Mark 10 verses 32 through 34. And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. And they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days, He will rise." This morning's message I've titled, The Prophet's Prediction, The Gospel According to Jesus. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to be reminded of something? I think we all can relate to this in some form or fashion. In my situation, Caitlin will say to me, we have this thing coming up on the calendar. And she'll tell me maybe a few weeks beforehand just to let me know. And then maybe the week before this event that's to take place on, say, a Friday, she'll remind me a second time. Now, you know at the end of this week, We have this appointment. I say, thank you, thank you for reminding me. And then usually that Friday comes around and she tells me of a third time, just so you know, later today, such and such a thing is going on. And I have often put my hands up and say, why are you waiting till today to tell me? Didn't you know I had plans? Reminders are needed in this life. And Jesus knew it as well. And before us here this morning, in these just few short verses, this is Jesus' third reminder to His disciples of what is about to take place in Jerusalem. What is about to take place in the very near future. In each of the previous chapters, Jesus has told them what is to take place as He's to go up to Jerusalem. And this being the third time of reminding them. I want us to enter into this scene here that we might maybe see, touch, hear, smell what is going on on this road to Jerusalem. Tensions are rising at this point along the journey. Jesus, He's there, then we have the 12 disciples, and then there's a larger crowd, and they're all migrating southbound, crossing over the Jordan down to the holy city of Jerusalem. They are just outside of Jericho, which is a day's journey. Once you hit Jericho, it's just one more day to Jerusalem. It's early spring in the Middle East, very similar climate and weather to what we might be having even today. The temperatures are rising, the days are getting longer, and they're making their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. It was not uncommon in these days to find massive crowds migrating south to celebrate this most holy feast, this time of Jewish remembrance when God delivered his people out of the hands of Pharaoh. And on this leg of the journey here, as they're making their way down to the city, there are three dialogues that take place that Mark records for us. And this morning, we're just going to consider the first one. But there are three dialogues that lead up to the triumphal entry. In this one, Jesus does all the talking. And today is the prophet's prediction. And so, with this kind of in mind, and the scene that is going on here, let us look in at the details. Consider verse 32. He says, Mark writes, and they were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him. So here is the picture that's before us. They're traveling on the road. There's three different groupings. You have Jesus, the twelve, and then a larger crowd. Those that followed, most likely the crowd traveling for the Passover. But I don't want us to skip over the little details that Mark gives us here, because in the details we see something amazing. Let's ask the question, why does Mark want his readers to know that Jesus was just a little bit in front of everyone else? Now it's common practice in Jewish custom back then that the rabbi would walk ahead of his disciples. But if that's just common practice, why does this detail matter? Why does this detail matter to a Gentile audience in Rome? I want us to see the point that Mark wants us to grasp here. We see a most glorious detail concerning Jesus and His mission. This picture that Mark paints for us is Jesus is pressing forward. He's leading the charge to Jerusalem. He's going before His disciples. He is the front man here. It's this driving sense of mission that is propelling Jesus to Jerusalem. Quite literally here, when we see this Jesus walking ahead of them, He is making haste to Jerusalem. He's moving at just a clip that might be a little bit faster than the rest. We see here, Jesus is focused. Jesus is driven. Jesus is determined for what's before Him. And as He's predicted this for the third time, He knows what's in store. He knows what lies ahead in Jerusalem. And He's not taking the long way. He's not dragging His feet to get there. He's pressing forward in this moment to the cross. And this is why the disciples respond the way they do. And it says they were amazed. One commentator on this passage said, speaking of Jesus, His determination to reach Jerusalem with all that He had foretold there leaves the disciples bewildered. Coming along behind Jesus in amazement. So we see Jesus is moving at a clip faster than the disciples and they're trying to keep pace on this march to Jerusalem. Jesus is determined. The disciples are amazed. And then the third group back is afraid. No doubt whispers have circulated about what lies ahead in Jerusalem. He's gone on the record now two times already explaining the struggle, the suffering, and the execution that lies ahead in Jerusalem. Unlike me, some people don't need to be reminded multiple times. So in this one packed verse here, of verse 32, Mark describes the emotion the detail, the atmosphere, as Jesus, the disciples, and the crowds press on towards the death march in Jerusalem. And no doubt Jesus is well aware here of the uneasiness in the air, the tension that's in the heart of the disciples, no doubt the weight on His own soul, For the plan that was written in eternity past, hidden for the ages, was now about to become a reality in time and space. And so what does Jesus do? In light of all of these things, He reaches out to His disciples and He pulls them in close. And He tells them once more what's in store. Yet in this third prediction, this is where He gives the greatest details. So let's consider verses 33 and 34, and let us hear the prophet's prediction, telling them what the gospel is. Verse 33, he says, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles. Let's break this apart. Where are they going? We know this. They're going up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the place of execution. Who is at the center of the prophet's prediction? He is predicting Himself. All the prophets of old were pointing forward to Him. Jesus is the prophet that foretells and foretells of Himself. And He refers to Himself as the Son of Man. The Divine Son of God and Son of Man. This is the One who stands before the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. Whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him. Who was in the beginning and was with God and is God. And what is He saying here? He is saying that the Creator is about to be crushed by the creation. What are the three things that he says here in the prophet's prediction? First, he says, delivered over. This is betrayal. By whom? The chief, well, Judas, but then he says the chief priests and the scribes, they're going to judge him. And ultimately, the Gentiles, the pagans, the world is going to condemn him. How does this play out in the prophet's prediction? Well, we know how the story goes, do we not? He is betrayed by a friend. Judas, one of the twelve, sells out Jesus for what? Thirty pieces of silver? This is the value that Judas places on the life of Jesus. What's thirty pieces of silver? It's the price of a slave. Exodus 21. And so Judas was willing to sell out his friend for nothing more than the price of a slave. And he comes at night at the base of the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, goes up and kisses Jesus on the cheek to alert the soldiers, this is the one to whom you shall take. That's why we talk about betrayal in the Judas kiss. Yet the day before he's hanging out with his friends, happy. This is the betrayal of the ages he was delivered over. He was judged by the religious people. He talks about the chief priests and the scribes. A fake trial is put on. Remind you of Mark chapter 14, verse 60 through 64. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But He remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the chief priest tore his garment and said, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard this blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. So he's betrayed by a friend. He's judged by the religious people. Those that should have loved him and embraced him, hated him. Now we understand that the Jewish people did not have the power of the sword. So they had to send him over to the world. They had to send him over to the Romans to be condemned by the Gentiles. We would read in chapter 15. And Pilate said to them, this is before the crowd, we know this scene. What shall I do with the man you call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, Crucify him. And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify him. So Pilate, what a cowardly line here. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. So in verse 33 here, we see that the prophet's prediction comes true. And what are we to do with a prophet who speaks the Word of God truthfully? It demands that we listen to him. We are obligated to listen to Jesus. But Jesus goes on from here, and not only in verse 33, describing what will happen, He gives more vivid detail. concerning His betrayal, His judgment, and His condemnation. Consider verse 34. He says, they will mock Him. They will spit on Him, and flog Him, and kill Him. Oh, how did this play out in the life of Christ? Let me remind you of Luke 22, verse 36. When Jesus was taken into custody, they mocked Him. They beat Him, blindfolded Him, and told Him to prophesy who it was that struck Him. Oh, Christian, behold your prophet being mocked. Spit on him. Mark 14, 65, after Jesus tells them that He is the Christ, He makes the great confession, the secret from all eternity has been revealed. And instead of falling on their faces, they spit in His. A most degrading act. But even in this moment, as Jesus is spit on and mocked, He's the fulfillment of Isaiah 50. It reads, 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. Christian, behold your God being spit on. And then he says that he was to be flogged. He's sent to the merciless Romans. Pilate finds no fault. Yet human justice was not afforded to him because there was a higher justice that must be satisfied. And so He has not afforded human justice so that He would satisfy divine justice. Mark 15, 17. Jesus is standing in front of 600 Roman soldiers. And He's taken. And He's stripped. They clothe Him with a purple robe, a sign of royalty. And they twist together the crown of thorns. Because every king needs a crown. And they put it on His head. Drive the thorns into His skull. And there He is, standing before 600 Roman soldiers. The Creator before the creation. And they begin to salute Him. Hail the King of the Jews! What disrespect! And then they begin to whip Him. Striking Him blow after blow. Across the back, across the head. And when they were satisfied with the cruelty of their punishment, they decide it's time now to put a cross on His back. Oh Christian, behold your King being flogged. And He says, ultimately in verse 34, they will flog Him and then they will kill Him. He is stripped. The cross is put upon His back. And He is led outside the city, outside the camp, like the scapegoat. And He is told to march to Golgotha, the place of the skull. And like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, He was silent. Nails, as He stretched out, driven through His hands, driven through His feet. And there in that moment, 2,000 years ago, the God-Man hangs upon a tree, alone, abandoned by all of His friends. There He is, the Son of God who healed so many. He touched the blind that they could see. He raised the dead. He calmed the fears. He strengthened the faith. He fed the multitudes. There He hangs, alone. betrayed by a friend, sold for the price of a slave, judged by the religious people, condemned by the world, truly a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Christian, behold your Savior as He suffers upon the cross. There He is naked, shamed, actually a curse, as it is written, curses every man who hangs upon a tree. Oh, Christian, do you see Him there, hanging in the anguish of His soul? He's bleeding, He's crying, He's suffering. He cries out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? He's an offense to Jews. He's foolishness to the Gentiles. And in this moment, we need to ask the question, what can one man hanging on a tree 2,000 years ago in Palestine do for me and do for you? What is so significant about this moment that the prophet is predicting? And I would submit to you it is this, in that one moment, in that time, in space, in history, Jesus was doing the one thing that none of us could do ourselves. He is doing what I could not do. Isaiah, prophesying of this moment, tells us, He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities and by His wounds we are healed. Making peace by the blood of His cross. So if we ask the question, what does one man hanging on a cross 2,000 years ago in Palestine do for you? He can do what more than all of humanity combined can do. Because He's not just one man. He's the Son of God. He is God in human flesh. Because what He's doing on that cross is He's paying a debt. He's making peace. He's taking estranged parties and He's bringing them together. He's hanging as a substitute. He's bearing the penalty of another. He's making atonement for the sins of many. Jesus hangs on the cross. He suffers as a sacrifice to God in the place of sinners, bearing the penalty for all the sins of all who will believe, who will come to Him. Because the blood of bulls and goats does not accomplish this. It could never accomplish this. Priors and piety in our own lives are no replacement for this act that is taking place. We recognize this. Blood had to be shed. And your blood would not be sufficient. My blood is not sufficient. No, it had to be one that was greater. One that was perfect. One that was all of God and all of man combined in one person. The greatest mystery in my mind is that how all of God is contained in one body. It was only God who could do it. So God takes on the form of mankind, human flesh, in the incarnation to live a perfect life. To offer up Himself as a propitiation, a wrath-appeasing sacrifice unto the Father, so that the wrath is appeased, justice is served, God is a holy God, yet He can forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, because that guilt has been placed upon another. That's expiation. It is expired onto another. And so as Christ hangs upon the cross, as He predicted here, Jesus takes the cup of the wine of the wrath of God and He drinks it. But it's not though that He took a sip and said, ooh, this hurts. Jesus takes the cup of the wrath of God against sin and all wickedness and unrighteousness. And in the act on the cross, Jesus takes the cup and He drinks every last drop. And when He has drunk every last drop of the cup of God's wrath, He turns it over and declares it is finished. Paid in full. It's as though He declares in drinking the wrath, God's wrath, that the ransom for redemption has been accomplished. Therefore He can declare, there is now therefore no condemnation for those that are in Me. Maybe some of you struggle with assurance. Maybe some of you struggle and you feel the weight of your sin, and it weighs you down completely. Let me assure you of this, believer. If Jesus drank every ounce of God's wrath, that means there's none left for you. Even if your conscience and your sins are condemning you, it is finished. It means that He has paid it all. And if He has borne the penalty for your sins, they do not stand against you in a legal setting. There's no double jeopardy in heaven. And so if you are weighed down on your sins, and you are struggling with your own assurance, do not look inward. You need to look out. You need to look up. And you need to remind yourself, paid in full, There's not a little drop of wrath left that might fall upon you if it's upon the head of His Son, God's only Son, Christ. It's exhausted. And so in this moment, as the Prophet has predicted, after this has been accomplished, He gives up His Spirit and He dies. Buried in a borrowed tomb on a Friday. Only two people would identify with this crucified Christ. Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and the women as well. But they take him. The disciples are nowhere to be found. Buried on a Friday. Oh, but Sunday came. How does he finish? And after three days, verse 34, he will rise. He rose from the dead. He rises in His tomb on that Sunday morning, neatly folds the linen cloths because He doesn't need those anymore. No. And He walks out of the tomb alive forevermore, the Alpha and the Omega, who holds the keys to death. And He has overcome, O Christian, In this moment, behold your victor with his foot on the head of the serpent. Victory accomplished. Redemption accomplished. Salvation secured. Pardon received. This is the gospel. This is the prophet's prediction. Let me remind you of the words of the Apostle Paul. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve. This is the Gospel of our salvation. This is our only hope in life and death. And so, Why is this important? Well, the reality is, as we've even heard through our service this morning, we are all like sheep who've gone astray, and each has turned to his own way. And so when we think about this truth, this prophet's prediction, what Jesus has said, it is important, it's because we need it. It's because I need rescue. I need redemption. I need restoration. I need renewal. Ultimately, I need regeneration. Sin separates. Sin kills. The gospel saves. Let me give you four truths on why we need the gospel. And the first is that the gospel saves. Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. It's a simple truth, but it's a reminder we need. This gospel saves. Second, the gospel unites. God forms a people who have been saved by Jesus Christ and unites them together in community. We have a word for that. It's called church. The gospel is what forms the church. Many of us come from different walks of life. We're at different ages and stages. What's the thing that we all share in common here? We are blood-bought sinners. We have been ransomed and redeemed by Christ. And it forms His body. It forms the church. Gospel unites. If we have no gospel, we're just a social gathering. We're just a club. No, we're the body of Jesus. Third, the gospel speaks peace. I alluded to this. When our conscience condemns us, we remember that God is greater and that He knows everything. And this is why we can sing, my sins, they are many, but His mercy is more. The gospel speaks peace to our souls. And if you are one with a strongly and a very sensitive conscious, you need the gospel. I mean, we all do. Again, we need to look outward and upward. Fourth, the gospel gives us hope. You could take away everything from us. You cannot take our hope. because our hope is not in and of ourselves. It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. And so the circumstances do not determine our hope or our joy. We look out at a world that is full of uncertainty, a world that is full of chaos. We also need to remember we have a message of hope. We have a message of joy. We have a message of hope for the hopeless, peace for those that are in crisis. We have a message of life for dead people, and joy for all who will come to this Jesus. So, have you received this Gospel? Are you trusting in Jesus Christ, the God-Man? The suffering and resurrection of Jesus is not merely an emotional story with a happy ending. It is much more. And He calls upon you, all who are sitting under the preaching of the gospel on this very day across the land, across the world, this hour, this moment. He calls upon sinners to trust in His perfect work. We must do something with the message we receive. Will you trust in Christ if you are not? Will you turn from your sin and lay hold of Jesus by faith? Will you behold Him with that eye of faith and say, that is my Savior. That is my substitute. That is my righteousness. That is all I can cling to. Maybe you're somebody that's been burned by others, betrayed by people close to you. There's a Savior that identifies with that. Maybe you felt the sting of rejection in your life I know a Savior who has felt the same thing. Judged, condemned by the world. There is a Savior who has walked that road too. And He invites you this very day to come. His invitation is for all. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Will you come? Are you not thankful for this gospel? For Jesus, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Maybe you come in this morning and you are weary. The heaviness of the world. The plaguing of sin. Getting bad news about a friend in a terminal condition. We're tired. were discouraged. Oh, let me just encourage you. Draw near to Christ. With the eye of faith, I hope that even in looking at these verses, you are reminded how much God loves you. Let me remind you, Jesus loves you so much that He was walking ahead of everybody on the road to Jerusalem. He was making haste to accomplish this. for His glory and your good. Wherever we are this morning, we can draw near to Christ who welcomes sinners. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this truth. Words, at times, do not even feel sufficient. We are thankful that Your Spirit intercedes for us. Lord, we are thankful people because our sins are forgiven, because Christ stood and hung in our place. And He did so with great joy knowing that He will bring many sons and daughters to glory. Strengthen us, we do pray, Encourage the faint-hearted. Give us this gospel assurance that we can press on into Monday with a renewed hope, a joy for what has been accomplished on our behalf, and that Jesus was pressing forward to accomplish this for us. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.