Mark 15:16-32
The King of the Jews
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Sermon Summary
1) The King is Mocked
Narrative Description: In the Praetorium, Jesus endures a profound mockery at the hands of the Roman soldiers. Dressed in purple as a symbol of royalty and crowned with thorns. Jesus is saluted as "King of the Jews" in a cruel mimicry of genuine honor. This act, meant to degrade, paradoxically affirms His true kingship in a divine irony.
Symbolism of Mockery: The use of purple, a sign of nobility, and a crown of thorns instead of a laurel, contrasts earthly mockery with heavenly honor. Despite the soldiers' cruel intentions, their actions highlight Jesus' sovereignty and His fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah's suffering.
2) The King is Crucified for Me
The Journey to Golgotha: Bearing the weight of the cross, Jesus' physical journey mirrors His spiritual undertaking for humanity's salvation. His refusal of myrrh mixed with wine, a gesture to mitigate pain, underscores His full embrace of suffering for the redemption of sin.
The Act of Crucifixion: At Golgotha, Jesus' crucifixion between two thieves fulfills the prophecy of being "numbered with the transgressors." The division of His garments and the inscription above His head mock His kingship, yet prophetically declare His reign. This moment represents the pinnacle of God's redemptive plan, where Jesus' death provides atonement for sin, revealing the depth of God's love through ultimate sacrifice.
3) Will I Follow the King?
Reflection on Kingship: The mockery and crucifixion of Jesus, while appearing as defeat, are the means through which He is crowned King. We must acknowledge Jesus not as a failed Messiah. He is the true King of Kings, whose reign is established through His sacrifice.
The Call to Discipleship: Understanding Jesus' journey to the cross challenges believers to consider their own response to His kingship. It calls for a life of discipleship, marked by faith, obedience, and a willingness to take up one's own cross. Following Jesus means recognizing Him as Lord, living in the light of His sacrifice, and embodying His teachings and love in our daily lives.
Sample Bible Study
1. Introduction
Explore the irony of Jesus' crucifixion as both a moment of intense mockery and the divine coronation of the true King of Kings.
2. Scriptural Context
Mark 15:16-32: Examine the narrative detailing Jesus' mockery and crucifixion, focusing on the irony of His kingship being both ridiculed and affirmed.
Philippians 2: Discuss Jesus' humility and obedience in His incarnation and crucifixion, highlighting His ultimate exaltation by the Father.
Romans 5:8: Reflect on God demonstrating His love through Christ's sacrificial death.
3. Historical Context
Discuss the significance of purple clothing, crowns, and crucifixion in the Roman world, and how these elements were subverted in the story of Jesus.
4. Practical Applications
Recognizing Jesus as King: Embrace the truth of Jesus' kingship in our lives, beyond His earthly humiliation.
Living in the Kingdom: Explore what it means to live as citizens of God's kingdom, reflecting Jesus' humility, sacrifice, and love in our daily lives. Look at Revelation 1:6-8 and discuss who we are called to be in Jesus’s kingdom.
5. Theological Reflections
Discuss the concept of "Christus Victor" - how Jesus' crucifixion is a victory over sin, death, and the devil.
6. References to the Westminster Standards
Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. VIII: Explore how Jesus Christ fulfills the Mediator fulfills the role as our King and Savior.
Westminster Larger Catechism, Q&A 45-50: Discuss Christ's humiliation and exaltation.
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 27: Reflect on Christ's humiliation in His life and death.
7. Conclusion
Encourage everyone to reflect on the depth of Christ's love. What does his kingship mean for our lives, and how His crucifixion and resurrection transform our understanding of suffering, kingship, and victory.
Weekday Devotionals
Monday: The Mockery of the King
Scripture Reading: Mark 15:16-20
Reflection: As we begin our week, let's reflect on the profound irony of Christ's kingship. The Roman soldiers mocked Him with a purple robe and a crown of thorns, not realizing that they were unwittingly crowning the King of the universe. This mocking reveals the depth of human sin and the extent of Christ's humility. Jesus accepted this scorn not because He was powerless but because His kingship was not of this world. He would ascend to a throne in heaven. But on earth His crown was made of thorns, symbolizing the weight of our sins He bore on our behalf.
Prayer Prompt: Pray for a heart of humility, that we may grasp the depth of Christ's love in enduring mockery for our sake. Ask for grace to follow Him with a spirit of humility and sacrifice, recognizing the true nature of His kingship in our lives.
Tuesday: Bearing the Cross
Scripture Reading: Mark 15:21-22
Reflection: Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry Christ's cross. We don’t know for certain but it may be possible Simon or one of his boys were converted following this event. Rufus is named in Romans 16. As followers of Christ, we are also called to take up our cross daily. We are called to share in His sufferings and to be transformed by His grace.
Prayer Prompt: Ask the Lord to help you bear the burdens He has given you with grace and strength. Pray for the courage to follow Christ, even when the path leads through suffering and sacrifice. Ask God to assure your heart that in sharing His sufferings, you will also share in His glory.
Wednesday: The King on the Cross
Scripture Reading: Mark 15:23-26
Reflection: The inscription above Jesus' head, "The King of the Jews," meant as a final insult, actually proclaimed a profound truth. Written in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin for the whole world to read. Christ's crucifixion was the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan for salvation. On the cross, Jesus, the true King, established His eternal reign. Through His sacrifice, He defeated sin and death, offering us eternal life. In what seemed like defeat, Jesus achieved the greatest victory.
Prayer Prompt: God thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sins. Thank you for demonstrating the depths of your love for us. Please Lord give us a deeper understanding of the victory you achieved through the cross.
Thursday: Mocked by Many, Chosen for All
Scripture Reading: Mark 15:27-32
Reflection: Even in His final moments, Jesus was mocked by those around Him, including the criminals crucified alongside Him. Yet, His response was one of silent suffering, embodying the prophecy of Isaiah, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7). This silence in the face of mockery and suffering underscores the depth of His love and the purpose of His mission. Jesus came to save not just the respectful and reverent, but even those who scorned Him.
Prayer Prompt: Pray for the grace to trust in God's plan. Pray for that grace even when it involves suffering or misunderstanding. Ask God to help you love and pray for those who may mock or misunderstand your faith. Ask for the Spirit to empower you to follow Christ's example of love and forgiveness.
Friday: The King's Victory
Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:5-6
Reflection: As we end our week, we turn to the book of Revelation, where we are reminded of the ultimate triumph of Jesus Christ, our King. He is "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth." Christ's death on the cross was not the end of His story; it was the beginning of His eternal reign. Through His blood, we are cleansed from our sins and made part of His kingdom, a royal priesthood called to declare His praises.
Prayer Prompt: Thank God for the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death. Pray that you may live as a faithful member of His kingdom, serving Him as both King and Priest. Ask for the courage to proclaim His love and salvation to the world around you.
Reflective Article
The Crown of Thorns: A Symbol of Our King's Sacrifice
In the poignant narrative of Mark 15:16-32, we're invited into a somber yet deeply transformative moment in history. This is a moment where mockery becomes a profound testament to divine kingship and sacrificial love. We must see not only the physical suffering of Jesus but the immense weight of what His journey to Golgotha signifies for each of us today.
The Mockery of Majesty
The scene unfolds in the Praetorium. Hundreds of Roman soldiers surround Jesus. They cloak Jesus in royal purple. Yet in their eyes, he is the object of ridicule. The soldiers placed the crown of thorns upon His head. The only reason there are thorns on this earth is a stark reminder the world has not wanted to recognize its true King. Here, in their mockery, the soldiers unwittingly proclaim Jesus as the King—not just of the Jews, but of all creation.
The irony is as rich as it is tragic. They attempt to demean but they unwittingly elevate. They strive to disfigure but they inadvertently disclose the heart of God's redemptive plan. Jesus, the true King, accepts a crown of thorns, embodying the curse of sin to usher in blessings for all who believe.
A King's Ransom for Love
We must be confronted with the reality of Christ's sacrifice. Jesus was led out to be crucified. He took this journey for us. When Jesus refused the wine mixed with myrrh, a gesture to numb the pain, he underscored His commitment to fully embrace the agony of the cross—for us. This is the depth of Jesus’s love, a love that chose suffering to bring about our redemption.
They valued His clothes more than His life. They divided His garments and hurled taunts at Him from below the cross. There is a stark contrast to be seen as the dregs of human depravity and the height of divine love are on display. Each act of mockery, each gesture of disdain, becomes a part of the mosaic of God's salvific plan. God is revealing a King who reigns from a cross to conquer sin and death.
The Sovereignty of Sacrifice
What might seem like the story's tragic end is, in fact, the cornerstone of our faith. Jesus, the mocked and crucified King, is the very embodiment of God's love and grace. Through Jesus’s suffering, He offers us a path to reconciliation. There is a way to be clothed in His righteousness rather than the filth of our transgressions.
The crown of thorns is not a symbol of defeat but of victory. Jesus’s kingship is defined not by earthly power but by sacrificial grace. In the ultimate display of sovereignty, Jesus transforms the instrument of torture into a diadem of salvation.
Embracing Our Identity in the King
Are we willing to recognize Jesus as our King? Not just in title but in truth. Do we understand that His sacrifice was for us, to redeem us, and to invite us into His eternal kingdom?
Is the gospel nothing more than a “Get out of Hell free” card? Or, do we confess Jesus is our Lord? Is Jesus only the lamb slain? Or, is Jesus the King of kings with all of the associated crown rights?
Jesus' sacrifice calls us to live in the light of His grace. We must embrace our identity as children of the King. Our king calls us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling we've received. Let us be people who reflect His love, carry our crosses, and serve in His kingdom with joy and humility. We are kings and priests in Jesus.
Automated Transcript
Will you turn in your Bibles
with me to the book of Mark, Mark chapter 14. Nope, nope,
Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, beginning at
verse 16. And this morning we'll work through
Mark chapter 14, Mark chapter 15. I'll get that right eventually. Mark chapter 15, verses 16 through
32. Mark chapter 15, if you're using
the Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 936. Brothers and sisters,
hear now God's perfect word. Then the soldiers led him away
into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the
whole garrison, and they clothed him with purple. And they twisted
a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and began to salute
him, Hail, King of the Jews! Then they struck him on the head
with a reed, and spat on him. And bowing the knee, they worshipped
him. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off
him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify
him. Then they compelled a certain
man, Siren, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out
of the country and passing by, to bear his cross. And they brought
him to the place Golgotha, which is translated place of a skull.
Then they gave him wine mixed with myrrh or mingled with myrrh
to drink, but he did not take it. And when they crucified Him,
they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what
every man should take. Now it was the third hour, and
they crucified Him. And the inscription of His accusation
was written above, The King of the Jews. With Him they also
crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His
left. So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, and He was numbered
with the transgressors. And those who passed by blasphemed
Him, wagging their heads and saying, Aha! You who destroy
the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come
down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests also,
mocking Him themselves with the scribes, said, He saved others,
Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." In the
reading of God's word there, brothers and sisters, The grass
withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures
forever. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have
given us the truth of this historical
narrative. And we pray now, Lord, that your
Holy Spirit would work in our hearts in such a way that we
would not just understand the facts of the story, but that
your spirit would impress upon our souls the truths of it and
how it is to impact our lives. Lord, please open our eyes that
we might see, soften our hearts that we might believe. In Jesus's
name, amen. My wife and I have a big disagreement
in our house. I love post-modern movies. You
know, the type of movies that start with some type of really
big opening scene, like somebody's getting chased or somebody's
about to get attacked, and then all of a sudden it switches.
And you have to wait until the very end of the story to find
out, how in the world did you even get here? Or I love movies
where there's all sorts of irony and mystery, and there's kind
of a plot and a subplot, and there's something going on underneath
the surface, and you don't find out about what's actually really
happening until the very end when it all ties together. Well,
that's what's been happening in the book of Mark. See, in
the book of Mark, we've had the entire time Jesus has been talking
about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom
of heaven, right? The kingdom of God is with them. The idea of
the Messiah has come up again and again and again. And it seems
like when we come to Mark chapter 15, that everything that they
expected about Jesus being the Messiah, Jesus being the Christ,
Jesus being the King, it seems like, in their eyes, an utter
failure. But what we find out from the rest of Scripture is
the Lord has a sense of irony. They think that they're destroying
the King, but in reality, they're giving Him His crown. And God
the Father is working in all these things by His sovereign
providence, in His plan, to put all these things in place so
that Jesus Christ might be your King. And that's what I want
you to take home today. When you go home, I hope that
you remember that Jesus, the King of the Jews, is your King. He was not a failed Messiah,
but indeed, our King died for us. Now, we don't really catch
this in the English, but Mark actually slows down the story.
Mark's moving really fast, moving really fast through all the story.
He uses a lot of what's called the Aorist tense, that's like
past tense normally. But here Mark actually uses present
tense. In verse 16 it's, "...then the
soldiers..." They want to put it, the translators want to put
it in past tense because it's a past story. Sorry, but if I
was to read it more literally, "...then the soldiers are leading
him away into the hall called Praetorium." And they are calling
together the whole garrison. Mark actually slows down the
story and wants us to see what's going on and to feel what's going
on and the gravity of it. And he goes into painstaking
detail first about how the king is mocked. So first I'd like
us to see how the king is mocked. Jesus is taken by the soldiers.
He's led by the soldiers into the praetorium. And there in
the praetorian, the whole cohort comes together. It's at least
600 soldiers typically. There are hundreds of Roman soldiers
surrounding Jesus, and their sole goal here is to make fun
of him. To show him that he thinks that
he was going to be a king, but in all reality, he's a nothing.
They clothed him in purple, verse 17. They clothed him with purple.
This idea of clothing someone in purple, right? We take clothing
for granted a lot, right? I mean, you can go to the second-hand
store and you can buy a shirt for, well, it used to be like
50 cents, now it's like five bucks, right? But you can go
and you can buy cheap clothes, right? It used to be that clothes
were extremely expensive and dye was really, really hard to
make. And certain dyes were extremely expensive. One of the most expensive
is purple. You'd actually have to crush
snails and boil them out of these certain snails to get purple
dye. So you can imagine how costly this color would be. And it was
meant to be a sign for royalty because it was that expensive.
Indeed, Caesar himself, the emperor of the Romans, was clothed in
purple. And so when they put this purple
cloth on Jesus, they're sparing no expense in mocking him. They
clothed him in purple because they think he's a failed king.
They go out and they find probably some type of bush or something
with thorns on it. It's not hard to do when you're
kind of in a desert region, but they go and they put together
a crown. Again, we might miss it, but
the emperor, when he would come back from war, they would put
a wreath, a victor's wreath, on his head. to show that he
was a king, but instead they take a thorny crown and they
put it on his head. Not a garland out of olive branches
to show that he is the victor, but a crown of thorns to show
that he was a fool thinking he was a king. It's just interesting,
isn't it, that it's exactly because of man's sin that thorns ever
even came up on bushes and on plants. And yet Jesus is crowned
with a crown of thorns. But they continue on with their
humiliating of Jesus. And in verse 18, after they've
clothed Him in purple and put a crown on His head, they begin
to salute Him saying, Hail, King of the Jews! Again, this is the
same way that they would greet Caesar when he was walking by.
They would say, Ave Caesare! They're specifically saying,
you think you're the emperor? You think you're the king of
heaven? You're a nobody. You're a nothing. And they show
that in verse 19 when they start to strike him on the head with
a reed and to spit on him. And they're disgusted. But if
that wasn't enough, they keep on going. And they physically bow the knee
to him. a sign that was only meant to be reserved. It was
reserved specifically for showing honor to somebody who is greater
than you. And then they engage in emperor
worship. This is so foreign to us, right? When somebody's elected
president, we don't have people who go and prostrate themselves
and begin to worship the next president, right? They might
do that in their heart, but they don't do that physically, typically,
right? But this is what they would do. There was a whole cult
of emperor worship of the Caesars. And it was specifically led by
the Roman army. And so these soldiers, when it
says in verse 19, and they worshipped him, this is both worshipping
as a king and as a god. It is in the Roman mind, Caesar
is a god. And so anybody who's going to
say, I'm greater than Caesar, they must be a god too. And so
they mock Jesus by bowing to him as a pretender. But then they take off his robes
and they lead him away to crucify him. But what they don't understand,
see, the centurions don't understand that what they're doing is cosmic
irony. This is exactly who Jesus was. This is what we learned in Philippians
chapter two, is that the one who created all things and sustains
all things by his power, that Jesus Christ humbled himself
and took on the form of human man. The king of the universe
was willing to humiliate himself. It's as if Jesus came from heaven
and he took off his royal robes and he put on a poor person's
clothes. And there they didn't recognize
him as the king that he truly was. But why did all this happen? Well, he was mocked. He was tortured. He was ridiculed for you and
for me. The king was mocked for you.
The king was ridiculed for you. If we just read Mark chapter
15, we might scratch our heads and still think, I don't really
know what the point of all of this stuff is. But when we read
the Bible in its totality and we go to some places like in
Romans, God is explicitly clear to us that God demonstrates his
own love toward us. And yet while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. This was the display of the Father's
love. This was the reason Jesus was
sent into the world, for God so loved the world that he sent
his only begotten Son. This was the purpose of Jesus's
humiliation and incarnation. The Prince of Peace was going
to give us peace, but he was going to pay a price for it.
And so what we find here is Jesus being too weak to carry his own
cross. This wasn't something abnormal, right? If somebody
was to be crucified by the Romans, they would have to carry either
their main beam or their cross beam. And guess what? If you're
not a Roman and you're standing by, it doesn't matter. They can
enlist you and conscript you that you have to go and carry
anything that they say for up to one mile. But Jesus is too
weak from the scourging and from the beating to carry His own
cross. He's too physically damaged. But He still... Jesus still walks
to Golgotha, make no doubt about it. With every step that Jesus
made towards that hill, that step was for you and for me. Jesus, on that cross as He was
being crucified, they gave Him a mix of myrrh and of wine. It was almost like a painkiller
of sorts. It was folk medicine of the time.
But you need to understand that Jesus endured the fullness of
the pain because He would not let anything soften His mind
or distract Him from drinking the cup of wrath that the Father
had prepared for Him to drink for us. Jesus wasn't going to be in a
stupor, He wasn't going to be drunk, He wasn't going to be
able to push away the pain, but He endured all for our sins. Jesus, as He hung on that cross,
watch as they divided His garments. They had taken what little possessions
that Jesus had, and they most likely played dice at His feet. They shot craps to try to figure
out who was going to get His stuff, because it was of value. See, Jesus was willing to have
His garments as part of a gambling game. He was willing to hang
on that cross, either naked or near naked, and face the ridicule
and shame of it. that we may be clothed with his
righteousness." Jesus endured the humiliation that you may
be clothed with his righteous deeds. Jesus was blasphemed I forgot
to read this at the very end of verse 32. Even those who were
crucified with him reviled him. The word, therefore, reviled
is blasphemed him. On his right and on his left,
he was numbered amongst the transgressors that we might be numbered amongst
the righteous. You know, I was talking to Keith
last week, or two weeks ago, and I asked him, well, what are
you going to preach on? And he said, well, before I looked at
your spreadsheet with all the different things that you were
preaching on, I decided I would preach about the thief on the
cross. And I thought, I love the Lord's humor, right? He's
always seems to have a plan here. So I'm not going to labor on
this point. Keith talked to you about this for 40 minutes or
50 minutes last time. But Jesus was willing to be numbered
amongst the transgressors that we might be numbered with the
righteous. And I don't think that James and John, when they
asked to sit at Jesus's right and left hands, and Jesus said,
that place is prepared by my father. It's not mine to give. I don't think that James and
John expected that the people sitting on his right and on his
left to be on a cross. Jesus was willing to be mocked
for us, because Satan was still at work. Did you hear what the
Jewish people told Him? Those who are passing by, as
well as the chief priests and the scribes. Ah, verse 29, you who destroy
the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come
down from the cross. I have to ask you, could Jesus
have done that? Could Jesus have come down from
that cross? So why didn't He? Right, if Jesus
commands a legion of angels, why wouldn't He stop this? Because He was willing to be
our sacrifice. Satan, even in his dying moments,
was trying to tempt Jesus to avert the plan, to abort the
mission. But Jesus was determined for you and me that he would
endure death willingly that we may have life. The chief priests
and the scribes mocked him in verse 32. Let the Christ, the
King of Israel, descend from the cross. Right? If you do that,
Jesus, we'll see and then we'll believe. No, they wouldn't. We know they wouldn't because
Jesus would be taken down from that cross once he died and three
days later there's a preview into the next chapter. He would
rise again from the dead and they would make up stories to
try to convince everyone else to not believe what they had
seen. They would not believe. But what's
that got to do with you? Jesus himself said, more blessed
are they who do not see and yet believe. Is your faith by sight? Or do
you trust the Jesus that we find here in this historical narrative? Blessed are they who do not see
and yet believe. So do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified by the Romans? Is He your King? Is He this failed
King that the Romans think He is, or do you believe that He
is the King of kings? Because I've got to tell you,
the Christian confession is that the cross isn't the end of the
story, and what these people were doing, they didn't realize
the depth of its meaning. Because if we flip over to the
end of the book, by that I mean the book of Revelation, if we
go to Revelation chapter 1, just hear how Jesus is talked about
there. Mark tells us they crucified
Him. But then John tells us in John
1, grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who
is to come and from the seven spirits who are before His throne.
And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the
dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. to Him who loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made
us kings and priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. Do you see what it's saying
about Jesus? Jesus didn't fail His mission,
Jesus fulfilled His mission. Jesus is the firstborn from the
dead. He's the firstborn of the resurrection
and He earned His crown. He deserves the glory. He is
the King of the nations today. And He's done something with
you. Did you catch it? Did you catch what is said about
you in this passage? He loved us. Number one, He loved
us. Number two, He washed us from
our sins in His own blood. And number three, He made us
kings. And number four, He made us priests. God did not save you just so
you would get a get out of hell free card. God saved you because
He does indeed have a purpose for your life. He did not save
you to leave you in your sin. He did not save you to leave
you in your shame to figure out how you're ever going to be good
enough that you could be one of His people. He saved you because
He loved you and He made you His child. Jesus is not surprised
by your sin. Jesus, our King, knows you are
a sinner, and yet the King came to seek and to save the lost. Such was me and you. Our King, our Prince of Peace,
is not surprised that your idolatry, your struggle with blasphemy,
your difficulties in keeping the Sabbath, the King is not
surprised that you have a difficult time with honoring authority. The Lord Jesus Christ knows that
in your heart at times you get so angry it's almost like you
could commit murder. The Lord knows the lusts of your
heart. The Lord knows that you might
struggle with stealing or covetousness, lying or gossip, but that didn't
keep Him from dying for you. No, that's why He died for you.
Following King Jesus is not about saying, someday I will be good
enough and then King Jesus will accept me. No, being a Christian
is saying, Jesus died and cleansed me from my sin. I don't say that
I don't have sin. If I did, I would deceive myself
and I'd call God a liar. But I am able to confess my sin
because Jesus is faithful and Jesus is just. And Jesus forgives
me of my sins and cleanses me from all my unrighteousness.
Do you follow that, Jesus? Or are you still trying to be
good enough? If we believe who King Jesus
says He is and we will confess our sins, but then we will step
out of darkness and walk in His marvelous light. Jesus died on
that cross, not just so that way your sins would be forgiven,
but that you might reign with him as kings and queens, princes
and princesses of his kingdom, that you might live lives filled
with the Holy Spirit, with a zeal for holiness, that you may rejoice
in who he is and walk in his ways. Brothers and sisters, you are
bought at the price of Jesus's blood. So glorify God with your
body. Your King made you a priest,
so let your mouth be filled with righteousness and with His praise.
Your King has shown you how to walk, so imitate Jesus. Care for the poor, give to the
needy. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. Walk with humility. Show forgiveness. Grieve over
injustice. Comfort the downtrodden. Walk
in the ways that Jesus has taught you to walk because He is our
King. We are members of His royal household. We are members of Jesus' royal
household. It's just me, right? I was too
dumb as a child to actually read my Bible. And it wasn't until
I was in my 20s that I read through Galatians chapter 3 and 4. And
I was brought to my knees with tears. Because God has adopted
us as His children. And poured out in our hearts
His Spirit with Christ our Abba Father. So if the King of Kings,
the Lord of Lords has poured out His Spirit in your hearts,
that means that you have a new identity. You have a new family. You have a new walk. You have
dignity and purpose in your life that you can walk before Him
with thankfulness. See, our obedience is not out
of slavery, but because it's who we are. We follow the King. into the battle. We want Jesus's name to be known
to all the nations, right? This is why some of us pray,
and give, and go, even to the ends of the earth. This is why
we keep the Great Commission, because Jesus is with us always,
even until the ends of the age, and He is the King over all nations. So what they didn't understand
here, what the Romans and the high priests were doing In Mark
chapter 15, they thought they were getting rid of this pest.
This guy who was on a failed mission to be the king of Israel.
But what they didn't know is that they were giving the king
of kings his crown of glory. That the high priests were transferring
over to him a priesthood that he would eclipse. And that he
would take up into heaven and would be a much greater minister
for you and me in the tabernacle not made by human hands. And
so you have a king today. You have a king who lives today,
and you are his child if you have faith in him. So follow
your king. Walk in the ways of your king.
And know that he indeed has given you dignity and purpose in your
life as a child of his kingdom. Let's pray. Lord, we We have to confess to you that
there are some of us who struggle. Lord, some of us struggle to
believe this. And so Lord, we pray for any of us who may have
hearts that this is difficult to accept or to believe. Lord,
we pray that your spirit might do an amazing work to take out
hearts of stone. Lord, and to give hearts that
would believe. Lord, we pray for some of us as this is falling
upon deaf ears and our hearts have become callous. This is
old news to us. Lord, we pray that you would
renew our joy and let us not forget of your love and of your
kingly authority. Lord, we pray that you would
not let us grow lukewarm or cold. Lord, but that we would remember
you, our King, our first love, and that we would follow after
you that we might spend eternity singing the praises of the Lamb.
Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I told you a few weeks ago, I
hope you get used to singing Psalm 22, because this is Jesus'
psalm. All of Psalm 22