Let's turn in our Bibles again
today to Mark chapter 9. And this morning we are only going
to read and consider three verses. Mark chapter 9, verse 30. And they departed thence and
passed through Galilee. would not that any man should
know. For he taught his disciples and
said unto them, the son of man is delivered into the hands of
men and they shall kill him. And after that he is killed,
he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that
saying and were afraid to ask him. I've mentioned in some previous
messages here in Mark a few possible reasons as to why at times after
the Lord worked a miracle, he told the individual upon whom
he had worked the miracle to tell no man. And we see here
as they travel through Galilee, verse 30 tells us, he would not
that any man should know it. This gave him the opportunity
to teach the 12 disciples in private. When people knew he
was in any place, they came to him by droves, bringing their
sick and those who were demon-possessed and people that had needs. We live in a world where there's
constant need. We live in a world where there's
constant sickness, sorrow, problems, difficulties, and it's all here
because of sin. Sin. How could we ever think
lightly of sin? When we look around and see what
sin has done, brought into God's beautiful, wonderful creation. Even though, if you notice this
time in verse 32, he taught his disciples in private, but they
understood nothing. You see that in verse 32? But
they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him. They did not understand what
he had taught them concerning his death and his resurrection. But he promised them that after
his death, when God the Holy Spirit should come upon them
in a great way, that they would understand. In fact, the night
before his crucifixion, this is recorded in John chapter 16,
he told them, I have yet many things to say unto you, but you
cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit
of truth, is come, now listen, He will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and show it unto you. The Lord promised them that
after the Holy Spirit came upon them, that he would guide them
into all truth. In another place that same night
he told them He would bring things to their remembrance. The ministry
of God the Holy Spirit, and yes, He is God, He is one with the
Father and one with the eternal Son, but the ministry of God
the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ. That's His ministry,
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to take the things of Christ
and show them unto His people. Now, this morning, I'm going
to speak to us from these verses around one word, one word, and
that word is the word delivered, delivered. If you notice in verse
31, for he taught his disciples and said unto them, the son of
man is delivered into the hands of men and they shall kill him. I want us to look today at four
verses of Scripture which tell us of the Son of Man, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ, being delivered to be killed. as he said in this verse, delivered
to be killed. And if you have your Bibles,
I trust you'll turn with me, and if not, maybe mark it down
and look at these verses later. But first, he was delivered to
be killed by the Jewish leaders to Pilate. I want you to look
in Acts chapter 3, and here's an example of what our Lord told
his disciples that after the Holy Spirit had come upon them,
they would understand. They didn't understand anything,
Mark tells us, when our Lord in our passage spoke to them
of the Son of Man being delivered. But now notice the Apostle Peter,
who was in that group, after God the Holy Spirit had come
upon them in a marvelous way, on the day of Pentecost here
in Acts chapter 3 and beginning in verse 12. And when Peter saw
it, he answered unto the people, you men of Israel, now notice
who he's speaking to, you men of Israel, why marvel you at
this? Or why look you so earnestly
upon us? That is upon John and Peter,
as though we or as though by our own power or holiness we
had made this man to walk. The God of Abraham and of Isaac
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son
Jesus, now notice, whom you delivered up and denied him in the presence
of Pilate when he was determined to let him go But you denied
the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted
unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised
from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. So the first verse
we look at here tells us that the Jewish leaders, you men of
Israel, that's who Peter is speaking to, you men of Israel, you delivered
him up. the Jewish leaders delivered
up the Lord Jesus Christ to Pilate to be killed. Judas Iscariot
had brought the band of men and officers from the chief priest
to the Garden of Gethsemane. The night before his crucifixion,
the Lord went there in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to his
father, Father, if it be possible, Let this cup pass from me. And
that verse alone tells us, and I hope you hear this, I'm sure
most of you know this, but if there's anyone here who doesn't,
there's only one way. There's only one way that a sinner
like you and me may be forgiven. And that is through the person
and work of Jesus Christ. Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass. It wasn't possible. There is
no other way. It was Judas who led the band,
but the point I want to make, he led the band of men and officers
from the chief priest to the Garden of Gethsemane. Our text
here, Peter says, you men of Israel, you delivered him up. You delivered him to Pilate.
You denied him. You delivered him to Pilate. In John 18, we read that it was
the officers of the Jews who bound the Lord Jesus Christ that
night in the garden and carried him or led him to the palace
of the high priest. He who is pure, oh, As I think
about the purity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the holiness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was bound like a common criminal. Oh, the shame, the reproach that
Jesus Christ bore for his people. Bound him and led him or brought
him to the palace of the high priest and there He was condemned
to death because a high priest, and he was a high priest, he
said unto the Lord, I adjure thee, I adjure thee, I charge
thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ,
the Son of God. And he answered, being charged
before God. He answered, Thou sayest. In
other words, yes, I am the Messiah, the Son of God. He answered straight
forward, Thou hast said. And then he was delivered to
Pilate. Now the second text I want us
to look at is in John chapter 19. So first of all, I point
out that He was delivered to be killed by the Jewish leaders
to Pilate. Everybody on the same page. First
of all, he was delivered. Delivered who? The Lord Jesus
Christ was delivered by the Jewish leaders to Pilate. Now in this text, what we're
going to see is that Pilate, the Roman governor, that Pilate
delivered him to the Jewish mob. Chapter 19 and verse 10. Then saith Pilate unto him, speakest
thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee and I have power to release thee? Jesus
answered, thou couldest have no power at all against me. except it were given thee from
above. Therefore, he that delivered
me, the Jewish leaders, he that delivered me unto thee hath the
greater sin. And from henceforth Pilate sought
to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar, When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the
judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in
the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, and about the sixth hour, and he saith unto the Jews,
Behold your king, But they cried out, away with him, away with
him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, shall
I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, we
have no king but Caesar. Then, now notice, now this is
Pilate, then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. So first he was delivered by
the Jewish leaders to Pilate, and now we see that Pilate delivers
him to the Jewish mob to be crucified, to be killed. The Roman soldiers
then were charged with the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to go to the third
text, back to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and verse 23 and
this is the Apostle Peter speaking on the day of Pentecost. Him,
that is Christ, being delivered. There it is. First he was delivered by the
Jewish leaders to Pilate. Pilate delivered him to the Jewish
mob, but now this verse tells us him being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. When we read in the word of God,
the word counsel associated with God, as in this verse, the determinate
counsel of God. What we have is God is using
language that men would use. Like, if we had a serious matter,
we would seek counsel. And the multitude of counselors,
the proverb tells us, there is safety. God, when we read of
him, and His counsel, it points us to the wisdom of God, the
infinite wisdom of God. In laying or making the plan
or the scheme of redemption, He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, the wisdom of God, and showing
that the way that men are reconciled unto God. And listen, most people today think that
is so simple. God does it, my friends. I'm
talking about the gospel, the way that God saves sinners. It's
a product of infinite wisdom. How God, who will not clear the
guilty, that's what he said. He will not clear the guilty. And yet, he's merciful and gracious. And we know that by his determinate
counsel, he solved the problem. He solved the problem. How? In delivering up his son. to die to pay the price for the
sins of his chosen people. People say, well, I've heard
that all my life. Well, let me tell you something.
You're blessed if you've heard it all your life. But I'm telling
you, you're not blessed if that's just old hat to you. If you've
just outgrown that and you don't marvel and you're not amazed,
at the wisdom of God in His plan of redemption. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. God's justice must be satisfied for you to be saved, for you
to have your sins forgiven. God's justice must be satisfied. God's holy law must be honored. And an eternity in hell by a
man or a woman will never satisfy God's justice. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now, you might say, well,
if that was God's counsel, those men who crucified him, those
men who cried for his crucifixion, then they cannot be guilty. I
beg your pardon. They are guilty. What did Peter
say? Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. They did exactly what they wanted
to do. They would have done it sooner.
How many times in the Gospel of John do we read, but his hour
was not yet come. Man would have done away with
the Lord Jesus Christ sooner. But it was not until, and there's
a verse in Luke that tells us he was delivered unto their will,
the will of man. People want to cry out, man's
free will, man's free will. Man has a free will to do evil. But to do good, he has a fallen
will. He needs the work of grace in
his heart before any man will ever seek after God. Now I have one more verse, one
more verse that speaks of him being delivered up. I want you
to turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 in verse 32
tells us, 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? He was delivered to be killed
by the Jews to Pilate, by Pilate to the mob, the Jewish mob, He
was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, and this verse tells us he was delivered by the God of
all grace, of all grace. I have three questions I want
us to look at, the answers, that question and the answers from
this verse here in Romans 8 and verse 32 that tells us that God
delivered him up. The first question is, How great
must God's love be, seeing that he spared not his own son? How great must his love be, seeing
that he spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all? The apostle Paul wrote this about
the love of God. He says it passeth knowledge. God's love, like God, is infinite. And His love is so different
from what we call love. There's always a cause as to
why we love those that we love. There's always a cause. God's love is different. The
cause There's always a cause in those that we love, I should
say. There's always, those that we love, there's always a cause
in them. We love them. They're our children. That's our wife or whatever qualities
we see in them and we love them because of it. But God's love,
the cause of his love was only in himself. There was nothing
in you, there was nothing in me that called forth God's love. If we were considered as unfallen,
there was nothing and surely if we was considered as fallen,
there was nothing in any son of Adam, any fallen son of Adam
that would cause God to set his love upon that person. God's
love is free love. He loved them freely. That means
without a cause. The very same word which is used
concerning the crucifixion of Christ. They crucified Him, they
delivered Him up freely. There was no cause in Christ
for Him to be delivered up. He went about doing good. There was nothing in Christ that
would cause anyone to deliver him up, and there was never anything
in any person that God loves to cause him to love that person. Say, I don't believe that. Well,
that's your problem. I'm telling you what the Bible
teaches. God loves those that he loves with an eternal love. He said, yea, I have loved thee,
from eternity with an everlasting love. You say, I don't understand
that. Well, no, you can't understand
it. You can't understand God. God's infinite. We're finite
creatures. You think that little grub worm
in the dirt understands you? You're out there turning over
the dirt and you turn him over? You think he understands what's
going on? Of course he doesn't. He doesn't
have the ability because you are so much higher, so much greater
than that worm. And that is a poor example between
the difference between God Almighty and one of us. How much? How great must God's
love be? saying that he spared not his
own son. There's not a parent in this
building today that would give one of your children for somebody
else. You just wouldn't do it. I don't
blame you. I wouldn't either. And that's
a poor example. How great must his love be? The second question is, who are
the all for whom he delivered him up? The verse says, he that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Who are the
all here? Well, we've got to look for the
truth as to who the all are in the context here. The all are
those in verse 29 that we read, for whom he did foreknow. Now
that word foreknow, We see immediately it's made up of two words, of
two Greek words, for and know. And this is interesting, the
one that means to know is the same word, same Greek word that
the Lord Jesus Christ used in Matthew 7 in verse 23. He says, there's going to come
a day, verse 22, many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
Have not we prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? You see what these people are
trusting in? They're trusting in their works. Not by works of righteousness,
the Lord tells us. But then the Lord in the next
verse says, And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. That's the same word that is
used here. For whom he did foreknow. The Lord says, I never knew you. Well, he's God. He knows all
things. Absolutely. This word know means
more than just to be cognizant of certain things. It means to
love. It means to love, my friends. This same word is translated
foreordained in 1 Peter 1 and verse 20, when it's speaking
of Christ, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. The all for whom God delivered
him up are those he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. Notice that. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. The all for whom he delivered
them up are the all, in verse 30, moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And this is not speaking of just
a general call. Everybody in this room, every
one of us, We've all heard a general call. Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And if
that's all we've heard, that general call, we heard the voice
of the preacher. But unless in hearing the voice
of the preacher, we heard the voice of God speaking to us,
calling us out of darkness into light, out of deadness into life,
so that we might believe in His Son. The all for whom He delivered
Him up are the all that He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, the all that He did foreknow, the
all that He did call. And then those that He called
are the same that He did justify. Same ones. What does that mean? Justify. It means to declare
righteous, doesn't it? To declare righteous. Not only those that are called
and those that have justified, but those that are glorified. These are they all. One day, we will all be glorified. The third question is this, what
are some of the all things that God freely gives us? 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? What are some of these all things? One thing is, Eternal life. Eternal life. That means to know
God. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of the all things,
eternal life. Doesn't mean that we will just
exist forever and ever. That's true, but it means much
more than that. It means to know God. Our Lord
said, this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only
true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Apostle Paul said, I know whom
I have believed. I just don't know about him.
I know Him. I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep all things which I've committed unto Him against that
day. I've committed my life, my eternity,
my soul, my everything to Him, to Christ. And I'm persuaded
that He's able to keep that until that day. That's one of the all
things. One of the all things is to be
adopted into the family of God. What a blessing, right? Be an
heir and join heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the all
things is to have all our sins forgiven. Not most of them. That wouldn't help us. All of
them. The all things. I want to say
something else. He gives us, the Apostle Paul
tells us, he gives us richly all things to enjoy. Those all
things that I've mentioned thus far have been these spiritual
blessings, and they're great. Forgiveness of sins, eternal
life, adoption into the family of God, made an heir and joined
with Christ, all those things. But even in this life, my friends,
He's given us all things richly to enjoy. All things. God has promised to meet our
needs as we go through this life. And He does. He does. I want you to go back to our
text, and I'll close, but in Mark chapter 9, We'll read the verses again.
And they departed thence and passed through Galilee, and he
would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples
and said unto them, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands
of men, and they shall kill him. Now notice, and after that he
is killed, he shall rise the third day. After that he is killed. Yes, he was delivered to be killed. But after that, on the third
day, he rose again. Know this, child of God, that
your sins that trouble you, and if you are a child of God, your
sins do trouble you. He bore those sins in his own
body on the tree. And when he was buried, your
sins were buried there in that grave. And when he came out on
the third day, your sins are in that grave. God will remember
them no more. Search may be made for them,
but they cannot be found. They're gone. They're removed
as far as the east is from the west. And all because of Jesus
Christ and his work, his suffering, his sacrifice, his death. May the Lord bless his word to
all of us.