Mark chapter 10 and verse 32. We're speaking about the Lord
Jesus Christ and his disciples. And they were in the way going
up to Jerusalem. And Jesus went before them. And
they were amazed. And as they followed, they were
afraid. And he took again the twelve
and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying,
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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Nothing that our Lord Jesus Christ
did in his life and in his ministry is without significance. Nothing that is recorded for
us in the Word of God concerning our Lord Jesus Christ is without
significance. Nor is it without blessing for
his people. to dwell upon, to meditate upon,
to consider and reflect on. Everything about the Lord Jesus
Christ conveys a meaning to us. Take, for example, his words. Everything that proceeded out
of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ is what we live by and
live upon in our souls, in our spirits. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself said that every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God is what we live by. Think about the character of
the Lord Jesus. Think about the attributes of
the Lord, his knowledge. His example, his patience, his
love, his grace to men and women, his accessibility to those little
children. his willingness to stoop to the
lowest in society, all the observations and insights that he made. All of these instructed his disciples,
and through them, and their recording of them, instruct his people
of all ages. His actions, His activities,
His deeds, His accomplishments. We see all our salvation wrapped
up and set forth in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the
eternal purpose of God. We see Him, the Lord Jesus, as
our great prophet, revealing the Father in the things that
He declared concerning Him. when he preached his gospel.
Then we see the Lord Jesus Christ as our great high priest, propitiating
and pleasing the Father, God, when he went to the cross. We
see the Lord Jesus Christ ruling over all things as very God,
king in his kingdom, triumphing over his enemies and ours. We see him reigning in his church.
We see the works of his hands and the miracles that he performed,
the healings of the bodies and souls of men and women as the
great physician. We see him quickening the dead. We see him bringing both men
and women, boys and girls who were physically dead to life.
and we see him bringing the spiritually dead to life. We see him who
knows men's minds and knows men's hearts. We see him ordering and
controlling the very laws of nature, the wind and the sea. We see him controlling and governing
the clay of the ground and the sun in the sky. And all of these
things teach us something about the Lord Jesus Christ and teach
us about his glory. But here's the point that I want
you to remember today. Even the incidental or the apparently
incidental actions must not go unnoticed. If Mark and he is
not alone, tells us emphatically that on this journey of the Lord
Jesus and his disciples up on the road to Jerusalem, where
Jesus would be crucified, that if on this journey Jesus went
before them, We must not let that fact pass us by, as though
it is in some way a trivial observation, for it is not. If that fact,
registered with the apostles as it did, and is recounted to
us by the Gospel writers as it is, then we ought to take notice
of it as well. Jesus, on the road to Jerusalem
where he would be killed, where he would suffer, Jesus went before
his disciples. Now, I hope you've managed to
have time to read the observations that we made in the little sermon
introduction that I sent out yesterday. because we drew attention
there to the fact that the Lord went before them. And we attributed
the fact that the Lord went before his disciples to the zeal of
the Lord. We reminded ourself that it has
always been the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ to be about
his father's business and that the whole of Christ's life was
zealous to this end that he would save his people from their sins. He always had in view his church. He always had in mind his bride. And that zeal of the Lord, born
out of love, motivated and affected the whole of the Lord's life. Everything he said, everything
he did, everywhere he went was because of his zeal for the salvation
and deliverance of his church and people. that ministry of
our Saviour, that sacrifice, the very death of Christ. is
acknowledged and noted throughout scripture by the prophets and
by the apostles as indicating the Lord's zealous approach to
his labour, to his work. Isaiah chapter 37 and verse 32,
for example, says this, for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a
remnant and they that escape out of Mount Zion, The zeal of
the Lord of hosts shall do this. Here we have this reference to
the zeal of the Lord of hosts. Out of Jerusalem shall go forth
a remnant and they that escape out of Mount Zion. The zeal of
the Lord of hosts shall do this. And zeal is a fine word. It's a beautiful descriptive
word. It speaks of enthusiasm. It speaks
of passion. It speaks of eagerness. And we
often think of the Lord Jesus Christ's holiness. And we think
of his love and we think of his mercy. We think of his grace
and his goodness and his patience. And we should also think of his
zeal. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
shall do this. So let us not forget the zeal
of Christ. And this little reference that
we have here before us in Mark chapter 10, these few verses,
32 to 34, are an example of the zeal of the Lord Jesus Christ
as he went about his business and specifically as he headed
to Jerusalem where he would give his life. And I want for the
remainder of our time today just to dwell on some of the aspects
of the Lord's zeal in this matter. Jesus, we're told, went before
them. Jesus went before his disciples. As Jeremiah would say, as a man
to the battle. Jesus went before his disciples
as a man to the battle. The Saviour's courage as he anticipated
his sufferings has been touched upon, remarked upon many times
in the past. And here we see him pressing
forward courageously, boldly, not recoiling from what must
have been an anguishing prospect, not holding back in any way,
knowing that redemption and the redemption of his church was
his great objective, knowing that the price of blood must
be paid and that the suffering of death must be endured. And despite knowing in his omniscience,
his all-knowing divine awareness, despite knowing all of the physical
and emotional and spiritual suffering and punishment that yet had to
be borne by the Lord, within the next few days, the Lord Jesus
Christ here is hastening to his destiny. He knew he would be
betrayed by his friends. He knew he would be rejected
by the Jews. He knew he would be tortured
and crucified by the Romans. And he embraced it all for the
prize of his beloved people. And it wasn't even all of it. The Lord Jesus Christ's
legs His knees would buckle under the weight of the cross that
he had to bear. But very few realised what he
knew as he anticipated his crucifixion, that he would be carrying unseen,
not just a heavy cross to the top of Calvary, Golgotha, but
a burden greater yet. on his shoulders would hang a
mass of sin and guilt. All the sin of all his people
consolidated, combined and laid upon the sinless, spotless conscience
of the Lamb of God. You remember the officers that
were sent to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ. They could say,
never man spake like this man. Well, we might paraphrase their
words and say, never man suffered like this man. And the Lord Jesus
Christ knew all that he had yet to suffer. Yet for the love of
his people, the Saviour hastened to it. We mention the Lord's
zeal. That zeal is attributed by the
prophets, the Old Testament prophets, by Isaiah for example, as the
motivation for the establishment of Christ's kingdom. The establishment
of Christ's kingdom was due to the zeal of the Lord. As we read
together, the deliverance of the remnant was due to the zeal
of the Lord. That word remnant, it means that
bit which is cut off, that little bit that remains. And this is
a picture of the elect of God, the Lord's chosen people, just
a few, just a remnant. But the deliverance of that remnant
is down to the zeal of the Lord of hosts. And that's the zeal
that the Lord Jesus Christ was exhibiting here. Here we see
Christ's zeal as he pressed forward to Jerusalem and to the cross. And we can make this personal.
The Lord Jesus Christ in going before his disciples and pushing
ahead on that road to Jerusalem, as it were, to get there first,
was zealous of me. Yet how often do I appear to
be indifferent for him? The Lord Jesus Christ had an
appointment to keep in Jerusalem. He had a due time to keep it. And in that due time, Christ
died for me. Let me never forget the zeal
of the Lord that took him to the cross for a sinner like me. So we think about the Lord's
zeal. Let us think about what the Lord's zeal achieved. The Lord was our great trailblazer. I like that word. When I think
about the word trailblazing, I picture someone making their
way through a forest and forging a path forging a route, blazing
a trail, maybe taking an axe and cutting a notch in each of
the trees as he passes along so that those who come after
will be able to tell the way to go, where to walk, where it
is safe because a trailblazer has blazed that way on their
behalf. And this shows us something of
the work of the Lord. I want to take three words that
we can apply to the Lord as he went before his people. And these are the three words.
He was a forerunner. He was an intercessor. And he
was a mansion builder. And in going before his people,
he fulfilled all three of these tasks, the forerunner, the intercessor,
and the mansion builder. The Saviour was making his way
to Jerusalem and he went before his disciples. And we're told
that they were amazed. The disciples were amazed at
the fact that the Lord is pressing on before them. Amazed at his
zeal, at his enthusiasm in this act. Because we're told they
were afraid. As they followed the Lord, they
were afraid. Mark tells us that. But there
was more to this journey than met the eye of the disciples
or touched their understanding. And the Lord Jesus Christ once
again had to gather these men around about them and for the
third time patiently explain what must occur at Jerusalem
and why he was eager. desperate to get there in due
time. He was aware of the disciples
anxiety so he takes them aside once more and he repeats the
lessons of his death and he tells them most assuredly that he will
rise again. And yet here once again we discover
even yet that the disciples struggled to grasp his message. Now we,
you and I, of course, have the benefit of hindsight. But the
resurrection of the Lord herefore told reminds us, as it ought
to have dawned on the disciples during his explanation, that
this is no ordinary man, and this is no ordinary death, and
this will be no ordinary outcome. The events of the coming days
in Jerusalem would fulfil all prophecy. It would alter history. It would redeem, recover, restore,
and reconcile lost sinners to God. And here we see our great
representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. heading towards his sacrifice
and his death. In this, and here's the first
of our words, in this we see Christ our forerunner. Christ the forerunner has gone
before us As Jesus went before his disciples, Christ our forerunner
has gone before us to atone and to reconcile and to restore our
broken relationship with God. The writer to the Hebrews tells
us this. He writes in chapter 6 verse
20, Whether the forerunner, that is Christ, is for us entered,
even Jesus. So here is the writer to the
Hebrews specifically identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as our
forerunner. Is that not a beautiful thought?
Christ our forerunner. Jesus had a course to run and
he has run it with zeal and enthusiasm. Christ is our forerunner. He
has run before us to offer His blood, that God might see His
blood, accept His blood, see that justice had been done
in the death of the Saviour, substitute, and receive us back
into fellowship again, better blessed than before we fell. Again, the writer to the Hebrews
says, 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 we see that this forerunner
has entered into the presence of God, into the holy place,
not into the temple made with hands, but into the very presence
of God, having obtained eternal redemption for us. That's the
glorious gospel that we preach, the gospel of redemption accomplished,
the gospel of salvation secured by our forerunner who went before
us. And this salvation flows freely
to us because the Lord Jesus Christ went before us, prepared
the way for us, blazed the trail, supplies every need. to us, secures every blessing
and now liberally bestows every good and perfect gift. He stepped
forward when we feared. He stepped forward to open the
door of access to the Father. He opened the door of heaven.
He opens the door of faith. He opens the door of our understanding
in the Gospel. He opens the door of eternal
life. to hell deserving sinners like
you and like me. Isaiah 45 verse 2 says, I will
go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I'll break in
pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron. What a beautiful picture that
is of the Lord Jesus Christ, our forerunner. Christ is our
intercessor. He has gone before us into the
presence of his Father bearing his own blood and showing forth
his righteousness as our intercessor. And I'm not going to enlarge
too much upon this point beyond allowing the Word of God to testify
for itself what it says about the Lord going before us as our
intercessor. In Hebrews chapter 9 verse 24
we read, For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with
hands which are a figure of the true, but into heaven itself. now to appear in the presence
of God for us. What is Christ doing in heaven
right now? He has gone on before, and what
is he doing? He is appearing in the presence
of God for us, for his people, for you and me, for those to
whom he has given the gift of faith, who have discovered something
of the mercy that endures forever. And Hebrews 7.25 confirms and
corroborates that great thought by saying, wherefore he is able
also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Yes, the son of man
must go to Jerusalem. Yes, he must be handed over to
the chief priests and to the scribes. Yes, he must be handed
to the Gentiles, he must suffer and he must die, but he must
rise again. And now he ever liveth to make
intercession for his people. So the Lord Jesus Christ is our
forerunner and the Lord Jesus Christ is our intercessor. And
here's the third point in this little thought and it's that
Christ is also our mansion builder. Because the Lord has gone on
before us to prepare a place for us. Our dear Saviour, having
accomplished all our salvation, our eternal redemption, our peace
with God, has now gone before us to prepare a place for us
in His Father's house. I'm sure you're all familiar
with John chapter 14 and the beginning of it, but it is so
beautiful that it bears repetition as frequently as we have cause
to do so. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. The Lord Jesus Christ
is our forerunner. He is our intercessor and he
is our mansion builder. And he has gone on before to
accomplish these great three tasks. But stay with me here
because I want to touch lightly on another couple of small points
and then we will be done. Some of us look forward to the
Lord's coming as he promised he would. We look forward to
that time when the Lord will come and take us to our heavenly
mansions. But we're anxious. about what
might happen between now and then. We're like the disciples
here, we're afraid. That anxiety, that uncertainty,
the challenges that we feel, that the weakness in our faith
causes us to be concerned. Jesus speaks explicitly about
our troubled hearts. And in this little passage that
is before us here in John chapter 14, he says to us, let not your
heart be troubled. And he says that to his disciples
because he knows that their hearts are troubled. Believers know
trouble in this life. They know the weaknesses of our
flesh. They know the subtlety of Satan
and the struggles that they have with sin and temptation. But the Lord is telling us that
he has gone before to remind us that we are simply, now in
this life, retracing his steps. We are following in his footsteps. Having gone before, having passed
through death, having gone that way of trial and tribulation
and suffering and pain, we are following after him. He knows
our troubles. He's been there before us. He
feels our pain. He sympathises with our hearts. He knows our weaknesses. And
because he has walked this way before us, the Lord understands
our fears. And he's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. As the disciples followed after
Jesus, they were afraid. But they had to know that the
Lord was with them. Back in the Old Testament, at
the end of the books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy, at the end of the book of Deuteronomy chapter 31,
at the time when Moses was himself dying, and he was telling the
people about their entrance into the promised land. So this is
connected with Jacob as he was dying, telling his sons that
he wanted to be buried in the promised land and that ultimately
the nation would migrate back to Canaan. Here is Now Moses
on the verge of the entrance of the children of Israel back
into the promised land and he is addressing their anxieties. The anxiety particularly there
was that Moses would not be going with them. He would die before
entering into Canaan. And this is what he says to them.
He says, the Lord thy God, he will go over before thee. Isn't that beautiful? Verse 8,
the same chapter, 31, he says this. And the Lord, he it is
that doth go before thee. He will be with thee, he will
not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed. So we who have fears and anxieties
about the challenges of our life have this to lean upon, that
the Lord Jesus Christ has gone before us in order to be with
us. He will not fail. He will not
forsake. And we should not let our hearts
be troubled. And I just want to touch on this
and then we're done. We have those promises for our
future. And I want to remind you that
the Lord Jesus Christ is omnipresent. We sometimes say that the Lord
is omnipresent. We use that word. It means that
he is everywhere. He's always present everywhere.
And we think about it geographically, like he's with our friends in
Seattle and he's with our friends in Montana and with our friends
wherever they might be around the world listening in to our
service and we rejoice in that because the Lord Jesus Christ
is with us right now wherever we are. The time zone or the
geography doesn't matter to the Lord because he is omnipresent. But I'll tell you what else that
means. It means that he is also in the past and he is also in
the future. Time holds no bounds for the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has already gone before us
and is waiting there in the future for us to arrive. He is waiting
there in the future to do us good. We've got a friend called
Barry who joins us for our Zoom meetings on a Tuesday evening.
And he's from Australia. And he has to get up very early
in the morning to be part of the little Zoom meeting that
we have on a Tuesday evening. And we joke with him that he's
listening to us tomorrow. Well, with the Lord, that's no
joke. We're not playing on words or playing some sort of, I don't
know, bendy mind games or something. Time being no barrier to the
living God, he is in tomorrow waiting for us. We have no need
to fear. Peter says one day is with the
Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day.
He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. My time, says the psalmist, are
in thy hand. And that is something that we
should remember. Let not our hearts be troubled.
Our times are in his hand. The Lord has gone before us to
prepare a place for us. So whether we think of today
or tomorrow, whether we think of time or eternity, whether
we think of heaven or we think of earth, the fact that Jesus
has gone before us and is waiting for us on the other side with
every requirement fulfilled and every satisfaction made is our
reason for hope and peace and joy. When the Lord Jesus Christ
goes before us, we have nothing to fear and we have everything
to gain. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.