And if you would open up your Bibles to Mark chapter 14, I will actually be preaching from
43 all the way to 72, but it's in page 10, 11, and 1011, 1012 of your pew Bibles.
Let me ask you, have you ever been rejected?
Have you ever been abandoned?
Falsely accused.
Have you ever been mocked?
Denied?
Has someone actually denied knowing you?
We can come at this at another angle.
Have you rejected anybody?
Have you abandoned someone?
Have you falsely accused someone else?
Have you mocked someone?
Have you denied someone?
In Mark 14, Jesus is rejected.
And what we're going to see, it's all according to God's plan to save us.
Starting in chapter 8 of Mark, Jesus began telling his disciples that he would be rejected and that he'd be killed and that he'd be raised.
And what unfolds in chapters 14, 15, and 16 of Mark is the climax of this gospel.
So chapter 14, Jesus is rejected.
Chapter 15, Jesus is killed.
Chapter 16, Jesus is raised.
And it's all good news.
It's all good news.
Because in his rejection, in his death, and in his resurrection, Jesus is revealed for who he truly is and what he's done for sinners like you and me.
Today, it's good news.
Today, what we're going to see is that Jesus is betrayed and he's betrayed out of greed.
We're going to see that Jesus is abandoned and he's abandoned because people fear what other people think more than they treasure Jesus.
And we're going to see Jesus condemned out of unbelief.
People don't believe who he is.
People are unwilling to submit to him.
Greed, fear of man, unbelief, it's all in Mark 14.
But do you know where it also is?
It's all in our sanctuary.
We deal with greed.
We deal with fear of man.
We have moments of unbelief.
So these sinful heart postures, well, you know what happens.
They're the cause for falling away from Jesus.
People fall away from Jesus out of greed.
People are ashamed of Jesus out of fear of man.
And people will not follow Jesus because they don't believe who he is.
If I were to ask you this morning, of all those three, greed, fear of man, unbelief,
if you had to pick one as the chief suspect for your falling away of Jesus, which one would it be?
The good news of Mark 14 is that in the midst of all this human failure,
all this rejection, abandonment, betrayal, false accusation, condemnation, and denial,
there is this unbelievable divine revelation.
It's in the midst of his rejection that he's truly revealed.
It's a climactic confession of the Christ.
And it will keep you from falling away.
Mark 14 begins with the chief priest two days prior to Passover plotting the death of Jesus.
And then Jesus is, in his own words, anointed for burial.
Following that, Judas approaches the chief priests in order to betray Jesus for money.
And then the disciples are in the upper room during the Passover.
And Jesus tells them that one of them will betray them as the scriptures are written.
Following that, they're out on the Mount of Olives.
And Jesus goes on to say, they're all going to be scattered according to Zechariah 13.
More it is written.
Then there's Gethsemane, those hours where Jesus in his turmoil is praying,
and Peter, James, and John are sleeping.
And that brings us to 43.
And what we're going to see unfold are several scenes.
Betrayal.
Abandonment.
False accusation.
Condemnation and mocking.
Even denial.
And in the middle of it all is a revelation.
Despite all this human failure,
Jesus remains faithful.
And it's lovely.
So let me pick up in verse 43.
And we're just going to walk through each of these scenes.
And then we're eventually going to bring it to bear in our lives.
Starting in verse 43.
And immediately while he was still speaking,
Judas came, one of the twelve,
and with him a crowd with swords and clubs
from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
Now the betrayer had given them a sign saying,
the one I will kiss is the man.
Seize him and lead him away under guard.
And when he came, he went up to him at once and said,
Rabbi!
And he kissed him.
And they laid hands on him and seized him.
But one of those who stood by drew his sword
and struck the servant of the high priest
and cut off his ear.
We know that's Peter from the other Gospels.
And Jesus said to them,
Have you come out as against a robber
with swords and clubs to capture me?
Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching,
and you did not seize me.
But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.
What we see in verses 43-49 is an intentional betrayal.
Judas didn't betray Jesus by accident.
It wasn't a crime of passion in the moment.
This was premeditated betrayal.
Started days earlier.
And what Mark points out is that greed
played a significant role in Judas' betrayal of Jesus.
Have you ever been thrown under the bus?
Have you ever been thrown under the bus
by someone who wants to gain from it?
It's a taste.
Do you know what's amazing
about what we're reading here
of Judas' betrayal of Jesus?
It's all according to plan.
In 1421,
at the Passover,
Jesus is telling His disciples
that one of them will betray Him.
And in verse 21, He says,
For the Son of Man goes
as it is written of Him,
but woe to that man
by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would have been better for that man
if He had not been born.
According to plan.
If you look at verse 49,
after Jesus has been delivered
by the betrayer,
Jesus says,
but let the Scriptures be fulfilled
according to plan.
I think there's a good chance
that part of those Scriptures
being fulfilled is
Psalm 55, 12 through 15.
the betrayal of a close friend.
What's amazing about this
is God is sovereignly
orchestrating these events.
And yet,
Judas is fully responsible
for his actions.
For the Son of Man
goes as it is written,
but woe to the man
by whom the Son of Man
is betrayed.
What I want you to see here
is that Judas valued money
more than he treasured Jesus.
It was an intentional betrayal.
And it was according to plan.
We move from 43 to 49,
and now,
in verses 50 through 52,
we read of a shameful
abandoning of Jesus.
In verse 50,
we read,
and they all left him and fled.
And a young man,
verse 51,
followed him
with nothing but a linen cloth
about his body,
and they seized him.
But he left the linen cloth
and ran away naked.
In verse 50,
and they all left him.
Do you know who they're talking about?
Mark's talking about the disciples
who just hours before
were,
they were in the Mount of Olives,
and they all said,
we will never deny you,
Jesus,
even if we must die.
Look at verse 31.
And here,
just hours later,
they all leave him.
They fled.
They abandoned him.
And in verses 51 through 52,
the writer of this gospel,
Mark,
makes a cameo.
Scholars think that this is
actually Mark,
and who was intentionally
following Jesus,
but is then seized,
and then they grab
his linen garment,
and then he runs away naked.
When the Bible talks
about nakedness,
it's often talking about
nakedness in terms
of humiliation,
exposure,
and shame.
We're not talking about
a guy who for his
30 seconds of fame
is running naked
on a football field.
Not that.
Not trying to get glory.
This is shame.
Why would the disciples
abandon Jesus?
They've been walking
with him for three years.
Why would they abandon him?
They were afraid.
Here's this crowd
with swords and clubs.
They fear their association
with Jesus,
and so they bail on Jesus.
They're unwilling to suffer
for Jesus.
They shrink away
in their shame.
I don't know what I would have done.
What would you have done?
Ashamed of Jesus,
afraid of the crowds.
They shrink away
in cowardice.
And what we see happening here,
this rejection of Jesus,
at the heart of it,
is a fear of man.
Looking out for yourself.
And you know what?
It was all according to plan.
If you look up at verse 27,
and Jesus said to his disciples
of the Mount of Olives,
you will all fall away,
for it is written,
I will strike the shepherd
and the sheep will be scattered.
Zechariah 13, 7.
Just let you guys know,
you're all going to bail on me.
And then it happens.
In verse 49,
we see that scripture,
but let the scriptures
be fulfilled.
It's Judas delivering up Jesus,
but it's also what follows.
And they all left him and fled.
It all fulfills.
This is according to plan.
Betrayed,
abandoned,
and then falsely accused.
In 53 and 54,
they've laid hands on Jesus,
and he's brought to the house
of the high priest for a trial.
It's sketchy.
But in verse 54,
Peter also followed at a distance.
And he just wants to blend in.
So he sits next to some guards
and warms himself by the fire.
The next time we're going to see Peter
is in verse 66.
After Jesus is condemned.
But in verses 55 through 61,
Jesus is falsely accused.
Look at verse 55.
Now the chief priests
and the whole council
were seeking testimony
against Jesus
to put him to death,
but they found none.
Does anybody else see
the miscarriage of justice
going on there?
Do you see what they're doing?
That the most powerful men
in Israel
have already decided
that Jesus
should be killed.
And so what they're doing now
is they're taking auditions
for potential witnesses
to give testimony
that in fact
he's worthy to be killed.
It's backwards.
This is a miscarriage of justice.
In verses 55 through 59,
there's this comedy of errors.
There's this,
these testimonies
of these witnesses
that they're saying,
hey, we did this,
he did this,
and did this,
and whatever.
But none of them can agree.
And so even in verse 58,
look it,
some stood up
and bore false witness
against them saying,
we heard him say,
I will destroy this temple
that is made with hands,
and in three days
I will build another
not made with hands.
Jesus,
what they're referring to
is Jesus talking about
his death and resurrection.
But they don't see it.
And even this,
verse 59,
their testimony did not agree.
Do you know what that means?
Jesus is innocent.
He's being railroaded.
In verse 60,
the high priest
takes matters
into his own hands.
He's like,
great.
All right,
let me try another tact.
In verse 60,
the chief priest,
the high priest,
says to Jesus,
have you no answer to make?
What is it
that these men
testify against you?
What are they talking about?
this temple being destroyed
and being built back
without human hands?
What's striking
is what happens next
in verse 61.
The high priest
asked Jesus a question
and in verse 61,
but he remained silent
and made no answer.
That,
brothers and sisters,
is an illusion
back to Isaiah 53,
verse 7.
Let me turn there with you.
Turn there with me.
It's on page 729
of your pew Bible.
If you're familiar
with Isaiah 53,
it is a prophecy
of the suffering servant.
This one who would come
and die
for his people.
Verse 7,
He was oppressed
and he was afflicted,
yet he opened
not his mouth.
Like a lamb
that is led
to the slaughter
and like a sheep
that before its shears
is silent,
so he opened
not his mouth.
But he remained silent
and made no answer.
It's all
according
to plan.
Jesus had
to be falsely accused.
He had to be abandoned.
He had
to be betrayed.
This is all
according to plan.
And now we get
to the climax
of this passage.
It's in verses 61
and 62.
The high priest,
seeing that Jesus
will not answer him,
he goes like
point blank,
direct question.
Are you the Christ?
The son of the blessed?
Now that might sound
a little strange in your ear,
son of the blessed.
And what it is
is a Jewish euphemism.
What that means is
instead of the high priest
actually saying
the name of God,
he's using
a different word
in order to honor God.
What he's actually saying
is,
are you the Christ,
the son of God?
If you would flip back
in the gospel of Mark
to chapter 1,
verse 1.
Do you remember
where this gospel started?
This is Mark
and this is like
the purpose statement
of the book.
He wants
the reader
to believe this.
in the beginning
of the gospel,
the good news of Jesus,
the Christ,
the son of God.
And here we have
the high priest
questioning that
to Jesus.
Are you the Christ?
Are you the son of God?
Now mind you,
Jesus has been very careful
all throughout
the gospel here,
all of what Mark
has recorded,
as to be very careful
of what gets shared
about him.
Remember,
like demons would say,
I know who you are
and Jesus is like,
you be quiet.
Do you remember
in Jairus' house,
Peter, James, and John
are with Jairus
and his wife.
Jesus raises
Jairus' daughter
and he tells them,
don't tell anybody this.
Coming down
from the mountain
which he was transfigured,
he tells Peter,
James, and John,
don't tell anybody this
until after I'm
raised from the dead.
Jesus has been
tapping down
what gets said
about him
and it raises
why?
For this moment,
this moment,
he's been waiting
to go public.
He knew this
was going to happen
and at this
very moment
when the high priest
who's representative
of all of Israel
said,
are you the Christ,
the son of the blessed?
What does Jesus say?
He said,
I am.
And you will see
the son of man
at the right hand of power,
another euphemism for God,
and coming with the clouds
of heaven.
Coming with the clouds
of heaven
is a reference
to Daniel chapter 7,
the son of man
who would be given
dominion
and be given
a kingdom
that is eternal
and indestructible
and he's given it
by the ancient of days
and he's going to
establish this kingdom
from people
from all the nations.
So Jesus goes public
with who he is
in the midst
of all this rejection.
This passage
is actually about
who Jesus is.
Jesus is
what's more spectacular
than claiming
to be the son of man.
If there's anything,
can there be anything
more spectacular
than that?
Are those two words
I am?
The high priest,
point blank,
are you the Christ?
Are you the son
of the blessed?
Initially,
you take this
I am
as kind of like
yes.
Well, yes,
I am the Christ.
Yes,
I am the son of God.
Yes,
I am the son of man.
But,
but those two words
are more than agreement.
Those two words
are claim.
Claiming
of who he is,
of his identity.
He's claiming
to be the great I am
as in Exodus chapter 3,
as in the burning bush,
as in God speaking
to Moses,
sending him to Pharaoh
and say,
tell that guy,
let my people go.
And then Moses was like,
well,
I'll go,
but who do I tell them
sent me?
And then God responds,
I am who I am.
Tell them,
I am sent you.
The deliverer.
Exodus.
What Jesus is doing here
is saying,
I'm the great I am.
I'm the deliverer.
I'm bringing about
a new Exodus
and a new people.
This is a clear
and climactic claim
of the Christ.
He goes public.
And we've been waiting
for this to happen.
This is the moment
in the midst
of his rejection.
He says,
I am the Christ.
I'm the son of God.
I am the son of man.
I am the I am.
And so Christ the King
Church,
behold your king
rejected
and revealed.
It's all according
to plan.
He's been waiting
for this moment.
And what happens next
is his condemnation
and mockery.
Verses 63 through 65.
63,
the high priest
responds by saying,
we don't need
any more witnesses.
We've heard his blasphemy.
What's your decision?
That blasphemy charge
should ring a bell
to Mark chapter 2
where Jesus,
instead of healing
the paralytic,
tells him,
your sins are forgiven.
And then the scribes
in the room
say to themselves,
what?
That's blasphemous.
Only God can forgive sins.
Which is the point.
He is the great I am.
And the high priest
completely understood
his claim.
He tore his garments,
which is a gesture
of terrible grief
and the Sanhedrin,
the most powerful men
in Israel,
the elders
and the scribes
and the chief priests,
they reject him
and contend him
to death.
They reject the Christ.
They reject
the Son of God.
They reject
the Son of Man.
They reject
the great I am
who is there
to deliver
his people.
They rejected him.
And it's all out
of unbelief.
They don't see him
for who he is.
They choose not
to believe him.
And so,
if they don't believe him,
they're not going to
give him full reign
of their lives.
this Jesus,
well,
he's not going to be
killed,
executed by the Jews.
They don't have authority
to do that.
But Pilate does.
And we'll see that
next week
in chapter 15.
What I want you
to look at
is verse 65.
And some began
to spit on him
and to cover his face
and to strike him
saying to him,
prophesy.
It was a game.
Here's what was happening.
They would take
some kind of fabric
and put it over
Jesus' head
and punch him
in the face
and say,
which one of us
did that?
Prophesy.
Prophesy,
son of man.
Prophesy,
son of God.
Prophesy,
Christ.
Tell us,
who's going to
punch you next
in the face?
Do you see
the mockery?
This too
is according to plan.
Jesus said so.
In chapter 10,
verse 33 and 34,
they're on their way,
he and his disciples,
into Jerusalem.
And Jesus says,
see,
we are going up
to Jerusalem
and the son of man
will be delivered
over to the chief priests
and the scribes.
That's happened.
And they will condemn
him to death.
It happened.
And deliver him
over to the Gentiles.
It's about to happen.
And they will mock him,
prophesy,
and spit on him.
We just saw it.
And flog him
and kill him.
And after three days,
he will rise.
Do you see?
See,
this is all
according to plan.
Remarkably,
all according to plan.
And then in verses
66 through 72,
we move from
this condemnation
and mockery
to
Peter's denial.
And not just once,
three times.
The last time we saw
Peter was in 54.
He was warming himself
by the fire,
just blending in
with some of the guards.
And then what follows
is three denials.
Denial one is 67 and 68.
This slave girl,
she's like,
says to Peter,
hey,
I know you.
You're with that
Nazarene Jesus.
Yes.
To which he plays
like the dumb card.
I neither know
nor understand
what you mean.
And then he leaves
the scene.
He's like,
I have no knowledge
of him.
I don't know
what you're talking about.
There's a contrast
being developed here.
Jesus is faithful
before the most powerful
men in Israel.
Peter folds
like a cheap suit
before a lowly
servant girl.
The second denial
happens in 69 and 70.
That same servant girl
starts talking
to some bystanders.
There,
this man is one of them.
So now word is getting out.
It's incrementally
getting a little bit
more tense.
Peter,
in his Galilean accent,
denies it.
And then in verse 70
and 71,
now the bystanders
bystanders
who were there,
they say to him,
certainly you are
one of them
for you are a Galilean.
We hear your accent.
But he began
to invoke a curse
on himself
and to swear,
I do not know
this man of whom
you speak.
You've got to understand
the forcefulness
of that third denial.
He invokes
a curse.
He swears.
He's like saying this,
I swear
by all things
holy,
I do not know
this man of whom
you speak.
That's the force.
He's being contrasted
to Jesus.
His denial
contrasted to Jesus'
true confession.
And he's being likened
to the false witnesses
who are trying
to make a testimony
stick,
but he was innocent,
Peter's more like
the false witnesses.
And what you need
to understand
is this denial
is paramount
to lying.
It's a lie.
He knows Jesus.
Imagine all that Peter
has seen
and heard
over the last
three years.
He was in the boat
when Jesus
stilled the waters.
He saw that
man possessed
by a legion
of demons
made calm.
He saw the woman.
He was there
when she was healed
of her 12 years
of bleeding.
And he was in the room
when Jairus' daughter
was,
what do you mean
you don't know him?
He saw the 5,000 fed
and the 4,000 fed.
What do you mean?
And he said,
what do you mean?
Judas didn't go this far.
He denied him.
In his shame,
in his fear,
he denied him.
And it was all
according to plan.
Verse 72.
Cockadoodledoo!
A rooster
announces fulfillment.
If you look back
at verse 30,
Jesus says to Peter,
truly I tell you,
this very night
before the rooster
crows twice,
you will deny me
three times.
Verse 72.
And Peter remembered.
Cockadoodledoo!
Peter remembers!
Before the rooster
crows twice,
you will deny me
three times.
It's verbatim.
And he breaks down
and weeps.
He's cut to the quick.
Betrayed.
Abandoned.
Falsely accused.
Condemned and mocked.
And denied.
What is this passage
all about?
This passage
is actually about
who Jesus is.
this passage
is about rejection,
yes,
but above and beyond
that,
it's about revelation.
There's a striking contrast
between the false
accusers
and Jesus'
truthfulness.
There's a contrast
between the high priest
representing the people
and rejecting Jesus,
but Jesus
staying true,
being rejected
for his people.
and there's the contrast
between Peter
who folds like a cheap suit
before a lowly
slave girl
to save his skin
and Jesus
who boldly reveals himself
before the most powerful men
in the land
to save us.
There's this striking contrast
and it's all
according to plan.
His betrayal
was according to plan.
Psalm 55.
His abandonment
was according to plan.
Zechariah 13.
His falsely being accused
was according to plan.
Isaiah 53.
His condemnation
and mockery
was according to plan.
Jesus himself,
Matthew 10.
And his denial by Peter
all according to plan.
The climax of this passage,
what is to get your attention,
is that pile up of titles
in 61 and 62.
He's the Christ.
He's the Son of the Blessed.
He is the Son of Man.
And he is the great I Am.
Behold your King,
Christ the King Church.
In rejection,
he's revealed
as God.
God.
In fact,
if you were to ask,
well,
why is this
according to God's plan?
Why this way?
Well,
this ends up being
good news for us
because it's because
of his rejection
it resulted in our salvation.
He had
to go through this
so that he could
and would
save us.
So what?
What do we do with this?
Well,
I have three things
written down here.
I'm going to hit two.
So what?
First thing is this.
There's a warning.
There's a warning
against greed,
against the fear of man,
against unbelief
that's unwilling
to yield control
of your life to Jesus.
It's a warning
about rejecting Jesus.
It's a warning
of going wayward
from Jesus.
Either from greed
or from fear of man
or from unbelief.
So this morning,
you know what I was doing?
I was praying.
I was,
Lord,
is there
one of these three,
is there something
in me right now
that is displeasing
in you
that would result
in my waywardness
from Jesus?
And as I was praying,
do you know what happened?
I'm like,
man,
I need to text my mom
because she asked me
what did I want
for my birthday
and I mean,
there's those cool pants
and then there are
these like,
this like tailgate pad
for my bike
and you know,
you know,
maybe some cool handlebars
and some great,
I literally hit four things.
I asked God,
God,
which one of these
would get in the way?
And then,
I went materialistic.
God showed me.
He exposed my heart
right there.
He shows me
for the greedy man I am.
It was a joy to confess it.
I was so grateful.
It is,
I can actually see
a number of these things
leading to my falling away.
But thanks be to God.
His grace is greater.
fear.
So there's a warning here,
brothers and sisters.
So if,
if you were to ask
these three,
greed,
fear of man,
unbelief of Jesus,
who he is,
if you were to say,
what would be the chief suspect
of these three
that would lead me away?
Which one would it be?
How's it showing up now?
Second,
there's a warning,
but there is a way forward.
How does a Christian
not fall away from greed?
How does a Christian
not shrink back
in the fear of man?
How does a Christian
or someone who's considering
becoming a Christian
not,
not give Jesus
full sway of their life
because they don't believe
who he is?
How do you,
how do you keep that
from happening?
You fight waywardness
from Jesus
with the worship
of Jesus.
That's how you fight.
You fight waywardness
from Jesus,
what would lead you astray
from worshiping Jesus
for who he is.
And,
and the material for that
is right here
in this passage.
In verses 61 through 62,
there's this pile up
of,
of these titles.
The Christ,
the Son of God,
the Son of Man,
the I Am.
And you know how you fight?
You speak these
to Jesus
in a prayer of adoration.
Go something like this.
Jesus,
you are the Christ.
Jesus,
you,
you are
the Psalm 2
Son of God.
Jesus,
you are
the Daniel 7
Son of Man.
And Jesus,
you are
the Exodus 3
I Am.
You are
these things.
You,
you speak that
to him.
And when you do that,
you give your heart,
you,
you give the
captain's chair
of your heart
to the great I Am.
And out of that,
of,
of who Jesus is,
you deny yourself.
You take up your cross
and you follow him
out of joy.
You,
and so,
what I'm suggesting is,
the way forward
is Jesus.
Make Jesus
climactic confession
to the Sanhedrin,
your daily confession
of worship
to him.
And when you do,
you'll find yourself
treasuring Jesus
more than greed,
more than cool pants,
more than the fear
of man.
And it shrinks
unbelief.
I was going to tell you
there's a third
application.
Wonder.
Anybody else
shocked
by how God
can remain
sovereign over
all things
and yet hold
every person
responsible
for their
actions.
It is a wonder.
A wonder.
And he
did all these things.
He orchestrated
all this
to save
you and me.
It's beautiful.
people.
This morning
we've seen
Jesus
in the midst
of all this
rejection
make an
unbelievably
believable
revelation.
That he is
the Christ.
The son of God.
The son of man.
The great I am.
And we see him
for who he is.
The suffering
Messiah.
Behold your king.
Rejected and revealed.
And next week
you will behold
your king
killed
and confessed
as the son of God.
It's all good news.
Let's pray.
God in heaven
we so
need to be
reminded of ourselves
and our
our postures of heart
that can lead us
astray
but it's
seeing you
Lord Jesus
hearing you
say who you
are
that puts
in our
hearts
a joy
and a
treasuring of you
that
that crowds
out greed
and crowds
out the fear
of man
and crowds
out unbelief.
Lord Jesus
thank you for being
rejected for us
and thank you
for revealing
yourself to us
and giving us
eyes to see
and hearts to believe
in Jesus name
Amen.