Renewed Teaching on the Death of Christ

Introduction: The Central Question of Your Religion

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 5th, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to the ninth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, as we continue our consecutive expositions of this Spirit-inspired record of the life and ministry, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this morning, our attention will be focused upon verses 30 through 32, Mark 9, verses 30 through 32.

0:48 Mark, writing with reference to our Lord and to that inner circle of the Twelve, tells us,

1:01 And he, that is our Lord, would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again. But they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask.

1:34 Let us not be fearful to ask this morning that our Lord would give us understanding of this portion of his word. Let us pray. Our Father, a passage such as the one read in our hearing, brings home to our hearts the confession of the hymn writer, that all our knowledge, sense and sight, lie in deepest darkness shrouded, until you are pleased to come and pierce the darkness with spiritual light. And therefore, our Father, as we come to the scriptures this morning, we would not have it said of us, after our time of meditation, they understood not the saying. O Lord, we would not have words merely touching the outer corridor of the ear, but we would have your truth find its way to the deepest recesses of our hearts. Therefore, we plead, send your Spirit upon us as the Spirit of grace,

2:55 the Spirit of illumination, the Spirit who alone can subdue our proud, independent thoughts, the arrogance with which we would force you into the mold of our own preconceptions, O Lord, do in us all that must be done, that we may receive aright your word this morning. Hear our cry, send the Spirit upon us, and give us a sight of your Son, and an understanding of his truth, we pray in his name. Amen.

3:38 I should like to begin our study in the word of God this morning by pressing upon your mind, and I emphasize, your conscience and consciences are very simple, but a very pointed question. And that question is this, What place is there in your religion for a rejected, condemned, murdered, and subsequently resurrected Jesus of Nazareth? What place is there in your religion for a rejected, condemned, murdered, but resurrected Jesus of Nazareth. Few questions are calculated more quickly and more accurately to lay bare the true state of your heart than this question. And here in the passage read in your hearing, we see again how little place there was in the minds and in the thinking of the disciples for such a Jesus at this point in their spiritual pilgrimage and understanding.

5:01 In the presence of a Jesus who announces to them that he can only fulfill his mission by way of rejection, condemnation, death and resurrection, their minds are utterly dull, their spirits are baffled and grieved and perplexed, for at this point in their own religious experience there was little place, if any, for such a Jesus. And as we come to examine this paragraph this morning, let me remind you, and particularly for those who are visiting with us who have not been with us in the previous expositions, of the major events, which lead up to verses 30 through 32.

Context of Jesus' Renewed Teaching on His Death

5:54 In chapter 8 and verses 22 and following, we have the record of the great confession which our Lord elicited from the Twelve with respect to his identity as the Son of God and Messiah. You have a fuller record of this in the more familiar account in Matthew, in which Peter, confessing on behalf of the disciples, says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. There was now clear perception as to his identity and his mission. He is the Son of God.

6:32 He is God's anointed Messiah. Subsequent to this, after calling them into a life of cross-bearing and discipleship that would involve the loss of self-centered existence, our Lord then, can manifest his own inherent glory to three specially chosen witnesses on the Mount of Transfiguration. And after that outshining of his own glory, Peter, James, and John, with their Lord, descending from the mountain, question him as to how prophecy, with respect to the coming of Elijah prior to the manifestation of Messiah, precisely fit together. And after responding to that question, our Lord, Peter, James, and John, join the nine disciples somewhere in that region of the upper parts beyond Galilee, and there they encounter this pathetic picture of this young demon-possessed boy and a distraught father. The nine had attempted to cast out the demon and were impotent before, that demonic power. Our Lord cast out the demon, and subsequently,

7:54 the disciples, when alone with their Lord, ask him, why could we not cast it out? And our Lord tells them that it was because of their unbelief, an unbelief manifesting itself in prayerlessness. Now that's the general setting leading up to the paragraph that I have read in your hearing. And as we attempt, to think our way through the passage, it breaks down very naturally, first of all, into a word about the context of his renewed teaching concerning his approaching death.

8:31 Here we will have the record of our Lord's renewed teaching concerning his approaching death. But Mark is careful to give us a few brushstrokes to give us a picture of the context in which, that teaching came. He tells us that when they went forth from thence, that is, the area in which our Lord had cast out the demon from the little boy, the area where they found a house into which they had entered, and there our Lord had explained why they could not cast out the demon, they left that particular area and passed through Galilee. And so, they made, they made their way through that upper region of Palestine, obviously making their way down to Capernaum where they arrived as recorded in verse 33, and when they came to Capernaum. And as they make their journey to Capernaum, there was what Mark describes as a settled disposition in the will of our Lord, that this would be a peculiar time, of seclusion with his disciples. Notice how Mark puts it. And they passed through Galilee, and he would not, a more wooden translation would be,

10:00 and he was not willing that anyone should know it. At this stage, our Lord was peculiarly determined that he should not be exposed to the vast crowds. He was particularly concerned at this point that he be away from the milling pressure of the mobs and the multitudes, and that he be alone with his disciples. And though several reasons might be brought forth for that settled determination of our Lord's will, Mark brings forward the main one in the first part of verse 31.

10:44 For he taught, or more literally, was teaching his disciples. The word for gives us a logical connection between this description of our Lord's determination that men should not know the whereabouts of his travels, and his particular concentration in teaching his disciples. He is anxious, as we have seen again and again in the recent chapters in our studies in Mark, that as the hour approaches for his own death and resurrection and ascension back to his Father, that he should concentrate upon teaching those upon whom the work of spreading the message of his salvation will rest subsequent to his return to the Father. And so it is in that particular setting, making their way down from some area, we cannot precisely identify it, somewhere in the upper regions beyond Galilee proper, making their way down through the northern part of Galilee towards Capernaum, which was on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Now there is the setting, and it is in that setting that we must remember that our Lord spoke these words. The disciples would obviously be prepared

Substance of Jesus' Renewed Teaching

12:12 for some special teaching from their Lord when they saw this determination on the part of their Lord to have them alone with him. This brings us in the second place to the substance of his renewed teaching concerning his approaching death. Not only does Mark describe the context of that renewed teaching, but he gives us the substance of it. And the substance of it is very straightforward and simple.

12:44 And he was saying unto them, The Son of Man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again. Here our Lord uses what the grammarians call a futuristic present. He says the Son of Man is already being delivered up into the hands of men. In his first formal announcement of his impending death as recorded in chapter 8, the emphasis fell upon the necessity of his sufferings, 8.31. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things. Now the emphasis falls not so much upon the necessity of his sufferings, but upon other dimensions of those sufferings.

13:52 And so the language is not precisely the same. While using that divine title for himself, the Son of Man, he tells them he is being delivered up into the hands of men. And the moment we read a passive verb, he is being delivered up, we ask the question, who is delivering him? Is this a reference merely to the betrayal of Judas?

14:24 Or is it at least a veiled reference to the great truth articulated by Peter on the day of Pentecost, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God? But the emphasis upon being delivered into the hands of men is central in this second block of concentrated teaching concerning his approaching death. Then he tells them that having been delivered into the hands of men, that men shall kill him, men shall put him to death, men shall murder him. And he spoke in light of language that they could not misunderstand. He is telling them that having been delivered into men's hands, men having him in their hands will put him to death. They will violently bring his life to an end. Then having been truly, albeit tragically and violently killed, after three days he shall rise up again.

15:40 And though the parallel account in Matthew says he shall be raised, here the emphasis falls upon his own voluntary activity in his own resurrection. Not a passive verb but an active. He shall rise again after three days. So at this time as our Lord was giving this second block of concentrated teaching about his approaching death, there was nothing that to us appears obscure, nothing that to us appears deep and profound.

16:18 It all seems to us to be so clear, so simple, so straightforward. He seemed to be carefully, painstakingly predicting those activities and events by which he would accomplish his work as Messiah. He is telling them, I'm already being delivered up into the hands of men. Having been delivered into their hands I will be killed.

Disciples' Response: Grief, Lack of Understanding, and Fear

16:46 Having been killed I will rise again on the third day. Then in the third place, Mark records for us the response of the disciples to this renewed teaching concerning our Lord's approaching death. The response of the disciples is recorded in verse 32. But they understood not the saying and they were afraid to ask him.

17:17 And if we are to capture the full spectrum of their response it is helpful to let the light of Matthew's parallel account be thrown into the picture. And in Matthew chapter 17 Matthew records that after our Lord gave this block of teaching in this period of deliberate seclusion that their response was one of the deepest grief. Matthew 17 verses 22 and 23 And while they abode in Galilee Jesus said unto them The Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men and they shall kill him and the third day he shall be raised up and they were exceeding sorry. Matthew captures their response in terms of this deep grief and emotional trauma that they experienced when our Lord gave them this second block of concentrated teaching with reference to his impending death and resurrection. Then we have in Mark's account not only that they had deep grief and emotional trauma they found themselves unable to grasp the meaning and the significance

18:46 of his words. They understood not the same. Now that does not mean that he spoke in language that they could not perceive and give back with their own lips the substance of his words. But they did not perceive the meaning of his words.

19:06 When we speak to someone and say do you understand me? We are not usually asking am I using language that is within the orbit of your working vocabulary? What we mean is has the vocabulary which I know you understand put together in certain order of sentences and words and ideas has it registered? Do you comprehend?

19:26 Do you perceive what I am saying? And the passage tells us they did not understand. The same. In the midst of this grief and emotional trauma there was an inability to grasp at the cognitive at the mental level of perception the meaning and the significance of his words.

19:50 And then Mark tells us there was also a fearful reserve to make any further inquiry of our Lord. And they were afraid to ask him. What a strange thing a strange statement. They weren't afraid to ask him when coming down from the mount Peter, James and John.

20:14 They weren't afraid to ask him how does your prediction fit in with the traditional teaching of the scribes and of the Pharisees? How does this prophetic utterance of Malachi as expounded by our spiritual leaders fit in with your announced death? They did not seem to be fearful to ask him questions that dealt with the prophetic scheme of things. But when our Lord speaks bluntly and clearly in unmistakable terms about his being delivered up into the hands of men being killed and being raised they suddenly enter some kind of a paralysis of fear which keeps them from making further inquiry of our Lord as to the meaning of his words. Now this brief account of their response is both grievous and amazing. Since our Lord always spoke with graciousness wisdom and with the unmeasured power of the Spirit resting upon him surely this response could not be blamed on our Lord as he presses on his way to Jerusalem imagine what he must feel.

21:41 He knows he is going to face men who are thirsty for his blood. As he makes his way to Jerusalem he knows he must be rejected he must suffer many things he must be killed. And as he makes his way to Jerusalem he makes it in the company of those who have said to him to whom else shall we go? Do you have the words of eternal life?

22:10 Lo! We have left all to follow you. Often they were attached to him but as he faces his greatest ordeal in the accomplishment of redemption for those very men he must be in the constant companionship of those who have no sympathy or perception concerning his most crucial work in the redemption of sinners. The Lord felt the pangs of isolation from that sympathy of understanding which he so desperately longed for and which he did not find in the twelve at this time.

Vital Lessons on the Person and Work of Christ

22:54 Well that briefly is what the text tells us. It sets before us the context of this second block of concentrated teaching on his impending death. It gives us the substance of that teaching and it records the response of the disciples to that teaching. Now then what are the vital lessons of this passage?

23:19 Well I have sought to organize them under two basic heads. First of all there are some vital lessons pertaining to the person and work of our Lord himself and then there are some of the most important lessons to be learned from this passage. First of all then what does this passage teach us with reference to the person and work of our Lord himself? Well first of all the passage powerfully refutes all notions that the death of Jesus was a cruel and tragic accident in the life of a good man. Everything about this passage indicates that our Lord had all of his wits about him as he is about to disclose to the disciples once more that as their God he must accomplish his messianic function only in the path of rejection suffering death

24:47 and resurrection. And so he draws the twelve to himself. He deliberately avoids the main thoroughfares and there is some suggestion of this in the rather unique combination of a word that is used to describe the

25:14 main thoroughfares and the major concentrations of population. He is acting deliberately consciously in the full possession of all of his faculties and he is reiterating for the tense of the verb there points not to just a one shot deal saying I must be delivered into the hands of men be killed for the I'm killed raised up but that in this period of isolation moving down towards Capernaum whether it lasted two or three days or a couple of weeks whatever the time span our Lord was continually reiterating this truth I shall be delivered into the hands of men I shall be killed after three days I will rise again from the dead now what does this tell us then about the person and work of our it utterly and completely refutes all notions that the death of Jesus was a cruel and tragic accident in the life of a good man you say well why does such a notion need refutation surely anyone who reads his bible with half a brain would never come up with that notion my friends there have been people with full brains who have written whole books and have sought to defend them from a so called theological standpoint trying to prove that the death of Jesus Christ outside the city wall of Jerusalem was

26:44 a tragic accident in the life of an otherwise good man and therefore we ought to pity Jesus pity the one who though he did nothing but good who went about doing good and ministering to the needs of men was the victim of men's consummate act of ingratitude when they were thirsty for his blood and put him to death upon an instrument of Roman execution no my friends Christ does not need your pity nor mine as though he were a helpless victim before the plottings of evil cruel men Jesus Christ does not solicit our pity he demands our faith our loyalty our homage and our worship as the one in whom who's death and in whose death alone there is hope for us sinners and there is a solid ground established for our salvation you see for anyone who would attempt to view the death of Jesus as a cruel accident that overtook him to come to a passage like this is to read something that would totally baffle such a perspective for he is teaching his disciples he knows what lies before him and he deliberately moves toward those very events and

28:13 circumstances which will result in his death and resurrection but then secondly the passage effectively refutes all notions that the primary mission of Jesus was to alleviate the sufferings of men in this life this passage effectively refutes all notions that the primary mission of Jesus was to alleviate the sufferings of men in this life remember the setting here was this pathetic boy possessed with a demon from childhood our Lord wonderfully delivered that suffering wretch of humanity that was cast down into the fire and the water and wallowed and foamed and and the scriptures tell us in the parallel account in Luke that men were amazed at the majesty of God and in the midst of this fresh burst of news that goes out into the area concerning the mighty power of Jesus of Nazareth what does Jesus do he deliberately isolates himself from that vast sea of human need and suffering in all the towns and villages there throughout Galilee there were others possessed with demons there were others with twisted limbs with blind eyes

29:41 and deafened ears there was a veritable sea of sick and broken and bruised and devil bound humanity and what does Jesus do he retreats deliberately the scripture says he was not willing that any man should know his whereabouts he withdraws deliberately in a calculating way from men in all their wrong need how do you account for that well you can't account for it if you perceive the mission of Jesus then and now to be primarily a mission of alleviating the sufferings of men in this life then Jesus would be guilty of the same kind of criminal activity that we could attribute to a doctor who has all the means at his disposal to heal a terrible plague that has inundated a given area of a given country and who in the midst of that plague takes his medicines and his medical knowledge and retreats into a cave and shuts the door and isolates himself from sick and dying humanity but you see if Jesus' mission was not primarily in the days of his flesh nor now not primarily

31:10 a mission of alleviating the sufferings of men in this life but rather if his primary mission was to give himself a ransom for the salvation of men from the coming wrath of God and to prepare an inner circle of people who would understand that message and be prepared in character and understanding to preach it with power to the ends of the earth then then this was the kindest thing he could have done it was out of pity and compassion for all the unborn generations of lost men and women who would need the knowledge of his saving mercy flowing from Golgotha it was for their sake that he withdraws he pulls himself back from contact with that sea of suffering needy humanity and concentrates his ministry upon these disciples that he might teach them that which was fundamental and central to the Christian faith and to the message they were to preach as there were men then so there are those now who challenge the church and say well if you are the followers of Christ why don't you clean up

32:40 this ghetto why don't you Christians solve the problems of unemployment and drug abuse and the challenges hurled at the church why don't you fix this and you fix that and you sort this out and you sort this out and my answer is you show me from the word of God where my Lord charges us with such responsibility he charges us to validate our professed love to men by showing compassion upon them in due place and in due proportion with reference to our bringing the message of mercy yes if we see someone in need and shut up the bowels of our compassion how dwelleth the love of God in us yes but we do not allow ourselves to be bullied by the world into its agenda for the Christian faith and the Christian church we take the agenda from our Lord and we see in this passage a refutation of all notions that the primary mission of Jesus was to alleviate the sufferings of men in this life his primary mission he announces to his own disciples and he has determined that they should understand that that was his mission because it was that which would form the heart of their message when he leaves them but then thirdly the passage clearly points

34:09 to the fact that the voluntary death of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection are the central saving truths of the Christian faith this passage clearly points to the fact that the voluntary death of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection are the central saving truths of the Christian faith in the presence of these disciples Christ had validated again and again his messianic claims this is why when he draws out the question from them or addresses the question to them in chapter eight who do you say that I am they are able to say you are the Christ of God you have all the credentials that Messiah must have and you've manifested them abundantly but now having come to understand his messianic identity they must come to understand that the message by which the messianic kingdom will be established is the way of the cross and of the open tomb and that they did not yet understand after he draws out the confession as we saw in chapter eight his first subject

35:39 is this open declaration of his coming death we read in mark eight twenty-nine and he asked them who do you say that I am Peter answered you are the Christ and he charged them that they should tell no man of him and he began to teach them that the son of man must suffer once he's established his identity in a confessional manner from his own he now concentrates all the lines of his special teaching upon this great issue as Messiah I will establish my kingdom not by riding into Jerusalem on a white charger not by bringing armies behind me clad in armor to put out the Romans no I will establish my kingdom by being delivered up into the hands of men being killed and the third day rising from the dead I will establish my kingdom my kingdom , with reference to my sufferings, with reference to my death, with reference to my open tomb. And while standing at this point in time, neither Peter, James, nor John, nor the other nine perceived this teaching of our Lord, how wonderfully they came to understand it after

37:07 his resurrection in part, and then fully after the descent of the spirit, to give you a little sampling of what happened, just turn to Peter's first epistle and notice how frequently the death and the resurrection of Jesus become central to his message. First Peter 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begot us again unto a living hope, how? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

37:48 Our hope has its cap roots in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Then he speaks in verse 8 of loving Christ, whom these people had not seen, and he speaks of receiving, verse 9, the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come to you, searching what time or manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Peter now understands that the messianic hope has all come to the watershed of the sufferings and the glory that should follow with reference to the Lord Jesus. Then later on in this chapter he calls these people to a life of holiness. Verse 17, and if you call on him his father who without respect of persons judges each man's work according, judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear, knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood

39:17 of Christ who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake. Peter sees it all now. He sees that the death of Jesus was that which God had planned in eternity as the means by which to establish the community of Messiah, by which to establish the messianic kingdom. And so the central message then of apostolic preaching was in the language of 1 Corinthians 2, Jesus Christ and him as crucified.

39:58 Paul can summarize the gospel in these words. This is the gospel I preach unto you, by which you are saved if you continue in it. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and was buried and was raised again from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures. So you see this passage in Mark's gospel clearly points to the fact that this voluntary death of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection are the central saving truths of the Christian faith.

40:36 And why is that so? For the simple reason that man's greatest problem is sin. And since the greatest obstacle to man's acceptance with God is his justice which demands payment and punishment for sin, it is in the death of Jesus that the greatest obstacle in the way of man's greatest need being met, that obstacle is removed in the bloodletting of the Son of God who died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And you can measure and test the validity of any professed expression of the Christian faith by this question. What place does it give to Jesus Christ crucified for sinners and raised from the dead?

41:34 I began with that question. What place is there in your religion for a rejected, a crucified, a resurrected Jesus of Nazareth? And if your religious experience is biblical and valid and true and saving, then Christ crucified and risen has the central place in your religious experience and in your religious affections. Surely then those are three very elementary things taught to us in the passage with reference to the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Relationship of Will and Emotions to Spiritual Understanding

42:14 The passage refutes any notion that his death was a cruel accident. The passage stands before us and clearly exposes any notion whatsoever that Jesus Christ was overcome by men. Rather, it teaches us he voluntarily went to that place of execution that we might have a Savior and a savior. It sets before us all notions that the primary mission of Jesus was to alleviate the sufferings of men in this life.

42:57 He gives the teaching in a context of isolation from men in all of their raw need. And it points to the fact that his death and resurrection are the central saving truths of the Christian faith. In this passage we see a passage concerning spiritual understanding and an accurate perception of God's truth contained in the passage. God has recorded for us that with the Lord Jesus himself as the teacher people went away that day scratching their heads saying we didn't understand what he was talking about.

43:38 That gives me some little comfort. Surely no one could blame our Lord for being this side of the event, this side of the resurrection, this side of the descent of the spirit, this side of two thousand years of seeing the messianic kingdom founded upon his work of death and resurrection. But the disciples were the other side of those events. And their minds and their spirits were filled with all kinds of notions that they had accumulated from the religious teaching of the day and the expectations, which had gathered moss and around which error had enveloped itself over many centuries.

44:22 And so there are some vital lessons concerning spiritual understanding and an accurate perception of the truth of God in the passage. And what's the first one? Well, it's this. The relationship of the will and the emotions to the understanding of clearly revealed truth is set out in this passage.

44:43 You see, these disciples did not want to know that suffering, rejection, and death were in the way of messianic mission. Remember the first time he announced it? Peter said, No, Lord, this will never be to you. Whatever lies in the path of messianic mission, no suffering, no rejection, no death.

45:05 They did not want to know anything about suffering, rejection, and death. Further, it says they were afraid to ask. They had no desire to know. They understood enough to convince them not to ask anymore.

45:23 They understood enough to know that if we ask what we suspect is true, we'll probably be enforced with greater clarity and greater emphasis and repetition. And so it says they were afraid to ask. It's like the person who goes for an examination thinking he might have some dread disease, and then tells the doctor, Doc, I don't want to know. Like the person who's afraid that he may be going into bankruptcy and says, please, please, don't examine my books, don't tell me, I don't want to know.

46:03 Well, that's something of the Spirit that's here. Here we see a revelation of the state of the disciples' emotions and their wills. In their wills, there is fear. And in their emotions, there is this fear.

46:22 Fear is an emotion. They were afraid to ask Him. And it was not because they were afraid, the Lord would chide them and say, why, you dummies, don't you understand? The Lord never treated them that way.

46:39 When they asked questions born of ignorance and longing to know, our Lord never treated them in their sneaking suspicion. If we ask, we're going to get understanding that runs counter to our wills which have already dictated no suffering, no rejection, no death. And what's the great lesson then we are to learn about spiritual understanding of God's truth from this incident? Simply this.

47:11 This is the great problem when truth comes to men's tongues. It doesn't find the man sitting there neutral in his will and in his affections. His will is saying, whatever you tell me, I will not hear that I am lost, that I am an undone, helpless, hell-deserving sinner, that I am bound by my sins, I am under the wrath and curse of Almighty God, and there's not a thing I can do but humble me, that strip away all of the facade of my self-righteousness, my self-justifying spirit, my self-help scheme, so whatever you tell me, preacher, I will not hear anything that runs counter to the set state of my will, that if I have any problems, I can fix myself up. And then when there's a sneaking suspicion that I need to be cleansed by His blood, you don't want to ask those questions because there's fear that upon asking the questions and getting answers from the Bible, it's going to confirm your suspicions that this book is going to strip you and leave you utterly naked in terms of any virtue of your own.

48:39 This book is going to expose you and tell you what you are, a proud, hell-deserving son or daughter of Adam. And that's why, that's why people don't understand the gospel. There are times, many, many times when I've had people greet me at the door and say, Pastor, how could unconverted people sit there and not respond? How could they sit there and not understand?

49:08 God help you to make it so plain, the issues of sin and wrath and grace and forgiveness and repentance and peace and it's a problem of the will and of the affections." That's why. Just like here, we read it and say that's so simple. He will be delivered into the hands of men.

49:32 Straight forward. He shall be killed. After he's killed, He'll rise again on the third day. Very simple, I understand that.

49:40 But it says they didn't understand why there was a set of the will and of the affections and emotions would not allow that truth to penetrate. And in the language of Luke 9.44, the language he used before he said these words, he said, let these words sink down into your ears. What a graphic image.

50:02 He says, let them sink into your ears. But they didn't sink into the ears because their wills and their affections were in another direction. And alas, dear child of God, that's how remaining sin works in us.

50:20 So often truths so plainly revealed in Scripture are obscured from us, not because they are not plain in Scripture, but because we have a controversy of will and of affection. Therefore, we need pray continually for a will prepared to embrace all that God has revealed and for a heart inclined to obey. Read. Read the 119th Psalm periodically.

50:50 The psalmist prays, not only open my eyes to behold wondrous things out of your law, but he says, incline my heart to your precepts and not unto covetousness. He knows that if his heart is inclined to covetousness, he'll not perceive and understand the precepts because the precepts will lead him away from sin, not into sin. And if the affections are inclined to sin, then you...

The Relationship of Prejudice and Preconceived Notions to Spiritual Understanding

51:17 You see, the mind will be darkened with respect to the truth. Then it contains another vital lesson concerning spiritual understanding. It's this.

51:31 It tells us very clearly the relationship between prejudice and preconceived notions and understanding revealed truth. The relationship between prejudice and preconceived notions and understanding clearly revealed truth. You see, in their minds, they had a fixed preconception of how Jesus as Messiah would fulfill His mission. And that conception had no place for suffering, rejection, and death.

52:02 And so prejudice and preconceived notions acted as a barrier to the reception of these truths. The truths were plain enough in themselves, but prejudice and preconceived notions so hindered them that they could not understand. This elementary truth of God. And again, that process is repeated every time the scriptures are preached.

52:30 No matter how plainly and simply they are expounded and closely they are applied, if the heart is full of prejudice, prejudice that says, whatever the Bible teaches, surely it cannot teach that Christ is the only way of salvation. What does that do with all of those sincere Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and Hindus and all of those people who believe in God? And all the rest of whatever the Bible teaches, it cannot teach that. Because to me, that would be unfair.

52:59 And so you bring your own preconceptions and prejudices to the scriptures and therefore you will never see Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Or again, some who say whatever the Bible teaches, it certainly cannot teach that man will suffer eternal torment forever and ever for the sins of a man. For a relatively brief life, 50, 60, 70 years, surely no sense of fairness will allow an unending eternity of torment for a few decades of sin. And so they come with a prejudice and a preconceived notion about the justice and rightness of eternal punishment.

53:41 And they say, I don't see it in the Bible.

53:45 They can read what we will study in a few weeks about the place where the worm dies not and the fire is never quenched. They don't see it. They don't see eternal torment there. They do not understand it.

53:55 They don't see it. They can read the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night. They don't see eternal torment there. Why?

54:07 Prejudice and preconception forbid them from seeing it. And oh, my dear sinner friend, how you need to pray that God will humble you and get you down off your high horse where you have predetermined what is truth and what is right and what is just. And come to the place where you say, oh, God is a sinner with a mind so darkened by sin. I cannot trust such a sin-affected mind to be the arbiter of what is right and wrong and true and untruth.

54:44 Oh, God, humble me and teach me out of your holy law.

The Sovereign Will of God and Spiritual Understanding

54:51 And then there is a third very vital lesson about the understanding. The understanding of spiritual truth and with this I close this morning. It's the relationship between the sovereign will and activity of God and the understanding of clearly revealed truth. Turn to the parallel passage in Luke chapter 9, if you will.

55:11 Luke adds something that Mark does not give us.

55:17 He tells us in verse 45, they understood not this saying,

55:25 exactly what Mark tells us, but he goes further. And it was concealed from them that they should not perceive it. It was concealed from them. Now, who did the concealing?

55:41 The devil?

55:44 The Jews? No.

55:48 This truth was concealed from them. Jesus began in verse 44 by saying, let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man shall be delivered up. There's going to be death, rejection, suffering, resurrection.

56:04 Understand it. Let it sink into your ears. But then it says, this truth was concealed from them. And who was the concealer?

56:13 It was none other than God himself.

56:17 For to these same people our Lord ministered at a later period. And we read in Luke 24 what he did. Notice the subject matter and how they came to understand it. Luke chapter 24 in verse 44.

56:33 Verse 44 and following.

56:36 He gathers these same disciples to himself minus Judas. And he said unto them, these are my words which I spoken to you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled that are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their mind that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all the nations.

57:20 Same subject, but now they understand it. Now it all makes sense. And why does it make sense? There was a direct operation upon their minds in terms of spiritual illumination.

Call to Humility and Dependence for Spiritual Light

57:34 And surely then Luke's contribution to this passage is to teach us that ultimately our perception of God's truth rests in the sovereign will and activity of God. He alone ultimately can give us to perceive his truth. Well, you say, if that's so, then let's just take our hands off the oars and do nothing. No.

58:01 You go to God in humility and say, oh God, teach me and I shall be taught. Open the eyes of my understanding. Undress my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Lord, I am natively ignorant and full of prejudice and darkness.

58:20 I need the light. That light which is seen only in your light as the psalmist said, in thy light we shall see light. And my sinner friend, that's, you see, your big problem. It's your stinking, rotten, devil-like pride that keeps you unbent with your chest stuck out and your chin up and your head raised high.

58:44 I'm the master of my own fate and the captain of my own soul. Anything I need to know, I can know by the unability of my own mind, my friend. Your mind is dark. Your mind is full of prejudice.

59:02 Your mind is full of preconceptions. Your mind is full of preconceptions. That are the fruit of your involvement in Adam's sin. You are one who stands in desperate need of the mercy of God to be shown in pushing away those dark clouds of prejudice and ignorance.

59:25 And you need to be humbled and cry to God for light. You need to ask Him, as Bunyan beautifully records in the directives that were given to Christian with respect to saving truth, you need to ask God to give you light. You need, by God's grace, to go to the house of interpreter and have Him open to you the mysteries of God. And dear children of God, we likewise need that constant ministry.

60:00 If that's not so, why did Paul pray for Christians in Ephesians 1 that God would give you and God would grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him that they might know? Why did he pray in chapter 3 that God would grant them to be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man that they might know? He was conscious that ultimately the sovereign will and activity of God are necessary for the understanding of clearly revealed truth. God's truth is clear, but darkness yet comes and clings to us.

60:36 And therefore our posture before God's Word ought always to be one of the deepest humility and of the deepest sense of dependence. You see, a man who's been broken at the cross is a man who's known something of the humbling of his mind that will flavor his entire character.

61:02 Do you hear me? A person who's been humbled at the cross, who's been given a saving sight of the very truths that Jesus articulated during those days of being retired with His disciples, he who has come to see by spiritual illumination why it is that Christ crucified and risen from the dead is the only way he can find peace and acceptance with God. He whose mind has been humbled before those central saving truths is the man or the woman who can never be characterized as the dominant characteristic of his life by the cocky, carnal, self-important strut of an unhumbled mind and an unhumbled spirit. That's why the first beatitude is what? Blessed are the poor in spirit.

62:04 Those who have come to see that without God's intervention they can't be saved. They can't be saved. They can't even see what they need to see in order to find the way of life though it stands open before them in the gospel. Oh, may God bring us anew to that place where in dependence upon Him we shall know the gracious work of His Spirit teaching us of the things of Christ.

62:34 Let us pray.

62:42 Our Father, we pray that You will take the truth of Your Word preached in our hearing this morning and give us understanding in that truth. We would confess to You that natively we are proud, self-sufficient,

63:05 convinced we can see what we need to see and know what we need to know under our own unblessed and unaided mental and intellectual powers. Lord, we ask that You'd bring each one to the place where there is that humility of mind that bows in utter dependence upon You whenever we come in contact with Your truth knowing that unless You teach us we shall not be taught. Seal then this word to our hearts. Bless it, we pray, to the humbling and even to the salvation of some.

63:47 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.