Sunday Service - Feb 14th (English)

Text: Mark 15:1-15

Main Idea: Jesus is the perfect substitute that alone rescues us from the deadly power of our sin.

Other passages included:
- Isaiah 53:7

Outline:
1. The King Examined
2. The King Rejected
1. By the Crowd
2. By the Chief Priests
3. By Pilot
3. The King Substituted

Application Questions:
- What are the "little sins" that hide in your heart today? Do you understand that there are no little sins?
- Do confront sins like jealousy, a desire to please people, a love of personal comfort at their root?
- Do you understand that your corruption runs infinitely deeper than you can even imagine? Do you view your own heart as your greatest danger in life?
- Do you receive and rejoice in the gift of Jesus' righteousness to you?
- Do you come to him daily, understanding that just as you need an external righteousness, you need his external strength, wisdom and love to fill you every day?

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One of the most dangerous things about sin is the way that it distorts our perspective. You can be right in front of the truth and not realize it.

Instagram has taught us to think of our whole life as a show, and we are in the center. There is a whole genre of memes devoted to how i think i look and how I really look.

Why are we often so utterly wrong about our own inner reality? How can we be so wrong about the things that we are so confident about?

Ravi Zacharias scandal.

We have come to the place in the story where Jesus stands before Pilate in his trail.

What we want to see here as we look at this story is that Jesus is the true King who is submitted to the true will of the Father who is the one in control. At the same time, everyone around him, though he is right in front of them, though his name is on their lips, totally miss his reality. And yet in the midst of that misunderstanding and blindness, he is the King who voluntarily gives himself over to redeem his sons from the prisons that they have built for themselves.

There are no little sins. There are no safe people. There is only one perfect Savior who stands for us all.

1. The King Examined

"As soon as it was morning,
having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin,
the chief priests tied Jesus up,
led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

2 So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
He answered him, “You say so.”"

From the start we see what a sham this whole trial situation is. The high priests and elders gathered, not to have a real trial but to find some sort of support to convict Jesus of the conclusion that they already reached about him - that he is needs to be put to death.

The problem is that they did not have the authority to give him the death sentence themselves. Being under Roman rule, only the governing authorities could pronounce the death sentence.

Pilate was the prefect of Palestine - the governor. He was in town for the festivities, to keep an eye on things.

Other gospel writers give us more details on the exchange that Jesus has with Pilot. Matthew records the dream of Pilate’s wife (27:19) and Pilate’s hand washing (27:24); Luke adds the interrogation before Antipas (23:6–12); and John includes a theological discussion between Jesus and Pilate (18:33–38).

Mark is more brief, focusing on the silence of Jesus and the inability of Pilot to lead the crowd in the direction he wanted. As he walks in he comes with a prior understanding of the situation that was obviously fueled by the priests and authorities who brought Jesus to him.

The way the question is worded in the greek, is that it has a statement in the question - literally, "So YOUR the king of the Jews?"

King of the Jews - where did this title come from? The leaders new that if they said "Messiah" they would get nowhere with Pilot. But when they say he claims to be a king, then they have his attention.

"they made many other accusations" - other gospel writers give us the accusations that they made. It is interesting to notice that all of them were obviously modified to get Pilots attention:
- he forbids ppl to pay taxes
- he says he's a king and not Ceasar
- he says he will destroy the temple
- etc.

These leaders were willing to say things that they didn't even believe, they were willing to pretend that they cared about Roman authority, to get Jesus sentenced.

"So YOUR the king of the Jews?"

And he answered him, "You say so."

What does he mean here? Jesus isn't going around proclaiming "I am the King!", he is not playing by their political games. But he isn't denying the charge.

"You say so." - in other words, "What you said." It is a response that pushes him to think about his own question, think about the statement, think about what HE believes about what he is saying.

"King of the Jews" is a title that is repeated in this text three times, all of them from the mouth of Pilot.

Pilot calls Jesus king of the Jews. But he obviously doesn't know what he thinks about this title because it is obvious that if he REALLY thought Jesus was the king of the Jews then Pilot would need to convict him as a dangerous political threat.

Who is this Jesus? This King of the Jews?

"3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” 5 But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed."

Why don't you answer? Why are you so quiet? You are being accused of a lot of things here! (and its obvious that Pilot does not see their accusations as valid. He sees that these accusations are false)

You are a victim here!

Jesus' silence is not a sign that he is submitted or agreed with their false statements. It is a silence that shows that he is submitted to a higher purpose - to the will of the Father who is at work even in this moment of corruption.

Isa. 53:7
"He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not open his mouth."

Pilot is amazed, he's challenged by this Jesus guy. He does think he is guilty. But he is also not nobody. Pilot is amazed by Jesus, but that is not the same thing as faith.

A lot of people can be amazed by Jesus, can respect him, can think he powerful and wise - but faith is a whole other step. Faith means submitting yourself to this Jesus, faith means leaving behind YOUR personal agenda or plan for life as the main driver of your life. And Pilot is not quite ready to do that yet.

2. The King Rejected

As the accusations are piling up and Pilot isn't getting anywhere with Jesus, but decides to try another strategy - ask the crowd. He has heard that Jesus has been popular with the crowd. Perhaps they will be upset to hear he is captured and will be happy to have him released.

"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?"

Was Pilot a crowd pleaser? Did care a lot about what the Jews thought of him? History tells us that the answer to this questions is definitely a "no". Pilot strongly disliked the Jews. He did things that he new would anger them - one of them included putting the image of Caeser on the soldiers uniform. This created a massive protest and angered the Jews a lot.

Pilot is a politician and he knows how these things work.

He has his own goals, he doesn't agree with the chief priests and he can try and use the crowd as leverage to turn the situation in his direction.

At this point in the story we have the collision of three types of people, all of whom are blinded by their sin in their own ways. All of whom reject the King who stands before them.

- The Crowd

Pilot comes to them with a question - these people many of whom were probably witnesses to Jesus ministry and were "amazed" by his miracles.

"Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?"

This question is so ironic because Jesus IS actually the KING that they have been waiting for their whole lives!

Instead of asking for the innocent Jesus who has done so much good, they demand to have a criminal released in his place.

The very nature of being part of the crowd is going with the flow and being influenced by your surroundings. You don't want to stick out. You don't want to be an outsider. You don't want others to think you're weird. You show up to fit in and go along with what everyone else is doing.

Pilot is shocked. "What? Why do you want a criminal/murderer to be released? What do you want me to do with the one you call the King of the Jews?"

"Crucify him!!"

"WHY? What has he done wrong???"

"Crucify him!!"

Notice here the blinding and dangerous effect of the mob. This entire crowd of JEWISH people, who grew up memorizing the law of God, are facing a massive injustice that involves the death of an innocent man - and they look straight through it and condemn him to death!"

Numerous social experiments have shown us the crippling power of the crowd over the individual.
- Example - everyone saying a straight light is crooked makes the person question his own perception and change his answer.

Why are YOU here today? Are you here because you are part of the crowd? Because your friends and family are here? What drives you in life? How important is it for you to fit in? To have people like you?

The opposite of trying to fit into the crowd is not rebelling against the crowd. It is loving them. This is what we see in our Savior. As they are mocking and spitting on him he prays for them, "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing."

From the crowd we move to the force behind the crowd. The crowd is a dangerous force of death because they are easily manipulated by the leaders that are among them.

- The Chief Priests

But the chief priests are smarter than that - they are already among the crowd, persuading them of their own agenda - Jesus must be put to an end.

It's a game of political chess and the chief priests are winning. They are determined to use every means in their power.

And as pilot sees this whole situation playing out, he as a pagan ruler can see right through them.

"For he knew that it was because of jealousy that they handed him over."

Thats the real killer.

It's not about truth. It's not about protecting the temple. It''s not about leading God's people away from error. Their long awaited King has arrived as a simple man who walks among the people, teaches and heals.

And they are JEALOUS of his influence.

Jealousy is a sin that we often don't see as a serious threat. It lingers in the heart like a small glowing ember. Not a huge fire. Not a massive scandal like adultery, or drunkenness, or pornography, or ... murder?

But her we see that the greatest crime in human history, the murder of the Son of God, was planned and executed by men who taught the Bible to the rest of the world, men who were God's representatives to humanity - who's hearts were filled with jealousy.

Is there jealousy lingering in your heart today? Often times it comes up in the most dignified of places, like ministry. We see the success or opportunities of other people. We want that for ourselves. We subtly start to think that we deserve more. That we are being overlooked. That no one sees how passionate WE are to serve God... and the little fire is ignited that leads to things we never thought were possible.

- Pilot

Christians have been tempted to paint pilot in a very positive light here from the earliest days of the church.

It is clear that he sees the corruption. It is clear that he sees that Jesus is innocent. It is clear that he is trying to get Jesus cleared.

We wanted to do the right thing in this situation!

But as the crowd is shouting and is getting more and more rowdy that he thinks a riot might be forming - he bends 100% to their demands in the opposite direction that he knew was the correct one.

"15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified."

No pilot wasn't a crowd pleaser. He really disliked the Jews at the end of the day. His deeper drive and motive was simply his own convenience and comfort.

He didn't want a riot. He didn't want trouble with his superiors. He wanted to continue his peaceful reign without any big bumps.

He meant well. He wanted to do the right thing. But at the end of the day it was just too much. Gosh, these Jews are just crazy, I wash my hands of this! I'm out. I'm not part of this.

No you don't. You are part of it. And you are too worried about your comfort to stand up and do the right thing.

We live in a culture today that prizes individual comfort and convenience to the level that we don't even realize - we often don't see how it creeps into our bones.

We complain about cloudy days, slow wifi, cold pizza, noisy children, over creamed coffee.

We draw careful lines to preserve our health and not serve too much, not get too busy with ministry, not host too many dinners, not spend too much time helping needy people, because we need to stay healthy.

Jonathan Edwards wrote sermons on the backs of receipts. George Muller barely had enough money to buy bread but he welcomed orphans off the street into his home. David Brainerd lived in a shack in the cold New Jersey wilderness, battling tuberculosis and coughing but blood, but traveling hundreds of miles alone to preach the Jesus to Native American Tribes.

How much more fruitful can we be for our King if we fought harder against the sin of personal comfort and convenience?

The point is obviously NOT that we need to get out and work ourselves to death. The point is to challenge our hearts to see how often it is our personal comfort that prevents us from following Jesus into challenging situations, needs and opportunities to serve.

Ravi's words. "I deserve this. You have no idea the pressure I am under."

Personal comfort was the sin the lead to the murder of God's Son! This is the drug of our time. We are so blessed, so comfortable, that it is our comfort that often becomes the defining measure of what we are willing to believe and do.

The tragedy is that many who will come to Jesus on the last day will think they were christians. But their's was a christianity of comfort, of having an easy Savior. A Savior that doesn't rock the boat to much. A Savior that doesn't demand too much from us. A cheap fake substitute for the true King of Kings that calls us to follow him, to lay our burdens at his feat, to follow him to deny ourselves and watch him make us totally new!

Many today don't want to be made totally new. Only kinda new, but mostly the same. Jesus help me with my anxiety and my depression, my money problems and my family relationship but leave everything else the same please thanks!


3. The King Substituted

There is a fourth character in the story here. One who is by no means innocent. One who has committed, not just small sins - but great ones. He woke up that morning expecting the cross of death.

And to his amazement he heard his name being chanted by a massive crowd outside.

This story is as much a picture of the dangerous power of sin as it is a picture of the fullness of the gospel message.

Jesus the King stands before his people and they demand his death. But it is his death that causes the lying, thieving, murderous criminal to run free through the streets.

When we look at this story and see the dangerous power of sin, we cannot conclude that we are somehow better than the murderous Barabas because it is the little sins that are so obviously present in all our hearts that lead to the murder of Jesus. There is a clear connection between the "clean" people outside the jail cell and the "dirty" one inside it - showing that ALL in the story are murderers.

Jesus is silent, totally submitted, as he is substituted for the murderer in the prison. Jesus is willingly bound so that the criminal in the cell can run free.

When we look at our hearts and we see our own sinfulness and weakness - our comfort oriented laziness, our desire to go with the flow, to please people around us, our jealousy and envy - we cannot come to the conclusion that we gotta watch out for these sins and just work a little harder to fight them.

The whole point of the story is to show that our sinful tendencies go SO MUCH FURTHER than we can ever imagine.

Barabas means "son of the father". There is an obvious meaning here - Jesus came to be condemned so that that the bound and sentences sons and daughters of the Father may be set free. Free from their guilt. Free from the crippling power of their sin.

This is why he is silent. He sees all the sin, all the corruption. And he knows that it is for these sinners that he has come.

Freedom from your sins starts with understanding that you are POWERLESS to fight or even understand your sin yourself.

It starts with understanding that you need this Savior to be your substitute. You need his righteousness and perfection as a gift. You can't earn it. You need his purity, his goodness, his strength.

Following Jesus starts with understanding. And following Jesus continues with this daily awareness it it is him that you need. That your greatest enemy lives inside you, that you can never control the corrupting power of your own sin, that you want to welcome him to convict, teach, guide you.


Application questions:
- What are the "little sins" that hide in your heart today? Do you understand that there are no little sins?
- Do confront sins like jealousy, a desire to please people, a love of personal comfort at their root?
- Do you understand that your corruption runs infinitely deeper than you can even imagine? Do you view your own heart as your greatest danger in life?
- Do you receive and rejoice in the gift of Jesus' righteousness to you?
- Do you come to him daily, understanding that just as you need an external righteousness, you need his external strength, wisdom and love to fill you every day?