I'd like for you to turn with
me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter 14. In our last lesson, we looked at
our Lord and Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane, the place of the
press. And today's lesson is in verses
42 through 52, where he tells us, among other things, that
he was forsaken by all. Now let's read these verses together.
Mark chapter 14, beginning with verse 42. Rise up. Let us go. Lo, he that betrayeth
me is at hand. And immediately, while he spoke,
cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude
with swords and staves from the chief priests and the scribes
and the elders. And he that betrayed him had
given them a token, saying, Whosoever I shall kiss, that same is he,
take him and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he
go a straight way to him, that is to the Lord, and he saith,
Master, Master. And he kissed him. And they laid their hands They laid their hands on him
and took him. And one of them that stood by
drew a sword and smote a servant of the high priest and cut off
his ear. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, are you come out as against a thief with swords and with
staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple
teaching and you took me not. But the scriptures must be fulfilled. And then they all forsook him
and fled. And there followed him a certain
young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body. And
the young man laid hold on him. And he left the linen cloth and
fled away from them naked. Now all these agonizing torments
and suffering, and these from the Prince of Darkness was now
over. It was now over. And now the
faithful servant of Jehovah purged to meet the betrayer. In one
of the accounts, I forget which one, but either Matthew or John
or one of them, In their account, it said, while the words was
yet in his mouth, Judas came. So here he is in the garden,
and he comes over to his disciples about a stone's throw away, and
they were asleep, and he shook them, and he told them the betrayer
was coming, and while the words was yet in his mouth, there's
Judas. As soon as he turned around, there's Judas. His time is short, and so in
a holy zeal that only Christ could manifest. Religion manifests
a zeal, but it's not according to knowledge. His zeal was according
to divine wisdom. His zeal was pure and divine
and right. And in this holy zeal that can
only be marveled at, our Lord awakes His disciples and turns
them to face their enemies. I have several things I want
you to see. And the first is this, the enemies
of Christ. Who are the enemies of Christ?
Brother Fortner said one time, it's good to get acquainted with
the enemies of Christ because they're your enemies. They're
your enemies. And they're the same in every
age. Go all the way back to the garden
Here's Cain and Abel, that enemy of God, Cain. He's the same today
as he was in that garden. These enemies never change. They're
always the same in every age, and the object of their zeal
is the same, to sell out, to betray, to deny the Son of God,
our Savior. That's what they're trying to
do. Enemies come in all colors, shapes, Stations in life. Our enemies, our Lord said, he
said, your enemies are they of your own household. Now he had
a reason for saying that to them, but he's just telling us these
enemies can come in any shape or size. They can be those of
your own household. So we have here in Mark three
groups a kind of cross-section, if you will. I read that same
thing into Acts chapter four, where he talks about all the
enemies of God and he names them individually, individually. And they were doing what God's
hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. This is a cross-section of the
enemies of God. And let me give you, there's
three groups here. represented. The first enemy
he introduces to us is Judas, whom he quickly tells us was
one of the twelve. There's always, among those whose
titles and ministry are unquestionable, one who is an enemy of God, and
sometimes more than one. Demas Paul once called his fellow
laborer. He loved him. He loved him. He cared for him. He used him
in the ministry. He was a fellow laborer with
Paul, but his heart had never been changed. And he forsook
him. And I've seen the same thing
many times in my lifetime. Those who fellowship, I enjoy
it. Went through things, was taught
under the same pastor. I admired them. They had me convinced
they were ministers of God more so than myself. But who in time
manifested their true colors. There's always among those we
cherish, we've seen it in this church. And I'm not gonna name
names, I'm just saying that They're almost unquestionable. You see
them, and you hear them, and you fellowship with them, and
you're around them, and you have more doubts concerning yourself
than you do of them. And all of a sudden, they're
not here. They're gone. All of a sudden, they have no
interest in what's going on. Their interest is somewhere else.
Enemies of God, that's what he's showing us here, Judas. He takes
one of the 12, and you know of all the people in there, they
all thought it was them that was gonna forsake the Lord when
he said, one of you is gonna betray me. They said, is it I,
is it I, is it I? They went through all of them,
and finally Judas didn't wanna be left out, and he said last,
is it I? Nobody suspected Judas, but he
was the very one. It's a plain fact declared by
God. He said, their foot shall slide
in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand. And the
things that shall come upon them make haste. It's coming. It's
coming. Their foot's going to slide.
They're not going to get away with this. And then secondly. It says, and with him, verse
43, with him a great multitude with swords and staves. What is this? This is the Roman
soldiers and citizens under their rule. Now, government is a strange
enemy. It's hard to understand. On the
one hand, God used them, he uses them as ministers to protect
us under their government. We're protected from people who
could be a whole lot more evil and wicked, but are being suppressed
by government. He uses them that way. And he
tells us, there's no power that's not of God. God uses these men
for that purpose. On the other hand, government
always caters to false religion. You won't go through the scriptures
and find one in the whole outfit of these evil kings who ever
favored God's elect. They always took sides with the
idolatrous people, every one of them, every one of them. So that God uses these men But
that doesn't mean because he uses them that they're godly.
I hear a lot of arguments back and forth about Trump and Biden
and all these comments, and they're talking as though one would be
a spiritual leader and one wouldn't. They're not put there to be your
spiritual leader. That government is established
for our protection. In fact, he says the sword's
in their hand. Be careful to obey them because
the sword's in their hand. But I'll give you an example,
a perfect example of old Pharaoh. He hated God. He hated God's
people. He wouldn't give anything to
those people. He oppressed those people. He
hated those people. And he was doing everything in
his power to kill the deliverer that they talked about. But what
did God do? He took the deliverer and put
him in a little boat made out of bulrushes and just sent him
right down to Pharaoh's house and caused Pharaoh to raise the
deliverer to his own destruction in his own house. And then thirdly, there was a
multitude, verse 43, from the chief priests and scribes and
elders. These are the enemies of God.
And then the second thing I want you to see here is their weapons. This is interesting to me. The
weapons of Judas and his kind is always a deceitful kiss. That's
the weapon. The weapon is their deceit. You won't recognize it, you won't
see it. Over and over the scripture said
they'll come in unawares. You're not gonna see it, you're
not gonna recognize it. You're not gonna take one look
at them and say, there's the enemy of God. No, you ain't gonna
see it. Their weapon is their deceit.
Their weapon is their friendliness. Judas came to him and said, oh,
master, master, and kissed him. But it was a betrayer's kiss. They come with hypocritical humility. Master. Called him master. He
was no more his master than the man in the moon. But he called
him master, didn't he? And then the weapons of the world
moved by anti-Christ influence are weapons of destruction. They
mean to rid the world of anyone who opposes them. And then the
chief priests They use any means at their disposal so long as
they don't have to get their hands dirty. They used Judas. They used the Roman soldiers. They used the governors. And
they even used their religious powers to intimidate the people. Now, there's a couple verses
here out I'm not gonna take time to read them to you, I'm just
gonna give them to you and let you look them up and read them
concerning that last statement that I just made, and that's
Matthew 27, 20. You remember they brought Barabbas up. And
the governor's idea was to wash his hands of this whole affair
by this tradition at the head and he got the worst, a reputable
criminal, he got the worst one in there, Barabbas, and he brought
him up. But the chief priest went out
and mingled with the crowd out there and they intimidated them. They intimidated them and they
told them You cry, give us Barabbas. Give us Barabbas. Crucify him. Who did that? The chief priest
and their servants. They went right out into that
crowd. You read all the accounts and you can see it. And I'll
give you another one over in Acts 13, 45. There's this church and Paul
went down there to preach to them. These proselytes and other men
that those Jews had converted began to hear what Paul was saying,
and they constrained Paul to stay there and preach to them
and go on and on and preach to them some more. But what happened?
These Jewish leaders, these men of reputation, they went out
among the people and started just to lambast them and shed
doubt on who they was, and their office, and their calling, and
all of these things. These are the weapons. These
are the enemies of God, and these are their weapons. And then thirdly,
I want us to see here in these passages what he has to say about
the Holy Scripture. Now I've been trying to emphasize
this here lately. The Bible is God's book. This
is his book. This is not like any other book
that you'll ever read. This is God's book. There's nothing
in this book amiss, nothing. Everything in here is perfect. This is all the information in
this book comes from God. It's not mixed with man's wisdom.
It's not mixed with anything men think or anything about natural
men. This book is God's book. And
even the men who wrote this book, they wrote as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit of God. It's God's book. And everything
he intends for chosen sinners to know is written in this book. The Holy Scripture's inspired
by God. And then Paul said, he said,
preach the Word, Timothy. Preach the Word. Don't get outside
the Word of God. Preach the Word. Because all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it's the only source
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in
righteousness. And why does he give this Bible?
Why does he give this book to us? He gives it to us that we might
be perfect is the word he uses. It means complete, throughly
furnished unto all good works. Where did we learn that? In this
book. In this book. What kind of attitude should
I have? It's written. I hear it. It'll tell you. It'll
tell you. It's not my opinion. It's not
yours. It's not what some preacher said down at First Baptist Church.
It's what God said. What God said. And all true faith
is built upon the foundation, that is, the basis of what the
apostles and prophets have written, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. Everything this book says about
the coming Redeemer, his eternality, his person, the providence that
accompanies him, and all of its declarations must come to pass. If one thing fails in this book,
one thing, It, this book's not of God. Did you know that's how
they determined the old prophets? If everything, everything that
prophet said had to come to pass. If one thing he prophesied about
didn't come to pass, he was not a prophet, he would be taken
out and stoned. Now, you just apply that toward
this book. Now here's what he said to them.
He said, I'll daily with you teaching in the temple. You didn't
take me then. They wanted to. They wanted to
grab him and throw him off the brow of the hill, it said, but
he passed through the midst because his time was not yet. What time? The time prophesied in this book. It wasn't yet. He passed right
through the midst. They couldn't touch him. Couldn't touch him.
And he reminds them of that. He said, I was down here in the
temple. You put out all your threats. You let everybody know
if I come to Jerusalem, you're going to kill me. But I was down
there every day in the temple teaching, and you didn't lay
hands on me. Not one of you. You didn't take me. No bond,
no soldiers, no bands of soldiers, no betrayer, no lying priesthood. But, look at this, verse 49,
but the scriptures must be fulfilled. That's why they came when they
came. Isaiah 53, seven said he was
oppressed and he was afflicted. Is that what they did when they
come to Gideon? They sure did. They sure did. When Peter attempted
to fight for the Lord, the Lord said to him, put up again thy
sword into its place, for all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword. Now listen to this, Matthew 26,
55. Thinkest thou not that I cannot pray to the Father and he shall
presently give me more than 12 legions of angels. Don't you
think I could defend myself? I'm the son of God. I created
the earth. I created every one of you, gave
you your being. It was created by me and for
me and I alone am the reason for its consistence, for its
continuance. Don't you think I could ask the
Father and he wouldn't send me 12 legions of angels? I could
squash these governments like a, like a roach, just step on
them. Now watch this, verse 54, Matthew
26. But how then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled that thus it must be? You see that? He brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before shearers is done, so he openeth not his mouth. He didn't resist. He didn't resist. And everybody in this generation
believes that Jesus Christ appeared on this earth, that he died on
a cross and rose from the dead. You'd be hard-pressed to find
anybody who don't believe that. I know there's a few agnostics
and things out there, but I'm telling you, almost anybody you
know believes these three things. But only a handful will receive
the testimony of God as to who he was, and why he came into
this world, and what he accomplished when he was in this world. and
where he ascended to after he rose from the dead and what he's
doing there. You won't find a handful. The scriptures must be fulfilled. All right, let me give you one
more thing and I'll quit. A very strange thing took place
here and only Mark writes about it. He's the only one. None of
the rest of them say a word about it. And I've noticed that all
the commentators leave it alone. They won't touch it. But a very
strange thing took place. It seems as if out of nowhere,
there came a man, and he's wearing nothing but a linen cloth. And
he joins himself in the procession. Evidently he was sleeping nearby.
A lot of them say because he didn't mention his name that
Mark's talking about himself the same way John did. John never
mentioned his own name, and so they say Mark didn't mention
his name, but this was Mark. And maybe it was, I don't know.
Difficult to say. But here he is, he's a man and
it's like he got woke up from sleep and whatever he had on
he just grabbed that and wrapped it around him and away he went. He wasn't awake to see
what was going on in the garden. He wasn't awake to see the enemies
of God come or the betrayers kiss. But the noise stirred him
and now he's over here and he joins us after this procession. And who knows? It's difficult
to say why, but they laid hands on him. The young men in that
mob, that lynch mob, they had torches and spears and swords
and they were stirred up. Stirred up to the max. They were
going to take care of this Jesus of Nazareth once and for all.
And they were dragging him off to the judgment hall. And here
comes this man dressed with nothing but a linen garment on. And the
young men in that band of soldiers laid hands on him, took hold
of him, was getting ready to bind him, drag him off to prison,
possibly even death. And he struggled and got loose
and lost his garment in the process and fled away naked into the
darkness. I'm real leery about saying things
about things that the scriptures give me no information on, but
there's certain things, and just use this for example. He said
those things which were written aforetime were written for our
learning. You know what he said over there in Romans? That we
through patience and the scriptures, we might have a good hope. And
so I know he didn't write anything here that's not profitable for
us. I just can't get in here and
say, well, God said this about him. No, nobody said anything
about him. But there's some things I think
we can see in him that might be profitable. The first thing I see here is
that he followed him. He's talking about Christ. He
followed him, and he was a certain man. A certain man joined himself. Not just any man, he didn't say
a man, he said a certain man. A certain man. And not every
man, or even some men, but only certain men are called to follow
Christ. In Psalm 65, 4, he said, blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, now watch this, and causest to
approach unto thee. Something that God did in this
man caused him to approach the Lord Jesus Christ. Following the Lord's not some
stroke of luck or some fluke of circumstance, well, I just
happened to be there. No, it was appointed for you
to be there. You just didn't know it. John 6, 44 says they
were murmuring because he said he was the bread that come down
from heaven. And he said, don't murmur. No
man can come unto me. Now listen to this. Except the
Father which sent me, draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. So they followed him, a certain
man, and he tells us he was a young man. A young man. And this young man had on a linen
cloth cast about his naked body. So he tells us the circumstances.
He tells us what's going on here. So whoever this young man is,
he must have been startled from his sleep, woken up, grabbed
his covering, and away he ran. But here's what I want you to
see. He came partially dressed to the Lord. He was just partially
dressed. And if you'll give me a little
latitude, he came before the law. This was the law that came out
and laid hold on Christ. This was the law. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman,
now listen, made under the law. Why? To redeem them that were
under the law. And this man came and approached
the law. He saw Christ, didn't know what
was going on, but he approached the law and he had on a linen
garment. This man thought he could walk
with Christ to the cross. Huh? You can't walk with Christ to
the cross. He told his disciples, he told Peter, he said, you're
gonna deny me three times before the cock crows. And they all
forsook him. I read it to you just a few moments
ago in Mark 14. They all forsook him. But here
was a man, he was going to join himself to Christ and the law,
and he's going to go with him to the cross. No, you're not. No, you're not. And the law,
seeing him insufficiently covered, grabbed him, took him in bondage,
laid hold on him, would have destroyed him. There's only one
way of his escape. He left his garment. He left
his garment. He left his covering. Now linen,
if you go back in the scripture, also describes the dress of the
priest. Everything he wore was made from
linen. So that this garment could typically
represent man's efforts to save himself, his own covering. He's
going to make himself a priest. That's what a religious profession
is. You find out what a believer
is, he made him to be kings and priests before God. We're priests
in a spiritual sense. And this man had made some kind
of religious profession, whether it was Mark or whoever it was,
he'd made these professions and he had this linen garment on.
I doubt that he knew any of this was typical, but it was typical
anyway. What he's typifying here is man's
efforts to assist Christ in his redemptive work. That's what
I want you to see. He was gonna contribute to this
work with his works and his dress and his will and his self-righteousness. And to me, this is a chosen sinner
suddenly brought to the realization of Christ crucified. See, these
disciples followed Christ all their life, but it never would
go into their head that he had to go to a cross and die. Only one knew it for sure, and
that was Mary. Mary knew it. And God rewarded
her for that knowledge, gave her that knowledge and rewarded
her for it. But this man suddenly startled and he comes up here
and now he sees the realization of Christ being crucified. So
what happens to a sinner when he comes and hears the gospel?
He's got all this religious covering on. What happens to him? He leaves
and flees away naked. Why? Because the law strips him
of his righteousness, and he sees nothing but Christ, nothing
but Christ. God strips him of his covering,
and he causes him to flee for a little season in his nakedness,
and then he brings him to Christ. It wasn't gonna be just a short
time after this, till Christ would manifest himself as a sinner's
substitute. Now that sinner will see him
and his nakedness will be gone, he'll be covered. Christ is our
righteousness. You know, years ago, I was still
in religion and seeing a few things but didn't know anything
about Christ crucified and I was working in this little Armenian
church and we were decided, people wouldn't give no money. They'd
pass an offering plate, it's the pitifulest thing you've ever
seen. They'd squeeze one of them little change purses and stir
it around in there, find something and throw it in there. It was
just laughable. And so we decided, here's what
we're gonna do. We need some windows in the church and stuff,
so we're gonna have a car wash. And we thought, well, it's just
the people in there bring their cars, you know, we can raise
a little bit of money and go ahead and do this. So we had
a car wash. They put the word out, and we washed cars for almost
10 and a half hours straight. And when we got done, we went
in the house, and we were sitting here, and we were talking about,
over in Romans 10, where he said, Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness, to everyone who believes. And my brother-in-law
and I were talking back and forth about this. And my wife's just
sitting there in the chair, and her hair's all wet from sweat.
And she's just sitting there, and she's wore out, and her hair's
hanging down. And she looks at me, and then
she looks at him, and then she looks back at me, and looks back
at him. And finally, she said, you mean we did all that for
nothing? Yeah, that's what I'm telling
you. All that religious work. was for nothing. He's the end
of the law for righteousness. All right, thank you. Apologize
for going over my time.