The DEATH of DELIVERANCE-II—Mark 15:1-47
Need:
To grasp the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross & thus to wrest the Easter season from the confines of secular thinking.
Mk. 9:30-32—“Then they departed from there & passed through Galilee, & He did not want anyone to know it. For He taught His disciples & said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, & they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” But they did not understand this saying, & were afraid to ask Him.”
Mark related/described the chain of events surrounding Jesus’ death.
Certain events transpired in bringing about the death of Salvation/Deliverance/Emancipation/Liberation.
When does Deliverance die?
5 assumptions ensuring the death of Deliverance.
With the death of Deliverance come Assumptions of...
Previously we found that...
With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
1. POWER(:1-5)
2. GAIN(:6-15)
3. CONTROL(:16-20)
4. CONDEMNATION(:21-25)
5. ASSIGNMENT / Category(:26-28)
6— With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
IMPOTENCE/Inability(:29-32)
Explanation:(:29-32) What I can do vs. What I do.
It is never IMPOTENCE when God acts contrary to our choosing, OR if a godly person acts contrary to popular opinion or even common sense.
:29—“And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads & saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple & build it in three days,”
:30—““save Yourself, & come down from the cross!””
:31—“Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save.”
Their Assumption—“He cannot save.” It rightly follows that He cannot save others either. But their Assumption is false!
:32—““Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see & believe.” Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.””
Jn. 10:14-15—““I am the good shepherd; & I know My sheep, & am known by My own. “As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; & I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Jn. 12:23-25—“But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground & dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. “He who loves his life will lose it, & he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Argumentation:
Mk. 14:32-36—“Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; & He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And He took Peter, James, & John with Him, & He began to be troubled & deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here & watch.” He went a little farther, & fell on the ground, & prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.””
—That is NOT IMPOTENCE!
Acts 5:27-32—“Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching & are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Peter & the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince & Saviour that he might give repentance & forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, & so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.””
—That is Strength.
Obedience to God is never IMPOTENCE, but is instead power!
‘The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Gospel’—Tertullian
1Cor. 6:7—“Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?”
Acts 20:20—““how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, & taught you publicly & from house to house,”
Illustration:
Remora on Shark/Seems nonchalant/Does not mean you can Assume the shark's IMPOTENCE!
Application:
?Assumptions of IMPOTENCE destroyed your Deliverance?
?Is Deliverance dead with your Assumptions?
Believing the illusion that Christianity is IMPOTENT hurts others.
& Doesn’t impress God in the least.
You get baptized & member-ized to a Church in IMPOTENCE, Dare her to vitality, Just to prove her wrong, View her Pastor as IMPOTENT, her Ministries as IMPOTENT, & her future as IMPOTENT....
You trust that IMPOTENCE for the rest of your life.....
& your Deliverance is Dead!
Christian IMPOTENCE is an illusion.
Christians always bring a leveling effect to any society.
One by one by one by one, they make a difference for the whole.
7—With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
NATURE(:33)
Explanation:(:33) natural explanations
:33—“Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.”
God is making a statement here. He is supernaturally imposing His will through His creation. Judgment is being meted out...& is about to be. The deciding point is being formulated before their very eyes. Jesus is about to be judged as sin on their/our behalf. He is the dividing line.
Also a harbinger/declaration for mankind to heed.
Three hours had passed since the crucifixion had begun at 9:00am. It is now 12 noon.
The very height of day brought, “darkness over the whole land,” instead of light.
It is not possible from the text to determine the extent of the the darkness. But it lasted for 3 hours, until 3:00pm. The darkness was supernatural. A solar eclipse is impossible during a full moon(Passover is always on a full moon).
The sun’s going down at midday has apocalyptic implications/insinuations/inferences.
Argumentation/Illustration:
Amos 8:4-9—“Hear this, you who swallow up the needy, And make the poor of the land fail, Saying: “When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small & the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit, That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals-- Even sell the bad wheat?” The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall the land not tremble for this, And everyone mourn who dwells in it? All of it shall swell like the River, Heave & subside Like the River of Egypt. “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;”
*2Pet. 3:3-10—“knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, & saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, & the earth standing out of water & in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens & the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment & perdition of ungodly men.”.....“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, & the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth & the works that are in it will be burned up.”
—God will invade your space one day.
Mk. 4:37-41—“And a great windstorm arose, & the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him & said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose & rebuked the wind, & said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased & there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, & said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind & the sea obey Him!””
Revelation is filled with unusual natural occurrences—Chapts. 8 & 16
—Hail & fire mixed with blood destroys 1/3 green grass & trees.
—Great burning mountainous looking thing is thrown into the sea, destroying 1/3 sea creatures & all ships.
—Painful, “Foul & loathsome sores” on those with the “mark of the beast.”
—“Sea” “became blood as of a dead man” & everything in it dies.
—Freshwater resources become blood.
—Sun “scorches” men “with great heat.”
—“Darkness” upon the throne of the beast(Antichrist).
—Worlds largest earthquake causes cities to fall & Islands & Mountains are destroyed.
There is nothing more pitiful than a person so locked into the NATURAL, that he goes to ridiculously convoluted lengths to explain the super-natural(of God).
Application:
?Assumptions of NATURE destroyed your Deliverance?
?Is Deliverance dead with your Assumptions?
Assuming a NATURAL explanation for everything is severely limiting!
& Doesn’t impress God in the least.
You get baptized & member-ized in a Church for purely social reasons, Disagree with the miraculous, See all her Ministires as mere social endeavors...Psychological outworkings like civic programs. See her Pastor’s success or failure as purely NATURAL, her Ministries as NATURAL, & her future as NATURAL....
You trust that NATURE for the rest of your life....miss the Super-natural!....
& your Deliverance is Dead!
8—With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
UNDERSTANDING(:34-36)
Explanation:(:34-36)
:34—“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?””
—Upon the arrival of 3:00, Jesus “cried out” in Aramaic, the first verse of Ps. 22, a decidedly Messianic Psalm. Perhaps Jesus’ loud cry of this Psalm serves minimally 2 purposes. 1) It is to call us to the entire Psalm itself; 2) It is the revelation of Jesus’ separation from the Father.
God the Father of Jesus had turned His back upon His only-begotten Son in whom He was well-pleased. As the sinless Jesus became sin for us, His Heavenly Father rightly judged that sin as dealt with & paid for in full. Thus Jesus would have been for the first & only time throuout eternity, a lonely only-begotten Son judged by His Father.
Jesus did not cease being God or the Son in nature, essence or being but did briefly cease in the capacity of intimacy & fellowship for God cannot look on sin(Hab. 1:13).
Just as a son/daughter, who has sinned horribly against their father, does not cease to be a son/daughter. He merely must deal with the sin in a permanent way.
:35—“Some of those who stood by, when they heard that, said, “Look, He is calling for Elijah!””
:36—“Then someone ran & filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, & offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.””
No doubt they thought the pain has gotten to Him, Nonsensical
Argumentation:
Jer. 10:23—“O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”
Eph. 4:17-24—“This I say, therefore, & testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him & have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, & be renewed in the spirit of your mind, & that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness & holiness.”
Rom. 1:21-22—“because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, & their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,”
Mat. 13:14-16—““And in them the prophecy of Isaiah[6:10] is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear & shall not understand, And seeing you will see & not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes & hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts & turn, So that I should heal them.’ “But blessed are your eyes for they see, & your ears for they hear;”
Illustration:
Traveling in car/ ‘Oh look, a turtle in the road.’/Actually a Pillow!/We expect turtles in the road but no pillows/Assumptions of UNDERSTANDING
An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York & says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother & I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.
"Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams.
"We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," his dad says. "We're sick of each other, & I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago & tell her," & he hangs up.
The daughter calls Phoenix immediately, & screams at her dad, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there.
I'm calling my brother back, & we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" & hangs up.
The dad hangs up his phone & turns to his wife.
"Okay," he says, "They're coming for Thanksgiving & paying their own fares...Now what do we tell them for Christmas?/Assumptions of UNDERSTANDING
Application:
?Assumptions of UNDERSTANDING destroyed your Deliverance?
?Is Deliverance dead with your Assumptions?
Assuming a NATURAL explanation for everything is severely limiting!
& Doesn’t impress God in the least.
You get baptized & member-ized in a Church for purely social reasons, Disagree with the miraculous, See all her Ministries as mere social endeavors...Psychological outworkings like civic programs. See her Pastor’s success or failure as purely NATURAL, her Ministries as NATURAL, & her future as NATURAL....
You trust that NATURE for the rest of your life....miss the Super-natural!....
& your Deliverance is Dead!
9—With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
RECOGNITION(:37-41)
Explanation:(:37-41) Realization
:37—“And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, & breathed His last.”
Jn. 19:30— “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
:38—“Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”
At the point of Jesus’ death. immediately the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was rent in its entirety “from top to bottom.” This is also recorded in Mat. 27:51, & Lk. 23:45. Mat. also records that “the earth quaked, & the rocks were split.” Simultaneously graves of some of the saints were opened & following Jesus’ resurrection, they themselves raised from the dead (Mat. 27:52-53).
The rending of the “veil”(curtain) is significant in that is signifies 1)The end of the sacrificial system as sacrifice has been permanently satisfied; 2) The judgment of God upon Israel’s trust in the temple ; 3) The unrestricted access into God’s very presence. With the death of Jesus was forever ended the need for sacrifice, ritual or priest to approach God.
:39—“So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this & breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!””
There was a “centurion” who was standing beside(“opposite”) Jesus. This soldier witnessed Jesus’ cries & the manner in which He died & came to the realization that the man who had been crucified(Jesus) “was the Son of God!”
:40—“There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less & of Joses, & Salome,”
Certain of the women were known to the writer & reader.
See :47.
They included “Mary Magdelene.”—Jesus had cast 7 demons out of her(Lk. 8:2) & she is mentioned in all 4 Gospels.
These women were carefully observing the situation/events while the disciples are never mentioned.
“Mary the mother of James the Less.”(Shorter or less prominent) This Mary was also the mother of “Joses.” This is probably not Joses, Jesus half-brother. But could possibly have been “the wife of Clopas” of Jn. 19:25(parallel).
“Salome” is not named except here, but in Mat. 27:56, a woman is mentioned in the present context as a witness who is described as “the mother of Zebedee’s sons(James & John).”
:41—“who also followed Him & ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, & many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.”
Argumentation:
Jn. 16:1-3—“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. “And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”
Lk. 19:41-44—“Now as He drew near, He saw the city & wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. “For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you & close you in on every side, “& level you, & your children within you, to the ground; & they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.””
Jn. 20:26-29—“And after eight days His disciples were again inside, & Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, & stood in the midst, & said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, & look at My hands; & reach your hand here, & put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered & said to Him, “My Lord & my God!” Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen & yet have believed.””
Illustration:
Before I was saved/I truly believed I knew truth/Assumption of RECOGNITION
BUT, Jesus woke me up to the fact that my recognition was limited to the world’s interpretation/Jesus died for my sins/Actual RECOGNITION
While preaching/People believe/RECOGNITION
While sharing/People believe/RECOGNITION
Application:
!Assumptions of RECOGNITION destroy your Deliverance!
?Is Deliverance dead with your Assumptions?
A mere illusion of RECOGNITION is only temporary & hurts you & others. Doesn’t impress God in the least.
?You RECOGNIZE Faith is based solidly on fact?
?You RECOGNIZE Christ & His Church are to be taken seriously?
That RECOGNITION can carry you thru the rest of your life.....
Yet your Deliverance is Dead!
10—With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
DUTY / Commitment(:42-47)
Explanation:(:42-47) Duty at hand
:42—“Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,”
Joseph did this in order not to profane the Sabbath in compliance with...
Deut. 21:22-23—“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, & he is put to death, & you hang him on a tree, “his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”
The crucifixion was the Friday before Passover as it was “the Preparation Day” & before “the Sabbath.”
:43—“Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming & taking courage, went in to Pilate & asked for the body of Jesus.”
This Joseph was “a prominent....member” of the “council”(a Sanhedrin).
The Great Sanhedrin(in Jerusalem)—contained 70 members plus the high priest.
Local manifestations of it or lesser Sanhedrins, of which there were 23.
It consisted of a ruling council of chief priests(mostly Sadducees), scribes & elders(lay people, some Pharisees).
*Luke 23:50-51 informs us that Joseph “had not consented to” the council‘s “decision & deed” condemning Jesus to die.
Joseph of Arimathea was “a rich man”(Mat. 27:57) as is the case with most who have any political respect.
*Joseph’s “taking courage” in his approach of Pilate is not to be taken lightly. Anyone associated with another accused of treason would naturally become suspect themselves. Even more so, Joseph’s position in the/his Sanhedrin would absolutely be threatened because of such an allegiance.
*In fact, prior to Jesus’ death, Joseph was a “secret disciple” of Jesus(Jn. 19:38).
Perhaps Joseph’s known character spoke in his stead, as well as Pilate’s knowledge of Jesus’ innocence, played into allowing Joseph to take down Jesus’ corpse.
:44—“Pilate marveled that He was already dead; & summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time.”
Jn. 19:31-34 tells us that the Jews asked Pilate to ensure the death of the crucified by breaking their legs in order to take the bodies away before the Sabbath began.
This was also the time when Jesus’ side was pierced, fulfilling Zech. 12:10(Jn. 19:37). Not breaking Jesus’ bones fulfilled Ex. 12:46(Jn. 19:36), which relates the same of the Passover sacrifice. Thus Jesus is Himself the fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice!
:45—“So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.”
:46—“Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, & wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, & rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.”
Fulfillment of:
Isa. 53:9—“And they made His grave with the wicked-- But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.”
“Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, & wrapped Him in the linen.”
DUTY to human dignity & to honor Jesus the Christ.
Jn. 19:39-42 informs us that Joseph was joined by Nicodemus(himself a “ruler of the Jews” & “a Pharisee”—Jn. 3:1), who brought +/- 100 lbs. of a mixture of myrrh & aloes for anointing the body. Nicodemus, like Joseph, also hid his contact with Jesus & had only approached him “by night”(Jn. 3:2).
Joseph “laid” the corpse of Jesus in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock(Mat. 27:60).
Joseph then “rolled a stone” against the opening of the tomb in order to seal it. Stones were commonly either circular(disk-shaped) or square.
:47—“And Mary Magdalene & Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.”
See :40.
Argumentation/Illustration:
Heb. 10:24-25—“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love & good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, & so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Mat 28:19-20—“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
—Our DUTY is to Love, Reach & Nurture others for Christ!
Rev. 2:2-3, 9, 19, etc. —Ephesus—“I know your works, your labor, your patience, & that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles & are not, & have found them liars; “& you have persevered & have patience, & have labored for My name’s sake & have not become weary.”
Rev. 2:9—Smyrna—“I know your works, tribulation, & poverty (but you are rich); & I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews & are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
Rev. 2:19—Thyatira—““I know your works, love, service, faith, & your patience; & as for your works, the last are more than the first.”
Application:
!Assuming your DUTY in Christ ensures your Deliverance!
?Is Deliverance dead with your Assumptions?
A mere illusion of DUTY is pointless & waste of time & resources, Doesn’t impress God in the least.
Your DUTY to God & His Church is to be taken seriously.
DUTY to God should be entered into by the Spirit
Assuming our DUTY can open new opportunities for us in Christ!
Applying yourself in faith opens new possibilities.
Joseph certainly knew Jesus was dead & His subsequent resurrection would have sealed his faith. His DUTY was to what he knew was the right thing to do, even when he did not understand fully.
DUTY to less revelation yields greater revelation....The Resurrection is coming!
Trust that DUTY for the rest of your life.....
& your Deliverance will NOT be Dead!
CONCLUSION:
With the death of Deliverance, come Assumptions of...
6. IMPOTENCE/Inability(:29-32)
7. NATURE(:33)
8. UNDERSTANDING(:34-36)
9. RECOGNITION(:37-41)
10. DUTY / Commitment(:42-47)
1. POWER(:1-5)
2. GAIN(:6-15)
3. CONTROL(:16-20)
4. CONDEMNATION(:21-25)
5. ASSIGNMENT / Category(:26-28)
Presented 03/28/04pm to:
Needmore Baptist Church
1620 Mt. Vernon Rd.
Woodleaf, NC 27054
