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Our reading this morning is from
Mark's account of the gospel. Chapter 14, Mark chapter 14. We will read beginning in verse
22 through verse 52. Mark 14, 22. Jesus took some bread and after
blessing, he broke it and gave it to them and said, take it,
this is my body. And when he had taken a cup and
given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it. And
he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured
out for many. Truly I say to you, I will never
again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink
it new in the kingdom of God. After singing a hymn, They went
out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, you will
all fall away. Because it is written, I will
strike down the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.
But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.
But Peter said to him, even though all may fall away, yet I will
not. And Jesus said to him, truly
I say to you that this very night Before a rooster crows twice,
you yourself will deny me three times. But Peter kept saying
insistently, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny
you. And they all were saying the
same thing also. They came to a place named Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples,
sit here until I've prayed. And he took with him Peter and
James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled.
And he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point
of death. Remain here and keep watch. And
he went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began
to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by. And
he was saying, Abba, Father, All things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what
you will. And he came and found them sleeping
and said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep
watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying that
you may not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. Again, he went away and prayed,
saying the same words. And again, he came and found
them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy and they did
not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and
said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough, the
hour has come. Behold, the son of man is being
betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold,
the one who betrays me is at hand. Immediately while he was
still speaking, Judas, one of the 12, came up accompanied by
a crowd with swords and clubs who were from the chief priests
and the scribes and the elders. Now he who was betraying him
had given them a signal saying, whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away under
guard. After coming, Judas immediately
went to him saying, Rabbi, and kissed him. They laid hands on
him and seized him. But one of those who stood by
drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and
cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, have
you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would
against a robber? Every day I was with you in the
temple teaching and you did not seize me. But this has taken
place to fulfill the scriptures. And they all left him and fled.
A young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet
over his naked body, and they seized him. But he pulled free
of the linen sheet and escaped naked. As we pick up right where we
left off last week, at the end of the institution of the Lord's
Supper where Jesus transitions from the perpetual Passover meal
to the Lord's Supper, which we still observe in a regular manner,
the way that the scriptures prescribe. After singing a hymn, Mark writes,
they went out to the Mount of Olives. So they get up out of
the upper room and go out into the Mount of Olives. And it's
remarkable. We know what's coming. We've
read the story before. We just read it all moments ago. It's
unbelievable, really, to try to wrap our minds around this
most intimate setting imaginable, even if we consider John's gospel
and add that to it where we know that Jesus also washed the feet
of his disciples and then serves them in the Lord's Supper, guaranteeing
that he will one day eat and drink with them again in paradise,
in heaven forever, to see the way that the story unfolds is
almost unbelievable. It really makes us lean heavily
on verses like 2 Timothy 2.13, if we are faithless, he remains
faithful. It makes us lean and hope on
those truths in order for us to have any measure of sanity
or hope for ourselves. Unless maybe you have a lot more
self-confidence than I do, or some of us do, if you don't see
what's happening here with the disciples and think, how will
I not go this same path? What keeps me, what will keep
me from denying? Like Judas, or Peter, or all
of the others. Well, there's only one thing
that will keep us from doing that. As Paul writes to Timothy,
if we are faithless, Or you could read it this way, when we are
faithless, he remains faithful. It is faithfulness in Jesus Christ
that we see here in this passage, being focused on the word of
God and seeking to live his life according to the word of God,
that proves to be our only hope. So I want to look at verses 26,
27, down through verse 52 together this morning. The first portion
of that, the first small portion, verses 26 to 31, insisting on
faithfulness. This is Peter and the other 10
disciples insisting on their faithfulness. And then the next
11 verses, 32 to 42, evidence of faithlessness. They insisted that they would
be faithful. They proved that they were not. And then finally,
43 to 52, fulfilling the scriptures, or the faithfulness of Jesus,
or the faithfulness of God's word. You probably don't have a lot
of confidence since I'm changing points on the fly here, the titles of
them. Insisting on faithfulness. Jesus
said to them, they go out to the Mount of Olives after standing
up from the Lord's Supper, they go out to the Mount of Olives
and this is what he says to them. Again, just for the sake of realizing
the moment Judas has just left, to go and finish his plan, his
intent of betraying Jesus. They have watched him go. Jesus
said, one of you is a traitor. And then he says to Judas, what
you do, do quickly. And Judas leaves. They understand
what's going on. And then Jesus says to all of
them, quoting from Zechariah 13, that you're all going to
do the same thing, not to the same extent. But even with him
quoting from Zechariah 13, it was definitely on his mind, he's
quoting it, but it would have been on the disciples' mind as
well as he quoted it. In Zechariah 13, interestingly,
as we read earlier, we see that the focus there is on the faithfulness
of the shepherd, not the faithlessness of the sheep. When we read this passage, we
are prone to realize how faithless we are. We see how faithless
the disciples were in the decisions that they made. And Jesus is
reminding us, while it is true that we are faithless at times,
we should keep our focus off of our faithlessness and on Him
who is the faithful one, the faithfulness of the shepherd.
The prophet Zechariah is the most cited Old Testament source
for this last week of Jesus's life, up to and including His
death, Zechariah 11 prophesies Jerusalem as a city, the rejection
as a people in the city, rejection of the Messiah. Even specifically
down in verse 11, pardon, verse 12 of Zechariah 11, they weighed
out 30 shekels of silver as my wages. The exact price for which
Judas would receive for betraying Jesus is prophesied. Not only
that, what he did with the money, in the next verse, Zechariah
11, 13, he took the 30 shekels of silver and threw them to the
potter, buying a potter's field. Zechariah 12, 10, they will look
on me whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as
one mourns for an only son. And then Zechariah 13, that we
read earlier, in that day a fountain will be opened for the house
of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
impurity. And then it's a poem there that
Jesus was quoting from. Awake, O sword, awake my shepherd
against the man my associate declares the Lord of hosts. Strike
the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered and I will turn
my hand against the little ones. Look exactly at what Jesus said,
I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. scattered. Jesus is not making
some new prophetic prediction against his disciples. He hasn't
discovered something new in them and now he's telling them about
it. Rather, he's telling them exactly what the Bible says they're
going to do. Not only that, Jesus understands
this poem in Zechariah 13 to be his father speaking. When
he says it here to them, recorded in Mark, I will strike down the
shepherd, he recognizes that the greatest blow that he is
about to face, even though he has been betrayed by a disciple
and will be abandoned and denied by the others, the greatest blow
for Jesus was coming from his father. I will strike down the
shepherd. He knows where the greatest blow
will come as the cross nears. While he is certainly aware,
while Jesus is certainly aware of the failure of his friends,
he is far more keenly aware of the unfailing purposes of his
father to accomplish the redemption of these faithless disciples,
of us. After I have been raised, I'll
go ahead of you to Galilee. Jesus says. But Peter said to
him, seeming to just ignore the previous two statements that
Jesus made, you will all fall away, I will be raised and go
ahead of you. Peter responds, even though all
may fall away, yet I will not. Now, the reality of the denial
and the scattering isn't noted in its completion until verse
50, if you look down, and they all left him and fled, that's
where it's all headed. But the actual beginning of the
eventual mass denial from the disciples is right here. Even if they all deny you, I'm
not going to, Peter says. See what's happening here is
Peter is separating himself from the other disciples. He's isolating
himself, betraying, if you will, the other disciples before he
actively betrays Jesus. He is confident in his own commitment. He doesn't seem to care much
about the others. He doesn't have a lot of confidence in them,
but he has a lot of confidence in himself. He is quite sure
of his own character and very determined regarding his own
ability. Completely certain that in his
own strength, he will not deny. He even is insisting by his words
that Jesus is wrong. Jesus just said you will fall
away. And he's arguing with him. No, not me. Yeah, you're thinking
about those guys, but not me. And as we know, and it's recorded
for us here, instead of doing better than the others, like
Peter assumed would be the reality, or assumed would be the case,
he actually does worse. And Jesus tells him that he's
going to do, whereas truly I say to you, this very night before
a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny me three times. Three times. Peter's denial here
is part of his legacy. I mean, it's a tarnished part,
but it's a part. We don't think about Peter without
remembering that he is the one who denied Jesus three times
before the rooster crowed. While the others will scatter,
Jesus says, you yourself, Peter, you'll deny me three times before
morning. And Peter still refuses to believe
what Jesus says. Look at verse 31. But he kept
saying insistently, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny
you. This is chief Peter, this is
chief Peter, this is Peter's Chief failure. I don't think
Peter's a chief. I had to change direction in my
mind because I have some jokes running through it that just
don't need to be saying right now, so. This is Peter's chief failure. More so than the infamous denial. Like we're aware of the denial,
but the reason that he denied is because he refused to believe.
to listen and believe what the Lord said. And this is not just
some fleeting moment of weakness for Peter. If he had been listening
to Jesus for the past three years, he would have a better understanding
of reading the room. He would be able to realize,
oh, this is what is about to happen. It's not a fleeting moment
of weakness. It is what amounts to a complete
collapse of his faith. Imagine the setting, you may
remember that the majority of the gospel of Mark, it is believed,
and most likely it is true, that Peter is often the firsthand
account that is retelling the story to Mark who is recording
it for us. So imagine the setting while
Peter is retelling this to Mark, and Mark is recording it. And
Mark says, Jesus told us that we were all going to fall away.
What did you say, Peter? I said, oh, not me. Imagine Mark's
like, man, do I really write that? So what about when you said,
even if the others may fall away, yet I won't? What did Jesus say
then? Oh, he said that I would actually
deny him three times before the sunrise. Wow. So Peter, what did you say when
Jesus said that? I dug my heels in. I said, there's
no way. I insisted that I would die before
denying him. Imagine the shame of Peter having
to retell this. to relive it. You know what it's
like when you talk about something that you've been really emotionally
engaged in, even years later, you can talk about it and almost
feel the flood of emotions coming back. And surely as Peter is
telling Mark this, he's feeling the weight of, I failed to listen. There were so much clear teaching
and evidence and he told us what was going to happen. He warned
us. I mean, even Peter himself, Jesus
told him, I have prayed for you, Peter. Satan has asked to sift
you like wheat and I've prayed for you, Matthew tells us. I will die before denying you. These types of claims are so
easily made in times of safety and in places of security. I
will never deny him. And they are, even more easily
forgotten and forsaken in the crucible of oppression and temptation. And this self-confidence of Peter
proved contagious. And it infected all of the other
disciples. Look at the end of verse 31.
And they all were saying the same thing also. So not only has Peter separated
himself from the other disciples, turning his back on them, basically
saying, I don't care if they deny you. What I care is that
I'm going to prove faithful, Jesus. I'm not going to deny
you. But then all of the other disciples separated themselves
from one another. They're all saying the same thing,
even if the other 10 Deny you? I'm not going to. I'm willing
to follow you even unto death. I will not deny you. They are
isolating themselves from one another in their own self-righteous
resolve. And these separations, both the
separation of Peter from the other disciples and the other
disciples from one another, happened before they separated themselves
from Jesus. which screams at us that humility
before God and among one another is the only hope for us to not
also be infected by Peter's and the disciples' self-sure commitment
to never walk away from Jesus. We need each other. This is not
a race for us to run on our own. We need one another. Even though all may fall away, I will follow you. But Jesus didn't just bring,
I referenced it earlier, alluded to it, this doom and woe of you
will all fall away. But he makes clear in verse 28,
after I have been raised, I'm going to be struck down by my
heavenly father, but I will be raised up again. Verse 28 is
full of hope. After I've been raised, I'll
go ahead of you to Galilee. Like I'm going to see you again.
I'm going to be raised from the dead. He's alluded to this time and
again. Listen to just one chapter of John's gospel four different
times. This is the will of Him who sent
me, that of all He has given me, I lose nothing but raise
it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will
have eternal life, and I myself will raise Him up on the last
day. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
him and I will raise him up on the last day. He who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise
him up on the last day. Not only is Jesus going to be
raised, he's going to raise his people as well. He's going to
meet them there. He's going ahead of them to Galilee. John 14 tells us. Not only did
he go ahead of them to Galilee after he was raised from the
dead, before he ascended on high, but John 14 tells us, Jesus tells
us, that after he ascends on high, even that is a going ahead
of us. He went ahead of his disciples
to Galilee and met them there after the resurrection, and he's
gone ahead of us to heaven. And he's waiting for us there. Again, waiting to eat and drink
of the supper that he instituted, finally and forever. So there was lots of commitment
and insisting on faithfulness. And unfortunately, it just didn't
prove to be a reality as we continue in verse 32, the evidence of
the disciples' faithlessness. Up until this point, Jesus has
remained absolutely resolute. Since turning his face like Flint
towards Jerusalem, he has been committed to getting there, knowing
what was before him, seeking to accomplish God's will and
salvation for his people. But this moment, what we read
in this passage, we see Jesus rattled, in a way that we haven't
witnessed before, we see him disturbed in a way that he has
never experienced. And yet still, though the hour
is upon him, as he says it, and though he is distressed and troubled
and deeply grieved, to quote him, Jesus does not falter in
the slightest bit in his commitment to saving us from our sins. distressed
like never before, troubled in ways that he's never experienced,
deeply grieved to the point of death, and he does not falter
in his commitment to saving us. The suffering that culminates
on the cross began here in the garden, unquestionably. In fact, the inward suffering
that Jesus endured is far greater than the physical suffering on
the cross. Joseph Hart, who wrote one of
the hymns that we just sang, Come Ye Needy, there's a verse that we don't
sing in our hymnal that encaptures the concept well. View him prostrate
in the garden. On the ground your maker lies.
On the bloody tree, behold him. Sinner, will this not suffice? From the garden, laying out,
prostrate to pray, to the cross and bleeding, is that not enough? It is enough. It's a rhetorical
question. Joseph Hart was excellent at
asking questions. It's a wonderful question. because it is enough. He bore our sin in the garden,
on the tree, and it is enough. We see him bearing it here in
the words that he speaks and the actions that he's taking.
He offered his body to be crucified on the cross because he had already
surrendered his will to his father. The reason he could go to the
cross is because he was so committed to his father and doing his will. He says in verse 36, all things
are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet
not what I will, but what you will. He was committed to doing God's
will. Backing up a bit, going into
the garden, he takes Peter, James, and John, not merely for companionship. They were close friends, and
when we're going through difficult times, having close friends by
our side is necessary. But Jesus knew that they would
fail him. He didn't bring them along in order to draw attention
to their failure or their proneness to fail. He took them for their
own benefit. to teach them, to allow them
to hear what he was saying and see what he was doing so that
we can see now and benefit from it as well. He took them for
us to have eyewitness accounts so that we too might learn as
he was teaching them to watch and to pray. It's also interesting
to note that these three, Peter, James, and John, these three
specifically had boasted of their commitment to Jesus. We just
saw Peter's, even though all may fall away, yet I will not,
even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. We have
to back up a couple of chapters to hear James and John making
their bold commitments. We are able, they say, to drink
the cup that you drink. Jesus asked them, are you able
to drink the cup? Yeah, absolutely, we are. Are you able to be baptized
with the baptism which I'm baptized? And they said, yes. Bold, boasting,
we're able to drink the cup that you drink. That's the cup of
God's wrath, as we'll see. To be baptized with the baptism
with which you're baptized, that's the baptism of death, which is
an all the way dead death. Here Jesus takes them into the
garden, and this is their chance. This is their chance to say,
you know what? We're not that strong. Please
help us. We're weak. We've made bold claims. We spoke
foolishly. We're relying on self. We need
you, Jesus. They even witnessed the anguish.
They see the sweating drops of blood. They experienced Jesus'
suffering in ways that they had not previously witnessed. and they're impacted so greatly
by it that they fall asleep. It really doesn't even make sense
in our finite minds that it would be possible because we feel so
confidently that if we were there, we would not be sleeping. which is one of the reasons that
the passage is recorded to tell us absolutely we might have been
sleepwalking on the way in. The death of Jesus even beginning
here in the garden, was different than any other person's death
because of what he was going through. He came, as Mark told
us earlier in chapter 10, verse 45, to give his life a ransom
for many. No one else's life has that purpose,
only Jesus. He, as Isaiah tells us, was pierced
through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. It's almost impossible to fathom. It's unimaginable for us to consider
standing before God for our own sins. Imagine having to stand before
him and you having to somehow answer for your sin in a way
that would appease the wrath that it deserves. Jesus here in the garden and
all the way to the cross, was suffering not just for your sin,
but for every sin of every stripe, for every one of God's people
throughout the entire world, for all of time. This is all
of heaven's wrath being poured out on him. which is why we read in verse
35, he went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began
to pray. He was pressed to the ground
with weight. Jewish men stood to pray in that
day, but the agony was too much. He was bearing the sin of the
world. The torment was too great. And Mark tells us, probably through
Peter's eyes, that he fell to the ground. We see this Oftentimes,
it's not uncommon to see it in the Psalms, when affliction is
great, then the psalmist is on the ground
praying. This is only the third time in the Gospel of Mark that
we have a picture of Jesus praying. Luke records him praying very
often. Mark mentions it, still dark, Jesus got up, chapter one,
verse 35, left the house, went away to a secluded place and
was praying there. Then again in 646, he left for
the mountain to pray. And then finally here, he goes
into the garden, leaves the majority of the disciples, takes three
further in, leaves them, goes further in, falls to the ground
and prays. And look at what he prays. He
was saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you
will. Remove this cup, this cup of
your righteous wrath against sin and unrepentant sinners. God, will you remove this cup
from me? Think about all that Jesus is
facing and about to face. He doesn't pray. in an attempt to avoid the injustice
of his false arrest. He doesn't pray to be spared
from the cruel dealings of the Romans. He doesn't pray to escape
the scorn of his mockers. He doesn't pray that he might
miss out on the physical death that awaits him. He prays that
this cup might be removed. The cup that he dreaded was God's
wrath. The cup that he dreaded was his
father's forsaking of him when he became our sin. Psalm 75, eight. For a cup is in the hand of the
Lord and the wine foams. It is well mixed and he pours
out of this. Surely all of the wicked of the
earth must drain and drink down its dregs. This is the cup that
Jesus was to drink, which is why we find him praying, remove
this cup from me. Jesus is not faltering in his
commitment to save sinners here. He is asking if there might be
another way. He was committed to saving sinners. He knew that that was the plan
and nothing would deter that. But he's asking, is there another
way that they might be saved? If there is, God choose that
one. This one seems too much to bear. But because there is
no other way, he remains steadfast and faithful. Notice what is not recorded here. There is no answer from the Father. Heaven is closed, we might say,
as he bears our sin, which is proof, absolute proof that there
is no other way for sins to be forgiven. Then through Jesus
Christ, God turns his face away from his only begotten son, his
eternal son. If there was another way, God
would have chosen it. He would have done it. There
is no other way. Yet not what I will, but what
you will. Interesting little statement.
We could spend a few weeks dissecting and attempting to determine exactly
what's going on here. Jesus is God. So what does he
mean, not what I will, but what you will? Is there a contradiction?
Are they on different pages with regard to this plan of redemption?
Not at all. There's no division. Zero. division between the Father and
the Son. There's no division in the divine
will of God between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. They
are all essentially one, and there is a single divine will. There is division in the two
natures of Jesus. He is one with the Father, but
he is truly man. while remaining truly God. And
here it is the human will of Jesus. It is Jesus in his humanity
shrinking under the weight of the world's sin. It wasn't just
the deity of Jesus that was bearing our sin, but it was him in his
humanity. And it was required because we
don't have a sufficient sacrifice if only deity is dying for us
because we aren't deity. We had to have a man, fully,
truly human, to bear our sin in order for us to be saved. His suffering humanity surrenders
to the will of the divine, yet not what I will, but what you
will. And this should be completely
freeing for us with regard to praying, for relief from suffering,
from physical suffering. But Jesus is asking, not that
the ultimate end of the spiritual good isn't accomplished, but
is there another way? A way that doesn't hurt so bad,
that doesn't feel so weighty, that isn't so much suffering. After praying that, he came and
he found them sleeping. Not just once, not just twice,
three times. He went away, verse 39 says,
and prayed again, saying the same words. There's no reason
for you to feel bad about repetition in your prayer. Toddlers have
no problem with repetition, asking for what they want. Sometimes
it works. Jesus told a parable about the woman coming to the
judge. coming and asking and continuing
to come. Even Jesus going to his father
here. He went away and prayed, saying the same words again. And he's warning the disciples. It's like he's letting them know
this is what you're here for, to watch and to pray that you
may not come into temptation. Again, the selflessness of Jesus
here. He's going to die within hours. He's bearing the weight
of the sin of the world. He's saying, Peter, James, and
John, like temptation is at your doorstep, pray and watch. He
didn't need their protection. He didn't have to have their
companionship, but he didn't want them to fail. So he says
to them, the Spirit is willing. I've heard your boasting. I know
that your desires are right in some measure. but the flesh is
weak. And Jesus is not offering them
an excuse for sin, not at all. And we should be careful not
to use statements like this as an excuse for sin. He is offering
evidence of their need and our need to be watchful and to be
prayerful. Watch and pray, Jesus says. Because this Gethsemane was for
Jesus. But Gethsemane's are the inevitable
lot for those who seek to follow Christ with their lives, difficulties
and trials and temptations. And so Jesus says, watch and
pray. Because by watching and by praying,
sometimes you'll be delivered from the Gethsemane. More often
though, by watching and praying, you're delivered through the
Gethsemane. Watch and pray. Charlotte Elliott
wrote a great hymn. Christian, seek not yet repose. Cast thy dreams of ease away. Thou art in the midst of foes.
Watch and pray. Principalities and powers, mustering
their unseen array, wait for thy unguarded hours. Watch and
pray. Gird thy heavenly armor on, wear
it ever. Night and day, ambushed lies
the evil one. Watch and pray. Hear the victors
who o'ercame. Still they mark each warrior's
way. All with one sweet voice exclaim, watch and pray. Hear above all, hear thy Lord.
Hear him thou lovest to obey. Hide within thy heart his word.
Watch. and pray. Watch as if on that
alone hung the issue of the day and pray that help may be sent
down. Watch and pray. The spirit is willing and the
flesh is weak. And Jesus says, having come to
them now a third time in verse 41, the hour has come. The weight
of our sin is being laid on him, and with that weight, he does
not look back or around for an escape, but he looks right into
the eyes of those who are coming to arrest him, who will crucify
him. Look at verse 43, the last point,
fulfilling the scriptures. We'll start with 42. Get up,
let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me
is at hand. Immediately, while he was still
speaking, Judas, one of the 12, even referring to Judas in that
way at this point in the story is so compassionate and merciful.
There's still time for Judas to repent. He was one of the
12. He came up with a crowd. The
crowd had swords and clubs. They were from the chief priests
and the scribes and the elders, the same chief priests and scribes
and elders that had previously tried to trip Jesus up and find
some reason to arrest him. They had failed in their game
of Q&A, and so now they've come at night. He who was betraying
him, Judas had given them a signal, saying, whomever I kiss, he's
the one. Seize him and lead him away under guard. And Judas comes,
says, Rabbi, and kissed him. This sign of enthusiastic affection
is used to betray Jesus into the hands of his murderers. The
kiss of Judas shows how low a human heart can go. It was as vindictive as it was
vengeful and hypocritical. Betrayal is
always terrible. Betrayal with a kiss is exponentially
so. It had never crossed my mind
to contrast this with Psalm 2 until this morning when I was reading
something from Psalm 2. It says, kiss the son, lest he
become angry. But if you kiss him like Judas,
he's going to be angrier. When Judas and the arresting
party arrive, John's gospel tells us that Jesus asked the question,
whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus the
Nazarene. He said to them, I am. Judas was standing with them,
John says. And Jesus said again, I am. Remember what John said then?
They drew back and fell to the ground. Judas standing there
with them, experiencing the holiness, the power, the awe of this man. I wonder if as Judas falls back
because of the power of God, Jesus, as God saying, I am, if
the 30 pieces of silver are jingling around in his pockets. Jesus was not really the one
being arrested. He was playing sheriff, arresting the mob with
a mere statement, I am. They stumbled to their feet and
continue doing what they came to do. One of those who stood by drew
his sword, struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off
his ear. Mark, listening to Peter, just
thought, man, Peter, I can't write down that you did that
too. John tells us, so we know it was Peter that pulled out his sword, thinking
that it's that kind of fight, thinking that A hateful, malicious
response is necessary, but they're really never necessary. The best
illustration I saw in two different places this week is of a 19th
century minister who was caught up in a substantial theological
controversy, one that he was probably on the right side of. In order to deal with theological
controversies in the 19th century, they would often write pamphlets
back and forth to each other, and those would be distributed
so everyone could see it. So think the blog of yesteryear
and the podcast of today, right? There's never a need for hateful
and malicious responses. They are never necessary. So
this minister had written a pamphlet that was very well received,
widely received and had a lot of positive effects called Come
to Jesus years before. So he's caught up in this theological
controversy, and so he writes this pamphlet just berating this
other guy that is on the wrong side of the controversy. It just
goes after him. But he just can't think of a
title. He doesn't know what to title it. He sends it to a friend.
He's like, hey, I've written this pamphlet. Will you help
me find a title for it? And the friend must have been a really
good friend. who cared about this man because he wrote back
and said, yes, you should title it, Go to Hell by the author
of Come to Jesus. And he never published the pamphlet
because the point was made, like, oh, yeah, there's not a need
for me to attack in this way. There wasn't a need for Peter
here. I mean, really, did Peter think that Jesus needed Him to
fight with a sword? There's 12 of them at best, including
Jesus. And some commentators suspect
there may have been hundreds who are there to arrest Him. They didn't have much of a chance.
Cutting off ears was not going to accomplish much. Jesus calls them out on their
cowardice. Every day I was with you in the
temple, verse 49, Well, first, before we get there, look at
verse 48. I mean, Jesus asked them, you've come out with swords
and clubs to arrest me as you would a robber? Every day I was
with you in the temple. You didn't seize me then. This
has taken place to fulfill the scriptures. They're cowards,
and so therefore they must come in the cloak of darkness. And
Jesus, having already said to them, I am, now says to them
in not so many words, I am in control of even your wicked intentions. All you're doing is fulfilling
what the word of God says. What I have said would happen. And they all left him. They laid
hands on him, verse 46, and seized him. And the disciples left him. Back to the very beginning, verse
27. Immediately after the supper,
Jesus said, you will all fall away. You're all gonna fall away. Nope, nope, not us. And they did. They all left him.
They scatter in self-preservation. their leaving, their denial of
Jesus is the exact opposite of what we're called to do as Christ's
people. We're called to confess him before
the world and they instead deny him or renounce him before the
world. Rather than announcing to the
world that they belong to Jesus, they renounce him. Peter successfully
does it three times before sunrise. And then verse 51, 52, a young
man was following him wearing nothing but a linen sheet over
his naked body and they seized him. But he pulled free of the
linen sheet and escaped naked. And that's really weird what's
going on there. I couldn't find anyone who disagreed
that this is very likely Mark himself. He is giving himself
a cameo in his own production. If you remember last week when
we talked about the upper room, and the likelihood of that being
Mark's house, because they end up in Acts 12 at Mark's house
in the upper room. It's very likely it's the same
upper room here in Mark 14, again in Acts 1 and then in Acts 12. So it's very likely that Mark
is there. During the Lord's Supper, it's happening upstairs in his
house and like listening to what's going on and they go out to the
Mount of Olives. There's a lot going on, things are different.
He's definitely heard about Jesus. He gets up out of bed, doesn't
put clothes on, just gets the linen sheet, wraps it around
him, sneaks out. He's watching in Gethsemane.
He sees some of this. He's watching and he too, It's
not just him giving himself a cameo in his own production, it's him
saying, me too, I denied him. They tried to take me, I ran. I was so willing to deny him,
I didn't care that I was naked. If we are faithless, Not just
Peter, James, and John, the other disciples, not just Judas, not
just Mark, if we, you and me, if we are faithless, he remains
faithful. What is the hope of the faithless? What is our hope? The hope is that cross that's
on the horizon of the story. While we were still helpless,
At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly while we were
yet sinners. Christ died for us. That's our
hope. What is the hope of the faithless?
It's the promised resurrection. Remember back in verse 28, after
I have been raised, these words seem to have been lost on the
disciples. Don't let them be lost on you. He was raised from
the dead and he's coming again. Not only was he raised from the
dead, but you also are raised up with him who raised Christ
from the dead, Ephesians tells us. Not just the cross on the
horizon and the promised resurrection, but the gathering in, I'll go
ahead of you to Galilee. I mentioned it earlier. We're
not meeting him in Galilee, but he's coming again and we will
meet him in the new heavens and the new earth and we'll dine
with him there forever. If we turn all the way back to
the beginning of our Bibles, we see that rebellion and disobedience
entered in, in the Garden of Eden and it brought death. And
we fast forward back here and we see that it is submission
and obedience in the Garden of Gethsemane that brought life
everlasting through Christ. We are saved only by Him. by His work, by His grace alone. This triumphal work of salvation
He accomplished alone. Isaiah 63, I've trodden the winepress
alone. There was no one to help. We
just read, none stayed around. My own arm held me up, Isaiah
63 says. Jesus has accomplished our salvation
alone. Redemption is entirely and exclusively
his work. No one has a share in it. All
that has been done for our salvation, he has done it and he's done
it alone. John 16, behold, an hour is coming
and already has come for you to be scattered. John's version
of the story that we looked at today, each to his own home and
to leave me alone. In the garden of Gethsemane,
he was alone. He left Peter, James, and John.
They went to sleep. He went further in, alone. They
slept while he was alone in his agony. The cup was his to drink
alone. He drank the dregs alone. The disciples forsook him and
fled, and he died alone. On the cross, he took upon his
shoulders the sin of the world, and he did so alone. "'O Christ, what burdens bowed
thy head?' Anne Cousin writes. "'Our load was laid on thee. "'Thou stoodest in the sinner's
stead. "'Didst bear all ill for me. "'A victim led, thy blood was
shed. "'Now there's no load for me.'
He did it alone. "'Death and the curse were in
our cup. "'O Christ, t'was full for thee,
"'but thou hast drained the last dark drop. "'Tis empty now for
me. "'All of that wrath that is due,
our sin, "'he drank it all. "'None is saved up, he did it
alone. "'So let's not bring our threadbarren,
"'filthy rags of righteousness to him, "'our self-strong commitments
and abilities, "'not to him, this one who conquered sin "'and
death and the grave, He did it alone. When Christ was betrayed,
they all left him. When he was crucified, they were
all in despair. When he was raised, they were
in disbelief. He's called us to believe and to hope and to
follow. Let's avoid Peter's trap of not
listening or not hoping and believing in
what God has said. If we are faithless, every time
that we are faithless, he remains faithful. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your son
and for your word. We pray that you will take the
truth contained in what we've considered today, and that you
will help us, making us more like your son. God, will you
call those who are standing outside of your son to yourself, granting
repentance and faith, making them children, and God, helping
those of us who are your children, that we might Be increasingly
conformed to the image of this one that we see recorded, his
life recorded so wonderfully on the pages of your word. God,
make us like Jesus, in Christ's name, amen.
Battling Fear With Faith
Series Mark
For more info, visit https://christchur.ch
| Sermon ID | 128251343175812 |
| Duration | 58:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Mark 14:27-52 |
| Language | English |
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