Dazed and Confused

[0:00] Welcome to Built on God's Word, the preaching and teaching ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.! Elder Lee Roberts teaches on Mark 10, verses 32-34.

[0:14] We have a short passage of Scripture to cover tonight. That's Mark 10, verses 32-34. These three verses tell us what happened as Jesus continued His march toward Jerusalem and toward His crucifixion.

[0:30] Here are Mark 10, verses 32-34. 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.

[0:44] And taking the twelve again, He began to tell them what was to happen to Him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him over to the Gentiles.

[1:00] And they will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him, and after three days He will rise. Here's the main idea for this passage.

[1:12] As prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus demonstrates His willingness to die for the sins of all who trust in Him for salvation. Once again, as prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus demonstrates His willingness to die for the sins of all who trust in Him for salvation.

[1:29] Because Jesus died for us, He deserves our complete obedience. If these verses sound familiar, that means you've been paying better attention than the disciples.

[1:42] The verses may sound familiar because this is the third time that Jesus has told the disciples about His upcoming death and resurrection. Only a short time has elapsed since those first two predictions.

[1:54] Jesus' first prediction about His death and resurrection came in Mark 8, verse 31. For context, let's read a few more verses along with that one. Here are Mark 8, verses 27 through 33.

[2:08] And Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way He asked His disciples, Who do people say that I am?

[2:19] And they told Him, John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and others one of the prophets. And He asked them, But who do you say that I am?

[2:30] Peter answered Him, You are the Christ. And He strictly charged them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

[2:48] And He said this plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

[3:04] Jesus' second prediction of His death and resurrection came in Mark 9, verse 31. Listen to Mark 9, verses 30 through 32.

[3:17] They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him.

[3:32] And when He is killed, after three days He will rise. But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him. Each time that Jesus told His disciples about what would happen in Jerusalem, He added more details.

[3:50] And that pattern continued with His third prediction that we will study tonight. The elements new to this third prediction are the handing over to the Gentiles, and the mocking, spitting, and flogging, and perhaps also the explicit reference to the sentence of death.

[4:06] Despite the clarity with which Jesus taught, we will see that the disciples remain dazed and confused about why Jesus was leading them into Jerusalem. We'll split tonight's passage into just two sections, starting with the opening sentences of Mark 10, verse 32.

[4:25] And in the first part of that verse, we see the strange procession. The strange procession is what we'll look at first. Listen again to just the first two sentences of verse 32.

[4:40] 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. The disciples and Jesus have been on this journey for a while now.

[4:57] Mark told us about the start of the journey all the way back in chapter 8. However, this is the first recorded time that Jesus mentioned the destination. The beginning of the verse says that they were going up to Jerusalem.

[5:11] Jerusalem is on a hill. Regardless of the direction from which people approach the city, the people must go up to Jerusalem. But going up to Jerusalem also applies from a figurative sense.

[5:24] Jerusalem was the seat of the Jewish religion. It was the home to the religious elite. Those religious elite have made it clear throughout nearly all of Mark that they want Jesus dead.

[5:36] Any doubts we may have had about the religious leaders' hatred for Jesus was removed in Mark chapter 3. The opening verses of Mark chapter 3 told us how, in the synagogue on the Sabbath, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand.

[5:51] Mark chapter 3, verse 6, told us how the religious elite reacted to that healing. Listen to Mark chapter 3, verse 6. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, that's Jesus, how to destroy him.

[6:09] Back to tonight's text, the procession was strange because of the actions of the people involved, including Jesus. We've read the entire passage, so we know that Jesus understood what he was walking into.

[6:22] And we know from other passages in the Bible that the events turned out exactly how Jesus said that they would. Yet notice how Jesus is described in Mark chapter 10, verse 32.

[6:34] Verse 32 says in part, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. Rabbis usually walked ahead of their disciples, but Mark had something more than that in mind by his statement about Jesus leading the way.

[6:47] Mark pictured Jesus as resolutely pressing toward his goal, as deliberately going to his death. This steadfast determination on the part of Jesus produced the astonishment and fear.

[7:01] From a human perspective, Jesus' behavior was strange because people normally would be trying to avoid their death rather than walking toward it. Jesus' disciples would have known what we have as Isaiah chapter 50.

[7:15] Jesus' determination here is a fulfillment of that Old Testament prophecy. Listen to Isaiah chapter 50, verses 6 and 7.

[7:27] It says, I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting, but the Lord God helps me.

[7:40] Therefore, I have not been disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint. The events in Jerusalem would fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 50, verse 6.

[7:53] However, Jesus' determination to go to Jerusalem already was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 50, verse 7. Jesus had set his face like flint on his mission.

[8:06] Seeing Jesus' determination and being familiar with the scripture, you might think that the other people in the procession would begin to realize what was happening. But their reaction is another strange thing about the procession.

[8:20] Check out how the other people in the procession reacted to Jesus' determination. The second sentence of Mark chapter 10, verse 32 says, Some of that amazement has to come from the fact that we've already discussed.

[8:40] Typical people do everything possible to avoid their death. Additional amazement and fear come from the fact that people knew how much the religious leaders hated Jesus.

[8:51] To remind ourselves of how pessimistic the disciples probably were, remember how the disciples had reacted when Jesus told them that he was going to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead.

[9:03] These verses are John chapter 11, verses 7 and 8. John chapter 11, verses 7 and 8 say, Then after this, he said to his disciples, Let us go to Judea again.

[9:18] The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again? Here's Thomas' response just a few verses later.

[9:31] This verse is John chapter 11, verse 16. It says, So Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

[9:46] From the disciples' viewpoint, Jesus is taking the risk of going to Jerusalem again. Those disciples likely were thinking, Jesus has managed to dodge significant trouble so far, but eventually those people who hate Jesus will catch up to him.

[10:01] Then we likely will die too. So are you starting to see why this would have been such a strange procession? This procession and the actions of the people in it were unlike anything that most had seen.

[10:15] With resolute conviction, Jesus walked ahead of everyone, pulling his anxious, confused, and hopeless followers along with him by the sheer force of his presence.

[10:26] The twelve were amazed, fearful, and even fatalistic. But even the rest of those who followed were fearful. They were confused as to why the one they fervently hoped was the Messiah was walking into the deadly danger that faced him in Jerusalem.

[10:42] Let's move to the second section of the passage now. Because Jesus knows that the disciples are failing to understand what was happening, the twelve get pulled out of the strange procession for some extra teaching.

[10:58] The twelve hear the stunning prediction. The stunning prediction is the second thing that we'll look at. Despite already being told at least twice before the same things, the prediction would have been stunning for multiple reasons.

[11:16] Two such reasons would have been the amount of suffering that Jesus predicted and the amount of detail that Jesus included. Let's read the remainder of Mark chapter 10, verse 32 through verse 34.

[11:31] In taking the twelve again, Jesus began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.

[11:48] And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him. And after three days, he will rise. The remainder of verse 32 is where we see that the disciples got pulled aside.

[12:03] Verses 33 and 34 tell us about how Jesus gave the disciples additional details. How could Jesus have known all of those details before the events happened?

[12:17] Jesus knew those details for at least two reasons. One, he was and is God. He knew the plan. He was involved in putting the plan together.

[12:28] Two, Jesus was a student of Scripture. And everything that happened to Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament more than 700 years earlier.

[12:40] Mark very briefly tells us about what Jesus told the disciples. Luke's account of this same event gives us more details about how Jesus explained what would happen to him.

[12:51] Listen to Luke chapter 18, verses 31 through 33. Luke chapter 18, verses 31 through 33 say, And taking the twelve, he said to them, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

[13:13] For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day, he will rise.

[13:27] Did you catch what Luke's account adds about this episode? In addition to what we've already read in Mark, Jesus told the disciples, Everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

[13:42] Jesus is telling the disciples to look at the scriptures, and we're going to look at a lot of those scriptures here tonight. We've already read Isaiah chapter 50, verses 6 and 7, but hear those verses again.

[13:58] And this time we'll read Isaiah chapter 50, verse 6, all the way through verse 10. Isaiah tells us that the servant will say, I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.

[14:15] I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting, but the Lord God helps me. Therefore, I have not been disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

[14:30] He who vindicates me is near who will contend with me. Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

[14:43] Behold, the Lord God helps me. Who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment. The moth will eat them up. But who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant?

[14:58] Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. The twelve were familiar with the Old Testament because it was read and taught in the synagogues all their lives.

[15:15] But under the influence of the wrong teaching by the Pharisees and scribes, they lacked a true understanding of the revelation there. Jesus' death was promised in the Old Testament not in vague general terms, but very specifically.

[15:32] Looking back, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament emphasized much of what the twelve originally missed. Let's look at a few Hebrews cross-references to connect the dots and then we'll go back to the Old Testament.

[15:48] The sacrificial system which was initiated in Genesis and mandated in Leviticus by God pointed to one final sacrifice as the writer of Hebrews makes clear.

[16:00] Listen to Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 through 14. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 through 14 say, For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near.

[16:25] Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshippers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

[16:45] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

[16:59] Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said, Above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings.

[17:17] These are offered according to the law. Then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

[17:29] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

[17:45] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies could be made a footstool for his feet.

[17:59] For by a single offering, he is perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. The disciples had missed the point of the Old Testament sacrificial system.

[18:13] The first point was simply that even as a shadow, the sacrificial system had a purpose. And that purpose was to reflect the reality of which it was the shadow.

[18:24] It pointed to the salvation that was to come. It was to make God's people expectant of what the future held for them. 1 Peter 1, verses 10 and 11 say, Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

[19:00] The second point of the shadow of sacrifices was to remind God's people that the penalty of sin is death. The blood that sometimes flowed from the altar came from animals who were killed as sacrifices for sin.

[19:15] The people were constantly being reminded that the wages of sin is death because death was going on all day long throughout their history. Animals were being slaughtered every day.

[19:29] The third point of the sacrifices was a temporary covering for sin. When properly offered from a true heart of faith, the old sacrifices removed immediate judgment from God.

[19:43] The old sacrifices and ceremonies only gave temporary relief and were a constant reminder that sins were still there. Year after year, the sacrifices kept reminding the people that they were sinful and they were at the mercy of God and could not enter into his presence.

[20:02] Far from erasing sin, the tabernacle and temple sacrifices only served to call attention to the sin. From Jesus' teaching to them, the disciples should long beforehand have realized that their Lord's ministry was to lead to suffering and death.

[20:21] They should, in fact, already have known this from the scriptures. They knew he was the Messiah and they should have known that the Messiah was to come and die. The disciples lacked the book of Hebrews to help their understanding, but they had Isaiah's prophecies.

[20:38] We've already seen how accurate Isaiah chapter 50 is. Isaiah chapter 53 also clearly says what will happen to the Messiah. Here are Isaiah chapter 53 verses 3 through 12.

[20:55] Those verses say, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

[21:11] Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

[21:26] Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, and we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

[21:44] 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 shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

[21:57] By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

[22:08] And they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him.

[22:23] He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

[22:36] Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

[22:50] Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

[23:06] In Jesus' teaching about what the prophets wrote about his death and resurrection, he also almost certainly would have pointed the disciples to Psalm 22.

[23:19] Listen to these parts of Psalm 22 that predict things about Jesus' crucifixion. The beginning of Psalm 22, verse 1, is what Jesus quoted on the cross.

[23:32] Here is Psalm 22, verse 1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning?

[23:47] Psalm 22, verses 6 through 8, clearly predicts what will happen when Jesus is on the cross. Psalm 22, verses 6 through 8, say, but I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.

[24:05] All who see me mock me. They make mouths at me. They wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, for he delights in him.

[24:20] Listen now to how clearly Psalm 22, verses 14 through 18, describe crucifixion, and keep in mind that crucifixion had yet to be invented when David wrote this psalm.

[24:32] Here are Psalm 22, verses 14 through 18. I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint.

[24:44] My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. My strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue sticks to my jaws. You lay me in the dust of death.

[24:57] For dogs encompass me. A company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones. They stare and gloat over me.

[25:10] They divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. Here are a few more Old Testament prophecies that will be fulfilled when the traveling group makes it to Jerusalem.

[25:25] Jesus likely used some or all of these passages when he was teaching the disciples in our Mark passage tonight. Zechariah 9.9 predicted Jesus' triumphal entry.

[25:40] Zechariah 9.9 says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you.

[25:52] Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foe of a donkey. Psalm chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 predicted the hatred of Jesus' enemies.

[26:10] Here are Psalm chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

[26:35] Back to Zechariah, Zechariah 11.12 tells us that Jesus will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Zechariah 11.12 says, Zechariah 13.7 shows that the disciples will scatter when Jesus is arrested.

[27:09] Zechariah 13.7 says, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

[27:22] I will turn my hand against the little ones. All the way back in Numbers, Numbers 21.8 and 9, where the servant was being lifted up on a pole, was foreshadowing Jesus' crucifixion.

[27:38] Exodus 12.46 and Psalm 34.20 predict that none of the Messiah's bones will be broken. Exodus 12.46 specifically was a reference to the first Passover lamb.

[27:52] Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Passover lamb requirements once and for all. Psalm 69.21 predicted that Jesus would get sour wine to drink.

[28:04] Here is Psalm 69.21 They gave me poison for food and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. Zechariah 12.10 talks about Jesus' side being pierced.

[28:20] Here is Zechariah 12.10 And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that when they look on me on him whom they have pierced they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.

[28:48] We already have read Isaiah 53.9 and that's a verse that tells us that Jesus will be laid in a rich man's tomb. Listen now to Psalm 16.10 Psalm 16.10 predicts that the Messiah will rise again.

[29:06] For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. Isaiah 53 even more clearly predicted that the Messiah would be resurrected.

[29:21] Isaiah 53.10 references the Messiah seeing his offspring and about God prolonging the Messiah's days. The only way that a previously dead person can see his offspring is if that dead person returns to life.

[29:36] It's also hard to prolong the days of a dead person. All of those passages form somewhat of an Old Testament Bible drill but the point is that when Jesus said in the parallel passage of Luke 18.31 that everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished he had plenty of references to use.

[29:59] God clearly laid out in Scripture what would happen to Jesus hundreds of years before the crucifixion and resurrection did happen. We just looked at so many cross references let's get Jesus' words of Mark 10.33-34 in our minds again.

[30:19] Jesus said in Mark 10.33-34 See we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him and after three days he will rise.

[30:45] In earlier lessons we've looked at the Son of Man reference. That's an Old Testament reference that goes back to Daniel chapter 7 verse 13. Here are Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14.

[31:00] Daniel wrote I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and languages should serve him.

[31:23] His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. The Son of Man is a reference to Jesus.

[31:37] The Ancient of Days is a reference to God the Father. The disciples could not see that Daniel's Son of Man is also Isaiah's suffering servant. Jesus brings those two together.

[31:49] the Daniel's seven kingdom will be established through the Isaiah 53 death and resurrection. R.C. Sproul said Jesus was so specific about what would occur in Jerusalem that liberal critics of the Bible declare that these words must have been attributed to him after the fact.

[32:10] They deny that Jesus could have foreseen what would happen to him in such precise detail. They are so allergic to anything supernatural and so opposed to the idea of predictive prophecy that they prefer to assume that Mark committed fraud in writing this gospel.

[32:27] Then he continues, In reality, however, it is entirely possible that Jesus could have known what he faced even without supernatural revelation.

[32:37] execution. In the first instance, if he knew he was going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies, it was clear what the method of execution would be. That would be a Roman cross.

[32:50] Furthermore, Jesus was not just the student of the Old Testament scriptures. He was the actual subject of those books. So he was aware of such passages as Isaiah 52 and 53, which describe the sufferings of the servant of Yahweh in great detail.

[33:07] The Jews did not associate the suffering servant passages of Isaiah with their hope of the coming Messiah, but Jesus knew that those texts applied to him. So even without any direct revelation from the Father, Jesus knew that he would be treated with scorn, that he would be scourged, and that he would be spat upon.

[33:30] John MacArthur wrote these words, This prediction of his death provides added perspective on the magnitude and intensity of our Lord's suffering.

[33:42] The twelve knew, of course, that they were going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. What they did not yet fully grasp was that Jesus would be the Passover Lamb, the ultimate and acceptable sacrifice that alone would satisfy God and bring to an end the symbolic sacrificial system.

[34:00] One reason that Jesus needed to explain these truths to them in advance is that the concept of a dying Messiah was completely foreign to what they had been taught all their lives, even a risen Messiah.

[34:16] We also need to consider something else about why it would have been so hard for the disciples to comprehend that Jesus would be handed over to the Gentiles. On the Day of Atonement in ancient Israel, an animal was killed and its blood was spread on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies.

[34:34] Then the sins of the people were symbolically transferred to the back of the scapegoat, which was then driven out into the wilderness, outside the camp, into the outer darkness.

[34:46] That was what it meant to a Jew to be delivered to the Gentiles. To be placed into the hands of the Gentiles was to be sent outside the covenant community, outside the camp, outside the place where the presence of God was concentrated and focused.

[35:01] So the disciples must have been aghast when Jesus told them that he was going to be handed over to the Gentiles. With such detailed predictions in the Old Testament and the teaching from Jesus himself, we could assume that the disciples finally grasped what would happen.

[35:20] But listen to Luke chapter 18 verse 34. Here is Luke chapter 18 verse 34, the last verse of Luke's parallel account, chapter 19 verse chapter 19 verse But they understood none of these things.

[35:35] This saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what was said. So once again, the disciples remained dazed and confused. As prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus demonstrates his willingness to die for the sins of all who trust in him for salvation.

[35:55] We must admire the courage of God's servant as he made his way to Calvary and we should adore him all the more because he did it for those of us who trust in Jesus' atoning sacrifice to save us from God's wrath for our sins.

[36:11] J.C. Ryle said, There was nothing involuntary and unforeseen in our Lord's death. It was the result of his own free decision and deliberate choice.

[36:22] From the beginning of his earthly ministry, he saw the cross before him and he went to it a willing sufferer. He knew that his death was the necessary payment that must be made to reconcile God and man, the payment that he had covenanted and engaged to make to the price of his own blood.

[36:43] And so when the appointed time came, like a faithful surety, he kept his word and died for our sins on Calvary. Let us always bless God that the gospel sets before us such a Savior, so faithful to the terms of the covenant, so ready to suffer, so willing to be reckoned sin and a curse in our place.

[37:05] Let us not doubt that he who fulfilled his engagement to suffer will also fulfill his engagement to save all who come to him. Let us not only accept him gladly as our redeemer and advocate, but gladly give ourselves and all we have to his service.

[37:23] Surely if Jesus cheerfully died for us, it is a small thing to require Christians to live for him. All of us have sinned and deserve death because of that sin.

[37:38] However, because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit planned a way for us to be reconciled to God before time began, anyone who repents their sins and recognizes that Jesus is the only hope for salvation will be saved.

[37:55] Remember 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, For our sake, he, that's God the Father, made him, that's God the Son, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

[38:13] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this reminder that the events that happened once Jesus got to Jerusalem were nothing accidental.

[38:28] They were planned before time began. You also laid them out clearly in the Old Testament hundreds of years before the events actually happened. Jesus knew that when he came to earth as a human, and yet he did that willingly to save those who would believe in him for salvation.

[38:48] Help us marvel at that even more as we ponder what our Lord has done for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. To learn more, visit us in person or see the website at highlandparkbaptist.net