What these disciples would be
up against even just in the garden of Gethsemane. There was a captain
of a company of Soldiers that came to take the Lord And they said we have two swords This verse contains the disciples
response to what the Lord said in verse 36 He said now and really
goes back to verse thirty five when I sent you out originally
I told you don't even take a purse or a lunch box or any extra shoes
or coat or anything like that but now if you have a purse take
it and likewise his script and he that hath no sword let him
sell his garment and buy one and this is of course their response
to that and we have two swords And what he told them in verse
36, his response to them in verse 38, after what they said, in verse 38, has everything to do
with verse 37. So look at that again too, I
say unto you, for I say unto you, this is why he's saying,
get a sword, if you can get a sword, get a sword. This that is written must yet
be accomplished in me and He was reckoned among the transgressors
for the things concerning me Have an end Yes, he does say to them that
they would want swords they would need to Muster their resources
take your purse with you if you have a little saved up not save
up a little something and and have it with you because in the
weeks and months that were coming, it's not gonna be the way it
was when I first sent you out. It's gonna be different. And
the emphasis there heavily is on verse 37. Here's the context
of it. And here's the spiritual lesson.
Because of Christ and what he did, in their case, what he was
about to do, but what he did this morning, because of who
he is, And what he did, there will be consequences. There will
be effects upon you and I. It's gonna affect us. It's that
simple. That's what he's saying. But
here's the important lesson here. There will be physical, earthly
consequences of Christ crucified. Do you find that to be true?
Is your earthly, temporal life here affected by who he is and
what he did and that it all must be accomplished in him? That's
what they were going to experience too. He was simply preparing them
for the fact that there would be. There have been physical
earthly effects in my life of Christ crucified because Christ
died on Calvary. Most of my earthly family won't
have anything to do with me. You say, well, it may just because
you're just not that likable of a guy, Chris. Well, that's
probably part of it too. But openly, it's because of him. I've experienced hatred of myself
and my family for no other reason. I didn't need a sword, but neither do the disciples
really. That's why when they said, we
got a couple of swords here, he said, that'll do. They didn't
really need the swords. That's not what he's teaching.
He said, if my kingdom were of this world, my disciples would
fight. But my kingdom is not of this world. They weren't going to need to
fight. And that's the lesson of the text. It's enough. He mentioned a sword because
of the nature of the opposition to them then. That's not true
now yet. Now it's not. People aren't going
to be happy with you because of the things concerning me.
Because the things concerning me have an end, have a purpose.
They're not going to be happy with you either. And all of your
efforts with regard to me and let's face that our purpose in
this life is regarding him. Can we face that this morning?
And because that's true, there's going to be consequences of that.
If that's true of you, what are you living for? What
is the point of your life in this world? All of your efforts with regard
to me, he's saying they're going to be difficult. It's going to
take a lot of consideration and some resources, and they're going
to be hard to come by. I don't know of anywhere that
the gospel is preached where it isn't that way. He's simply saying, be prepared
for that. Worshipping him in this world
is not smooth sailing physically and temporally and in this, in
this wretched world in which we live. It's just the same thing
as him saying this whole passage that we just read. It's exactly
the same thing as him saying in John 16. In this world, you
shall have tribulation. You will. Because of me. You're just going to. But I want you to listen to the
context of him saying that. Listen to this, John 16, 29.
His disciples, said unto him, lo, now speakest
thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now we are sure that
thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should
ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
He told them something in a way that they could understand more
clearly. And they said, we believe on you now. We know who you are
now. And Jesus answered them, do you now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea,
is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own,
and shall leave me alone. And yet I'm not alone, because
the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you're not
going to have peace. You shall have tribulation. but
be of good cheer. You're up for it. No, I have
overcome the world. That's the lesson of our text. Be happy because of him and what
he did. Be comforted. It's going to be
tough, but you can rest in him. You're not going to find any
rest in this world. But in him, we have peace, peace. Be of good cheer, I have overcome. It is enough for the same reason. Because of him and what he did. Be of good cheer, I have overcome.
Be prepared. Be ready to fight. Paul said,
I fought the good fight of faith. And be prepared for that. But
though your two swords are pitiful and pathetic and insufficient,
they're enough because I have, I have, I have overcome the world. Because I have accomplished everything
for you. It's enough. It's enough. Doesn't
mean you're not going to fight. You may well fight. I'm sure
they did. Most, I believe all the disciples were killed simply
because of him. I don't know if they just stood
there and took it or if they fought. Simon Peter looked like he might
be one that might be willing to take a few with him. I don't
know. But he said, be ready. You're
gonna have tribulation. Are you ready for that? Me neither,
but it's enough. It's enough because he is everything. That word overcome, I have overcome
the world. It means to conquer, to carry
off the victory. The victory's already been won.
So your two swords will do just fine. That's it, that's verse 37 in
our text. You see why he said in verse
38 it's enough? Now we will fight, but it is
not our resources, it is not our wisdom, it is not our ability.
It's not our anything that will win the victory. He already won
it. He already won it. Doesn't mean don't fight. Listen
to some scripture about that, 2 Timothy 2.1. Thou therefore,
my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And
the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the
same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach
others also. So you see the context here is
the gospel. It's the gospel ministry. That's
what we're doing. That's what we're talking about.
Thou therefore endure hardness. Good soldier of Jesus Christ
Get ready. It's a fight in it It's not always
to do with spiritual with with physical things But all of it
has a physical aspect to it doesn't it pretty much? Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,
no man that woreth and tangleth himself with the affairs of this
life, that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. Now the disciples' situation
in the garden, where a hundred soldiers are about to show up,
just after this, with swords, is a little different than ours.
I doubt if that's going to happen here today. And when Paul was
teaching Timothy there in second Timothy two, their situation
was a little bit different than ours too. But the truth of this
applies just as much to us because of Christ and who he is and what
he did. Our lives are affected by that
right now, right here in tangible ways. There is a fight to be
fought and it is of great consequence and how we fight it matters.
But Chris, we've just got a couple of swords. That's fine. That's just fine. That's okay. It's sufficient. Why? How? Our
sufficiency is of Him. Paul said, I'm not anything and
Barnabas is not anything. The one that plants and waters
and God gives the increase. He's the one that hired us. And
our sufficiency is of Without me, Christ said, you
can do nothing. Amen. Paul said, I can do all
things through Christ, which strengthens me. Amen. It's enough. It's enough. We fight. Why do we fight at
all? Because Christ crucified. because
of who he is and what he did and what he was talking about
in our text, that it must be fulfilled and we win. We fight
because Christ crucified and we win, notwithstanding our pitiful
means and efforts, notwithstanding the fact that your pastor don't
even know how to come in out of the rain, notwithstanding
the fact that all of us are a bunch of selfish babies. Can I be honest
with us this morning? Notwithstanding that we're all
weak and self-righteous, And we're everything by nature that
is counterproductive to the fight. But why do we win then? Because
Christ crucified. And we're just talking about
the physical aspects of this so far. If you look at us, if you look
at us, we don't stand a chance. It's enough. It's enough. Lord, there's just
a handful. It's enough. Lord, we're nothing. We have
nothing. We can do nothing. It's enough.
It's enough because He is enough. And so let's look at the spiritual
aspect of this. Not only are we not much in every
other way, but our faith, our spiritual strength, we're failures
in every way. Can we confess that this morning? As long as you're not, you'll
never come to him. You're gonna have to spend everything you
have and be worse. Our spiritual faith, our spiritual
strength, our faithfulness, he just told him, you're all gonna
forsake me. Well, that's pathetic, but it's
enough. Our so-called courage. Simon
had a lot of courage, didn't he? Until he didn't. That's all of us. Failures in every way doesn't
mean that we ought to be happy about that or that we should
quit. It does mean he gets all the
glory. It does mean that. All of it.
All of it. Look at Mark 14. Let's turn together,
please, to Mark chapter 14, verse 37. Now we're talking about the
spiritual aspect a little bit of this.
It's enough. Mark 14, 37. You know what this is? This is
the Garden of Gethsemane. It's the same timeframe from
our text. He cometh and findeth them sleeping
and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? Couldst not thou
watch one hour? Watch ye. Watch ye and pray. He did say that, didn't he? Lest
you enter into temptation. You see, this is not about swords
and money anymore. It's not about your script or
your sword or any of that. This is the spiritual part of
the warfare here. but the problem is the same the
spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak and understand
now that the flesh is not flesh and blood this is talking about
the spirit of the flesh it's talking about the old man our
nature the flesh is weak and again he
went away and prayed and spake the same words and when he returned
he found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy Neither
wished they what to answer him. You say, well, see, that's all
physical there, Chris. It was just all, they were just
physically weak. You think if somebody told you,
if you can stay awake for a couple of hours, I'll give you a billion
dollars, you think you could stay awake? It wasn't all physical, was it?
No. Neither wist they what to answer
him. And he cometh a third time and
saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest. For the same
reason, whether it's physical inability or spiritual, it's
enough. If you have him, if you know
him, if you're yoked to him, it's enough. The hour has come, behold, the
son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. We gotta talk about that part
a little bit in a minute, but listen, both with regard to earthly,
physical, temporal matters of the gospel, and there are those
matters of the gospel. If Christ, who he is and what
he did doesn't affect you physically, Tangibly then you just don't
know it and I don't either That's just true, isn't it? And with also with regard to
spiritual matters us being totally worthless is enough I'll tell
you this it had better be You reckon is you being worthless
enough it better be Because that's what you are And that's what
I am too. This is all just a display of
the truth of salvation by Christ. Salvation means you need to be
saved, right? Salvation. We don't just need
a leg up or, you know, an opportunity. We need him to save us. You don't
need the Lord's cooperation. You need him to save you. Certainly
doesn't need your cooperation. You need him to save you and
two swords is not gonna cut it. Is it not gonna cut it? Neither
is your righteousness before God That's the spiritual picture
here, here's what we have Lord It's enough Your righteousness is not gonna
cut it either is it When Simon was sinking beneath the waves
and he cried Lord save me The Lord bid him walk on the
water and he did until he got to looking at the fact Simple
truth of this. I can't walk on water. I'm in
trouble here. I can't walk on water instead
of looking to the Savior and He began to sink and the
Lord I'll tell you what the Lord didn't say He said if you just
paddle a little bit harder You know, you're not paddling hard.
You paddle and I'll see what I can do after all God helps
those that help themselves No, it says he immediately stretched
forth his hand and caught him And that's how he'll save you
too if he does Without your help The sheep's part is the wandering,
and the shepherd's part is the seeking and the saving. And there is an eternal, vital,
glorious victory to win. It must be won. All of the glory
of God and all of the accomplishment of his eternal good purpose of
grace for his people hangs in the balance. Well, Lord, I can't
do anything. As I've said to you so many times
before, in the garden there, not only could the disciples
not help in any way, they couldn't even watch him save them. They couldn't even just sit there
and watch him do everything. That's us, spiritually. I can't even muster the interest
or the spiritual fortitude to watch you bear my sins in the
garden. without your grace. It's enough. Because His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. Sleep
on now. Sleep on. I want you to notice
something. Look what he said next there
in Mark. Are you still at Mark chapter 14? I should have told
you to hang on there. I want you to notice something
where we read a while ago in the next verse there. Actually,
I guess it's where we read, but the last part. Verse 41 of Mark
14, and he cometh the third time and saith unto them, sleep on
now and take your rest. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the son of man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners. Isn't that a strange way to say
that? Think about that for a second. It's fine for you to sleep. I'm
fixing to be betrayed. You might think he would say
the opposite. You might think he would say, you know, sleeping
ain't going to cut it here. You're going to have to wake
up. The hour has come. I'm about to be betrayed. You're
going to have to do something. Snap out of it. Nope. It's enough
for you to just lay there and sleep and do nothing. Why? Because I'm about to go take
care of everything for you. That's what he said. I'm about
to be betrayed. and go as it is written of me and so it's enough the same this
is the same principle also taught in Matthew 11 28 come unto me
all you that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest
take my yoke upon you everybody knows what a yoke is a yoke of
oxen is oxen that are yoked together there's a harness that goes around
both and so that You know, if you got some hard work to be
done and one ox can't cut it, you yoke two together and you
get it done. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest. Well, wait a minute. I thought
a yoke meant work. It does, unless you're yoked
to him. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. and you shall find sleep on now. It's enough. I'm about to be
betrayed. What a glorious picture. That's
what salvation looks like. You sleep. And the next word
is I. Take your sword now. fight the
good fight endeavor listen to these endeavor to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace boy you talk about an endeavor
we was talking last night about what a blessing it is that there's
peace in the worship of god here it's not like that everywhere
not like that i thank god for that endeavor endeavor We know
it's by his grace We know that our two swords aren't enough
in that no way, but it's enough because of his grace God uses means take your sword,
but he wins it he wins it Paul said, strive together with me
in your prayers to God for me. Strive together. Are you doing
that? Put you on the spot this morning.
This thing of worshiping him in this world because of who
he is and what he did, it's not easy. It's not without blood,
sweat, and tears. That's Romans 15, 30. Listen
to what it says concerning one of David's mighty men. And we're
about to, in 2 Samuel, we're in chapter 22 in 2 Samuel on
Wednesday nights. This is chapter 23. When it describes
David's mighty men, those who fought with David, it names some
of them and talks about their exploits. And this man's name
was probably pronounced Shema. It looks like Shema but it's
probably pronounced Shema but it says this after him and that's
referring to a mighty man that he was talking about before that
after him was Shema the son of Ege the Herorite and the Philistines
were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full
of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines, but he,
Shammah, he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it
and slew the Philistines. Wow, what a great man. You know
what it says next? And the Lord brought a great
victory. His pitiful effort was enough
because the battle wasn't his, it was the Lord. You see that
salvation in that? The Lord deliberately uses those
who can't win in order to win. Have you ever noticed that in
the scripture? This is the salvation of his people and this is his
glory. Do you remember what he said to Gideon? You know, when
Gideon He was about to go up against a massive army. I don't
believe it tells you how many there were. It might in another
place. But it says they were as the sand of the sea, that
they were like grasshoppers. There were so many of them. And
Gideon had an army of 42,000 men. That would at least make
a good show of it, wouldn't it? 42,000, not a bad army there. But you know what God said to
him? He didn't say it's enough. He said it's too many. It's too
many. You see how that applies to our
text? God's going to save us and he's going to get all the
glory. He uses means. We're going to fight the good
fight of faith. This is the sword of the spirit right here. It's
going to take this. He uses means. It's by the preaching
of the gospel. That's going to affect all of
us, isn't it? That's going to have something to do with our
lives. If not, what are we doing here? But the victory is his. He's going to get all the glory.
We're going to do what we're going to do. And then the final
word on it is going to be, and the Lord won a great victory
that day. And we're going to say, Amen. That's just the truth now. Look,
he said 42,000 is too many lest they say mine own hand hath saved
me. That's why he said it's too many.
Because they'll say, look what we did. And the Lord finally, and you've
probably read this or heard this preached from before, it was
through a process of elimination. But finally God sent Gideon with
300 men. against the armies of the Midianites
and the Amalekites. Why did he do that? Our text,
same truth. 300? Two swords, are you kidding
me? It says in Judges 7, 12, and
the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the East
lay along the valley like grasshoppers for multitude. 300 men, it's
enough. Enough five loaves and two fishes
It's enough In Genesis 33 11 Jacob said to
his brother Esau God hath dealt graciously graciously with me
and I have enough And here I stand before God this
morning Having never done anything but sin. You know that's true, and I know
that's true. Sin is mixed with the best thing I ever did. If
you picked out the best thing I ever did in my life and wiped
the slate clean except for that one thing, I'd have to go to
hell. And you know it, and I know it. And yet I stand here this
morning with enough righteousness to stand before God, holy and
without blame. Because Christ is my righteousness. How will I ever pay for my sin,
though? If all I've ever done is sin,
what can wash away my sin? Nothing but The blood of Jesus Christ is
enough. If the Lord ever saves you, you
will not say, mine own hand hath saved me. You will say, by grace
I am saved through faith, and even that is not of myself. It is the gift of God. And so, We're taught in the scripture
to fight to strive to endeavor to endure hardness as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ But if you look at your two swords or
your 300 men or whatever your five loaves and two fishes, you're
just gonna be discouraged Don't look at that If you look at yourself
your own resources your capability You will not be encouraged or
strengthened for the fight and Here's what we do instead We
say this thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ And listen to what he said next
I'm gonna repeat that verse and listen to what he said next in
first Corinthians 1557. Thanks be to God. Thank God for
giving us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord,
therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know
that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Why, why is it not in vain? We're
pitiful, we're nothing, we're worthless, we can do nothing,
because he giveth us the victory. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's enough. May God bless His word to our
hearts.