Mark 15:22-32 Between Two Thieves

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, it is a slow move to the cross, and Jesus has
been through several corrupttrials, first the religious
leaders there at the house ofCaiaphas, and then at Pilate,
the Roman governor's judgmentseat.
Jesus has been accused andcondemned, he's been beaten and
mocked.
So we can picture him in thatlight face, bloody, back ripped

(00:37):
open, spit running down hisbeard.
He stumbled there, it seems.
He stumbled there, it seems,and the Romans compelled a man
named last week, simon, fromCyrene, the Cyrene, to carry the
crossbar to the place calledGolgotha and that's where we
pick up in verse 22 notice verse22.

(01:03):
And they brought him to theplace Golgotha, which is
translated place of a skull, andthey gave him wine mingled with
myrrh to drink, but he did nottake it.
And when they crucified him,they divided his garments,
casting lots for them todetermine what every man should
take.
That was a third hour and theycrucified him.

(01:26):
So, very simply, jesus iscrucified and if we're looking
at the screen there, so to speak, we would see in the corner
it's 9 am.
There is what we're told, 9 amin the Roman reckoning.
And he's brought to a placecalled Golgotha.

(01:48):
That's the Aramaic.
The word means place of a skull, as we're told there, and that
is where they crucified Jesus.
Now there's some debate wherethis is, but at any rate we know
it's outside the city.
Now it's put rather simply herethat they crucified Jesus.

(02:09):
We're not told a whole lot.
Roman crucifixion they wouldhave taken that crossbar and
thrown Jesus on it on the groundnaked.
They would have put huge spikesinto his wrists that would have
held him on that cross.
They would have put one morenail through his crossed feet
down at the bottom.

(02:30):
But it was not developed as ahumane way to execute people,
but a torture people to make itas painful and as drawn out as
possible.
That was crucifixion developedby the Persians a few hundred
years earlier.
But we'll look at it next week.

(02:52):
David in Psalm 22 describeswhat's going on here and so much
of it we'll see again next week.
But Jesus' hands and feet werepierced next week.
But that Jesus' hands and feetwere pierced, it was a way of
getting people to steer clear ofcrime, right?
We see here today there are twothieves crucified with Jesus,

(03:16):
and so Rome would say look, ifyou don't want to end up like
this, don't steal.
If you don't want to end uplike this, don't mess with Rome.
And it was effective, no doubt.
But it was torture here.
And Jesus is crucified there.

(03:36):
Now, again in verse 25, we seeit's the third hour, that's 9 am
.
They crucified him.
Now look at verse 26.
Now look at verse 26.
And the inscription of hisaccusation was written above the
king of the Jews.
So an inscription is put, asign to announce the crime Again

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, to basically steer people away.
If you don't want to end likethis, don't do these things.
In Luke 23.2, we remember thatthis was one of the accusations

(04:19):
brought by the religious leaders.
They said there in Luke 23.2,that this man is perverting the
nation.
He's forbidding people to paytaxes.
He's saying that he's theChrist.
That means he's making himselfa king.
Well, these are some optionsthat the religious leaders gave
as why Jesus should die.
But Pilate understood, in verse10 of Mark 15, that it was

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really envy that brought Jesusto this place, the envy of the
religious leaders.
And so Pilate, in a sense,seems to be trolling them in
this just a little bit.
He places a sign over Jesus'head that simply says the King

(05:02):
of the Jews.
Now I think personally thatPilate is trying to troll them
as they come to him and they saydon't say he's the king of the
Jews.
Say he said he was the king ofthe Jews.
And Pilate says what I'vewritten, I've written, leave me
alone.
And so there it is over hishead.
But here's the thing.
That was the accusation.

(05:24):
But he really was the king.
That's what we consider heretoday.
He really was the king.
He was of the royal line ofDavid.
If he searched his family treeand Matthew and Luke give us
Jesus' family tree it would goback to King David.
He was a rightful king tree.

(05:47):
It would go back to King David.
He was a rightful king.
The wise men, when they came tovisit him as a child, they saw
a star, a sign in the east andthey said where is this one
who's been born king of the Jews?
They knew God shared that withthem.
He was definitely a king, buthe wasn't just a regional king
or an ethnic king.
He was the absolute king.

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Psalm 2 is written about jesusthe messiah.
You can turn there if you wantpsalm 2, but notice it says this
in verse 1 why do the nationsrage and the people plot the
vain thing?
The kings of the earth setthemselves and the rulers take
counsel together against theLord and against his anointed,

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his Messiah, saying let us breaktheir bonds in pieces and cast
their cords from us Verse 4.
He who sits in the heavensshall laugh.
The Lord shall hold them inderision.
Then he shall speak to them inhis wrath and distress them in
his deep pleasure and say I haveset my king on my holy hill in

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Zion.
I will declare the decree theLord has said to me you are my
son Today.
I have begotten you.
Ask of me and I will give youthe nations, for Messiah would
be the king of Zion.

(07:19):
Fast forward to the end of theBible in Revelation, chapter 19.
Easy to find if you want toRevelation 19, verse 11.
Revelation 19, verse 11.
This is how it all comes downin the end.
And picture this.

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This is great, john says.
Now.
I saw heaven opened and beholda white horse, and he who sat on
it was called faithful and trueand in righteousness.
He judges and makes war.
His eyes are like a flame offire and on his head many crowns

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.
He has a name written that noone knew except himself.
He was clothed with the robedipped in blood and his name is
called the word of God.
It's Jesus we're talking aboutthere, and the armies of heaven,
clothed in fine linen, whiteand clean, followed him on white
horses.
Now, out of his mouth goes asharp sword.

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With it, he should strike thenations and he himself will rule
them with a rod of iron.
Looking back at Psalm 2, there,rod of iron, he himself treads
the winepress of the fiercenessof the wrath of almighty God,
and on his robe and on his thigha name written Now check this
out King of kings and Lord oflords.

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So we know, ultimately Jesus isan actual king.
He's not just king of the Jews,he's king of the universe,
right, he's king of all thingsand in the end he'll practically
rule as that.
That's what the Bible lets usknow.
But the bigger question is notso much is he a king?

(09:08):
Of course he is, but is he ourking Now?
Pilate again, I believe, istrolling the religious leaders
here.
But he's giving us an option.
Do we receive him?
Is he our king Now?
I think we see this as we moveon here in verse 27.
Make sure you head back to Mark,chapter 15, verse 27.

(09:30):
Let's look on Chapter 15, verse27.
Let's look on.
With him, they also crucifiedtwo robbers, one on his right
and the other on his left.
So the scripture was fulfilled,which says he was numbered with
the transgressors and those whopassed by blasphemed him.

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Now notice here, in verse 27and 28, jesus is crucified with
two thieves, two robbers,possibly rebels.
Perhaps Jesus was takingBarabbas' spot there in the
center, but he's fulfillingscripture, being crucified

(10:15):
between two thieves.
We're told here Isaiah'spassage in Isaiah 53, 12, that
he was numbered with thetransgressors.
Now we're going to circle backto this in just a second, but
let's move ahead, verse 29.
And those who pass byblasphemed him.
Picture it Wagging their headsand saying you who destroy the

(10:40):
temple and build it in threedays, save yourself.
Come down from the cross.
Likewise, the chief priests,also mocking amongst themselves
with the scribes said he savedothers Himself, he cannot save
Save.
Scribes said he saved othershimself, he cannot save Save.
Let the Christ, the King ofIsrael, descend now from the

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cross.
That we may believe.
Even those who were crucifiedwith him reviled him.
So we see the mocking continuesas Jesus is dying on the cross.
We see first those that arepassing by.
They're going their way, doingwhatever it was that they needed
to do that day and they say, ah, you destroyed that.
You said you'll destroy thetemple and build it in three
days.
Why don't you save yourself Now?

(11:28):
He could have done that easily.
Jesus could have saved himself,but he didn't.
He laid down his life to saveus.
Could have saved himself, buthe didn't.
He laid down his life to saveus.
Notice, there the chief priestjoined that chorus.
He saved others.
Now maybe they were thinkingabout Lazarus.
It wasn't that long before thisthat Jesus went to Bethany and
his friend Lazarus had died.

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He was dead for days and Jesuscame to the tomb and said roll
away the stone.
And then he said with a loudvoice Lazarus, come forth.
And Lazarus was delivered fromdeath.
It was a big deal, right.
Everybody heard about it.
This man who was mostdefinitely dead, raised back to

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life.
Jesus saved him.
Now the chief priests hadtrouble with this because
everybody was looking to hearLazarus's story and, believe it
or not, they wanted to killLazarus.
So maybe they were thinkingabout Lazarus at this point.
He saved others.
He raised old Lazarus from thedead.
Why can't he just take himselfoff the cross?

(12:31):
Maybe they were looking back toa woman who was caught in the
act of adultery there in John,chapter 8, as they trapped her
and brought her and threw herdown in front of Jesus.
And you remember the story?
Jesus, so tough, he stands upfor her and he bends down and

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quietly writes in the ground.
We don't know what he waswriting.
Some think maybe he was writingtheir sins, the religious
leaders' sins, the Pharisees'sins, on the ground.
We're not sure, but whatever itwas, there was such power in
what he was doing that from theoldest to the youngest, they
just backed up and left, rightand Jesus delivered her from

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certain death.
And perhaps they were thinkingwell, he saved that woman, stood
up to us, saved that woman, buthe can't even save himself.
The mockery continues in verse32.
They say you know what?
Come down off the cross that wecan see and believe.

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So they were saying if you comedown right now, we'll believe
in you, we'll drop all thisstuff and we'll believe in you.
Now, that wasn't true.
They said we just need moreproof.
They did not need more proofbecause in Matthew 18, after the
cross, three days later,matthew 18, jesus rose from the

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dead.
And in verse 11, we find thatthey wanted to cover it up when
the soldiers came and said he'sgone, he's risen, the stone's
been rolled away, they said look, don't tell anybody.
Tell him.
His disciples came and stolethe body.
We'll give you some money,we'll pay people off, it'll be
fine.
So did they need more proof?

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They didn't need more proof.
The sad thing is, so many timeswe say things like oh, if God
would just roll the heavens openand, you know, wave at me, then
I'd believe.
But it's not more proof that weneed, it's our hearts.
We resist God and we turn fromGod.
It's not more proof.

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And these guys, they prove thatfor us.
But notice, here we turn ourattention back to these
criminals, these thieves.
Notice verse 32, at the veryend.
Even those who were crucifiedwith him reviled him.

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So picture it these two thieves.
They know they're going to die.
There is absolutely no hope forthem on those crosses.
At that point they knew theywere going to die.
There is absolutely no hope forthem on those crosses.
At that point they knew theywere going to die.
Every time that they would haveto take a breath, they would
pull up on those nails and kindof resuscitate there, but they

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used their breath to curse Jesusand ridicule.
That word reviled means thatthey did it continually right.
So in every breath that theyhad left, they were saying you
can't even save us.
Why don't you save us?
Save yourself.
And these two thieves were in abad place, but it didn't stop

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them from mocking Jesus.
Now let's see the rest of thestory, because most of you know
it.
But let's turn to Luke, chapter23.
And we're not coming back toMark today, but Luke 23, verse
39.
And we notice some of the samethings.

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We can back up to verse 38.
And an inscription was writtenover him in letters of Greek,
latin and Hebrew this is theKing of the Jews, now one of the
criminals who were hanged,blasphemed him saying if you are

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Christ, save yourself and us.
But the other, answering,rebuked him saying do you not
even fear God, seeing you areunder the same condemnation and
we, indeed justly, for wereceive the due reward of our
deeds.
But this man has done nothingwrong.

(16:51):
Then he said to Jesus Lord,remember me when you come into
your kingdom.
Jesus said to him assuredly.
I say to you today, you will bewith me in paradise.
So here we see that momentslater, after spending all this
energy ridiculing Jesus, one ofthem seems to have a change of

(17:16):
heart and notice, there, inverse 39, one of them, one of
them continues and says ifyou're the Christ, save yourself
.
But the other, answering,rebuked him, saying do you not
fear God?
We're under the samecondemnation, do you not fear

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God?
We're under the samecondemnation and we indeed
justly so.
Notice.
One guy has a change of heartand he realizes you know what.
We're guilty.
He's not, we deserve everythingthat we're getting.
And it's that idea of he wasnumbered with the transgressors.
A transgressor is someone whowillfully sins.
It's a little bit liketrespassing.

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A little bit like trespassing.
It's when you see the sign donot trespass and you go.
You know what?
I think I'm going to trespass,and that's where these guys were
at as transgressors, totrespass.
And that's where these guyswere at as transgressors.
They understood what was wrongand they decided to do it
anyways.
But isn't that all of us, maybeeven this last week?

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We understood the right thingto do and the wrong thing to do
and we looked at it and we evenmaybe weighed the consequences
of what we were going to do andwe said you know what?
I think I'm going to do itanyways, and that's all of us.
And we're guilty, and this manhere realizes I'm guilty.
Now, we're guilty, whether it'swillful or an accident.

(18:47):
Yesterday I was driving downGirl 195 there I was going to
get something from home Depot tofix a septic tank.
You needed to know that.
No, you didn't Um and and I wasjust kind of spaced out, got to
get there, get back, you know,get it fixed.
So I don't spend my my daydoing this.

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And you know what I saw veryquickly, quickly, highway Patrol
lights and it's.
You know it's funny, you know,confessing this in front of so
many law enforcement people inthe room.
But you know, you know what'sweird I've learned.
There was a day when I'd seethose lights and I go, oh man,

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you know, just hands in the air.
When I see those lights I'mlike click right over to the
side because I know, I know I'mbusted, I know I was doing it.
I don't even know how fast Iwas doing.
If they asked me how fast, doyou know how fast you were going
?
No idea, but I'm pretty sure itwas over the speed limit,
because everybody does it there,you know.
But I was guilty, you know, andI was unaware.

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Either way, aware or unaware,we're guilty, whether we meant
to do it or we sinned and brokeGod's law on accident, we're
guilty.
And this guy comes to thatconclusion.
We're right there with them.
There with them All have sinnedRomans 3.23.
And the wages of sin Romans6.23, is death.

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And here's this guy and herealizes it.
We deserve what we're gettinghere.
We absolutely do.
Let's consider, though, jesus'perhaps final ministry there to
them.
Both men are guilty.
Notice Luke 23, 41.

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We justly, we receive our duereward for our deeds.
They're convicted.
He's convicted somehow Now.
He was convicted when Romeconvicted him of the crime.
But we know from what Johntells us the Holy Spirit
convicts the world, that's allof us, of sin.
The Holy Spirit lets us knowwhen we're wrong.

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This one man is convicted ofhis sin, and one resisted.
One of these two, I'm justgoing to assume he was convicted
of the crime and he wasconvicted of the Holy Spirit,
but yet he resisted andcontinued to mock.
But one is different.
He's convicted and notice heconfesses.

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Notice he confesses.
He says it.
Right, there, we're deserving.
Everything we're getting here,that's confession.
Confession means to say the samething.
God says what you did is wrongand we say I confess what I did
was wrong.

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We agree with God and that'simportant because we have a hard
time with things likeconfession in our world, to say
that we're wrong.
We're like the Fonz from HappyDays.
You probably don't rememberthat, but the Fonz from Happy
Days I was, you know, and hecan't say it, you know.
And it's the same way with us.
We live in a world wherethere's a high priority on

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self-esteem.
Right, jails are filled withpeople who have committed
terrible crimes but did nothingwrong.
Right, you can murder someoneand feel like you did nothing
wrong because everybody has suchgreat self-esteem.
Right, but confession isadmitting God.

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You're right and I'm wrong.
1 John 1.9,.
If we confess our sins, he'sfaithful and just to forgive us
our sins, confession isnecessary.
We see this man also hasrepentance.
Repentance is a big Bible wordbut we need to understand it.
Repentance means to turn and gothe opposite direction, a 180.

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We're going towards sin.
We turn and go the other way.
Now check it out this guy.
You know he didn't have a wholelot of time and energy to
really do some serious repenting.
We have trouble with this guyright, because he hasn't gone
out and done good works.

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He hasn't gone and changed hislife and his habits.
You know, he hasn't even gottento study the Bible.
He's going to be dead.
We have trouble with him, manyhave trouble with him because he
didn't have time to getbaptized before he died, and you
go.
Well, what did he do to deservesalvation?
Nothing, nothing at all.

(23:39):
But he repented.
And we see that because atfirst in Mark, they're both
ridiculing Jesus.
They're both hard-hearted, andthen somehow, all at once, in
Luke 23, he says you know what?
How can you talk like that?
We deserve everything we'regetting.
This man has done nothing.
Lord, remember me, remember mewhen you're coming into your

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kingdom.
Did he understand what he wassaying?
Probably not.
But there, in a moment, he putsall of his chips on Jesus, he
leans on Jesus, he rests in whohe is and the light bulb comes
on.
Now notice verse 43.

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Did it work?
Yes, jesus says in verse 43,assuredly, I say, into this
guy's life.
Now, what was the rest of hisday like, I don't know, but I'm

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sure it was rough.
But he really took thatconfidence into it.
Jesus said I'm going to be withhim.
And we don't know what it was.
But Jesus wouldn't have said itif it wasn't true, right.
And there's this spark of faith, this spark of trust in this
man as he leans on Jesus.

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Very simply, he didn'tdemonstrate any acts of
repentance other than thatlittle bit of change of heart
there.
He didn't get baptized, hedidn't do good works, he didn't
go on a mission trip, he hasn'tgiven any money, he hasn't
studied verses and memorizedthem, he hasn't even broken old
habits.
But Jesus says you'll be withme.

(25:27):
And I think that's reallyimportant, because we put a lot
of stock in what we do and howgood a person looks on the
outside, and Jesus says that'sgood, that's sanctification.
Right, I mean, he doesn't saythat, but we understand
sanctification.
God grows us through life andwe're not the person that we

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were yesterday or a year ago.
He makes us different from theinside out, but it's not about
being perfect.
It's about trusting and leaningand putting all your weight on
Jesus.
Salvation can never be morereal than the first time we

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simply trusted.
Never more real than the firsttime we simply trusted, never
more real than the first momentthat we trusted.
And that's just an amazinggrace that we see here as Jesus.
He's being crucified, he'spaying the price for our sins.
And yet he takes the time topoint this one guy in the right

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direction and a change is made.
God, I don't understand it.
I don't even necessarily thinkit's fair that you would save us
and save people without works.
But, god, that's the way it is.
It's all about you and whatyou've done for us, absolutely

(26:54):
not anything about what we dofor ourselves.
God, you do change us and youmake us a different person.
The old man is gone and the newone is in Christ.
We're so grateful for that.
But, god, I just pray that inthis time, we would just trust
you with everything, even likethat thief.

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Just trust you for who you are,god, that you would be our king
.
God, you'd be our savior.
God, thank you so much forcoming to us and finding a place
with the transgressors.
God, we needed it so much.
We pray that we'd understandthis just a little bit more, not
just in our heads, but in ourhearts.
God, thank you.

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In Jesus' name, we pray, amen,thank you.