Take your Bibles and open them to Mark chapter 14. Continue our studies of Mark's gospel beginning in verse 26 and we'll go to verse 31. Mark chapter 14 beginning at verse 26. Listen now to God's holy, inerrant and life-giving word. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives and Jesus said to them, you will all fall away. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, truly, I tell you this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. May God be praised through the reading and hearing of his holy word. Amen. Father in heaven, we thank you for this inspired record that is so instructive to us. on so many levels, understanding Peter and the nature of sin, but understanding ourselves as well. But we thank you particularly, Lord, that we can see the greatness of what a Savior Jesus is and trust wholeheartedly in him. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. It's unclear when exactly Judas Iscariot separated himself from the other disciples during the Last Supper, going out to arrange his betrayal of Jesus. Luke tells us, that after Jesus had passed the cup of the Last Supper, he said, behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. That means Judas was still there for the sacrament. In fact, Mark confirms that. He said, of the cup, they all drank of it. John's gospel tells us, however, that after that Jesus identified his betrayer by handing him a morsel of bread and then Jesus said, this is John 13 30, to do quickly what you were going to do. And Judas immediately went out. And so evidently, having participated in the Lord's Supper, Judas left the gathering before Jesus and the disciples sang the Hallel Psalms, the songs of praise that concluded the Passover week. Oh, we might be saying, well, that's a good, that's a relief. The betrayer's gone. And now Jesus and his disciples are going over to the Mount of Olives. We're glad to have the betrayer no longer with them. And yet, how mistaken we would be. For there is a second betrayer still in their company. In fact, Jesus informs the disciples that they will all betray him. You will all, verse 27, fall away. But among the faithless followers of Jesus, it's Peter who stands out as the one whom Jesus says you will deny him three times before the rooster crows twice, verse 30. Well, Mark's gospel is known for the author's technique of sandwiching events in order to make a theological or a pastoral point. You know how a sandwich works. You have two slices of bread and then the meat is in the middle. The heart of his message is inside the sandwich. And Mark 14 consists of a series of sandwiches, but chief of them It's how Mark surrounds the account of the Last Supper and Jesus' institution of the Lord's Supper, not with one, but with two betrayals. Beforehand, in verses 10 to 11, we had the arrangement of Judas to betray his Lord. And then afterwards, our passage today, Jesus foretells Peter's three betrayals. In between these two betrayals is the Last Supper and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. You see, here's Mark's primary message, that it was despite his knowledge of who they were, despite his complete awareness of their sin and unfaithfulness, He still accepted them. He fellowshiped with them. He was still going to die on the cross for their sins. I think the best commentary on this passage was made by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2.13. If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Well, the account of Jesus predicting Peter's betrayal reads like a simple and straightforward record. Jesus gives his prophecy, says they're all going to fall away. Peter objects. They might, but not me. That's what he says. And Jesus says, no, actually, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. It's a straightforward message about the warning of apostasy, of falling away, the peril that we have under trials. It turns out, though, that this passage, Mark 14, 26 to 31, actually has its primary message of the complete faithfulness of Jesus Christ to save his people. Yes, despite their sin and faithlessness, despite even his own impending death. I say, now, where do you get that out of this passage? Well, I get it starting in verse 27. And Jesus predicts they're going to fall away, but he cites an Old Testament passage, which is how he knows what's going to happen. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. And so this reference shows that Jesus knew he was going to be abandoned by all the disciples because the scriptures foretold it. Now let me say, however, that as a general rule, when the New Testament, Jesus of all, but any New Testament writer, cites an Old Testament passage, it's always good to go look it up. Because they often have in mind not merely the words they're quoting, but the context of that original setting. In fact, the meaning, the reference, not just those words, they're messaging the passage. And it shows you what was on their minds. And this is a classic example of why it's good to do so. Jesus cites from Zechariah chapter 13, verse 7. And we go back and read that, and we look at the three words. It's actually a poem. It's three verses long. And the meaning and the message of that poem is not the faithfulness of the sheep, but it focuses on the faithfulness of the shepherd, not the faithlessness of the sheep, the faithfulness of the shepherd. Well, this passage from Zechariah, it turns out, in fact, the whole last section of Zechariah contains more references to the cross and the night of Jesus' arrest than anywhere else in the Old Testament. It's the most cited Old Testament source when it comes to the death of Jesus and the surrounding events. And Jesus' citation here indicates that these prophecies as a whole were on his mind as he was dining with his disciples. For instance, Zechariah 11 foretells that Jerusalem is about to reject the Messiah and Jesus knows that's exactly what's going to happen that very day. Zechariah 11 verse 2 then gives a prophecy about Judas, the betrayer, that's very specific. They weighed out as my wages 30 pieces of silver. And Matthew's gospel points out that's exactly what they paid Judas. That was a prophecy of Judas. Well, Jesus, as he's about to be betrayed by Judas, he has this prophecy in his mind. In fact, there's another prophecy that when he kills himself beforehand, he's gonna throw the money away. The priest will take that money and they will buy the potter's field. That's the prophecy of Zechariah 11, 13. Matthew 27 shows that's exactly what happened. Zechariah 12 verse 10 provides one of my own favorite, I think it's an amazingly stirring prophecy of the cross of Jesus. When they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they will mourn for him. That's Zechariah 12 verse 10, and it's followed by the purpose. Why is he dying? Well, Zechariah 13 one shows, on that day there shall be a fountain open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. Now it follows that Jesus has this all in his mind because what he cites is the very next passage in Zechariah. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. That's Zechariah 13, verse seven. Now, Jesus then understood Zechariah's prophecy as foretelling that those disciples who'd been sitting with him at the last supper, they were all going to fall away that very night. In fact, within not that many minutes, verse 27. But the way he cites that verse shows that he has the whole Old Testament passage in mind. Let me read again verse 7 of Zechariah 13. The Lord says, Awake, O sword, against My shepherd. And He's summoning the sword to strike against Jesus. But look at verse 27, how Jesus paraphrases it. It is written, I will strike the shepherd. Well, it's clear in Zechariah. that that is the Lord who says there, but that's a translation with a twist, it's correct. But the way Jesus thinks of it, it is, that's God, my Father speaking. This is something God the Father is doing. This is all being orchestrated according to the will of God. See, if Jesus had only meant to refer to the failure of his disciples, he didn't need to. All he would have said was, as it is written, the sheep will be scattered. Clearly, what is on his mind is not only or even primarily the failure of his friends, but the unfailing will of God to accomplish their redemption. "'I will strike the shepherd,' Jesus recites, knowing that the speaker of those words was none other than the Lord of hosts.'" Zechariah 13, 7. Now if you go back and you read the whole three verse poem that Jesus is referencing, it turns out to have a number of noteworthy statements. Not only does the Lord summon the sword, but he calls it for it to strike against the man who stands next to me. That's what actually is said in that prophecy. Awake, O sword, strike the man who stands next to me. That's a very interesting thing to say about a person who's about to be struck in judgment, that he's my kinsman, he's my fellow. Some scholars translate it as God saying, strike, O sword, against my peer. Who could be the peer of the true and living God? How can he be speaking that way? Well, the answer requires that the shepherd who is struck, in the words of Old Testament scholar C.F. Kyle, cannot be a mere man, but can only be the one who participates in the divine nature and is himself divine. That was a mystery that confounded interpreters of Jeremiah for years until the answer was given in John 1 14, the incarnation of the son of God, the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth, John 1 14. This prophecy of God summoning the sword against his peer can only be fulfilled as divine judgment strikes Jesus on the cross. Now realizing that the person who says this, I will strike the shepherd, And Mark, as Jesus puts it in Mark 14, 27, realizing that person is God the Father, we confront what might be seen as the greatest betrayal of all. It's one thing for Judas to betray him. It's another thing for Peter and all the others to fall away. But this is God who's going to put him to death. Is this a betrayal? And God's going to cause the sheep to scatter. But what he's really doing, he's going to strike down the shepherd. Well, that's the question. Is God the betrayer of his son? Well, the answer to this question is the remaining message of Zechariah's poem. The poem goes on to say that Jerusalem will be judged for rejecting the Messiah, except for a remnant, that's the disciples, and what they experience when they scatter, they're going to be tried, and their faith is going to be refined, but as a final result, they will be gathered back. In fact, the passage says, they will call upon my name and I will answer them. I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord is our God." You see, this is not, in fact, the father betraying the son. That's not what Jesus is thinking about. No, Jesus would die in fulfillment of a plan upon which he and the father had agreed in eternity past. Theologians refer to this as the covenant of redemption. Isn't it fascinating? Jesus cites a passage as he's predicting the betrayal of his disciples. The point of the passage is the grand conspiracy that he and his father had been working on from before creation for none other than the redemption of the elect, those who believe in him. In fact, John 17 records it right on the way. They're on the way from the Last Supper to the Mount of Olives, and one thing he does is Jesus gives the high priestly prayer in John 17, an amazing chapter. In fact, we studied it this summer. the implications of Jesus praying for us as he goes to Gethsemane. But one of the things he says there, John 17, 4, is, Father, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Well, clearly Jesus says, look, I was incarnate. I was born of the Virgin Mary with a mission. There was a plan that he and the father had arranged before creation. And there were things that I agreed to do and that you, the father agreed that you would do. And we together are going to do this. And that's what Jesus is thinking about both in his prayer and also here in our passage. For his part, God the Son agreed that he would be incarnate. He would set aside the glory of his deity. He would be humbled as a man. He would fulfill the law on behalf of God's people. He would suffer death on their behalf to pay for the guilt of their sins. This was the work that the Son agreed to in the covenant of redemption. before creation. And for his part, the father promised that he would raise the son and he would grant the salvation of his people, of the elect as Jesus' brothers adopted in him. And he would grant him dominion over all things by Jesus' ascension into heaven. Isaiah 53, by the way, how often Mark in his gospel has made references. We're gonna see more to Isaiah 53. It's probably his controlling grid, although Zechariah is looming as well. And we have all the elements of that covenant agreement between the father and the son in Isaiah 53, 10 and 11. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. You see, when Jesus with his disciples said, it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, And he provided the source. How do I know this? Because of that promise in Zechariah, that prophecy of Zechariah 13, verse 7. But see, that same prophecy said he wasn't relying on them anyway. He wasn't depending on them. The one he could rely on is God, his father, who had entered into that covenant that Zechariah was speaking about, like Isaiah spoke about it. God had ordained, I will strike the shepherd. But with him, there would be no betrayal. See, here's the question. How could Jesus, knowing what they were going to do, imagine going to the expense of fellowship with people and making them your circle when you know they're going to forsake you? You know one's going to absolutely betray you. The other is going to disown you. Who wants to hang out with people like that? You and I wouldn't. Why would Jesus do it? Because this was a plan by which sinners like them would be saved. That's the answer to this situation. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But he could trust in God his Father. And there was a work that God the Son and God the Father had come to this point to do, the work by which they would be forgiven of their sins. Well, we're told by Mark that they concluded the meal by singing. They sang a hymn, almost certainly at Psalm 118, the Hallel Psalms concluded the Passover feast. And they were sung antiphonally, we're told, by the old Jewish sources. So one person would read out the line and the others would chant antiphonally, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever. That's how Jesus concludes all that. Oh, what fervor! Think of our Lord Jesus singing that, knowing all that he knows, being who he is, intending. You wonder, which side did he do? Did he give the first line or the refrain? I don't think it matters. What matters is that for all of this, he goes forth with praise to the Father in his heart. That's the context for this passage. Jesus' absolute trust in the Father. His full knowledge of the work that they were doing and the praise he desired. Oh, how much he must have been looking forward to that brief time alone in prayer that he would have with the Father in the garden. Well, Jesus' citation of Zechariah 13, seven reveals where his thought is. with the saving purpose of the Father. But we cannot fail to note this desertion that he foretells. After Judas departed to put in motion his plans for Jesus' arrest, Jesus turns to the remaining disciples and he says, you will all fall away. You see, Jesus' arrest would have the effect of pulling the thread that held together the cloth of their faith, and it would just all fall to the ground. William Lane comments, even as sheep are scattered in panic when their shepherd falls, so the death of Jesus will cause the disciples to desert him and will mark the loss of that center point of their own fellowship. They scatter not only from him, but from one another. Now, of course, there's a great difference between Judas and his betrayal and this failure, this falling of the other 11. When Jesus says that Judas will betray him, that's a much stronger word. He's in a different class than they are. And nonetheless, the word that he uses for fall away is strong enough. It indicates they'll be scandalized by their association with him. When Jesus is arrested, they're going to start disassociating themselves with their master. Far from standing by his side, they're going to scatter in self-preservation, and they will leave Jesus alone before the cross. At the same time, we should also note that Jesus uses the word in the passive mood. What Judas does, he's going to do. It's a well-thought-out intention. This is, as it were, something that's going to happen to them. It's not an active betrayal, but the passive experience of stumbling and being scattered. Well, we can be sure that these remaining disciples were disturbed by what Jesus said, but Peter most of all. Mark writes that Peter blurts out, verse 29, even though they all fall away, I will not. Notice that the scattering's already started. Peter's disassociating himself from the others. Well, I'm not shocked about those guys. Let me move over here a little bit. But not me, that's Peter's message. He's confident in his own commitment. He's steadfast in his self-belief and his character. He insists Jesus is wrong about him, maybe not the others, but him. Matthew Henry comments, he supposes himself not only stronger than others, but so much stronger, so as to be able to receive the shock of temptation and bear up against it even all alone. But Peter will not do better as Jesus informs him. In fact, he will do worse. Verse 30, Jesus answers, truly I tell you this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. Sure, the other disciples may scatter, but Peter will deny any association of Jesus not once, not twice, three times before the rooster crows to signal the morning light. Now that's a very serious thing to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the exact opposite of how we are saved. We confess the Lord and we're saved and we confess him before the world. And that's our public profession of sin. What they're going to do is the opposite. They're going to renounce their relationship to Jesus before the world. As they're making their way in the darkness towards the Mount of Olives, Peter, that night, we find, will renounce Jesus three times. Roosters crow when the morning light comes, and before that second time happens, he will have done it. In fact, when he hears the rooster crow, it will announce the cold reality of his failure. This is not going to be a momentary slip-up on Peter's part, not just mere weakness. It is the collapse of his faith under the pressure of the world. Now, I think at this point we should remember where Mark gets his information for this passage. Mark has details. He knows exactly what Peter said to Jesus. He knows exactly what Jesus said to Peter. How does Mark know this? Well, the early church tells us, in fact, we have a document from a man named Papias who says, I knew these people. And Mark got this information from Peter himself. Well understood, the primary source material for what's in the Gospel of Mark is the memory of Simon Peter himself. Well, think about the remorse. Imagine the expression on his face when he tells John Mark, and Mark says, what did you say? What did you say when Jesus said that? He said, well, I told Jesus, verse 31, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And the other disciples, verse 31, said the same, but it's Peter's bold self-confidence that sets the boastful tone. Well, let's reflect on Peter's bold self-confidence, knowing as we do what's going to happen. And we're reminded not to express this kind of self-confidence when it comes to our own selves. and the tests of our faith that may be in store for us. James Edwards notes that such claims are more easily made in ease and safety than they are fulfilled in the crucible of temptation and opposition. And so here's the question, how would we conduct ourselves if we were faced with this kind of situation? Listen, if he owns the Lord Jesus Christ, he can be put to death. There's actual bloody violence going on. Well, that happens today. How will we do? Maybe, who knows, in my own future lives, maybe I'll be put to the crisis like this. How will I do? How will you do? Well, my friends, as we sit here anticipating it, the best answer is not to say, no problem, I got that. Oh, don't be so sure. That is not the way we face these things. What did Jesus say in the Lord's Prayer? He says, pray this, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. In fact, Peter's chief failure, we're gonna see later on, Mark's got another sandwich, and so he's gonna show how this plays out a little later on, but I tell you, his chief failure is not what happens then when he denies him. The source of his failure is what happens now. When Jesus warns him, he goes, I could not that fast. I'm not going to do that. I could never I could never deny you. Oh, really? This is his chief failure, that he refuses to yield to the plain statement from Jesus about the peril of his spiritual weakness and his vulnerability. I wonder, do we believe what the Bible says about us, about our ongoing sinfulness, about our vulnerability? When Jeremiah 17, 9 says the heart is desperately deceitful and wicked beyond all things, do we go, well, that's not my heart. Now, to be sure, a born again believer has a renewing influence, the power of the Holy Spirit in our heart, but it's that old heart. It remains that wicked heart. Are we willing to say, yes, I have a heart that I cannot trust. The thing I look, I want to, I want to believe in Jesus at the end of my days, but I cannot trust in my own resolve. I cannot trust in my own faith. I cannot trust in my own character. Well, if you can't believe in that, what can you trust in? The grace of God alone is the answer. The proper answer is I am wholly dependent and I cast myself humbly on the grace of the living God or else I can fall as easily as anyone else. You know, changing the setting, when we see a prominent Christian fall to sexual sin this week, this last week, saw a very well-known, actually I know the man very well, prominent, he's so famous, it was in the secular news, and they discovered that he'd fallen into sexual sin and were not happy about it. But the right answer is not to say, well, that could never happen to me. It can absolutely happen to you. It can absolutely happen to me. And the beginning of our way of avoiding that is the humility that Peter did not show. Am I saying that Christians are just, I'm not saying Christians are gonna do all these things. I'm not saying it's inevitable. I'm saying the way that Christians are steadfast to Jesus, the way that we keep our marital vows begins with a humility that causes us to cast ourselves before the Lord. and say, Lord, I need you to do that work in my life. Keep me close to you. Cause me to walk in your way. Cause me to walk with your people. We are able to withstand temptations. Look, many Christians have not done what Peter and the others did. They withheld their confession. They died in terrible ways, praising the Lord Jesus, but they did it by humbling themselves in a way that Peter would not do. Oh, be worried. And a glib response that says, that could never happen to me. J.C. Ryle says, we can never tell how far we might fall if once placed in temptation. There is no degree of sin into which the greatest saint may not run if he is not held up by the grace of God and if he does not watch and pray. It was not inevitable that Peter would fall into this sin. For instance, how different the night would have gone if when Jesus is arrested, they don't do this, but what if they hadn't scattered? What if they'd stuck together? What if they, and we'll see this later on, they're gonna be better. What if they'd held a prayer meeting instead? Okay, they've arrested Jesus. That's very shocking. Let's stick together and let's pray for Jesus. Let's pray for him. Let's pray for ourselves. What if they'd done that? What if Peter had said, you know, I shouldn't go alone. I don't wanna be foolish. It's gonna be a very trying situation. John, would you go with me? And we'll uphold each other. It might very well have turned out differently. We need to be godly. We need to be prudent. We can be strong in the Lord, but it begins with humble reliance, casting ourselves as poor sinners upon the grace that alone is our strength. You see, we confess our need and our weakness, and then we fortify ourselves. by God's word and prayer, and we walk a careful path of obedience in company with fellow Christians. You know, it's always discouraging to Christians when trusted leaders fall to sin or even renounce the faith. It seems to happen a fair amount today. And realizing this, pastors like me and other spiritual leaders, we need to be humble before the Lord. We need to ask for prayer, and we need to live carefully, not relying on our own strength, being in our Bibles. We need to read the Word of God. It's amazing what that will do for you. We need to be praying. We need to be walking in the strength of God. You need to pray for us. If you're a parent, your godliness matters to your children. And yet, on the other hand, Peter's failure reminds us not to repose too much trust. in the strength of any merely human leader who at best, the best of men are at best still men. The best of men are still men at best. Peter's failure reminds us to put our trust ultimately in one man alone, the man who goes to the cross alone, Jesus Christ alone. He also should stand alone as the true foundation of our hope of salvation. Well, the interesting question arising from this passage is not how could the disciples betray him? That's not a hard question theologically because they're fallen men and women. They're weak and they're vulnerable. No, the interesting question, and this is the question Mark wants us to ask, is how are these people going to be saved? They are proving themselves to be faithless. What hope is there for faithless disciples like this? They're deserting the only Savior who would redeem them from their sins. We ask ourselves more broadly, what hope is there for the salvation of people? who are so faithless as these disciples were? Well, there's three answers, and they're right in our passage. I'll do them relatively briefly, but they're so important. Right in our passage, we have the answers. What is the hope of the faithless? And the first hope is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. What's happening? He's on his way to the Mount of Olives. Why? To be arrested. Why arrested? So he can die on the next morning. He can be crucified for the sins of these very failing disciples. Jesus shows in this passage that he has no delusions about these men. He knows exactly who they are. He knows how weak they are. He knows how contemptible they are in so many ways. He knows they're going to fail him, and yet he not only had the Last Supper with them, he not only gave them the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with them, but he goes to the cross and he dies for them. He goes to the cross to pay for their sins. Listen to how Paul puts this so vitally in Romans chapter five. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one might dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. How are sinners like this to be saved? Christ died for sinners. This is why, should you find yourself failing, maybe a moment comes in your life when you fail the Lord in a major way, don't run away from Him. Don't shun Him. Don't sullenly blame Him. Jesus was then, He is now the Savior of sinners. J.C. Rowe writes, Let us take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus does not cast off His believing people because of their failures and imperfections. He knows what they are. He takes them as the husband takes the wife with all their blemishes, all their defects, and once joined to Him by faith, He will never put them away. Well, this is going to be true of these faltering disciples. And so Jesus is dying for these very faithless men. Now, secondly, he's not only going to die, he's going to rise from the grave. Look in the middle of this passage. Look in verse 28. We may have missed it. But after I am raised up, he said. In the midst of this dark scene, Jesus foretells not only his death, but his resurrection. And so neither the desertion of his disciples nor his own death are the end of the story, not at all. At the end of the, in the darkness of the cross, there is the light of the open tomb and it will shine on these disciples. It's interesting. It seems that those words that Jesus said, and when I'm raised up, that they just missed that completely. Those words were completely lost by them. We'll let them not be lost on us. Jesus has the resurrection in view. It's not only his death for their sins, it's the resurrection life, the victory he will achieve, and that he will communicate to his people. Betrayed by Judas, deserted by the other disciples, Jesus would take up the cross alone, and by the power of God, he would emerge victorious. You see, here's our good news. Not only that Jesus died to pay the guilt of our sin, but Jesus rose from the grave, and through faith, we enter into that resurrection. Right now, we receive the Holy Spirit. There's spiritual power, so I don't go on being weak. Why should I remain the weak Christian I am when the Holy Spirit is working in me with resurrection power? That's what Paul says in Ephesians 1. The power that is at work with you is not like the power that raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power that raised Jesus from the dead, namely the promised Holy Spirit. And the day is going to come when you and I are not weak. We're no longer weak. We're no longer faltering. We're no longer able to be tempted. When Jesus returns, we will be raised. And John said in 1 John 3, we will be like him. What hope is there for the faithless? The hope that we have a Savior who knew he knew exactly what we were when he died for our sins and he paid the debt of our sin. That debt has been paid and he rose from the grave and the Holy Spirit works resurrection power in our lives. And the day is coming when I will be resurrected. You will be resurrected in glory and we will be like him. What a hope we have. That's where Zechariah 13 9 concludes. And Jesus has this in his mind when he speaks about this. Here's how it ends. These people, they will call upon my name and I will answer them. I will say they are my people and they will say the Lord, he is our God. It's the ultimate fulfillment of the eternal covenant purpose. It's all going to come to these very faithless men because of the resurrection of Jesus. So also for we who believe. And then thirdly, look at verse 28. Jesus says, oh, I'm going to regather those who are scattered. I will go before you to Galilee. Now, Galilee was the place where they'd first met him, and they'd grown in their faith. Most of our time in Mark's gospel was spent in Galilee. Jesus' wonderful teaching, his self-disclosure of himself as the Messiah, the wonderful acts of healing, and they'd learned him, and they'd walked with him, and they'd talked with him. Oh, it seemed like the distant past. Maybe we feel that way. Oh, if I could go back to the beginning of my Christian life before I messed it all up. Jesus says, look, I will meet you in Galilee, and I will go before you again. And when he's raised, after they've been scattered, he will regather them and he will meet them there. And those Galilean hills will yet again be graced with the Good Shepherd, the sight of the Good Shepherd leading his flock into eternal life. You know, Mark's gospel ends on that note. Mark's Gospel ends, Mark 16, 7. Jesus left a message with the angels at the open tomb. Here's the message. Here's what you're going to tell Peter and the others when they realize they've been raised from the dead. You know what he told them to tell them? Go tell his disciples and Peter that he's going before you to Galilee. There you will see him just as he told you. Well, so too, when we fail and falter, maybe we foolishly, let's not, but maybe we do. We fall into sin or maybe we cowardly deny him before the world. Let's not do that. It matters. But we're weak and we fail. If you find yourself failing, well, Jesus waits ahead of you. He's ready to lead you onward. Well, here is Christ's hope for His faithless people. As Paul put it in 2 Timothy 2.13, if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. My friends, Jesus, God's Son, is going to fulfill that covenant He made with His Father before the creation of the world. He's going to bring with Him all His chosen ones into the glory of the age to come. You go, how can I know I'm one of them? By believing in the Lord Jesus. Judas did not believe in Him. These men do believe. And you go, wow, they're weak. Right. And they're going to be saved. Why? By grace alone. Sovereign grace. A mighty Savior is going to redeem them. And those promises are true. Not one of Jesus' promises are going to fall to the ground. Lay hold of them by faith. Be a believer. Take them to your heart by the grace of God. And you will be saved. Brian Leach urges us that we should respond to his faithfulness with a humble resolve, that by his grace, we too will learn to be faithful. He writes this, kind and merciful God, we have sinned in your sight. We have all wandered far from your way. We have followed desire. We have failed to aspire to the virtue we ought to display. Kind and merciful God, in Christ's death on the cross, you provided a cleansing from sin. Speak the words that forgive, that henceforth we may live by the might of your spirit within. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus. Father, it's not pretty to look at the disciples and what they're about to do, and Jesus telling them that, and to know that that's where we fit into this passage. We are not saved by our faith. We're saved through our faith, but not by it. Not our virtue, not our resolutions, not our strength. We have no strength. But Father, we see a mighty Savior, your Son, and we see his thought going to you and your sovereign covenant and your eternal counsels and what you were doing together. You were redeeming us who believe. And so, Father, we call upon you and you tell us you will answer. We say to you, oh Lord, you are our God. How wonderful it is that it's of us, even, that you say, and you are my people. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.