Sermon
#65 Mark Sermons
Title: A GREAT SAVIOR
FOR GREAT SINNERS
Text: Mark 14:26-31
Subject: The Smitten Shepherd
And The Scattered Sheep
Date: Sunday Morning - November 8, 1998
Tape # U-92b
Reading: Zechariah 13:1-9
Introduction:
I have
often told you that when John Newton was an old man he made this
statement - “I am an old man now and cannot remember as well as I used to; but
I do remember two great things. I remember that I am a great sinner; and Jesus
Christ is a great Savior.”
That is
what I want to preach to you today. I want you to see and rejoice in the fact
that…
Proposition: The Lord Jesus Christ is a great Savior for great
sinners.
My text is Mark 14:26-31.
Mark 14:26-31 "And when they had sung
an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus saith unto
them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I
will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. 28 But after
that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. 29 But Peter said
unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. 30 And
Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in
this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31 But
he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee
in any wise. Likewise also said they all."
I.
WHAT A GREAT
SAVIOR CHRIST IS!
This is the primary thing to be seen in these verses.
Therefore I will spend the bulk of my time talking about his greatness as our
Savior. Christ’s greatness as our Savior is set before us here in three things:
the people he saves, the punishment he suffered, and the perseverance of his
love. First, we see the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior
in…
A. THE PEOPLE HE SAVES.
1.
Our blessed Savior
knew exactly what he was getting when he saved us.
My sin
often astonishes me; but it never astonishes him. The Lord Jesus knew when he
chose me, he knew long before he saved me, what a vile, fickle sinner I would
be. He knew before he saved me that I would constantly be in need of his grace
and his forgiveness. Just in case you are wondering, he knew the same about
you.
We see
this clearly exemplified in our text. Our Lord knew the weaknesses, sins, and
infirmities of his disciples. He told them plainly what they were going to do.
Their pride was offended when they heard it. None of them really believed they
were capable of such evil. He said, “All ye shall be offended because of
me this night.” He told Peter, specifically, "Verily I say
unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice.”
Yet,
our Savior’s knowledge of what poor disciples they would be did not prevent him
from choosing these men to be his disciples, even his apostles. His knowledge
of what poor disciples we would be did not prevent him from choosing us.
·
The Lord Jesus loved us
and chose us, though he knew we would never choose him and would never love him
in return, except he create that love in us and cause us by his grace to choose
him.
·
Our Savior loved us,
though he knew that our love for him, as long as we live in this world, will be
an alloyed love at best.
·
The Son of God chose us,
as he did these disciples, to be his intimate friends and companions, though he
knew beforehand what great evil we would do.
2.
With such a
charitable, gracious, forbearing Savior, you and I ought to be charitable,
forbearing, and gracious with one another.
We
ought never conclude that a person has no grace, or does not know Christ,
because we perceive that he or she has many weaknesses and much corruption.
J.C.
Ryle wrote, “The church of Christ is little better than a great
hospital. We ourselves are all, more or less, weak, and all daily need the
skillful treatment of the heavenly Physician. There will be no complete cures
until the resurrection day.”
Ephesians 4:32 - 5:1 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye
therefore followers of God, as dear children;"
We see something of our Savior’s greatness
as our Savior in the people he saves. "For ye 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; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought
things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Then, we
see something of his greatness in…
B. THE PUNISHMENT HE SUFFERED.
Mark 14:27 "And Jesus saith unto them, All ye
shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the
shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered."
The
last sentence of this verse is a direct quote from Zechariah 13:7. Turn back
there, and look at that blessed prophecy.
Zechariah 13:7 "Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of
hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn
mine hand upon the little ones."
In
order to redeem and save us, the Son of God assumed our nature, bore our sins
in his own body on the tree, and voluntarily suffered all the infinite fulness
of God’s holy wrath to the full satisfaction of his justice as our Substitute.
Look at this verse line by line.
1. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd.”
The
Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah’s Shepherd. These are the words of God the Father
concerning his Son as our Mediator. He calls the God-man, “MY SHEPHERD,”
because…
·
He was chosen,
appointed, called, and trusted God the Father as the Shepherd of his sheep in
the covenant of grace before the world began.
·
He is the One on whom the
Father has laid the iniquity of his sheep.
·
And he is the one
responsible and accountable for the sheep.
Those
words “AWAKE, O SWORD,” speak of the violent death of our
Lord Jesus Christ and of glittering sword of divine justice, which was drawn
out against him, when he was made to be sin for us. That sword, once unsheathed
in Jehovah’s angry hands of omnipotent wrath, was never sheathed again until it
was sheathed forever in Immanuel’s heart.
The
sword of justice is here called to “awake” because it appeared to sleep,
and to have been asleep for a very long time. It had been a long, long time
since…
·
Sin first entered into
the world by our father Adam demanding satisfaction.
·
Christ became our Surety
and pledged himself to satisfy the justice of God for us.
·
The promise was first
given that the Son of God would be stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted as
our Substitute.
2. “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against
the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord
of hosts.”
·
He is a man.
·
But this man, who is our
Substitute and Savior, is and must be Jehovah’s fellow - God incarnate!
3.
“Awake, O sword,
against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd.”
The
order was given by God himself to the sword of his justice to smite his darling
Son to death. The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered to death and slain by the
hand of God, according to the decree of God, at the command of God, for the
glory of God. Now, look at the next line…
4.
“Awake, O sword,
against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered.”
This is
the part of the text which our Lord Jesus applied to his disciples, when he
said, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night.”
Matthew 26:31 "Then saith Jesus unto
them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I
will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad."
Matthew 26:56 "But all this was done,
that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples
forsook him, and fled."
I am so
thankful that the text does not end there! Read on…
5.
“Awake, O sword,
against my Shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little
ones.”
These “little
ones” are the sheep who were scattered, the straying, scattered sheep, the
disciples of Christ who forsook him. Yet, the text in Zechariah clearly speaks
of more than just those sheep. It speaks of the certain salvation of all the
Lord’s sheep. Zechariah’s prophecy asserts emphatically that all those sheep
for whom the Shepherd was smitten at Calvary shall be saved (Zech. 13:7-9).
Zechariah 13:7-9 "Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of
hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn
mine hand upon the little ones. 8 And it shall come to pass, that in
all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die;
but the third shall be left therein. 9 And I will bring the third part
through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them
as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say,
It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God."
There
is a remnant according to the election of grace (here called a third part of
the earth), which shall be saved because Christ died for them. The Lord God
says, “I will turn mine hand upon the little ones” - not his hand of
wrath and justice, but his hand of mercy, grace, and power.
Are you
beginning to see something of the greatness of Christ as our Savior? Certainly,
you cannot fail to do so, when you consider the people he saves, the punishment
he suffered, and…
C. THE PERSEVERANCE OF HIS LOVE.
Go back to Mark 14. I will say nothing about the
perseverance of our Savior’s love for us through all the ages of time and all
the stages of our rebellion and ungodliness. Let me simply remind you of the
perseverance of his mercy, love, and grace to his erring, fallen, sinful
people.
What
great comfort I find here. The Lord Jesus does not cast off or forsake his
people because of their faults, failures, and sins. He knows what we are. “He
remembereth our frame. He knoweth that we are dust.” Like a loving husband
who has taken a wife, takes her
forever, and never dreams of putting her away because he later finds some fault
in her, so Christ took us, knowing our deformity, to be his bride forever. Did
you hear me? The Lord Jesus chose us, redeemed us, called us, and took us for
his bride, knowing full well what he was getting!
1. He is a merciful and compassionate High Priest.
2. It is the glory of Christ to pass over iniquity,
transgression, and sin. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing” (Pro.
25:2).
3. Our Lord Jesus knew what we were before he saved us;
yet he saved us.
4. He knew what we would be after he saved us; yet he
saved us.
5. He cannot be induced for any reason, by anything, or
at any time to cast us away now!
He
says, “I will never leave the nor forsake thee.” He is our unchanging,
unchangeable God, “Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, and today, and for
ever!”
Now,
briefly, let me tell you…
II. WHAT A GREAT THIEF UNBELIEF IS!
Our
Lord Jesus spoke plainly to his disciples about his death and his resurrection.
Look at verse 28.
Mark 14:28 "But after that I am risen, I will go
before you into Galilee."
He
could not have been more clear. Yet, his words seem to have just passed over
their heads altogether Not one of the disciples laid them up in his heart. Not
one of the disciples remembered them. When he was betrayed, they all forsook
him. When he was crucified, they were almost driven to despair. When he was
raised from the dead, and they were told about it by credible witnesses, none
of them were quick to believe it.
A. Only in eternity will we know how much we have robbed
ourselves by our unbelief.
Our
unbelief robs God of his glory; and robs us of more peace, joy, and contentment
than we can imagine. Like Hagar’s well in the wilderness, we have the truths
and promises of our God right here in his Word, but do not see them, because of
unbelief (Gen. 21:19).
What anxiety, what tears, what misgivings,
what sorrows we might avoid if we simply believed God!
B. Here is a word specifically for preachers, pastors and
teachers.
If those men who were instructed by Christ himself so
frequently ignored what he said, we ought not get too upset when those to whom
we preach ignore, fail to learn, or quickly forget what we preach to them.
Now,
look at our text and these poor disciples once more, and let us be reminded…
III. WHAT GREAT SINNERS WE ARE.
Mark 14:29-31 "But Peter said unto him,
Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. 30 And Jesus
saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this
night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31 But he
spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in
any wise. Likewise also said they all."
There
is in all of us an enormous measure of pride that must be abased, a huge
portion of self-confidence that must be destroyed, and a hideous mass of
self-righteousness that must be slain.
Peter
simply could not believe what the Lord Jesus said. He argued in defense of
himself. He was highly offended and insulted that the Lord should even think he
might forsake him. He said, “If I should die with thee, I will not deny
thee.” He did not stand alone in his arrogance. All the other disciples
were of the same high opinion about themselves. “Likewise said they all.”
·
Peter told the truth. He
was truly willing to die with his Lord, and eventually did.
·
But Peter, as well as
the others, were unaware of the great evil still in them, which had to be
exposed and dealt with.
In just
twelve hours, all these men forsook the Master. Their bold, proud claims were
forgotten. Their promises of fidelity were swept away. Their imagined strength
withered. Their great faith failed.
Yet,
even in this, we see the overruling hand of our God in goodness, grace, and
providence.
·
Had Peter not trembled
before the maid and denied his Lord here he could never have preached so boldly
as he did at Pentecost or confessed Christ so fearlessly as he did in Acts 4.
·
Had Peter and these
disciples, our brethren, not forsaken the Lord Jesus, we could never have known
the goodness, grace, love, and faithfulness of our great God and Savior, in his
absolute immutability toward his fallen saints as it is here revealed.
Application:
1. There is no sin into which the most eminent saint will
not run, except God hold us by his grace.
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goeth before
destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 28:26 "He that trusteth in his
own heart is a fool."
1 Corinthians 10:12-13
"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he
fall. 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it."
2. Salvation is by grace alone.
1 Corinthians 15:10 "By the
grace of God I am what I am."
AMEN.