Mark's gospel as we resume our study in this gospel account in chapter 10 Mark chapter 10 That's on page 1006 of the church Bible a Few weeks ago now we considered the rich young ruler How Christ called him to forsake all and follow him yet the rich young ruler went away sad finding it too hard and too much to let go of the things of this world in order to have Christ. But tonight we read on and we read of another interaction between Christ and not that man, but his own disciples. So from verse 32, we'll be reading down to verse 45. This is the word of God. And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, He will rise. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. Jesus said to them, You do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, we are able. Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But the set at my right hand or at my left is not mine. to grant, but it's for those for whom it has been prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you, must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing. Oh Lord, we give thanks for these words. that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. As we behold the Savior and you tonight, and we do pray for your blessing, we know at times your word comforts us, but we pray tonight your word would challenge us, and we pray that this would be blessed to our souls and to the building of your kingdom in our midst. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, here before us is one of the many interactions that we see between Christ and his disciples. We've seen many of them already in our study of this gospel account. And these interactions, they serve like windows. How do they serve like windows? Well, they're like windows for us into the heart of Christ, but also into the hearts of his disciples. But not only should these interactions between Christ and his disciples serve as windows, they should also be serving for us as mirrors. In other words, as we consider these interactions one after another, Yes, they should be revealing to us the heart of Christ in all its beauty. And yes, they should be revealing to us the hearts of the disciples. But they should also be moving us to reflect on our own hearts, our own standing before the Lord, and our own relationships with the Lord. And that's true of this interaction here. It serves as a window, but may it also serve as a mirror. What we can see from this interaction is that first of all, there's a foolish request. Following that, there's a sobering response. And then finally, there's a glorious remit. So a foolish request, a sobering response, and then a glorious remit. But first, a foolish remit. request, a foolish request. In verse 35, we're told that James and John, Christ's disciples, the sons of Zebedee, they came up to Christ and they said to him, teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Now straight away, there are red flags here. You don't hear much of the spirit of not my will, but your will be done here. No, all we hear of is their will. We want you to do whatever we ask. But Christ says, okay, what is it that you want me to do for you? And we're told in verse 37, grant us to sit, they say, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. That was their request. That's what they were asking of Christ. Now, in the parallel account in Matthew, in Matthew chapter 20, we're actually told that it was James and John's mother that made this request to Christ. She came, she knelt before Christ, and she pleaded with him, let it be that James and John, my sons, will sit, one at your right hand, one at your left, in your kingdom, in your glory. Now, does that mean that the scriptures are wrong? Well, no. What it means is that, yes, their mother came, but they were right behind her. And as the mother spoke, they were essentially speaking with her. Her request was their request. And that's why it's presented this way here in Mark. It's good that she came respectfully before Christ. She went on her knees before Christ, acknowledging who he was. And we can only imagine and we can only expect that a mother would want what is best for her children. It's natural for a mother to want what is best for her children. But for their mother to request this, for James and John to request this of Christ was to go too far. It was indeed a foolish quest. We can see that from the context. What's the context? What comes just before this? We read it in verse 33. Christ said to them, we are going up to Jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, deliver him over to the Gentiles, mock him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. And then James and John say, after all that, can we sit on your right hand and on your left? Do you see the problem here? Christ here is, for the third time in this Gospel account, is he progressively revealing his humiliation, what would suffer, and in their concern, with their own exaltation. That's the problem here. Their mother is concerned with that too. In a sense, they make Peter look good here. Back in chapter 8, when Christ started to reveal his sufferings, Peter said to him, far be it from you, Lord, At least Peter was concerned with Christ and his sufferings and not himself there. But we know how Christ responded to him. Get behind me, Satan. So we can only imagine how Christ was really feeling as they made this request. And you know, we can scoff at this and say, oh, how foolish they were. But friends, we too can make the same mistake in our own interactions with the Lord, even in our own prayers before. the Lord. We too can ask a myth. James tells us that. James chapter 4 verse 3, it says, before it says, you do not have because you do not ask. It says you do not have because you ask a myth. Because you ask a myth. I think often when we think about a church in a low spiritual condition, we often speak about how a church is not praying. That's not the only sign of a church in a low spiritual condition. Yes, it can be seen that there's no prayer, but there may be prayer, it's just that the prayer is not for the right things, or the prayer is not for the right reasons. Like those who built the Tower of Babel, seeking to build it all the way to heaven, were told in the Scriptures in Genesis 11 that they did so to make a name for themselves, Well, so too there can be times where we're lifting our voices to heaven in prayer, but it's just to make a name for ourselves. Like the Pharisee we read of this morning, I thank God that I'm not like these other men, I'm not like this tax collector. Not concerned with what was pertaining to God and his kingdom and the advance of his kingdom, but only concerned with herself. Only concerned with what is best. for us. But the thing is, we're in that place where when pride is a hold of our hearts, we can think that our requests are so pure. But that's because pride blinds us. Pride deceives us. And pride's at the heart of it, really. When James says that in chapter 4, he goes on to quote the scriptures where it says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to The humble. And surely we can see the pride in the disciples. We've seen it already. Chapter 9, verse 34. They were arguing among themselves. Who's the greatest? Instead of thinking about the greatness of Christ the Messiah who's in their midst, they were debating among themselves. I'm the greatest. No, I'm the greatest. No, it's me. I'm the greatest. I'm deserving of the place at His right hand and at His left hand. And we see it in this passage too, not just with James and John, but with the other ten. Because we're told in verse 41, when the other ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. Why were they so angry? It wasn't because of the foolishness of James and John's request. No, it's because they wanted themselves to be seated at the right hand, or at the left hand. of Christ in His glory. Friends, do not be surprised when prideful hearts make foolish requests. That's why we have to guard our hearts. And that's why we have to be praying that the Spirit will humble our hearts each and every day. That pride will not rise up within us. That we will be humble before the Lord. Even humble. in our prayers to the Lord. But we should know that it's not just pride that was at the heart of this foolish request. There was also another issue and that was a lack of understanding. A simple lack of understanding. Christ says in verse 38, you do not know what you're asking. And they did not know what they were asking because they did not know what he had been saying. when he'd been describing what he would suffer with increasingly vivid detail, with more specifics given, of being handed over to the Gentiles and so on. Luke tells us in his account, they did not understand these things. In fact, we're told that these things were hidden from them. To their credit, it does seem that they have a concept here that Christ is King. They have a concept here of Christ having a kingdom, as they speak of his glory there in verse 37. But it seems that they were seeing it as more of an earthly kingdom. And what they were asking is that when Christ came in his glory in this earthly kingdom, like some earthly king, they were wanting the best seat. They were wanting the highest place. But they were missing the point. Christ's kingdom is no mere earthly kingdom. As he says at the end of verse 40, to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant. It's for those for whom it has been prepared. The Lord will render to each according to their works and to their service. It's not that the Lord was there on earth amongst the disciples there to barter with them as to who would have the highest place in heaven. No, that would set and the Lord's eternal plan and purpose. There was a lack of understanding in the disciples. And that led to a foolish request. Perhaps we could say, let's be, let's go easy on the disciples. It's easy for us to look back in our day now that we have the full canon of scripture. These things were being progressively revealed, and so it was hard for them to understand. Luke said, you've said it already, that these things were hidden from them. Yes, these things were hidden from them, but there was a problem with the disciples. Not just that pride was in their hearts, but there was a hardness in their hearts. We've seen that already. With the feeding of the 5,000 back in chapter 6, we're told that they did not understand the things that Christ was speaking. Why? Because their hearts were hard. towards Christ. Naturally, we have a lack of understanding as natural men and women, because we have a natural lack of understanding in our fallen state. But the fools in this world are those who stay in that condition. Those who have the light of the world's word set before them. But they say, no, it's not for me. It's not for me. The fear of the Lord, Proverbs 1, 7, is the beginning of wisdom. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. We need to be given understanding. And how can we receive understanding? Well, it's by the same means that we can receive humility. It's by the work of the Holy Spirit. We heard of the Holy Spirit being poured out this morning, and I'm glad we did. Because I think something in the Reformed church today that we miss, or an emphasis we miss, is an emphasis on the Holy Spirit of God. The need for the Holy Spirit of God to be at work in our midst, reviving us and strengthening us. Because the Holy Spirit of God is the one who opens eyes, the one who gives understanding, the one who gives humility. In fact, these two come together. As our eyes are opened, as our hearts are opened to the truth of God, as we understand more of who He is, and what He's done, and what He's promised, what that will do is it will humble our hearts. It will say to pride, get out of the way. Because we are small, but He, and He is great. And so, we're to worship Him with our lives. Just like the disciples, Christ says here, Not only would he suffer, but he would rise. Think of the disciples after Christ rose. You read about it in the Gospels. After he rose from the grave, they remembered these things that he had spoken. Their eyes were opened. Their hearts were softened. They saw the truth of these things. And at that point, friends, not one of them was asking, oh, let me sit at your right hand or your left hand. Because they understood. They were humbled before him, and so they pressed on in serving him. Well, so much for the foolish requests. Let's now see Christ's sobering response. We've touched on it already, but after saying to them in verse 38, you do not know what you're asking. He goes on to ask, are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized." This raises questions. What does he mean by that? Is he speaking of a cup of water? Is he speaking of his baptism with water in the River Jordan? No. Here he's using two different pictures to speak of one thing. The cup to be drunk, the baptism to be baptized with. And what is it he's speaking of? He's speaking of the very same things that he was speaking about just a few verses before in verse 33. He's using the picture of the cup and the term of baptism to speak of his suffering at Calvary's cross. In Luke chapter 12, verse 50, long after his baptism in the River Jordan, Christ says, there is a baptism I am to be baptized with." So he can't have been speaking about that baptism in the Jordan, the baptism with water. No, he's speaking about a baptism of blood. And so too, when Christ is betrayed, when Peter takes his sword, true fashion, and seeks to defend Christ, Christ said to him, put your sword in its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me? He's not speaking of a cup of water. He's not speaking of a baptism of water. He's speaking here of the cup of wrath that he would drink at Calvary. He's speaking here of how, like when the waters of baptism came over him and the River Jordan, so on Calvary's cross, the waters of God's wrath would pour over him. And as he would go into the grave, the grave would surround him. This is what he's speaking of. The sufferings. and the humiliation of Christ the Messiah. And their pride in response to this question, they said, verse 39, we are able. We're able. Of course we're able. Just like Peter said, I'll not deny you. I'll not deny you, Christ. Never. We're able. But notice, notice this, or know this, friends. No one can drink the cup that Christ drank. No one can be baptized with the baptism that Christ was baptized with. You may say that's contradicting the text. We'll see in a moment. But what I mean is that Christ alone was the fitting sacrifice to drink that cup of wrath. We see even in these verses the disciples sin. They couldn't be that sacrifice. They couldn't drink that cup of wrath to its dregs. They couldn't atone for the sins of all the people of God. And we can't either because we are sinners too. There's no cup like his cup. No baptism like his baptism. Without his baptism we would have no baptism. As we saw in Romans 6, we're buried with him in his baptism because of what Christ has accomplished of being crucified and being buried and raising from the grave. That's what gives us hope. By faith in him. It's not that we've secured our own salvation. It's because he was nailed to that cross. Our sins were nailed to the cross because he was buried in the grave. We're able to die to sin in him and rise again in newness of life. That's union with Christ. That's the hope of the Gospel. And that's the sense in which we can say there was no cup like His cup. The only reason we can drink the cup of blessing, which is our portion, is because He was willing to drink that cup of wrath to the very dregs. Praise God for His Gospel. But why then? Does Christ say in verse 39, the cup that I drink, you will drink and the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. Christ is not saying here that they would suffer for the sins of all his people. Christ is saying here that in following him, they would know suffering. He said this already. We've seen it at the heart of this gospel account. Let a man deny himself, take up the cross and follow me. To follow Christ there is a cross to bear. There is suffering in the Christian life. We can't deny it. Matthew 10, 17, he speaks of the reality of what the apostles would face in terms like what he uses in verse 33. There'll be men who will scourge you. Men who will flog you, he says elsewhere, men who will kill you because of their hatred of the gospel. They've persecuted me and so they'll persecute you. That's what he's speaking of here. What I want you to notice is that they said we are able, but at no point does Christ say that they were able in and of themselves to drink the cup. are to be baptized with this baptism. He says they would drink the cup. They would be baptized with the baptism. But at no point does he say that they were able in and of themselves to do so. And we see that. We see their own weakness. When Christ gets to Jerusalem, when they're there with him, when he is betrayed, what do the disciples do? They flee. They flee. Suffering? No. No. Christ can suffer. But we will flee. But then wonderfully, wonderfully, we read in Acts 12, sorrowfully or solemnly, but wonderfully still, we read of James here, one of the ones who made this request, being killed, being martyred for his love of Christ and his love for the Word by Herod. And many believe too that John, Here again, making this request, was ultimately martyred as well. How was this so? It wasn't because they were able. It's because they were enabled. They were enabled by who? By none other than the Spirit of God at work in their hearts. What happened between the betrayal of Christ, the disciples fleeing, and then James dying in Acts chapter 12? Yes, the resurrection of Christ, but not just that. The pouring out of the Spirit of God. And the Spirit-filled apostles going on and serving, and as part of their service, suffering for the sake of Christ. We see the Spirit in Christ himself, the Spirit who descends upon him like a dove in his baptism. We see it here in the passage at the very beginning. Verse 32, we're told they were on the road, they were going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and they were amazed. Why were they amazed? Because time and time again he was saying, we are going to Jerusalem so that I can be crucified. He was the only one who truly understood the depth and the darkness of what awaited in Jerusalem and he was leading the way. He was leading them on. He was almost running there. They were amazed. As he says there Luke 12 50. So baptism I'm to be baptized with and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. There was a yearning in him to see the accomplishing of the salvation that he had come to accomplish. And friends, we need to pray. We need to pray, pray, and pray again for that same Spirit of God to be at work in ourselves. Yes, as we've seen already, to give us understanding. Yes, to give us humility, but also to give us boldness, true boldness. on the side of Christ, because no matter how you stir up your own strength, you won't be truly bold. What we need is the Spirit of God to be at work in our hearts, emboldening us, just as he emboldened these apostles of old. I spent time, of course, back in Scotland over these last few weeks with my family. It's a blessed time. But it is hard to come away from Scotland without feeling burdened. We've heard today of the revivals that have taken place in days gone by. But then when we're there, just last week, we're reading of a 74-year-old woman being arrested for a peaceful protest outside an abortion clinic. It's now illegal in Scotland to protest within 200 metres of any abortion clinic. It's illegal in Scotland even to pray within 200 metres of a place where babies are being murdered. Yet, as the people of God, while such evils are taking place, not just in Scotland but here too in America, Yet as the people of God, we are so comfortable. We are so comfortable. You look at the depth of the evils taking place, and you look at how comfortable we are, and you cannot but see a discord there. Why is it? We're told that in following Christ there will be suffering. The question is, are we suffering for the sake of Christ? I'm not saying we should have a kamikaze mentality and go and look for suffering. What I'm saying is that we should always be looking for ways to serve Christ and to speak out on the side of Christ, knowing that in doing so, there will be persecution and there will be suffering. Are our faces like Christ, set like a flint towards the work that's set before us? Or are our faces set like a flint towards ourselves? Are we concerned for the advance of the kingdom of God? Or are we just concerned that we'll be found in that kingdom? The problem with that is that those two must come together. If we are in the kingdom of God, we will naturally have a heart or spiritually have a heart for the kingdom of God. Praying that the Lord will grant us grace to be willing to suffer. for the cause of his kingdom and for his glory. So much for the sobering response. But having seen the foolish request, having seen the sobering response, let me close by considering the glorious remit. The glorious remit, Christ. He then called these disciples, these indignant ten, so to speak. He calls them together with James and John, verse 42, and he says to them, He speaks of the Gentile rulers, but he says in verse 43, it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. Is this not interesting? What's interesting, you say? Is it not interesting that he's actually calling them to the exact opposite of what James and John requested? They requested the highest place. to sit at the right hand and the left hand of the Messiah in his glory. And what he's saying to them here is take the lowest place, take the lowest place in your service of God. And to do so, friends, as he calls us to the same, to do so is not just to obey Christ, it is to follow Christ. Because we read these wonderful words in verse 45, Even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. When he was drinking that cup on Calvary's cross, that cup of wrath, he was making a transaction. As we thought just a few weeks ago, he was making a transaction with the currency of his own blood in service. the greatest servant of all. At the heart of his service was suffering. You put it this way, we're told here that in following Christ we'll drink a cup. But to drink this cup is really to pour ourselves out. It's to pour ourselves out. Psalm 22 speaks of the sufferings of Christ and there we hear the voice of Christ in verse 14 saying, on the cross and being poured out. Does the Apostle Paul not say the same thing? As he writes to Timothy, 2 Timothy 4 verse 6, being poured out like a drink offering. Friends, let me ask you as I ask myself, as I've asked myself first and foremost, are you pouring yourself out for the cause of Christ? Are you giving your all to the cause of Christ, the God that's being laid before us tonight? This is what the Word of God is challenging us with tonight. Are we giving our all to Christ? Or are we too busy filling ourselves up with the things of this world? And the problem with that is when we fill ourselves up with the things of this world, we then have nothing to pour out because the things of this world matter nothing. They matter not just little, but nothing to give. Whereas when the Spirit's at work in us, filling up our cup, the Lord then uses us as vessels. He pours us out in His service, and He's able to bring fruit. You may say, Ian, you called all this a glorious remit. It doesn't sound too glorious. Come and pour yourself out. Come and be spent. Come and give your all. In the gospel it says come and die. Come and die to sin. But yes friends it says come and die. But why? That you may live. Yes Christ says come and suffer. But why? As Paul himself says, Romans 8, 17, we suffer with him that we may be glorified with him. We touched on that here. Christ touches on that here. He said in verse 40, it's not mine to grant, it's for those for whom it has been prepared. Does that not make you think of the words of Christ to these same disciples in the upper room? I go to prepare a place for you. If you're a child of God, or if you're not yet a child of God, but you become a child of God by believing in Him, by turning from your sin even tonight and trusting in Him, You can know in your heart tonight, dear brothers and sisters, that He's prepared a place for you. And let that spur you on in your service. Do not spur Christ on. He spoke of being distressed to see the accomplishing of this baptism on Calvary's cross. And yes, that's because there was a job to be done, so to speak. But it's also because Christ knew there was a victory to be won for the joy set before Him. He endured the cross. So although we do not head to Jerusalem, we are heading as a people of God to the new Jerusalem. And so think about the joy that's set before you. Think about that place that is prepared for you and let that spur you on even through the valley of suffering knowing that the best is yet to come. Keep that in view. Like Paul speaks of in his letter to the Philippians in chapter three, he speaks of the upward calling of God and he says, I press on. I press on. We noted how Christ was going before the disciples here on the way to Jerusalem. But it's interesting because we're also told that he said to them, when I rise from the grave, I will go before you to Galilee. But that's what happened. He went before them to Galilee, the risen Christ, and he met them there in Galilee. Well, dear brothers and sisters, the risen Christ not only went before his disciples to Galilee, but the risen Christ has gone before us to that new Jerusalem, to heaven. There he has placed or prepared a place for each of his children. And in the meantime, through his word, he is calling us to follow him, to pour out our hearts to him, to pour out our lives for him. So it's like even through the valleys of suffering, he'll be with us and even use those sufferings to prepare us for the glory that awaits in heaven. For the Christian, there is suffering. But for the Christian, there is joy and there is peace in Christ who suffered for us. Let's pray. Lord God, we do praise you for the suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do confess that far too often we are found not suffering for the sake of Christ, but simply enjoying the things of this world. We do pray that we would take up the cross each day and that you would grant us grace by your spirit to deny ourselves and to follow after Christ. And Lord, we do pray that you would wet our appetite for heaven and that you would use the joy of what's before us to help us to endure whatever we may face. for your cause. Hear our prayers we ask in the name of Christ. Amen.