WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Amen. 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:09.099 Alright, we're going to read together from Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 14. 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:18.100 And we're going to read verses 27 to 52 and then skip down to verses 66 to 72. 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:23.760 And Jesus said to the disciples in verse 27, you will all fall away. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:28.320 For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.000 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.679 Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:41.759 And Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this very night before the cock crows twice, you 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:44.079 will deny me three times. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:49.079 But he said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. 00:00:49.079 --> 00:00:51.000 And they all said the same. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.679 And they went to a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples, sit here while 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:59.439 I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:00.439 and troubled. 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.640 And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:06.359 Remain here and watch. 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:11.039 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, 00:01:11.039 --> 00:01:13.159 the hour might pass from him. 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:17.120 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:18.760 Remove this cup from me. 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.240 Yet not what I will, but what you will. 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:26.000 And he came and he found them sleeping and he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.159 Could you not watch one hour? 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:30.959 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.879 The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:37.399 And again, he went away and he prayed saying the same words. 00:01:37.399 --> 00:01:41.140 And again, he came and he found them sleeping for their eyes were heavy and they did not 00:01:41.140 --> 00:01:42.879 know what to answer him. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.640 And he came the third time and he said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:47.799 rest? 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:48.879 It is enough. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.359 The hour has come. 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:53.040 The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.200 Rise, let us be going. 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:58.120 See my betrayer is at hand. 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:03.000 And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:08.000 a crowd with swords and clubs and the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:14.000 And now the betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I will kiss is the man. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:16.199 Seize him and lead him away under guard. 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:20.759 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, rabbi, and he kissed him. 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:23.039 And they laid hands on him and seized him. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:27.319 But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:28.919 and cut off his ear. 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:33.439 And Jesus said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.839 capture me? 00:02:34.839 --> 00:02:37.959 Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching. 00:02:37.959 --> 00:02:41.839 And you did not seize me, but let the scriptures be fulfilled. 00:02:41.839 --> 00:02:44.039 And they all left him and fled. 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:48.000 And a young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.959 And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and he ran away naked. 00:02:51.959 --> 00:02:55.519 And then skip over to verse 66. 00:02:55.519 --> 00:03:00.599 And as Peter was below in the courtyard, this is during Jesus' trial, one of the servant 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:06.039 girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, 00:03:06.039 --> 00:03:11.359 you also were with the Nazarene Jesus, but he denied it, saying, I neither know nor 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:16.640 understand what you mean, and he went out into the gateway and the cock crowed. 00:03:16.640 --> 00:03:21.160 And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, this man is one 00:03:21.160 --> 00:03:22.160 of them. 00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:23.600 But again, he denied it. 00:03:23.600 --> 00:03:27.680 And after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you were one of 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.880 them for you are a Galilean. 00:03:29.880 --> 00:03:34.800 But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:35.800 speak. 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:38.640 And immediately the cock crowed a second time. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:43.479 And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the cock crowed twice, you will 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:45.279 deny me three times. 00:03:45.279 --> 00:03:50.519 And he broke down and he wept. 00:03:50.519 --> 00:03:54.279 We're working our way through Mark's gospel, only a few weeks left till we get to Easter 00:03:54.279 --> 00:03:57.879 time where we'll finish the gospel of Mark. 00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:02.319 And we right now are in the wee hours of the morning. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:09.120 Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane and it is sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. when 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.159 he is betrayed and arrested. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:14.519 And he's going to be crucified just a few hours later on. 00:04:14.519 --> 00:04:21.199 This is one of the darkest moments in human history and the most glorious at the very 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:22.879 same time. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:27.480 This is the moment of hope for us and the moment of darkness for him. 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:31.839 And he's just celebrated the Lord's Supper as we read when he goes out to the garden 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:33.560 before he's betrayed. 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:38.719 And when he celebrates the Lord's Supper, institutes the Lord's Supper with his disciples, 00:04:38.719 --> 00:04:45.879 he gives three different prophecies, predictions about how the disciples are going to react 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:47.959 when he's arrested. 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:53.639 And he says in verse 18, one of you sitting at the table is going to betray me. 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:55.839 He didn't say who. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.559 Of course that's Judas, the kiss of betrayal is coming. 00:04:58.559 --> 00:05:00.359 He was talking about Judas. 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:02.319 And that comes true, the kiss of death. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:07.360 And then in verse 27 he says, we read that, we started with that, you will all fall away, 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:08.840 every single one of you. 00:05:08.840 --> 00:05:12.000 And at the end when he was arrested it says they all ran away. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:13.920 They all fell away from him that night. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.199 When the swords and the clubs got pulled out, they ran away. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:18.480 That was fulfilled. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:23.560 And then the third, he says, Peter, you specifically are going to deny me three times before the 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.120 rooster crows twice. 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:31.639 And Peter says, if you go to death, I'll go to death, and he denies Jesus three times 00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:32.639 as we read. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:37.319 So three predictions, three prophecies, all three fulfilled in the passage we read in 00:05:37.319 --> 00:05:46.120 Mark 14, death by a kiss, betrayal, falling away, denying him. 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:47.120 That's what they did. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:51.199 In the midst of the agony of the garden, they all fell away. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:52.720 And he knew they would. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.800 What did we learn? 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:56.759 What many things we learn? 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:59.680 We learn the fact of betrayal. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:03.840 We learn about the mystery of falling away. 00:06:03.840 --> 00:06:07.879 And then we learn where the hope is for us. 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:08.879 So let's think about that. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:10.759 First, the fact of betrayal. 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:17.220 Now last week, very quickly, last week, if you were here, we said that when you look 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:23.480 closely at Jesus' emotional agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, how, what he really 00:06:23.480 --> 00:06:29.759 faced in his soul that night, that the way Mark puts it is so surprising and so out of 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:34.520 context, out of expectation for first-century people and for modern people that one of the 00:06:34.520 --> 00:06:40.600 commentators says the grim realism of it is proof of the historicity of this account. 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:43.080 Now we have the very same thing this week. 00:06:43.080 --> 00:06:48.520 The fact of the betrayal and the historians, you'll know, you will know that the historians 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:54.199 talk about when they study ancient history, the writers from ancient history, one of the 00:06:54.199 --> 00:07:00.879 things we see very regularly is that history is written by the winners. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:05.560 And so in the way ancient history was written, it's pretty consistent in the ancient Ereist 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:10.159 in the first century, in the Greco-Roman context, all the way through the Middle Ages, that the 00:07:10.159 --> 00:07:14.879 accounts of history we have are clearly written quite often by the winners. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.120 And so the accounts we're given are no simple history. 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:24.120 That is modern people we expect to read historical books that are simple history, like the events 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:26.439 were recorded on an iPhone. 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:28.860 What happened is what you're getting. 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:32.639 But regularly when you look at historical accounts of old, you don't get simple history. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:38.000 Instead, one writer commentator says history was often written as a combination of both 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:43.879 remembering an event and inventing facts to create public praise and prestige. 00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:48.240 So if the emperor is going to write his history, he's going to give you some facts, but he's 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:52.159 also going to turn those facts to make it look like he was the greatest thing that's 00:07:52.159 --> 00:07:53.560 ever lived. 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:57.159 That's the way ancient history was often written. 00:07:57.159 --> 00:08:02.360 That's why this passage is so surprising. 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:08.000 Verse 51 and 52, we get this very strange moment where this young man was following 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:09.959 Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:13.240 He had nothing but his undergarment on, a linen cloth. 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:16.600 He must have just gotten out of bed to see what was happening when the mob was coming 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:17.600 up the hill. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:23.000 And it says, as they arrested Jesus, this young man ran away and one of the mob grabbed 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:28.400 his undergarment and stripped him naked and he ran away naked. 00:08:28.400 --> 00:08:30.920 It doesn't really fit in the narrative. 00:08:30.920 --> 00:08:33.480 You say, why is this here? 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:39.080 Why did Mark put this strange moment in the Garden of Gethsemane story? 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:44.600 The tradition we have from the second century, all these accounts of people like Papias, 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:50.639 Eusebius, Irenaeus, these great historians, these great Christian thinkers and non-Christian 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:55.960 thinkers that all told us two things about the Gospel of Mark. 00:08:55.960 --> 00:09:02.639 One, that Peter was the main eyewitness that gave to Mark most of the account of Mark's 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:03.640 Gospel. 00:09:03.640 --> 00:09:06.400 So when we read Mark's Gospel, we're reading Peter's account. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:11.759 And also, the tradition has said that this young man in verse 51 and 52 is very, very 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.959 likely John Mark himself, the writer of this Gospel. 00:09:15.959 --> 00:09:16.959 This is Mark. 00:09:16.959 --> 00:09:22.639 That's what most people have understood this man to be throughout Christian history. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:23.639 It makes sense. 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:25.199 We do know Mark lived in Jerusalem. 00:09:25.199 --> 00:09:29.240 We know that he was a young man living in Jerusalem during the time of the crucifixion. 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:33.919 And we know that Mark followed Peter from Jerusalem all the way to Rome. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:34.919 And so we've got two things. 00:09:34.919 --> 00:09:37.559 One, that Mark was there that night. 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:38.559 He's the young man. 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.559 That's why this very strange little moment of a man running naked through the garden. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:43.559 That's why it's here. 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:45.079 It's because it was him. 00:09:45.079 --> 00:09:46.079 So he's an eyewitness. 00:09:46.079 --> 00:09:47.079 He's an eyewitness. 00:09:47.079 --> 00:09:49.159 I hope this helps you today. 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:50.719 He's an eyewitness. 00:09:50.719 --> 00:09:54.679 And Peter was his main witness for the rest of the Gospel. 00:09:54.679 --> 00:10:00.559 Now listen, unlike all of the historical accounts we have in the ancient Near East in the first 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.879 century, when you are writing your own story, you do not know. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:11.000 You do not say in an honor and shame culture in which betrayal is unforgivable. 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:12.960 I betrayed him. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:14.399 Peter is telling Mark this. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.039 Mark saw it. 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:21.519 And Peter is giving you an account of his own betrayal of Jesus Christ. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:24.799 And that is unlike any history we have in the first century. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:25.919 It's beyond expectation. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:27.840 It's completely surprising. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:31.100 It's too real for it to be fake. 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:32.360 You would never do it. 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:35.800 Nobody would ever write a story like this unless it really happened. 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:38.759 The fact of the betrayal is too realistic. 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:43.600 It's too grim for it not to be telling you a true story. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:45.759 I hope that helps you today. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:49.720 Secondly, the details, the mystery of falling away. 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:53.000 All right, what happens here? 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:58.159 We learn here that Jesus says, one of you will betray me. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:03.120 At the Last Supper, he says, somebody that's dipping their hand into the bowl with me tonight 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.519 is going to betray me. 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:08.120 Now, when he says that, he does not tell us who it's going to be. 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:09.519 You know we've read it. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:10.759 It's Judas. 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:14.600 He's going to bring the kiss of betrayal, the kiss of death to Jesus. 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:17.000 But you don't know that at the Last Supper. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.039 Why is it that Jesus leaves it like that? 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.039 So vague. 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:25.079 And I think it's because he's trying to get all 12 of his disciples and every single one 00:11:25.079 --> 00:11:27.439 of us today to look at our hearts. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:28.440 You know, what does he say? 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:29.440 He says, one of you will betray me. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:33.040 And they all look around and they say, surely it's not going to be me. 00:11:33.040 --> 00:11:35.000 And you see what's happening? 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:40.560 He's getting them to all look deep down within and ask one very important question. 00:11:40.560 --> 00:11:43.600 Am I capable of that? 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:46.000 Am I capable of betraying the Son of God? 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:51.320 Am I capable of running away and committing apostasy, as we call it, in the face of the 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:54.040 one that I followed for so long? 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:57.799 That's why he leaves it open like that. 00:11:57.799 --> 00:12:04.000 Am I capable of being ashamed of the gospel in moments of great pressure? 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:07.159 This is the question that he leaves us with when he leaves it like that. 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.159 Now the answer is Judas. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.439 And the question I think that marks getting us to ask secondly is how does Judas get to 00:12:14.439 --> 00:12:18.799 the point where he's willing, where he does what he does, where he betrays Jesus with 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:23.839 this kiss of death, this very famous scene in world history? 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:27.440 And one of the things to note is this, how does this happen? 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:33.800 And it happens through thousands, thousands of decisions that Judas makes along the way. 00:12:33.800 --> 00:12:38.000 One of the things that Mark does is he goes out of his way to help us understand that 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.139 everything Judas does here in this moment is premeditated. 00:12:42.139 --> 00:12:43.600 This is not a spur of the moment thing. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.680 This is not instinctive in the moment. 00:12:45.680 --> 00:12:47.480 Judas has planned this. 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.639 He's been thinking about this for a very long time. 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:50.639 This is premeditated. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:51.639 It's decided. 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:55.960 And that means what we're seeing here is a picture where the reason Judas ultimately 00:12:55.960 --> 00:13:01.039 betrays Jesus is because of thousands of little moments of decisions. 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:02.240 What were those decisions like? 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:08.480 There are two great mysteries happening in this betrayal of why this takes place, how 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:09.480 this takes place. 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:10.480 Let me show them to you. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.480 The first is this, the three prophecies. 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:15.240 All right, what did Jesus do? 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:18.080 He said, one of you is going to betray me, the kiss of death. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.120 The rest of you are going to fall away. 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:21.679 And Peter, you're going to betray me. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.679 You're going to deny me three times. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:30.799 And he says in verse 27 that that prophecy comes from Zechariah 317. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:35.480 So in verse 27, he appeals to the Old Testament and says, the fact that every single one of 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:39.919 you are going to fall away is something that was written about in the Old Testament. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:44.560 In other words, God said a very, very long time ago that all of this was going to happen. 00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:48.000 The kiss of death that Judas gives to Jesus. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.000 Very sinister. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.840 The premeditation, God told us about it in the Old Testament. 00:13:54.840 --> 00:14:00.519 All right, you see the first great mystery is that this is known from old. 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:08.279 Now, in the New Testament, a mystery, the word mystery that gets used is not like solving 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:09.279 a puzzle. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:13.360 It's not like watching a film or reading a book about a crime mystery. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.759 And you're kind of trying to figure it out all the way through. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:17.000 Mystery in the Bible doesn't mean that. 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:22.120 Mystery in the Bible is when God opens up to you something that you couldn't have known 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:23.120 apart from him. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:24.120 That's what mystery means. 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:28.960 When God reveals something that you couldn't have known unless he told you. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:30.639 That's the meaning of the word mystery. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.279 Now here's the mystery of the betrayal. 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:38.120 It is that God foretold this event from long before. 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:39.120 He told us about it. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:40.919 He opened us up to it. 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:44.679 He told us about it in Zechariah 3 and many other places, Isaiah 53. 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:46.000 And then it finally comes to pass. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:50.039 Now listen, this is one of the hardest things for modern people. 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:52.759 This is very difficult for us. 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.559 And because what we learn here is that this happened, this betrayal happened according 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.159 to God's plan. 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:03.840 The kiss of death, the sinister nature of it, it happened. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:05.120 And God planned it. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:09.440 We learn in Acts chapter two, Peter says, you crucified him, Jerusalem. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:13.600 And this happened according to the definite foreknowledge and plan of God from long before 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.399 the foundation of the earth. 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:19.240 And that means that what we're reading about here, you know, Isaiah 53, it was the will 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:23.559 of the Lord to crush Jesus. 00:15:23.559 --> 00:15:25.519 He was always meant to be betrayed. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:27.120 He was always meant to be crucified. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.279 This has been the plan from the very beginning of world history. 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:33.559 And Judas is completely responsible for his sin. 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:38.919 You see, on the one hand, God has been planning this moment for our salvation for all of human 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:40.240 history. 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:45.079 And Judas is completely responsible for betraying Jesus Christ. 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:51.400 Now, if you've read much, you've probably come across this problem, this question. 00:15:51.400 --> 00:15:53.160 People have been wrestling with it for centuries. 00:15:53.160 --> 00:15:59.280 The philosophers, the thinkers, people write about it in the opinion pages of the newspapers. 00:15:59.280 --> 00:16:03.240 If God really exists, what does it mean for my responsibility? 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:05.400 Am I really free? 00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:10.640 And what the Bible does is comes and cuts through every single philosophy that's ever existed 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.679 and gives you two things, holds two things together at the same time. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:21.679 100% God is absolute and has planned all things from the beginning. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:23.519 God is sovereign. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:24.519 God knows his plan. 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:25.600 He's determined his plan. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:26.759 That's what the Bible gives you. 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:30.600 And 100% you're responsible for your actions. 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:34.960 And so the Bible never says it's 50, 50, it's 80, 20, it's 90, 10. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.840 It doesn't play a zero sum game. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:43.080 God, it comes and says we are 100% responsible for everything we do, and it's 100% the case 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.560 that God has planned all things according to His definite foreknowledge. 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:49.399 That's the mystery of this betrayal. 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:54.519 It was the definite plan and foreknowledge of God that Judas would betray Jesus Christ 00:16:54.519 --> 00:16:58.040 and Judas is entirely responsible. 00:16:58.040 --> 00:16:59.360 He betrayed Jesus Christ. 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:01.040 God is never the author of sin. 00:17:01.040 --> 00:17:03.200 Those two things exist at the very same time. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:06.880 Now, you may come to that and say, I have trouble with that. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:10.360 And all I want to say is, of course you do. 00:17:10.360 --> 00:17:12.360 Of course you do. 00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:18.960 Look, the philosophers, the religions, they've been trying to figure this thing out for centuries. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:24.440 And one of the reasons that it's been so difficult is because we've got to be willing to say 00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:30.040 if there really is a God who is absolute, then I've got to expect that He can be in 00:17:30.040 --> 00:17:34.800 control in ways that I'm never going to understand. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:40.039 If God really is absolute and I'm contingent, I'm secondary, I don't have to exist, He's 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:45.319 got to have the ability and power to be in absolute control and me be responsible for 00:17:45.319 --> 00:17:50.839 my actions in a way that I can never quite fully match up in my human logic. 00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:56.240 You see, that actually is what makes sense if God really is absolute. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:18:00.839 If you don't have a contingent God, a weak God, but you have an absolute God, He can 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:06.079 be 100% in control, planning all things, not the author of sin and I be responsible for 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:07.079 everything I do. 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:10.679 And those things fit together because He is absolute. 00:18:10.679 --> 00:18:12.240 He knows how it works. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:13.480 I don't. 00:18:13.480 --> 00:18:15.519 And that's exactly what we have to expect. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:20.519 Now the second mystery that we see here that's unveiled for us, then this takes us to the 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:25.480 obvious question, what is it that brought Judas to this point of betraying? 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:31.599 Judas is responsible, how did he get here, this follower of Jesus? 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:33.759 What does Mark want us to pay attention to? 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:37.599 And I think the simple way and the brief way to give the answer is just by thinking for 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:42.559 a moment about the swords and the clubs that the people bring into the garden. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:48.799 So it says in verse 43, while Jesus was speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with them 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:53.799 a great crowd, a great mob, the commentators think that there could have been up to 600 00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:56.480 people in this mob. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.839 I'll say more about that next week actually. 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:04.079 600 people came and they all were bearing swords and clubs. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:12.319 Now Judas followed Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ comes in this moment and says, why 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:17.240 is it that you came bringing a mob with swords and clubs? 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.039 Like I was about to start a revolution. 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:24.519 You know, like me and the other eleven were about to fight back. 00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:29.359 He says, I've been in the temple, I've been all over Jerusalem for days and you could 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:33.319 have arrested me at any time and you know I'm a man of peace and yet you come to the 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:37.200 garden to defeat me with swords and clubs. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:39.680 And you see what's going on here? 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:44.960 Judas had followed Jesus for so long yet he did not understand what Jesus was about. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:49.379 He came, you know, what is the greatest symbol of the powers of this world? 00:19:49.380 --> 00:19:52.080 How are all the great empires built? 00:19:52.080 --> 00:19:53.560 They're built with swords and clubs. 00:19:53.560 --> 00:19:57.880 You know, the great empires of world history, the great leaders of world history, they're 00:19:57.880 --> 00:19:59.840 built up there following how? 00:19:59.840 --> 00:20:05.280 By wielding the sword, by carrying the clubs, by making as much money as you possibly can. 00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:09.000 And Jesus is saying you came with swords and clubs and that means you have no idea what 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:10.600 I'm about. 00:20:10.600 --> 00:20:16.240 You have no idea how otherworldly, how other than the values of this world my kingdom is. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:21.839 Now the kingdom of this world says build up your life, build up your power by swords and 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:26.599 clubs and money and prestige, wealth, success, achievement. 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:32.160 And you've brought swords and clubs tonight Judas because you never were able to understand 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.279 what my kingdom was really about. 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:40.440 It's about not winning by power, by sword, by club, by money, but winning by going down, 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:43.319 winning by losing, winning by weakness. 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:49.240 And what that means for us, what that means is that Judas never really, he never actually 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:51.679 followed Jesus Christ. 00:20:51.679 --> 00:20:53.279 He never saw him. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:55.599 He never understood. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:00.039 He was living according to the values of the kingdom of this world the entire time. 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:05.159 The entire time Jesus was following Jesus, he lived, Jesus, Judas I should say, was following 00:21:05.159 --> 00:21:06.159 Jesus. 00:21:06.159 --> 00:21:12.519 He did it hoping for power, success, might, for the sword for money we ultimately learned. 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:14.920 Judas lived for money. 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:16.720 He never followed Jesus Christ. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:18.639 Not really, not truly. 00:21:18.639 --> 00:21:21.039 His heart was never changed. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:25.960 And that means ultimately that the little micro decisions that Judas made along the way that 00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:32.879 got him to this point were made a thousand little ways, death by a thousand cuts, how? 00:21:32.879 --> 00:21:38.480 By ultimately choosing to follow the values of the kingdom of the world rather than seeing 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:43.640 the kingdom of God through the Messiah, that it came in weakness, not strength. 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:44.640 He never saw it. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.720 He refused to see it. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:47.720 What does that mean? 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:56.720 That means Judas used Jesus Christ the entire time he followed him as a tool. 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:01.160 Jesus was nothing to Judas but an instrument. 00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:05.599 Judas hoped following Jesus is going to make me money. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:07.519 It's going to get me power. 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:09.720 That's why he comes that night in swords and clubs. 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:10.720 He never got it. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:11.720 He never understood. 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:16.359 Just think about the difference in Judas and the poor woman we looked at about a month 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:22.359 ago who broke the alabaster jar and poured it over Jesus' head and anointed him. 00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:24.720 And Judas, what did Judas do in that moment? 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:27.639 He said, that's a year's salary. 00:22:27.639 --> 00:22:31.639 We could have pocketed that money and spent it on the poor. 00:22:31.639 --> 00:22:34.400 You could have used a 10 pound anointment that night. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:35.920 Instead, he used a year's wage. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.080 And you see the difference between her and Judas. 00:22:38.080 --> 00:22:43.840 Judas saw Jesus Christ as an instrument for his own well-being. 00:22:43.840 --> 00:22:47.820 She saw the preciousness of Jesus Christ in himself. 00:22:47.820 --> 00:22:49.440 She saw his beauty. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:51.320 He never followed Jesus. 00:22:51.320 --> 00:22:52.320 Never did. 00:22:52.320 --> 00:22:58.160 And that's why he came to this moment of betrayal. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:07.840 Is Jesus Christ an instrument and a tool in your life to get you the things you want? 00:23:07.840 --> 00:23:12.620 Or do you see his preciousness, his beauty, his value? 00:23:12.620 --> 00:23:16.680 Do you see who he is in himself? 00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:19.040 That's the question that Mark's asking us here. 00:23:19.040 --> 00:23:24.840 Do I find Jesus Christ precious or do I find him useful? 00:23:24.839 --> 00:23:30.639 Now, thirdly, finally, that's the mystery of the betrayal. 00:23:30.639 --> 00:23:32.480 That's how it takes place. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:34.399 That's what goes on in Judas' heart. 00:23:34.399 --> 00:23:36.159 And let's close with this. 00:23:36.159 --> 00:23:37.599 What's the hope for us? 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:45.679 Now remember, at the Last Supper, Jesus put his hand in the bowl with all 12 disciples 00:23:45.679 --> 00:23:48.599 and said, every one of you is going to fall away. 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:53.039 And when he said that, he left every single one of them with a question, they were asking 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:56.399 in my heart, is it me? 00:23:56.399 --> 00:23:59.039 Am I capable of this? 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:03.480 And now we see that to be capable of falling away and ultimately betraying Jesus is nothing 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:06.480 but to be capable of idolatry. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:13.159 It's nothing but to be capable of saying, I want money, power, success, wealth, status, 00:24:13.159 --> 00:24:17.879 reputation, more than I see and want the preciousness and the value and the beauty of Jesus Christ 00:24:17.879 --> 00:24:18.879 Himself. 00:24:18.879 --> 00:24:20.599 That's how he got there. 00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:22.319 Are we capable? 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:23.319 Are we capable? 00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:26.799 That's the question Jesus is asking. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:32.720 Jesus in that moment gives us such an important distinction as we close. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.319 And to see it, you've got to look at Peter. 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:37.919 And here's what happens. 00:24:37.919 --> 00:24:43.639 In verse 29, he says, every single one of you is going to, quote, fall away. 00:24:43.639 --> 00:24:46.079 Now that is an important word in Greek. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:47.119 It's the word, I want to give it to you. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:49.159 It's skandilitzon. 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:54.320 That's where we get the word that in our English vocabulary for scandal. 00:24:54.320 --> 00:24:59.000 So there's been all sorts of scandals this week, the scandal of photoshopping a picture 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:00.560 in the public, right? 00:25:00.560 --> 00:25:04.440 That word, scandal, comes straight from the Greek, skandilitzon. 00:25:04.440 --> 00:25:09.400 But in the Greek, it doesn't mean scandal in the way we think about a scandal today. 00:25:09.400 --> 00:25:12.880 Instead, it means to stumble. 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:14.080 It means to fall. 00:25:14.080 --> 00:25:17.279 It actually has the connotation of tripping. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:23.759 Now Jesus looks at the 12 and says, one of you is going to betray me. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:29.000 He looks at the 11 and says, all of you are going to trip. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.720 You see that distinction he draws? 00:25:31.720 --> 00:25:36.000 One of you is going to betray and abandon, commit great apostasy against me because you 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.599 never actually followed me. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:42.440 The 11, you are all going to fall away, but that actually just means you're going to trip. 00:25:42.440 --> 00:25:44.160 You're going to stumble. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:49.040 And immediately he says, but then when I rise from the dead, I will re-gather you. 00:25:49.040 --> 00:25:54.240 The sheep will hear my voice when I rise from the dead and I will re-gather the 11 again. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:55.240 There's a big difference. 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:56.240 There's a big distinction. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:01.680 And the distinction is played out in this passage between betrayal and stumbling and 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:03.960 the difference between Judas and Peter. 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:09.040 And so you have to look at Peter to see this distinction, to see exactly what it means 00:26:09.040 --> 00:26:11.720 to stumble yet never betray. 00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:15.440 To stumble yet never commit apostasy, never fall away. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:17.400 That's the difference that he gives us. 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.799 And we see it here in the two trials. 00:26:19.799 --> 00:26:25.480 All right, so verse 66 down at the very end of the passage we read. 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:28.600 There are two trials going on at the end of this passage. 00:26:28.600 --> 00:26:36.079 Jesus is in a home, the home of the chief priest, and he is upstairs underneath trial, 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:38.759 investigation by the priest. 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:39.759 We skip that scene. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:40.799 We'll come back to it next week. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:45.720 But downstairs in the courtyard, Peter is also under trial. 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.919 And he's under the trial and his prosecutor is a young girl. 00:26:49.919 --> 00:26:54.399 This young girl comes and says, I recognize you. 00:26:54.399 --> 00:26:56.639 You followed the Nazarene. 00:26:56.639 --> 00:26:58.079 You're from Galilee. 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:00.000 You have to be one of his followers. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:03.639 Now look, this is a trial. 00:27:03.639 --> 00:27:04.639 Peter's being prosecuted. 00:27:04.639 --> 00:27:07.079 He's being tested. 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:09.359 Jesus is upstairs under trial. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.599 He's downstairs under trial. 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:15.439 Peter in verse 29 had already sworn in. 00:27:15.439 --> 00:27:16.439 He had already given his oath. 00:27:16.439 --> 00:27:20.119 He had already raised his hand and sworn in for the trial. 00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:23.279 He says, Jesus says, all of you are going to fall away. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:27.159 And Peter says, I swear I will not. 00:27:27.159 --> 00:27:29.119 I will never fall away. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:33.439 Even Jesus, if you have to go to death and I go to death with you, I swear I will not 00:27:33.439 --> 00:27:34.439 be the one. 00:27:34.439 --> 00:27:36.559 He even says, they will fall away. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:37.559 Peter affirms that. 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:45.519 I do expect the other 11 to betray you, mock heroics. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:47.639 But yet he says, I swear I will never do it. 00:27:47.639 --> 00:27:49.240 You come down to the end of the passage. 00:27:49.240 --> 00:27:51.399 Now the trial has come. 00:27:51.399 --> 00:27:56.679 And three different times he completely fails his testimony. 00:27:56.679 --> 00:28:00.839 The prosecution attacks him, comes after him, the little girl and the mob. 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:06.119 And it even comes to the point, and you really have to read very carefully to see this. 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:12.199 The commentators are torn about whether or not he says, it says that he cursed himself 00:28:12.199 --> 00:28:16.559 the third time, or he was cursing God the third time. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:18.799 It's very unclear actually in the Greek text. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:25.599 But whatever he did, it comes to such a climactic moment where he curses himself, he anathematizes, 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:26.599 we say. 00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:31.879 He actually says, may I be cursed if I ever knew that man? 00:28:31.879 --> 00:28:34.039 Wow. 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:36.920 That's the point that he comes to. 00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:46.279 And when you read that, the question Mark is asking is, am I, friend, are you capable 00:28:46.279 --> 00:28:50.920 in a moment of great pressure, follower of Jesus Christ this morning, are you capable 00:28:50.920 --> 00:28:58.839 in a moment of great pressure with your coworkers, with your neighbors, wherever it may be, to 00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:00.920 say, I never knew him. 00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:02.599 I don't know him. 00:29:02.599 --> 00:29:07.039 I'm going to deny, to be quiet, to be ashamed of the gospel, as Paul puts it, in Romans 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:08.319 chapter one. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:10.599 And what is the answer of this passage? 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:11.599 Yes. 00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:19.279 Yes, all 12 of you, all 11 of you, one of you will betray me, all 11 of you will trip. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:21.439 The human heart, we're capable. 00:29:21.439 --> 00:29:25.279 We will, we struggle, we fall away, we trip, we stumble. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:28.399 That's exactly what Peter is teaching us in this passage. 00:29:28.399 --> 00:29:30.599 Now where is the hope? 00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:32.719 And let me give it to you here as we close. 00:29:32.719 --> 00:29:34.219 Where's the hope? 00:29:34.219 --> 00:29:35.219 Here's the hope. 00:29:35.219 --> 00:29:39.039 You've got to be willing to do what Peter did when he fell. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:41.159 And you've got to lift up your eyes and lift up your heart. 00:29:41.159 --> 00:29:43.439 Have you ever fallen, have you ever stumbled? 00:29:43.439 --> 00:29:48.519 Have you ever, listen, have you ever been ashamed of the gospel? 00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:51.359 What do you do? 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:52.359 What do you do? 00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:56.559 You lift up your eyes and you look at the object of your hope. 00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:00.039 That's exactly what Peter learned in the rest of the gospel. 00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:01.359 And let me show you this. 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:07.000 Jesus Christ, Peter was on trial in the courtyard and he was utterly failing. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:11.240 He was saying, I don't even know that guy upstairs. 00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:17.000 Jesus Christ was in his trial upstairs at the very same time. 00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:20.519 Peter was completely guilty. 00:30:20.519 --> 00:30:24.519 He was guilty of sin, he was guilty of betrayal, he was guilty of denying, of being ashamed. 00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:27.339 Jesus Christ was the innocent one. 00:30:27.339 --> 00:30:31.000 But he was on trial upstairs and he, the innocent man, what happened? 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:33.359 He got condemned. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:36.039 He got condemned to crucifixion. 00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:37.039 What happened to Peter? 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:40.159 Peter got to go free. 00:30:40.159 --> 00:30:43.119 Peter denied Jesus and he ran away a free man. 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:49.439 Jesus Christ stayed faithful for his friend who betrayed him and he was condemned to crucifixion. 00:30:49.439 --> 00:30:50.439 And what do you learn? 00:30:50.439 --> 00:30:53.839 You learn what's the object of your hope in the midst of the stumble? 00:30:53.839 --> 00:30:57.220 What's the object of your hope in the midst of falling away? 00:30:57.220 --> 00:30:58.680 You can come back. 00:30:58.680 --> 00:31:00.400 You can recover, you can be forgiven. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:01.559 How? 00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:02.680 Look at the object of your hope. 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:06.720 The man who was innocent yet was condemned for you in your place. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:11.640 You see, it's two trials because the innocent man goes to death so the guilty man may go 00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:13.640 free. 00:31:13.640 --> 00:31:18.160 Even more, take one step back into the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:24.839 Remember young John Mark naked, running away naked in the garden? 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:26.400 What is going on in that? 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:28.560 It's not just that John Mark was an eyewitness. 00:31:28.560 --> 00:31:30.720 There's something else there. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:32.960 And it's that here they are. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:35.720 Remember the beginning of human history? 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:42.040 Adam and Eve standing in the garden and then the serpent comes and the serp- the tempter, 00:31:42.040 --> 00:31:43.880 the great tempter comes and what happens? 00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:48.880 The first Adam, the proto-human, the one who represents us all. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:50.480 He fell away. 00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:51.680 And what does the text tell us? 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:56.200 As soon as Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord, they were what? 00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:59.360 Naked and ashamed. 00:31:59.360 --> 00:32:02.160 And all eleven of them ran away. 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:03.680 They were all naked. 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:05.039 They were all ashamed. 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:06.039 They were uncovered. 00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:09.920 Deniers, betrayers, stumblers, all of them. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:12.440 And yet the second Adam, what did he do? 00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:18.200 He stood in the second garden and the serpent came and kissed him on the cheek and he did 00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:19.640 not stumble. 00:32:19.640 --> 00:32:20.960 He stayed committed. 00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:24.720 He said, I'll go all the way to the point of death for those people. 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:29.400 The ones who were naked and ashamed and he was uncovered on the cross. 00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:36.039 He was uncovered for us at the cross for this young man who runs away in verse 51 and 52. 00:32:36.039 --> 00:32:37.920 See what do you do when you stumble? 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:38.920 What do you do when you fall? 00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:43.079 You take your failing, you take your shame. 00:32:43.079 --> 00:32:44.799 Have you ever been ashamed of the gospel? 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:47.680 You take it to the object of your hope, Jesus Christ. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:50.079 You've got to run to Jesus. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:51.400 And that's ultimately what Peter does. 00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:52.400 What else does Peter do? 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:56.440 You know, Peter here, he's writing his own story. 00:32:56.440 --> 00:32:57.440 He's writing his own story. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:59.280 He's telling us that he did it. 00:32:59.280 --> 00:33:04.160 He's saying, I'm willing to take responsibility at the very end of the passage. 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:06.320 He wept over his sin. 00:33:06.320 --> 00:33:07.960 What's the difference in Judas and Peter? 00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:14.080 When Peter stumbled, he wept before the Lord. 00:33:14.080 --> 00:33:17.400 What we see is the beginning of repentance and the end of repentance happens at the end 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:20.200 of the gospel when Jesus forgives him three times. 00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:24.319 And Peter says, against you, Jesus, against you only have I sinned. 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:27.319 He came with the heart of repentance. 00:33:27.319 --> 00:33:28.480 And that's the difference. 00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:29.480 What do you do when you stumble? 00:33:29.480 --> 00:33:33.640 You lift up your eyes, you run to Jesus, you look at the object of your hope, and you weep 00:33:33.640 --> 00:33:35.960 and say, I'm sorry, Lord. 00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:44.759 And he says, Zechariah 3.17, because I died and I rose again, I will regather my sheep. 00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:47.400 That's what he offers to you today. 00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:56.240 Well, as you go forward from this place, as we pray in just a moment, this ought to give 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:58.160 us strength and courage. 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:03.480 It can give us strength and courage to go forward and not be ashamed of the gospel, to 00:34:03.480 --> 00:34:06.920 be strengthened up in order to not fall away. 00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:11.639 And here's how that happens. 00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:15.280 This passage gives us the power today to be honest. 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:19.240 The quote in the bulletin this morning on the reflection says this, the church, we can 00:34:19.240 --> 00:34:25.760 be honest about sin, even the sins of an apostle, because we are so convinced of grace. 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:30.000 This passage gives you the power to say, I am never surprised by sin. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:32.000 I can be honest about sin. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:33.320 I know that we're going to struggle. 00:34:33.320 --> 00:34:34.720 I know that we're going to be ashamed at times. 00:34:34.720 --> 00:34:35.880 I know that we're going to fall away. 00:34:35.880 --> 00:34:38.560 And yet we're so convinced of grace, we can be open. 00:34:38.560 --> 00:34:39.880 We can talk about this. 00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:42.400 We can struggle with this together. 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:46.920 We can say no in the light of this passage to mock heroics. 00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:49.599 Peter said, I will never fall away. 00:34:49.599 --> 00:34:52.240 The first thing Mark's telling us is never say that. 00:34:52.240 --> 00:34:53.720 Instead, be humble. 00:34:53.720 --> 00:34:56.480 Know the depth of your heart. 00:34:56.480 --> 00:35:02.720 That's actually the protection we need going into tomorrow to not be ashamed of the gospel. 00:35:02.720 --> 00:35:06.200 It tells you that you can put away your guilt this morning. 00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:12.879 Look, some of us may this morning struggle with guilt for the sins of our past. 00:35:12.879 --> 00:35:19.839 Some of us may struggle this morning with the guilt of the sins of this week, the shame. 00:35:19.839 --> 00:35:23.719 And do you know that when you lift up your eyes and run to Jesus and look at Him, you 00:35:23.719 --> 00:35:31.639 can say, I have such a faithful advocate before the Father that God is just to forgive me. 00:35:31.639 --> 00:35:32.759 That's what the Bible says. 00:35:32.760 --> 00:35:38.680 Are you willing to let the forgiveness of God cast away the guilt and shame that you 00:35:38.680 --> 00:35:40.040 struggle with? 00:35:40.040 --> 00:35:41.040 You can put away your guilt. 00:35:41.040 --> 00:35:42.040 Peter did. 00:35:42.040 --> 00:35:44.880 Peter was so guilty, and yet he was forgiven. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:48.760 You really do have that power to put away all guilt and shame. 00:35:48.760 --> 00:35:54.840 Are you afraid, are you struggling in your life right now to be a public Christian? 00:35:54.840 --> 00:35:58.520 To own the fact that you're a Christian in the public world, to be a representative and 00:35:58.520 --> 00:36:01.120 ambassador of the gospel and the places that you live. 00:36:01.119 --> 00:36:05.759 Look, when you know that God is for you like this, that Jesus Christ is for you, that you 00:36:05.759 --> 00:36:11.519 have such a faithful advocate, you can look at what God says is true of you and you can 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:15.199 go into the world and be okay no matter what the people say. 00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:17.759 This gives you the courage. 00:36:17.759 --> 00:36:19.859 Look what Jesus is willing to do for me. 00:36:19.859 --> 00:36:24.239 If I'm ashamed in times of my life, Jesus is so willing to forgive me, God is so willing 00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:29.079 to be for me that that can give you the courage to go into the world and be a public Christian, 00:36:29.079 --> 00:36:30.079 to have real faith. 00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:32.719 The last thing is just this. 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:37.679 Some of you, when you read this passage, one of the thoughts that might come to your mind, 00:36:37.679 --> 00:36:42.079 it probably does, is just to ask the question, you're asking the question in your own heart, 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:46.159 what do I do when I've been betrayed? 00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:48.319 Have you been betrayed? 00:36:48.319 --> 00:36:52.239 Has somebody broken trust with you in a very severe way? 00:36:52.239 --> 00:36:53.960 A minor way or a major way? 00:36:53.960 --> 00:36:58.440 Betrayal and breaking of trust happens across a big spectrum in microwaves and macro ways. 00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:00.840 How does that happen to you ever in your life? 00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:02.679 Have you been betrayed? 00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:05.480 That's another sermon. 00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:07.880 This would be sermon two if I started down this road. 00:37:07.880 --> 00:37:08.880 Have you been betrayed? 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:10.599 I just want to simply say this to you. 00:37:10.599 --> 00:37:15.679 You've got to look at this passage and know Jesus Christ, my Lord, experienced ultimate 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:16.679 betrayal. 00:37:16.679 --> 00:37:17.679 He knows. 00:37:17.679 --> 00:37:19.639 He knows what it's like. 00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:20.960 He walks with me. 00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:25.400 If you've been betrayed, if somebody's broken trust, if somebody's told your secret, that 00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:30.000 you thought, if somebody's done something in your life, what do you do? 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:35.000 One of the things you do is you lift up your eyes and you see my Savior knows. 00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:36.300 He is for me. 00:37:36.300 --> 00:37:42.880 He walks with me in this hard situation. 00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:45.240 The kingdom of this world never says revenge. 00:37:45.240 --> 00:37:49.200 They came with swords and clubs and Jesus says, take me. 00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:51.519 The kingdom of this world never says revenge. 00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:56.400 It does say forgive, but I want you to know that Jesus Christ knows. 00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:59.639 He knows what it's like and He's for you. 00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:00.639 Let's pray. 00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:08.000 Lord, we give thanks that in the betrayal and arrest of Jesus, the denial of Jesus, we 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:09.119 see ourselves. 00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:15.000 We see that we are perpetrators, that sometimes we have been ashamed of you. 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:21.679 Lord, we come today with hearts of repentance, we weep over those moments and ask that you 00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:22.880 would restore us this day. 00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:26.880 We lift up the eyes of our heart and long to be renewed and restored. 00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:30.440 Lord, I pray for those today who may read this passage and think of moments in their 00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:37.000 lives where they've been abandoned, betrayed, trust has been broken in a big way. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.199 Everybody's experienced that to some degree and some to much higher degree. 00:38:40.199 --> 00:38:44.320 So I just pray for them and lift them before you and ask, Lord, that you would help all 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:51.760 of them, all of us to lift up our eyes and see that in your resurrection, you've promised 00:38:51.760 --> 00:38:57.800 great victory and great hope and great comfort and great peace that you re-gather your children 00:38:57.800 --> 00:39:03.240 and that in the family of God, in the family of Jesus Christ, we really can find peace. 00:39:03.240 --> 00:39:06.800 So I pray that for all of us and I pray that in Jesus' name. 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:14.800 Amen.