Turn with me in your scriptures to the gospel according to Mark. Mark's gospel, we are in chapter 14, and we have before us this morning, verses 43 through 52. If you are able, I invite you to stand in honor of God's word as I read and you're hearing these verses. Mark 14. Verses 43 through 52. And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the 12, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away safely. As soon as he had come, Immediately he went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him. Then they laid their hands on him and took him. And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus answered and said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? I was daily with you in the temple, teaching, and you did not seize me, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. Then they all forsook him and fled. Now a certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body, and the young man laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. Let us pray for his blessing upon it, preached. Heavenly Father, as we see this display of our Savior, as we feed upon this his word, we pray that you'd bless the preaching of it, nourish and strengthen our hearts, cause us in beholding our Savior more clearly to love him more dearly. We ask these things in his name. Amen. You may be seated. In the immediately preceding passage, we saw our Lord's agony as He struggled with the horror of the cursedness and loathsomeness of sin that He would take upon Him that would crush Him on our behalf. He was not in any way diminished in His love for us or His resolution to save us, He cried out to the Father seeking any other way to accomplish his mission of salvation, any other method by which to accomplish redemption. As he stared in the face of the cursedness, the horror of sin that would crush him for us, this horror he asked that the Heavenly Father remove, if there were any other way, to work the work of redemption, to complete His mission. In this agony, our Savior was already taking upon Himself the pain of our sorrows and griefs. We're told He bore such agony on our behalf. He tasted all the miseries of sinfulness, of cursedness, including our own sorrows our own despair only far more intensely than any of us have ever experienced grief, sorrow, horror. The sinless substitute there in the Garden of Gethsemane was suffering turmoil of soul for us. There in the garden, his closest companions failed to support him in prayer. He asked them to wait, to watch, to pray, as his soul was crushed with sorrow and agony of every sort. There, in the garden, they rather slept. Those closest to him failed him in their calling to pray. But our Savior, reminding them, reproving them, encouraging them, persevered in prayer The result of that perseverance was that he was settled in his father's will. He moved forward without hesitation from agony to affirmation to certainty. Now, without hesitation, he pursued the cursedness of death that was set before him to work salvation for us. Here in the passage before us, Mark, who has been drawing our attention ever more sharply to the faithfulness of our Savior in the face of ever-increasing unfaithfulness all around him, brings that to a terrible climax. Abandonment and betrayal are drawn into sharp focus here. But in the darkness of all this, the light of our Savior continues to shine ever more brightly. We'll consider this revelation of the brightness of our Savior in the face of the darkness all around him in five points as we move through this sacred record. We'll consider arrival, arrest, assault, admonishment, and abandonment. Arrival, arrest, assault, admonishment, and abandonment. First, that arrival, verse 43, and immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the 12, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. You'll remember what he was speaking in the immediately preceding portion, having prayed to the Father, having fixed his heart upon the will of the Heavenly Father, he was now resolute. And his disciples who had repeatedly failed him, he woke them, he rallied them, and said to them, rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. We see that he moved from that agony to certainty. He was fearless and unsurprised. He was expecting them. He knew the will of his father. He knew what was coming. This was exactly why he was so horrified, but now, resting in the purpose of God, as he had fixed his soul upon the only way that that salvation could be wrought, he was without fear. He'd been strengthened in prayer to his father. And in this, he set an example for us to settle our agonies and anxieties at the throne of grace. As our savior diligently, repeatedly went before that throne of his heavenly father, there he was strengthened for his calling in the face of something far beyond what we can imagine. He was strengthened for that calling and now was without any trace of that agony he had been experiencing. So, our calling is to walk in the footsteps of our Savior. He was calm and resolute, with clarity of the Father's will, this was sufficient. Is that what we do? He was doing a saving work, but he set a perfect example for us as we follow him, our Savior. We are daily beset with trials, with anxieties, with agonies of heart, with the failures of loved ones when we most desperately need them, with the lack of a clear voice, as it were, from heaven. You remember so many times our Savior would hear the voice of the Heavenly Father affirming and assuring. In this occasion, we're not told of a voice that comes from heaven yet. Our Savior persevered in prayer and was met with what He needed. Is it enough for us to know that God has revealed by His promises that Certainty of His provision. Is it enough for us that we know His word and can walk in obedience to it as He strengthens us? Does that vanish from us? The fear that shakes us, that sidelines us, that prevents us from moving forward. How often we shrink back as our minds are clouded with the slightest difficulties. Not so, our Savior. and He calls us to look to Him for strength to walk as He did. We're reminded of what our Savior Christ said to His disciples as we saw Him here in the garden settle Himself upon the will of His Father. He said to His disciples in John 4, verse 34, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. This was enough for Him. Is it enough for us to know and do His will, no matter how high the cost, no matter how deeply it shakes us? We need His grace. We need what He said to His disciples. We need to watch and pray. This power is not in us naturally. It's a supernatural work. Our Savior says, follow me. I will provide what you need. I've walked that path, and I will do it. Now as Judas approaches with armed forces, Jesus is calm. He has gathered the disciples, and he's gone out to meet them. Mark wants us to feel the weight of what is happening, the darkness of it. so much the more to witness to the brightness of our Savior's faithfulness. Judas is described as one of the 12, reminding us of the brutal betrayal by one of Christ's closest companions. He had many disciples. Here, the 12, as they're called, only 11 with him at the time, and the three of the most dear disciples, failing him. Now one of the 12, one of those closest companions, comes in the dark of night with armed soldiers. The brutality of the betrayal is drawn into sharp focus as we move forward. See, Judas knew the place. He didn't go there with them on this occasion. He left separately before they went to the garden, but he knew well the pattern. You see, he had walked with those closest to Jesus. He was one of the 12, one of those that was dear, one of those that was most trusted. And he takes all of that and turns it in every way as an instrument of betraying the Savior. He uses these good gifts for treachery, Have we been treated this way? How have we responded? We know in the gospel testimony, the Savior has warned, he's spoken the truth with regard to the horrifying future of the one who betrays him, but he himself never complains against him in a harsh way. He continues to treat him in a kind manner. Again, Mark draws this into focus so that we will see the beauty of our Savior's grace towards us. Because we don't measure any higher than those disciples that were not treacherous like Judas. They were rather weak and failing in every other way they could. Are we not like they? And yet our Savior marches forward lovingly to forgive them for their treachery. While we know the doom of Judas, this is still a clarifying reminder of the purpose of our Savior to work a salvation. In the face of that betrayal, that betrayal becomes a means by which he saves weak and failing servants, the 11, us, And we see he comes with the servants listed out there in those three groups. Remember, those are the ruling body, the Sanhedrin. Judas was their ticket to what they wanted to accomplish. He empowers the hypocritical enemies of Jesus to accomplish their ends. They couldn't figure out a way. Jerusalem was surrounded and filled up with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. And remember, this was a time of increased national fervor for the Jews. The Sanhedrin knew that. They wanted desperately to get rid of Jesus, but they knew they couldn't do this in an open way because he was seen as a prophet, even a popular prophet at that time. Judas gave them the way. He knew where they would be in the dark of night on that evening. So the Sanhedrin give him a bunch of armed soldiers so that they can come in the cover of darkness, avoiding the stirring up of crowds. Armed well, they're ready to make a swift capture through overwhelming strength. All this orchestrated by Judas. One who had been at the very table of fellowship with Jesus. And so we see the arrival of that crowd of soldiers led by Judas. Now we see the arrest. Verses 44 through 46. Now his betrayer had given them a signal saying, whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him and lead him away safely. As soon as he had come, immediately, he went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, and kissed him. Then they laid their hands on him and took him. Now, the details of Judah's plan, his plot, are described. He would betray Jesus with a kiss. The kiss was a common greeting of hospitality and friendship in the ancient Near East. It's not the way we give a warm and cordial greeting We're more familiar with something like a hug or a hug and a handshake, but the custom in the Near East would be a kiss on the cheek or on the hand, and it was supposed to signal a kind of familiar affection. Certainly it would be used in families, but those who are highly regarded and treated as close as family would also be given this kind of greeting. How painfully treacherous that this token of familiarity, of warmth, of kindness, of closeness, was the signal to be used so hatefully. Mark wants us to feel the sting of this terrible betrayal. He wants you to envision the closeness, the trust, the warmth, and the effusive display of it on the part of the one treated as a friend and brother by Jesus. Outwardly, every token of that manifests in our Savior. and all of it used treacherously, hatefully by the one who had been treated with such affectionate friendliness. Note, only two people are named in this account by Mark. Judas was named in verse 43, and Jesus is named, of course, but now Judas' name is even dropped. He's simply called the betrayer, the one betraying him. Judas' instructions are for the armed men to watch for this signal and then seize Jesus and take him away safely. The word there doesn't mean to take good care. The word means securely, under guard, without any danger. to those making the seizure, making the capture. He's not concerned for Christ's safety. Rather, Judas is planning for a quick and secure capture without trouble. Overwhelming force, quick action, secure the prisoner. And as a betrayer puts the plan into action, he adds insult to injury, greeting Jesus with the title of honor used by the disciples. for Jesus. Rabbi, Rabbi, every token of honor, the calling of the Lord as master, as teacher, which Judas has rejected and is destroying, all this hypocrisy is so horrifying, so breathtaking. Again, Mark wants this shock of sin to horrify us. Let us banish every shred of hypocrisy. Let our expressions of affection and honor to Christ be an ever deepening death to sin. Let the vision of this as it were, the record of it, horrify us. and so cause us to hate anything like it in us? Is it not the height of disloyalty in us to tolerate and trifle with sin? For we take on our lips the love of Christ. We claim him as our beloved rabbi, as our master, our Lord, our teacher. And then if we walk in sin, are we not hypocrites? Do we not taste of the things that horrify us here in the display of Judas? If we are not indeed hypocrites at heart, the horror of this should drive us away from the sins that smack of anything like this hypocrisy. From the arrest, we move to the assault. Verse 47, and one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Again, Mark leaves this assailant unnamed. He has written his account under the inspiration of the Spirit to draw our attention to the two in clearest focus, Jesus and Judas. But we know from John's Gospel that this lashing out was by Peter. And we even have the name of the high priest's servant, Malchus. We find this in John 18, verse 10. We also know from Luke's gospel account of this incident that Christ put an end to the violence and healed Malchus here. That's Luke 22, verse 51. The assault should be recognizably opposite of everything Christ has taught about his kingdom methods. We can imagine that the shock and desperation of the disciples That's on display here. Mark is noting their actions. But remember, on full display is their failure. This action was another evidence of their lack of watchfulness and prayerfulness. They weren't prepared for what was happening, even though Christ had given every opportunity for preparation. This shocked them. They acted in desperation. And we know who this actor was in the assault. And it was Peter. Having a sword, he pulls out and lashes out in the desperate situation, cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant. This is one more display of their faltering and failing. They should have been prepared. Instead, they were blindsided and acted, not in keeping with Christ's kingdom, as they'd been trained. No, here we see, All that training's still not taking hold in the heart. They acted in a worldly fashion. Fight fire with fire. If you have this kind of worldly opposition, meet it with worldly opposition. Mark intends us to see it, even as he gives a very succinct account of it, and he intends for us to be warned, not to fail as the disciples failed, And as we know, Peter failed here. Let us be diligent to keep the charge of our Lord even where the disciples failed. Let us watch and pray. Let us not take matters into our own hands when we have our Savior's clear instruction. He set before them his kingdom methods. And there was nothing in those kingdom methods of this kind of worldly force for the building of his kingdom or the defending of it by his ministers. by his church. So let us not use worldly means in defense of our Savior's purposes. Worldly methods are never warranted in Christ's kingdom. We're reminded again from John's account in chapter 18 of John's gospel, verse 36. Jesus specifically says, my kingdom is not of this world. That's what he's talking about. I don't use worldly methods. I use my kingdom methods. And having noted the assault, Mark then records our Savior's admonishment of those who had come out against him, verses 48 and 49. Then Jesus answered and said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching and you did not seize me, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. They were hiding their hypocrisy in the darkness of night, but Christ exposes it. He asks them if they're trying to take him as though he were a robber. The term had come to be used of those who led rebellions, plots to overthrow the civil authorities and so on. Jesus says, are you treating me like that? I was obviously not that. I was teaching daily in the temple. You heard, I hid nothing. You saw my means, you saw my methods, you saw my purpose. You heard the instruction. Why are you doing what you're doing like this? It's because you're hypocrites. He exposes it. He was open, transparent, and truthful. They were covert. duplicitous hypocrites. And they may have thought and been assured, we're accomplishing our ends. We're hiding it, we're keeping the mob from forming, out of control, and we'll remove this man. See, we've won the victory. We're able to seize him. Jesus gives them clarity again, exposing their hypocrisy. He also assures them they're not the ones ultimately accomplishing the ultimate ends. The scriptures must be fulfilled, Christ says. God is sovereign. His word is sovereign. His prophecy is sovereign. His mission, is overruling. His mission is working even through their wickedness. What scripture? Well, many scriptures with regard to Messiah. Indeed, everything is coming to its climax and being fulfilled in what is moving forward at this time. But remember particularly Zechariah 13, verse 7, where the prophecy was declared that the shepherd would be dealt a blow and the sheep would be scattered. Remember too, Isaiah 53, many parts of it coming to fullness here. He was numbered among the transgressors. And so Christ gives admonishment here. Though they surely did not have ears to hear, he removed the disguise. In the darkness, he brought light. And we go from that admonishment to his abandonment. Verse 50, then they all forsook him and fled. Now we see the climax of failure amongst the disciples. Now we remember those very confident words declared by all the disciples, but especially Peter. Oh, how hollow they ring at this time. Remember that Peter said, if everyone were to flee, if everyone were to fail you, I would not fail you. Verse 29 records Peter's words and then follows with them all saying these things. How hollow those words ring now. How stark the contrast in the beautiful obedience of our Savior and the wretched failure of all those around him. And Mark closes with an unusual two verses, 51 and 52. Now a certain young man followed him. having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body, and the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. Most commentators agree that this is likely Mark being described by himself without naming himself, and he in this way owns that even he abandoned the Savior. And he sees his own experience, if indeed it is Mark, highlighting the shamefulness of this abandonment. He flees, he escapes. As they try to seize him, they grab the garment that's wrapped around him and he flees naked. Commentators point out that nakedness is a symbol of shame. He bears that shame. It's, as it were, a capstone on the shamefulness that has come to a climax in this passage. As we consider this horrifying display of betrayal, let us see every sin. We're invited by Mark, through the Holy Spirit, to see every sin as that kind of shameful betrayal of our perfect and powerful Savior. It should make us mourn as we consider the faithfulness of the one who died to forgive us of the very wretchedness of that shameful betrayal that is embedded in every sin that we commit. So let us flee to Christ in all the beautiful display of His faithfulness as it alone can forgive our failure, our sinful betrayal. And in every way, as the exclamation point is put on the failure of the disciples, let us remember these are indeed our failures. Do we watch and pray they didn't? And this was the result. We don't, and we taste of such sins as they displayed. And as that should move us to an ever more earnest repentance and longing for faithfulness, being hidden in Christ alone as the only faithful one who will strengthen us day by day for his glory to walk faithfully more and more. We should be moved to a tenderness of heart. How quick we are to stand back from an account like this and Shake our head. And do we not display the spirit of Peter in that? Boy, those fellas, how miserable their failures. How stupid, why weren't they listening? And yet every one of these accusations can be laid at our own feet, can be pressed upon our own heart. J.C. Ryle reminds us, let us judge with a tender heart the failures of our brethren. For we know the taste of such failures, and we know our only recourse for mercy, let us recognize in these disciples the very failings embedded in us. So let us be gentle in our judgments. And then, finally, at the heart of this passage briefly touched, let us consider that assault and ask ourselves, yes, we see the desperate situation and the action taken, but it's exactly contrary to the methods and means of Jesus. What does it take for us to abandon kingdom methods? Again, we are tempted to stand back and wag a finger, cluck the tongue, and say, well, surely we don't do this, but we do. when faced with any hurdle, how quickly we abandon biblical principles and take up earthly, worldly principles. We're to be warned here, even as Mark has only briefly touched upon it, we should examine ourselves. Let us follow our Savior's example. When He was troubled beyond anything that we could ever face, He, was made certain of the Father's will and walked faithfully in it without variance. As disciples display their failure in doing the opposite of that, we should judge ourselves and ask, do we follow the Savior's example or do we swiftly abandon kingdom methods when they seem ineffective? Yes, the answers we too often do. The church is full of examples of such things in our day and in the centuries gone by. Let us hear and heed and be warned against these multitude of failures. And most of all, let us not be, as the disciples were, entrusting in themselves, overconfident. Mark intends for us to see there's no hope in that. All the hope is in the one who shines brightly in the darkness, our obedient and beautiful Savior. There we have our only hope of forgiveness. There we have the only example that we can follow as he strengthens us for his glory. Let us seek his mercies. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are not up to the things set before us. We acknowledge we are too much in every way like the disciples. faltering and failing at every step, though guided by word and deed, by the love of the Savior. Like the disciples, our only hope is that our Savior, unfaltering, unfailing, was crushed to cover even those sins and even our sins. How great the load. How great a Savior. Father, as the examples are set before us by the Spirit through Mark, work in us a tender heart. Let us see with horror the betrayal and consider our every sin to smack of such betrayal. Father, may we flee to Christ. May we hate sin all the more. And may that move us to a tenderness of judgment. and a longing for the glory of Christ to be realized in every heart that has named the name of the Savior. Banish from us hypocrisy. May we not be as those who on the last day say, Lord, Lord, and are none of His. No, may our appeal to our Lord be fueled by the Spirit. and cause us to hate sin all the more. Thank you for this beautiful display of the brightness of our glorious Redeemer against the darkness of sin that reminds us of our own desperate need. Give us hope then in this, the strength, the fortitude, the faithfulness of the one who wrought so great a salvation for us. We ask these things in his name. Amen.