Study the Word

Guest (Male): God has power to do the impossible. Learn more about this encouraging truth next on Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller.

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Study the Word, the radio ministry of Calvary Chapel Lebanon. We'll hand things over to our teacher Pastor Tom Keller in a second. We're going through the gospel of Mark. In chapter 10, we encounter several impossible circumstances, yet not for God, because nothing is impossible for him. It's a good reminder that God can heal, he can provide, and he can save those we never would dream possible. Picking up in verse 27, here's Pastor Tom.

Pastor Thom Keller: You know, there's some people today that if I told you that it was impossible for you to get to heaven, you would say, I know. Don't you know people like that? I mean, if there people I've talked to and I said, you know, do you think you're going to heaven? They say, no way, I'm going to hell and I know it. I mean, my life is been so rotten. It's impossible. There's the hope, there's the joy. It's not. To God, all things are possible. No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter what baggage you come with this morning, you can be right with God through faith in Christ.

It's not impossible for God. Verse 28, then Peter began to mention all that he and the other disciples had left behind. We've given up everything to follow you, he said. And Jesus replied, I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property for my sake and for the good news will receive now and return a hundred times over houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property, all with persecutions. And in the world to come, they will have eternal life. But many who seem to be important now will be the least important then.

And those who are considered least here will be the greatest then. They say, we have left everything to come and follow you. And again, it shows you very clearly here. Get the picture. Young man comes, very wealthy. Jesus says, sell it all, give it to the poor, and come follow me. And then the disciples say, and then Jesus says, it's almost impossible for rich man to get in the kingdom of God. The disciples are amazed. They turn to Jesus and say, in essence, what what are we going to get out of this? You know, doesn't it really kind of Jesus dashes their dreams.

It's obvious at this point and and probably here more than any other scripture in the New Testament, in the gospels, that the disciples expected money and power and prestige and position from these 3 years of following Jesus. Jesus is on his way into Jerusalem. The next chapter is the triumphal entry. So, they've spent 3 years with Jesus. 3 years. Remember all those times where it says Jesus tried to get away from the crowds to spend time with his disciples? Well, he did. He spent time with them 3 years. And they still have just figured out in this story that they're not going to get money and power and prestige from following Jesus just now.

And they still don't get it. They heard it, but they still didn't get it. We'll see that later. They said, what are we going to get out of this? Can can John almost share it like that? Like like I've been betrayed. Jesus, what what are you talking about? What do you think we've been I mean, this would be the underlying thought. What do you We've been following you for 3 years. We've given up everything to follow you. What are you talking You mean we're not going to get anything out of this? You know what we're planning?

You know what we plan to do with all that dough? You know what John's going to do? You know the house he's got planned? You know what we're What do you mean? And then he goes on and he says, no one, I assure you that everyone who's given up house or brothers or sisters or mothers for my sake will receive in return a hundred times over houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property with persecutions. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean literally you're going to get a hundred brothers, a hundred wives, a hundred children.

We're sue a hundred children? Wow. But you know if you belong to this church, don't you have a hundred brothers, a hundred sisters? Don't you have a hundred houses you could go to? Maybe not to stay overnight or for a week or a month, but you could go to. Isn't that true? I remember Bob Krause saying this one time and it was really neat. He said um about this chap about this verse. He said that that a person who has desire and envy in his heart can never enjoy the possessions of others. But somebody who is genuinely happy for what others have can enjoy what they have almost as much as the person who has it.

Parents, can't you those of you that have older children, can't you kind of or middle-aged I don't we don't have children, so but can't you enjoy when good things happen to them? Isn't it almost like it happened to you or better than you? See, and that's what is in God's heart. When our hearts are right, that should be our heart toward others. And that's how we can have a hundred times over. I remember the story that Bob told of a man that went into a park. Two men went into a park. One man wanted to buy the park and couldn't buy it.

The other man was a homeless man that went into the park and just enjoyed it. He said, who owned that park? The homeless man, right? Cuz he could enjoy it. It was his for the moment. For the day, it was his. He could really savor it and enjoy it, whereas the other man was angry, couldn't enjoy it cuz he couldn't own it. He couldn't possess it. Well, let's go on. Verse 32. It says they were now on their way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with dread, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear.

Who was following behind? The disciples, right? So, they're overwhelmed with fear. Taking the 12 disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen. When we get to Jerusalem, he told them the son of man will be betrayed to the leading priests and teachers of the religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, and beat him with their whips and kill him. But after 3 days, they will rise again. 3 times before in Mark, Jesus has told his disciples what's going to be happening in Jerusalem.

This time and every time he adds a little bit more. This time he adds the fact that there's going to be mocking and scourging. It says the disciples they were amazed. Again, they still pictured a political ruler. That's so important to understand that in the Old Testament, there are two photographs of the Messiah. There are two photographs. I've said this before, but it's so important to remember. The prophecies clearly tell of two different Messiahs. One was going to be a conquering king, one that was going to come and take over and issue and bring about a new reign, a new reign of God.

The other picture was a suffering servant, the Messiah that we see in the New Testament. And the disciples wanted the conquering king. They wanted that picture to be the one that was coming. So, again, they're amazed, they're scared, they're confused. You know, many times we don't think about the courage of Jesus. Where did these verses say Jesus was? He was in the front, wasn't he? He knew where he was going. You know, I believe personally that because Jesus was God, that he knew what the pain that he was going to go through would feel like before he went through it.

I personally think that's why he sweat drops of blood in the garden, because it was more than just anticipation of what he was going to go through. He could feel what he was going to go through. The courage that it had for him to take the lead makes us think about the courage that we have for Jesus. You know, are we courageous enough to stand out for Jesus? He was courageous enough to stand out for us. Verse 35, then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over to him. Now, you have the picture of this in a whisper.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they were brothers, came over and and spoke to Jesus. Teacher, cuz the others are around. Teacher, we want you to do us a favor. What is it? He asked. In your your glorious kingdom, we want to sit at the places of honor next to you. One at your right and the other at the left. 3 years and they still don't get it. Isn't that amazing? Isn't amazing? They're on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus had just told them how he's going to die, scourged, mocked. Right after that, they come up and say, I want to sit at the left and my brother at the right.

Is that okay? Can you believe it? They want high positions of status. Place of honor is the number one and number two place. We know from the gospels this was a continual topic of discussion among the disciples. Always talking about who was the greatest. But Jesus answered, you don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of sorrow I'm about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering that I am about to be baptized with? What's he saying? Are you able to go through what I'm going through?

Are you able to deal with the pain that I am going to deal with? And what do they say? Oh, yes, we're able. Oh, yes, we're able. How quickly we say things. And when push comes to shove, what do we do? Words come cheap. Oh, yes, we're able. Jesus said, you will indeed drink from my cup and be baptized with my baptism, but I have no right to say who will sit on the thrones next to mine. God has prepared those places for the ones that he has chosen. And then it says almost parenthetically when the 10 disciples discovered what James and John had asked, they were indignant.

They were upset. Can you hear that, all that commotion going on? When it in the Bible when it says my cup, he says, are you able to drink from my cup? It's a phrase that has to deal with that that means what someone what the kind of life or the kind of event that God has given someone to go through. In Psalm 32, David says, my cup runneth over, right? It represents the kind of life that God has given it. My cup runneth over. In Psalm 100 it says in Jehovah's hand there's a cup of pale and sparkling wine.

It is his judgment poured out upon the wicked of the earth. They must drink that cup to the dregs. So, there it it represents God's judgment on people. And here Jesus says, are you able to be baptized? Are you able to take on the life? Are you able to take on that same destiny that I am taking on? And they said, oh, yes, we're able. Can we have it? Since we said yes, can we have it now? One and two, can we have it? Jesus says, you don't know what you ask. You don't know what you ask.

As it will turn out, both James and John did take on this cup of suffering. It's interesting to look at how the disciples died. Peter was crucified in Rome upside down because he said, I'm not worthy to be crucified as my Lord. So, he asked to be crucified upside down. James, this James was the first disciple that was martyred. He was beheaded in Jerusalem, and we see that in Acts 12. So, he did indeed drink from that cup. John, the John in this story was a little different story. We know that he lived what we believe to be into his 90s, wrote Book of Revelation from the island of Patmos in a very late age.

What we don't know many times is that they tried to kill him twice. Once they put him in a vat of boiling oil to kill him. Uh it didn't kill him. They also tried one time to poison him, and the poison didn't kill him, which again is Bible. But that's why the the symbol for John is a chalice uh representing that poison. Andrew was crucified. These are the 12 the 11 disciples. Andrew was crucified at Patras on an x-shaped cross that now bears his name. Philip was hanged, crucified, and stoned in Asia Minor. Bartholomew was flayed alive and beheaded in Armenia.

Matthew was slain with a sword in Ethiopia. Thomas his body was run through with a lance in India. James was thrown from a tower in Jerusalem, then stoned and clubbed from which he recovered and then was later sawn into pieces. Judas Judas uh not the Judas Iscariot, the other Judas was shot to death with arrows in Mesopotamia. Simon the Zealot was fatally attacked by a mob near the Persian Gulf. That's how the 12 died. 11 died. So, they did indeed drink from the cup. You know, when I first got started reading the Bible, I always wondered why God would have allowed these to die that way.

You know what I mean? I didn't understand that. These men were so faithful. They carried the gospel around the world. They suffered, they persecuted, they were persecuted. Why would God let them die that way? It seemed like a betrayal to me almost. And then I realized that my lack of understanding was really because of my lack of spirituality. See, the closer we become to Jesus, the more we would count it an honor to die for him. Really. And that they weren't not in fact betrayed. I I am confident 100% totally that when we get to heaven and you meet those apostles and you say to them, do you feel that in some way you were kind of cut a little short because of how you died?

They will say, oh, no. It was an honor to give my life for the cause of Christ. Seeing the fact that we're not there yet or I'm not there yet just shows the lack of my own spirituality, not theirs, not theirs. And as I read that I just think of how cushy a life we have in this country, a little persecution we have for following Christ. Let's go to verse 42. So, Jesus called them together and said, you know that in this world kings are tyrants and officials lorded over the people beneath them. But among you it is quite different.

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. Whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For even I, the son of man, came here not to be served, but to serve others and give my life a ransom for others. What Jesus is saying is that in the world, outside of an understanding of Christ, in the world those who lead lord it over those that they lead. But he said in the kingdom it is be to be completely different. In the kingdom, those who lead are called to serve. And what he's saying here is plainly the church is not to operate as the world operates.

That's important in a lot of places of our understanding within the life of this church, the church, the body of Christ, that the church is not to operate as the world operates. And really in essence, this is how leadership works. True leaders don't lord it over the people under them. True leaders understand that leadership is serving, whether it's in the workplace or in the church. He then goes on and says, and to give his life a ransom for many. He said, I did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life a ransom for many.

This idea of ransom has been debated through the ages. Who was this ransom paid to? Think about it. He says my life was given as a ransom for many. We picture ransom and kidnapping, don't we? Kidnappers lay down a ransom demand. You pay $100,000 to get your child back or this person in the company back. Uh and if you don't, we'll kill the person. They demand a ransom. There's a ransom note. He says, I've given up my life as as a ransom for many. Who made the demand for the ransom? It's been debated. Some say Satan, but that really is a fallacy because how could Satan demand something of God?

He can't. He's not on par with God. Who was this ransom paid to? We don't know, but what we do know is this. There there's an understanding that Jesus and God have that this is what had to happen in order to redeem man. It's obvious. You know, the Bible says that the angels would give a great deal to know more about the salvation that is offered to man. The angels don't have a perfect understanding of what salvation was all about. When Jesus died on the cross, I think they were in awe. They knew the prophecies, but they didn't get it.

Not completely. And it says that they would give a great deal to understand more about the salvation that is offered to man. And again, Satan was a fallen angel. He has no more knowledge than the angels have. I don't believe that Satan, if he would have known what the crucifixion would have meant for him, never would have put it in the mind of Judas the idea to betray him, because that did not work out his advantage in the end, did it? No. He did not have an understanding. He thought he was getting rid of him.

He didn't understand the problem this is going to create for him. Beyond that, I don't believe Satan has any concept of sacrificial love. And as such was completely blindsided by the magnitude of what Jesus accomplished at the cross. Just couldn't even imagine that God would die on the cross for man. That that was a plan. But he did. Verse 46 says, so they reached Jericho. Later as Jesus and his disciples left town, a great crowd was following. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. I love this story.

When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout out. Now, again, picture this this man's blind sitting along the side of a road. You know, kind of you you know, you hear the people coming, you hear the you hear the crowds coming. Uh you know, I don't picture these roads being particularly busy. And maybe they were, maybe they weren't, but I don't picture them being particularly busy. But when Jesus came by, they were busy. I mean, there's a lot of activity going on. And you know, blind man you would you would hear the swell begin.

It would get louder and louder and you think, what is going on? What is going on? So, when he heard it was Jesus verse 47, when Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth nearby, he began to shout out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And I think he really shouted this. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Be quiet, some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted the louder. Be quiet. Son of David, have mercy on me. Be quiet. Son of David, have mercy on me.

Listen, if you were blind and you knew nothing else could do anything to change your blindness but one thing, one person, and he was coming down the road, would you shout loudly? What else do you have? You can run to him, right? You know the crowds are coming. You can't see. You just hear it's Jesus coming. You've heard the stories. This is my chance. This is my one time chance. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. It's interesting he calls him son of David. Whenever the term son of David is used in the New Testament, it shows that the person at that point does not yet have a a a real full concept of who Jesus was, because son of David was a military term.

And so when they proclaimed Jesus to be son of David, what they were really picturing him being was still this conquering king coming. And there's a huge story there for all of us that Jesus does not demand that we have a perfect understanding of who he is to come to him. Isn't that good? Nobody has a perfect understanding of who Jesus is. If someone had told me that when I first gave my life to Christ, I wouldn't have understood that. I would have thought, well, you're on a journey. Someday you'll get there. You will never have an understanding, a complete understanding of who Jesus is.

You will never have a complete understanding of what grace is. Never. Never. That's a good thing. It's boundless. It's beyond comprehension. You'll never stop understanding. You'll never stop learning. You'll never stop explore the depths of who Christ is. It would be terrible if if you could come to a point and that was it. No more no more knowledge. What? I learned at all. Wouldn't it be terrible, sad? That will never happen. You don't have to have a perfect understanding of who Jesus is to come to him. You just have to know that you need him.

That's all you need. Look, there's a lot of others that don't understand. I don't understand really this whole thing what happened at the cross. I mean, I I don't I really don't. I don't understand how you and God can be one. I don't understand. I I don't understand how it has nothing to do with how I behave, yet you want me to behave. I don't understand. But I do know this. I'm at the end. I have no place else to go. I've tried everything and it's brought me nothing. I am desperate. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

And on the basis of that, he accepts us and he accepts Bartimaeus.

Guest (Male): Encouraging story Pastor Tom Keller concludes with. And in case you don't know, Jesus not only accepts him, but also heals Bartimaeus. This is Study the Word. We've been in the gospel of Mark chapter 10. You can hear this study again by going to ccleb.com. Visit ccleb.com and have a look under resources, and there you'll find our teaching archives. Or call and request a CD copy at 717 507 7862. That's 717 507 7862. And right now, we're pleased to offer you Pastor Tom's entire study of Daniel on a flash drive for your gift of any amount.

Enjoy an in-depth study of one of the most fascinating books of the Old Testament, Daniel. Again, you'll receive this 22 message set on a flash drive. Your contribution, whatever the size, will serve to help people listening to this station and across the nation Study the Word. Call 717 507 7862 or write to Study the Word 740 Willow Street, Lebanon, Pennsylvania 17046. And you're always invited to join us for a worship service here at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. Turn to ccleb.com for our service times, church news, directions, and more information. And please introduce yourself to Pastor Tom after the service.

He'd love to meet you. And download our free Android app when you get a chance. Search Calvary Chapel Lebanon in the Google Play Store. We'll pick up where we left off in Mark next time on Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller. And until then, keep studying the Word.