Alright, good morning everyone.
Let's be turning to Mark 14. Mark 14, and we'll be looking
at verses 42 through 52. Mark 14, 42 to 52. Now this morning in our text,
we're reminded that though our enemies, the enemies of believers,
might be many, a lot, but we see that they're no more than
the enemies of our Lord and Savior. And though these enemies came
to take Christ away, we see that they didn't take him forcefully.
They didn't take him against his will, but he was led away
by them willingly. Willingly, he allowed this to
happen, and he went with them willingly that he should be the
Lamb of God slain for his people, to deliver them, to set them
free. We would be forced to go into
captivity, but he did this that we might go free. and the point
being free of our sin and our condemnation and the judgment
that is our due for our sins. So our title is, He Let Us Go
Free. He Let Us Go Free. And so let's
look at this. Now in verse 42, the last time
when we were in Mark, we heard the words of our Lord say, rise
up, let us go, lo he that betrayeth me is at hand. And therefore,
let us this morning rise up and go with our Lord, and behold
this part of our Savior's sacrifice for us." He's sacrificing himself
that we go free. And so, our Lord's agonies that
we saw the last time we were in Mark, back in December, we
saw the agonies that He went through, and these are now past.
And He's strengthened by God His Father, strengthened by Him,
for this final leg, if you will, this final work, this final push,
of salvation, to finish the work which God sent him to do for
his people. And so, he goes forth to meet
the betrayer. Look at verse 43, Mark 14, 43. And immediately, while he yet
spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great
multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the
scribes and the elders. One of the primary things that
our Lord brings us to see here is Christ's free and voluntary
will to go here, to let this happen, to come into the hands
of Judas and that band of men that came to take him and that
he might be led away to be killed. And so, he freely and voluntarily
offered himself to the Father as the sacrifice to put away
the sins of his people. He was doing this to save his
people. Remember his words in John 10,
17 and 18. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me. But I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my Father." God gave him this
commandment to do, to lay down his life for the sheep, to do
this for his people. And so, the disciples were led
by their Savior to witness this, because we are witnesses of these
things, to know Christ wasn't led away for any crimes that
he did. He wasn't taken against his will.
He wasn't resisting this or trying to stop this from happening.
No, he went freely, voluntarily, willingly, knowing that he was
going to die on the cross. And he did that, and we needed
to see that, and we need to understand that and know. Now, the disciples,
they would all flee. They would all flee, but our
Savior, our Lord and Savior, he goes willingly for you, his
beloved sheep. Though we, like them, would flee
away ourselves, he willingly, you that believe him and hope
in him and trust him, he laid down his life willingly for you,
his sheep that believe him. Now in John 13, 27, 28, you'll
recall that it was after our Lord dipped his bread in the
sop, and the one who dipped after him being Judas, we are told
that Satan entered into Judas. And then Jesus said unto him,
that thou doest do quickly. And we're told that no man there
at the table with him knew why he said this to Judas. They didn't
understand it or know why he said what, you know, what you're
going to do, do quickly. But now they know. Now it's all
coming to their mind. Now they're understanding everything
that was happening and that they might be witnesses, not only
of the betrayal, but to see and know that Christ went willingly
to this work. And so when you read This passage
here, Mark, and in the other passages that speak to this in
the other Gospels, understand that every detail that's written
here is given to us to show us explicitly in order that we might
understand and know Christ gave himself willingly that eye. I who hope and believe in Him
might go free. And that's what we're seeing
here. He gave Himself willingly that I might go free. That we
might know and understand the love of God our Savior for us. Us who are undeserving, fleeing
sinners, running away from the fight. Alright, so Christ was
not taken. No one can say, no one can come
up and say, and make lies up that he was taken against his
will, right, because there's many people that have risen up
in opposition to the government and various religions and whatnot
and they were taken against their will, they were captured and
then brought to justice and killed. But we know from this account
here, we see, nope, he went willingly, not for any crimes or sins that
he committed but for the crimes and the sins of his own people.
He paid for them that they might go free. And he knows the sorrows
that lay before him there on the cross, and yet in Hebrews
12, verse 2, we're told, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. And the joy for us who
believe, knowing, seeing that our Savior is set down at the
right hand of the throne of God, that gives us understanding and
comfort because we see and understand our Savior is now reigning and
ruling with all authority, and He's the one who not only secured
our salvation when He died on the cross and put away our sins,
but also it's because of His rule and reign and authority
that this Gospel goes forth and calls us to Himself, gathers
us in by this Gospel that we might know and hear and rejoice
in what Christ has done for us, what He's done in spite of our
sins, what He's done us according to his grace. He's the one implementing
his father's will and so he's ensuring that this salvation
is wrought in our hearts. He's the one making sure that
this salvation is wrought in us so that we too are brought
to faith and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the other thing
that the Lord calls us to see is for us to recognize enemies
of God are, because we that believe these are our enemies as well."
He's making it plain and apparent to us to see and to know who
the enemies are. Look again in verse 43, Mark
14, 43. And immediately while he yet
spake cometh Judas, one of the twelve. and with him a great
multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and the
scribes and the elders." Now, looking at this great multitude
with swords and staves, it's widely accepted and believed
that the Romans were here. They had, at times, authority
to receive from Herod a little band of Roman soldiers to help
implement the will of the religious leaders who were left there to
be in charge, so to speak, underneath the auspices of the Roman government.
And so they would have been there with their swords and staves
to help capture Christ, if that's what it took, and to do what
was needed. But whether the Romans were really there or not, whether
they were there or not, we know they had their part in the crucifixion
of Christ. because eventually Christ did
go to them and he was stripped and beaten by them and spit upon
and treated shamefully by them and then was crucified. He was
hung and put up on the cross by the Roman soldiers and so
we see Those Gentile Roman soldiers, we know that Herod, the authority
in the government was involved with Herod and Pontius Pilate
agreeing to this. And so we see that the general
people of the world, the Gentiles, are responsible for the death
of Christ, as are what we see here in these religious rulers. So it's Jews and Gentiles, but
without even naming them as Jews, what we see here, another enemy.
So we see the world, and then another enemy that we have is
the religious establishment. The religious of this world are
great enemies of the truth. They hate it more than anybody
else. Christ wouldn't have been crucified. He wouldn't have even
been brought to the attention of the Roman government had it
not been for the religious Jews who hated him and hated the truth
and wanted him to be killed because they hated the truth. They hated
to hear what he was saying. So it was under their instigation
that Rome even got involved. with Christ and to crucify Him.
It was religion, and we should understand and see that there. So it's always the self-righteous
and the self-confident that they're the ones that are so good, that
they're so knowledgeable, that they know what's needed to be
known, and that they can't hear anything from you. There's nothing
that you can say to them because they know all that there is to
know. And so if you should speak the
truth to them, if you should have an opportunity to declare
the truth to them and they don't have an ear by the spirit to
hear it, they'll accuse you of evil and they'll speak evil behind
you're back, and say things that aren't true, and take things
out of context, and speak ill of you, and then justify the
hatred that they have in their heart for you. And yet, they're
the ones calling you evil, and they're the ones calling you
a sinner, even though they're the ones committing sin against
you as they hate you and murder you in their own heart. And so,
that's an enemy. So you have the world that's
your enemy, and you have the religious establishment that's
your enemy. And then we also see this thing
that's heartbreaking, really, when you think about it, Judas,
one of the 12. Judas, one of the 12, and he
was prophesied to do this thing by the psalmist in Psalm 41.9,
yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did
eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. And we're shown this, and this
is brought to our attention that we might be prepared for the
shock when this happens to us. That those that are dear to us
and friends of ours, that we thought loved us and that we
loved them and had fellowship with them, that they should now
turn and hate us and not love us and not walk with us anymore. And our Lord tells us in Matthew
10, 24 through 26, The disciple is not above his master, nor
the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple
that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they
have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more
shall they call them of his household? If the religious in this world
call Christ Beelzebub, then how much more are they going to call
you that love him and follow him and are his disciples and
servants, right? They're going to speak evil of
you as well. And he says, fear them not therefore, for there
is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and He that shall
not be known." In other words, the Lord knows them that are
His and He's going to make known. He's going to reveal and show
them that are His and them that are not His. He's going to do
that work among His people. Alright, now, just remember though
that every one of us had a part in the death of Christ and we
see that with both the Jews and the Gentiles. I know that it's
popular, I think it was more so in Europe, but I wouldn't
be surprised if it was here too, that some people like to hate
the Jews just because they're the ones who crucified Christ. But let us never forget that
the Gentiles were just as guilty of crucifying Christ as well.
Pontius Pilate even said he's innocent and yet still crucified
Christ. And so even though he was found
innocent under Roman rule, he was still crucified. So all nations
and all people are guilty of crucifying Christ. And we shouldn't
hate a group of people just because
we say that they crucified Christ. Christ had to be crucified. He
had to be crucified, so we can't hate anybody, any group for that
thing because we see that we're all guilty of putting Christ
to death. Right now, it's clear, it's apparently
clear that These men who came, many of these men besides Judas,
they didn't even know Christ. They didn't even know who he
was or what he looked like. And that means they never even
heard him. They never heard him speak and yet here they were,
willingly going to take Christ away to be led, to be crucified. They didn't see him because they
didn't know who he was. So we know that they didn't see
him and we know they didn't hear him because they didn't have
recording devices back in that day. They didn't have sermon
audio, or the radio, or tape ministry, or transcripts of messages
preached. They didn't have those recording
devices then, so that means they didn't even know what he preached.
They didn't know what he taught. They didn't hear him for themselves.
They were just listening to the religious establishment who said,
he's an enemy, go get him and bring him in, because we're going
to put him to death. Look at verse 44. Mark 14, 44 through
46. he that betrayed him had given
them a token. That's why he gave them a token,
because they didn't know who he was. Saying, whomsoever I
shall kiss, that same as he, take him and lead him away safely. I don't care what you do with
the rest of them, just take Christ and lead him away safely. Do to the others what you will.
And as soon as he was come, he goeth forth straightway to him,
and saith, Master, Master, and kissed him. And they laid their
hands on him and took him." And, you know, you have to imagine
that Judas was very wary of Christ's ability to just slip away, because
it happened numerous times, which again shows us that Many times
they didn't even know what they were getting all worked up about
and made willing to kill Christ in times past. And so he would
embrace them to make sure that they knew who he was and that
he couldn't just slip away as he had done in times past. Where we read of things like,
but he passing through the midst of them went his way. How many
times do we see that of Christ? That he just passing through
the midst of them went his way. But here, the reality is he had
no intention of slipping away. If he had intended, if it wasn't
time yet, he would have slipped away. He was brought to this
purpose. This was His hour of glory. He had come to this very place
in this time for this purpose. That He should be the ransom
for our souls. That His payment of blood should
be the ransom for our souls. That by His death we should go
free. Free. Right? And so He would
go and make atonement for our sins and he set us free from
the bondage of sin and death. This is what Christ our Savior
did for his people. And so, whatever the appearance
of things to man is, whatever man wants to imagine or think
about this, our Lord, we see the sovereignty of our Lord.
We see our Lord's sovereignty in this and that everything's
happening as God has determined for it to happen. He's in complete
control, just as Daniel recorded for our benefit when Nebuchadnezzar
declared that the Lord doeth according to his will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? And we see this even in the death
of Christ, the apostles declared to the Jews saying that Christ
was delivered by the determinant counsel and for knowledge of
God, right, and for that purpose we're told that the wicked were
told that they took him. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. The only reason why the wicked
were able to take him and crucify him and put him to death is because
it was according to the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God our Father that Christ should die in the place of his people. And that's because the Lord did
this because the Lord is determined to free his people He's determined
to save them. He's determined to deliver them
from the coming wrath of God. And so it's pictured for us right
here in this passage of his disciples being able to go free. While
they were all there and could have taken them, they all go
free, and they weren't taken, and they weren't captured, and
none of them was hurt in this, what transpired here. You think
about it, I'm sure the tension was very high. High in the disciples
who are struck with suddenly what's going on. They're upset
and they're on edge there. And there's a couple of swords
in their possession and I'm sure there was tension among the band
of men who came with swords and staves and torches. They came
with those things because they were expecting a fight and they
wanted to make sure that they were able to subdue this band
because they didn't know who they were really dealing with
except that they heard This man has power and authority so that
even when he presented himself in John and said, I am he, they
fell backwards. They were, whoa, he's right here,
and they were nervous and they fell backwards and were afraid,
and so there's high tension there ready for a fight. And we're
told that in verse 47, one of them that stood by, which we
know is Peter from John's account, he drew a sword and smote a servant,
Malchus of the high priest, and cut off his ear. And you know
that in a mob situation, how many times in history have things
just gotten out of hand under mob rule? When they go there
and tensions are high, something like that happens. I remember
even in the Revolutionary War, one of those times when a young
British soldier pulls the trigger, whether on purpose or on accident,
and then it all begins and people start firing their guns and shots
go off and people die and get hurt. One already swung a sword
and cuts off a man's ear and it could have broke out right
then And people could have been hurt,
but the Lord in perfect control controls the whole thing and
doesn't let it get out of hand. I believe that's why this occurs,
to show us that He's in complete control. He could have escaped. He could have let them battle
it out and just slid away. But He's not there to get away. He's not preserving His life.
He's there to give His life. And so Luke shows us that He
healed the man's ear and nothing further happened about that.
No one else was hurt or injured for that crime. He healed it
and took care of it. All right? And so he said in
John's account, I am he, if therefore ye seek me, let these go. Let these go their way. All right? And then the Lord
continues in Mark 14, 48 through 50. And Jesus answered and said
unto them, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and
with staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple
teaching, and ye took me not. But the scriptures must be fulfilled. And at that saying were told,
and they all forsook him and fled. They all fled. They all got away free. They
went their way and were delivered from this. And so we understand
through the gospel that our Savior must fulfill the covenant of
grace, that we might be blessed by the blessings of the covenant
of grace. And so our Lord had to establish
his kingdom. He had to establish his kingdom
with blood. His kingdom is established with
the blood of Christ. But you see, it's not going to
be through the bloodshed of swords. It's not going to be through
the bloodshed of a fight and a battle, a sword and fighting,
right? His kingdom is established with
blood. And all other religions of the
world If you notice, all the religions of the world, their
kingdoms are established and expanded and maintained with
blood. The papacy, they went on their
crusades and they had their inquisition in Spain. They were expanding
and maintaining their kingdom with bloodshed. And then you
have Mohammedanism, right? Mohammed, his kingdom was established
with blood. With blood. And to this day,
they still use bloodshed to establish and expand their kingdom. And
so, even so, there's radical Hinduism. which blow up trains
and have their blood shed. There's Judaism, which expanded
with the sword as well. There's blood shed. So all these
other religions require another man's blood. But Christ establishes
his kingdom with his own blood. his own blood. He didn't require
another man to shed their blood. He shed his own blood to establish
and expand and grow and maintain his kingdom by his own blood. In fact, we're told in Hebrews
9-12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place having obtained
eternal redemption for us. And so because of that, he's
already saved all his people. They're already saved, but he
is now sending forth the gospel and the spirit and power of his
grace and glory to reach his people. He sends it forth and
it reaches the hearts of his people so that they hear and
know what Christ has accomplished for them. And we that are his
people know that, and that's why we don't need to take up
swords. We don't need to fight against
people. We don't need to twist arms and berate people and force
them into a decision for Christ, because their salvation is already
secure. We need only declare, proclaim,
and preach what Christ has done, being witnesses of these things,
knowing that all for whom he shed his blood, they shall hear
they shall believe because it's a spiritual work. It's a work
of God in the hearts of his people and the one who's sitting on
the throne ensures that it shall be so. So understand brethren
that we cannot save ourselves. We can't save ourselves. Our
works don't speak for us. Our works don't improve us. We
don't obtain God's favor and earn the right to hear this gospel
or to believe this gospel by something we've done. It's all
according to the grace of our God. And we're no better than
the disciples who fled. So bear long and patiently with
your disciples, because we're just like them. We flee and run
away ourselves. And we're no better than those
men who led Christ away to be crucified. If anyone here thinks
that they would never do that, I would never leave Christ away
to be crucified, you are the very one that would take Christ
away to be crucified, because you don't know the depths of
the wickedness of your own heart. Because every one of us who have
the Spirit know that we are guilty sinners, and there is nothing
that we are incapable of doing. But it's the grace of our God
that saves us and has delivered us and washed us clean in the
blood of Christ, not for any works that we've done, but He's
the one who's glorified and He's the one that saves His people.
So we all need the grace of God in Christ because there's no
other salvation than in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the Holy
Spirit who gives us life and faith in Him whereby we believe. By the faith which He's given
to us, that's how and why we believe Christ. And so all who
believe Christ shall receive forgiveness, remission of sins. All right, now, in closing, in
the last couple minutes, I just wanna look at those last two
verses in Mark 14, 51 through 52. We're told that there followed
him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his
naked body, and the young men laid hold on him, and he left
the linen cloth and fled from them naked. Now, we don't know
who this young man is. He's not named. Some think it's
Mark, and you could see that because Mark, who penned this
gospel, would know this account, right? Few others would really
know this account, but Mark records it anyway, and so we don't know
his name, and that might be because nobody knows who he is. It doesn't
really matter, but he serves as a picture of those whom Christ
saves by his blood sacrifice, right? He serves as a picture
of those whom Christ saves and delivers by his blood sacrifice,
dying in their place as their substitute. Now perhaps he was,
you know, he's a young man, he's out there sleeping outside or
in a nearby little shack or something like that. Maybe he kept the
grounds or something like that. But he hears a disturbance and
he wakes up and he sees some lights because they have torches
and lanterns. And so he grabs his sheet. And
he goes out there to see what is going on. What's this disturbance? What's this all about that's
happening here? And he's creeping up and coming
carefully to see what's going on. Now, like this man, every
one of us comes to hear of Christ for various reasons. Many people
are curious to know, what is this all about? What is this
about Christ? And they come out of curiosity
like this man. And when we come, we come in
our various dress, our various coverings, right? Some in a covering
of religion, right? A covering of religion. And some
in a covering of worldliness, great worldliness. Some come
with an abundance of cares and worries and concerns, and others
come with complete indifference. We all come with various coverings
to hear and are curious about who this Christ is and what he
accomplished. But when we hear, when we hear
the gospel, this is why we preach the gospel, because when we hear
the gospel by the Holy Spirit, how that Christ was willingly
led away, that he was willingly led away and died on the cross,
shedding his blood, that I, a worthless sinner might go free and be delivered
from the wrath and the judgment of God. When we are made to hear
it by the Spirit, then we, like this young man, though the world
try to grab us, though the powers and the authorities of this world
try to grab us and keep us from escaping and getting away and
fleeing, The world tries to hold us and
keep us in that sense to prevent us from going free and trap us
in their grasp. By the power and grace of God,
by His power and grace, we go free and we flee this world,
leaving behind that covering. which proved to be no good sufficient
covering at all for us anyway. So, I pray that the Lord help
us to hear this gospel, to hear of Christ our Savior, to leave
behind this world like this young man did. Let it go, don't even
go back for it. Let it go, it's all worthless
anyway. And so we go free in Christ.
So I pray that the Lord would help you to hear that message. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your mercy and your grace. Lord, that
you would help us to hear the truth. Lord, that you would deliver
us as you deliver all your people. That you set us free and help
us to see and to know our deliverance in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
cleanse us by his blood. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.