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Part 6 of 16
Week 11: Christ's Obedience Under Suffering
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Two weeks ago, I stood in the Vatican Museum in Rome and saw an iconic painting of the Last Supper—one of the most sacred moments in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. On that holy night, the God in flesh bent down on His knees and washed the feet of those He created from the foundation of the world. He taught them about the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Yet in 2024, at the opening of the Paris Olympics, the world watched the desecration of that holy moment. The Vatican and the global church cried out against the blasphemous mockery of the Lord Jesus—drag queens pretending to be Christ and His followers, dancing and mocking the Lord Jesus Christ at one of the most sacred moments in His life.
Notice: they would never do that to Muhammad. They would never do that to Confucius, Buddha, or Joseph Smith. Why? The devil has no need to attack what already belongs to him. But Satan loves to attack that which is a threat. The Son of Almighty God and His bride, the church, is why the devil loves to influence men to constantly mock and desecrate the name and life of the Lord Jesus Christ—to discredit the only hope for mankind.
For years, men have mocked Christ in videos, on television, in music videos, on social media, and on comedy stages. But family, I want you to hear me: the mockery of Christ is a serious problem in our society. And it did not start with the Paris Olympics. It did not start with our generation. It finds its origins right here in the text we're about to unpack today.
You recall how the Lord Jesus Christ was arrested by the religious leaders of Israel and illegally tried. By the time the sun came up on Friday, they had found Him guilty illegally. For the agency of capital punishment, they carried Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea—because only Rome could execute criminals.
Pilate presided over the Roman trial, found Jesus not guilty, and said, "I find no fault in this man." Pilate did everything he could to release Jesus. But the mob outside his window, led by those religious leaders, cried out for blood: "Crucify him! Crucify him!"
Pilate then took Jesus and sent him to be scourged—beaten with flagella within an inch of his life. His flesh was ripped from his body, his bones exposed, tendons damaged from those whips. He was brought back, a bloody lump of flesh, and stood before the people. Still, that was not good enough. The people cried out, "Crucify him!"
Pilate brought out Barabbas, an infamous robber, insurrectionist, and thief. He stood them up next to each other and said, "Choose one to release." The people, deceived by the religious leaders, cried out, "Give us Barabbas!" Then Pilate, capitulating to the pressure, gave the order for Christ to be executed.
What happens next in these few verses is one of the most dehumanizing, deplorable, disgusting displays of the evils of human depravity around the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 27:27 says:
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's quarters and gathered the whole battalion before him.
A battalion in the first century was a company of soldiers anywhere from 200 to 600 men. There is the weak, busted, lacerated, destroyed body of the Lord Jesus Christ in a large room surrounded by barbaric soldiers—like sharks smelling blood in the water. Everywhere the Lord looks through his lumped-up eye, he sees soldiers all around him, waiting.
If you've ever been surrounded by people who were about to jump you, if you've ever felt demonic activity and attacks of the devil on every side with everything closing in on you, if you've ever been surrounded by people who don't have your best interest at heart—then you understand the tension of this moment.
There is the Lord, bloodied and bruised, weakened, beaten within an inch of his life. You would think these soldiers would say, "This man has suffered enough. Let's just carry him to be executed." No. They remember he was charged with being the king of the Jews. And what happens next? They take an opportunity to abuse Christ in private.
Verse 28:
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand. Kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews."
First, they stripped him naked. There is His completely bare body as they are mocking this mock-shift king. Peep the parallels in the text. It was Adam and Eve—when they fell and rebelled against God, they found themselves naked in their sin and ran to cover their nakedness. And here is Jesus, standing naked, preparing to absorb the sins of all humanity.
Then they found a cloak—the scripture says scarlet. They took that heavy cloak and put it on His bloody body to mock him as a toy king. But peep the symbolism in the text. The scripture says in the Old Testament that our sins and minds are like scarlet. And there is the Son of God carrying a scarlet robe on Him—almost symbolic of carrying on Him the sins of all humanity.
Then they found thorns in a bush and twisted together a crown of thorns, squeezing it on his head. Blood now dripped from his sideburns and forehead. But peep the symbolism. It was God in Genesis, after Adam and Eve rebelled against Him. He said, "Cursed is the ground. Cursed is creation. Thorns and thistles it will bear." Now peep Christ carrying those thorns. Almost symbolic—now He's carrying the curse of humanity, which is sin, and the curse of creation. Carrying both of them at the same time, perfectly symbolic of what He was about to do in a few hours: carry the curse of creation and the curse of our sin to the cross. In a day coming, when all of it will be fully redeemed.
Then they put a reed in His right hand—a false scepter—and knelt down, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews." Mocking him with their voice.
For what purpose would they do all of this? For no other reason than their attempt, their depravity, evil, and wickedness to strip Christ of His dignity and His humanity. And yet Jesus says nothing. Jesus does not make a defense for Himself, because Christ knows who He is.
They are mocking Him to be a false king, but He knows He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They are attempting to strip Him of dignity, but He is sure in His identity.
This is the part of the text I want to remind you about: the importance of you being sure of your identity in Christ. For in the behavior of these men, I see the behavior of the devil, your adversary, who does everything he can to come to you and try to strip you of the righteous robes that the Lord already gave you.
You know exactly what this feels like when he reminds you of your past, when he's condemning you for mistakes, when he's lying to you that God does not love you. What he's trying to do is clothe you in shame. And it's in moments like that that scripture rises up in your heart.
When you're beating yourself up in the middle of the night and when you feel condemned for something you've done, a scripture rises up in your heart and says:
There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
When he's beating you up all the time about something you've done in the past, a scripture rises up in your heart like Paul that says:
This one thing I do: I keep forgetting what is behind me and I keep pressing on to what is in front of me.
This is you not letting the devil act like these men, stripping you of your external garments and trying to strip you of your dignity and your humanity in Christ. I want to tattoo this to you, man: your identity in the Lord. Because if you know who you are in Christ and you know where you're going in Christ and you know how you've been anointed in Christ—man, the devil can't do anything to you but lie.
That's why I remind you a hundred times that he walks around like he is a roaring lion, but he's not. He's a parody waiting for judgment.
But peep the irony of the text. They put a crown of thorns on a man who in a few hours was about to be crowned in heaven. They put an old robe on a man who was about to be robed in glory in heaven. But then they knelt down on one knee and mocked a man who they did not know was the real King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
That same knee that they knelt down in mockery will be the same knee that they will kneel down in the future in humility. For the scripture says:
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
The Muslim knee will bow. The Buddhist knee will bow. The Hindu knee will bow. The atheist knee will bow. The fake Christian knee will bow. The thug knee will bow. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. On the day of judgment, Jesus is Lord.
Those very knees that knelt down in mockery—those men are dead right now. A day is coming. Those same knees that knelt down in mockery, when judgment happens, those same men will take an involuntary knee when they have no other choice but to bow before the one that they punched in the face. Ain't nobody getting away with mockery against Christ.
No men make sport of Him now. But that will come to an end where there will be no more mocking knees. There will only be trembling knees. It's why we need to pray for the unbeliever, that they will know Jesus now as a loving Savior, lest they meet Him later as a wrathful Judge.
You would think their wickedness would be enough, but they don't stop there. Verse 30:
They spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
They honked up phlegm and spit in His face. Hundreds of them, one after the other. Spit, spit, spit. And there is Jesus, covered in spit and phlegm running down His face, running into His lip, dripping into His mouth. The Son of God draped in the spit of people He created.
Then they took the reed out of His hand and struck Him in His head, bashing that crown of thorns into His flesh. Blood mixing with spit.
Jesus says nothing. Does not retaliate. Does not fight back. Modeling for us strength under control.
The Lord, if He wanted to, could have called down a legion of angels. I'm talking to you. The Lord, if He wanted to—you think you're tough—the Lord could just give one whisper from His mouth and call down half of heaven to fight for Him. But He does not do that in that moment. God does not retaliate. He shows us what it looks like to have strength under control.
He shows us what it looks like to trust God in the middle of a circumstance. He shows us what it looks like to be submitted to the will of God even when it hurts.
You know why the Lord doesn't say anything right here? A young man around the age of 20, named Isaiah, was writing about Christ 700 years before he was born. Look at what he said about this very moment. Isaiah 50:6:
I gave my back to those who struck me. They strike me on my cheeks and those who pulled out my beard. I yanked his beard out of his face. I did not hide my face from disgrace and from spitting.
If the Lord retaliates in that moment, He breaks the word of God. If the Lord fights back in that moment, He violates the word of God. If the Lord retaliates in that moment, then this prophecy falls to the floor. But the Lord, knowing what was written about Him, has composure in the middle of a difficult circumstance because He does not want to violate the word.
This is the Lord modeling for you and me what it looks like to be in the middle of a battle, what it looks like to be in the middle of trouble, what it looks like to be persecuted, what it looks like to be going through. And that you don't whip out in the flesh, but instead you let your life, your mind, your heart, your actions be governed by the word of God.
We can't keep treating the scriptures like a suggestive devotional. This ain't no devotional. This is the solid, written word of God. And at some point in time, we got to model what Jesus did for us. You got to get to the point where the word is not something you post, but something you live.
It's too easy to quote scriptures. But what about when it's time to live them?
This is my gripe with the Western church. The bane of our existence is that we sing and we dance and we go to conferences and we put scriptures on shirts. We got all of that stuff. But when it comes time to actually obey, we don't do it. And this makes me angry in my flesh because, man, we got people that serve demon spirits and false religions who have more discipline than those of us who serve the God of heaven and earth.
At some point in time, it can't just be a service. You got to get to the point where this becomes the guiding factor for your life. It's like you read it and mark it up because your markup Bible looks cute, but your soul does not reflect what you're marking.
How long will you cry about what God is not doing but you won't cooperate? How long would you let the devil lie to you because you don't know what the word of God has said about you? Because Jesus knew the word. He knew how to govern Himself in that moment.
This is me right now in a battle that I won't tell you about, and opening my Bible to Psalm 91:
He who dwells in the secret place and the shelter of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.
You will not fear any terror by night, nor any arrows that fly by day, nor any pestilence that strikes in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only look. You will only look. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, the Most High, who is my refuge.
No evil shall be allowed to befall you, nor shall any plague come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. And in their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the adder and on the young lion and the serpent, and you will trample them under foot because He holds fast to me in love.
I will deliver you. I will protect you when you call to me. I will answer you. I will be with you in trouble. I will rescue you. And with long life I will satisfy you.
That's how you're supposed to use the word of God. It ain't no whack, weak devotional. Those are the words of God Almighty who cannot lie. This ain't no joke.
That's why you got to know what it says about you and every promise God has made to you. You got to have something to stand on in this life other than your job and your bank account and your 401k and your Roth IRA. You got to have something stronger than that to stand on in this life.
You ain't spending money in warfare. Ask me how I know. The scripture says:
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God—against strongholds, faulty thought patterns, lies built up in your mind about yourself.
Last verse, verse 31.
When they had mocked him, they stripped him again and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to be crucified.
Why do you put his clothes back on him? Because now you bring him back out into the light. You don't want anybody to know all the abuse you just committed in the dark.
Pilot didn't tell you to strip him. Pilot didn't tell them to put a crown of thorns on his head. Pilot didn't tell them to punch him in his face with a reed. Pilot didn't tell them to spit in his face. He just said, "Carry them away to be crucified." Yet, they do all of this in the dark.
They are akin to people that don't follow the instructions of their leaders. They are akin to people who deviate from clear commands and wonder why you're not blessed.
I'm going deeper. They are akin to you and me who got all of these commands and deviate from them. All that junk in the dark and then you want to come in here in the light, act holy—but all that happening where nobody can see it. We're just like them.
You think they're depraved? So are we. We do the same thing to the Lord.
Look at all of these promises and commandments that follow. They will actually lead you into the best life possible. They are designed for human flourishing. The evidence of that is everyone who goes against them only feels pain. You cannot tell me that you've disobeyed this word and come out with joy.
No. But you have testimony after testimony after testimony and scar after scar after scar of what happens in your life. Every time you go against the wisdom of God's word, you have no wins. You just keep coming out with another regret until it clicks in your mind: If He created you, He knows what's best for you. And if you would just buckle down and say, "You know what, from this day forward, I'm going to read and actually obey," you will look up six months from now, one year from now, five years from now, 22 years from now, and your life will be in a different place.
I ain't talking about platforms. I'm talking about character, intimacy, holiness, purity, maturity, poise, peace, favor.
I close with these words. I want to talk to three categories of people that mock Jesus.
First, I want to talk to people that mock you because you serve the Lord. A lot of y'all have them in your family. These are people in your family that don't understand you anymore. They don't understand why you're faithful to go to church. They don't understand why you give. They don't understand why you serve. They don't understand why you pray. They don't understand why you don't want to hang out in certain places.
They just can't understand that you are a different woman now. You are a different man now. Your values have changed. These are people that constantly mock you, tear you down, trash you for who you are.
But just follow what Jesus did. You know what's the ultimate flex in the text? Silence. You don't have to defend yourself against people that don't understand you. Let your fruit speak louder than your words. In time, the Lord will vindicate you.
Then I'm talking to another category of people that like to mock the Lord. You do. I'm talking to you now. You mock the Lord. You don't make parodies about Jesus on social media, but you make parodies about Jesus with your life. Because you claim to be a Christian but don't have a life to match.
When people look at you, they see a person who goes to church but lives foul, and then they look at the Christ you claim to serve and they laugh at Him. "Why do we want Him if He can't change you?" And in the way we live, we make a mockery of the Son of God—our love affair with sin, our love affair with all that is ungodly. And then we come right back and mark up the Bible. We're making a mockery of Jesus.
Romans 12 says:
Present yourselves a living sacrifice.
At some point in time, something has to click in your heart where you say, "You know what, I am sacrificing and forfeiting the best of what God has for me." Some of you, you have no idea what's on the other side of a yes. If you would just fully surrender and just like Jesus, just submit.
You said, "Well, what if I got to be single?" Submit.
"Well, what if I never get married?" Submit.
"Well, what if He tells me give away some money to somebody else?" Submit.
What if He tells me shut down your ministry and be a part of 2819? Submit.
What if He tells you, "This is not your season to be on a platform. Just stay in a chair"? Submit.
What if He tells you, "Give up that thing that you're pursuing because it's not His will for you—but Lord, it was on my vision board for years"? Submit.
What if He tells you break up with that person? Submit.
What if He tells you come out of that bad relationship? Submit.
What if He tells you get your finances in order because I want to do something two seasons from now?
Why is submission enough for you and now you're mad? But this is called love. Because if just one person walks out of here and says, "You know what? I was convicted. I'm going to change," I bet you have a different testimony six months from now.
But I want to talk to one more category of mocker. I want to talk to all of you who like to make sport with Jesus, who love to mock Him.
But I want to tell you what the scripture says about mockers in Galatians 6:7:
Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that and that only you will reap.
You see, that's what's wrong with people now. You have people deceived by grace. They think because they blasphemed Jesus and woke up the next morning that He does not exist or He does not care. No, they are being deceived by grace. It's only Christ being merciful to allow them to breathe another day while they crucify Him. Blasphemous mockery against Jesus and woke up the next morning. It's only grace keeping them alive, giving them an opportunity to repent before they die and got to face the person they've been mocking. So grace deceives them because judgment is not coming right now. But God says through Paul:
God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that and that only you will reap. You sow mockery of Jesus in this life, you're going to reap judgment in the one to come. You sow dishonor of Christ in this life, you're going to reap that dishonor in the world to come. You ignore Christ in this life, He said, "I will not stand up for you in the judgment in the world to come."
Ain't nobody getting away with mockery. It's only temporary. That's why we should be praying for mockers and praying for scoffers and praying for people who don't know that they are violating a person they're going to have to meet in the judgment.
That's why I want to pray for you that something would change right now in your heart, that we would no longer continue to mock Him.
Why are you mad at people who make parodies when we're the ones acting like a fool? I'm not mad at them. I'm mad at us. Of course, the church is a mockery. Look at how we live. They see us dance and go to church on Sunday and don't live any of that.
At what point do you say enough is enough? He suffered too much and bled too much and was beaten too much. He deserves better than that.
