[0:00] This is why I did this different. We are right smack dab in the middle of Passion Week. Okay, this is Wednesday of Passion Week. Wednesday is, in Scripture, the silent day.
[0:16] Sunday's triumphant entry. Comes into Jerusalem. Hosanna blesses he who comes in the name of the Lord. Monday's cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple, the overturning of the money changer tables.
[0:31] Tuesday's the day of questioning, which, I mean, there's so many sermons in there because you examined the lamb before you sacrificed the lamb. Tuesday's the day of questioning. You see the fig tree withered.
[0:43] Thursday is the day of anointing, anointing of his feet and preparation, final meal, last supper, garden of Gethsemane, Friday's the day of crucifixion, Sunday's day of resurrection.
[1:00] Wednesday in Scripture is silent. It's nothing said. I was asked one time to help preach a revival with a number of other pastors through Passion Week.
[1:14] And they assigned a certain day to each pastor, and you were supposed to preach on the events of that day. Today, I got assigned Wednesday. But through that study, I realized that day of silence is his day of preparation.
[1:33] His day of getting ready to take on my sins and my weight and my price. So what I want to do, something totally, not totally different, but something that's different for me.
[1:49] Sometimes, I mean, I love preaching. But sometimes I think man's commentary gets in the way of what Scripture just clearly states. So I'm going to take time tonight.
[2:02] I'm going to read Mark's accounts of the Garden of Gethsemane, the trials, and crucifixion. I'm not going to say anything after it. I'm just going to read it.
[2:14] And I'm going to turn to Isaiah 52, the last few verses of Isaiah 52, and read it in Isaiah 53. And just let the Word of God tell us what takes place on that Good Friday.
[2:28] Two things I want you to pay attention to, and then we're going to pray. It won't take me that long to read it, I promise. Mark is a book of immediately, immediately, immediately, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving, moving.
[2:39] Mark slows down one place. Mark spends more time talking about what happened in the Garden and during the trials and the crucifixion than Luke does.
[2:54] Mark slows down. I want you to notice when I read Mark that Jesus refuses to take the gall mixed with wine and the gall of bitterness.
[3:04] And the reason I want you to pay attention to that is because that was the numbing agent. So Jesus did not take anything to dull the pain of the price of our sins. He didn't take anything that would dull it.
[3:18] He wanted to experience it. And I want you to notice in Isaiah 53, Isaiah says that the suffering servant is our guilt offering.
[3:31] Our guilt offering. The guilt offering is found in Leviticus chapter 7. According to rabbinic tradition throughout the Hebrews, the guilt offering was the offering that was the most sacred and the most holy and was given for the intentional, knowing rebellion of sin.
[3:54] When the person said, I am going to sin. And knowingly broke the law. And this is why it says he took what was our punishment. In Isaiah 53.
[4:06] Other than that, we're going to let the text just say what the text says. So I'll be in the Gospel of Mark first. And it's quite a few verses, but I'm just going to read them.
[4:17] And I'm going to pick up the account in Mark 14, verse 32. And I will read all the way through the 15th chapter.
[4:28] Okay? Then they came to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, Sit here until I have prayed. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled.
[4:43] And he said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch. And he went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by.
[4:55] And he was saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. And he came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep?
[5:06] Could you not keep watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.
[5:17] And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough. The hour has come, and behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
[5:31] Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and scribes and the elders.
[5:44] Now he who was betraying him had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away under guard. After coming, Judas immediately went to him, saying, Rabbi, and kissed him.
[5:55] They laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me, as you would against a robber?
[6:09] Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But this has taken place to fulfill the scriptures. And they all left him and fled. A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body.
[6:21] And they seized him, but he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked. They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.
[6:33] And he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against him, but their testimony was not consistent.
[6:47] Some stood up and began to give false testimony against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent.
[7:00] The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, Do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you? But he kept silent and did not answer.
[7:11] Again the high priest was questioning him and saying to him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.
[7:22] Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. How does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death. Some began to spit at him and to blindfold him and to beat him with their fists and to say to him, Prophesy.
[7:38] And the officers received him with slaps in the face. As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came and seen Peter warming himself. She looked at him and said, You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.
[7:51] But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you are talking about. And he went out onto the porch, and the servant girl saw him and began once more to say to the bystanders, This is one of them.
[8:02] But again he denied it. And after a little while, the bystanders were again saying to Peter, Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too. But he began to curse and swear, I do not know this man you are talking about.
[8:14] Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, Before a rooster crows twice, you would deny me three times. And he began to weep. Early in the morning, the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole council immediately held a consultation.
[8:30] Inbinding Jesus, they led him away and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate questioned him, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, It is as you say. The chief priests began to accuse him harshly.
[8:42] Then Pilate questioned him again, saying, Do you not answer? See how many charges they bring against you? But Jesus made no further answer, so Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.
[8:56] The man named Barabbas had been in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. And Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?
[9:10] For he was aware that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with him whom you call the king of the Jews?
[9:25] They shouted back, Crucify him! But Pilate said to them, What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify him! And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them.
[9:37] And after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers took him away into the palace of this praetorium. And they called together the whole Roman cohort.
[9:48] They dressed him up in purple. And after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to acclaim him, Hail, king of the Jews! And they began beating his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling and bowing before him.
[10:00] After they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off him and put his own garments on him. And they led him out to crucify him. They pressed in the service a passerby coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
[10:14] Then they brought him to the place Golgotha, 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.
[10:28] It was the third hour when they crucified him, and the inscription of the charge against him read, The king of the Jews. They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right, one on his left, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says, And he was numbered with transgressors.
[10:42] 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. 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.
[10:59] 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.
[11:12] At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, 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.
[11:25] Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put 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.
[11:37] 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.
[11:47] There were also some women looking on from a distance. Among them 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.
[12:01] And there were many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. When evening had already come because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the council who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.
[12:16] And he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if he was dead by this time and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether he was already dead. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.
[12:31] Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were looking on to see where he was laid.
[12:45] Isaiah 52, starting in verse 13. Behold, my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
[12:59] Just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. Thus he will sprinkle many nations.
[13:11] Kings will shut their mouths on account of him. For what had not been told them, they will see. And what they had not heard, they will understand. Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
[13:26] For he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him.
[13:37] He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and like one from men hide their face. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore.
[13:51] And our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
[14:04] The chastening for our well-being fell upon him. And by his scourgings we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.
[14:20] He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers. So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taking away and as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due.
[14:40] His grave was assigned with wicked men yet he was with a rich man in his death because he had done no violence nor was there any deceit in his mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush him putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering.
[14:57] He would see his offspring he would prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul he would see it and be satisfied.
[15:09] By his knowledge the righteous one my servant would justify the many as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great and he will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.
[15:33] Let's pray. Lord we thank you for the testimony of your word.
[15:48] Lord we thank you that nothing needs to be added to it no description needs to be put we see ourselves in the pages of it.
[16:00] Lord in the midst of this Passion Week Lord on this very day of preparation when these things you are preparing to do for us may our hearts be tuned to you may our minds be drawn to you Lord I know there are a number of needs that are represented on our prayer list there are great health needs physical needs financial needs spiritual needs Lord we lift up each one to you we ask that you would intercede in the lives of these individuals and these families we pray that the mercy and the greatness of God would pour out as a testimony to the reality of who you are Lord we also pray for our own hearts and our own minds and our own church we pray that the truth of scripture would resonate within us Lord that it would be the motivating factor of our lives it would be the determining factor of our behavior
[17:03] Lord that the truths that we have read and seen tonight would never be far from us Lord all we can do is thank you all we can do is praise you and all we can do is just continue to restate how much we need you Lord we look forward to anticipation of resurrection Sunday Lord that celebration of the resurrection is only as good as the price that was paid for our sin Lord may we never be far from the cross either this week or any week Lord may we always be walking hand in hand with you for your glory be with us as we get ready to leave here tonight Lord may the Easter story resonate Lord may it be a daily application in our lives and may you be glorified and honored through it we ask it all in Jesus name amen amen so
[18:10] Thank you.