're okay with murder. They're okay with false witness, deception, manipulation. John 18, here's what they do. Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. Look at the hypocrisy. They don't want to be defiled by stepping into someone's home. But murder and false witness is okay. And this this just proves a biblical principle that we find in Galatians chapter 6. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sws that will he also reap. We reap what we sow.

For the one who sws to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sws to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. The Pharisees, they had a self-righteousness based upon their works. based upon their behaviors instead of based upon faith and love. They had self-righteousness that was based on their own discipline and their own rules. And that self-righteousness bore the disgusting fruit of death. And we might look at this and we might say, "Man, these these were men that were leaders in the community. These were men that you would want coming over to pray over your home. They looked righteous. They sounded righteous. They tithed really well. They knew the word of God, but they didn't know the God of the word. In fact, we see in point one, the king is rejected. The chief priests, the scribes, the elders, they rejected Jesus Christ completely. In fact, it is by their accusations that Pontius Pilate gives Jesus the title the king of the Jews. Why Pilate asks, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus, he says, "You have said so." Jesus isn't denying it. He's the king of kings. But his crucifixion isn't going to be be because of a claim that he makes. It's going to because he lays down his life willingly for us. No one takes it from him. The accusations continue, but Jesus, he remains silent. And Pilate, he's impressed with Jesus at this point. Jesus's silence. And what happens is he sends him over to Herod. This is the same Herod that beheaded Jesus's cousin, John the Baptist. Herod at this point in time, he was scared that John the Baptist had actually come back. That was a rumor about Jesus. and seeing Jesus, he was actually put at ease. Well, this isn't the same guy. And so Herod, he mocks him. He

dresses him up in extravagant ropes. This is the king of the Jews. Let's dress him up as a king. Let's mock him and send him back. And actually, the mocking of Jesus made these two enemies, Pilate and Herod, really good friends. But Jesus is sent back to Pilate. And we read this. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him." So all of these charges are baseless. And Pilate knew it. He said that Jesus was innocent and that should have been that. In fact, Pilate, he turns to Jesus. He encourages him, "Speak up for yourself." But Jesus is silent. This fulfills what the prophet says. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before it sheers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. See, Christ, he endured in silence because he was completely innocent. And because he didn't defend himself, he was able to make full atonement for our sins. Charles Spurgeon, he said that Christ, he stood before Pilate. And yet, the real judge of all the earth stood silent before a sinful man. He who will one day judge the nations was himself condemned so that we might be acquitted. Jesus, he went to the cross willingly in order to make full atonement for our sin. That means he made full payment for us. He willingly bore injustice to secure our salvation. Now Pilate, he had a custom at this time where he would release a prisoner at the Passover. And there was a prisoner and his name was Barabbus. Barabbus was also

known as Jesus Bar Abbus. This man, he committed murder. He's described as a rebel, as an in insurrectionist, someone that's misleading the people. And Pilate, he asked, "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" Pilate. He likely assumed that based on Jesus's recent triumphal entry that the crowd wanted him to be released. But Pilate underestimated the influence of the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. You see, their ability to manipulate was only second to Satan's. And I'm sure sure that Satan was involved in this as well. The crowd, they shouted free Barabus. What? What a shock. Why? Why Barabbus instead of Jesus? It's because it was the will of the Lord. God God used Judas to betray Jesus. God used Satan to put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. God used Caiaphas to wind up the crowd to get them to ask for the crucifixion of Jesus. God used Pilate to deliver Jesus over to be crucified. This is the work of the Lord because it was the will of the Lord to crush his son. Like Abraham who nearly offered up his son back in the book of Genesis, God offered up his son for us so that we might be his children. Romans chapter 8, it says, "He who did not spare his own son gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Peter, he writes this, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit." And this teaches us something really important that Jesus, he took the place of sinners on the cross. Paul, he puts it this way. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In other

words, Jesus is completely guiltless. He's innocent. No one can find fault with him. And yet Jesus willingly takes the blame for us so that we can take his righteousness. And Barabus is a picture of that for us. Jesus is the substitute for Barabus. Jesus was innocent of being an insurrectionist, of being rebellious. He was accused of being a thief by not paying his taxes. He was accused of all of these things. And yet, he takes the place of Barabus, who is guilty of the sins that Jesus is accused of. You see, you and I, we are Barabbus. Christ died so that we would not be condemned as guilty for our sins, but that we would be counted as innocent when we trust in Christ through faith. We're the ones that are guilty. Our punishment is not beatings and crucifixions. We get off scot-free walking in the freedom and the liberty that's provided for us in Christ. And all of those that die apart from trusting in Christ have to endure the the eternal punishment and wrath of God. And I don't want that for you. I want you to know the Lord. I want you to be safe and saved. It's the crowds that scream, "Crucify him! Crucify him! Why, Pilate?" He doesn't get it. He even asked the crowds, "Why? What evil has this man done?" But they aren't reasonable. They shout louder and louder, "Crucify him!" Here's what the scriptures say. So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourselves." And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children." And then he released for them Barabbus and having

scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Here we learn point number two which is the king condemned Jesus he was condemned by sinful men. Many time atheists will say you know I will believe in God if he were to just come down here and reveal himself to us. If I could see him if I could touch him if I could talk to him a little bit listen to him then I will believe in God. Well guess what that happened and we killed the man. And this exposes our natural depravity where we prefer sin over the savior. The only thing that changes that is a heart change. Pilate, he sent Jesus to be scourged. In Mark, he presents this simply as a fact. But we get a lot more detail from John where Pilate, he decides to have soldiers brutalize Jesus. It says this, "Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. But they came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews." and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, "See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him." So Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns in the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Behold the man." And when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" And Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law." And according to that law, he ought to die because he has made himself the son of God. There it is. Finally, they are being honest at this point. When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate

said to him, "Will you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above." Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. And from then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. So Pilate when he heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the stone pavement and in Aramaic Gabatha. Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your king." They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to him, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priest answered, "We have no king but Caesar." So he delivered him over to be crucified. The scourging that Jesus endured during this time was by no means any kind of a mercy. The punishment that was known as flagagillatio was intended to weaken condemned men. Jesus, he was stripped naked. He was tied down with his hands up on a post and it exposed his entire body, his back, his backside his legs. They were open to every single whip for 39 lashes. This whip embedded with bones and lead and stones ripped into his flesh. His flesh was brutally torn from his body over and over and over again. The blood and the fluid loss would often send victims into shock. By the end of the scourging, Jesus's back would have been a mass of open wounds. Strips of flesh would have hung from his shoulders and his sides. His muscles, especially around the rib cage, would have been exposed and

quivering. The skin from his shoulders would have hung down all the way down to his calves. It would have been shredded, causing unbearable agony with every single breath and every single movement. And the trauma would have left him so weak, barely able to stand, much less carry a cross to Goltha. The uh word says this, "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed." These were the wounds of his shredded body. Isaiah 52 earlier it says, "And as many were were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred, so brutally beaten beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. Looking at him, you would not have recognized him for human, but as something, some mass of flesh and blood. But the beating wasn't enough for the soldiers. They called together the whole battalion, 600 soldiers, and they mocked Jesus. They clothed him in a robe and a placed a crown of thorns on his head. The crown was made from this plant right here, a potium spinosum. It's a plant with 4 inch long spikes that were driven down onto Jesus's scalp. The blood would have run down his face and fresh new pain would have run the length of his body. The soldiers, they continued to mock him, bowing down, paying homage to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews." And they took a read and they continued to beat him in the head. They took their fists and smacked him. They spit upon him. They ripped out his beard and they knelt down. That word reed, it's a calam, which is it has a whole bunch of different meanings, but it

generally means just a stick. And they they placed it in Jesus's hand as a scepter. A a scepter for royalty means that you are sovereign, that you are in control. And then they rip it out of his hands and they continue to beat him with it, adding insult to injury, saying, "You have no control over this situation. If you're the king of the Jews, you're a weak and pathetic king." And yet, it's Jesus who is in full control here. He has total control of the situation. Here's what the scripture says. All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. This is the plan from the beginning that mankind will be set free by the death of the son. And this points to us point three which is that the king was humiliated. See Jesus, he did these things willingly. Willingly. Hebrews chapter 12 12:2 said, "Looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." And Jesus, he endured the beating, he endured the suffering in order to make full atonement for our sins. And the story doesn't end here. You see, this is just this is just the beginning of the atonement. Christ, he has to drink the full cup of the wrath of God for us. He has to make full atonement. And Jesus, he did these things for you. It was for you that Jesus took on the pain and the suffering. He bore all the punishment and all the injustice. He took the place so that we could escape the wrath to come. You see, just like

Barabus, we are guilty of actual sins. We're the ones that are guilty. And the punishment that Christ took was Barabuses, but it was ours as well. And Jesus, he did this so that we could be reconciled to the father. The gospel, it tells us what Christ did to save us. We call the book of Mark, right? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We call them the gospel because the gospel isn't isn't so much about, hey, this is how you become saved. This is the gospel is this is what God did. Do you believe it in order to be saved? It's about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And so, what will you do with it? Believe the gospel. Will you believe the gospel for the sake of your own soul? Here's what it says in Acts chapter 16. And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household." Do you believe in the Lord Jesus? It's not a fairy tale. This is historical things that happened. Do you believe that the gospel is true? And I don't mean like a fairy tale kind of belief. I mean, do you rest your eternity upon what's testified here? Are you going to put all your eggs in this one basket? Are you going to lean all of your trust and all of your hope on Jesus? The old hymn says, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness." That's saving faith. Romans 10:9, it tells us, "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today. Believe the gospel and be saved. Head, heart, hand, head. God, he wants you to know that Jesus, he suffered in our place. He actually paid for our sins. We learn that Jesus's suffering before Pilate

fulfills prophecy and it reveals him as the sinless lamb who took our punishment to deliver us from our sins. Heart. This is what God wants you to believe that Jesus Christ, he willingly suffered and died in your place to deliver you from sins. Jesus's voluntary sacrifice. He laid down his life. No one took it from him. We see it in his silence. We see it in his submission to the condemnation. We see it in his humiliation. It just proves his love and his power to save you from your sins. And h God, he wants you to trust in Jesus alone for your salvation and to confess him as Lord. Amen. at this time. Um, you might be here and you might say, "I need to do that." Okay? Uh, you can do business with the Lord. You do business with the spirit of God. Uh, you don't go through me. You don't go through anyone else. You go and do business with the father through Jesus Christ. You talk to him. Um, as is our custom on the first Sunday of the month, uh, we are going to participate in the Lord's supper. uh it's a joyful occasion for us. We look at these these uh events that happened and if you are in Christ, it should fill you with such a a a hope and a joy that there is no more wrath for you to endure. You are free in Christ. And so I'm going to ask uh for the elders to come forward, for the deacons to come forward, and we're going to um if you are a Christian, you are invited to participate in the Lord's supper. If you don't know where your eternity lies, uh just allow for it to go past. Um and talk to me, talk to someone else, talk to someone that invited you and say, you know, I I really need to get this right before I leave today. In the meantime, why don't you just take a moment, bow your head, and close your eyes and just whisper a prayer of thanks

for Jesus's atonement for you. So Lord, we do thank you um that for those of us that are that are saved, that are in Christ, that we can gladly participate in this supper, represent your your your body, your blood. We proclaim your death, Lord. And we thank you for suffering uh the full cup of the father's wrath. so that so that we can be saved, so that we can be free. And Lord, uh we just proclaim that today. Thank you so much for dying for us, for enduring the cross and setting us free. Thank you, Jesus name. Amen. The scripture says this, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, he took bread,