Illustration: (Recuperating in her hospital bed in Southwest Germany, Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch had several requests for her doctors: pink casts for her fractured legs and arm, a new hairbrush and a menu of turkey and steamed carrots for when she was stable enough to eat solid food. Lynch, an Army supply clerk with only minimal combat training, shot several advancing Iraqi soldiers, emptying her weapon of ammunition and incurring a series of gunshot wounds.
Navy SEALs who slipped into the hospital, were led to her room by a doctor on duty. At first, she was silent, a sheet pulled tightly over her head. "We’re U.S. soldiers," said one of the SEALs. "We’re here to protect you and take you home." As they rushed her out to a nearby helicopter, Lynch squeezed the hand of an Army Ranger and said, "Don’t let anyone leave me")
1. Scattered across the nations, numbering in the thousands, is an army of soldiers, wounded and out of the fight.
a. Some are unable to walk, and many are confused.
b. No, I’m not talking about Iraq...I am talking about the Body of Christ!
c. Many who were deeply in love with Jesus now live in the shadows, separated from fellowship.
d. Sometimes we just want to pull the sheet over our head! But our loving Savior whispers, "I’m here to protect you and take you home."
e. Hebrews 13:5, "...God has said, ’Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
2. Often it is the people with the most passion for the Lord who get taken out by discouragment...
a. John 6:66-69, "From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. ’You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, ’Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.’"
b. Jesus’ own disciples became discouraged when their idea of His ministry was incomplete.
c. John 21:3, "I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ’We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but THAT NIGHT THEY CAUGHT NOTHING."
3. After fear, discouragment is Satan’s most effective weapon against a believer.
a. When we leave Jesus, all our efforts result in empty nets.
b. When Jesus saw Peter catching nothing, He cooked for him what he could not catch and gave him an invitation...’Follow Me!’
c. God is not against the hopeless.
d. Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
4. The ministry of Jesus BEGINS in a muddy river to which He would bring life...
a. Mark 1:10-11, "As Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ’You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well please.’"
b. The heavens were "torn open" and a voice lets us know that Jesus is the "Son of God."
c. There is a new relationship with God. The world would never be the same again.
5. The ministry of Jesus ENDS with death on a cross by which He would bring life...
a. Mark 15:38-39, "The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how He died, he said, ’Surely this man was the Son of God!’"
b. The curtain was "torn open" and a voice lets us know that Jesus is the "Son of God."
c. There is a new relationship with God. The world would never be the same again.
d. If the centurion had not spoke, a voice from heaven itself would have proclaimed it.
e. PRAYER.
6. Have you ever noticed the lack of emphasis on the physical pain of Jesus on the cross?
a. The blood and wounds could have been told in much more detail.
b. But something else is going on here in this pain.
c. Jesus is totally identifying with us...
d. Mark 15:22-24, "They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the Place of the Skull). Then they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it. And they crucified Him..."
e. Myrrh was used as an anesthetic. Jesus refused to deaden any of His senses.
f. Jesus had already settled this issue. He would drink fully from the cup of suffering offered Him.
g. Mark 14:36, "Abba, Father,’ He said, ’Everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.’"
7. The cup of pain would not be taken from Him.
a. Today show His identification with us in two of the things He suffered besides the physical.
b. Jesus is calling us to identify with Him to find our breakthroughs.
I. THE RIDICULE AND HUMILIATION OF JESUS. (vs. 29-30)
1. Mark 15:29-30, "Those who passed by hurled insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, ’So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!’"
a. People are walking by and staring at Jesus even as he suffers.
b. Have you ever thought, "I just wish other people didn’t have to see me go through this."
c. It had begun in the garden...
d. Mark 14:48, "Am I leading a rebellion,’ said Jesus, ’that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture Me?’"
e. "So it has to be like this?" Jesus asks.
2. Think about Jesus for a moment: dying of suffocation, bloody and naked.
a. He is there for all to see and to insult.
b. We think that being embarrassed is the worst thing that can happen.
In your places of embarrassment you will see Jesus; He has been there.
c. He is showing you a principle of victory you may not have seen...
3. Many here feel like they are surrounded with no way out.
a. But anyone with courage, and the resolve to keep moving forward can make it past the enemy line.
b. We must find the weakest part of tht enemy’s army and breakthrough there.
4. The weakest division in Satan’s army is called Ridicule.
a. When you walk through it they can’t really hurt you.
b. They will scream insults and obscenities at you just like they did at Jesus!
c. But this is Satan’s bluff.
d. Words not only can’t kill you, they can’t even stop you.
e. When you get to the enemies ranks, they must let you through.
5. But some cannot take the insults and ridicule.
a. They will turn back to get more people to approve of them.
b. The problem is that when you retreat you will quickly be overcome by the enemy and begin ridiculing others along with the enemy.
c. No one can make it through the enemy’s line who cares too much about what other people think of him or her.
6. Jesus took the cup of ridicule and he drank all of it.
a. Ashamed to speak up for Jesus? Do it anyway.
b. Are others giving you a hard time hoping you will stop? Smile and keep walking to your freedom.
II. THE HELPLESS OF JESUS. (vs. 31-39)
1. Mark 15:31-39, "In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked Him among themselves. ’He saved others;’ they said, ’but He can’t save Himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’ Those crucified with Him also heaped insults on Him. At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ - which means, ’My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ When some of those standing near heard this, they said, ’Listen, He’s calling Elijah.’ One man ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ’Now leave Him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take Him down.’ he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last. the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard His cry and saw how he died, he said, ’Surely this man was the Son of God.’"
2. At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land.
a. It is as if God was saying, "I will give the life of My Son for your sin, but I will not let you watch Him die!"
b. The cost of salvation was indeed great!
3. If I were Jesus, I would have wanted to show my power to those who challenged me.
a. The power of the Universe was at His fingertips.
b. Picture all the angels in heaven with their hand on their swords watching for even a slight movement of Jesus’ finger to signal them to come to His side.
c. "Why would our Master let this happen to Him?"
d. Note: Jesus Christ chose to be helpless...
e. The truth is that we can’t stop our helplessness, but Jesus identified with it.
4. When we feel helpless: we get depressed or frustrated or angry.
a. What did Jesus do in His helplessness?
b. Isaiah 53:7, "Like a lamb led to the slaughter, He opened not His mouth."
5. Many here feel helpless with a problem...
a. Maybe it is in the area of money, or health, or your kids or your job.
b. Remember: you belong to One who was helpless only once because He chose to be, on a cross.
c. He was offered the cup of helplessness and He drank all of it.
Conclusion:
1. Out of His ridicule and helplessness came new life...
a. the blood shed on the cross covers our humiliation and our helplessness.
b. Come forward now as families while the band plays and partake of the Lord’s Supper.
c. Stand before the "Crimson Cross."
d. Stand before the cross covered with red carnations. See the field of red sybolic of the shed blood.
e. Pick a red carnation off the cross and remember that the blood of Jesus was not just shed for the world...it was shed for YOU!
2. Pick up a Bible from the floor around the base of the cross.
a. Give it to someone that needs it this week and invite them to join you for worship next Sunday. You will find a pamphlet about our church inside.
b. the curtain was torn from top to bottom.
c. Salvation has come; access to God is NOW!
d. The curtain that separates you from God been torn down. AMEN.
e. Leave your burdens at the foot of the cross.
