back to index2021-04-04 He Is Risen
00:00:00.000 |
Thank you, Brian, and congratulations on your baptism. 00:00:07.360 |
If you can turn your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians 15, 14, and then we'll be reading 00:00:18.000 |
1 Corinthians chapter 14, 15, verse 14, and then verse 17 through 19. 00:00:30.960 |
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. 00:00:37.860 |
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless. 00:00:42.440 |
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 00:00:45.880 |
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 00:00:53.600 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for your continued guidance. 00:01:09.880 |
Allow us to hear, Father God, that we may be convicted and to be molded according to 00:01:17.880 |
You know, a few weeks back, and I'm sure many of you had conversations with unbelievers 00:01:29.880 |
And typically, I think some of you men are like me, you know, I just kind of guard the 00:01:34.880 |
cart and then while my wife goes and gets the stuff. 00:01:39.000 |
And so I usually find a nice place to either sit or find the electronics area and I just 00:01:43.800 |
kind of hang out in the area and she'll get the stuff. 00:01:46.000 |
So, you know, typically I was there with the cart and then my wife was running around getting 00:01:50.000 |
all this stuff and then I could see the corner of my eye, there was this guy who was trying 00:01:56.840 |
And he was a solar panel salesman, right, at Costco. 00:02:00.480 |
And he was trying to, I think, subtly get my attention, right. 00:02:05.160 |
But people tell me that I don't have a very pleasant resting face, meaning that if I'm 00:02:12.720 |
So I could tell he was kind of a little bit hesitant to come to me. 00:02:16.400 |
I don't know when my wife's going to come back." 00:02:18.600 |
So I just kind of rolled up to him and I started a conversation hoping that I can maybe share 00:02:24.040 |
And so, you know, he's trying to sell me the solar panels and I'm trying to sell him Jesus. 00:02:28.320 |
And so we were just kind of having a friendly conversation and found out that he used to 00:02:36.320 |
So I asked him, you know, "So what caused you to fall?" 00:02:38.600 |
And then he started to kind of name the reasons why he said, "Well, you know, the Bible was 00:02:41.840 |
written by man and, you know, all this stuff was made up by people and we didn't even have 00:02:48.160 |
And so I have no idea where he picked up this information, but everything he said was wrong, 00:02:54.680 |
And so those are very typical liberals, you know, talking points that they pick up either 00:02:58.680 |
at a secular university or some book that they read. 00:03:01.540 |
And I started sharing with him, I said, "That's not true at all. 00:03:04.480 |
You know, we actually have manuscript from the very first century. 00:03:09.960 |
We have records of it being passed down from generation to generation. 00:03:14.120 |
It wasn't until the Council of Carthage at 387 that they decided to put the books together, 00:03:21.640 |
So I just sharing this and, you know, he was like, "Oh, okay." 00:03:24.600 |
And typically, usually when we get to this part of the conversation, they'd be, "I don't 00:03:28.360 |
want to talk to you," but he was trying to sell me the solar panel. 00:03:35.800 |
And then so I asked him, "So then if that's not the reason, then what is it? 00:03:43.280 |
In the end, it's hard for me to believe, you know." 00:03:46.240 |
But again, like I said, he's trying to be courteous, and so he didn't want me to leave. 00:03:50.040 |
Obviously, I had no intention of leaving, but he didn't want me to leave. 00:03:52.520 |
He said, "Yeah, yeah, but, you know, even though I don't believe in all that stuff, 00:03:57.480 |
I think Jesus is a great man, taught great morals, and, you know, for the most part, 00:04:03.880 |
And again, he was trying to keep me to stay so he can sell me the solar panels, you know. 00:04:09.000 |
And then, you know, my response to him, they said, "Well, how can he be a great man if 00:04:14.280 |
You know, I understand that he may have done some good things and feed poor people, but 00:04:18.360 |
in the end, he said he was God and then claimed that he was going to die and resurrect on 00:04:23.840 |
So either he's a crazy man, and in the last 2,000 years, he's deceived millions of people. 00:04:31.320 |
Think about how many people who forsook their lives and walked into difficult places. 00:04:35.600 |
Think about how many people who lives in Muslim countries who are risking their lives to gather 00:04:42.440 |
Think about how many people who have forfeited everything in their life to proclaim this 00:04:48.280 |
So either he's a liar who's caused more damage than any human being alive, or he really 00:04:55.240 |
is who he says he is, and there really isn't anything in between, right? 00:04:59.720 |
And like I said, usually when I get to this point, they would get upset, and then they 00:05:03.800 |
would say, "I don't want to talk to him," and they would leave, but he wanted to sell 00:05:07.640 |
So I sat there, listened, I gave him an opportunity to present, and I'm actually supposed to speak 00:05:13.480 |
to him in two more weeks about these solar panels, right? 00:05:20.280 |
But the point of the conversation was, I'm sure you guys have had opportunities to talk 00:05:25.080 |
to people who maybe said the same thing, right? 00:05:30.000 |
I know a lot of good Christians who do good things. 00:05:35.360 |
I don't know if I believe that he was resurrected from the dead. 00:05:39.480 |
Let me ask you this morning, in your conviction about the resurrection, because that's why 00:05:45.320 |
we're here this morning, to celebrate and to commemorate what he has done. 00:05:50.360 |
In your conviction, if you were to say number from zero to 10, how would you label yourself? 00:06:01.960 |
To 10, "I'm so convicted that even if I give my life telling other people about this, that 00:06:16.160 |
Some of you may have been brought here because you are a zero. 00:06:20.800 |
Not zero in who you are, but zero is in conviction. 00:06:23.640 |
I'm not sure if I really believe this, but your friend maybe have invited you so that 00:06:28.300 |
you can hear the gospel and maybe convince you of this truth. 00:06:32.920 |
And then my guess is most of us fall somewhere in between the middle, right? 00:06:39.520 |
Where you profess to believe, but there really isn't any evidence of this in your life. 00:06:44.800 |
And then many will say, "I'm about a five, right? 00:06:50.080 |
I grew up in the church and I have no good reason to deny it." 00:06:59.780 |
You're kind of doing everything that everybody else does. 00:07:05.120 |
However you would label yourself, my question this morning is, why are you there? 00:07:10.780 |
Whether you are a zero, whether you are a four or five or six, why did you label yourself 00:07:18.780 |
Is it because at the end of research, asking questions and seeking, that after you've gathered 00:07:25.420 |
all the information, heard all the testimonies, that your final conclusion is that I don't 00:07:38.940 |
I've chosen to believe that and just remain that way. 00:07:42.340 |
I believe enough to come to church, but not believe enough to really give my life. 00:07:46.860 |
I believe enough to participate in the church, enjoy the community, study the Bible, but 00:07:51.980 |
to actually give my life in following this Jesus Christ and to give my life to share 00:07:56.220 |
this gospel with the other people, I'm not sure if I'm there. 00:08:01.380 |
Some of you may say you're a zero, you don't believe because of the prejudice. 00:08:09.980 |
And simply because you haven't experienced it, it's not part of your reality. 00:08:13.060 |
You say, "Well, I choose not to believe it because I've never seen it before." 00:08:17.980 |
To be honest, that isn't a whole lot different than somebody maybe 200 years ago saying, 00:08:22.460 |
We're going to get to the East Coast and the West Coast in a few hours." 00:08:28.340 |
Or somebody maybe hundreds of years ago said that, "Hey, the earth is actually round and 00:08:39.060 |
So simply to reject this because it's not a part of our reality is prejudice. 00:08:46.340 |
But for us who claim to be Christians who are sort of believing but not enough to really 00:08:52.640 |
forsake everything to follow Christ, why are we there? 00:08:56.240 |
Is it because we've done our research and we found it's ambiguous and I've chosen to 00:09:08.780 |
The fact that something incredible happened in the first century is a fact. 00:09:14.120 |
Whether you believe it or not, that's a fact. 00:09:16.460 |
The fact that Jews and Gentiles who hated each other for centuries, they couldn't stand 00:09:22.600 |
Can you imagine if you fell asleep today and woke up a few weeks later and the Republicans 00:09:31.380 |
If you're following politics, it's like that's crazy. 00:09:34.640 |
The hatred between the Jews and the Gentiles was much more intense than the political divide 00:09:43.020 |
They hated each other so much that the Jews wouldn't even enter the Gentile land because 00:09:50.420 |
In fact, one of the earliest problems that they had in the early church was to get rid 00:09:54.180 |
of this prejudice that they had toward one another. 00:09:57.800 |
But overnight, they started meeting together and calling each other brothers and sisters 00:10:06.020 |
They had former runaway slaves meeting together in the same church with the slave owners, 00:10:13.300 |
calling each other brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:10:16.180 |
Tax collector who was considered a traitor to the nation was one of the first apostles 00:10:21.080 |
who started teaching the Pharisees who were the leaders, the PhDs of theology of that 00:10:27.980 |
And they sat there humbly receiving instruction by these tax collectors. 00:10:32.300 |
You had zealots, you had Sadducees, you had the early church, the rich and the poor, all 00:10:37.780 |
calling each other brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:10:40.760 |
So the fact that something incredible happened is a fact. 00:10:46.020 |
But some people will explain that away and say maybe Jesus just hypnotized people. 00:10:51.600 |
Maybe the apostles made this up because they wanted to be rich and maybe they were going 00:10:55.700 |
to try to make something of themselves by telling these lies. 00:11:00.180 |
But none of these things stick because every one of the apostles who claimed that this 00:11:09.640 |
One crazy person doing that is one thing, but to have all the apostles telling this 00:11:14.480 |
same lie and then dying, and then to have hundreds of other people who are also witnesses 00:11:20.120 |
of his resurrection also giving their lives telling the same supposed lie. 00:11:25.960 |
So the fact that something incredible happened in the early church is a fact. 00:11:31.300 |
Now why that happened causes us to be separated between believers and unbelievers. 00:11:37.920 |
But this morning, the purpose of my sermon is not to prove to you that the resurrection 00:11:46.220 |
The purpose of this morning's sermon is to show you what the resurrection really proves. 00:11:53.920 |
The resurrection was so unbelievable that if you look at the account of when Jesus was 00:12:00.520 |
resurrected, you'll notice something strange. 00:12:04.200 |
In Mark chapter 16, 1, it says, "When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the 00:12:08.680 |
mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint him." 00:12:15.440 |
You notice first of all here, they're not here to see his resurrection. 00:12:19.720 |
They're here to anoint his body, to prepare him for burial. 00:12:22.720 |
In other words, they didn't come to see the resurrected body. 00:12:27.720 |
You notice something else that's missing here? 00:12:32.640 |
If you saw the account and Jesus made it clear what was going to happen, you would have thought 00:12:38.000 |
that all of his disciples would have been waiting outside of his tomb. 00:12:41.640 |
Like okay, Friday, one day, Saturday, Sabbath, we can't go there, but after the Sabbath, 00:12:50.520 |
The only people who actually even show up are these ladies in tears. 00:12:57.680 |
They actually went there to take care of his body, and that was it. 00:13:02.680 |
Mark's account of what takes place and how he goes to the cross, his point is made very 00:13:09.440 |
Three separate times, Mark announces crystal clear that the disciples should have known, 00:13:18.380 |
In Mark chapter 8, 31 to 32, the first revelation where it says, "And he, Jesus, began to teach 00:13:25.640 |
them that the Son of Man himself must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders 00:13:30.560 |
and chief priests and the scribes and be killed. 00:13:34.820 |
And after three days, rise again, and he was stating the matter plainly." 00:13:41.400 |
Mark wanted to make sure that they weren't confused. 00:13:45.760 |
They were not at the tomb because Jesus was kind of teaching it and he was using strange 00:13:50.760 |
vocabulary and it didn't make much sense to them. 00:13:55.120 |
And then very next part, it says, "And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him." 00:14:02.200 |
The leader among the apostles, the guy who typically puts his foot in his mouth. 00:14:07.560 |
I can imagine in eternity, Peter in heaven, and I'm sure that's not going to happen, but 00:14:14.480 |
he's forever known as the man who rebuked God. 00:14:19.880 |
He rebuked God, the leader among the apostles. 00:14:26.760 |
We're about to go into Jerusalem and to conquer Rome and you're saying we're going to die 00:14:36.280 |
He saw Lazarus raised from the dead, Jesus walking on the water. 00:14:44.720 |
He saw all the miracles, but that his prophecy of a death and resurrection was so out of 00:14:51.560 |
whack that Peter, I don't know what was going through his head. 00:14:55.400 |
Maybe he thinks, some people think that maybe he was older than Jesus and he was pulling 00:15:01.200 |
I'm older than you and you haven't lived long enough and stop saying that. 00:15:07.320 |
Mark makes it very plain that Jesus made it very clear what was about to happen. 00:15:12.480 |
Mark 9, 31 and 32, "For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, 'The Son of Man 00:15:16.600 |
is to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and when he has been killed, 00:15:25.240 |
But they did not understand the statement and they were afraid to ask." 00:15:31.880 |
You ever get so behind in your class that you can't ask anymore? 00:15:37.720 |
You need to know something to be even asking questions. 00:15:43.000 |
You've been in class, when I asked this in the first service, almost everybody nodded 00:15:48.760 |
I think there were a bunch of college students in there. 00:15:52.760 |
Maybe you remember, you're in a math class or history class and you should have asked 00:15:57.440 |
maybe three months ago, but you just kind of like, "Okay, maybe I'll get over it." 00:16:01.760 |
And you realize that you're so far behind that you can't even ask the question. 00:16:06.080 |
That's exactly what was happening with the disciples. 00:16:08.520 |
They sat there and Jesus was talking and they didn't understand anything. 00:16:16.760 |
In other words, it was so beyond their comprehension, they couldn't even ask him the question. 00:16:23.160 |
Mark says it again, third time, chapter 10, 32 to 34, and again, he took the 12 aside 00:16:29.520 |
and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, "Behold, we are going to Jerusalem. 00:16:35.480 |
The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn 00:16:40.080 |
him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. 00:16:42.880 |
They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him. 00:16:50.480 |
Mark was making it very clear that they should have been at the grave. 00:17:01.040 |
In fact, not that they just didn't know or they just missed it. 00:17:06.360 |
Mark's account tells us that they refused to believe in Mark chapter 16, 10 through 00:17:13.800 |
It says, "She went, reported to those who had been with him while they were mourning 00:17:20.120 |
When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe 00:17:32.520 |
After he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along their 00:17:37.060 |
way to the country, they went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe 00:17:44.200 |
Now you had the first account is that they refused to believe it. 00:17:47.460 |
The other two people, they come, "No, no, no, we saw him. 00:17:55.280 |
Verse 14, "After he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table, 00:18:00.600 |
and he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not 00:18:05.000 |
believed those who had seen him and after he had risen." 00:18:08.120 |
I mean, they were so hardened that even after Jesus makes it plain over and over and even 00:18:18.420 |
after the resurrection, not only were they not there at the grave, even after reports 00:18:23.780 |
started rolling in from other people, they said, "No, that can't possibly happen." 00:18:31.420 |
Because you have to remember, they already witnessed. 00:18:36.620 |
They already witnessed Lazarus coming back from the dead. 00:18:40.240 |
They already witnessed Jesus walking on the water. 00:18:44.360 |
For three years, they've seen miracle after miracle after miracle. 00:18:48.280 |
But for some reason, his death and resurrection, they could not believe. 00:18:55.060 |
In fact, in Luke chapter 24, 10 through 11, Luke goes even further than that when he says, 00:19:00.240 |
"Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna Mary, a mother of James, also the other women with 00:19:04.640 |
them, were telling these things to the apostles, but these words appeared to them as nonsense, 00:19:14.840 |
Did they not believe simply because it was too hard to believe that somebody would come 00:19:32.040 |
All these Jews from everywhere were coming into town because they heard of Lazarus' resurrection. 00:19:37.440 |
So were they disheartened because they thought that no one can come back from the dead? 00:19:49.240 |
Well, we don't have to ponder about that question because Mark makes it very clear why they 00:19:57.320 |
It wasn't simply because it was a spectacular thing. 00:20:01.240 |
In Mark, going back to Mark chapter 8, 31 through 37, right? 00:20:06.560 |
In verse 31 and 32 is where Jesus says he's going to die and rise again on the third day. 00:20:11.760 |
Peter takes him aside, rebukes him, and then Jesus turns aside in verse 33, seeing his 00:20:17.680 |
disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan." 00:20:26.280 |
Peter, at least on the surface, looks like he's concerned for Jesus. 00:20:40.480 |
And in response to that, Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan." 00:20:44.400 |
There was something a lot more sinister going on. 00:20:47.560 |
There was something much more deeper going on than Peter just being concerned for his 00:20:53.440 |
"Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on God's interest but man's." 00:21:00.680 |
You may have the best interest, but in the end, you have no idea what God is doing. 00:21:10.480 |
And then he spells out what's happening here. 00:21:14.120 |
So I want you to labor with me to pay attention to this because if we're not careful, we can 00:21:20.320 |
live our whole lives being guilty of the same thing that the apostles are guilty of here 00:21:26.600 |
before the resurrection because it's subtle, because it's very subtle. 00:21:34.040 |
In verse 34, he says, "He summoned the crowd with the disciples and said to them, 'If anyone 00:21:38.860 |
wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'" 00:21:44.280 |
I know that you know those verses well because it's repeated. 00:21:49.920 |
If you've been raised in the church, you know that passage well. 00:21:53.720 |
If you want to follow me, you must deny yourself, pick up your cross, and then follow me. 00:21:59.720 |
You know that he was saying this to his disciples because they couldn't believe the prophecy 00:22:06.520 |
that he just made because they were so filled with their own glory that when Jesus told 00:22:14.080 |
them they was going to die and resurrect, it didn't fit their paradigm. 00:22:17.480 |
Everything that Jesus did up to this point was awesome. 00:22:21.480 |
And that's why they were thinking if we just stick with him when the kingdom comes and 00:22:25.540 |
he is elevated in his glory, their mindset was we're going to benefit from this. 00:22:34.520 |
And their whole mindset, their paradigm was that I'm going to benefit from being attached 00:22:42.000 |
And that's why when Jesus said he's going to die and resurrect, everything that he did, 00:22:46.720 |
even raising Lazarus from the dead, only heightened his glory. 00:22:58.040 |
And so they heard it through one ear, but because it didn't fit their paradigm, they 00:23:05.440 |
And it's to them, it says, you must deny yourself. 00:23:08.680 |
The reason why you are blind is because you are trying to save your life on your own. 00:23:14.000 |
Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. 00:23:16.960 |
He's talking to his disciples, disciples who stuck with him, disciples who didn't leave 00:23:24.760 |
He's talking to his disciples and telling them, if you are trying to save your life, 00:23:31.000 |
He who loses his life for me in the gospel will save it. 00:23:34.720 |
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 00:23:39.120 |
For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 00:23:44.400 |
Do you understand the gravity of what he is saying here? 00:23:55.520 |
To the disciples, we're thinking that, you know, I can make the sacrifice, I can leave 00:24:03.160 |
I can leave behind maybe a successful fishing business. 00:24:05.800 |
I can leave behind my family because there's greater glory waiting. 00:24:12.080 |
And then when Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, the disciples were thinking the same thing. 00:24:16.000 |
So here comes, when he conquers Rome, who's going to sit into the left and to the right? 00:24:24.880 |
And they were completely blinded, even though Jesus made it very clear because it didn't 00:24:32.520 |
Mark chapter 9, 31 to 37, verse 31, he says, "I will be killed and raised on the third 00:24:38.680 |
But they did not understand the statement and they were afraid to ask him. 00:24:43.800 |
They came to Capernaum and when he was in the house, he began to question them, "What 00:24:57.120 |
He's going to be crucified and be raised on the third day. 00:25:00.600 |
You would think that they would turn around and say, "What does he mean by that?" 00:25:09.040 |
All these years they wanted to kill him and he would just walk through the crowd and disappear. 00:25:13.560 |
Storms would come and lifetime fishermen were afraid to die and Jesus says, "Stop," and 00:25:19.160 |
Why would that man with that kind of power, who even has power over death, raises Lazarus, 00:25:28.680 |
You would think that that's the conversation that they would have. 00:25:32.080 |
I can't ask him, so let's try to figure this out. 00:25:34.080 |
Instead, they lean over and say, "Who's the greatest?" 00:25:42.000 |
They kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. 00:25:46.800 |
So sitting down, he called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, 00:25:55.200 |
And this is where he takes a child and he says, "You must receive this child, that we 00:26:01.760 |
He's not saying, "You must be like a child and just be naive." 00:26:07.640 |
I've heard some people say, "You must become like a child. 00:26:11.600 |
Don't ask questions because when you tell a child what to do, they just do it. 00:26:18.760 |
If Jesus says to believe like a child, say, "Okay, I believe." 00:26:25.040 |
What he's saying is because these disciples are jockeying to get a higher position from 00:26:31.400 |
one another, he's pointing to a child who has nothing. 00:26:40.240 |
You ever wonder, you know, why children have such an easy time making friends, right? 00:26:46.720 |
And I'm sure many of you probably will agree with me. 00:26:49.800 |
The older we get, the harder it is to make friends, right? 00:26:54.760 |
Because when you're older, you start like, "Well, what do you do for a living? 00:27:08.200 |
And so we have a tendency to kind of jockey to see, "Am I older than you? 00:27:17.840 |
And so we're all kind of like secretly jockeying to see and measure. 00:27:21.200 |
And so we have to kind of get over that in order to become friends. 00:27:24.320 |
You see little children, they get together, they get on a playground, and they slide down 00:27:30.560 |
with another kid that they met for the first time, turn around, "Hey, you want to be my 00:27:43.360 |
Why is it easier for young children to become friends that way? 00:27:49.840 |
They just kind of like, "Okay, let's get together." 00:27:51.360 |
Jesus was referring to a child who is now prideful and measuring from one another. 00:27:58.840 |
So He's talking to a child who has nothing to boast of, and He says, "If you are measuring 00:28:03.760 |
one another and trying to figure out who's the greatest," He said, "that's your greatest 00:28:15.520 |
I hope this really sinks in beyond the surface. 00:28:21.100 |
And I mentioned this before, the health and wealth gospel, we have a tendency to think 00:28:25.080 |
the health and wealth gospel is over there, right? 00:28:28.920 |
They, you know, ride around in $100 million jet airplanes, and they beg for money. 00:28:35.860 |
Those are the health and wealth gospel people. 00:28:40.840 |
You have no idea how deeply this health and wealth gospel has been rooted inside of us. 00:28:49.920 |
And when I ask you the question from zero to 10, where your conviction is, how much 00:28:55.160 |
of our 2, 3, 4, 5 conviction is directly linked to this health and wealth gospel? 00:29:08.400 |
Again, in verse 32 to 34, he says, "He will be mocked, scourged, killed, and raised on 00:29:17.840 |
James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus saying, "Teacher, we want you to 00:29:24.040 |
Now, I think they're asking that question is because at some point, remember Jesus said, 00:29:28.200 |
"If you abide in me, my word's abiding in you. 00:29:30.520 |
Ask whatever you wish, it shall be done for you." 00:29:38.240 |
So it's like, oh, ask and you're going to do it? 00:29:41.440 |
So they probably remember that and were throwing it back to Jesus and say, "You said so, and 00:29:50.920 |
He said, they said to him, "Grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your 00:29:56.920 |
But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. 00:30:03.200 |
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism which I am 00:30:12.560 |
He's about to go to the cross and absorb the sins of mankind, past, present, and future. 00:30:19.000 |
He was going to be, the Son of God was going to be in so much agony that he's going to 00:30:23.600 |
cry out to his Father, "Eloi, Eloi, l'amak sabachthani?" 00:30:38.760 |
And their answer is, "Yeah, okay, we can drink that cup." 00:30:45.000 |
I mean, if there's any time that any of these disciples deserve to be crushed, it was right 00:30:53.000 |
Think about the blasphemy of what they were saying. 00:30:56.360 |
The Son of God took on human form, humbled himself as a child, spent 33 years in agony, 00:31:07.040 |
walking in the sinful earth, knowing that he would die for these people who are betraying 00:31:12.800 |
him, trying to kill him, question him, backstabbing him. 00:31:21.280 |
Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you shall drink." 00:31:25.920 |
He's not saying that they're going to take away mankind's sin. 00:31:32.240 |
And you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 00:31:36.160 |
But to sit on my right, on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those whom 00:31:44.640 |
Whoever wishes to come, become great among you, shall be your servant." 00:31:51.680 |
Jesus says, "I'm going to die, I'm going to resurrect." 00:31:53.480 |
He said, "Well, who's going to be the greatest? 00:32:05.680 |
They were so fixated on their own glory that they could not hear what Jesus was saying. 00:32:14.000 |
That even after Jesus died, and even after He resurrected, they said that could not be 00:32:28.900 |
Because the Bible says that at the end, many will come in my name and say that I have done 00:32:37.500 |
And Jesus says, "I have no relationship with you. 00:32:41.580 |
I never knew you because you were pursuing your own kingdom in my name." 00:32:49.980 |
And so when Jesus makes it very plain, if you want to come after me, deny yourself, 00:32:54.740 |
pick up your cross and follow me, you hear it, but it gets shelved underneath. 00:33:02.100 |
You know the words, you know plainly what the scripture says, we read it, we memorize 00:33:09.180 |
it, and then we go off the rest of our lives seeking our own kingdom, seeking our own glory. 00:33:23.700 |
And yet, when you look at the totality of our life, we're not pursuing Christ. 00:33:32.100 |
We're pursuing our own kingdom in the name of Christ. 00:33:43.540 |
Whether you are a zero, whether you are a six or a seven. 00:33:48.500 |
Simply because that's where it's the most convenient for us. 00:33:54.180 |
Because being a five allows me to hedge my bet that I can have all the things that the 00:34:04.020 |
world gives and enjoy, and also enjoy all the benefits of supposedly following Christ. 00:34:17.500 |
Hedging a bet is you're betting that a team is going to win, but you're also betting that 00:34:24.060 |
So you feel like you're part of the game, but you have really nothing invested. 00:34:30.100 |
It's just so that you can look like you're invested. 00:34:35.540 |
That was why they missed the death and resurrection of Christ. 00:34:40.100 |
Our churches are filled with people who are living their life hedging their bets. 00:34:51.060 |
If we're going to be the light in this generation, we need people who are convicted. 00:34:57.580 |
We need people who are genuinely believe this is it. 00:35:01.660 |
That Christ truly was resurrected from the dead. 00:35:05.580 |
Our own lust, our own desire to have the American dream has blinded us to think that the Christianity 00:35:14.420 |
that we experience in our generation is normal. 00:35:18.140 |
When we know clearly, when you read the scripture, that it is very plain. 00:35:23.900 |
That what Jesus calls us to is to pick up our own cross and follow Him as well. 00:35:35.220 |
Because we have somehow mixed our own glory with His glory. 00:35:42.460 |
Samson and Delilah is a perfect example of that. 00:35:51.980 |
"If you really loved me, you would teach me how to kill you." 00:35:56.980 |
And Samson tells her anyway, because he was so entrenched in his own lust. 00:36:05.220 |
In Romans 1.18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, 00:36:10.060 |
men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." 00:36:20.860 |
The disciples before Jesus died and resurrected, that was their mindset. 00:36:25.780 |
If you remember, Jesus in the gospel of Luke, you know that encounter where Jesus tells 00:36:33.740 |
them that you must become the least to be the greatest? 00:36:46.520 |
So in Luke's gospel, this encounter happens after Jesus gets on His knees, washes their 00:36:51.900 |
feet, and He tells them, "He who is the least among you will be the greatest." 00:36:55.860 |
He tells them that, and He tells them after the Passover that someone is going to betray 00:37:01.980 |
After He tells them that, in verse 24, a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded 00:37:17.980 |
All His disciples, He's about to go to Gethsemane, He's about to be crucified, and that night, 00:37:24.660 |
that night, they were arguing with each other, "Who's the greatest?" 00:37:30.220 |
Verse 26, "But it is not this way with you, but with one who is the greatest among you 00:37:34.260 |
must become like the youngest and the leader like the servant. 00:37:38.580 |
For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? 00:37:42.300 |
Is it not the one who reclines at the table, but I am among you as the one who serves?" 00:37:46.060 |
And He's trying to tell them, "You must break out of this paradigm. 00:37:53.060 |
You must break out of this paradigm, because if you do not break out of this paradigm, 00:37:58.700 |
See, this Christianity that has become normal in our culture is we're constantly hedging 00:38:11.640 |
We have some of us in the world, and some of it committed to Christ, and we wonder why 00:38:22.960 |
As I'm reading this, I'm like, "Man, He must have been so frustrated." 00:38:27.100 |
I mean, He's agonizing on His knees at Gethsemane, crying out to His Father. 00:38:41.400 |
He sees the suffering and the separation with His Father coming the very next morning. 00:38:50.980 |
And as He is crying out to the Father, all His disciples could think of is who's the 00:39:22.940 |
Although He was tempted, is there another way? 00:39:34.340 |
And He willed Himself to the cross, and He received the punishment that you and I deserve. 00:39:56.420 |
And that's why in the very next verse, verse 31, Jesus says to Simon, "Simon, Simon, behold, 00:40:06.300 |
Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. 00:40:12.480 |
But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and you, once you have turned 00:40:24.340 |
Peter's response in verse 32, "But He said to him, 'Lord, with you, I am ready to go 00:40:32.460 |
In other passages, Peter goes further than that, and he says, "They may all fail you, 00:40:48.700 |
But Jesus says to him, "The rooster will not crow today until you have denied me three 00:40:57.700 |
You know, when I first read this, I was so confused because Jesus just said, "I prayed 00:41:03.620 |
And then when Peter said, "I will not fail you," He said, "No, you're going to fail me 00:41:10.620 |
Jesus already knew He was going to deny him three times, but that's not what He meant. 00:41:17.140 |
Because Jesus already was preparing for His return. 00:41:22.740 |
But after you failed me, get back up and feed my sheep. 00:41:29.620 |
That's why we see Him after the resurrection, Jesus saying, "Do you really love me more 00:41:36.820 |
As He denied Jesus three times, He restores him three times. 00:41:42.340 |
You see, until their pride and their glory is washed out of them, the death and resurrection 00:41:54.340 |
And the fastest way to be humbled is humiliation. 00:41:57.340 |
You know, we can work for years trying to be humble, but when God wants us to be humble, 00:42:05.620 |
Peter can't stand in front of the crowd and say, "Look what I did. 00:42:12.300 |
All of that went out the door when he denied Jesus to his face. 00:42:17.740 |
So when God calls him to preach the gospel, he can't keep preaching the gospel as a humbled 00:42:26.980 |
And so all the disciples who are constantly concerned about their own glory, God allowed 00:42:32.620 |
to be humiliated so that they can be used for His glory. 00:42:38.860 |
Brothers and sisters, this morning, this message that Mark is trying to make so clear to all 00:42:47.540 |
of us, that this subtle desire for our own glory blinds us to things that are so plainly 00:43:03.940 |
He who loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:43:09.460 |
Sanctification isn't simply knowing more Bible, being more disciplined, sharing the gospel 00:43:14.540 |
with more people, doing hard things for Jesus. 00:43:19.900 |
But ultimately, sanctification is dying to ourselves. 00:43:25.420 |
Dying to ourselves, our ambition, our desires, knowing that this world and its passion, that 00:43:32.300 |
all is passing away, that Jesus is preparing us for the kingdom that is coming. 00:43:42.180 |
And that's why the death and resurrection happened for us. 00:43:45.780 |
So I pray this morning as we celebrate and remember his death and resurrection that we 00:43:56.500 |
Is this simply because five is a much more convenient place to be? 00:44:03.380 |
Have we carefully examined, do I believe this? 00:44:07.200 |
And if Jesus was resurrected from the dead, if Jesus said who he was is actually true, 00:44:12.660 |
if what he said about eternity is true, if heaven and hell actually exist exactly as 00:44:17.940 |
he said and the resurrection of Christ proves it, how does that change our life today? 00:44:26.540 |
I pray with all my heart that every single one of us would at minimum seek, ask and knock 00:44:40.420 |
Again, as we asked our worship team to come, if you're here as a guest and somebody invited 00:44:49.140 |
you to come, I want to read a passage for you. 00:44:57.020 |
He says in Romans 10, 9 through 13, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus as 00:45:00.420 |
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 00:45:07.420 |
For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, 00:45:15.740 |
For the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. 00:45:20.340 |
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding 00:45:27.260 |
For whoever, whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:45:34.980 |
I pray that you would believe that and be saved.