Salvation Accomplished

Introduction

Last week we saw Pilate condemn Jesus to be crucified, the most brutal form of death there is. Tonight we are going to see this sentence carried out. This is what the whole book of Mark has been heading towards because it is in Jesus’s death on the cross that salvation is accomplished for all who would believe.

Aside from the story of what is going on here there is a lot theologically that is going on here. We are going to address some of this as we go. A big question we will seek to answer is what exactly is happening on the cross and why does it matter for salvation? In this we will see beauty in an awful gruesome story.

A few weeks back I preached on Sunday and I talked a lot about what happens in salvation. One thing I said at the beginning though is that salvation is an elementary thing on its surface so that all can grasp it and be saved, but at the same time it is also one of the deepest things that we can study in the Bible. The story of the crucifixion of Jesus is one that I am sure a lot of you have heard many times, though some of you may have never heard it. Tonight though I want you to think deeply about it and refresh your view of it. As we continually grow in our faith we can continually see things in a deeper and deeper light and the crucifixion of Jesus is no different.

Lets start tonight with reading through the passage from Jesus being led off to him being buried.

Mark 15:16–47 ESV

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they 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 when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Throughout the crucifixion account that we find here in Mark there is emphasis drawn upon the mocking of Jesus that takes place. This account starts with the soldiers leading Jesus out of the palace and they spare no expense on mocking Jesus. They put a purple cloak on him, this would have been expensive at this time, and they put a crown of thorns on his head. They then mocked and mistreated him before they stripped him down and led him to be crucified.

Jesus was so weak at this point that he could not carry his cross and they grabbed a man from the crowd to carry it for him. They then go to Golgotha and they crucify him. Mark does not give many details about the crucifixion here but his audience would have known what all this entailed. While he is on the cross there is more mocking. Jesus was alive on the cross for six hours.

While on the cross there was a great darkness that fell over the land and since we know the date that this happened we know that it was not a eclipse. At the moment that Jesus dies he cries out loudly and the curtain of the temple tears from top to bottom. Jesus is now dead.

After he dies Joseph of Arimathea request the body of Jesus to bury. This Joseph was a member of the council, more specifically the Sanhedrin. He was one of the only ones that was against killing Jesus as he thought that he might actually be the Messiah and he was looking towards the Messiah unlike the other ruling religious authorities.

They then seal the tomb. The savior is dead. Everybody here has to be confused. With all of this though we know what exactly is happening and the glory of it.

Today we are going to look at how Jesus is not the king that the people expected but he is the king that the people needed. Let’s pray then look at these two truths and how it is still true today.

Not the king people expected

Mocking… this is how Jesus spent his final hours alive, being mocked. This is not a very kingly way to live. The people of this day were looking for a savior to come and to free them from the oppression of the world. Someone who would teach the Romans who is boss. This is what they were all expecting, though this is not entirely what the Old Testament teaches.

The Old Testament does testify to this but it is very distinct from how we see Jesus. They were looking toward the second coming, the one we are waiting on now, of Christ. Because of the situation that they are in they ignore the passages that talk about the first coming of the savior. They ignore the passages like Psalm 22

Psalm 22 ESV

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen! I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him. The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

There are other places just like this too! We have read it before so I will just tell you about it but look to the book of Isaiah, specifically chapter 53. The Old Testament tells us of a man coming like Jesus came. This is not the king that they expected though.

So often we get our picture of who Jesus is and it distracts us from the truth of who he is. Every one of us here have a picture of who Jesus is, is it based on the truth of the Bible or on your own thought. Jesus didn’t die to keep you from having fun, he died so that you could be forgiven of your sins. He didn’t die to keep you from certain things, he died so that you could see life eternal.

Jesus was not the king that they expected because they were not expecting what the Bible said. He is though the king that they needed. The king that you and I need too.

The king the people needed

Jesus wasn’t the king that the people expected but he is the king that we all need. We need him because of the fact that we are all sinners in desperate need of a savior. He is that savior. What Jesus did on that cross is he bore our sins. This means that God took our sins and put them on Jesus and punished him for them. He put our sins on Jesus so that he could put his righteousness on us. This is complete forgiveness. In the Old Testament they had to perform sacrifices but Jesus came to be the perfect and final sacrifice.

As he cried our bearing our sins unto death the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom. The curtain divided Gods presence from everything else. In his death the presence of God was open through Jesus. The curtain had been torn. Christ is the fullest revelation of God, we no longer need the temple and the sacrifices, we need Jesus.

Through Jesus’s death he took the punishment for our sins and made God accessible. It is all through Jesus. He is the king that we still need today because we still face that same problem of sin and without him there is no hope.

Conclusion

This is the moment that the book of Mark has been leading to. In this moment I want to pose one question to you. Have you accepted the salvation that Jesus died to make available to you?

Jesus did all of this for you. He says that all you have to do to accept this salvation is put your faith in him and turn away from your sins. It says in Romans 10.9

Romans 10:9 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

and then in Romans 10.13

Romans 10:13 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This is what he died for, will you accept it?