We turn to God's word this morning to the gospel according to Mark, Mark chapter 15. Mark chapter 15, together with the other gospel accounts which record for us the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Let's read the entirety of Mark chapter 15. Mark 15, and straightway in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, are thou the king of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, thou sayest it. And the chief priest accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again, saying, answerest thou nothing? Behold, how many things they witness against thee? But Jesus yet answered nothing. So that Pilate marveled. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner whomsoever they desired. And there was one named Barabbas which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them saying, will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? for he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. And Pilate answered and said unto them, what will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him. And then Pilate said unto them, why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out, the more exceedingly crucify him. And so Pilate willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium And they called together the whole band, and they clothed him with hurple, and plaited a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, hail, king of the Jews. And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees, worshiped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucify him. And they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. And they bring him onto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the place of a skull. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. And the superscription of his accusation was written over, the King of the Jews. And with him they crucify two thieves, the one on his right hand and the other on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. When the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by when they heard it said, behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink saying, let alone let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost, he said, truly, this man was the son of God. There were also women looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, the last son of Joses, and Salome, who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto him, and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem. And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled if he were already dead. And calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen and took him down and wrapped him in the linen and laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock and rolled the stone unto the door of the sepulcher and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. Thus far we read God's holy and inspired word. I draw your attention quickly to two other passages in the New Testament. Philippians 2 verses seven and eight. Philippians 2 verses 7 and 8, and then especially as the end of verse 8 references the death of Jesus, Philippians 2, 7, Speaking of Jesus, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And then one more passage, Hebrews 2 verse nine. Hebrews 2 verse 9, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. It's on the basis of these passages in scripture that we read that we have the teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 16. Lord's Day 16, questions and answers 40 through 44. Why was it necessary for Christ to humble himself even unto death? Because with respect to the justice and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise than by the death of the Son of God. Why was he also buried? Thereby to prove that he was really dead. Since then Christ died for us, why must we also die? Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an abolishing of sin and a passage into eternal life. What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross? That by virtue thereof our old man is crucified, dead and buried with him, that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Why is it there added, he descended into hell? that in my greatest temptations, I may be assured and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross, hath delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell. Beloved congregation, in our Lord Jesus Christ, Mark chapter 15, the chapter that we read, records for us the suffering of Jesus Christ in verses 17 and following. The soldiers, having received Jesus, plaiting that crown of thorns, pressing it down upon his head as a mock crown, After Jesus was crucified, the suffering that Jesus endured by the people, that's what we have in verses 29 and following, the people passing by and wagging, railing on Jesus and wagging their heads. That's an interesting phrase that the Bible uses, wagging their heads. What does it mean that they were wagging their heads at Jesus? Well it means this, if you've ever seen somebody doing something that was very, very foolish, then you shake your heads at them. Kind of similar to my wife and I a few weeks ago driving down the highway down to Red Deer and there on the highway a man on his bicycle riding his bicycle against traffic on the highway with vehicles going 110, 20, 30 kilometers an hour and you shake your head at that man. That man's liable to get killed. In a similar way, that's what the people were doing to Jesus. But now they were shaking their heads in an expression of contempt and ridicule. Look at him. He claims to be the Christ. If he were the Christ, let him come down from the cross and we will believe him. But what a foolish, foolish man. And that was suffering that Jesus endured by the people. And all of this then becomes part and parcel of what we considered last week, Lord's Day 15, the suffering of Jesus Christ. Jesus suffered all his life long, and then especially as that suffering came to its climax on the cross of Calvary. The subject this morning for this sermon isn't so much the suffering of Jesus Christ, but now rather his death. And that becomes kind of difficult then writing two different sermons on these two different Lord's days, because where does the suffering of Jesus Christ end? and his death begins. The two are so closely related that, as we noted last week, you cannot entirely separate the suffering of Jesus Christ from his death. Well, the way the catechism approaches it is this, that in Lord's Day 15, the prior Lord's Day, the emphasis is on the curse that Jesus Christ bore for us. That was the word of God's wrath upon Jesus all his life long, but especially there on the cross of Calvary during those three hours of darkness, Jesus bore the curse of God that was suffering. Lord's day 16 now goes one step further then, and now ask the question, why did that suffering that Jesus endured all his life long, but especially on the cross, why did that suffering have to result in Jesus actually dying? And that's a good question, and it becomes the first question then of this Lord's Day, Lord's Day 16. Why was it necessary for Christ to humble himself, now this is the emphasis, even unto death? Why couldn't it have been the case that Jesus Christ only had to suffer? Why couldn't it have been the case that after he endured the wrath of God during those three hours of darkness, and that afterwards when Jesus said, it is finished, that Jesus would come down from the cross and live. Why did Jesus' suffering have to go all the way that it resulted in him in having to die? And the answer is, and we'll expound on that in the course of the sermon, but very simply using the words from the prophet Ezekiel, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. If Jesus had not died, the wrath of God would not be satisfied and we would yet be in our sins. So that death was necessary. Hebrews 2 verse nine, Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. The suffering that results in death that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. And therefore the suffering and death of Jesus Christ is necessary for our salvation. Well, let's consider then this death of Jesus, going simply through these three articles of the Apostles' Creed, and those will be the three points of our sermon. But the theme of the sermon, humbled even unto death, let's note in the first place, the death of Jesus, In the second place, his burial, and then as we confessed it in the Apostles' Creed, his descent into hell, humbled even unto death. On that Friday afternoon long ago, after the three hours of darkness, Jesus spoke those last words, we have that here in Mark 15, verse 37, and Jesus cried with a loud voice from the other gospel accounts, that last loud voice, those words that Jesus used were the final crossword, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And Jesus died. That Jesus died was evident to Everyone, everyone standing around the cross. From the other gospel accounts, we know that the soldiers came by and they took a club and they broke the legs of the other two malefactors to hasten their death. But when they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs. Why not? because they saw that he was dead already. The centurion standing there at the cross after Jesus died and after the earthquake, that centurion says, certainly this was a righteous man. And it was clear to him that a righteous man had just died. Why did Joseph of Arimathea ask Pilate for Jesus' body? Because Joseph knew, and it was obvious to everybody, it was obvious to Pontius Pilate that the centurion reported it, but everybody knew that Jesus had died. So that even though Jesus died, let's remember that the person of the Son of God did not die, the second person of the Trinity did not die, but it was the Son of Man, Jesus in His human nature. So that the Son of Man, Jesus, died. The death of Jesus Christ was necessary for your salvation and for mine. If Jesus would have refrained from that last crossword and right at that moment where we otherwise think he would have died, But if he would have stepped off the cross alive, then Jesus would not have entered into the fullness of our death. And therefore, he would not have delivered us from death. But this death of Jesus Christ was the divine solution to a significant problem that we have. And the problem is the terrible guilt and bondage of our sins, the great problem that the human race has and that we as God's people have is that we are sinners. There's always two aspects to that problem of sin that we have that we ought to note that the death of Jesus Christ delivers us from. The first problem is the guilt of sin. The guilt of sin means that we are worthy to be punished, and that we are worthy to die for what we have done, just as the man who has committed murder now stands before a judge, and the judge renders his verdict, and the verdict of the judge is guilty, and because that man now is guilty, he is worthy to be punished, and the judge says to be punished with death. Well, that's what the guilt of sin means for the whole human race. Guilty for the sins that we have committed, both original sin that we committed in Adam and all of our actual sins, and the verdict that God renders is this, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Guilty sinners worthy of punishment. And that punishment is death. The second major aspect of sin is the bondage of sin. Sin imprisons us, sin ties us up as it were so that we're not free of our own power to serve God as he's called us to. Sin makes us a slave and it so deceives us that all the while we are in bondage that we would fancy ourselves to be free. But the reality is that that's horrible, horrible bondage, to be in bondage to the power of sin, to have sin rule over you and govern you and guide you so that you think of that Awful bondage that the Israelites in the Old Testament experienced when they were under the rule of Pharaoh in Egypt. Well, that physical bondage of the Israelites is a picture of the spiritual bondage of sin. The guilt of sin and the bondage of sin are great problems for the child of God. The divine solution to that serious problem is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first place, the death of Jesus frees us from the guilt of sin. In Heidelberg Catechism, answer 40. With respect to the justice and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise than by the death of the Son of God. Satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise. The death of Jesus Christ was necessary. God will have his justice satisfied. And you remember that's language that we use long ago, not too long ago, in Lord's Day Five, that God must and will have his justice satisfied. That satisfaction of God's justice in relation to our guilt is this, that the justice of God demands that the guilty party be punished with death. The death of Jesus Christ then in our place as our substitute was the satisfaction of God's justice and therefore we've been released from the punishment that our sins require. And why was it that the death of Christ was the covering of our guilt? And the answer is because the one who died was the Son of God, no less than the Son of God. So that our confession here in the Heidelberg Catechism is a very strong confession. Sometimes maybe one would say, is it going too far? Is it too strong? When the catechism says that with respect to the justice and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise. Nothing else could satisfy the justice of God with regard to our sins than by the death of the Son of God. The Son of God needed to die. Well, it lies in the fact, the explanation lies in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity has two natures. a divine nature and a human nature, and it was in that human nature that he could die, and he did die. The divine nature of Jesus did not die, but the human nature could die and did. The human nature of Jesus could be raised again and was raised from the dead, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, according to his human nature, died. And because of who He is, the Son of God, the death of Jesus Christ has value, great value, enormous value. His death has merit. He was able to bear all that wrath of God for all our sins. Jesus, as the Son of God in the flesh, you see, He could endure it. He could stand it. Whereas you and me, if we would have even a small taste of the wrath of God, we would be consumed. We would wither away. but the Son of God could endure it all, all the wrath of God for all our sins, for the sins of all of God's people, His death is able to cover the guilt of all our sins. And then in the second place, the death of Jesus Christ also freed us from the second aspect of the problem we have, the bondage of sin. the power of sin because the Lord Jesus Christ having paid our debt before God also frees us from the rule of sin from the power of sin so that now we are able to serve God so that now sin is no longer our master now we are no longer under the bondage of sin but now we are free free to serve God and to live according to His will. Once death had no more right to hold us by the death of Jesus Christ, now it has no more power to hold us. Now it's true we still sin, there's still an old man within us that walks contrary to God's law, but we're not in bondage to that sin the way we were without the death of Jesus Christ. We are freed from the bondage, from the power, from that rule of sin, free to serve God. And it's all possible because of the death of the Son of God. And beloved, that's the gospel to us this morning. The gospel is that the death of Jesus Christ was for all his people. Hebrews 2 verse 9, we read that passage, it says that he should taste death for every man, and comparing scripture with scripture, we know that means Christ tasted death for every one given to him of the Father, for everyone who is a member of his body, for all his sheep, Christ tasted death for all his elect. And that's the gospel that comes to us, salvation accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ, through his death in my place. And I am spared the wrath of God that I might now be the recipient of all the love and the mercy of God. Now there's more to the death of Jesus. Jesus died and now we come to the second point of the sermon and he was also buried. Mark chapter 15 and the other gospel accounts give us the history of Jesus' burial. So that here in Mark 15 we read of Joseph of Arimathea who now is in Jerusalem and in verse 43 being referred to as a trusted counselor. We read also that this Joseph of Arimathea waited for the kingdom of God. That means that he believed in Jesus and he attended to the words of Jesus when Jesus preached concerning the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. Joseph of Arimathea heard that preaching and he believed. He waited for that kingdom of God that Jesus preached. Joseph goes in boldly unto Pilate. Unashamed, boldly now, unashamed now to be openly associated with this man whom everybody else just cried out, crucify him, crucify him. Joseph goes in boldly unto Pilate and requests the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that this Jesus was already dead and questions it for a bit, calls for the centurion. The centurion comes in, confirms that yes, indeed, Jesus is dead. And Pilate gives permission to Joseph to receive the body of Jesus. So this Joseph, along with Nicodemus from the other gospel accounts, take the body of Jesus, wrap his body with fine linen, they carry the body over to the sepulchre, a brand new sepulchre where never man was laid. They set Jesus inside that sepulchre, they exit the tomb, They roll the stone in front of the entrance of the tomb. This was the burial of Jesus. So that we confess in the Apostles' Creed that this Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. The Heidelberg Catechism states the reason he was buried was to prove that he was really dead. And that's all a very short answer that the Heidelberg Catechism gives with regard to the burial. Now the Heidelberg Catechism isn't wrong per se. It's correct that his burial proved that he was dead because after all you don't bury somebody when you think they are dead when you are pretty sure that they are dead but you bury somebody who has in fact died. And so Jesus' burial did prove that he was really dead. but there's more to it than that. His burial was the confirmation that he did, in fact, die. And that means that there's no disputing his death. There's no entertaining any kind of theory that Jesus might have come close to death, as close as somebody could come to death, but that Jesus never really did die. All of that kind of thinking and all of those theories fall away. Jesus died. And to confirm that death, he was subsequently buried. And right here, there's comfort for the child of God in this article of our faith. We confess that he was buried, which is a strong testimony that Jesus did in fact die. He took the curse of God upon Him in my place for my sins and there on the cross of Calvary, He did die. And I know that. And for confirmation thereof, Jesus was buried. But there's more to Jesus' burial. Yet Jesus' burial also shows that He entered into the fullness of our death, into the full extent of our death. Because what is death for you and for me? Death isn't simply that our souls go up to heaven. Now, yes, that's true, that's what happens at the moment of our death. But the full reality of our death is that the soul is separated from the body. We are soul and body. Our souls go up to be with Jesus in heaven, but our body, our body goes down to the grave and our body is buried. And part of our death then is that our body goes into the grave, and that grave is the place of corruption, as the Bible says, thus thou art, and thus thou shalt return. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ entered into the fullness of our death. He entered into the grave to show that he's entered into the full reality of what death is for us. So that passage we read, Hebrews 2 verse 9, states that Jesus should taste death. He should taste death for every man. We already explained what every man means, but now that Jesus should taste death. And by tasting death, It doesn't mean that Jesus got a good sip of what death was like, that he got as close to death as one could possibly get to death without actually dying. No, but tasting death means that he not only tasted it, but that he drank it down. He drank the full cup that the Father gave him, that full cup of the wrath of God, which resulted in his death, so that his tasting death means that he experienced the fullness of what death is and what our death is, and part of that fullness of death is that our bodies are laid in the grave. And so was his. And here too, there's tremendous comfort Jesus tasted death and entered the grave for you and for me. Jesus entered that grave so that he could change that grave, change that grave for you and for me, so that now instead of that grave becoming the place of corruption, now that grave becomes simply a a holding place. That grave becomes a gateway to glory because yes, the grave is where the body decays, but the body will come out of that grave in the resurrection of the dead. Our Lord Jesus Christ went into the grave so that he could come out of the grave and that guarantees our resurrection. And the grave has been changed for all of God's people that it becomes an entrance, a doorway into eternal glory and we'll note that more next Lord's Day and Lord's Day 17. But that means that death for us is not a victorious enemy. It is an enemy, make no mistake about that. The Bible in 1 Corinthians 15 does speak about death as an enemy, that it is the last enemy, but it is not a victorious enemy. As the catechism says in question 42, why must we die if Christ already died for us? Kind of seems as if death is still something that holds sway over us and that we should be fearful of, but the answer is that our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an abolishing of sin, which means that old man is done away with, no more, and a passage into eternal life. Our Savior was crucified, dead, and buried, and now finally descended into hell. And here we note that the Apostles' Creed is not stating things in chronological order. Chronological order would be this way, one right after the other, that Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, and then he was crucified, and after he was crucified, he died, and after he died, he would be buried, and then after his burial, he descended into hell. One right after the other, and the very last thing to happen would be that Jesus descended into hell. But that can't be, because if you back up to the cross, On the cross when Jesus cried out, it is finished, it meaning that atonement has been finished. Our sins have been covered, which means that the guilt of sin and the bondage of sin to condemn us is gone because Jesus Christ bore the punishment of God. And so this can't be a chronological order. but rather the way that we understand this is that this is an order that the Apostles' Creed sets forth, an order of intensity, so that Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, and that was bad. He was crucified, and it's getting worse, and he was buried, he died, and he was buried, went into the lowest part of the earth, and the climax, though, All of that suffering, the very worst part of it, is that Jesus descended into hell during those three hours of darkness, an order of intensity. That Jesus descended into hell addresses a very real temptation that the child of God faces. You and I have temptations, we have trials, but the greatest, one of the greatest temptations is this, is to doubt. To doubt whether I can really go to heaven. And here's where the Heidelberg Catechism becomes very pastoral. It's not simply a doctrinal confession, a very pastoral confession as well. And we note that in question and answer 44, it speaks about temptation, even a greatest temptation, one of the worst temptations that you and I can go through. And the worst temptation that I can bear is doubt. to doubt my salvation, to doubt whether or not I am a child of God. Many other temptations in our lives, yes, but this is the worst because it undermines the foundation that in my greatest temptations, when I am tempted to doubt whether or not I really am a child of God, and then I, Then I take out the Apostle's Creed and I make the confession, he descended into hell. He bore in his body on the tree of the cross, all the curse of God. He descended into hell. And that means beloved that there's no more hell. that can be brought to us. I cannot be sent to that place of hell because the Lord Jesus Christ exhausted the curse of God against all my sins. He descended into the depths of hell for my sake. And now I'm comforted and I'm restored and my faith is strong again. And so Lord's days 15 and 16 together teach us the glorious truth of our salvation through the work of Jesus Christ, his suffering, his death, his burial, and his dissension into hell. And it now opens the door for us to consider those steps of his exaltation, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, his session at God's right hand and his final coming to judge. But what a beautiful confession is ours. He suffered, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell and that he did that for me in my place. God be praised. for giving unto us a Savior. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word to us this morning. Bless that word to our hearts that it might nourish us and that we may Give all glory to Thee, and so glorify Thy name through Thy word preached, and by our lives we thank Thee for Jesus Christ. We love Him because He first loved us, and may we now live to His glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We sing Psalter number 310. Psalter number 310, a versification of Psalm 116. Let's sing all the stanzas, all six. Psalter number 310. ♪ Come, O Lord, for I be blessed ♪ ♪ When my hope nearly breaks its grip ♪ ♪ Keep him through life, and he shall rest ♪ The Lord's salvation kindly sought, He heard my cry, He said, is now to thee entitled. ♪ And still in sorrow set me free ♪ ♪ Since he has freed my eyes from tears ♪ ♪ And kept my feet from sinning ♪ you. I have loved you endlessly, but in vain. O'er all the earth. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you all. Amen.