Mark Chapter 15 Verses 27 – 28

•Now we know from Luke 23 that one of these criminals blasphemed Jesus saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and save us.” But the other criminal rebuked him, (rebuked the blasphemer that is), and said look man, we deserve this…He does not (recognition and ownership of personal sin), and then the criminal addresses Jesus and says, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Calls Him Lord. Expresses hope. Faith is born. And Jesus replies, “You’re coming with me!”

•That’s huge! Why? Because an appropriate observation is that the criminal is guilty, condemned and lost…and yet what does he do? Get baptized? Take communion? Get circumcised? Speak in tongues? Pay his tithes? Go on a two year mission trip after spending two years going door to door!? Does he have faith and works? What good works has he done?! You see all those things are taught by groups, cults, churches, religions as being necessary for salvation but the Bible just doesn’t support that and it is made so plainly obvious here!

•Ephesians 2:8 says that it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith…Romans 4:16 says that the promises of God come to you, come upon you, flow through you…how? By faith! 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we walk by what? Faith! We walk with God is the implication. (The opposite of faith by the way is not unbelief…its disobedience!) We navigate life correctly is the implication…by faith! If a Bible washed up on a beach, and all we had was Sola Scriptura…the word of God alone…no one could ever be anything but a born-again Christian. You could never be Roman Catholic, you could never be a Oneness Pentecostal, you could never be a Mormon or a JW or a Seventh Day Adventist…all you could ever be…is a born-again believer, just like Paul, just like Peter, just like James, just like Jude, and all of the glory could only ever go to Jesus for yours and my salvation!

•And so this criminal, this robber, faces his own sin, takes accountability for it, and places his hope and faith in Jesus and Jesus says, “You’re coming with Me!” THAT is awesome! Have you done that! Are you going with Jesus? (Kids may delay when you say come on but boy they come running when you say bye bye! How tragic for those that hear bye bye and it’s too late…)

•Now one more thing and we must move on, although there is more here. This word for robber her in the Greek is lestes and not only is it cool that it’s found 15 times in the Bible (3x5 = Trinity x Grace) but another translation for that word is freebooter. I’ve never even heard that word before! So I Googled it, naturally and I landed at the Wiktionary…I hadn’t ever seen that before either! Anyway, ha, a freebooter is an adventurer who wages ad-hoc war on other nations…like a pirate. And I wondered, where in my life am I taking like I’m entitled…because that is what a pirate does…taking like I’m entitled when I’m really not…and thus taking advantage of people…

•Maybe April…I’m not entitled to her love…to her affection…to her attention…to her good cooking…to her great laundering (not money laundering…ha!). I feel like I am but all I am entitled to…is her doubt, her distrust, her presence as her husband…man I gotta change that…God calls my attitude transgression. What about at work, what about with my friends, what about with my church…? Freebooting…freeloading…leeching…its parasitical in concept…I don’t want to be that. Why? Because I want to serve the King well. I want the promises of God to flow through me. I want to find Him there walking right with me as I forge forward faithfully…and man I just hate it when it happens to me…when I’m treated like that…ya know?

Mark Chapter 15 Verses 29 – 32

•They knew exactly who He said He was…see that? “Let the Christ, the Meshiach, the Messiah, the King…descend now from the cross, that we may believe…they knew who He was…they just didn’t believe! That’s important to point out because folks will say to you that Jesus never said He was God…never said that He was the Son of God…you have GOT to be kidding me. It’s so clear. They knew. How? Because He told them, they just didn’t believe Him.

•And what they say to Him is intriguing. “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” One part of that statement is true. He did indeed save others…and He could indeed save Himself. He could have withstood the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane. He could have freeze-rayed Pilate (lipstick tazer!). He could have called down legions of angels when they beat Him, spat on Him, twisted that crown of thorns and dug it into His head. He could easily have saved Himself…but…if He had…you would have been lost.

•All hope of eternal life outside of hell for all mankind would have been lost. And so what they said was partly right but in the story of God’s great grace, love and mercy, what they said was profoundly mutually dependent…in other words…He could save others IF He did not save Himself…

Mark Chapter 15 Verse 33

•It became as dark as midnight from noon until 3 pm as Jesus was upon the cross and I love what Jon Courson says about this…He says that because these men and women didn’t care to see spiritually, eyes closed…won’t open…they were stripped of the right to see even physically! And man I find that is the case! If we don’t discern the situation spiritually…if we can’t see what’s really going on spiritually (which is the only reality because it is the only thing that will last)…then we will mess the physical side of it all up! We will react. We will go off. We will lose hope and lose our temper…but if we have eyes to see…why they’re treating me this way…why they’ve corrected me…why I lost her, lost him, lost my job, lost my car, lost my house…take responsibility spiritually…then man we can make the Godly wise decisions in the physical because the lights are on!

•And God doesn’t hide the light…the word is right here! This church holds corporate worship and Bible study three times a week! (Four times if you count Slave Church) Plus studies, outreaches and serving opportunities ALL THE TIME! It’s like one of God’s favorite songs is, “Every light in the house is on, the backyard’s bright as the crack of dawn, front porch looks like-a-runway lights…kinda like noon at the dead of night…” Just come home… the lights are on…stop trusting in self and place your trust in God! See what he can do with you! Please don’t listen to Bible studies and think you can’t do all that is written in this book and presented by a teacher of the Word. Yes you can! Through Christ, all things man, all things are possible!

Mark Chapter 15 Verses 34

•The terror and agony of sin now entirely upon Jesus as never before since the arche…before time even…eternity past…never before has the Son been separated from the Father…until this moment…and the cause…sin.

•This is bad but we just can’t go any further! We’re out of time. I know, only seven verses covered today but man they are meaty! But look…the answer to Jesus’ question…found in Psalm 22…look at verses 1 – 3a…the answer to Jesus’ question…is that God is holy…why must God forsake Jesus? The One who hung there on my cross and your cross taking upon Himself the entire sin of the entire world of the entirety of time? Because God is holy.

•Sin always separates man from God and when the sins of the world were placed upon Jesus, that constant fellowship with the Father, that coexistence, that oneness…was broken. Oneness that knew no beginning, at this moment…knew brokenness. Do you see that He forsook Himself for you? We have a word for that…hero…Savior…

•Many are sick with sin feeling forsaken by God but truthfully it is their own sin, your own sin, that has ripped you off of the oneness with the Father that your very spirit craves…Every light in the house is on…acknowledge your own sin, take responsibility…see what He has done and what comes next…He’ll take you, even you, with Him…