If you would, turn to the book
of Mark again. Chapter 10. Believe it or not,
Paul, I was looking at that very bunch of scripture just this
week. And I thought, eh, I know, I'll
end up doing something else, but it's okay. Mark chapter 10,
and I wanna read verses 42 to 45. an attempt to bring a message
from there. Mark chapter 10 verse 42, but
Jesus called them to him and saith unto them, ye know that
they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles execute exercise
lordship over them and their great ones exercise authority
upon them. But 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. For even the Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. to give his
life a ransom for many Of course the title of this is
his life a ransom for many a ransom for many As looking at this in verse 42
and verse 43 I I see, actually, this is a secular
illustration that Christ is giving. This is a secular, it has to
do with the Gentiles and their government, and there are those
who are rulers over the Gentiles, and those rulers over the Gentiles
have rulers over them. But I see a lot of religion going
exactly this way. I see a lot that's wrong with
religion, with TV preachers, and others. Because there are
really big ministries that are guilty of this, there are little
ministries that are guilty of this. What Christ speaks of in
verse 42 and 43. And in fact, there are whole
denominations wrapped up this way. He called them and said, you
know, they which were accounted to rule over the Gentiles execute
lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority
upon them. This is the way of the Gentiles,
Christ is saying. There is a hierarchy in the Gentiles. There is structure. Like I said,
this is a secular, a non-religious example, and it doesn't matter
how this hierarchy is fixed. Whether it's by birth, by bloodline,
or by merit. This structure is there, that's
what Christ is saying. There are those in authority,
there are those above those who have that authority, and then
on the bottom there's us. That's usually the way it works.
Because usually I'm near the bottom, because I am a Gendile. Don't worry, I'm used to it. And I can pretty much speak for
everyone that is here. No one here is a captain of industry. We have no authority, but what
Christ is talking about, that's the way it is in the secular
world. What I want to say here also
is that's the way it is in the religious world around us. You
understand? Now I'm going to use the Catholic
church because it's the one I'm most familiar with. Okay. You
have priests. And they have authority over
the people. They may not want to claim it.
They may not boast of it so much where they're not in the majority.
But you understand, they can withhold a sacrament from you
by a decision they make. And they're taking authority
over people. But they also, those priests,
have bishops above them who are in charge of several priests.
And those bishops can take that priest here and put him over
there. They can do this. They can move them around. They can
shut places down without even anyone in the place being given
a voice into it. But above them, there are also
cardinals and above the cardinals is the Pope. They have this whole
religious hierarchy. Christ said, that's what the
Gentiles do. But then you read verse 43, but so shall it not
be among you. So, here's the thing. If it is
that way among you, you're wrong. I mean, is that hard logic? I
mean, is that not fair? They hate that word when you
use it against them. Isn't that fair? If Christ said, this is
not the way it's gonna be among my disciples, but this is the
way it is among you, something's wrong and it's not Jesus. Now, there is a hierarchy in
the body of Christ. In Christ's church, the true
church, there is a hierarchy. Do you wanna know what it is?
Come on, come on. Sure you do, sure you do. Here it is. The hierarchy is
Jesus is at the top. He's the head. He's the director. He is the supreme commander. He doesn't ask anybody anything. He commands and we do. And he will put it in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. He can make you like
it. Ain't that a wonderful thing?
I think that's just great. That's the hierarchy. Underneath
him is us. He's the top, we're the bottom.
We are, I wrote it down here, Christ is the head, we are what's
called the members. That's the whole structure of
Christ's church. Now, very carefully, let me,
there is no intermediate levels. from the foot to the head. You understand? The head gives direct orders
to the foot. He used the example, Paul used
the example of a human body. As the head goes, so goes the
body, if the body's able. Well, with this head, Jesus Christ,
trust me, that body is able to do exactly what he wants it to
do. There are no intermediate steps.
There is no priesthood in that manner. There is no bishops above
them. Now, there are other places of things that are supposed to
be done. But you understand, the preacher, and some preachers
like to think they have authority. What they have is responsibility.
We're not very responsible, but we do have a responsibility.
But some preachers like to think they have the authority to tell
the people of God exactly where to go and what to do. It's a
tricky thing and I don't know if I can really relate it. We
have the responsibility and we are given authority to speak
the truth of God from this book. Now if this book condemns you,
I can't help that. You understand? It's not me to
condemn anyone. There are judgments to be made,
yes, but I am not to make that judgment without anyone else.
It's in the mouth of two or three witnesses that things are established.
I don't make pronouncements, I'm here to preach the gospel.
I am what's called, and Walter is what's called, an under-shepherd.
Well, we are under shepherds. The under shepherd's job is to
feed the flock of God. And you are to feed them the
word of God. And what we try to do is point
you to Christ for everything. That's the hierarchy. You have
the head and then you have the members. and you don't get to
choose where you are. Membership or placement, you
don't get to choose. You didn't choose me, I chose
you, Christ said. And then he places you in the
body where he wants you and later on he may move you somewhere
else. It's been known to happen. But here's the point, if you
believe you are a member, and if you are a member, you are
a member exactly where Christ wants you. And he put you where you are. And there is no man between each
member, individual member, and Jesus Christ. No man. No man. Walter, you said it last
week. We are priests. We are priests
to our God. Individually, each individual
believer is a priest. I don't need a priesthood, I'm
part of one. He made me one. And why? Because of this, because of this,
being made a priest, we can boldly go before the throne of grace.
I don't need an intermediary between me and my intermediary.
He's the intermediary. He's the one that goes to the
father for me. I am in him. And in him, I am accepted in
the beloved. Because he is the beloved. And those whosoever will be great
shall minister, serve. Now this is a reaction of the
questions of James and John saying, can we sit on your right hand
and your left hand? And Christ said, no, that's what's already
given to somebody else. He says, you'll be able to drink
of the cup I drink of. But no, you can't sit on my right
hand and laugh at that. And here it is. This is the way
he has organized his church. This is the way he wants it.
And so, therefore, that is the way it is. Our God is in the heavens. He
has done whatsoever he had pleased. And that includes the organization
of his church. This, well, I'm not gonna go into that.
Then he told him this, he says, whosoever shall be a great, or
will be great, shall be a minister. You are going to have to minister
to others. And whosoever of you will be
the chiefest, what? Shall be servant of all. That's verse 44. And I looked
that up. Whosoever of you will be first,
chiefest, shall be the slave of all. That's what it is. It's
a bond slave. What a way to sell a position.
Who's going to apply to be a slave? That's all right. Jesus Christ
is not looking for applications. He is assigning them. If you're his member, you're
gonna be his member exactly where he wants you. And under the course of what
we call ministers, what we call preachers, okay? Jesus Christ
is also not accepting applications. What's it say? How shall they
preach except they be sent? I like what you said about that
a few weeks ago, Walter, months ago, whatever it was, my time
sense is not really good. We have a tendency, and it is
the tendency, especially around us, okay, we talk about being
in the ministry, being a preacher as a calling, that we were called
to the ministry. Well, according to Christ, the
Bible says we're sent. That's exactly what it says.
It never says we are called to be a preacher. It says you are
sent. And guess what? When you're sent,
you're gonna preach. I will confess I didn't really
want this position. I was not looking for it. And
yet here I am. I am emboldened by him. I endeavor to speak his words
because that's what I want to do. He put me here. I can't take credit for any of
it. He made me a member. He made me sit right there. In
Mapscott before that, down at Browns Road before that. But
now I'm standing here. We are the slaves, the bond slaves,
the love slaves of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherever he has put us
in his body. What does it say? What did Paul
say about it? He said, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. There is a difference between
the world and the church. There is a difference between
the religious world and the church. And it's just not the one the
world, even the religious world, is looking for. He says this, for even the Son
of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister to give
his life a ransom for many. For, that word of conclusion
and that word of purpose, even the Son of Man, Jesus Christ
is saying here, whoever of you is gonna be the chiefest shall
be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man, even
the Son of God, This is what Jesus Christ called himself in
Mark. You'll see it. The Son of Man this, Son of Man that.
He's the Son of God. God manifest in the flesh. Forget
about regular men. Even the Son of God came not
to be ministered unto. We get the negative first. That's
where he starts with this. This is where, I can tell you
where men want to start. They want to be preachers, they
want to be bishops, they want to be cardinals, they want to
be elders because they think they get to be in charge. No, not of his body. Now you can be in charge of various
assemblies. But no one's in charge of his
body except him. And he came into this world physically
as a man in the flesh, in the likeness of sinful flesh, but
not in sinful flesh. And he did not come to be ministered
unto." The only begotten well-beloved
son of God did not come here to get anything from man Because
he didn't need anything from man You understand even while he
was walking around in a body he is God manifest in the flesh
and Yes, He was a man. Yes, He is a man. Yes, He was
God. Yes, He is God. Yes, He ever
shall be God. He shall be God and man together.
He is seated at the right hand of the Father right now. And
up there, He does not need anything from man. While He walked on
this earth, He was and He is totally completely sovereignly
Self-sufficient He is complete We are complete
in him Because he is complete By him all things consist He's
complete He didn't come to be ministered unto. He didn't need
anything from man. What did he tell those women
at Jerusalem when he was carrying that cross? He said, weep not
for me. Weep not for me. Weep for yourselves. Our Lord had a ministry on this
planet. And he was fulfilling that ministry.
He didn't need to be ministered unto. He said, don't weep for
me, weep for yourselves. He didn't need anything for us.
He came, what say, but to minister. He came not to be ministered
unto, he came to minister. His ministry started on this
earth, as far as we're concerned, with his incarnation in his birth
it doesn't actually start there but starts before the foundation
of the world but this is where we start with his being god manifest
in the flesh on this planet and his actual ministry on this planet
but it actually start before that with his incarnation because
the angel told joseph he said call his name jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. There's a statement of purpose
of Jesus Christ being on this earth before he got here. Directly
to Joseph from an angel. He came to minister to his people. He shall save his people from
their sins. States and John, he came unto
his own, but his own received him not. But, but to as many as received
him, to as many as received him, they were born of God and sons of God. He came to minister,
not to be ministered unto. Last week, week four last, the
deaf, the blind, the lame, the leprous, the sick were healed. The dead were raised. He came
to minister. The poor have the gospel preached
unto them. He came to minister, not to be
ministered unto. He preached the poor. He preached
the gospel to the poor. His words were recorded for us. I just find this Amazing, glorious. The Lord of glory came down and
he didn't say, hey, look at me. He came to minister. He came
to minister. He didn't come for adulation.
Adulation came. He says, if these keep silent, the
rocks will cry out. Adulation came. He didn't need
it. He deserves it. He deserves all
glory, all honor, and he has all power. But he didn't need it. He came to save his people from
their sins. He came to minister unto us. I just think that's wonderful. But can I say this? I don't know. His ministry was not all. His ministry on earth was not enough because he throws
this one word in here and He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and. I love that word. It's a conjunction.
Okay. This word and is a conjunction
and what it does, it puts together, it combines separate things. That's the form of it. Okay.
I'm going to date myself a conjunction. hooks up words and phrases and
clauses and complex sentences. That's from that television commercial
they used to have in the 70s. I still remember that stuff.
Some days I can't remember my name, but I still got that stuff
in there. Take two or more separate things
and it combines them together. So his ministry, his ministering,
and his life, a ransom for many, are two things. but they are
combined together as one in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ spoke of combining
his ministry, his life in a way, and the giving of his life. The best illustration of the
word and Think in Scripture for me the one that sticks out To
illustrate this just a little bit more is in 1st Corinthians
1 in verse 30 When it says but of him are ye in Christ Jesus?
Who of God is made unto us and this is the way it is in the
Greek wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
You have four separate things there combined together with
that word and. And you know what? Now, since he's combined them,
you can't separate them. You understand? He's combined
them. I didn't combine them. I didn't combine them. You understand?
He didn't give us wisdom so we could learn how to justify ourselves.
No, he's wisdom and justification. They're combined together. They
are one thing. And guess what? They are in one
man. The man Christ Jesus. He is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's all. And it's all combined
together with that little word and. I like that. These are four
separate things and we must have all four. We gotta have all four. But they're all in Him. They're
all in one. He has made them unto us by God
Himself. He is all we need and He is everything
we need. And what we need is His ministry
and His life, a ransom for many. Those two things are one thing
he's combined together. This by his own mouth spoken
is a combination of his works, his ministry and his giving his
life for ransom for many. And then it says to give. his life and to give his life
a ransom for many. He came to minister, but here's
his ministry at the other part of it. Like I said, you can't
separate these two things now. He's put them together to give,
to give, to give. And I'll tell you this, the religious
world all around us is concerned with to get. That ain't where
the ministry's at. That's not where the ministry
is to be. The ministry is to give. And
it's his ministry. He came to minister and he came
to give, and he came to give. And that's actually what ministering
entails. giving. The natural man looks
for what he can get. I quoted this statement to a
guy at work the other day. I was joking, however. On my
honor to do my best to take what they give me and steal the rest.
That's the way of this world. And I did mean it as a joke.
But you understand, every natural man gets that joke. because that's what we all are
naturally by birth, is thieves. Whether we steal or not, we're
still a thief. That's the thing, the religious
world, you know, even if we didn't sin, we're still sinners. Sinners,
what we are. Sin's what we do. And we do do
it. Sometimes we may be too dumb
to know what we're doing, but that doesn't excuse the behavior.
That doesn't remove the offense. Ignorance is no excuse, not with
God. That's the way it is. Because very carefully, we don't
get, he gives. We. the ones with a need you
understand we need to be ministered unto we need him to give because
we don't have and here in this express and
this express he gives his life and this expressed in explanation
in this statement Gives his life now. It's said in the future
tense here. We look back on it as he gave his life a ransom
for many He's done it and he's only done it once once once once
and that's all he ever will do it and Lord came to die a substitutionary
Satisfactory Redemptive death It is by his death by his giving
his life and his resurrection that we are given given life faith and hope and anything else
good you want to throw on there and fellowship He gave his life a ransom for
many Now I looked at that word ransom a ransom is a payment
for one person paid by another person and A debt is owed by
one, but it can only be paid by another. The reason you have
a ransom on you is because you can't pay. If you could have
paid, you wouldn't have a ransom on you. This is not talking about
kidnapping, which is what we deal with in this, with this
word, okay? This is a legal, real debt. That debt. is death. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's our death. And we surely
sinneth because we are surely sinners. Literally, the word ransom means
too loose for a price. ransom paid sets the debtor free hmm I believe there's something
about that about let me say if the Sun makes you free you'll
be free indeed and that scripture yeah it is yeah it is We have
offended God himself, and we actually do owe him a debt, which
we cannot pay. My blood being shed is not even
going to help me. It's surely not going to help
you. My giving my life for a ransom ain't going to work for me, much
less for many. But oh, this man's life did.
This man, Jesus Christ, the ransom sets the debtor free when it
is paid. He paid it 2,000 years ago. 2,000 years ago. A life for a
life, or actually in this case, the life for the life of many. That's the ransom. He gave his
life a ransom. Only his righteous, holy, substitutionary
life would be acceptable to the father. He who was without sin took our
sin upon Him and in Him. God made Him to be sin, not because
He needed to be made sin. He made Him to be sin for us.
He made Him a curse. What? For us. He gave His life a ransom. There was a debt owed and by
his life, given his death. That debt is paid. And I don't know how to be any
plainer than that. That is called redemption. He has redeemed us. He has purchased us. He has ransomed
us. The life for the life of many. And these last two words here
are the worst words of all, Mason. These are two very dangerous
words. For many. I'm gonna tell you something,
the world hates that worse than anything. Those two words, for
many. He gave himself a ransom for
many. Because they want, the world
wants, the religious world especially, wants it to say, he gave himself
a ransom for all. And for all men, every single
man in particular. And that is not even close to
what this says. You understand, these two words,
they choke the world. They've choked more people than
bad milk. People will just get enraged. over these two words,
because if you really want to offend, this is the point you
go to. This is the part, the world,
religious and secular. Now, the religious much worse,
but religious and secular, they both hate the fact that God has
a particular people. They hate that. I mean, they
hate that with a passion. It is unbelievable, unless you've
seen it, and then it's all too believable. Jesus Christ gave his life a
ransom for many. That's exactly what it says.
And there's a reason Paul called it the election of grace. The many didn't have anything
to do with it. It's him giving his life a ransom
for many. Not because the many earned it.
not because the many deserved it. He came to save his people
from their sins. Now, understand, the angel told
Joseph that before Jesus ever got here. You mean he had a people before
he was born? Oh yeah. Yeah. That's exactly what I mean. They
were his people before he was born on this earth. They were
his people after he was born on this earth. They are his people
now that he's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Man hates that L in Tulip, they
really do. But let me show you something,
John chapter 10, just very quickly, won't take long. I hope. See, there's this thing about
the good shepherd. And everybody loves a good shepherd.
And there's pictures all over the place of Jesus with a little
staff and a sheep under his arm, you know, maybe one on his shoulders,
which is the way the parable is spoken. But this is what Christ
actually said. Verse 11 of John chapter 10,
he says this, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. That's just plain. Now what can
you infer from that? What can be implied from that? Whichever way it goes, I always
forget that. Well, I think that the good shepherd
did not give his life for the goats. He gave his life for the sheep. Verse 15, he repeated himself. As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I laid down my life for the sheep. The next verse says this. Other
sheep I have. What? Which are not of this fold. What? Them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice. and
there shall be one foal and one shepherd. Now that ends italicized,
but I can tell you this. You can't separate the shepherd
from his foal either. You are not gonna separate the
good shepherd from the sheep ever, ever. Isaiah 53 says this. He shall see the travail of the
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many For he shall bear their iniquities There's
that word many again And guess what that many is tied to their
iniquities. Oh Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong because he had poured out his soul unto death and was
numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many many
and made intercession for the transgressors This whole little explanation
I gave on that conjunction and was to say this one thing I and
I hopefully can say it correctly. You, me, no one can separate
his ministry and his life and his work on this earth from his
ransom for many. It's all one thing, you understand? They're all combined together.
They cannot be separated. We can study them separately.
We can study his wisdom, his righteousness, his sanctification,
his redemption, but it's all in him and it's all inclusive.
You cannot separate that from his death, burial, and resurrection. You cannot separate his wisdom
and his righteousness and his sanctification and his redemption
from his life. A ransom for many. It cannot
be done. Wait a minute. Wait for it. Honestly. Honestly. It can be done deceitfully. It can be done deceitfully. There
are people lying about God all around us. But he came, he came to give
his life a ransom for many. And in a very, very, very, very
real sense, he has saved his people from their sins right
now. He's just bringing in many sons
to glory right now. Just like he's bringing in sheep
that are already sheep, He's bringing in sons that are already
sons. You're going from that small child to that adoption
of a full age. And how did he do it? He gave
his life a ransom for many. And if you're one of his, your
debt is paid in full. And you are loosed. You are free. You are loosed to follow him. And you will follow him. My sheep
hear my voice, and a stranger they won't follow. They'll follow
him. Why? Because he's the one that
has loosed you by paying your debt. Because he's ransomed you. He's
paid it in full and you don't owe it anymore. None of it. Thanks to him. Our father. Thank you for everything. Thank you for your son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, for all you've done, for all you're doing and
for all you shall do. Thank you. Be with Walter as
he comes to preach your gospel. Be with us as we hear. And we'll
give you the praise and the honor and the glory because it is yours
now and forever. Amen.