have before a terribly, terribly
sad picture. Our Lord has just taught his
disciples what he must do and suffer according to the will
of God, for the glory of God, and for the salvation of our
souls. Now that he would go to Jerusalem,
be delivered into the hands of the Jews, and then to the Gentiles,
and they would beat him, spit on him, and crucify On the third
day, he would rise again. Now, our Lord had told his disciples
this numerous, numerous times. And it appears to me that the
disciples would just have been overwhelmed. But then it appears
to me that we would be. Every time we think about this
great, glorious work of the Son of God, it ought to consume our
heart and our bones. But not useless, it's just God-figured. And that was the case with these
disciples. James and John, having heard this great word of grace
from our Master, had something more important on their mind.
They had prophetic things on their mind. They had things visions
of the kingdom and the glory that was soon to be established,
at least they thought in their mind. And so they came to the
Lord Jesus and asked him that he would grant to them when he
came again in his kingdom and glory. Let's forget about the
cost now. Let's forget about death and
your sacrifice and your substitution. Let's talk about your kingdom. I'd also tell you something about
these idiots. who run around the country talking
about prophecy all the time. Let's forget about Calvary and
talk about the kingdom. James and John thought the Lord
was soon going to establish an earthly kingdom and they said,
now when you come in your kingdom, we sure would appreciate it if
you'd make us princes right alongside yourself. Set us in the place
of highest honor. Put us one on your left side
and the other on your right side when you sit on your throne. Now this sad story is recorded
here by divine inspiration for our learning, for our admonition.
May God the Holy Spirit, who caused these words to be written,
now be our teacher as we consider them. If there's any one specific
thing taught by what I've already said and what is written in Mark
chapter 10 verses 35 through 45, it is this. God's saints
in this world the best of them, the most useful of them. James
and John were intimate disciples. These were among the favored
three. These were men greatly, mightily
used of the Lord. Greatly, greatly blessed is the
kingdom of God because of these men and their ministry. But God
sent the best of them, the most useful of them. As long as they
live in this world, our sinners in constant need of grace, in
constant need of forgiveness by the mercy of God through the
blood of Jesus Christ. Now let's not forget it. I want
this morning to go through this passage and show you five things
set before us in it. If you're taking notes, I'll
give you my outline and then we will move along. First, we
will consider a great problem that's set before us and then
a great promise that's given to us. a great precept, a great
pattern, and a great purchase. First, look at verses 35 through
41. The Holy Spirit holds up these
disciples before us to set before us a great problem, a problem
with which we have to struggle all the time. The problem, of
course, is pride, our stinky, ungodly, disgusting pride. Verse 35, James and John, the
sons of Zebedee, come unto him saying, Master, we would that
thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said
unto them, what would you that I should do for you? Not because
he needed instruction, he knew what they wanted. They said to
him, grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and
the other on thy left hand in thy glory. But Jesus said unto
them, you know not what you ask. Can you drink of the cup that
I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with? And they said unto him, why sure. We can. Now look at verse 41. When the ten heard it, they began
to be much displeased with James and John. These two brothers,
James and John, were true believers. They were born of God's Spirit.
They truly loved the Lord Jesus Christ. They were and are our
brethren. And yet these two disciples,
who were themselves chosen apostles, were very ignorant of some basic
gospel truth and their ignorance was only overshadowed by their
silly pride. These two brothers asked the
Lord Jesus to give them the place of highest honor next to himself
in his kingdom. They presumed that they actually
had the ability by their own strength in themselves. They
presumed that they could endure everything he and do everything
he did. If you've got a bad tissue to
be baptized with, we can handle that. You've got a cup to drink,
we can handle that. You've got something you're gonna
have to suffer, we'll go through that. We can. And they sought
a position of superiority, not just that they might have the
position, but they sought this position of superiority over
their brethren. Now here are these two apostles
of Christ. seeking great things for themselves. Show us some
things that we need to consider, but let's not be too hard on
them. Their pride and their stupidity is only a fair representation
of the pride and stupidity that resides in you and me. Just a
fair representation. It is the pride of our hearts
that this passage of scripture is intended to expose and check.
Let me point out a few things here. First, genuine believers
are often ignorant of things which seem to be elementary to
others. Now consider this. James and John had been told
repeatedly that the master was going to Jerusalem, that he was
going to Jerusalem to die, that he was going to die at the hands
of the Jews and the Romans after suffering great ignominy and
shame, and that after he died he was going to rise again from
the dead. But they didn't understand a word of it. They didn't understand
a word of it. They were true believers. These
are men to whom the Lord Jesus said, your sins are forgiven
you and men to whom he had given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Mary Magdalene understood. The problem wasn't the instruction. Mary Magdalene came and anointed
the Lord for his burial, anticipating his resurrection from the dead.
That's exactly what he said in Mark chapter 14. But these disciples
didn't understand. Well, what's your point? The
point is this, let's not try to determine and set ourselves
up as judges of men by saying, now, what did you know when the
Lord saved you? How much knowledge did you have?
That's not the issue at all. That is not the issue at all.
Men can have knowledge of great things concerning the facts of
Christ and the doctrines of Christ. But salvation is not in knowing
facts and in knowing doctrines. Salvation is in knowing Him.
Knowing Jesus Christ the Lord. Now I recognize the only way
men know Him is through the preaching of the gospel. But salvation
is not in what you know, it's in who you know. James and John
knew Him. Understand this as well. God's
saints in this world are sinners still. That includes you and
me. We are a people with vile, hellish,
ungodly, sinful natures called flesh. And that which is flesh
is flesh. It'll never be anything else.
We are such wretched sinners that we must constantly watch
over our souls and guard against pride, self-esteem, self-confidence,
this terrible arrogance that's in us by nature. These things
are so deeply rooted in us, so ingrained in us, that really
we're seldom truly aware of. We sometimes talk about our pride,
and when we do, we're talking real proud. We sometimes talk
about how horribly proud we are, but we're seldom really aware
of our pride. These other disciples were just
exactly like James and John. If you read the Scriptures and
compare Scripture with Scripture, looking through the Gospels,
these disciples weren't really too upset that James and John
had come to the Lord and asked for these two seats of preeminence. They were upset because they
didn't think of it first. They were upset because they didn't
get to the master first. James and John dare ask these
things. You would have to, I would have to, if God left us in the
same circumstances. This pride, not at all unusual,
it ought to be. It ought not exist at all. But
those who have truly come out of the world, who have taken
up the cross, who follow the Lord Jesus Christ, who truly
believe Him, who trust Him, who love Him, those who are born
of His Spirit, still become envious, jealous, and offended when a
brother is promoted a little bit above them. Why? Shoot, we
get upset, get a little angry. Somebody talks about two or three
folks mentions their name in public, forgets to mention ours.
Wonder why he didn't mention me. wonder why he didn't talk
about me, wonder why he didn't say anything about what I've
done. The fact is, the greatest problem
we face, the most dangerous enemy we have, is not the homosculity,
the ungodliness, the homosexuality, the abortion, the president,
the congress of the thing. That's not the big problem. The
biggest problem we've got to deal with every minute of every
day is our stupid, stinky pride. The oldest of all sins, the most
universal and the most destructive. We all love power and preeminence
and property and prestige and position because we're all very,
very proud. It is our pride that causes us
to crave attention. It is our pride that causes us
to get upset when we don't get attention that we think we deserve.
Pride is that which inspired Lucifer to lift himself up and
say, I will be his most high God. It's pride that deceived
Eve's heart, pride that brought Adam's fall and the fall of the
human race in him. It was pride that calls men all
the time through history and this very day and as long as
history shall stand to be divided from one another. The psalmist
said the wicked in his pride does persecute the poor. What is it that divides, separates
and distinguishes men and women from one another? according to
race, rank and riches, is pride. Why, Husky is not the same color
as Mario. He didn't come from the same family line as I did. Why, those folks, they come from
across the tracks. They come from down there in
Samaria. They come down in Nazareth. Nothing good can come out of
Nazareth. I know something good came out of Nazareth. The Son
of God came out of Nazareth. But we have our pride. We think
we're something, somebody. The only thing that ever divides
brethren is pride. Said, no, that wasn't the issue.
Yes, it was. Yes, it was. She did this. No, problems with
pride. No, problems with pride. No,
problems with pride. That's the only thing that divides
brethren. The only thing that divides families is pride. After
some years of sober study and reflection, I'm just almost convinced
the only thing that ever causes war is pride. We have our pride. We want what you've got, what
it is. Pride, that's all. Even among God's saints, there's
no problem, no difficulty, no trouble. that we face that really
is not the result of our pride. Thomas Hooker once said this,
pride is a vice that cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men
that if we were to strip ourselves of all thoughts one by one, we
would undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to pull
off. He was exactly right. Pride.
It's pride that keeps you who yet live with your fist in God's
face in rebellion and unbelief from coming to Christ. That's
all. This is what the psalmist said.
This is what God's book said. Now I've got my reasons for not
trusting Christ. No, here's your reason. The wicked
through the pride of his countenance will not seek God. God does not know his Of all those things named in
the Bible which God hates, according to Proverbs 6, number one is
pride. It's our pride that makes us
weak and vulnerable in time of temptation. When our Lord asked
Peter and James, now fellas, do you really think, do you really
think you can endure the bad thing my hand can do, and you
can drink the cup I've got to drink, that I've just been They didn't even hesitate. Why
should we do that? Should we dare? Did you ever
notice in the Word of God that the recorded falls of God's saints
are usually at the very point where they're strongest? Not
in their weakest point, but in their strongest point. Look at
Job. Was ever a man so patient as
Job? And yet I know of none so impatient.
Consider David. What a man David was loyal to
the core Saul never had a friend like David and that same man
David stole his dearest friend's wife and had him killed to cover
himself up Look at Solomon the wisest man who ever lived the
book says so but I'll be honest with you I don't know of anybody
more foolish I don't know of anybody who ever acted more foolish
than Solomon Samson, the strongest man who ever lived, but a woman
took him, a woman took him down. Moses, the meekest man who ever
lived, and yet Moses in his rash, impetuous anger, struck the rock
when God said speak to it, and his hastiness kept him out of
the land of promise. My point is this, we must never
be so proud as to trust in our own strength. God's strength
is made perfect in our weakness, not in our strength. Therefore,
the apostle says, I will glory in my infirmities, for his strength
is made perfect in my weakness. When I am weak, then am I strong. When we foolishly imagine in
the pride of our hearts that we are strong, then, Ron, we're
most likely to fall. That's just a small thing. We
can handle that. That's just a little city, we can take that
one. We don't need prayer about this, we don't need God for this,
we can handle that. You better watch out, you're
fixing to fall. You're fixing to fall. Doug and I were discussing
this yesterday, and he made a very wise observation. He said, when
we think we're strong, we think we can do things on our own,
and we don't need you. When we think we're strong, We
think we can do things on our own. We don't need to. You better watch out. Now look
at verses 39 and 40 again. In spite of their ignorance and
pride and sin, the Lord Jesus gave his disciples a great promise.
Jesus said unto them, You shall indeed drink of the cup that
I drink of. And with the baptism I am baptized,
wherewithal shall you be baptized? But the seed on my right hand
and on my left in my kingdom is not mine to give, but it shall
be given to them for whom it is prepared." Now, I have in
the last couple of weeks read everything I've got in my library,
good and bad, on this passage of Scripture. I hadn't been able
to get any help. I hadn't been able to get any
help. Our Lord Jesus said unto them,
you shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with
the baptism that I am baptized withal shall you be baptized.
Perhaps there is some sense in which our Lord is saying to his
disciples here, James and you too shall be persecuted, and
you too shall suffer. Perhaps there's some allusion
to that, but that's not what this text says. That's just not
what it says. I believe God's given me three
things. Now, I may not know all that's taught here, but there's
three things clearly taught in these two verses. Number one, all the horror of God's indescribable
wrath. which our Lord Jesus was about
to endure as our substitute, was voluntarily endured. A cup is not something somebody
sticks in your hand, sticks a gun to your head and just drinks
it. A cup is something a man takes voluntarily and drinks. Listen to me now. The Son of
God when he was made to do sin for us, as willingly took the
cup of God's wrath and judgment, as our substituting should have
been, as a thirsty man takes a cup of water. And with one tremendous draught
of love, he drank damnation dry. Baptism is not something that
a person is forced to do. Baptism is not something that's
done unwillingly, unknowingly, unwittingly. Oh no, no no. Baptism
is that which men and women come to do with full knowledge of
what they're doing because the Lord Jesus commands it. And so
our Lord Jesus Christ goes to be baptized. under the wrath of God. Some of the pedo-baptist commentators
jump at a chance to say here now that since the Lord speaks
of his sufferings as a baptism, then you can't talk about baptism
being an immersion. That's exactly what he's talking
about. Bobby, he was overwhelmed in the sea of God's wrath. He willingly buried himself in
the sea of God's wrath as our substituent. And yet baptism
is something that's done to a person. Though that person willingly
submits to it, it's done by another. And it was by the hand of his
father that the Lord Jesus was immersed in the wrath of God
as our substituent. Now that's exactly what's pictured
in the ordinances as we celebrate them. We come to the waters of
baptism and say, I was crucified with Christ, and I am buried
with Christ, and I have risen with Christ. We take the Lord's
Supper, and as we take the bread and wine, we take his body and
his blood, symbolizing that we feed upon him by faith. His blood
is our redemption, his body, his obedience, his righteousness
is our righteousness before God. Our Lord Jesus promised these
sinful, errant, sinful men, his disciples, that
they would indeed be baptized with his baptism, and they would
indeed drink of his cup. Now I can't think of but one
way that can possibly possibly be fulfilled in its fullness. Only one way, by imputation,
through a substitute. When the Lord Jesus was baptized
in the wrath of God, in the sea of God's offended justice, I was baptized with him, buried
with him, in the sea of God's When the Lord Jesus, with one
tremendous draft of love, took the cup of damnation and drank it dry. Oh, bless God. I took that cup in him and drank
it dry. So that now there's no condemnation
for me, no wrath for me, no damnation for me. and none for you who
are his disciples, who believe him, who are chosen by him, redeemed
by him, and called by him. What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefit toward me? The psalmist said. The only thing
I can render to him is this. I'll take the cup of salvation
and I'll call on the name of the Lord as long as I live. The
only way we can do it is by faith in him. And then thirdly, the
Lord Jesus assures us that there is a kingdom of glory, a kingdom
of heaven already prepared by our heavenly father for his elect,
which shall be given to those for whom it was prepared. You
see that in verse 40? It shall be given to them for
whom it is prepared. The kingdom of glory then, eternal
life, is a kingdom prepared by God for a specific people, and
it shall be given by God to those people, and it shall be given
by him as a matter of free grace in all its entirety. Now then,
the third thing in this text is a great precept. Our Lord
Jesus says to his disciples, verse you know that they which are
accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them,
and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But it shall
not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among
you, he shall be your minister. Whosoever of you will be the
chiefest shall be servant of all." One of the old writers said,
true greatness consists not in receiving, but in giving. Not
in the selfish absorption of goods, but in imparting good
to others. Not in being served, but in serving.
Not in sitting still and being ministered to, but in going about
and ministering to others. Now this is the meaning of our
Lord's precepts. If I want true greatness, true
greatness, then I must find that place in God's kingdom where
I am needed and most useful and minister. The word minister is
the word that's commonly translated deacon. It means to serve tables,
to do menial tasks, the kind of tasks that are seldom noticed
by anyone, but usually the most needful. If I want to be truly admirable
as a person, not a person admired, but admirable as a person, in
the church and kingdom of God, I must make myself the servant
of all. A servant is a slave One who voluntarily gives himself
to the service of God's people. Now that's an admirable character.
You may think, well, Brother Don, you can't expect anyone
to do that. I don't. No one except someone who sees
the greatness and glory of God in Jesus Christ. Our Lord gives
us a great pattern in verse 45. He said, now what I'm calling
for is for you to follow me. You want to be like me? Then
you be minister and servant to my people. Even as the son of
man came not to be served, but to serve. He that abideth in him him also,
ought himself also to walk even as he walks. The Master says,
if you want to be like me, then serve my people. Wash their feet,
take care of them. And I don't want to do
that. I didn't much think so. I didn't much think so. Those
who want to follow the Master, Lord, help me to live from day
to day in such a self-forgetful way that even when I kneel to
pray, my prayer should be for others. Help me in all the work I do
to ever be sincere and true, and know that all I do for you
must need be done for others. One last thing. Here's the motive
for it all. Our Lord tells us the greatest
thing of all is a great purpose. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life
a ransom. To ransom us by legal payment
from the curse of God's law. A ransom Who? The many who were ordained
unto eternal life and now believe on his name. May God be pleased
to grant us grace that we may know him and follow him in the
kind of servitude he portrayed and exemplified.