The Crucifixion Part 1 - Mark 15:22-39

1:45And then I want you to see the silence of heaven. Though the injustice and the pain and the darkness was great upon the earth, there was a strange silence from heaven. And I want us to know why. Remember last week I told you about my trip to Mexico City and specifically the patron saint of Tipito. You will remember, Topito patron saint is called Santa Muerte, Saint Death. And she is a good picture of what man does.

2:25She came about because the drug lords wanted somebody that they could pray to who would bless their extortions, who would bless their murders, who would bless their human trafficking, and who would bless their thievery and all kinds of horrible things. So they wanted a deity that they could pray to that would grant that. And so they created this image. And they said, We will pray to Saint Death to bless all of these things. And this is exactly what man does: he creates God. In his own image. And then he bows down and he prays to them, and then they become the doorway into the spiritual realm. A very dark and demented realm that slanders God, that gives you a distorted picture of reality and a distorted picture of God.

3:21Such is what happens when you walk through the wrong doorway and you understand heaven through the wrong doorway. And so it's very important that we understand eternity through the proper channel, and that is Christ crucified. You see, it wasn't just the people in Mexico City that have raised a false deity. This was something that plagued mankind since the very beginning. In fact, the Jews of Jesus' time were no different. See, they wanted a Messiah in their own image. They didn't want heaven's Messiah. They wanted a Messiah that would come and put down their enemies. They wanted a Messiah that would champion their own cause. And so they created an image of the Messiah that did not square with what God had revealed about his Messiah. And so they missed him and they crucified him. See, but the problem isn't just limited to the Jews in the first century, Israel, is it? What about you? What do you do when life doesn't go your way?

4:35Do you turn things and blame God? Do you try to recreate Him in your own image? You see, we all are drawn to this idea of a sovereign God totally working on our behalf, championing our cause, don't we? I mean, we could peddle that image of God all around the world, be very popular. But God has revealed to us that He is holy, He is set apart, He is distinct. We are man, He is God, and we do not have the authority or the ability to even recreate God. He is God, and we are to understand Him as God.

5:14So, what happens when those painful times come in our lives, when things go wrong, when injustice seems to reign? We ask ourselves, Where is God? And we're tempted to defect from God or to go after another God. We had a great time this last week. My youngest son turned 10 years old, and we went out for a big fandango or a big celebration. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, we had a banquet of food, and we then ordered a cookie monster. And all of us got cookie monsters, or we got enough to serve the. Family, and we ate. We celebrated. We celebrated. And we went home and we opened gifts. And he got a new bike. And he got to go riding on a brand new bike. And it just was a great time. I'll tell you something that happened that day. As my wife was writing out the birthday card for her son, she got a text message from one of her high school friends. And her seven-year-old son had just come down with a very serious brain tumor, so serious that it was inoperable. And that they put him in hospice. And as I was finishing up this sermon last night, and my kids were out watching the football game, watching the Aggies, eating chips, and celebrating and being about their activities, they were struggling because he had lost all contact. The only thing he could respond to was a pinch or a touch. His life is quickly fading. In situations like this, there's a temptation to ask, where's God? How is this a just situation? And during such times, we often fail to remember that we live in a fallen world. And God said at the very beginning that in the day that you eat from this tree, you shall surely die. And we can link death and human misery all back to that event. That when man goes his own way, death enters, and we live in this fallen world.

7:37And death and human misery are vivid reminders of our fallen state. I went to a funeral on Friday. Brother Pat Johnson went to two on Friday. It's a vivid reminder that things are not right and that this is not our eternal rest. Jesus said in Mark 7, you know what defiles the world? The heart of man. Because out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these come out of man, and this is what has defiled the man, and this is what has defiled the earth. And I have talked to people on many occasions that have said, Where was God when this was happening to me? Where is God in this situation? You fill in the blank. Where is God? God, how could you do that? How could you allow? Now, sometimes we play with fire and then we get burned and then we turn around and blame God.

8:46But sometimes things go wrong and it's beyond our control. And such times we're tempted to lose sight of eternity, the big picture, and we're tempted to look. Solely on ourselves and say, God, why did you not fit my mold of what God should be? Well, I want to take you to a day when heaven was silent in the midst of the grossest and most horrific tragedy. And that's the cross. Where was God when this was happening? I don't know.

9:23I don't know how to explain or have the answer to every situation or what you may be going through. And I do not know where God may be in your situation, but I can say this: He's in the same place he was when his son was on the cross. Dealing with an event far more unjust, far more brutal, far more despicable than anything that you and I have faced. And in the midst of this, there's this silence in heaven. So I want us to look at such a period of heavenly silence this morning. The crucifixion of Christ and the cross. This is the climax of the book. So let's just read this, starting in verse 22. Then they brought him to the place, Gogotha, which is translated place of a skull. They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide. What each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, The King of the Jews. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with the transgressors. Those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down now from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking him among themselves and saying, He saved others, he cannot save himself. Let this Christ, the king of Israel, now come down from the cross so that we may see and believe. Those who were crucified with him were also insulting him. When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabakthanai, which is translated, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, Behold, he is calling for Elijah. Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, putting it on a reed, and gave him a drink, saying, Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion, who was standing right in front of him, saw the way he breathed his last, he said, Truly, this man was the Son of God. There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joseph and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they used to follow him and minister to him, and there were many other women who came with him to Jerusalem. Well, this morning I want us to look at verses 22 through 32, and the next week we'll pick up where we left off.

12:34What's nice about Mark's account of the crucifixion is he has an eye to the clock. He has it, he's looking at the clock. There's the sixth hour, the ninth hour. He does a very good job of just, as the clock goes, what is happening. And so that's how we're going to walk through this. There are four distinct periods of time that I'm going to mention over the next two weeks. The first is going to be the pre-dawn to 9 a.m. Many of you woke up around dawn and you got up here about 9 a.m. for Sunday school. There's that period of time. And then there's the period from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Probably we're right towards the end of that, right? From 9 a.m. to 12 noon. And then there's the period from 12 noon to 3 p.m. And then there are the events that happen right at 3 p.m. This morning we want to make it to noon, maybe a little before, but we are going to, scripturally, we're going to get to noon. In Mark's gospel. So, first, look at the pre-dawn to 9 a.m. If you remember, this is the trial of the spotless lamb, and it begins in the Garden of Gethsemane with the arrest. And I just want to just summarize, if you summarize all the accounts of the Gospels and what took place, let me just tell you. From Gethsemane, they went to Annas, according to John 18. From Annas, they went to Caiaphas. Mark writes about that. From Caiaphas, they went to Pilate. So from the trial of Sanhedrin, they went to Pilate. So from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod. Luke writes about this, Mark doesn't. And then from Herod back to Pilate. Luke again writes about this. And then from Pilate to inside the Prectorium, where he is flogged. From inside to outside the Prectorium, before the crowds. From the outside of the Practorium to back inside the Prectorium, according to John 19. And then from inside the Prakorium back to outside the Prectorium before the crowds. And then from the Prectorion to Golgotha. Mark hits the pie points. From Caiaphas, the trial of Sanhedrin, to Pilate, the trial before the Roman judge, into the Prectorium where he is scourged and flogged, and then out to Golgotha. All that happened before 9 a.m. Busy morning. I mean, when you hate God and you're really active to get something done and exclude him from your life, you can get a lot done. Well, they got a lot done. And they took him to Golgotha, place outside the city. The meaning of the word is Aramaic, or it's Aramaic, meaning skull. The Latin equivalent is Calvary, which means a scalp or bald head. It could be a reference to the shape of the hill itself, or it could simply be a designation where people went and died, the place of the skull, where people died and were executed. But whatever, it is a historical place outside the city. But what is emphasized here at Mark is: look at verse 23. They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Who are they? I think that it's probably the women. It could be the guards. It could be the guards or the women, but it seems to be a kind act because wine mixed with myrrh would have a narcotic effect, a sedative effect, to make the pain go away or to put him in a state of stupor. And the verb is that they kept giving it to him. They kept trying to give it to him. It's an attempt to deaden the senses, but he kept refusing it. And what this testifies is that Jesus, in no way at all, at any time, wants to circumvent the cross. He's going to stand before.

16:31Before God and take on his whole wrath in full consciousness. He's not trying, even at this last moment, to even take one little shortcut. He's going through with it all totally and fully. What a man. He's going to face it head on. Well, that happens before 9 a.m. And today I want us to focus on verses 24 through 32 and look at what happens between 9 a.m. and 12 noon. Three-hour period. Three-hour period. And you can see the narrative is really slowing down. Now we're looking at three hours, spending a substantial portion of Mark's gospel here. I've entitled this section, The Silence of Heaven, the pre-dawn hours, the trial of the spotless lamb, and now looking at the silence of heaven. What's interesting is it's not the physical pain of the crucifixion that Mark is emphasizing at all. Look at verse 24, only four words about the crucifixion. And they crucified him. That's it. It doesn't go into all the details of what all that meant and the length of the nails and all that kind of stuff. And they crucified him. You see, it's simply stated as a matter of fact, the fact that he is crucified is important. But the brevity of what Mark is emphasizing, or the brevity of how he mentions the crucifixion, points to another emphasis, and that is, he is emphasizing the humiliation, the rejection. The shame, the scorn, the ridicule, the mockery, and the blasphemy, all of that. That is where he spends his time.

18:08And that is where we want to spend our time. Verse 24, the first thing I want you to see is the absolute humiliation that took place right at 9 a.m. And they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. It was the third hour when they crucified him. Crucifixion, that brutal form of execution that said to the world, don't be like this. That punished the individual, but also held him up as an example for everyone to see, don't you dare be like this man. As far as we can tell, it's probably invented by Darius the Mede. He crucified 3,000 Babylonians when they came in and conquered the Babylonian Empire. Alexander the Great crucified 2,000 people from Tyre for not supporting his efforts or his eastward expansion. Vespasian at the sacking of Rome after in 70 AD crucified so many Jews that they ran out of trees. So it says. But the idea of the crucifixion was to punish and to warn. And what's interesting is. David writes about this form of execution in Psalm 22, years before it was ever invented. Listen to how he describes this event, prophetic event of Christ upon the cross. Psalm 22, 6 says, I am a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me, they sneer at me. They wag their heads, saying, Commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him. In verse 14, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. 15, my strength is dried up like a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. They pierced my hands and my feet. They look upon me and stare at me, and they divide my garments among them. And for my clothing, they cast lots. Years before crucifixion is even invented, Isaiah and Zechariah also speak of piercing. But you see, Mark actually spends more time on the fact that they divided up his clothes than they do on the fact that he does on the fact of the crucifixion. They are crucifying him naked. Now, some say, well, he could have kept an undergarment on, and I think throughout the centuries, that's where people want, they want to put a little clothes on there, a little shred of dignity on him. But that's not the picture that Mark paints here. It is a completely Complete humiliation. They leave him no shred of dignity, even if he does have some clothes left. The emphasis in Mark is that it is gone.

21:14Brutally beaten. Absolute humiliation. Second thing I want you to see is the absolute rejection. The absolute rejection. Look at the charge against Jesus. In verse 26, the inscription of the charge against him read, the king of the Jews. Here's his crime. That he is the king of the Jews. He did claim to be the king of the Jews, yes, but he is the king of the Jews, and here is his crime. And they put him up with two robbers. Two robbers. Verse 27, they crucify two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, and he was numbered with transgressors. Let's take Jesus. Let's put him up among the foulest of sinners, those deserving of crucifixion, and let's say to the world, don't you dare be like this individual. By the way, some of the greatest gifts that God gives us are unanswered prayers.

22:19Remember James and John, when he was coming into his kingdom, they wanted to sit on his right and on his left. Here's his right and on his left. And this is his glory. Because it's through this crucified Christ that we understand the heart of God. And we see the King coming into his glory. And he reveals Himself to us at such a moment in history that he could never understand about God unless he went to the cross and was crucified. But this is the purpose. The verdict of the world that knew Christ was that he was not to be followed, he was not to be imitated, and he was held up as an example of exactly what not to be. And when your kids walked by and saw something from a distance, people on a cross, you'd say, There goes a thief, there goes a robber, there's a murder. Don't you dare be like them. Such is the way the world treated Christ. Absolute rejection. But then there's also an absolute blasphemy that I want you to see here. In verse 29, notice there are those who are hurling abuse at Jesus. The word is literally blaspheme. Those blasphemes, it's the very same word that the Sanhedrin accused Jesus of, that gave them the permission or gave them that made them make the decision to crucify him. Same word in 14:64 that Jesus blasphemed God. And this is exactly what they're doing. Mark is showing us who the real blasphemers are.

24:00And blasphemy, at its core, it's mocking or insulting God. And what Jesus was condemned for was allegedly mocking God by claiming equality with God when he appeared to be nothing more than just a lowly man with a big ego. That's what the Pharisees, that's what the scribes, that's what the high priests saw, and they said, You making this claim is an insult to God. Therefore, we should crucify you. But they're the real blasphemers, because he is God.

24:35He is equal with God because he is of the same essence of God. But there are three groups of people that are mentioned here in verses 29 through 32 that insulted Christ. I want you to see them. First, there are those who are passing by. Look at verse 29. Those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.

25:07What's interesting is the only thing holding Jesus up at this time is his own self-restraint. And this is quite remarkable at the end of all that he had gone through and all the physical pain and suffering and anguish. I mean, sometimes late at night, I can get cranky. Just because I'm tired, not that this has ever really happened, you know, or anything like that, but just hypothetically, if I'm tired, I can get cranky. And people know in my house that there's a time when dad just needs to go to bed. And there's a time when I know that, you know what, I need to just not say anything.

25:50And that's just after one day being up all day long and having three good meals and just being tired from the days. Think about Jesus at this point. Think about what he has suffered. Think about what he has gone through. Think about the state of his mind at this point. And here they are. You, you said you could destroy it. Why don't you come on down now? The only thing holding him up there is self-restraint and that of a sacrificed person and a sacrificed body. His resolve to stay with the Father's plan is just exemplary. It is amazing. He stayed the course, wouldn't shortcut it at all, wouldn't take the narcotics, went straight forward through it, and he stayed. How much more can we trust the Father's will? He gives us an example right here: trusting the Father's will all the way to the very end, even if it means crucifixion and humiliation and absolute blasphemy to the total degree, yet we see our example, our Lord, our Christ, charging right ahead.

27:00Restrained to do the will of the Father. Isn't that beautiful? Well, then there's a second group of people, and that's the chief priests and scribes. Look at them in verse 31. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking him, saying among themselves, he saved others, he cannot save himself. Let this Christ, the king of Israel, now come down from the cross so that we may see and believe. Now, here we have the words of a bunch of blind, hypocritical, gloating blasphemers. Well, he could save others, he couldn't save himself, or he would. These chief priests and scribes had two very wrong conceptions about God, two misconceptions. First of all, they didn't understand the nature of Jesus. He did have the power to save himself, but their faulty assumption was if he could, he would. Since he's not coming down, he can't come down. That's the idea. But it's a faulty assumption because he did have the power to come down, but he didn't. And the reason they made this assumption is because they could only think of Christ in their own terms. Because if that were them up on the cross and they had the power to come down and obliterate things, they would. They'd come right down and obliterate things. So they had a total misconception of who Jesus was. Jesus did have the power to come down, but he chose to stay. A second misconception they had is they didn't understand the nature of faith. You remember in Mark's gospel, faith is not the outcome of miracles, but it's the condition for miracles. Here they are saying, Let this Christ come down. Let him come down now, and so that we may see, and so that we may believe. We will have faith in him.

29:01You see, what, you remember, Mark has held out three examples, and we've reviewed them periodically through the Gospel of Mark. Three examples of faith. There was the paralytic and his friends in chapter two. There was the woman with the blood issue in chapter five. And there is Bartimaeus in chapter 10. All of them would not take no for an answer. They kept coming. They kept going to Christ because what they had heard about Christ, they believed, and they understood that what Christ had done for others, he would do for them. And so they pressed forward. And so faith was the condition. And then the miracle came.

29:42And these guys think you show us a big miracle, and then we're going to have faith. And they don't understand the nature of faith at all. Well, I'm sure what would have happened if Jesus had come down. Okay, I'll come off. And he comes in all his power and glory. Guess what? They. I'm sure they would have fallen to their faces, but it would not be faith. That self-preservation mode would kick in, right? Oh, he is God. Whoa, I better bow down. See, faith is impossible in those situations. Not the kind of faith that Mark is talking about.

30:22You see, this is why this world is the only place you'll ever have a chance to receive Christ and put your faith and trust in Him, because when you step over the threshold of this life and you stand before the presence of heaven itself and you see God in all His glory, you're going to hit the face on the ground, but it's going to be out of self-preservation, not out of that faith that says, I'm drawn to Him. You see, God doesn't want to have a relationship with a bunch of scared little puppies, right? You all have had a little animal that's maybe been scared deathly of you, and you're before you can have a relationship. It's just you want to calm the little animal down so that you can have, no, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to be your friend. You see, God doesn't, He could reveal Himself in His glory, and He could have at that moment and displayed His glory and everything, but He would not have had a relation. He would have had a bunch of cowering puppies and no basis for the relationship that He wants with His people.

31:27Well, then there's a third group of people that Jesus. Joined in. Look at verse 32. There were those who were crucified with Jesus. Those who were crucified with him were also insulting him. Even those who were crucified with him joined in the party of the insults. And each three of these groups unwittingly serves as an agent of Satan, trying to get Christ to circumvent the cross, circumvent drinking fully the wrath of God. Remember, Peter tried to steer Jesus away from the cross. What did Jesus say to him? Get thee behind me, Satan. Get behind me, Satan. Same thing here, same temptation. Come down off the cross. Well, as you look, as we linger at Mark's picture of Jesus, we realize that it's the bleakest of the gospel writers. Jesus is alone. Jesus is deserted. He's denied, beaten, rejected, mocked. He's held up as an object of scorn and an example of what not to be. Even the women are seen off at a distance. And Mark just gives us this picture of the denied, betrayed, beaten Christ.

32:59And the midst of All this is absolute silence from heaven. I mean, where is God the Father at this moment? How could God allow this to happen to Christ? I mean, he's already said that in Mark 1 at his baptism, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The heavens opened up and made a declaration: You are my beloved Son. Nobody else in history ever got this mark from heaven. Same in Mark chapter 9. As you walk through the scriptures, this is very atypical to have such blasphemy unanswered from heaven in quick and decisive terms. Remember in Genesis 11, when the people said, Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower that will reach up to heaven. Let's make our name for ourselves. What did God do? He comes down and he scatters them. He confuses their language. In Exodus 19, after bringing the Israelites out from Egypt, he takes them to a mountain. And he says, Don't let anybody touch this mountain, for it is holy. If they touch it, they shall die.

34:17And how much more is Jesus more holy than the mountain? And yet, heaven is silent. In Leviticus 16:2, the Lord said to Moses, Make sure Aaron does not enter just after. Anytime he wants into the holy place behind the veil, because he will die. There is an appointed time, and only then can he can't just come in at any time or he will die. In Matthew 12:6, Jesus says, Something greater than the temple is here, speaking of himself. Far greater, far more holy than the temple ever was. And here he is, just taking these abuses, taking all of this stuff. Where's heaven?

35:02Remember, Nadab and Abihu? They offer strange fire upon the altar, then all of a sudden, here comes the fire from heaven and it consumes them. Moses tells Aaron, This is what the Lord says, by those who come near me, I will be treated as holy, and before all the people, I will be honored. Where is this true about Christ at this moment? Remember, Miriam spoke against Moses. What happened to her? The anger of the Lord burned against her in chapter 12 of Numbers, and she turned white as snow, leprous.

35:40Think about the countless people who this day spoke against Christ and heaven. One great, far greater than Moses was there. Think about Korah. Remember in Numbers 16, he rose up against Moses, gathered a bunch of the leaders from Israel together, and they went against Moses. And then in Numbers 16:32, we read these words. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they all, so they and all that belonged to them, went down alive and chol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. I mean, think of the countless people who rose up against Jesus that day. The earth didn't open them up and swallow them.

36:28Remember Uzzah as they were moving the ark in 2 Samuel 6, he reaches out his hands to steady the ark. And the anger of the Lord struck him down for his irreverence, and he died there by the ark. I mean, think about the countless acts of irreverence that were committed against Jesus this day. No immediate destruction. I mean, this is all through the Bible. I mean, just go on to Acts chapter 12, right? When Herod stands up and starts receiving the praise of men as the voice of a God, what happens to him? He's struck down, an angel of the Lord strikes him down, and he's eaten by worms.

37:09But before the cross, there is silence from heaven. How can heaven be silent in the face of such horrible injustice? Why doesn't the Father step in and vindicate his Son over these pathetic, gloating, hypocritical? Blasphemous monsters. Why doesn't he just come in and honor his name? He does. But not in a way that you and I think. See, the reality is the Father is not going to come down and come take Jesus off the cross. And Jesus is not going to exercise his own power and come down off the cross. Why?

37:53Because they have a purpose for the cross. And what is that purpose? Well, the purpose of the cross is it is God's solution to man's problem. This is the solution. The crucified Christ is the solution to man's problem. You remember in Numbers 21:4, we read it. The serpent in the wilderness. Then they set out. This period in Israel's history, they sent out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Eden. And the people became impatient because of the journey. And the people spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food. So here are the Israelites in the wilderness wandering around. They're speaking against God and Moses, and this is their problem. Number one, they didn't trust God. Number two, they despised his provision. And number three, they did not want. To follow his appointed leader. This is the problem of mankind, is it not? We don't trust God. We despise the place and provision that he's put us in, and we don't want to follow his appointed leader. So, what did God do? God gave them a life experience that they would never forget. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and those snakes went and they bit people, venomous snakes, and those who were bitten died from the poison that was inside them. And so they cried out to the people, they cried out to Moses, and Moses said, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard. That is, make a big pole and make this bronze serpent up there. And it shall come about that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard. And it came about that if a serpent bent any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

40:00That was God's answer. The only remedy that God provided was a bronze serpent to set on a tall pole. So if you're bit by the snake, you look at this bronze serpent, and then all of a sudden, the poisonous effects of the poison in you was removed, and you lived. And this taught the Israelites several things. Number one, God was not there to kill them. Number two, that he and his appointed leader could be trusted. And number three, his provision was sufficient.

40:30And number four, the solution to their problem was not found inside of them, but in God. And our problem as we sit here today is basically the same. We do not trust God, we despise His provision, and we do not want to follow His appointed leader. I mean, just look at what our kind did to Jesus. As we linger long before the cross this morning, look at the expression of hatred that was released upon Christ. And as we do, ask yourself: look within. In what ways have you and I become masters at crucifying God's will in our life? You see, our problem is that we do not have a view towards eternity. We're often fixated on the here and now. But Jesus stayed upon the cross. You know why? Because he had a view for eternity. We have a problem that we get fixated upon ourselves and upon the here and the now. Jesus had a view of other people and a view for eternity. You see, our problem is too often like that of the Jews of the day. We want a Christ after our own image. We want a Messiah that will put down our enemies, champion our cause, and exalt our name. You see, in a way, we have carefully become lords over Christ. We want a Christ that'll serve our interests. But the remedy. The remedy is to look and have faith in the Son of God. Jesus, the crucified Jesus, is that doorway through which God intends us to see Himself. It is there that we can truly understand our world. There we can truly understand the heart of God, our relationship with Him, and interpret everything that happens to us through this lens.

42:26That God would not even spare His own Son. And through this, we see the terminal sin that does not trust God dies. And this is what the message of Mark is: Have faith in God and have faith in His Son. He is the doorway. He is the doorway to understand the spiritual realm. Not all these other fictitious things that man makes, that is the product of man's own making, that then becomes a doorway into the spiritual realm that perverts and distorts the image of God. But we are to look into heaven through the crucified Lamb. Why was heaven silent that day?

43:23Heaven was doing something. The doorway to faith was being opened, that those who would gaze and Look, God was accomplishing something. Those very hours between 9 a.m. and 12 a.m., as Jesus was lifted up, something was happening. And it first started with the thief, the thief that was insulting him. Remember? He was there up on the cross. And then at some point, he changes. And as the other thief was mocking, he says, You know, we are suffering rightly for our actions, but not Jesus. And then he turns and he says, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. It was upon him seeing Christ upon the cross that faith took place.

44:19And then there's the centurion, the one who's in charge of the whole bloody crucifixion, standing there. And as he sees Christ lifted up, something is changing within him. And friends, as you and I look and see the cross, and we understand what this implies for us, we are changed. There is the doorway to faith. There is the doorway to trust in God, that he who would not spare his only son will surely give you all things good.

44:54So as they looked upon him, they were transformed. And brothers and sisters, we know. Outgrow the cross. Whether you've walked with Christ for one day or 90 years, we never outgrow the cross because of what it expresses to us. And as we look upon the cross, we too are transformed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come before you, trying to linger long here at the cross, the foot of the cross, Father, we recognize that the wondrous cross is beyond our ability to even take in. Father, all the connections and all that is expressed and all that this means, Father, we just know somehow in your way, your mysterious way, Lord, it is through this doorway that faith is created, that trust in you is restored, that sins are forgiven. Father, and we just thank you, Father, for the moments we've had this morning at the foot of the cross. In Jesus' name.