Well, good morning. It's so good
to be able to see everybody, to actually lay eyes on everybody.
This is the first Sunday of the year it hadn't snowed. So, I
am very, very happy about that. If you would open your Bibles
with me to Mark chapter nine, that's where our lesson will
be from this morning. Mark chapter nine. Before we begin, let's
bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our Father, how thankful we are
that you've given us this opportunity to one more time meet together
with our brothers and our sisters and to worship your matchless
name. Father, I pray that you would
this morning enable us to worship you in spirit and in truth, that
this be a true worship service, not just a religious ceremony,
but a true worship service. that you'd be pleased to speak
to us through your word, by your spirit, and Father, enable us
to by faith see the Lord Jesus Christ in awe and wonder, worship
him, bow at his feet, begging for mercy. Let his name be exalted. Let your people be laid low in
the dust that we might be found calling
on him, worshiping him, trusting him and him alone, that we may
be found in Christ. Father, bless us in this hour
as we look into your word. I pray that you bless our children's
classes in a very special way, that you'd be with our teachers
as they teach and our children as they hear. Father, enable
them to be like young Timothy, that from a child they've been
taught the holy scriptures, which are able to make them wise into
salvation. We pray that you would Plant
the seeds of faith in their heart and cause it to grow, Father,
according to thy will and in thy time. We pray that you would
be with those who are away from us, who can't be with us, who
are traveling, Father, we pray you'd be with them, and your
people that you brought in the time of trouble and trial. Father,
we know these things are not accidental, but according to
your eternal will and purpose, and we pray that you'd comfort
their hearts. for this time that you've seen fit to put them in
the valley, that you would deliver them as soon as it could be thy
will. In all these things we ask and we give thanks in that
name which is above every name, the precious name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. For his sake and his glory we
pray, amen. Now titled our lesson this morning,
The Lord Teaches His Disciples. Now the Lord's gonna teach his
disciples as they're walking. They're walking through Galilee,
and as they walked, the Lord taught them. And there are four
very important lessons that the Lord taught his disciples. And
these four lessons are at the very heart of the gospel. And
it's my prayer that the Lord will teach us this morning like
he taught his disciples years ago as they walked. And the first
point is this. Almighty God has an elect people. Look at verse 30 of Mark chapter
nine. And as they departed thence and
passed through Galilee, he would not that any man should know
it for he taught his disciples. And he said unto them, the son
of man is delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill
him. And after that he is killed,
he shall rise the third day. Now the Lord told his disciples,
don't make it known that I'm passing through. Don't, don't
tell people. Because the Lord of Glory was not seeking publicity
for himself. He wasn't trying to find validation
by having a large following. But as they walked, the Lord
did teach somebody. He taught his disciples. They're
just a small number, but the Lord taught them. And that small
number of followers is the Lord's elect. These ones that the Lord
chose and called out to follow him. You know, the Lord only
ever teaches his elect. Now there are many people who
hear the gospel preached, but the only people that the Lord
teaches in the heart are his elect. The Lord is pleased to
reveal himself in the gospel to his elect. And he's pleased
to hide himself in the gospel from those who think that they're
wise. Let me show you that. Look back at Matthew chapter
11. Matthew chapter 11, verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
you revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, and no man knoweth a son, but the father. Neither
knoweth any man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. Now who is it that the son will
reveal the father to? The foolish and the babes. They're
a small number. They don't have a lot of recognition
from the world. They're babes. But they're God's
elect, and that's who the Lord's gonna teach. You know, as the
Lord walked through here with his disciples, he told them,
don't tell anybody that I'm here. You know, he wasn't trying to
get a large following of goats. You know, that's always a very
serious warning to congregations that are trying to, is there
active, Number one goal whatever to increase their numbers. You
will be careful. It's a whole lot easier to attract
goats You can build up a large following of goats and the Lord
was only seeking his sheep Now apparently there were no lost
sheep in this area at this time whose time had come for the Lord
to reveal himself to him But the Lord did have an elect people
in this area His disciples and that's who he was teaching and
the lesson that the Lord teaches is himself. He's teaching Christ
and him crucified. What did he accomplish in his
death, his burial, and his resurrection? One of my favorite John Chapman
quotes is this, Christ is the teacher and Christ is the lesson. Here the Lord is the teacher
and he's teaching his people and he teaches them what he's
going to do for his people. In verse 31, he taught his disciples
and said unto them, The son of man is delivered into the hands
of men and they shall kill him. And after that he's killed, he
shall rise the third day. The Lord is teaching them what
it is that he's going to do and what it is he's going to accomplish
in just a very short period of time. And the disciples didn't
understand. Look at verse 32, but they understood
not that saying, and they were afraid to ask him. They did not
understand what the Lord was teaching. but they will later
on. They will later on. Look over
at John chapter 12. You know, it's a good thing for us
to remember this, to be patient with ourselves. It's easier to
be patient with ourselves, but to be patient with our brethren.
You know, the Lord just doesn't teach us everything at once.
Something we may not understand now, the Lord could be pleased
to teach us and we'll understand it later. That's what happened
with the disciples. John 12 verse 16. These things
understood not his disciples at the first, but when Jesus
was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written
of him, that he had done these things unto him. They understood
later because God's elect are always taught of God. And the
thing that they learn, the lesson that they learn is Christ. Now don't graduate past that.
We learn Christ. people start to become, find
themselves in trouble and arguments and confrontations and all these
things. When you go past Christ, when you go past things that
are not clearly revealed in scripture, let's just keep looking to him. He's the one, he's the lesson,
and he's the one that's gonna teach us. Now you know this,
if the Lord's gonna save you, if the Lord's gonna reveal himself
to you, he's gonna do it through the gospel. and you're gonna
hear it from the lips of another sinful man. But if the Lord intends
to save you, the Holy Spirit's gonna teach you it. He's gonna
teach you so that you are given faith in Christ. I promise you
if you're one of the sheep, the Lord will teach you. Let me show
you that in John chapter 17. The Lord himself will teach you. John 17 verse six. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. I've manifested,
I've taught those, the elect, those that you gave me, I manifested
them so that they know you. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me and they've kept thy word. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. How do
they know that? For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me. And they have received them and
have known surely that I came out from thee. And they believed
that thou did send me. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they
are thine. See, the Lord always teaches
his elect. And when the Lord teaches them,
it's not just had knowledge, is it? He gives them faith. It's faith to believe. All right,
the Lord's gonna teach all of his elect. He's the one that's
gonna teach them. How do I know if I've been taught
of Christ? How do I know that I've not just
been taught a head knowledge of religion, because that's what
I've always been taught, so how do I know I'm not just giving
mental assent to something that somebody is teaching me? How
do I know if Christ has taught me? How do I know? Well, look
at John chapter six. There's a very plain, simple
answer to this. John chapter six. Verse 45. It's written in the prophets,
and they should be all taught of God. Now here, if you're taught
of God, here's what you'll do, what you believe. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. If God the Holy Spirit has taught
you, you come to Christ. You believe Christ. You trust
him to be your all. That's how you know if God has
taught you or not. God's electing love. God has
to elect people and he's gonna teach those people. He's gonna
give them faith in Christ and unite them to Christ and bring
them to Christ. God's electing love gives a sinner
like me a hope of salvation. I would have no hope of salvation
if it was up to me by nature to choose God. But if God chose
sinners to save, Sean, that gives me hope. Now there's room for
me there. God's electing love gives a sinner
a hope of salvation. All right, the second lesson
is this. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sovereign savior. Back in our text, verse 31, Mark
9. He said, the son of man is delivered
into the hands of men and they shall kill him. And after that
he's killed, he shall rise the third day. Now you notice how
the Lord says this, the son of man is delivered into the hands
of men. Now that's not gonna happen for
some time yet. Here they are walking through
Galilee and the Lord says he is delivered into the hands of
men. He didn't say he will be delivered into the hands of men.
He is delivered. The Lord's speaking like this
is something that's already been done. Well, you know what? It has. In the purpose of God,
it has, hasn't it? You know, the purpose of God
is just as sure as a past act of God. The Savior's saying he
is delivered into the hands of men because this is his will
that must happen. You know, it's really comforting
to think about this. This is not just a point of doctrine
that separates us from other forms of religion. This is such
a comforting truth. Our Savior is sovereign over
every event in this creation, everything. He's sovereign over
every son of Adam. The Savior said the Son of Man
is delivered into the hands of men. Now that simple statement
is a clear display of the sovereignty of our Savior. The Lord wasn't
taken by sinful men. The Lord is delivered into the
hands of men. The Lord Jesus Christ went to
the cross willingly. He went to the cross because
it was his will, not because it was the will of the Jews or
the will of the Romans. Christ was taken and crucified
for the sin of his people because it was his will that that happened. It was his will. If the Lord
had not gone willingly, that mob never could have taken him.
I don't care how big they were, they never could have taken him.
When Judas led that mob to take the Lord, and the Lord asked
him, who you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said his name, I am. And every one of them fell flat
on their back. They're not taking him unless he allows it, unless
he delivers himself into their hands. They were powerless to
do anything unless the Lord enabled them to do it. You're the only
way the Jews and the Romans could have possibly done everything
that they did was it was his will that they do it. I mean,
Pilate desperately wanted to let the Lord Jesus go. He felt
like this is a political landmine. I need to get out of this situation,
I need to get away from this thing. And he told the Lord,
don't you know I got power to crucify you, power to let you
go? And the Lord said, no you don't. You can only do what the
Father's willed for you to do. You can only do what I've willed
for you to do. You're not the ones in control
here. I am, my will is being done here. And you see that so
clearly because the Lord says after that he's killed, he shall
rise again the third day. Now it was his will that he be
taken, he be killed, he be sacrificed. And then he says, three days
later, I'm going to rise from the dead. I want to tell you,
you've got sovereign power. If you can raise yourself from
the dead after somebody kills you. I mean, you talk about power. Even when his body's dead, he
has power over everything. Now this is the Savior's power.
He willingly gave himself into the hands of men so they would
do exactly what he willed for them to do. When they did everything
they wanted to do, what did Peter said happened? You did what God
determined before it be done. You did what God willed to be
done. After they did everything that
the Lord willed for them to do, boy, they did it to a T, didn't
they? The Lord prophesied in the Old Testament what they'd
do to him. and they did everything just exactly like the Old Testament
prophesied. And three days later, after that
sacrifice for sin, God the Father used those sinful men who had
sinful motive, hateful motives in their heart to accomplish
God's goodwill. They did what they did so there'd
be a sacrifice for sin, so that there'd be bloodshed for God's
elect. God used them, those wicked men,
to accomplish his goodwill. And then three days after they
killed him, the Lord raised himself from the dead. Now that shows
us our Lord's physical power, doesn't it? Power over physical
matter. He raised himself from the dead.
But this also shows us Christ's power over sin. The Lord willingly
made himself a sacrifice for the sin of his people. You know
why? He's the only one that could
do it. It was the Father's will that the Son redeem his people
from their sin. Christ came to do it because
he's the only one that could. He's the only one that could
please his father in that way. When the father elected a people
to save, he gave them to his son and his son loved those people. He calls them his bride. He loved
them. Now they're lost in sin. The
only way they can be redeemed, the only way they could be cleansed
from their sin is by the blood of Christ's sacrifice. So he
willingly sacrificed himself for the sin of his people because
there's power in his blood. There's power in his blood to
cleanse from all sin. The blood of God's son is so
precious that it paid the sin debt of a number no man can number. Now that's how powerful his blood
is. And you say now, That sounds
good, but how do you know that's true? How do you know that really
happened? How do you know that the death
of Christ really put away the sin of all of his people? Because
three days later he was raised from the dead. If the Father
made him sin for his people, he took all of the sin of his
elect and laid it on Christ. Made the Lord Jesus guilty of
all that sin. Even though he never committed
a sin, he made him guilty. And he slaughtered him in justice
for it. If there was one sin left on him that his blood did
not cleanse away, he never could have been raised from the dead
because sin demands death. But Christ rose from the dead
because his blood put away all of the sin of all of his elect. Now that's his power over sin. You try to I mean, there's no
way we can really understand this with our human mind, but
to understand his power over sin, just try to not think a
sinful thought in the next second. As soon as I said, don't think
a sinful thought, our minds automatically thought a sinful thought. I mean,
even if we thought, well, I won't sin. I mean, we have no power
over sin, none. That's why our bodies are falling
apart, decaying, and dying. Because of sin. We have no power
to stop it. Our Lord, our Savior, has such
power over sin, He made the sin of His people to be gone. So
it doesn't exist anymore. I know we see our sin, but the
Father says He doesn't. There's sins and iniquities why
I remember no more. I've cast it behind my back.
Now since the Lord Jesus Christ has that kind of power, I've
got no doubt he can save a sinner like me. If he can save a sinner
like me, he can save a sinner like you. That's why we preach
him. I love to be able to trust a
savior who has all power in heaven and earth and hell and all the
deep places. It's comforting to know there's no power that
exists that can take me away from Christ. Now since the Lord
Jesus Christ has the power over sin, to put that sin away, tell
you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna beg him for mercy. I'm gonna
beg him to save me. I hope you will too. All right,
here's the third lesson. Christ came to die as a substitute
for his people. Now the father, this is plain
all throughout scripture that the father elected a people to
be saved. It was his will that they be
cleansed from all of their sins. That's the only way they can
be brought into his presence, isn't it? If their sin is gone.
God can't accept somebody in their sin in his presence. But
if a sinful people is going to be saved, they were fallen in
Adam. They became sinners in Adam. If a sinful people is going
to be saved, a substitute has got to come in their place. A
substitute, a representative man has to obey the law. A substitute
must die in their place to put their sin away because they can't
do it. Listen to a few scriptures. 2 Corinthians 5.21 For he hath
made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Galatians 3.13 Christ hath delivered
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Now
who are the us and the we in those verses? They're God's elect. They're God's elect. Now again,
that gives a sinner like me hope. Christ put the sin of somebody
away in justice. In justice. His death satisfied
God's justice. Could be one of those people's
me. Might be. Tell you what, there's
one way to find out. Go to Him and beg Him for mercy.
Go to Him and beg Him, Lord, You saved a people. I have no
doubt about that. Lord, would You save me? Lord,
forgive my sin. Lord, wash me in Your blood. Christ came to suffer and die,
put away the sin of God's elect. Now, I'm telling you, that's
the greatest story that's ever been told. You know, there are
people that say, well, that's a bad story because, you know,
Christ came to shut some people out. No, sir, He did not. You
know, they say, well, Christ only died for his elect. You
know, that means somebody is going to want to be saved and
can't. No, sir. No, sir. Left to our own devices and our
own nature. Not one of us would ever want
to be saved on God's terms. The only hope that we have is
Christ came to suffer and die to put away the sin of a specific
exact people. And that specific exact people
shall be saved. They will be given eternal life
because of the death of Christ. The death of Christ accomplished
everything that a sinner needs. And we don't have time to turn
to all these verses. You can jot them down if you want, but
just let me read these verses to you to show you that the death
of Christ accomplished everything a sinner needs. Christ voluntarily
laid down his life as a sacrifice for the sin of his people, and
those people shall be saved. John 10, verse 15, I lay down
my life for who? The sheep, the sheep. And he said, other sheep I have
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. There should
be one fold and one shepherd. Now, how is it that he must bring
all those sheep so there's one fold and one shepherd? Because
his death put away all their sin. That's why. The death of
Christ justified his people. His death made those people to
have no sin. Romans five, verse nine. Much
more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. And how's a sinner justified
from our sin? Justified by his blood, washed in the blood of
Christ. Since Christ died as a substitute
for his people, they can never be condemned. If Christ died
for you, you have absolutely no reason to fear dying and facing
God in judgment. None whatsoever. Because if Christ
died for you, you cannot be condemned. Romans 8, 34. Who is he that
condemn it? It's Christ that died. If Christ
died for you, you have no sin. There's no possibility you can
be condemned because Christ was condemned in your place. Since
Christ died for his people, their sin is forgiven. And when God
forgives sin, he doesn't ignore sin. He doesn't say, well, I'll
forgive you. I'll just pretend you didn't do it. No, God forgives
sin because there's no sin left to charge. Now we know this from
scripture, without shedding of blood is no remission. But the
whole Old Testament showed us this, animal blood won't do it.
Our sinful human blood won't do it. So Christ came to shed
his precious sinless blood. Paul said in Ephesians 1 verse
7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin. The forgiveness of sin. Our sin
is forgiven in the blood of Christ because his blood made it, so
there's nothing left for the father to charge his people with? The death of Christ gave his
people peace with God. Now you know why by nature we
don't have peace with God? And even unregenerate people
who have never really heard the gospel know there's a problem
between me and God. That's where this phrase came
up, I made my peace with God. You know why we're not at peace
with God? Because we declared war on God. We're the ones that declared
war on God, but Christ came to make peace with God for his people. Colossians 1 verse 20, having
made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things unto himself. The blood of Christ made it so
that the father is not angry anymore. The reason for him to
be, his blood removed the sin that made God angry. And when
God the Holy Spirit applies his blood to your heart, you have
peace with God. You're not fighting against God
anymore either. We don't make our peace with
God, do we? God the Holy Spirit does. He applies the blood of
Christ and gives us peace. Oh, how precious is peace with
God. that God's not angry and you're
not either. You're a loving, willing subject
of Christ the King. Then the death of Christ made
his people holy. Hebrews 10.10, by the witch will
we're sanctified, we're made holy, how? Through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And I sum it all up
by saying this, the death of Christ undid for his people everything
Adam did to him. You know, when Adam sinned, Adam
fell, he was thrust out of the garden, thrust out of the presence
of God, and we can't come back. Christ died to bring his people
back to God. 1 Peter 3, 18. Christ also has
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that what? He
might bring us to God. And he'd bring us to God accepted,
because we have no more sin. And then the last thing, the
death of Christ gives his people the theme of the song in heaven. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. The death of Christ is everything
we needed. And here's the last lesson the Savior taught. He
taught himself who was raised again from the dead. Now the
resurrection of Christ is so important. There's no gospel
without it. The word gospel means good news. The death of Christ would be
meaningless. We'd have no good news for sinners
unless Christ was raised from the dead on the third day. Again,
just listen to these scriptures. They give us some idea of what
the resurrection of Christ means to his people. The resurrection
of Christ lets us know Our Savior is the Son of God. He's God and
He's to be worshiped. Romans 1 verse 4, declared to
be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection of the dead. Christ being raised from the
dead shows us He's King, He's God. Now bow to Him in worship. The resurrection of Christ is
the assurance that all of the sin of all of God's elect is
gone. Romans 4 verse 25, who was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. I say
it again, if Christ died for you, you rest easy. Your sin's gone. The resurrection
of Christ gives his people a good hope of the resurrection of these
bodies. You know, the resurrection tells
us, again, this is such good news, as you go through this
life with all of this ugh of the world, There is something
a whole lot better than this life and these bodies for God's
elect. Romans 6 verse 5. For if we've
been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection. These bodies are
gonna be resurrected. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15
verse 21. For since by man came death,
By man came also the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now you who
believe, now listen to me here. There is no reason whatsoever
to fear death, the death of these bodies. To be absent from the
body is to be present with the Lord, and there's no reason at
all to fear your body lying in the grave. you're not gonna be
there long. The Lord's coming and he's gonna
raise all of his people in his likeness. When your body goes
into the grave, it's gonna go into the grave as the dust of
this earth. When the Lord raises it from
the dead, it's gonna be a body made just like Christ's. And
the reason you know that so is Christ was resurrected from the
dead. He's the first fruits and all of his people will follow.
The resurrection of Christ guarantees that his people will face no
condemnation. Romans 8 verse 34, who is he
that condemned? His Christ that died, yea rather
than is risen again. See he died and rose again, that's
our hope. Who's even at the right hand
of God who also maketh intercession for us. If the Savior suffered
and died and rose again, Send him back to glory, seated on
the Father's right hand, is making intercession for you. Tell you
what he's pleading, he's pleading his blood, his death, his sacrifice,
his life, his obedience, he's pleading that for you. The Father
will always accept it. So there's no reason to fear
condemnation. The resurrection of Christ assures us this, that
our Savior is King, who has preeminence over everything. Colossians 1
verse 18, He is the head of the body. The church, who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that, here's why he
went through all that. In all things, he might have
the preeminence. Now if your savior has all preeminence,
you don't ever have to worry that you're gonna lose your salvation,
that you're gonna slip through his fingers and be lost. Our
savior ensures that all of his people shall be saved They shall
be glorified together with you. It guarantees it. Now those are
four very important lessons, and I pray the Lord will teach
them to our hearts so that we believe them. Not just know them
up here, but believe them. All right, Lord bless you.