Good morning. We're going to
be in Mark 10. Mark 10 verses 35 through 45.
That's our text. You'll notice that the Holy Spirit
has this account recorded right after the things our Lord said
as they were on their way up to Jerusalem. And our Lord said
what would happen to Him, the Son of Man at Jerusalem. So I'm
going to read verses 33 and 34 to begin. Mark 10, 33. Our Lord said, Behold, we go
up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered unto
the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. And they
shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him,
and shall kill him. And the third day he shall rise
again. And then we come to our text,
because this seems to have prompted James and John to have a little
bit of a fervency to go to the Lord with this request, knowing
that these things are going to happen to the Lord at Jerusalem.
They come with a very bold request of their master, and it's bold
because it actually reveals the pride that's in their hearts. And what they said was offensive,
really, to Christ. I'm not even sure what they heard
when Christ said these words, but it also was an offense to
their brethren as well. And so our Lord, though, he deals
very graciously and very tenderly with them and he teaches the
disciples and he reveals that his, the heart of a servant,
the heart that he has toward his people, the patience and
the grace and the kindness that he has in dealing with his brethren. And it sets a pattern for us
in our dealing with our brethren. All right, so today I want us
to look at the salvation of our Lord, seeing this condemning
sin that's in our own hearts, the need that we have of Christ
saving us, and then hearing the promise and the pattern that
Christ exercised in setting for us an example, and then seeing,
beholding that work that the Savior did in securing our salvation
and bringing us to himself. Our title is The Servant. the
servant. So we're going to look first
at this divisive sin and the Holy Spirit here is showing us
in this text here that sin which is plaguing, that disease that's
plaguing our hearts. each of us here, every one of
us in this world, has a plague in their heart. It's the ungodly,
shameful, sinful pride of man. All of our sin and wickedness
stems out of that pride of man. Now, let's look at our text,
at least verses 35 through 41. Let's read that together. Mark
10, 35. And James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, came unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest
do for us whatsoever we shall desire. Remember, this is after
he spoke these words of what's going to happen to him going
up to Jerusalem. And he said unto them, what would ye that
I should do for you? they said unto him grant unto
us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy
left hand in thy glory that is when you come into your kingdom
we would like to be in the most prominent preeminent spaces of
your kingdom we want one of us on your left and the other one
on your right we want to be your your left and right arm so to
speak. And Jesus said unto them, Ye
know not what ye ask. Can ye drink the cup that I drink
of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
And they said unto him, We can. We can do that. And Jesus said
unto them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and
with the baptism that I am baptized withal, shall ye be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and
on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to
them for whom it is prepared. And actually, it could be read,
it's not mine to give, but for whom it is prepared. Christ will
give it to those whom God has prepared that place for his people. And when the ten heard it, they
began to be much displeased with James and John. Now, first of
all, James and John are brethren, they're believers. They're believers. Even though they said these words
came out of their mouth from the pride of their heart, they
are believers. They're born of God and they
love the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are to remember that. Just because sin comes out of
our mouths and we do things that are hurtful and harmful and absurd
to one another at times, We're brethren. We love the Lord. We're
children of the Lord. Remember that in your dealings
one with another, that we do love the Lord. So they're showing
their sinfulness and seeking preeminence and that over their
own brethren. They're looking to put themselves
before their own brethren. And so we can understand why
in verse 41 when it says, when the 10 heard it, they began to
be much displeased with James and John. So let's see what we
can learn from what these two brethren did here, these two
brothers, and what they said and were wanting to do. So first,
we see that genuine believers can commit awful sins. We can
sin against one another. We can do things or say things
that are offensive to one another. And Christ was just speaking
of his glorious work of substitution, that glorious doctrine and what
he would do there. And they come right out after
that with these words. They're just focused on themselves
and what they can have in the kingdom, the preeminence that
they could have. And it shows that they were looking for a
physical kingdom. Their understanding was a very
earthly kingdom in which they in the flesh would be ruling
and reigning over other men and directing them and telling them
what they're going to be doing or not doing. So this tells us
that our salvation is not based on what we know. It's not based
on the things that we know, but on whom we know, on whom we've
believed and trusted and rested in Him. Now, knowing Him will,
of course, learn and understand the God whom we worship. We'll
come to know things, but it's not in what we know, but in whom
we know, in whom we trust and rest. You'll notice that when
people speak of salvation about what you need to know to be saved,
it stems from what they know. and what they understand, right?
It's always about they know and they understand the things you
need to know and understand and then it launches from there what
you need to know and what you need to understand. But we see
here that we could be wrong and not understand a lot of important
things and yet know and believe and rest in Christ as our hope
and our salvation and our surety and acceptance with God. So it's not in what we know but
in whom We know. Alright, now the second thing
that we see is that believers are sinners that are saved. They
are sinners saved. And one thing we've learned in
following the Lord and trusting Him and hearing His Gospels is
that this flesh isn't improved. This flesh isn't getting any
better. It's not improving. And those
that speak of reforming the flesh, Those that speak of being able
to reform that flesh, they don't really understand the flesh because
the flesh doesn't grow into an ability to produce spiritually
good things. This flesh doesn't start to grow
these spiritual characteristics and spiritual goodness. It doesn't
happen that way. Our Savior, the Lord, said it
very plainly and simply, and it's good for us to hear it.
He said in John 3, 6 that, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. So this flesh isn't going to
turn it around and get reformed and start producing godly spiritual
things that are acceptable with God. In the sight of men, they
might say, wow, that person's really disciplined and got it
together now. But with God, that doesn't produce
anything that's acceptable with him because only Christ is accepted
with God. And those works that Christ works
in us are made acceptable by God, because it's His work, it's
a spiritual work in His people. So if we're honest about our
flesh, we understand and see, we know that our flesh is proud,
we know the self-conceit that we have, and actually I said
we know, but often times we don't know, we're not even aware of
the presence of it in us. the offense that we're committing
against brethren, you know, because we all have certain expectations,
we grew up certain ways, we do certain things, and so we have
a level of what's accepted and what's right and should be done,
and others come with their understanding of what's right and how things
should be done, and so those things clash at times, and so
there's misunderstandings and there's There can be a tension
that comes there into play between people in that sense. Now, it
was these two disciples, their pride that caused them, right?
It was the pride in their own hearts that caused them to consider
themselves worthy of that preeminent position, right? These are the
Boanerges, the sons of thunder, right? These are men who are
passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ, and then it's, you know,
pride in the other disciples who hear what they're saying
that caused them to be upset and offended that these men would
say the things that they did, right? In both of them, there's
a sense of pride and a sense of, well, wait a minute. Why
should they be preeminent? Why shouldn't I be the preeminent
one here? So there's both sides, both parties. are working from pride in their
heart. And we know that pride is the
oldest sin that's recorded here in the scriptures, right? It
says Eve, she looked and it says that she saw it was a tree to
be desired to make one wise. Wow, I can be wise and know all
things like God, knowing good and evil. and evil, and that
stems from that pride in our hearts. And of the seven abominable
sins listed in Proverbs 6, verses 16 through 19, it begins, well,
it says, these six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are
an abomination unto him, and then it begins, a proud look. a proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord
among brethren." Those are all things that stem out of that
heart of pride that cause us to to sin and offend one another. So that proud face without is
a testament to the pride of the heart within. It reveals what's
in our heart. And so the scriptures show and
teach that pride is what keeps sinners from seeking God. it's
pride that keeps us. And it says it in Psalm 10 verse
4, the wicked through the pride of his countenance, right, that
which is outward but it's revealing what's inward, through the pride
of his countenance will not seek after God. God is not in all
his thoughts. So What we see there is God isn't
impressed or looking to our strength, or our might, or our wisdom,
or the things that we do, our works. God isn't looking to us
to do those things and then determining whether or not he's impressed
or receives us because all our works are wicked. It's actually
in spite of us that God receives us and accepts us because in
spite of us, in spite of our flesh and our dead works religion,
in spite of those things, he receives us because of Christ's
good work and the grace that he shows us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's how we are received. So his great love is for those
who need his son, who see that in their flesh they can't produce
anything that is good. They can't produce sufficiently
to please God. We're poor, bankrupt, guilty,
condemned sinners worthy who have earned hell and eternal
death. That's what we've earned is separation
from God. And so the Lord calls His people
and works that in them so that they have no confidence in the
flesh. They're brought to see their need of the Lord. They're
brought to see, I'm the sinner, I'm the one who's offended God,
and I need His mercy and His grace and forgiveness. He said
in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him. We believe in Christ
that they should not perish but have everlasting life. So it's our weakness and our
inability that causes us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
brings us to see I'm weak and I can't do these works. I can't
keep the law. I can't earn favor with God. We're brought to see that and
so He gives us that faith whereby we believe, lay hold of the Lord
Jesus Christ saying, Lord, I can't do this. But that's why you came
and you've done it all. You've worked perfect righteousness.
And he fixes that faith that he gives us. in the Son, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So if you think about it, it's
the strong and the mighty that don't think they need Christ,
because things are going well for them. They're doing what
they think they're supposed to be doing. But Paul, by the Spirit,
and if you turn over there in 2 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians
12, verses 9 and 10, Paul was sharing a prayer that
he had prayed. He had a thorn, an affliction
in his flesh, and he was praying, Lord, please take this thing
from me. And the Lord responds to him in 2 Corinthians 12, 9,
saying, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, he says,
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. And we see that, right, in our
own selves. When everything's going well,
how often do you pray? Or if you pray, how light and
flippant is it? How brief it is? How weak it
is? But when you're pressed and distressed
and you know I don't have sufficient for this work. I can't do what
needs to be done. Lord, I need your help." That's
when you begin to pray, and that's when you remember that He's God,
that He's all-sufficient, and it's in that weakness, that when
we're brought to see our weakness and our inability, that's when
we begin to groan and pray in the Spirit, and pray in Spirit
and in truth, and not just prayer because it's what we do and that's
what we see. So Christ became and he becomes
all to the sinner. He becomes all to them and so
we're brought to see our need of him. We're brought to see
that we can't do it but that he has done everything necessary
and therefore where we are to go to Him and trust in Him. And
so, that's where every sinner is brought, and that's where
you and I need to be brought. We need to be brought to see
our need of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He's the one who does
the saving, and that that saving is by grace, not because I've
earned it through my works and through turning my life around
to bring myself into a a place where God can receive me. He delivers us from that. Many
of us did that in false religion for a long time, getting myself
in the path of righteousness that I might be able to earn
or please God sufficiently so that then He might show me some
grace and some kindness in Him. we've got to be delivered from
that. So don't let pride keep you from thinking any differently
about yourself. You're to seek the Lord and beg
him for mercy and ask him to show you what is being said here
in the gospel, to show you your need of him, to bring you to
that weakness, that understanding that we are weak in ourselves,
unable to work righteousness, and to see the glory of the grace
of God shown to sinners in His Son, Jesus Christ. And so it's in Christ that we
are promised so great a salvation and deliverance from this death.
It's that pride and that sin that keeps us locked up in the
prison of our sin, in the prison of our pride so that we naturally
don't want to bow to Christ. We naturally want to say, I can
do this, I got this, and I can fix what's going on. But the
Laodiceans actually in Revelation 3 verse 17 where it's speaking
of the Laodicean Church, they were full of pride. They thought that they had things
all together and that they were working everything out. And the
Lord says, your works are neither hot nor cold. What you do is
lukewarm, and it's disgusting, and I'm going to spew you out
of my mouth. And he said, it's because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked. So the Lord's got to bring us
out of that prison of the proud heart to see I'm not altogether
lovely and good before the Lord. I'm not doing things well before
him in an acceptable manner and I can't do that. I can't turn
it around. I can't produce those works that
are pleasing to him. I desperately need the Lord Jesus
Christ because that's who he's provided for salvation of his
people. Alright, now that brings us to
our next point, looking at Christ's promise. Look again in verse
39, just a phrase and a few words in, and it says, Jesus said unto
them, to John and James, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that
I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with all,
ye shall be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and
on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to
them for whom it is prepared. Or I'm not just gonna pick out
who it is, but it's according to what God has given to me,
all those that God has given to me, for them it's prepared,
that's who's going to receive it. That's who's going to be
sitting with me in my glory. Now there is a sense in which
James and John did partake in the pattern of Christ's suffering.
There's a sense in which they did, right? It says of James
that Herod killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
And then John writes in Revelation, when he's recording Revelation
in the beginning, he's telling the brethren, I'm writing this
to you from the Isle of Patmos, where I've been exiled to because
of my confession of the word of Christ, because I believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So they suffered persecution. They did feel to some sense,
to some degree of that, but that's really not what Christ is saying. He says, you shall indeed. You
shall indeed drink the cup that I'm drinking. You shall indeed
be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with because
we did so in our substitute, in Christ, the substitute for
the sinner. He's the one who went there and
drank that cup of wrath that was what we earned and what was
our due. He drank that cup of wrath. He's
the one that was immersed in the fiery wrath of God being
poured out upon the sin, upon the sinner, which we should have
been bearing, but Christ bore it in our place as the substitute
of his people, bearing that which was theirs to bear. As the representative, Christ,
He died in our place that we might have life in Him and not
die that eternal death, that eternal separation from Holy
God. Now that substitutionary death
is spoken of in Isaiah 53. Turn over to Isaiah 53 and look
in verse 10. Verses 10 and 11. And here we speak of that, this
reveals to us that substitutionary debt that Christ died in our
place. Verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He bruised Christ. We deserved
it, but God bruised his son in our place. He hath put him to
grief, so that Christ died as the sinner." Right? He died in
the sinner's place, bearing the sins of his people, putting their
sin away, purging them of their sin by shedding his blood. Through his blood we are purged
and of the sin and God poured out his wrath upon him rather
than us bearing that eternally in hell separated from God for
our sins that we committed. So Christ bore that though he
himself is no sinner. He himself committed no sins.
He himself never did anything to offend God but obeyed him
in all things. So he dies in our place as the
sinner of his people. He dies in their place. And it
says, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see a seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in his hand, meaning God raised him
from the dead. And being raised, it says, verse
11, he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their sins, right? So that Christ, there was a specific
people described as many for whom Christ gave his life, for
whom Christ laid down his life. For that many, those people that
God gave him, he bore their sin and he put it away forever as
their substitute. So, looking at James and John,
at the sin which they committed, it shows us just how necessary
Christ's sacrifice is. How necessary it is because we
offend and do things that are wrong and offensive to our brethren
and sin against them. in many ways. And so Christ's
death is all the more necessary because we don't even understand
the degree to which we can be an offense to our brethren and
especially to God who is holy. I mean, He knows the things that
we commit overtly and the things that we commit even passively
in our hearts. what is the sinner to do? What are we to do therefore,
knowing what Christ has done, knowing what a guilty, wretched
sinner I am, what is the sinner to do? Well, look over in Psalm
116, verse 12. Psalm 116, verse 12. And the psalmist asks this question,
saying, Psalm 116, verse 12, What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? Seeing that God sent Christ,
his son, to do this work, what shall I render to him seeing
his benefits toward me? Verse 13 says, I will take the
cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. And what
he's saying is, We honor God believing on his son. We honor
the son believing on him, trusting him in the work that he did.
God said, I sent my son to do this work and to save my people.
We believe him. That's honoring to God. We're
saying, yes, Lord, you know my heart. You know I can't save
myself, but you've provided salvation, full, complete salvation in your
son. I believe you. Now, there are
those who hear this, who hear a little bit of religious things,
and they think, that's good that Christ did that, but they feel
inspired and motivated to work harder, to say, that's good,
but I think what God wants me to do is try harder, to turn
my life around, and be better, and be a little more religious,
and do certain things that will please Him. And what they're
actually doing, though, they think they're pleasing God in
doing that, in saying that, they're actually more offensive to God. Because what you're saying is,
you know, you did that work, Christ, but my works are just
as good, if not better, by the works that I do, by me trying
harder. I think that's what God means
for me to do. I don't think he means what he
says. I think he means I need to try harder. And what you're
really doing when you say that, when you look back to yourself
and say, thanks Christ, but no thanks. I'm going to try a little
harder to please God. You're saying, God, you're lying.
You said I can't do it, that I'm a sinner, but you're the
liar and I'm right. I'm going to show you and prove
to you that I can be better at what I'm doing. And you're also
taking the blood of Christ, pouring that on the ground and just trampling
over it and saying, I don't need that. I'm good enough to work
this righteousness and to please you. So the sinner, what they're
actually doing and saying, I'm going to try harder to please
God, they're actually saying, God, I hate you. I hate your
salvation. And I'm going to show you what
enmity I really have toward you. And I'm going to do it myself.
And you're not pleasing to God. God is saying, you can't do it. We are the sinners. We can't
work righteousness for Him. We can't follow the law. We can't do it consistently.
We offend it constantly. You've broken it in one area.
You've broken the whole thing. And He's told us that. And He's
not telling us that so that we try harder. He's telling us that
so that our mouths will be shut, that we would see the weakness
of ourselves and beg Him for mercy. calling upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. Take that cup of salvation and
say, Lord, have mercy upon me, and calling upon the Lord, asking
him for forgiveness and for his blood to wash us clean of our
sins, to give us a new heart, to cause us to walk in his ways. pleasing to him in Christ because
of Christ. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't keep going back to your own flesh and looking to your
works and yourself. So our works aren't honorable
to God. And this is what Christ said
in John 3 verses 19 and 20. He said this is the condemnation. That light, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the light of God, light has come into the world and men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hated the light, they hate Christ, neither cometh to the light,
they won't bow before him lest his deeds should be reproved.
Because God's going to show his people We're full of sin. We can't work that righteousness.
We need Christ's blood. We need his righteousness. And
then Christ says that by me alone, that's how you're accepted with
God. Verse 21, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light. He
that has the spirit of God working in them, they do truth. They
come to the light that our deeds may be made manifest that they
are wrought in God. That is, our faith, our believing,
our coming to Christ and crying out to Him for mercy, that's
showing that the Spirit of Christ is working that in us so that
we are given faith by Him and we believe it. We lay hold of
what Christ has done by faith. That faith is a gift of God.
It's all worked in us by the power and the glory of Christ. So in him, in Christ, the saints
drank that cup of wrath and in him the saints were immersed
in the fiery wrath of God. We were in Christ when he went
to the cross doing that work. Just like the animals who went
to the ark and Noah and his family went to the ark and were saved
in the ark when the When the rains fell and the floods came
up and destroyed all the earth, those that were in the ark were
protected. They are bearing that wrath of
God for them. They were safe and dry and protected
inside. So it is with Christ and the
believer. We are in Christ our ark, safe and protected from
the wrath of God. But we went through it, but he's
the one who bore it. And so it's all put away, believer.
You trust him. So because of Christ's work for
us and in us, through that regeneration, his spirit, the good works, they
do follow. That faith, that hope in him,
that trusting in him, they will follow. And he enables us to
hear his teaching. And so let's look at verse 42
through 44, because he's teaching his disciples this. After they
do that, it says, but Jesus called them to him. All right, they're
angry with the disciples. James and John say this, the
others are upset with them. He calls them to him and he saith
unto them, ye know that they which are counted to rule over
the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones
exercise authority upon them, but so shall it not be among
you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister. And whosoever of you will be
the chiefest shall be servant of all. Now it's only by Christ's
power, by His Spirit dwelling in us that we're able to hear
this by faith, with a heart and a willingness and a desire to
serve our brethren and to hear Christ and to serve Him. And
it's not that Christ fixes our broken hearts to help us to do
better in this, but rather He gives us a new heart. He gives
us his spirit. He makes us a new creature so
that as new creatures we hear the word and he makes us willing
to hear. It makes us wanting to grow in
this and not to be such an offense to our brethren. Not because
to get ourselves saved but because we want to be pleasing to him
and we want to be helpers of the joy of our brethren, right?
We want to be helpers of their joy. So Christ is saying that
true greatness is to be a servant in Christ's kingdom because ultimately
what we're all trying to do is we want to be able to hear the
gospel without distraction and that doesn't mean that we don't
have noises and that's not what I mean by that but that That
unity of mind, that oneness of mind is all that, you know what,
if I'm doing something that, again, because there's different
ways to do things, there's different ways to go about things, but
if I'm doing it this way and others are doing it that way,
what can we do to align ourselves and be of one mind that the gospel
may go forward and reach the hearts of his people in that
sense and so there's that that bearing with one another in faith
and long-suffering seeking the peace of one another because
we want one another to hear the gospel we want to be fed and
that's the motivator that's the motivation right it's just like
if someone drinks a lot and is a drunkard, but they come to
services, right? We're not calling them out and
saying, you need to stop drinking at night. Now, you know, but
because this is where they need to be to hear the gospel. Now
if they come in drunk and causing a disturbance that way, yes,
then you address that in that sense. So that's what I mean
by We want to hear the gospel. We want to be here where we hear
the gospel. And so if we do those things, from what I've seen from
the pastors, they never dealt with things in that public manner
like that because you don't want to be a, like, I don't want to
be a distraction to the gospel. I don't want to be the thing
that causes people not to hear the gospel. So we're trusting
him and working. That's what that one mind that
Paul is speaking of in Philippians, that one unity of mind, How can
we do this together and to hear the gospel? All right, now, another
thing that we see is that sometimes we get upset, right? Some of
us have certain gifts and certain abilities and we do them well. And then there's others that
don't have those gifts and those abilities and don't do those
things well. And the point is, we don't wanna get upset because
others don't have our gifts, right? Some of us do things or
we think we see how things can be done or improved, But we ought
never get upset because others don't see things the way we see
them, right? Remember, even Martha got upset
with Mary because Mary sat at Christ's feet wanting to hear
the gospel. And Mary, who was doing a good thing, she was serving
the brethren, right? And wanting to labor that the
brethren would be comfortable. And she said, Christ, Lord, speak
to Mary. She should be helping me in the
kitchen. Why am I doing all the work? And he said, well, actually,
she's doing the good thing. She's sitting at my feet and
hearing the gospel, and this isn't going to be taken away
from her. You know, we might have a gift
to serve in a certain capacity, but don't get upset with others
who don't have that same capacity or have that same burden, but
rather rejoice that, hey, I'm a part in the body that does
do this really well, and I'm gonna do it. Just trust in the
Lord, even if others don't see or are unable to do what I do.
Paul said it this way in Acts 20, verse 35. He said, I have
showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support
the weak. All right, because some of us
are weak in areas. And he says, support the weak,
and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how he
said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And so we are
called upon, because we're all weak in certain areas. We're
all a certain part of the body. And some of us have a certain
area in which we excel and other areas that we don't excel. And
we're to support one another and bear one another as one body
in that work. All right, now. Let me just,
in this final point here, the best thing that we can do is
keep looking to Christ. And that's what Christ does.
He turns our hearts to look to Him, who is our pattern, to look
at what He has done as our pattern of a servant. And so we can do
that by looking at how He served His brethren, how He served the
people. You think about it. This is the
glory of God. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
bodily in Christ. And He's among brethren that
are weak and that say things and do things and we have foolish
pride in our hearts and yet he loved them. And he served his
brethren. He served his people. And so
it wasn't because his people earned his love and earned his
favor, because we don't. But in spite of us doing things
to be offensive to him, he still served us and was very kind and
gracious to us. And that's a good word for us
to hear, who have brethren, because we're not perfect ourselves.
I'm not perfect. at all, and so it's good for
us to remember that in dealing with one another, that we're
not gonna earn one another's favor and love, but rather in
spite of who we are. We are who we are, and in spite
of that, we love them because Christ loved us, even though
I'm not perfect, and he didn't do it because I've earned it,
but rather in spite of me, and in mercy and in grace he did
it. So look at verse 45, Mark 10, 45. He says, for even the Son of
Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give his life a ransom for many. There's that word many again. So we're to strive to be like
Christ in dealing with our brethren, toward our brethren. John, this
one who wanted to be preeminent over his other brethren, he wrote
in his epistle, 1 John 2.6, he that saith that he abideth in
him, right, we who profess and confess to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, him ought himself also so to walk even as Christ
walked. We who confess Christ, we ought
to walk the way Christ walked toward us, if we confess Him. And so how did Christ walk? Well,
for time I won't read it, but it says after the Passover supper,
what did Christ do? He stood up, Him who is the Lord
and Master stood up, put an apron around His waist and went and
bowed down and washed the feet of the disciples and Judas was
sitting there too. Judas was even still there and
he washed the feet of the disciples and he cleaned them and so he
said, ye call me master and lord and ye say well for so I am. If I then your lord and master
have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet
for I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done
to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not
greater than his Lord, neither he that sent him. greater than
he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy
are ye if ye do them." So that one who deserved all our glory,
praise, and adoration was the one who bowed down and did that
work as a servant for his people. We see it there with the disciples,
and then of course we know that he did that on the cross. He
didn't need to go to the cross. He didn't do anything that earned
him a place on that cross, but he willingly went to the cross,
bearing the sins of his people as their servant. He served his
people, and bearing their iniquity, bearing their shame before holy
God, the Father, and he shed his precious blood to wash us
of our sins, to redeem us, and to make us our own. And he doesn't
owe us You don't have to do that at all. He did that willingly,
in grace and in mercy. to make us his own people in
perfect righteousness. And Peter said in 1 Peter 1,
18 through 20, for as much as you know you were not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you. So Christ gave
his life a ransom for many, for many. And you who believe, believe
Christ, you testify that God is true. You testify that Christ
is the faithful and true son and that you have no confidence
in the flesh when you call upon him and rest upon him for salvation. You've committed everything to
him knowing that we are his workmanship created in him. You that believe
them. and confess Him, trust Him, follow
Him, take up your cross, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ
calling upon Him. And in doing that, you testify
that you are the many for whom Christ shed His blood. And so
I pray the Lord will bless that word to our hearts. And He helps
us. He's the one that helps us and
enables us to hear that gospel word because we know it's not
in the flesh. This flesh doesn't do those things that please God.
He works his grace and mercy in us, so let's pray. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for the service that as a servant,
Lord, you came and did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
And Lord, in spite of the pride in our hearts, in spite of the
sinfulness that we are, Lord, we thank you for your great mercy
your care, your love, your willing service for us. And Lord, remembering
that, help us to remember that and help us to deal with one
another in that same tender spirit and heart, being willing to be
a servant and being willing to be helpers of the joy of our
brethren, even if it means that we don't get necessarily what we want
or what we think should be done but Lord we pray for peace and
unity and to be of one mind that we may grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ and that your gospel will
be established here in the hearts of your people and that it would
reach those as well around us and and those who hear us over
online that this gospel would would be heard by your people
in faith and in joy. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen.