Admonition Podcast

All right, let's begin with a word prayer.

Our gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you've
granted to us, for the life that we have and the opportunity that we have to serve you.

We pray that you will strive, you will be with us as we strive to be obedient to your will
and follow your word and your commandments.

We pray that when we sin and fall short of your glory, that you will forgive us of those
things.

Lord, we are mindful of those who are dealing with uh illnesses, those who are recovering.

recovering from surgeries or procedures and those who are dealing with ongoing uh or
chronic illnesses.

We pray that you give them the strength that they need each and every day and pray that
you will help us to be a comfort and a strength to them.

Lord, we pray for our nation and nations throughout the world that they will do the things
which are right and in accordance with your will, that they will uphold values that are uh

those values that you would have each nation

to have and to utilize each and every day.

And Lord, we pray that we might be a shining example to those around us in our daily
lives, in business, in school, in all of our activities as to how Christians ought to

behave.

All these things we pray and ask for in Jesus' name, amen.

As we mentioned, we're in Mark chapter 14.

And we are in the account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

uh What mountain region or area is the Garden of Gethsemane at?

Anybody remember?

Mount of Olives, okay, so, or also known in some texts as Mount Olivet.

So, the Mount of Olives was just outside of uh the

city proper, and this garden there existed there.

It was one of the places that Jesus was known to go to, uh as the text lets us know that
he went where he was known to go to.

uh And so, part of the reason why uh Judas knew where he would be is he went where he
would normally go.

And that included the Garden of Gethsemane there in the Mount of Olives.

So, Jesus is going to go there.

He is going to pray.

We've already discussed most of that, so we're not going to necessarily revisit those
things.

But we are going to pick up about verse 36.

He said,

Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.

Take this cup away from me.

Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will." Then he came and found them sleeping
and said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping?

Could you not watch one hour?

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Again he went away and prayed and spoke the same words.

And when he returned, he found them asleep.

again, for their eyes were heavy and they did not know what to answer him.

Then he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting?

It is enough.

The hour has come.

Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hand of sinners." So as Jesus arrives,

back at their location and as he is preparing for what is coming next, he shows up the
third time after praying for an hour and what are they doing?

Sleeping again.

They are still sleeping in this regard.

And so as he arrives this time, he doesn't question, you sleeping?

He rather says, it is enough.

Now, Mark combines it, says, are you still sleeping and resting?

And then says, it is enough.

Indicating that time's at hand.

It's time to wake up.

It's time to go to the next, as it were, of things.

Jesus will identify the hour is come.

Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Now,

It's interesting because as you go throughout the majority of the New Testament text,
there's going to be a phrase that shows up, publicans and sinners.

Now, when that phrase arrives, when you see that in the text, what does it normally mean?

basically working for the Roman government.

All right.

So the publicans were tax collectors and notably when you look in the text, the
associations that they kept when you read in the text, publicans and sinners, it usually

meant tax collectors and harlots.

In other words, these were the people who were outcasts from Jewish society, either
because they held allegiance to Rome for their income in opposition to their own country

because they collected taxes on behalf of Rome, or they were active in prostitution or in
harlotry.

And so these two categories were referenced together.

And all throughout Jesus' ministry, you have this representation that Jesus was willing to
sit with, to eat with, to study with, to teach the Scriptures to these two groups of

people that the Pharisees wouldn't be caught dead with.

And yet when you get to this text, when Jesus is now describing the people who He's about
to be handed over to, how does He describe them?

As sinners.

not because of their reputation, not because of their position in culture, but because of
their actual participation in sin.

Jesus is going to identify the fact that He is being handed over to those whose allegiance
is not to God.

And Jesus is going to tell the disciples, hours come, the Son of Man is being betrayed
into the hands of those who do not hold allegiance to God.

Jesus isn't going to pull any punches.

Jesus isn't going to mince any words.

He says, these people are sinners.

Now.

We know there are passages in the New Testament, for instance, where Paul describes
himself as the chief of what?

Sinners.

Did Paul consider himself to be the chief of sinners because of his current lifestyle as
an apostle in the New Testament church?

Okay, what was the statement in view of?

Absolutely.

It was in view of his former participation in uh persecuting the church and acting in
opposition to Christ and to God.

And actively seeking to participate in those things that were seeking to destroy the
church that Jesus Christ came to purchase.

When Paul describes himself as the chief of sinners, he's not talking about his current
state.

He's talking about his former state.

and yet he lived every day recognizing that he was what he was by the grace of God.

That he had been allowed the opportunity to change because he rightfully recognized that
on the road to Damascus he could have just as easily been struck down by God as been

confronted and given the opportunity to repent.

Now, as you think about that...

John in 1 John chapter 1 will tell Christians.

If any man says that he has no sin, he's a what?

He's a liar and the truth is not in him.

But should Christians go about calling themselves sinners?

Not unless they've denied the faith of Jesus Christ.

We should be careful about portraying an attitude and a mindset and a description that
we're not righteous, holy, sanctified, purchased by the blood of Christ people.

And yet some will go, perhaps in a show of humility, and describe themselves as, well, I'm
just a sinner.

That's not the description of a New Testament Christian.

That's not how the New Testament talks about Christians.

The New Testament speaks of us as being sanctified.

What does the word sanctified mean?

Set apart.

Well, if you are set apart for the purpose of God, then if you describe yourself as just a
common sinner, then guess what?

You're saying you're not set apart.

You're saying, hey, if you want to find me, find me over there with the sinners.

because I haven't been set apart by God.

When the New Testament speaks concerning Christians, it frames them in terms of holiness,
righteousness, set apartness, if you could allow the terminology.

It doesn't speak of them in their former state unless it is setting a juxtaposition
between their current state.

1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Notice this.

Paul as he is writing to the church.

will write to them and say in verse 6, do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God?

First thing Paul wants us to identify is if you're actively participating in
unrighteousness in an unrepentant way, in a lifestyle in opposition to God, he says,

I need you to understand you will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Well, Paul, what lifestyles are you talking about?

He says, do not be deceived.

Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves
nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Paul doesn't pull any more punches than Jesus did.

Paul says, this is your lifestyle...

I can assure you that one place you're not going is heaven.

because God's clear on it.

You live this way, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But notice He says, and such were past tense, and such were some of you.

Could those in the church at Corinth, if they had been asked, raise your hand if you've
ever been a drunkard.

Do think someone in the church at Corinth could have raised their hand?

Absolutely!

Could there, based upon the text, have been those who could have been asked, raise your
hand if you were formerly a homosexual?

They would have raised their hands and said, yes.

But notice what he says, but you were washed.

Here's the thing about pigs.

What happens when you wash a pig and they get free for a moment?

They're going to go waller right back in the mire, right?

That's what Peter tells us.

Those who are not faithful to God do.

You go wash them, you go clean them up, and they're headed right back to the dump heap to
go waller in the filth.

Paul says, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Paul says, you may have been these things before, but you're not now.

But notice what else he says.

He says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.

Now, some will come to this passage, they'll ignore the whole context about being washed,
justified and sanctified.

They'll go, see, you can live however you want to because you're saved.

No, that's not what Paul's talking about.

The idea of the phrase here, even in the original language is all things that are lawful
are lawful.

He's already excluded the things that are not lawful.

He says the things that are lawful are lawful, but not everything that's lawful is
helpful.

Elsewhere, he's going to argue that those who use their liberty in Christ as an excuse to
trip their brothers up and cause them to sin are condemned.

He says, not everything that's lawful is helpful.

But he goes on to say, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the
power of any.

Foods for the stomach.

and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.

Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.

And God both raised up the Lord and has also raised us up by His power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?

Certainly not.

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one with her?

For the two, he says, shall become one flesh.

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

Flee sexual immorality, he says.

Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins
against his own body.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?

whom you have from God, you are not your own.

For you were bought at a price.

Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

Paul as he carries forward from this consideration of what they were to what they have
become will lead into a conversation about the fact do you not realize you belong to God?

By the way, in the church at Corinth, they had a group of people who lived in a city where
in the exact same city they had temples to gods where people would go into the temple to

commit fornication and offer that as worship to God.

Paul says, oh no, absolutely not.

Rather, do you not realize that your very body is the temple of God?

That you as a church together are collectively the temple of God?

that your body belongs to God.

We do not go about describing ourselves as sinners unless we're simultaneously going to
describe the temple of God as a house of harlotry.

No, we're not.

We are to speak of ourselves in view, not of our own imperfection.

but of Christ's perfection.

Are we those who should freely admit we're far from perfect?

Sure.

Are we those who should claim that we're sinless?

Never.

But we should very much understand that we belong to God.

and that as those who wear the name Christian, as those who wear the name of the people of
God,

We ought to describe ourselves as nothing less than holy, sanctified, justified, and
washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus says here in verse 41.

I'm going to be handed over to the hand.

of those who oppose the very nature of God, those who live in rebellion against God and
would kill His very Son.

When I come to this text, I cannot help but think concerning the parable of the Vineyard
Keepers.

Jesus in the parable of the vineyard keepers does not describe those vineyard keepers as
those who were generally obedient to the owner of the vineyard.

They just made some mistakes every once in a while.

No, that's not how Jesus describes them.

He describes them as wicked and evil and those worthy of judgment by God.

that's who he's about to be handed over to.

He says, let us be going.

See my betrayer is at hand.

Not so many hours before, Jesus had just sat at dinner with Judas.

Jesus had just proclaimed that there would be one who was sitting there who had partaken
of the supper with him who would betray him, and they all asked, is it I?

Is it I?

Is it I?

Judas also asked, is it I?

He already knew the answer

because Judas had gone out from the event where Jesus had been anointed by the woman who
was there in Simon's house and had actively sought to betray Jesus coming out of that

event.

Mark tells us that.

He knew it was him.

Jews didn't get up from that supper and go, well, I guess I'm gonna betray him.

No, Judas had been looking for an opportunity to betray him, Mark tells us.

And now Jesus says, my betrayer is at hand.

And immediately, verse 43, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, with a
great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the

elders.

Is this the first time that the chief priests have sent someone to arrest Jesus?

No, the last time they sent soldiers to arrest Jesus, they sent the officers by
indications of the text, the officers of the uh the priest or the chief priests.

uh They had their own little uh perfunctory guard.

It is kind of like the the royal guards that are around certain places and and you know,
they have authority.

right there on the grounds.

But you go too far away from the palace and they don't have any authority.

That was basically what Rome let the chief priests have.

You can have guards, but they're not centurions and they're not Romans.

And when we say this is what's gonna happen, this is what's gonna happen.

So they had limited authority, yes.

uh

on the types of people and what they brought with them.

says lanterns, torches, and weapons, a detachment of troops and officers from the chief
priests and Pharisees.

So with them are those who are, carrying torches, they're carrying lanterns, they're of
course making their way there in the middle of, in the midst of the night, they're coming,

they've uh got weapons, they're doing all of these things.

Now where has Jesus been for the last?

uh Six days.

In Jerusalem, what location specifically during the day?

In the temple.

Teaching.

Really hard to find, right?

No, really hard to find without a crowd of supporters around.

And so notice they come.

and they came uh from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

Now his betrayer had given them a signal saying, whomever I kiss, he is the one, seize him
and lead him away safely.

So the common greeting of the day in Jewish society was the brotherhood kiss.

And so he says, whoever I greet, that's the one.

indicating that many of the people who are coming along didn't spend their time in the
temple studying about the Word of God.

They didn't spend their time listening to the message of the teachers and the rabbis in
Jerusalem because otherwise they would have recognized Jesus.

Judas is going I'm going to have to point him out to you.

By the way,

By the way, also tells us that Jesus wasn't the only blond-haired, blue-eyed Jew walking
around, if you've seen any of the English movies.

Jesus looked like a Jew, by the way, because He looked like all the other Jews who were
there.

not an Englishman.

So they come and Judas has told them, whoever I greet, seize him, but notice the rest of
the phrase, and lead him away safely.

Judas made it clear in his agreement to participate that as far as he was concerned, Jesus
was going to be taken safely out of this.

They weren't gonna just kill him on the spot.

Bear in mind, when Jesus is crucified, what's Judas' reaction?

He goes out and hangs himself.

Judas, as we've mentioned before, had a position and a mentality and actions.

Judas thought Jesus was going to get out of this and Judas was still going to get paid.

So Judas is gonna make sure they know, you can't harm him.

Just go get it.

As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to him and said to him, Rabbi, Rabbi, that
is teacher, teacher, and kissed him.

And they laid their hands on him and took him.

And one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and
cut off his ear.

One of those who stood by, what's that mean?

That's right, one of the apostles, one of the eleven who had gone with him into the
garden.

As he's observing this, as they come for Jesus, as they lay their hands on Jesus, here
comes one of them, grabs his sword

and swings at the head of one of the soldiers of the high priest.

And well, and I'm firmly convinced he was a better fisherman than he was a soldier.

Because every indication of the text is he was not aiming for the year.

This was not a warning swing.

This was a decapitation swing that missed.

Who is it?

Peter.

Jesus answered and said, Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to
take me?

I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.

But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.

Then they all forsook him and fled.

Now, Mark tells you about the ear coming off.

Mark doesn't tell you about the ear going back on.

believe it's John will tell you that Jesus puts the ear back on.

And isn't it interesting that these individuals are so set on taking Jesus that they can
witness someone's ear being cut off and then witness it being put back on and they'll

still take it.

But Jesus will point out.

Why are you coming to me as if I'm a thief, a robber, a hoodlum, someone who's dangerous?

Could be said another way, you do remember this afternoon I was in the temple teaching,
right?

and have been for days.

Jesus says that the Scriptures had to be fulfilled.

The things that they were doing, they weren't doing to fulfill the Scriptures.

but they were a fulfillment of the Scriptures.

Many times in the Old and the New Testament, you find people participating in that which
is wrong, participating in that which is in opposition to God, participating in that which

they believe is of their own motivation, only to have it fulfill exactly what God said
they would do.

Yes?

Surprising that we stopped to think about the way people treat what they read in scripture
now.

I mean we're talking about these people watching an ear that is cut off and bloody and a
hot mess and then all of sudden it's back on and I mean you just have to believe that the

mess of the ear is as though it was never touched.

But we have people that read scriptures today that are so clear and they still can't see
it as clear as what it is because the hardness of their hearts.

And so it really shouldn't be a surprise to us that it was missed by them, the very things
that were being done in front of them because they were so filled with hate that they

could not see the people.

They could not see Jesus.

They could not even hear what he was saying because they were

so filled with that.

And we have people in our culture that are so filled with self-preservation and myself
more than Scripture that they can't see what is very clear in front of them.

Absolutely.

You know, as you think about this, Jesus...

Jesus is pointing out.

things that should have made the honest person go, wait a minute, what's going on here?

He's identifying the actions that were inherently unjustified.

that would have made the sincere, honest heart

step back and wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, something's not right.

And all of these will be details that will become, as it were, chinks in the armor of the
story of the chief priests and the elders that this man was a sinner.

further added to by the testimony of Pilate and others.

But notice as the statement is made, but the scriptures must be fulfilled, they all, who's
the they all?

The apostles.

Then they all forsook him and fled.

Now we often,

give uh a hard time to Peter for his denial of Christ.

because Jesus points out what Peter's going to do.

But Peter and John, if you read carefully in the text, are going to be two that actually
at least followed Jesus to the high priest's location to his house where he's going to be

put on trial.

All indication is the rest of the disciples are just gone.

So they forsook him and fled.

Now Mark tells us about another young man who was there.

that the rest of the gospel records don't tell us about.

Some have some suspicions as to why that is.

But verse 51 says, certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown about his
naked body, and the young men laid hold of him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from

them naked.

Now this isn't just likely some odd story that Mark decided to include.

What do some consider this to likely be?

Mark talking about the fact that he was present.

In the same way that John never mentions John's name in the entire book of John, John
won't reference himself in the record of the life of Christ.

He will describe himself as the apostle whom Jesus loved.

He will use other figures to describe himself, but he'll never use his own name.

Mark.

likely is describing himself as, and the text here seems to be clear enough that when the
idea of young man is that this is an adolescent like early teenage years, which would be

probably right for the participation of Mark later on in...

the travels that will occur as he is a young man at that point traveling with Paul and
Barnabas.

So early teenage years at this point,

and uh considered a full-grown man by the time that he is traveling with Paul and
Barnabas, someone old enough that he should have known better than to turn around and go

back during his time with Paul.

So whether this is Mark or not, we don't know, but it does tell us that there were
innocent bystanders who were around watching these events transpire.

awoken as if in the night uh and came out trying to figure out what's going on.

So perhaps this is not Mark.

Maybe this is just an innocent bystander, but the point is someone was awoken by all of
this going on.

They came out to see what was going on and they fled.

Verse 53, and they led Jesus away to the high priest.

And with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders and the scribes.

But Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.

So, you got to high priest's house.

And they're going to bring Jesus to the house of the high priest.

Interestingly, there's actually two high priests at the time, one appointed by Rome, one
appointed by the Jews, because the Jews weren't willing to accept the Roman appointee.

But as they come into the house of the high priest, they come into the courtyard, they
come into the area of the house, there's an area around the house.

and Peter will follow them into the courtyard of the high priest.

Again, John's record indicates that John was present as well.

And he sat with the servants and warned himself at the fire.

This would have been the area of the courtyard where the uh servants would have been
allowed to be.

If you could give it uh a terminology, this was their break area.

All right?

It's the middle of the night.

Those who didn't have responsibilities were over here warming themselves by the fire.

Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put him to
death but found none.

First thing is, was it lawful for them to hold a trial at night?

No!

As a matter of fact, as you go through the text and you look at it, if you did a complete
study of it, you will find they break law after law after law.

Secondly.

They sought testimony.

What did the law say that they needed in order to put someone to death?

two or more witnesses.

Well, they're at least giving some moderate attempt to find witnesses.

What's the problem though?

For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree.

See, the pesky thing about the law was the law required them to have two witnesses that
both condemned them for the same thing.

Except all the people who were willing to be bribed to be false witnesses hadn't spent any
time listening to Jesus per say

so they couldn't get their story straight.

Then some arose and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will
destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made

without hands.

But not even then did their testimony agree.

They're trying.

The sham trial really is underway.

They're trying to get this done semi-legally.

But witness after witness after witness.

Can't get two to agree.

The high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, do you answer nothing?

What is it these men testify against you?

Now, as the testimonies keep rolling in, the high priest wants to know from Jesus, are you
not going to answer for yourself?

Of course, I'm sure they supplied him with a lawyer, No, not any more than the Jews
supplied Paul with a lawyer.

and he as this parade of false witnesses come before the court, Jesus just stands there.

doesn't say a word.

Sometimes the best defense.

Keep your mouth shut.

Because then you can't be a witness against yourself.

Some have suggested it's better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove
all evidence.

All right, we're going to put a peg in it there and then we will come back.

Thank you for your attention.