What a blessing for us to be
able to meet together like this on this last day of the year. The beginning of a new year. We're creatures of time. Yesterday,
today and tomorrow, but the Lord doesn't know anytime. And everything
that. Will take place in the year 2021.
He has already ordered. That's good news, isn't it? Verse 35 of Mark chapter
10. And James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, come unto him saying, Master, now look what they're
asking. Master, we would, this is what we desire. This is what we want. I'll bet
you everybody in here has prayed this same prayer. You might not
have used these words, but you were thinking it. We would that thou shouldest
do for us whatsoever we shall desire. The cult of self is so clearly
seen in this passage of scripture. What a self-indulgent request. We want you to do, I guess, kind
of like a genie. Grant us our wish. Whatever we
ask, that's what we want. And he said unto them, what would
ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, grant unto
us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy
left in glory. Now what self promotion? We want to be the top dogs. We
want to be over everybody else. We wanna be over the 10, certainly,
and everybody else. We want to be the top dogs. Now, the Lord said in verse 38,
that Jesus said unto them, you know not what you ask. You know,
couldn't that be said of everything we ask? Everything, without exception. You don't know what you're asking
for. Can you drink of the cup that
I drink of and be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with? Here we have self-deception. We can. We're up to the task. Self-deception. And then we have in verse 41, where self-interest comes in. When the 10 heard it, they began
to be much displeased with James and John. They're trying to take
the position we ought to have. They just got to it and asked
for it before we could. That's all that is. There's nothing noble about what's
going on at all. I've entitled this message when
the wrong answer is right. when the wrong answer is right. Now, I see myself so clearly
in these all two human men. You know, this was going right
up to the night before the Lord went to the cross. After they
took the first Lord's table together, right after that, there was a
dissension and an argument and a fight, which of them would
be the greatest. That happened over and over and over again. Competition. Competition. Everyone thought they should
be the greatest. And it's clear that they were
fallible, sinful, weak men just like you and I are. But one of
the things that I love about their, when they give us a demonstration
of their stupidity and their narrowness of soul, the Lord
gives beautiful, glorious expositions of the gospel through that. Now
through the disciples making this request, We're given as
clear a view as we can possibly be given as to what union with
Christ actually means. And you'll see that. We're also
taught how to be great. Everybody ought to aspire to
this greatness. And thirdly, the Lord gives a
mission statement to us that is so clear. The son of man came
not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many. Now, what three glorious things
were taught through these men. Now, look once again, in James
and John, the sons of Zebedee, verse 35, coming to him saying,
master, we want you to give us whatever we want. And he said unto them, what do
you want? What would you that I should do to you? And they said unto
him, grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and
the other on thy left in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them,
you know not what you ask. You have no idea as to what you're
asking for when you ask that question. And then he addresses
them with this question. Can you? Drink of the cup that
I drink of. Can you be baptized with the
baptism that I am baptized with? Now, what is this cup the Lord
is speaking of when he says, can you drink of the cup that
I'm to drink of? Well, you remember in Gethsemane's
garden, when he said, oh father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Now, he knew it wasn't possible. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He knew it wasn't possible, but
he was so overwhelmed at the thought of drinking the content
of this cup. And I know what the content of
that cup is. That is the sin of his people. The sins of his people. When
he would drink that cup, that's when he was made sin. That's when he bare our sins
in his own body on the tree. Only he could drink this cup. After he was strengthened by
the angels, he said, the cup which my father has given me
to drink, shall I not drink it? He came to drink this cup. Can you drink this cup? Are you
up to the task? Is this something you could do?
And then he spake of the baptism that he was to be baptized with. Now, remember, he'd already gone
through water baptism. He said in Luke chapter 12, verse
50, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened
until it be accomplished? Now, when he drank that cup,
he was made sin. And what happens to those who
are sin? The cup of God's wrath is poured
upon them. He was baptized. He was immersed. He was swallowed up under the
wrath of God. And he's the only one that understood
this. When I'm talking about these
things, I'm always so In a way, I'm pleased that I'm frustrated
because I know there's no way that I can enter into or really
understand what all's going on here. But Christ was made sin. Christ became guilty of the commission
of that sin. It became his sin. He was immersed. He was baptized under the wrath
of God. That's something only he could
do. And then he says, you all able
to drink of this cup? Y'all able to be baptized with
the baptism that I'm baptized with? They said we can. We're able. How stupid, how self-righteous,
how deceived they were about themselves. They believed they
were able. We can. And I think if I was
the Lord, oh, I don't know what I would have said to them. I
mean, you know, but the Lord gives this amazing answer. And
remember, I entitled this message when the wrong answer is right.
They gave the wrong answer, and the Lord states this. In verse 39, and Jesus said unto
them, not correcting them. He said, you shall indeed drink
of the cup that I drink of. And with the baptism that I'm
baptized with, you shall be baptized. Now, there is not a clearer statement
regarding with union with Jesus Christ than right here. Yes,
you're going to drink of that cup because you're in me. And that baptism that I'm baptized
with, you're in me. You're going to be baptized with
that baptism. You shall indeed. You shall indeed. Now, there
is a people according to Ephesians chapter one, verse four, that
are chosen in Him, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, and they are eternally in Him.
This just blows my mind. I mean, only the Lord could give
an illustration like this, but he gives that simple illustration
of the vine and the branches. The exact same stem that's going
through the vine is in the branches. There's no connecting point.
They're one eternally in him. I think of what was said of Levi. When Abraham paid those tithes
in Hebrews chapter seven, you can read about that in Genesis
14. He paid tithes to Melchizedek in Genesis chapter 14. Levi,
he wasn't around. He was the great grandson of
Abraham. Yet the scripture says it exactly
like this. Levi paid tithes in Abraham. It didn't say it was credited
to him, it didn't say it's as if he did it, it said he paid
those tithes. He was yet in the loins of his
father Abraham. Now what that means is that everything
Jesus Christ did, every believer has done. Everything he experienced,
every believer has experienced. I love what the Lord said to
John the Baptist. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. When Jesus
Christ kept the law perfectly, Todd Nybert did as well. Every believer did as well. Now, if you're a believer, you're
a law keeper. You have fulfilled all righteousness. You have no sin. When he drank of that cup, I was in him. I drank of that
cup. Somebody says, explain that to
me. It can't be explained, just believed. I drink of that cup. When he was made sin, I was in
him. When he was immersed under the
wrath of God, I was in him. I was baptized with that baptism. When he was nailed to that cross. I was in him in the beloved. I went to the tree. When they laid his lifeless body
in the tomb. Dead. I was in him. Dead. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. When he ascended back to the
father, I ascended back to the father.
This is true of every single believer. As he's at the right hand of
the father, right now, while I'm speaking, I'm there too. And you know what, I believe
that. I don't understand it, but I
believe it. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now, at this time, they had no
idea what he's talking about when he said, you shall indeed
drink of this cup. and be baptized with this baptism,
but they would. It was John who said, and now
little children abide in him. Don't go anywhere else. Don't be anywhere else. Don't
want anything else. This is all you have. You know,
a statement that I've used many times, but I don't know that
I like it. Christ is all you need. No, he's
not. He's all you have. You don't have anything else.
All you need. Well, no, a lot more than that.
He's all you got. If you got him, he's all you
got. And if you have anything else, you don't have him at all.
Now, they would come to learn this thing of being in Christ. John said, abide in him that
when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed
before him that is coming. And you know, the only way I
have confidence and not being ashamed is just being in him,
being in him. What about your preaching? No,
no. What about your preaching? No, I simply want to be in him. Verse 40. Now you shall indeed
drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that
I'm baptized with, you shall be baptized. But to sit on my
right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall
be given to them for whom it is prepared. Now all my life,
I've just thought that's just some two other people we don't
know about. Was it Moses, Elijah? Was it somebody nobody's ever
heard of? And I can see the Lord doing that. And you take the
most least esteemed, least known believers, and they're sitting
at the right hand and left of the Lord. Whatever the Lord does
is right. We don't know, but let me tell
you what I think this means. The Lord said, I go and prepare
a place for you. That's who it's prepared for.
Every believer is seated in Christ. He said to, on judgment day,
come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. You see, there's not one up here and one
down there All are one in Christ Jesus. And those who are prepared,
that's every believer, everybody for whom he died. I don't think
that's talking about individuals. That's talking about the church
of God's elect. That's talking about the bride
of Christ. That's talking about the whole company of believers.
There's a kingdom. And we're sitting at his right
hand and his left in his kingdom. Verse 41. And when the 10 heard it, they
began to be much displeased with James and John, those narcissistic,
self-centered, self-righteous jerks. They think they can exalt
themselves above the place that should be coming to us. That's
what was going on here. They were righteously indignant
because they were angry at him because they beat him to the
punch. That's what they wanted to do. And they would have done
it, but they got there before them and they were afraid all
of a sudden these guys are going to be exalted over us. They think they've
got something over us and they don't realize we've got something
over them. Moved with indignation. Verse 42. But Jesus called them to him,
and saith unto them, You know that they which are accounted
to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their
great ones exercise authority upon them. Now that sounds just
like what James and John were doing, doesn't it? That's exactly
what they were doing. They were trying to have authority
over their brethren, behaving themselves just like the world
does. I've got power over you. I know something you don't know.
I have something you don't have. I know someone you don't know. I have power. I have an advantage. What's the Lord say about that
kind of thinking? Verse 43, but so shall it not be among you. Now understand this. There's
not competition in the kingdom of heaven. And whenever we feel our flesh
wanting to rise up and be exalted, no, it is what it is. It's flesh,
it's evil, it's wrong. There's not competition in the
kingdom of heaven. There's not a clergy laity. There's not one
up here and one down there. You're all brethren. You're all
brethren. Well, isn't it great to be a
brother? What a precious title to be one of the brethren. Oh,
there's no greater, blessing of grace than to be one of the
brethren. And if you're one of the brethren,
you want to stay that way. You want to just be one of the
brethren, nothing else. And that's what he said to them.
He said, James and John, they were acting like the world acts.
They were trying to get authority. They were trying to one up on
their brethren. And the Lord said, it should
not be so among you. And then he tells us how to be
great. Now, everybody in here ought
to want to be great. Not mediocre, but great. Well, how do you go about that?
He tells us, minister. And whosoever of you
will be the chiefest shall be the slave of all. It doesn't take education or
wealth or brilliance or talent or gifts to be great. All it
takes is to be a servant. Now that ought to be something
me and you ought to be ambitious about. being great in the kingdom
of heaven. Oh, what do I know about this? And then the Lord gives us this
statement, and you could call this a mission statement. He
tells us why he came. For even the Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto, but to minister. And what our minds are automatically
brought to is, in John chapter 13, when he began to wash the
disciples' feet. And in his heart and in his mind,
it wasn't an act of condescension to do that. He's him who is meek
and lowly in heart. And he wasn't humbling himself
to do that, he was already humble. He was already lowly, the son
of God, the creator of the universe was washing his disciples feet.
He said, I didn't come to be minister too, but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for many. The son of man came
not. to be ministered into, but to
minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Now, I'm going
to give you some scriptures that I'm not going to comment on,
but it's where Christ tells us why I came. And these are such
a blessing. He said in John 5, 43, I'm coming
in my father's name. He said in John 6, 38, I came
down from heaven. I love to think of the people
said, say what? I came down from heaven, not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him
that sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing. But raise it again at the last
day. He said in John 12, 27, when He was facing death on the
cross, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
For this cause came I in to this hour. In John 18, 37, he said,
I came to bear witness to the truth, the true character of
his father, the true character of man, God's salvation. He said in Matthew 5, 17, think
not that I've come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came
not to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 9, 13, I came not to
call the righteous. Now, if you have any personal
righteousness, you're cutting your own throat. It says he didn't
come for you. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. He said in Matthew chapter 10,
verse 34, think not that I'm come to send peace on the earth.
I came not to send peace, but a sword. And he said in Matthew chapter
18, verse 11, the son of man is come to save that which was
lost. And Luke 19, 11, the son of man
has come to seek. and to save that which was lost. In Luke 9, 56, the Son of Man
has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. That was his purpose in coming.
I love this, John 9, verse 39, for judgment have I come into
this world, that they which see not might see. that they would see might be
made blind. Who is that one who can't see? He can't see one reason in himself
why God would have anything to do with him. He can't see it. You know what the Lord says? I've come to give that man sight,
how I can accept him. And that man who can see, I can
see why God saved me, look what I've done, look what I believe,
look what I've said, made blind. That's why he came. And then our text, he came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many. Now, the simplicity, the power
of this statement He came to give His life a ransom for many. This speaks of His death as a
ransom payment and atonement, the price of redemption, His
own precious blood. Now turn with me for just a moment
to Isaiah 53. Verse 10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Now that doesn't mean that the
Lord got some kind of sadistic pleasure in inflicting pain on
his son. This is talking about the satisfaction
of divine justice. God was satisfied in the bruising
of His Son. He hath put Him to grief. When
thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall
see of the travail of His soul, and shall be SATISFIED By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Now John Owen said with regard
to the ransom of Christ, he said he came to give a ransom for
many. Not a few, not all, but many. Those are the Lord's words. Now
John Owen made this statement. He wrote a book entitled The
Death of Death and the Death of Christ. And I would say read
it, but I couldn't read it. I mean, I'll fall asleep within
10 seconds of reading some of those paragraphs that are so
long. But what he said was good. He said, I read this somewhere. This is
somebody's synopsis of the book. I haven't read it. John Owen
made this statement. Christ, when he died as a ransom,
either died for all the sins of all men or some of the sins
of all men or all the sins of some men. Now, if he died for
all the sins of all men, all men will be saved. If he died for some of the sins
of all men, no one will be saved. But if he died for all of the
sins of some men, all of those people from whom he died shall
most assuredly be saved. Matthew 121, the opening chapter
of the New Testament, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Now, question, did he do it? Did he do it? That was his intention. Says it clearly. That was his
intention. He came here to save his people
from their sins. Did He do it? Yes, He did. Now, you can call it particular
redemption. You can call it limited atonement.
Somebody says, I don't like the term limited atonement. It doesn't
bother me a bit. You can call it definite atonement. You can call it successful redemption.
All it is, is substitution. It's the saving work of Jesus
Christ on Calvary's tree. Now, if somebody presents the
work of Jesus Christ on the cross as an offer, making salvation
available, and it's up to your acceptance or rejection as to
whether or not you've saved. That's salvation by works. There's
no gospel at all in that message. None. Christ can't fail. He cannot intend to do something
and then not do it. I'll tell you who he saved. Everybody
he intended to save. And there won't be anybody in
hell that he intended to save because he saved them. Now, this is my hope. This is
my hope. The only hope I have is that
Jesus Christ died for me. That's the only hope I have.
I don't have any other plea. That's it. Now, somebody says, well,
how can I know if he died for me? I see what you're saying,
he only died for the elect. Yeah, he only died for the elect,
he only died for his sheep, he only died for the church, but
how can I know if I'm one of them? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Are you a lawbreaker? When we were yet without strength,
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Are you without
strength? Are you ungodly? No? Well, I can't give you any
assurance Christ died for you. You're on your own. But if you're
a sinner, if you're without strength, and if you're ungodly, I'm talking
about right now, Jesus Christ died for you. There's no question
about it. You must be saved. You are saved. You've already
been saved. I hope we can remember that as
we observe the Lord's table together on this last night of 2020. That broken body, that shed blood
speaks of the complete salvation that's in him. Let's pray.