Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Today on Light on the Hill, be encouraged by God's amazing grace.

James Kaddis: Some would forsake him. We know one specifically who did. One would deny him three times, which we're going to find out. But no matter how you cut it, Jesus was not only aware of the fact that they would do these things, but through that awareness that he had concerning the fact that they would do these things, he made a way to bring to them grace. After what they did happened. That's the part that the devil doesn't want you to know. The part that the devil does not want you to know is that God loves you so much that even in your dedication to him, he recognizes your imperfections.

Not that it's a license to do evil, but he recognizes your imperfections to the point that he has already made provision for those failures and has a plan to save you through them.

Guest (Female): I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.

Guest (Male): In the days leading up to Jesus's crucifixion, one of his disciples betrayed him. Another would deny even knowing him while others just scattered in fear. Here's something amazing we want to bring your attention to on Light on the Hill. God understands we'll make mistakes and makes a way to bring us grace after we do. Mark chapter 14 verses 22 through 31 are a brilliant reminder of God's commitment to his children. I think you'll be encouraged as you listen. Here's Pastor James Kaddis.

James Kaddis: So look what it says here. And when they had sung a hymn, actually the way that this word would be translated, better translated was when they had sung a psalm. So they're probably singing one of the psalms. Very likely they're quoting one of the psalms at this point. They went out into the Mount of Olives. So they're now headed out from the place that they're having the the supper. And Jesus says this, verse 27. And Jesus saith unto them, all you shall be offended because of me this night. For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.

First of all, for those of you that might not know, which I'm sure most of you probably do at this point, Jesus is quoting Zechariah chapter 13 verse 7. Now the context of this verse is super important. Let's go back and read what it says in Zechariah 13. By the way, this is one of those areas where like if I were to read the book of Zechariah and not know what Jesus actually said about this passage, I would probably think in my mind, I have no idea what this verse means. It doesn't seem to make complete cohesive sense.

But thank God, Jesus does something for us that teaches us what this is about because he points this out as being a passage that speaks of him. Okay? By the way, if you go on and read Zechariah 13, this would be the area in the verses immediately following where you learn about a certain percentage of Jews being spared and why it's so dangerous to have the mindset that says, well, if God is going to spare these Jews, you know, a certain percentage of these Jews, then why do we have to preach the gospel? Well, think about it like this.

We'll do a little math calculation, right? First of all, let me just say where this comes from. I love Jews. I love the Jewish people. I love Israel. I love the people of God. Not only the Gentiles who have been grafted in like us, but the Jews who are rejecting him, I love him. I love them. I have a heart for them. Think about it like this. Okay? If you have 90 Jews and a third of them will be spared, then that means 60 of them die during the the time of the tribulation. But if I have 100 Jews and I preach the gospel to them and all of them receive Christ, but nine continue to harden their hearts, nine of them, six die and three live.

What would you rather Would you rather have six Jews die or would you rather have 60 Jews die? The answer is easy. I'd rather have six. I'd rather have none. But the point is you can't have the attitude that says, well, God's going to spare them anyway, so who cares? No. You have an incentive. You have an incentive to preach the gospel to them because their loss is limited. And you can limit their loss substantially more if you tell them about their Messiah, that they're eventually going to bow to anyway. Okay? That's beside the point.

That actually happens to be verses eight and nine that deal with that, but we'll read verse seven. Verse seven says, awake, oh 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. Not heavy? The prophecy is really simple. Christ is going to be crucified and guess what? They're all going to scatter. He predicted that. Jesus discipled, poured into, loved on, cared for every single one of those men knowing that they would all run away and scatter being scared.

Some would forsake him. We know one specifically who did. One would deny him three times, which we're going to find out. But no matter how you cut it, Jesus was not only aware of the fact that they would do these things, but through that awareness that he had concerning the fact that they would do these things, he made a way to bring to them grace. After what they did happened. That's the part that the devil doesn't want you to know. The part that the devil does not want you to know is that God loves you so much that even in your dedication to him, he recognizes your imperfections.

Not that it's a license to do evil, but he recognizes your imperfections to the point that he is already made provision for those failures and has a plan to save you through them. I don't know about you, but that should invoke typically two reactions. The first reaction that it could invoke is the one that comes from the person who doesn't understand the blessing that they have in front of them and it would cause them to be reckless in the way that they live their life because well, God's going to save me anyway, so who cares?

Or there's the other reaction. And this is the reaction that actually is the one that when you see, you can't unsee it. When you when you give yourself to this reaction, it will revolutionize your life. It will literally transform your life and that's this. God has already done the work for me. He's already paid the price and he's called me to live according to a specific purpose. Now that's a given. We already know that. But here's where things change. This is what the devil doesn't want you to know. He also knows that I'm going to fail him.

He also knows I'm going to make an error. He also knows I'm going to make a lot of errors. Do you know what? He's made a way for me because his love for me anticipated that that would happen and he made provision for when it did. I don't know about you, but that reminds me of the time when I was a little kid and I think I've shared this story before. I mean, in elementary school, I must be in second grade, maybe the second grade. There was this big bully in school. Oh, he drove me crazy.

I did not like him. And it seems as though every single time I had lunch break, he would bully me. He'd get his buddies to stand behind me. They'd be on their hands and their knees and then believe it or not, as big as I was, he was way bigger than me. He would push me as hard as he could over that person. He clotheslined me and I didn't end up falling on my back and take it, you know, like a like a scared little boy and not say anything, not do anything and move on.

But one day I devised a plan in my heart how I was going to deal with him. It's going to be an all or nothing type of a situation. So recess happened. Now there was one very important fact here that you need to understand and that is my mom was a very uh aggressive woman. She was assertive. Okay? Now she was an amazing example of what a submissive wife looked like. I mean, my mom could just go, you know, like look like she's going off the handle. All my dad had to do was just give her a look and then my mom would be like, you know, I'm not doing it.

And that was because my mom respected my dad and my dad respected my mom, right? It was a it was a good it was a really really good thing. But my mom was, you know, she was a very strong woman, very aggressive, just just, you know, just really she was tough. She was just a tough lady. So my mom told me two days prior to all of this happening that on a specific day she was going to pick us up from school because of some appointment or I don't remember the reason why she was picking us up from school.

Most of the time we walked home from school, you know. So um I tell this guy on lunch, knowing that this was a day that my mom was coming. I basically said, I'm sick of you. After school, you know, let's go fight and I'm going to beat you and I'm going to and I I you know, I tried to curse at him. I didn't really know how to curse and but I just you know, everyone was like, whoa. And everybody's talking like, bro, no, he's going to kill you. I mean, and I mean, all the recesses that happened afterwards, like people were talking, oh, did you hear it's going to be the fight of the year?

You know, so the bell rang and so many people were so eager to see the fight that they were running ahead of me. I'm not kidding you. And I remembered walking down the hallway. Think about it like this. I'm walking down the hallway and you can see the two open doors and the stairs that lead to the grass where me and him were going to meet to fight and I could see my mom's big green station wagon right there in the front. So I knew that my plan was coming together because my mom would look for me like a hawk.

That was just the way she rolled. So she's looking at me, looking for me like a hawk. I come down the stairs and my mom like had this really sixth sense in her. She knew what was about to happen. She made the connection that I was one of the the subjects of the fight. And the moment I saw my mom getting up out of the car and coming my way, I went berserk. I just went absolutely ballistic. I'm going to kill you. And I'm coming towards him like running at him as fast as as I can.

Like, you know, you're you're gone and I'm yelling and I'm like, you know, the battle cry and you know, just looked about as psycho as psycho could get and everybody was like pale looking when they saw me do that. They were like, what in the world so pale, so freaked out that the guy that I was about to engage in looked even more scared than ever all of them. And I knew that I would never be able to get there in time to actually engage him because by the time I got there, my mom was there basically holding me back and I was putting everything in it.

I want to kill him. Let me through. I'm going to And my mom is now getting to the point where she's so mad. She's speaking to me in Arabic now, right? She's grabbing me by my by my shirt. She's dragging me. Let me go. And I'm like, tomorrow I'm going to kill you. And I'm being I'm just going nuts. Like I'm saying every crazy thing I can think of and I literally I literally look like a rabid animal, like completely. And like the next probably three or four weeks after that happened, they were all scared of me.

Nobody played with me in the playground. Nobody wanted to even look at me. They didn't even want to look me in the eye. Nothing like that. Nothing. And that guy never messed with me ever again. He just thought I was crazy. He thought I was nuts, right? I kind of this right here that we're reading reminds me of that story because think about this. If you know that God understands the fact that you're imperfect and recognizes that you're going to make a mistake but still makes a way for you because he called you, how much more confident would you be in doing the work that he's put in front of you?

See, I knew my mom was there. And because I knew my mom was there, I also knew that I wasn't going to get beat up that day. There's no way I was going to get beat up that day. It wasn't going to happen. So I had all the confidence in the world to run out there as hard and as fast as I possibly could. And I think this should be the empowering that we get from this story. You see, the picture here is that Jesus knew what they were going to do, but he still gave them a promise of great benefit.

Look what he says. And this is really interesting. Verse 28, but after that, I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. Jesus is basically saying, I'm going to die. You're going to run. You're going to freak out. I am going to be crucified. You're going to scatter when it happens. And by the way, I just want you to know this. I'm not even going to accuse you of scattering when it happens as being weak as your reason for having done it. As a matter of fact, I'm going to share with you a Bible prophecy that Zechariah gave while he was inspired by God to say that it would happen.

You scattering is going to be a fulfillment of what happens to me because God said, I told you it would happen. Now there's a reaction that you don't want to have at this point, but God even in this reaction does something spectacular for us. Look at what happens. Verse 29, but Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not I. In other words, they're all going to scatter, Lord, but I can promise you right now I am not. How many of us have been that confident about our relationship with God? How many of us have been?

All of us. But God does something very special for him. God does something for him that's spectacular. See, a lot of people will read this as a rebuke. I read this as something really really special. God custom tailors a prophecy for him that is matching to the one that he just gave. He said you're all going to scatter. Peter says, no, I'm not. And look at what Jesus tells him. Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee that this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. He didn't deny me three times.

Verse 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. You know, Peter wasn't the only person that said I'm not going to run away from you, Lord. All of them were. The Bible tells us that they all promised God that they would not forsake him. Yet God still saw it fit to tell them all that they would that they would fail him. Why? Because I believe from the very bottom of my heart, and I think I can prove it biblically, that God needed them.

Wanted is the better term. They needed it. He wanted it. He wanted them to know how fragile their commitment was so that he could reiterate how unmovable his commitment was. Let me say that one more time. God saw it needed by us. He wanted to do it. It was needed by us. That he would demonstrate aptly his lack of movement in his commitment to us by showing us his knowledge of the fact that we would actually move. God wanted them to know that the mistakes would happen but he would still be there and he would redeem every last bit of it.

Little spoiler alert. We'll get into the story later, right? But it is interesting what happened when Peter did what he did. When he did it, it was bad. Like it wasn't even it wasn't even a small thing. Like it was terrible. The first time he denied the Lord, it was one moment. The next time he denied the Lord, there was a moment of time where a little tiny girl says, no, I know for a fact you're one of the people with Jesus. He was so determined to get them to think that he had nothing to do with Jesus that he actually cursed at the little girl.

So the Bible tells us. Interesting to think that through. And then the Bible says he hears the rooster crowing and he immediately weeps with a level of bitterness that clearly shows us that he had deep regret for what he did. Now there's a difference between two specific disciples here. One disciple had deep regret for what he did and he killed himself. Another one had deep regret for what he did. And God saved him through it. Later on, he sees the Lord risen and he has a moment with him. And he says, Peter, do you love me?

No, yeah, Lord, I love you. Feed my sheep. Well, you love me? Feed my sheep. Well, do you love me? You know I love you. Feed my sheep. By the way, there is sort of an ignorant belief that's out there. I kind of call it ignorant. I probably shouldn't use the term that harsh. Maybe I am being a little harsh by saying that. But there is a common belief. That's probably the better way of saying it that there's a play on words there, right? That Jesus, the first time he asks Peter, do you love me?

He's using the Greek word phileo. The next time he uses that word, the next time he asks that question, he's using the same word phileo. The last time he uses that word, he's using the term agape. That's true by the way. He uses phileo the first two times. The second time he uses the word agape. But let me just tell you something. All that is is for literary flow. There is no significance in the Greek word agape being used there. Why? Cuz a lot of people will say, well, agape is God's deepest greatest form of love.

Well, I have a hard time with believing that. It's the term that I tend to use when I associate it with God's love, especially if I sign a document or something. But here's my thing. Having loved this present world, agape, that term is used. You can't say it means that all the time, right? It's all about context. Like I can go to you and I could talk about the many things that I love, right? I love stepping out in the middle of the night and looking at the sky to watch what I know is a piece of equipment flying through the sky like yesterday.

And have you get to watch that? I walked outside at 12:30 and I watched that space capsule ripping across the sky. If you guys miss it, anybody see it? Oh. 12:30 my wife and I walked out and watched it together and it looked like a just a big long plasma flame all the way across and to think that there are four astronauts in there. It splashed down off the coast of San Diego. Spectacular by the way to watch. The only thing that would have made it better is if we heard the Sonic Boom. We we didn't get to hear that.

But just to look at the sky and all of a sudden the streak appears and it just goes, oh, I love that. My sister might not like me saying this but I love a really good Chicago pizza, like a real Chicago pizza, not like the Chicago cuz it's thick bread. It's like, you know, some people say, no, I want New York pizza. Really really love that, right? I love a really nice crisp air day where the where the sun is bright, there's no clouds and it's around 60° because then I get to do something that I also love doing that's flying radio controlled helicopters when it's cold air like that, everything just grabs.

You can just slap that thing around and it's just so much fun. I just love it. I love my son. I love my daughters. I love my wife. I promise you the definition of that word as it applies to my son, my daughters, my wife. I love my God is very different than pizza, a cold sunny day, and things flying in space. It's the context. God was doing something spectacular in Peter's heart. He was he was telling Peter, you denied me multiple times, three times specifically, and I'm giving you three times to affirm your love for me.

And every time you affirm your love for me, I'm reminding you of the purpose that I have set aside for you. Here's where it's revolutionary. Here's the thing that when you see it, you can never unsee it. This passage was designed to show you God's commitment instead of remind you of yours. Yours is fickle. Yours is weak. Yours is going to fail. You're not going to heaven because you can do something great that's going to get you there. You're going to heaven because you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And the question that I would ask you tonight in considering all of this is what will you do knowing what you know from this point on?

Will you view your relationship with the Lord through the same lens that I did as a kid who knew that his mother was his insurance policy so he went wild and went for it? Or will you just use it to continue to live nominally making it your excuse to never do anything with the opportunity that God's put in front of you. The choice is yours. Which one will it be? My prayer, my desire, my heart for you is that you will recognize what this is all about and that you will use it as the very banner to run the hardest fastest race you've ever ran.

That God would be allowed to do extreme things in your life because you put your faith and trust in him. Amen.

Guest (Male): This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis and we're currently going through the Gospel of Mark. Listen to this study and more at Light on the Hill radio.com. Pastor James's teachings are also available through the Light on the Hill app and at oneplace.com. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts as well. When you have a moment sometime today, send us an email. We'd love it. It's encouraging to hear what the Lord is doing in our listeners' lives and it's an opportunity to thank the Lord for what he's doing. There's a place to contact us at our website lightonthehillradio.com.

We've been blessed by the feedback we've received thus far regarding Pastor James's new book, The Last Book. If you haven't ordered a copy yet, we'd encourage you to do so. This Guide to Revelation covers the first half of the book giving you what you need to know about the rapture and the end times in a clear and concise manner. Request your copy today at lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon. If God is leading you to support this radio outreach, there's also a place to make a donation at lightonthehillradio.com. Now to lead us in prayer here again is Pastor James.

James Kaddis: Father, we just thank you, Lord, for your word. We thank you for the insight your word brings, Lord, and we thank you for the fact, Lord, that you challenge us every day. You stretch us, Lord. This is what you do. You're good and you're faithful, Lord, and we love you, God. We love you for all that you've done for us, Lord, the fact that you will never fail us. Thank you, Father. Go before us, fill us with your spirit. Keep us seeking you, looking to you, Lord. We love you. And we ask these things in Jesus's name we pray.

Amen.

Guest (Male): More from the book of Mark coming up next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. This listener supported program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

Guest (Female): I have found the peace only comes from you. I have found the joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.