who but for the grace of God would not do the same. Not one of us sitting here today who but for the grace of God would not do the same. We belong, brothers and sisters, to that battalion, and likewise, we, like the world, in our sin, would have our pleasure at the mockery of God. This is the state of man's soul. Do you know that? We who were created in the image of God, created for the grandest pleasure, to love God, to know Him, to enjoy Him forever, we were created for the grandest pleasure, and yet we all would do this. We all would stand and take our pleasure at the mockery of God. We would get our kicks and our giggles at watching the Son of Man be mocked and scorned and spit on. We have our pleasure, do we not, at God's expense? All beauty is found in God, but what do we do? We'll find it elsewhere. We'll find corrupted beauty, and there we take our pleasure. We take, there is a pleasure to be seen in power, but we take it and make it power over one another, power over those who are poor. We take the pleasure in victory and take it away from Christ and claim it for ourselves. The dominion that we were to have over creation, we now distort it and make it against the son of man himself. Does God call it shame? Then we call it fun. Nakedness, brutality, preying on brothers and sisters, that's what we call fun, and God calls it shame and sin. Does God call it wickedness? We are captivated and entertained by that violence. We are captivated and entertained by that hatred, by taunting and mockery of good. Isn't that what stirs our souls? We know this. We fight this, but we know deep down, often our natures are stirred by what is most violent and hated by God, what is most pleasurable to our flesh. These men, we are but one of them. And yet notice, notice the great irony of depraved knowledge. These men had something of a right knowledge, but they did not know it. What they knew that Jesus claimed to be king is what they found to be most repugnant. They found it to be a joke. This man claims to be a king, and look, we will mock him. We will mock his kingship. We will scorn, we can scorn anything of him, his power or what he did, but particularly it was his kingship that they hated. His claim to rule over all the world. You know, Rome knew no other king. Rome at that time was the greatest power. And they knew of no other greater power. And so this was much accustomed to them, conquering a foreign nation and making a mockery of the king. This is what the Romans were good at. This is what they knew to do. And so they gathered the battalion. They left not out anyone. And they came and they made a mockery of this king as well. But I ask you, where is Rome? Today, where is Rome? It is nowhere. The Roman Empire is gone. I ask you, where is Christ? Enthroned in heaven, seated in the heights of heaven itself, at God's own right hand. Now I ask you, what power bids your allegiance? What power bids your attention? So often we are prone to bend the knee towards those things which seem so powerful in our day. The things which go against God and His kingdom, we see great power in because the world sees great power in them. Perhaps scientific pursuits that are contrary to the Creator. Perhaps medical experts that are contrary to God's law. Perhaps world powers that are against the Kingdom of Heaven. All of these things grab our allegiance and we think, I would maybe serve those things. But I tell you, they will all wear out like a garment. Isaiah 50 speaks of the sufferings of Christ. I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come to me. Behold, the Lord helps me. Who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them, all of them who declare me guilty will wear out like a garment and moth will eat them up. This prophecy of Christ, which he was enduring at that time, prophesized the wearing out of all those who persecute Christ like a garment. And I tell you, these men are gone. Rome is gone, but the kingdom of heaven remains. How laughable it is then when we place our allegiance in those things which are not from God. The irony here is profound. The irony of deprived knowledge. We know something a little bit and the very thing that we want to mock turns out to be the thing that will mock us in the end if we stand in our sin. If we will not recognize Christ and His kingdom and His glory and the way that He opened that we may enter it. It is laughable. And yet we must not forget in all of this, we must not forget that it is we who deserved this punishment. I want you to notice what they do to him. right? In twisting the crown of thorns, they take the very object of the curse from the garden, they set it on his brow and pierce him with it. And with the robe of scarlet which is set here, which is spoken of as purple, otherwise probably a cheap imitation purple to mock kingship, they put it on him. And they take This reed, and they put it in hand. The reed in Scripture, always a picture, a mockery of weakness, right? It's not a scepter of iron, but a reed that is placed in his hand, and they mock him. They mock his kingship. But it is we who deserve such treatment. The thorns of the curse were meant for us, were they not? At our sin they were given. We set ourselves up as king over and against God. But that is the truly laughable idea, not that Christ is king. We are the ones that ought to be mocked for saying, I am king over and against God. I shall set up myself against him and against the Lord's anointed. The weakness of our authority might well be shown to be like a reed, and our violence ought to be returned upon our own head. like it was for Christ. As they took that mockery of a scepter and struck him on the head with it, then mocking his own hand, the only power that he had was a power to strike himself. They mocked and they tormented. It is we who ought to have been spit on because we spit in the face of God. It is we who ought to be mocked and stripped of all dignity. Yet it was He who took the curse, who laid aside His kingly power and glory for us. When He came, He did not come with a rod of iron, but He came with a shepherd's staff. He came in gentleness and meekness. He proclaimed His own heart of compassion. And He said, a bruised reed I will not break. He did not come as He could have come the first time with a rod of iron, but in gentleness towards us. And these men, though they know it not in ignorance, they mocked the very thing that Jesus Christ came to do and who He was, even for them. The very weakness of Christ the very veiledness of His glory, the hiddenness of His kingdom, all so that we would be drawn to Him. That's the thing they mocked. That's the thing they took exception to. And that's the thing that they threw back in His face with jeers of delight and pleasure. This man who was condemned, but condemnation was not enough. Mockery must be added to it. And so then we see his humiliation. They led him away to crucify him. And as they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled this man to carry his cross. It was common for one who was sentenced to that death of nailing to the tree to bear their own cross. And we do not know, but it seems likely these robbers who were crucified with him likely bore their own cross. They had the strength to do so. But Christ, he had no strength left, not even to bear his own cross. There was no dignity left even in His final moments. No strength to put on before the world. Another was to be compelled to bear even this cross. And we see Christ truly laid aside everything, did He not? For I tell you, though His strength was taken away by the whipping and the flogging and the mocking that was put upon Him, it was not against His own will. But as we have seen again and again, He laid aside His power. No one takes this power from him, but he laid it aside, and he was made weak like a lamb to the slaughter. There was no strength left in him, and he was crucified. As Psalm 22 said, you lay me in the dust of the earth. Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree, and cursed was this man by God. I don't want to gloss over what a crucifixion is. His body nailed to a tree. The weight of His flesh, what was left of it, hanging by the pierced hands and the pierced feet. naked before the world. Nothing to hide His shame. Nothing to ease His pain. They offered Him drink, and He was so intent to endure the pain of the cross for you, He would not taste it. As Isaiah 50 says, His face was set like a flint that He would bear what you and I deserve. The cross that we ought to have had In the garden, He clothed us. He put a covering over us that our shame might be hidden for a time until He would make propitiation for our sin. He covered us, and yet He comes back and hangs on a tree with no covering. Open in shame. Ridiculed and mocked, and not for His own sin. Not for His own sin, but for ours. He was naked and hanging there. He was a worm and not a man. Notice, they say, for his garments they cast lots. This is not a mere detail, but it is the very words of Psalm 22 penned. You must not miss the fact. This is not a man. This is the Christ. This is He. We read that psalm together. We read the word for word that those things which were first written of King David are ultimately of our Christ, of our God. They cast lots for His garments. They had more interest in the dirty, stained clothes of the man hanging on the cross than of the man who was there. and of the offer of the kingdom and of salvation that He had proclaimed, and all the forgiveness that He gave. They were more interested in His clothes. Do not think you are unlike that. Do not think in your sin you are much different than they. For I tell you, each one of us here have taken more interest in something minor than we have in the blood of Christ. We all have seen that glory and have turned to this way and to that, and have turned one another likewise, giving a blind and ridiculing shoulder to Christ, the One who hangs to die. It is He who endured it for us As we read in Psalm 22, many bulls encompassed Him. Strong bulls. The analogy, think of many, many strong buffalo bulls with their horns all pointed at Jesus, ready to tear Him apart. This is what He felt. Like ravaging lions, ready to pounce. This is how they were. And He said, I am poured out like water. his bones sticking out of joint, his heart like wax melted within his breast, his strength dried up, his tongue sticking to his jaws. God laid him to the dust of death. God put him there for our sin. And yet, do not overlook this little jewel, this little gem, There is one man's name mentioned in this passage. Notice the battalion is nameless. The crowds are nameless. The elders and the chief priests and the scribes are nameless. The robbers are nameless. But there is one name mentioned, the one who found himself in the grip of Christ's cross. And there this man's name stands for all to see. Calvin helpfully notes this little thing. He says, there can be no doubt that God intended by this preparation that is this man to remind us that we are of no rank or estimation in ourselves, and that it is only from the cross of His Son that we derive any eminence or renown or dignity. Christ hung there with no dignity left. Only shame. And yet it is by His cross that many will be made righteous. It is by His cross that this man's name was recorded for all of history. a little glimmer of what this cross will accomplish. This is not dignity before the eyes of men. This was great shame, actually, to take someone and make them bear a sufferer's dying thief's cross. But in God's eyes, it was high glory that his name would be named in Scripture. Not only that, the name of his family is named in the other accounts. Created in God's image, we were dignified, but our sin is our abiding shame, brothers and sisters. Our abiding guilt that lays heavy on our conscience. There is a temporary covering for nakedness that was given in the garden, but here, a permanent cleansing of guilt. Here, dignity is restored in this man's suffering. This is shame in the eyes of the world, but it is great dignity in the eyes of God. Oh, may we give up in looking for self-made dignity and respectability before men. It will only be to our shame, will it not? this battalion that found their pleasure, these men who ridiculed them, all of them out to make their own name. Even the thieves, the robbers who stood there, and in the last moments and dying breaths would make ridicule and mockery of Christ. They would do this for some pleasure of their own? To find some status? Let us give it all up. Let us give up finding any renown before the eyes of men that we may find it before God. The real issue is our standing before God. Oh, do not rest. Do not rest until you know your standing with God is sure. Don't wait. Little ones and old ones, don't wait for even a moment until you know that before the face of God, your dignity is secured. That He loves those whom He died for. And that you can claim Christ is mine. Do not wrestle over your own dignity before men, but find restoration in Christ's cross. There is sure promise that this cross will affect what God has intended for it to do. We cannot go an inch without remembering Isaiah 53. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, that is Jesus Christ, make many to be accounted righteousness. He shall bear their iniquities." There is no question in that passage. There is no qualms. There is no mights or maybes or perhapses. Christ's cross will work on your behalf. It will cleanse from sin. Christ, as He hung there new, I will be satisfied in the work that I am doing. I will not be left at the end of this looking at my own work and thinking, I thought it would accomplish more. No, His cross will accomplish every little thing that He was sent to do. And it will cleanse and pardon you and save you to the uttermost. This cross and this Christ so ridiculed and so mocked by Him. And ultimately, is this not utter scorn for Christ's kingdom? Notice the very things that they begin to deride Him as they stand there and wag their heads. The things that they say. You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. Save yourself. What do they mock? They knew not it was His body that He spoke of. But they mock His resurrection. If He would save Himself, there would be no resurrection. There would be no victory over the grave. Yet that's what they mocked. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Come down? He came down from heaven for the cross. They taunt His vindication, and it reveals they know not what He proclaimed. They shut the gates of heaven and judge Him a criminal. But if He were to come down from the cross, there would be no salvation for sin. They mock Him that He can't come off the cross and He came from heaven to bear that cross. He saved others. He cannot save Himself. Yet there is no salvation unless He willed to stay on the cross. Even in His agony, He must deny Himself, turn away from evil that these men bid Him to do, and to do the will of God. Do you think it was no temptation for the suffering Savior to come down from that cross? Do you think it was no great temptation in His greatest hour of weakness to vindicate Himself there and then? To call on His heavenly Father and send the angels down from heaven and say, enough of it! I'm the King of glory! He would have done it, except it was His will to lay His life down for you. It was His will to cleanse you from your sin. And He would do the will of the Father. And He would not let any deny Him that pleasure of being the Savior of men's souls. He trusts in God. Let Him deliver Him. If He desires in Him. If He delights in Him. See? You think God delights in you? Look at you hanging there. God has no delight in you, but it was the will of the Lord to crush him. Do you see they mock the very truth, the very realities that are here? They know not what they do, but it is the very deep truth that it was God himself who sent him to crush him. It was the will of the Lord to crush this man for our sin. And as He hung there, they put over His head the sign, Jesus, King of the Jews. Again, this kingship theme, right? This is mocked. And as it was on the pathway to Jerusalem, passersby would come, and the great path was likely to Jerusalem, and the side trail was to Golgotha, and the middle cross there hung a sign, Jesus, King of the Jews, and they would wag their heads and shake their fists at Him, and mock and deride Him, and yet they did not know it was that middle cross that was to be the highway to heaven. They would take the path to religiosity, to Jerusalem. They would go on and on, and yet it was Christ who was opening the very gates of the kingdom of heaven for those who would trust in Him. Yes, He was the King of the Jews. He was the King of His people. He was the King of those who He came to save. Yes, He was the King. And you mock it? And you mock it? They derided Him and they derided the very way to the eternal celestial city. What is the highway to heaven? Would you be in the Kingdom of God? Would you find your way there with Him forever? Would you be in the new heavens and earth with Christ reigning and ruling with Him? Tell me how to get there. How do I get to that Kingdom? but by His Word through His flesh and through His salvation. But those are the very things they mocked. They knew the words that He had said and they threw it back in His face. There hung His flesh in atonement for sin and guilt, and they said that's the reason why clearly God has no delight in Him. Look at Him hanging there. And they had no interest in the salvation that He won for us. They despised this highway of heaven. And I tell you, brothers and sisters, there is no greater curse to man than that he would despise the one who hung on the cross. You think it is a great curse to hang and die before men? You think it's a great curse to lose everything? Your very clothes to cover your shame? The very sensation that you have of feeling pleasure? And your life itself, you think that is great curse? I tell you, there is no greater curse than denying the one who hung on the tree and was cursed for you. There is nothing worse. All we, like sheep, have what? Have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord surely has laid on him the iniquity of us all. How did you come to the cross? Come and find your soul forgiven of guilt and of shame. Find reconciliation with Him who paid every bit of your sin and condemnation. He who endured it. He has borne the iniquity of us all. Lord, what language shall we offer to thank You." What words can we add? What can we say other than what You have said? Lord, we, by nature, that is, by our sinful nature, who we once were, Lord, we hate Your kingship. We hate our Creator. We despise Your righteousness. We hate Your scepter of gentleness. We hate that You bore the curse of the thorns for us. We hate You, God, in our sin, and yet by Your mercy, by Your sheer delight to save a people, not because we willed it, not because we were strong in intellect, not because we were clever, or because we could read better than anyone else, but because Your grace came to us and opened our eyes, we may say, hail Thou once despised Jesus. I pray, if it is Your will, Lord, that there would not be one here who would end their days in mocking and in derision against you. Let us not outlive our love for thee, Lord. No child, however small or in the womb, Lord, may they not go without your sure salvation. I praise you and thank you. In your name, amen.