Now, turning the Bible again
to Mark chapter 14. I didn't know if any of you would
brave the weather to come out and worship this morning. I'm
so thankful to see so many of you here this morning. Now, in Mark chapter 14, The
Lord Jesus Christ, having instituted the Lord's table, having honored
the Passover, fulfilling the Passover, honoring the law of
God, we see him as he completes the institution of his table. When they had sung a hymn, they
went out to the Mount of Olives. The Lord here is just on the
eve of being crucified for sinners. And then He makes this astounding
statement that just shocked the disciples. Verse 27, And the
Lord said unto them, All of you shall be offended because of
Me. All of you shall be ashamed because
of Me this night. For it is written, And this is
happening just as God said it would. I will smite the shepherd
and the sheep. They will be scattered. They
will be scattered. Now the title of the message
is taken from that verse 27. The smitten shepherd and the
scattered sheep. The smitten shepherd and the
scattered sheep. the Lord having instituted His
table in which believers partake of in remembrance of His broken
body as He's bearing our sin in His own body. We partake of
the Lord's table in remembrance of the Lord's death, shedding
His blood. He said, this blood of the new
covenant which is shed for you. The Lord Jesus Christ, after
he institutes his table, they went out singing praises unto
God. Now you think about that. The
Lord Jesus, knowing what's going to happen, knowing what awaits
him, yet he finds this psalm of God and sings praises unto
Almighty God. They went out singing. singing
this hymn unto Jehovah God. Now we realize in a very short
time in this same chapter we'll see that he is betrayed by Judas
this very night, arrested by the Jews. Notice, if you will,
verse 46 of Mark 14, and they laid hands on him and they took
him. They arrested him. They bound
him. Arrested by the Jews. Betrayed
by Judas. Forsaken by the disciples. Crucified by sinners. And the Lord Jesus on Calvary's
tree dies under the wrath and the holy justice of God for the
sins of His covenant people. It leads me to rejoice in my
heart. Oh, what a great Savior we have. Indeed, He is the great Savior
for sinners. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. John put it this way, here in
his love, Not that we love God, but that He loved us and that
He sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our sin. I like what the old preacher
John Newton wrote years ago. And he wrote this in his old
age. John Newton was a very able minister
of the gospel, hymn writer. That song we often sing, Amazing
Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Old John
Newton in his old age said this about the Lord Jesus Christ and
himself. He said, I'm old now, I'm an
old man, and I cannot remember as well as I used to, but I do
remember two great things. I remember that I'm a great sinner
and the Lord Jesus Christ is a great Savior. I hope I can remember that in
my last breath upon this earth. I am a great sinner and the Lord
Jesus Christ, He is a great Savior. The Apostle Paul put it this
way, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom the apostle goes on to say, I
am the chief one. Salvation. You know salvation
is for sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. He came to seek and to save that
which is lost. Now, this message has two points. The first one is this, the great
Savior we have, The second one is this. We are great sinners. What a great, magnificent, wonderful,
glorious Savior and Lord we have in the Christ of God. The one that God has provided. What God has provided, God will
accept. And He's provided none other
in saving sinners than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now, several
things on this first point here. We see the greatness. We see
His greatness displayed in the people for whom He came to save. We see His greatness displayed
in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died to save sinners. He said, all of you shall be
offended because of Me this night. You see, the sheep of Christ
are weak. Frail. Sinful. Ignorant. They are lost sheep. Psalm 103 declares, He knows
our frame. He knows that we are but dust. But thank God He is able to save
sinners. Sinners. The all-knowing Lord,
even though these weak and sinful and frail and ignorant sheep,
are going to forsake the Lord and desert Him, yet the all-knowing
Lord still loved His own, chose them unto salvation, dies for
their many sins. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, but sinners unto repentance. Hold your place there
and find 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. We see His greatness displayed
in the fact that He saves those who are helpless, cast out, weak,
sinful, ungodly men. Notice in 1 Corinthians chapter
1 verse 22, for the Jews require
a sign. That's the religious man always
seeking for a sign. the intellectual, they seek after
the wisdom of men. But we preach Christ crucified
under the Jews, it's a stumbling block, under the Greeks, foolishness,
but under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, those who
are called, Christ is the power of God, Christ is the wisdom
of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the
weakness of God is stronger than men, Now look at verse 26, for
you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. God hath chosen, and notice how many times he says here,
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world. to confound the
wise. God hath chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And
the base things of the world, and the things which are despised,
hath God chosen. Yea, and the things which are
not, to bring to naught the things that are, that no flesh should
glory in his presence. Verse 30, But of him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. according as it is written, he
that would glory, let him glory only in the Lord. He hath chosen
the weak, the base, the vile, to save them that he might receive
all honor and glory." Find another scripture over here, Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We see his greatness displayed
in the fact that he saved the worst of the worst. Ephesians chapter 2, look at
verse 1. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein time past ye walked according
to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature,
just like all others, children of wrath, deserving of God's
justice, His holy justice, even as others. But God, verse 4,
who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. It's by grace and grace alone
that we are saved. Now back to the text. We see
something of His greatness displayed in the fact that He saves sinners. Secondly, we see His greatness
displayed in the tremendous price that He paid to redeem his people. Notice in verse 27, the Word
of God declares, I will smite the shepherd. That is, he's going
to die for the sheep of Christ. And the sheep will be scattered.
But after that I'm risen, I'll go before you into Galilee. We see his greatness displayed
in the tremendous price he pays to redeem the weak ones, the
base, the vile, the ungodly. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ, completely delivered from all our sin by His death,
His blood. He bought us with His own blood. These things must be. The Lord
of glory declares again that He must die at the hands of the
wrath of men, but more importantly, at the hands of God's holy justice. You remember back in Mark chapter
8? Turn over there. He said these
things must be. There's no other way for God
to be a just God and Savior. There's no other way for God
to justly save me and justify me and make me righteous except
someone pay my debt in the full. To the full. And that debt was
paid by the Lord Jesus. That's why he says here in Mark
8, Verse 31, these things must be. And he began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected
of the elders, and of the chief priests, and of the scribes,
and be killed. And after three days, rise again. And he spake that saying openly,
and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. But when he had
turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter,
saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those things that be of men." The Lord Jesus
Christ crucified, that is of God. Him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now turn back to that
portion of Scripture we read earlier. In Zechariah 13. Zechariah 13, verse 7. In order to redeem us from our
sin, the Son of God, God the Son, the Good Shepherd, had to
take upon Him our nature, real flesh, real blood, in order to
die in our place and in our stead. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Such a high priest became us
He was a real man, God incarnate. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And as the God-man mediator,
Son of God, He dies under the weight of our sin. In order to
redeem and justify the elect of God, the Lord Jesus had to
take upon Him not only our flesh, but our sin. How was that done? God laid on Him the iniquity
of His people. God took our sin, all of our
sin, all the sin of God's elect, all down through the ages, millions
and millions and millions of transgressions, offenses and
iniquities, and made all them somehow by God's power and His
almighty purpose, laid our sin on Christ. The Scripture said
God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. The sin of God's
elect being found on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord dies under
the judgment and weight of our sin, suffering the infinite wrath
of God's holy justice against us. That's why it says in Zechariah
13, verse 7, Awake, O sword. The sword of God's holy justice,
the sword of God's wrath, that sword that is quick and powerful.
Arise, O sword! Awake, O sword! Against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite
the shepherd and the sheep, they'll be scattered, and yet I'll turn
my hands upon the little ones We see something here of the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We read in Isaiah 53, 10, it
pleased the Lord to bruise Him in our place and in our stead. We know it pleased the Pharisee
to see the Lord Jesus Christ die. We know it pleased the Romans
to put another Jew to death. But what we must see and what
we must understand It pleased God to bruise him in our place,
in the stead of God's elect. It was not what wicked men did. That is our hope. It is what
God was doing at the cross. That's our hope. God laid on
him our sin, and the holy justice of God executed him as being
really guilty of sin. My sin. Your sin. The sin of
God's people. This is the Shepherd, the Good
Shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the Good Shepherd of the sheep. He said, no man takes My life,
I lay it down. He giveth His life for the sheep.
He is the Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd who gives
His life. He said, I am come that you might
have life and have it more abundantly. He is also called the Great Shepherd.
Hebrews 13, 20, now the God of peace that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that Great Shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. He's also called in
Scripture not only the Good Shepherd, not only the Great Shepherd,
but He's also called the Chief Shepherd. The Chief Shepherd
that is coming again. You remember our Lord told those
disciples, He said, I'll go away. I'm going away. I'm going to
the cross, I'm going to die for you, but I'm not going to stay
dead, I'm going to ascend to glory, and I'm going to come
back and receive you to myself." He's the chief shepherd that
is coming again after his own, after his elect. Now look at
Zechariah 13, verse 7. He says, "...awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, smite
the shepherd, And the sheep, the sheep will be scattered. This is exactly what happened.
God had decreed it years before. And this is exactly what came
to pass. All that God has spoken will
come to pass. The sheep were scattered. They
did leave Him. He dies, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He dies forsaken of men. Forsaken of his disciples and
forsaken of God, he dies alone. He accomplishes our salvation
alone. He does not need our assistance.
He does not need the help of any sinner. He dies alone. He accomplishes salvation alone
by himself. He purged our sin and put away
our sin by the sacrifice of himself. In Isaiah 63, verse 3, these
words are recorded, "'I had trodden the winepress alone, and of the
people there was none with me.'" Salvation, my friend, as you
well know, is accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His righteousness, His obedience
unto death, The Lord Jesus Christ taking our sin to Himself, and
by the shedding of that blood, God's justice was satisfied,
sin put away. Here's something else we see
in our text, in Zechariah, in this scripture, Zechariah 13,
7. And through this, even though
the sheep in that day were scattered, they will be gathered. Look what
he says there, the last part of verse 7, I'll turn my hand,
I'll turn my hand. Now the hand of God, the hand
of God, none can stay the hand of God. He said I'll turn my
hand or I'll put my hand upon the little ones. Not the hand
of His justice, not the hand of His wrath, this is the hand
of His love. This is the hand of His mercy.
This is the hand of His grace whereby He will draw them unto
himself. I'll put my hand upon the little
ones, the babes in Christ. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto the little ones, the
babes, his elect. He said, I've loved them with
an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I will draw them unto myself. This is one of my favorite scriptures.
Turn to Isaiah 40. He said, all that the Father
had given to me, they will come to me. And those that come to
me, I will in no wise cast out. And Isaiah 40, turn there. Look at verse 9. O Zion that
bringeth good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O
Jerusalem that bringeth good tidings, lift up thy voice with
strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of
Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come
with a strong hand, and His arms shall rule for him. Behold, His
reward is with Him, and His work is before Him." Now watch this,
verse 11, "...He shall feed His flock like a shepherd." He is
a good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs in His arms and carry them
in His bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young."
He is a tender, compassionate Savior. He said, I am meek and
lowly in heart. Come unto Me. I'll give you rest.
I'll give you salvation. Now look back at the text again
over in Mark 14. Are you beginning to see something
of what a great Savior we have in the Lord Jesus Christ? This
is a Savior sent of God that the Scriptures declare cannot
fail. This is a Savior of God who is
a victorious Lord who said on Calvary's tree, it is done, it's
complete, it is finished. Thirdly, we see His greatness
declared not only in the sinners that He saves, Not only in the
great price that He pays to put away the sin of God's people,
but thirdly, we see His greatness in the victory that He accomplishes. His death is not defeat. His
death is absolute victory. You see that in the text? Look
back over there in Mark 14, verse 28. But after that, I am
risen. I am. Risen, I will go before
you into Galilee." As a Lord of glory, He declares
His victory over sin, having put it away. Over death, He said,
I am He that liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. He walked out of the tomb that
third day, that third morning, after His Crucifixion. The Lord
Jesus Christ did, as the seed of woman, crush Satan's dominion,
his power. After that, I am risen. It's
not, maybe I will. It's not, it could be. It's not,
I need your help. After I am risen, He declares
His victory over all things. Thanks be unto God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 4, verse
25, these words are recorded, "...who was delivered." The Lord
Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised again. Raised again because He justified
us by His blood. He got the job done. We do not worship a dead Savior. We worship a living Lord. One
who ever lives to intercede for us. One who lives forevermore.
He said, because I live, you shall live. What does His resurrection
mean? God put His stamp of approval
on everything He said, everything He did as mediator, as surety,
as advocate, everything He said, everything He did, everything
He accomplished. God put His stamp of approval
on it in the fact that He raised Him from the dead. Not only that,
ascended to glory and is seated on the throne of glory as the
God-man mediator. That's good news. His resurrection
is proof of all He accomplished. It's according to the eternal
purpose of God who works all things after the counsel of His
own will. He is declared to be the Son
of God. How? How? Romans 1-4, He's declared to
be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. If He's not risen,
the Apostle put it this way in that whole 15th chapter of 1
Corinthians, if He's not risen, we're in big trouble. He's in
big trouble. If He's not risen, He's an imposter.
If He's not risen and exalted and seated on the throne of glory,
then we are yet in our sins. If He's not risen, we have no
hope of salvation. Thank God He is. He is alive
and He ever lives to intercede for us. Let's read that. I think it's found over here
in Romans 8. I think we can turn there and
read Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look what he says here. Verse
32. Romans 8, 32, "...he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things?" Now watch this.
"...who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It
is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died." Yea, rather, He is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."
Now, who can separate us from this love of God which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. And this love of God is manifested
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the second thing.
First point, you've got that? What a great and glorious, wonderful
Savior we have. He's not a defeated, frustrated
Reformer. He's an absolute victor. He is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. God has given Him a name
which is above every name, that at that name every knee shall
bow, every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Now here's the second point.
Second point. Back in Mark 14. Verse 29, down to verse 31, And
Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, I won't,
yet will not I. And the Lord said verily, Peter,
Really? This day, even this night, before
the cock crows twice, you are going to deny me Three times. But Peter spake more boldly. Maybe a little bit of pride here,
don't you think? John might. Thomas might. Philip
maybe. Me? Never. I should die with
you. I will not deny you in any wise. And likewise, they all chimed
in and said, we agree with Peter. Cut out. We're not going to cut
and run. Oh yeah? We'll see. Peter and all the
disciples, with the exception of Judas, Judas had already departed,
had already sold out the Lord, declared they would never abandon
the Lord, never forsake Him. Peter and the others didn't fully
understand the potential of their own sinful nature. What great
sinners we are. Peter simply could not believe
what the Lord Jesus Christ said of him was true. He was highly
offended and insulted that the Lord would think he would forsake
his Lord. He even boasted that, I'll die
fighting for my Lord. And eventually he did. But not that night. Not that
night. In just twelve short hours, all
these men forsook the Lord, and Peter did deny the Lord. Right
here in Mark 14, look at verse 66. The Lord had been arrested, and
as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids
of the high priest. It wasn't even a soldier. A little
girl. A little maid. And when she saw Peter warming
himself, she looked upon him and said, And thou also was with
Jesus of Nazareth? But he denied. Oh, Peter, what
did you say? But he denied, saying, I know
not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out
into the porch and the cock crewed. And the maid saw him again, and
began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. This
is one of those Nazarene. He is a follower of the Nazarene.
But he denied it again. And after a little while, they
that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them,
for thou art a Galilean. Your speech, you speak like one
of those Galileans. And he began to curse. And he
began to swear. I know not this man of whom you
speak." Can you imagine Peter denying the Lord? And the second
time, the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the
word that the Lord Jesus said unto him before the cock that
is crowed twice, Thou shalt deny me three times. And he went out,
and when he thought thereon, he wept. It says one place he
wept bitterly. His heart was crushed. What can we learn from this? Do you ever notice how the Lord
throughout the Word of those very eminent saints of old, how
He always tells the exact truth of what they really are in themselves? Abraham, Jacob, David, all those
men all had terrible failures. And yet they were saved by God's
mighty grace. Salvation for sinners. What can
we learn from Peter's denying the Lord and all the disciples
forsaking Him? Well, three things. Real quick.
I'll give them to you real quick. The first thing is this. The
best of men, the best of men are only men at best. There is
no degree of sin into which the greatest of saints might run
apart from the restraining power of His grace." Just read God's
Word over and over and over again. God exposes the failure of His
own people to make us to know and to realize that salvation
is by grace and grace alone. The second thing we can learn
from Peter's denying the Lord And this man knew the Lord. He
loved the Lord. But the Lord is exposing our
weakness, our frailty, that we might see how much we need Him
to intercede for us. The second point is this. Let
us never boast of how strong we are. Let us never say, never. Let us always say, by His grace,
I pray the Lord will keep me. Let us not boast how strong we
are. lest we fall into some terrible evil. Let us pray for humility
and grace to persevere. The Word of God declares in 1
Corinthians 10, 12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he stand
take heed, lest he fall. Proverbs 16 declared, Pride goeth
before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. The third lesson is this, it
certainly does teach us that salvation is by grace and grace
alone. Salvation is not dependent in
any way upon us, nor is it conditioned upon us. We don't maintain our
salvation by our righteousness. We don't maintain our salvation
by our deeds. God's people are zealous of good
works, but never, never to obtain salvation, or to obtain salvation,
nor to maintain salvation. Salvation is by the grace of
God alone. And that's what this teaches
us. For it's God who saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to God's own purpose
and grace. We can say with the Apostle Paul,
I am what I am. Only by His grace, our works,
good or bad, our merit or lack of, have nothing to do with our
salvation. Nothing. Salvation is by grace
alone. Titus 3, 5, it's not by works
of righteousness which we have done. Not. It's not. It's not. But according to His
mercy, He saved us. You say, well, if I'd have been
with them, I wouldn't have cut and run. Oh, yes, you would. I would too. I would too, apart
from His grace. But notice, Peter did weep bitterly. He sought the Lord's mercy. He
sought the Lord in forgiveness. Now in closing, remember the
words of John Newton that I quoted to you earlier. The Lord Jesus
Christ indeed is a great and glorious, wonderful Savior. He's the Savior of sinners. But
also remember this, the frailty of our own flesh. The weakness
of our own flesh. That ought to cause us to weep
bitterly But it also ought to cause us to rejoice in God's
mercy to sinners in Christ Jesus.