We Must Not Be Blind

The Road to Jerusalem and the Son of Man’s Death and Resurrection

Mark 10 32 through 45. And they were on the road going up to Jerusalem and Jesus was walking ahead of them and they were amazed and Those who followed were afraid. And taking the 12 again he began to tell them what was going to drew up to Jerusalem.

And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribe and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him.

And after three days he will rise. And James and John the sons of Zebedee came up to him and said to him teacher We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them What do you want me to do for you?

And they said to him grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left hand in your glory. Jesus said to them you do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.

And They said to him we are able and Jesus said to them the cup that I drink you will drink and with the baptism with Which I am baptized you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant.

But it is for those for whom it has been prepared. And when the ten heard it They began to be indignant at James and John and Jesus called to called them to him and said to them You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them.

But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many bow your heads.

Prayer for Open Hearts, the Church, and the Elders

God, thank you so much for the state of worship you to read your word to learn about it. Got a pray over this congregation. I pray that they would have open hearts and open minds. God to just Desire to to know more about you so that we can glorify you in so many more ways as we walk on this earth.

God we are so thankful for your son God. We're thankful that you sent him to this world. God we're thankful for this book that So much of his teachings are in God and that our hearts would just be drawn to you and not to this world.

We pray that we pray over Josh. Pray over his time up here God that he would just teach us. Well God that you would continue to use him and God just so many other men right now. It's so exciting to see that you've offered him rest from the pulpit.

With David and Joel and Cory and God we are just so excited about those men becoming elders in this church continue to pray over them and their families and that you would continue to just Guard them from spiritual and physical attacks so that they can just do this job.

Well, we pray all these things in your son's awesome name. Amen. I want to I do want to put it on the record and and thank.

My my friend one of my best friends Josh shader and and Drew Cox and and Joel for giving me some reprieve the Joel one is Joel sermon is trying to push the mission of the church here as we as we grow men as Elder candidates for the other two good friends on they they did a great job.

And I'm glad that you got to hear that and they they also serve the greater Project of partnership between churches, which is something that is that we've been intense about from the beginning. So when we look at this passage I will I will tell you that when when Bart and I looked back last year and where we were gonna go after first Samuel.

And Mark came up. This is the text. That was the reason I wanted to do the book of Mark. I think that encapsulates so many of the main ideas and I think that they will leap off the page because of the work that's been done already in this Book and and Joel continued that last week as we're seeing the themes emerge and it is a counter intuitive theme.

It's the theme that the men that are going to start the church the men who are going to be the Apostles. The pillars of faith the ones that delivered the teachings that we follow today. We're totally and utterly blind when they were following Christ.

And so many of us face spiritual blindness today. And so the title of the sermon is we must not be blind. We must not and then and I will tell you to to begin with the end. We don't have to be blind because if we pray to God that he would remove our spiritual blindness.

That is something that he will do that is a prayer according to God's will he wants us to walk in the light. He wants us to walk in his statutes and he will Illuminate that path for us because his word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.

And so as we as we dig in and look I want to point your attention to several counterintuitive things going on in this text. But before we do that, I want to bring us here in context. So what we've seen in the last few weeks is number one.

That the kingdom of God will belong to those who are kind to those who have no status. Jesus taught his disciples that you must be kind to those who can offer you nothing. Those are children. Children offer adults nothing especially in the Jewish world where it was about pomp and circumstance.

It was about material blessing. It was about learning the Torah. It was about showing your righteousness on your sleeve. Children offered nothing. In that culture and Jesus said to inherit the kingdom of God.

We have to be kind to those like children. Number two. We understand that the kingdom belongs to those who have faith like a child. Faith like a child is a simple faith. It's a dependent faith. It is believing what God said simply because he said it and that has defined what we would say quote Fundamentalist Christianity for a long time and I will accept that label of fundamentalist gladly.

That I believe what God said because he said it and Because he is worthy to say it and because he gave us his word and I believe it on its face. And I believe it with no qualifications. That's the kind of faith that goes like a child.

Number three. The kingdom requires counting the cost and relying completely on the Son of Man now I choose that title specifically because it's going to come into play today. We have to believe Completely in the person and work of the Son of Man.

The Son of Man and The kingdom requires counting the cost. We saw that last week that the rich young ruler was not willing To count the cost he would give a lot. But he wouldn't give everything and everything was exactly what was required because we don't come into the kingdom of God.

Holding on to what makes us feel safe. We latch entirely onto the author and the finisher of our faith. Number four repetition is not enough and you're gonna see more repetition today over and over again.

The lesson is taught and over and over again. It's missed by the disciples understand this. You can sit under preaching. You can teach your kids every day all day and salvation belongs to the Lord. You will not you cannot repeat enough.

Your way into the kingdom of God because the kingdom of God is not knowing Theological propositions. The kingdom of God is spiritual and it is spiritually discerned. So it's a spiritual battle that we're in it's not a battle of memorized propositions and intellect.

You can memorize the whole Bible and profit nothing if you lose your soul. Number five even the most faithful followers can be blind and With blindness comes pride and that will be the gut punch at the end of the sermon today.

Victory Through Death and the Opening of the Covenant to the Gentiles

But first I want to look at verse 32. It's interesting. We want to look at a new King and there's a counterintuitive King going on as we look at verse 32 that Cooper read. There is amazement that the King the Son of Man is going ahead.

Jesus has turned his face towards Jerusalem and this is critical. He is marching to victory and it's victory through death. Right victory through death and as Jesus marches the people are following behind him and they're amazed.

What are they amazed at? They're amazed at counterintuitive thing number one he has just told them that it is almost impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God and They're marveling over that and they're stewing on it and they're thinking what in the world can this possibly mean and Jesus didn't preach as one Of the Pharisees in the temple Jesus preached as one with authority.

We saw that in Mark 1. So there's amazement on what authority and what conviction? Jesus preaches these things and he teaches these things and it blows their mind. They don't understand. They don't have a context for it.

And so they're amazed at the counterintuitive nature of Jesus's teaching and Then we see a thing that is the mystery. It's it's right on the verge in this text. If you see it There's a mystery and that mystery is the gospel and it's the new covenant and that mystery is that the doors are gonna open to The Gentiles and we're starting to see it really unpack.

I want to read this section. This is the third repetition of Jesus's prophecy about his death and resurrection. We get one in Mark 8 31 and Mark 9 31 and Then we have one in Mark 10 and each one gives a little bit more detail.

But the detail that this one gives is I think important to understanding what Jesus is doing in this teaching. Let me read it. And again, he took the 12 aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and will deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit on him and Flog him and kill him and three days later.

He will rise again. So as this event draws near Jesus is talking about a thing that would have blown their minds. We miss it because we know the story, right? We've known this story many of us since our childhood and many in the world know this story and we'll so we'll see Spiritual blindness number one being a Christian.

It's not about knowing that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. It's not about knowing that it's about what does that do in faith because many worldly people will claim Yeah, Jesus was the Savior and then they don't they don't follow him with their life.

They've not counted the cost. They've given up nothing and so they know a proposition that while true does not bring salvation. The disciples hear this and they're blind to it. They don't understand what he's saying and we would look and go how can they not understand what he's saying?

He just told them he's going to be killed who he's going to be killed by what that's gonna be look like and then he's gonna raise again on the third day and They go. Well, I don't what does that mean?

Can we be at your right and left hand in Jerusalem? I mean, that's that's where we're at right and we've seen it over and over again. The disciples don't understand what he's talking about and this is hard for you if you're a Christian.

But I want to tell you something very clearly if you're a Christian and you follow Christ today. It's because Jesus Regenerated your heart. You were not convinced into the kingdom of God. It's not because you randomly believed one day that he died on the cross for your sins.

It's because the Holy Spirit convinced you and convicted you of that reality and he turns you not into a smarter human but into a new creature a new creation and. So the disciples can hear this and they don't understand because the truth is spiritually discerned.

It's counterintuitive and then we see with extra detail that he says something's going to happen in some manner of speaking. Jesus would say that the leaders of the old world are going to hand me over to the oppressor that we all hate and they're gonna make a deal with him and Then he's gonna kill me and what that's gonna do is let all of this guy in and shut these guys out.

Do you understand? This is the movement of the Covenant is that the chief priests and scribes are the holiest people of the day. They're understood to be the religious elite. Everyone is trying to follow what they say for temple access and to be right with God.

They hold in a manner of speaking the oracles. Okay, and so what happens is Jesus is saying this old guard is going to hand me over to the Roman oppressors. Who we all hate and who they hate also. But they're gonna make a deal With the Roman oppressors and they're gonna hand me over because they hate me more.

They hate me more than Rome and they're gonna hand me over and counterintuitively. What's going to happen? Is that when Rome? Embarrasses me by flogging by spitting by mocking me. What's going to happen?

Is it's gonna open the door to the Gentiles and they're gonna come in how crazy is that and. Could the disciples have seen that? No way many of us today don't see that. Right, and we've lived it for 2 ,000 years and we have church fathers who have told us but we're too lazy to read.

Okay, and the reality of the situation is it's counterintuitive because one covenant is ending and a new one is beginning and this new one is More marvelous than any that came before it. It is the full culmination of God's plan from the very beginning.

More on that on Wednesday. The Gentiles are going to be the executioners. But through this execution it opens the door to the Gentiles and we've seen traces of that through mark. I know David preached on the on the woman who was a Gentile was praying right and and Jesus is saying Well, you're a dog right.

But she still has faith and she comes in and that's that's the the movement that this is going to happen that the door is Going to open. We also get extra details in this passage because of the key part of this whole deal the key part of this whole deal is what does it look like to be great in God's kingdom and The spoiler is to be great in God's kingdom you are going to have to taste the cup and the baptism that Jesus is going to drink and that Jesus is going to be immersed in and This gives us a taste and understand when James and John say yeah, we'll do that.

Do you see what they're agreeing to? What they're agreeing is that they would be handed over to the oppressor that they would be mocked.

Flogged.

Spit-on and that they would die at the hands of an executioner and they say oh, yeah, we can do that and We will throw stones, but I think we should not so let's move on number one. We have a new king and the new king is going to go to victory through his death.

Ambition, Blindness, and the Sons of Thunder

But he's going to raise again and life comes out of death and that is the hope of all humanity. That we can live because he died. Section 2 we're gonna look at verses 35 through 37. I've entitled this one.

You still don't get it. You still don't get it. Then James and John the two sons of Zebedee the sons of thunder Came up to Jesus saying to him teacher We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you and he said to them What do you want me to do for you?

And they said to him grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in glory. This follows the great reveal of Jesus's work on the cross and their response is similar. If you look back and you see the other two times that Jesus has prophesied his death.

We've seen two reactions we saw one Peter rebuking Jesus and Jesus saying get behind me Satan and Rebuking him in the harshest possible terms and then we get the next time the disciples quietly discuss.

Who's the greatest? So something about Jesus prophesying his death and resurrection leads to his people jockeying for position. Are we so different today? Are we so different? Let me ask a question and let's be real.

Do we ask these questions who is the greatest in the church today? Who is the greatest living preacher? Who's your favorite of all the Reformers? Who's the best one ever? How can I become greater in my platform?

How can I become an officer of the church so that more would respect me? How can we grow this congregation bigger? Presumably so the ministry would go forth, but let's be real so more people can listen to.

This.

Characterizes the people of God in our pride and in our blindness from the very beginning is that the revelation of the Gospel when not properly understood and with spiritual blindness leads to jockeying for position among God's people.

So have we ever changed or are we still glory hogs today? Adam was. Do you remember why Adam took the fruit? It was because of the promise of being like God. There was one thing God had in Adams estimation that Adam didn't have and that was knowledge.

Right knowledge. And. So he took and he sinned against God because he wanted what God had and what belonged to God. And so it is today that we will take glory in the cross and we will boast in the cross While subversively boasting in ourselves.

And it should not be so it should not be so. And so this text is going to tell us that we should not be blind because. Greatness in the kingdom of God is humility in the face of Jesus. That's the counterintuitive nature to be great in the kingdom of God is to be utterly humble.

By understanding who Jesus is and what he has done and what his plans are for you.

If.

Jesus served. Understand the context of James and John and these disciples. They're walking with Jesus. They're seeing all of his miracles. He is declaring over and over again. He's calling himself the Son of Man.

All the Jews knew what that meant, right? They knew that it went back to the prophecy in Daniel that the Son of Man would rule all the nations. Right, this would be him that he would be the Empire toppler and that he would be the greatest mountain that covered the whole horizon.

He would be the tree that all the birds would nest under that's him and we've seen it in the parables. Have we not and so what happens is these disciples who are in the presence of God every day are? Jockeying for position and what we should do is we should look at that and rightly say that's weak.

That's really weak. How can you gain position next to this man who is walking with you who is God? Understand your place in this world as a disciple. You're walking with the man who is God. You will never be greater than a grasshopper in his presence and we should understand that do you know why we're here?

We're here because God himself Adopted us. Called us his sons and daughters and brought us into his kingdom and it's not based on our merits whatsoever. What did we offer God? What did he need that we have and if he did need something that we have then he's not God at all.

Because God has everything. God needs nothing. God lacks nothing. He has all the plans all the purpose and all the power to carrying them out to the uttermost to the completion. He is perfect in every way.

He is perfect in all his works and he lacks nothing. And so when his followers begin to puff ourselves up as if God needs our talents to further his mission. Then we just look stupid. It's really that simple and there are many.

And a pulpit there's been. I Will confess in my life that I have at times in my pride and my foolishness have thought that God needed me to progress his work. What a blasphemous thought what a foolish thought what a blind way to be and so we should look at James and John in a cautionary way.

See what they still don't understand is what they're asking is they're starting to mix the worlds and they're starting to say when you come Into your glory, but they still don't understand because what they think is going to happen is they think yeah Jesus might die in Jerusalem, but he's going to set up his throne there.

He's going to throw off the Roman oppressors and he's gonna set up his kingdom. And I want to be number one and number two so that we can dispense justice to all of our people and be great. That's what they want they think it's still an earthly throne that he's going to sit on because they don't understand the glory of his promises and Really mark does them a favor in this text.

I don't know if you've read the cross references.

Okay.

This story comes up in Matthew 20 also. And mark is nice to the boys. Because do you know what they really did. It would have been one thing if they had come and asked Jesus. But they didn't they sent their mommy.

All right. So these sons of thunder big bad boys who's gonna be greatest in the kingdom of God sent their mother. To ask Jesus on their behalf if they could be his main homeboys. Right number one and number two.

Dispensing all the wisdom from the great throne. Wisdom that comes from their absolute folly. At the same time the Pharisees who are trying to kill Jesus the chief priests and scribes who are going to deliver Jesus over have the same conception about what Jesus is doing that the disciples do.

The disciples think that he's trying to set up an earthly throne and overthrow the priests and the Pharisees. The priests and the Pharisees think that Jesus is trying to cause a political uprising. To throw them off of their power so that he can take their position.

That's why they want to kill him. It's all jockeying for position. This whole thing is. People who claim to love God jockeying for position and totally missing the first commandment. As you have no other gods before me.

That's what the rich young ruler missed. Is it not? He was in the presence of God and he didn't know it because he was blind. He knew he was talking to a great teacher. He knew he was talking to a miracle worker.

But what he didn't comprehend was that he was talking to God and the lesson comes back. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world if he loses his soul and the rich young ruler would have said to You it profits him nothing.

What good is it if you gain the world and you lose your soul? Your soul is the only thing of eternal value. But the problem is even though he would ascribe to that and every one of us would too if you miss who God is.

You've missed the whole thing. It's worthless and. So the Pharisees and the disciples at this point are in the same place and we should remember James and John are great. Are they not how many of you guys have been blessed by the writings of John?

Man, I.

Love the Apostle John. I hope someday that while I'm a worm in heaven that maybe I can shake his hand someday I would wait in line to do it. Okay, James Was the elder and the pastor of the Church of Jerusalem who sorted out?

Some of the earliest controversies with his wisdom in the church and these men fought with each other, but they listened to each other. They were great but they weren't great here and it recalls that the reason they became great is because they trusted in Jesus and he gave them Greatness and they would drink of this cup.

The Cup of Wrath and the Baptism of Judgment

So let's get to the main thing Jesus has been telling us over and over again that there is a cost to discipleship. You better count the cost. We don't just jump into this thing and it's all fun and games.

It's not it's not gonna be fun and games. There's going to be a cost and I'm gonna read this and I'm gonna try to get through it. And I think you guys know what it means. This is a central passage for me.

It's one that I go back to often in Scripture verse 38 Jesus said to them You do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?

And they said to him we are able and Jesus said to them the cup that I drink you shall drink and You shall be baptized with the baptism, which I am baptized. But to sit on my right or my left. This is not mine to give but is for those to whom it has been prepared.

Did you know I I know I've been here and a lot of a lot of the sermon is pointing straight at me. We often boast of our faith and our conviction even if it's internally only I would never deny Christ I'm with him to the death.

I would always be your man Jesus and Internally, we say these things and sometimes when we're incredibly foolish We say him out loud and it's like it's just like the brothers here of course, I would drink the cup that you would drink Jesus and Then Jesus does not harshly rebuke them.

Does he know he says you will Drink the cup and you will be baptized. So what is the cup? I think we know right? But I think there's a covenantal thing going on here and I hope to bring that out. Not with theological nerd stuff, but to hopefully show you what has to happen.

We know that the cup is the cup of God's wrath against sin that it's in full measure. It's frothy. It's potent a Cup of it would get you drunk. It is as potent as you can possibly get because God's wrath had been stored up for all time in his long Suffering according to Romans 3 that he had let the sins of the forefathers Pass that he had held on to his anger in his judicious patience over them knowing that there would be a perfect sacrifice that would work backwards and forwards to save all of the elect and this cup was potent indeed because it held all of the sins of the elect all Of the offenses against God that he had held on to that He had let go not because of injustice but because of his patience and justice was demanding that this cup be drunk and that it be drunk to the dregs all the way down and it's gonna be a Vicious cup to drink and Jesus knew the cup that he was drinking when he prayed at Gethsemane and he said father Would you take this cup away from me?

But in Mark, he knew that he was gonna drink the cup. Psalm 75 8 for a cup is in the hand of Yahweh and the wine foams. It is full of his mixture and he pours from this. Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.

Isaiah 51 17 awaken yourself. Awaken yourself arise. Oh Jerusalem. You who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath the chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs. Do you understand that everyone's drinking the cup?

Everyone the wicked will drink the full measure of the wrath of God. And when Jesus came and he drank this cup and he died and he satiated and he propitiated the wrath of God. That means he absorbed all of God's wrath against sin on himself and he made away when Jesus did that He took the cup of the wrath of God away from his people.

We don't have it anymore. It's gonna be drunk through our federal head Jesus Christ who drank the cup on our behalf or if we're outside of Christ. We will drink that cup ourselves and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

He is a consuming fire and he will by no means. By no means let go the iniquity of those who are against him. So Jesus says they're going to drink the cup and Jesus would drink the cup at full strength.

Can you imagine Christian? Can you imagine all of the sins all the sins of your teenage years? All of the sins of your 20s if you've gone past that all of the sins of your life. Mixed up in a cup with all the other sins of the elect that God would love and Jesus drink it all the way.

He gulped it all the way down for us and so how do we drink this cup. Because he says James and John will. And I want you to understand this that the cup that Jesus drank would then become the only way to endure the wrath of God.

See we take and we drink the cup in remembrance. We embrace the wrath that comes against us from the evil one. While communing in the cup of Christ We trust in the cup that Christ drank and when we come to this table.

This is why it should never be in an unworthy manner. Because what we do is that we trust in the suffering of Christ in the cup of wrath that he drank and when we come Up, and we drink this cup and when we drink the wine and we taste its bitterness and its gall.

And it kind of burns going down your throat. We remember the horrible foaming wine that Jesus drank on Calvary.

And.

What we do is we depend and we put all of our faith. Independence that that's the cup that we're drinking and we're identifying in his suffering and we're remembering it and that's the only hope we have.

You see we don't want to drink the cup of God's wrath. We can't stand it. It's death. It's eternal death. But Jesus gives us a different cup because there's no way there's no way to come to the Father.

But through Christ and what Christ did with this cup was he set a table for his people and it is temporal here just like the Passover was but it's also eternal that we will drink it with him in glory forever and The cup is emptied of its wrath and glory because sin will be no more.

It's covenantal language that Jesus is conveying to James and John and I assure you they didn't know what he was talking about then. But they would soon they would soon and then Jesus would be baptized wouldn't he he was baptized by John the Baptist.

But I think this is a different kind of baptism that he's talking about. He's going to be baptized just like just like Moses and the Israelites were in the Red Sea in the flood. So James and John would escape into the land of milk and honey by the baptism of Jesus Christ.

That Jesus would be immersed in the judgment of God. Just like the Egyptians were immersed in God's judgment in the Red Sea where they drowned and perished because every Jew knew that the sea Was death that the sea was mystery.

The sea was God's wrath and it was anger. That's why in Revelation the beasts come out of the sea, right? Because the sea is a mysterious thing. We were there a couple of weeks ago and I can tell you We didn't really want to venture too far out there.

Okay, it's a swirling dangerous thing. And nothing makes you feel more small than being in the ocean. All right. You are a tiny speck on this terrestrial ball as the song says and so Jesus is telling them you will be baptized.

With the baptism that I'm being baptized I but unlike Moses who walked clear through the Red Sea Jesus was going to walk through the parted sea of God's judgment and the waves were going to collapse and crush him in and kill Him and he would die for all of the people that would come in behind him.

You see Joshua stood in the Jordan and it parted as the people went into the promised land. Just as the Red Sea had parted when Moses led the people across and the enemies of God died behind. But Jesus was a different kind of prophet than Moses and Joshua because he was a greater man.

He was a greater King a greater prophet and a greater priest and what he was going to do is he's greater because get the whole Point of this text you see it right? You've seen it at the end. Jesus is a greater King.

Because he would die for his people and he did die for his people. He didn't say he would die for his people. He did die for his people and he was baptized With the immersion of God's wrath against sin, but also the baptism of deliverance.

And so we remember with baptism that our old man is buried under the water. Just like the Egyptians were flushed under the evil of the Egypt was flushed under the water that it was buried under the sea that It was annihilated.

It was killed and what rises up out of it is a new creation a new man. That's the baptism that Jesus would give. See this cup and baptism had to be taken on by the Son of Man. No other man could do it.

See James and John are foolish when they think that they would take the cup because they couldn't take the cup. They're not God. They're not the Son of Man. Only he could make this sacrifice. Only he could institute these sacraments.

Only he could be the better Adam because he wasn't conceived in iniquity. Only him and Adam were naturally good but Jesus didn't fall like Adam because over and over again Jesus mimicked the words of his father and Subjected himself to the father and trying to instead of trying to take what was not his even though he lawfully owned all of it.

It was the suffering of Christ that made a way and so this cup had to be taken on by Jesus so that others could drink of the same cup and be whelmed by the same flood of baptism that gives us the strength to fight and The peace of hopes that are certain we have certain hopes in the Christian faith not a wing in a prayer certain hope the evidence of things unseen the conviction of God's promise.

And Their request itself is foolish, isn't it to sit at the right and left hand of God because they couldn't do that. See this kingdom is one that Jesus is going to deliver back to his father first Corinthians 15 28.