Mark 10:45
The Son of Man - a Ransom for Many
Pastor Martin expounds Mark 10:45, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." He first establishes Jesus' self-designation as the divine-human Messianic King, the Son of Man, drawing from Daniel 7 and Mark 14. He then unpacks the declaration of Christ's mission: to serve and to give his life as a substitutionary ransom, emphasizing the assumed realities of human bondage to sin and God's just demand for payment. The sermon concludes with vital applications, presenting this text as the touchstone of all true biblical religion and underscoring the practical demands of living as Christ's purchased possession.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 11 sections · 67 min
- Introduction: The Context of Christ's Mission Declaration 0:06
- The Kingdom's Upside-Down Leadership Principle 4:50
- The Supreme Illustration: The Son of Man's Mission 8:25
- Our Lord's Designation of His Person: The Son of Man 10:29
- Our Lord's Declaration Concerning His Mission: To Serve and Give His Life a Ransom 22:25
- What is a Ransom? Explicit Assertions from the Text 32:41
- Assumed Realities in the Ransom: Bondage, Divine Demand, and God's Provision 40:45
- Application 1: The Vital Principle of All True Biblical Religion 52:31
- Application 2: The Touchstone of All Professed Biblical Religion 56:20
- Application 3: The Practical Demands of All Biblical Religion 60:54
- Prayer of Confession and Supplication 64:15
Key Quotes
“The way to greatness is the way of voluntary service. The way to primacy is the way of voluntary servitude, even to becoming a slave of all.”
“The Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.”
“Now we must never forget that it is precisely because our Lord is who he is that what he does has such efficacy power and worth in the salvation of sinners.”
“The most fundamental question as we come to this that is the heart of the text is what is a ransom Jesus said the heart of my mission is bound up in the concept of giving my life a ransom what then is a ransom and the most basic concept is simply this the securing of release by the payment of a price”
“God is too holy to forgive sinners without sin being paid for God is too just to release sinners from the curse of the law without that curse being meted out either upon the sinner or upon an acceptable substitute”
“If the doctrinal roots are not continually breaking out in the glorious fruits of conformity to Christ, you do not have biblical religion. You have mere notional religion.”
“In other words, Christ crucified in the room instead of sinners is the very heart of biblical religion. Now, you want a touchstone to test your religion? Here it is. What place does Christ crucified have in your religion?”
“The scripture says, you are not your own. All that makes you you, it doesn't belong to you. You've been bought with a price.”
Applications
All listeners
- Master this text (Mark 10:45) to be able to expound it to your children, neighbors, and those who deny the need for a ransom, understanding its distillation of major biblical doctrines.
- If the realities of your sin, bondage to sin, the curse of the law, and the devil have never become felt personal realities, then Jesus Christ and his cross will mean nothing to you.
- Test your religion by asking: What place does Christ crucified have in your religion? Is he the Son of Man, the God-Man, whose mission is to give his life a ransom for sinners?
- If you have never seen yourself bound to the curse of a broken law, bound to your sins, bound to the devil, you will not think highly of Christ whose mission is to give his life a ransom.
- Unless you are found under the benefits of the ransom of Christ, you are lost and undone, and all your good works and 'brownie points' will be useless on the day of judgment.
- If a mere mortal speaking the words of Jesus makes you uncomfortable, consider what you will feel when Jesus himself comes and his eyes as a flame of fire meet yours.
- Live as one in whom it is very evident you do not regard yourself as your own, nor anything you are or have as your independent possession to use as you want.
- You have no right to choose where you'll live, whom you will marry, or any other aspect of your life based on mere carnal desires, because you are not your own; you are purchased to be his loving bondslave.
- If you claim to be Christian but do not live under the total control of the one who purchased you, you have no biblical grounds for that claim.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 117 paragraphs, roughly 67 minutes.
Introduction: The Context of Christ's Mission Declaration
This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, August 16, 1987, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.
Now will you turn with me, please, to the Gospel of Mark and the 10th chapter, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10. And I shall read in your hearing verses 35 through 45. Mark 10, beginning with verse 35.
Our Lord has just given another of his three very explicit prophecies concerning his impending rejection, suffering, death, and subsequent resurrection about to take place at Jerusalem. And in that context, Mark tells us, There come near unto him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying unto him, Teacher, we would that you should do for us whatsoever we shall ask of you. And he said unto them, What would you that I should do for you?
And they said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand. And they said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand. And they said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your left hand, and one on your left hand, in your glory. But Jesus said unto them, You do not know what you ask.
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We are able. And Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink, you shall drink.
And with the baptism, that I am baptized with all, shall you be baptized. But to sit on my right hand, or on my left hand, is not mine to give. But it is for them for whom it hath been prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be moved with indignation concerning James and John.
And Jesus called them to him, and said unto them, You know that they who are accounted to rule over the world, and over the Gentiles, lord it over them. And their great ones exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you. But whosoever would become great among you, shall be your servant.
And whosoever would be first among you, shall be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Now according to the verses that I've already alluded to in this chapter, verses 32 to 34, our Lord has once again made it abundantly evident to the disciples that he is determined to make his way to Jerusalem fully aware of the events that will transform the world. And that is to say, that he will be able to do it. And he will be able to do it. And he will be able to do it.
And he will be able to do it. And he will be able to do it. And he will be able to do it. And he will be able to do it.
And in this setting, with minds utterly dull to the realities of our Lord's impending suffering, with spirits totally out of sympathy, with a kingdom founded on the humiliation and the violent death of the Messiah,
James and John, with the consent and help of their mother, according to the parallel passage in Matthew, put forth a request for places of highest honor and influence in the Messianic kingdom. Well, after dealing with the carnal ambition of James and John, our Lord then had to sort out a fuss among the ten with James and John, who somehow heard that these two, James and John, had preempted them in doing the same thing. And what they otherwise apparently would like to have done,
The Kingdom's Upside-Down Leadership Principle
namely, get in first request for first places of prominence in the coming kingdom. And so our Lord then begins to deal with all twelve of his own after he becomes aware of the anger and the irritation of the ten against the two. And as we saw in our last study, he does so, first of all, by making an assertion in verse 42. He called them to him and said, You know that those who are accounted to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them.
And we went into the significance of that word. They lord it down upon them. And it speaks of the manner in which the great ones of the earth exercise authority. And their great ones exercise authority down upon them.
The compound verbs giving the idea that men climb over their fellow men to places of prominence. And when they've reached the top of the pyramid, they press down upon those beneath them using their positions of authority for personal advantage. And our Lord, simply asserts that that is common knowledge of how things operate in the Gentile or the pagan world. Then in verse 43, having made that assertion, he pronounces a negation.
But it is not so among you. The mentality that prevails among the pagan nations with respect to greatness, he says, those perspectives, will not prevail in my kingdom. Not so shall it be among you. Then he offers an explanation in 43b and 44.
Whosoever would be great among you shall be your deacon, your servant. And whosoever would be first or occupy the place of primacy shall be the doulos, the bond-slave of all. He says, in direct contrast with the perspectives of the pagan nations about you, the way to greatness is the way of voluntary service. The way to primacy is the way of voluntary servitude, even to becoming a slave of all.
That is, making yourself available with no claims and rights, purposing to minister to others for their good, the standing of the pyramid upside down. The way to greatness and primacy is the way of service to all. And then he concludes with giving the supreme illustration of the principles by which leadership is attained and exercised in his kingdom by referring to himself.
The Supreme Illustration: The Son of Man's Mission
He says that in his own person and work is the supreme illustration of this principle, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, unlike the great ones who climbed to the top to have the lesser ones minister to them, even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Now in the course of that last exposition, which I've briefly summarized in some five minutes,
I stated that in using himself as the supreme illustration of the greatness that comes in the path of serving and giving, rather than in being served and taking, our Lord makes one of the most profound statements concerning his mission to be found anywhere in what we commonly call the Synoptic Gospels, that is, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And that profound statement is these words, The Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. And because there was not time to open up the significance of this word with reference to the mission of the Son of God, I said that in our next study we would examine this text not primarily in its relationship to the overall context, the emphasis of the passage that we have done, but simply unpack it for its profound setting forth of the mission of the Son of Man. And as we look at the text, let us notice, first of all,
Our Lord's Designation of His Person: The Son of Man
our Lord's designation of his person, and then we shall see, secondly, our Lord's declaration concerning his mission, and as time permits, I want to make three very vital applications which grow out of the text. First of all, then, our Lord's designation of his person. To designate means to identify by a distinguishing name or title. And here our Lord refers to himself as the Son of Man.
Now there are some seventy-eight instances in the Gospels in which Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. Fourteen of them are found in Mark's Gospel. Fourteen times Mark records our Lord as designating himself as the Son of Man. Now for any of you who would love to spend a very profitable Lord's Day afternoon, tracing out the significance of this title of our Lord used some seventy-eight times by himself in the Gospels,
I commend to you William Hendrickson's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. It's in our church library, pages 403 to 407. And there Mr. Hendrickson has opened up this concept in a very helpful way.
He has even tabulated the various usages and categorized the ideas that cluster around those usages. It could be a most profitable and edifying Lord's Day afternoon study. But I cannot, of course, go into all of that this morning. For our purposes this morning, it is only necessary to remind you that the title or designation Son of Man embodies in it the fact that Jesus of Nazareth believed himself to be the divine human person who is the Messianic King.
And the significance of that title, that designation Son of Man, is nothing less than a designation which meant to our Lord and to his contemporary hearers that he was calling himself a divine human person who was the Messianic King. Now we know this from simply looking at chapter 14 in Mark's Gospel. Mark's Gospel, chapter 14. And in the setting of our Lord's trial before the high priest,
the priest is interrogating Jesus of Nazareth, verse 60. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Do you answer nothing? What is it which these witness against you? But he held his peace and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked him and said unto him, now notice his question, Are you the Christ? That is, are you the anointed one? Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed? Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?
Are you the Messianic King who is God's unique and peculiar Son, who is God and Man? And how does our Lord answer? And Jesus said, I am and you shall see not Messiah, Son of the Blessed, but you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Now when our Lord answered this question, Are you the Christ, Son of the Blessed?
Not with the terms Christ, Son of the Blessed, but Son of Man, was he making a lesser claim of himself? No. For the response of the high priest clearly indicates that Jesus claims to be the Son of Man were nothing less than claims to be Messiah who was the God-Man. Verse 63, And the high priest rent his clothes and said, What further need have we of witnesses?
You have heard the blasphemy. He regarded Jesus' words answering in the affirmative to the question as to whether or not he was the Christ, Son of the Blessed, and took to himself the title Son of Man as nothing less than claims to deity and messianic kingship and therefore he said he is guilty of death. He has indulged in blasphemy. Blasphemy.
Now why was this identification made in the mind of the high priest? Why could our Lord speak it confident that that identification would be made? Well, basically because of the teaching of a passage in the book of Daniel with which they were all very familiar. Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14.
The book of Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. Daniel chapter 7 and notice as I read verses 13 and 14. And I saw in the night visions and behold there came with the clouds of heaven you see the language of Mark 14 there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man
and he came even to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and language should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. So in that understanding of Old Testament prophecy every well instructed Jew and certainly the priests and those especially knowledgeable in the Old Testament were aware of this great prophecy of Daniel
that it would be one like unto a son of man to whom is given the place of messianic kingship and a messianic kingdom which will result in all languages and peoples and nations serving him in a non-destructible kingdom. And so when our Lord in the passage before us back to Mark chapter 10 says even as also the son of man came not to serve not to be served but to serve and to give. That designation of himself
expresses his own consciousness that as he sets his face to Jerusalem as he knows that Jerusalem he will be rejected he will be handed over to the Gentiles spat upon, scourged, killed and raised on the third day he is conscious that he goes to Jerusalem to face those realities in his identity as the God-man who is the messianic king. And though he knows that ultimately as the messianic king
he will be served for Daniel's prophecy says all nations and tongues and peoples shall tell him he knows that that fulfillment awaits the end of this period of humiliation and will only be his in the period of his exaltation in the glorious future of his messianic kingdom. What he says is that now at this point in my role as the messianic king
I have not come on a mission which has as its focused purpose that others should serve me and minister to me but I have come to serve and to give my life a ransom for many. In summary then far from our Lord's self-designation as the son of man constituting a claim to mere humanity and a studied effort to avoid being considered the God-man and messiah which is the claim of unbelieving liberals
the very use of this official title gathers to it those ideas of his unique identity as to his person the God-man and as to his offices as the messiah. Now we must never forget that it is precisely because our Lord is who he is that what he does has such efficacy power and worth in the salvation of sinners.
The constitution of Christ person is the foundation upon which rests the validity of his work and what more appropriate place to remind us of that than when he is about to make one of the most profound statements about his work he points us back to the work of his person. Even as the son of man came not to be served but to serve. Having then considered what the text sets before us
Our Lord's Declaration Concerning His Mission: To Serve and Give His Life a Ransom
of our Lord's designation of his person now consider secondly our Lord's declaration concerning his mission. Our Lord's declaration concerning his mission. Look at the language. For the son of man also or even the son of man came.
Whenever you find this language the son of man came or I have come or I came down from heaven whenever you find in the gospels Jesus saying I came I came not for this I came for this you have our Lord himself explaining the purpose of his mission. Now while men speculate and men theorize and men debate about the mission of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus himself does not speculate theorize and debate he declares
and he declares with authoritative self-awareness of who he is and what he has come to do in the capacity of Messiah. Now the text records him stating this mission negatively and then positively. Notice it. I came or the son of man came not to be ministered unto.
There's the negative. He said you will not understand my mission if you think of my mission at this point in its unfolding in terms of gathering around me those who will serve me. You do not understand my mission if you think of me in terms of what will one day be true in the ultimate unfolding of messianic purpose and divine plan and will. But at this point he says my mission is not that of being served.
But positively our Lord says two things. I came not to be ministered unto but I came to minister or to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. He says first of all the son of man came to fulfill the role and function of a servant and secondly in that role and function to give his life a ransom. You see that in the text?
Let's break it down briefly. He said the son of man came to fulfill the role and the function of a servant. Now that language like a mighty powerful magnet pulls to itself its root system embedded in the Old Testament and in particularly the servant of Jehovah passages in the prophecy of Isaiah. And I want you to turn to two of these so that we will not read into our Lord's words our own current notions of a servant but we will read into them
the notions with which they were pregnant in his own mind and spirit as he makes his way to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. Isaiah 42 and verse 1 Jehovah is the son of man who declares behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen in whom my soul delights this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased I have put my spirit upon him the spirit of the Lord God is upon me quoted by our Lord in the synagogue at Nazareth
I have put my spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles now notice he will not cry nor lift up his voice nor cause it to be heard in the street my servant upon whom I have put my spirit will in the accomplishment of messianic identity pass through a phase of obscurity a phase of relative silence he will not be one who ostentatiously goes through the land bringing behind him an entourage of servants no
he will not cry nor lift up his voice nor cause it to be heard in the street a bruised reed will he not break in a dimly burning wick he will not quench he will bring forth justice in truth he will not fail nor be discouraged till he has set justice in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law so Jehovah says of Jehovah's servant that he will be upheld by Jehovah and in the power of the spirit he will bring forth justice and deliverance to the nations and he will do that not in the way that the Gentiles accomplish their conquests they do so
by the rattle of their swords and the beating of their swords and their drums and by their overpowering of one another but not my servant in the path of self-imposed humiliation in gentle dealing with needy souls he will accomplish his messianic function and ministry and then we meet that servant again in chapter 52 of Isaiah God again says behold my servant but this time he's going to tell us something else about his servant Isaiah 52 13 behold my servant shall deal wisely he shall be exalted
and lifted up and shall be very high wait a minute this doesn't fit the servant is presented as the humble one who walks through the streets unnoticed and now he says the same servant shall be exalted and very high ah but before the exaltation what will happen like as many as were astonished at thee his visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of man so shall he sprinkle many nations kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which hath not been told them they shall see and that which they have not heard shall they understand
who has believed our report to whom is the arm of the Lord then revealed he grew up before him as a tender plant as a root out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness and when we see him there's no beauty that we should desire him and then we have that description of our Lord's humiliation that is as detailed as an eyewitness of the trial and the crucifixion of Jesus you see when he said these words even the son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister but to serve what our Lord was doing
was drawing to himself and identifying himself as the servant of Jehovah and he's come he says to fulfill the role and function of a servant and in that role and function to do what back to Mark chapter 10 in that role and function of a servant to accomplish his highest work of servanthood and what is it serve and to give his life
a ransom for many do you want to know what my mission is my dear disciples James and John you who totally mistake the present dimension of my mission and while I speak of going to Jerusalem to be rejected and suffer and die and be raised from the dead you want places of prominence in your carnally conceived messianic kingdom you want to be at the top of the pyramid you want to call the shots and be the bosses and the rest of you when you hear them asking for this you're filled with indignation because you think they've preempted you and you're filled with the same notions
it shall not be so among you the path to greatness is the path of service the path of primacy is the path of the slave and I am your great example says our Lord for I have come not to be ministered unto but to serve I have come to fulfill every prophecy made of the servant of Jehovah I have not come like the great ones of the earth riding upon their white chargers brandishing their swords blasting their trumpets I have come in meekness I have come in lowliness there is no natural beauty
What is a Ransom? Explicit Assertions from the Text
about my person and my mission and in that capacity and function of service my service will come to its most complete expression when I give my very suitcase my very soul my very life a ransom for many now the most fundamental question as we come to this that is the heart of the text is what is a ransom Jesus said the heart of my mission is bound up in the concept of giving my life
a ransom what then is a ransom and the most basic concept is simply this the securing of release by the payment of a price if there were a slave who was owned by a certain master and you desired to secure his freedom from slavery and the master demanded a certain price when you paid that price someone would have said of you that you ransomed the slave by the payment of a price you released him from bondage
this is the word that would be used when someone would secure the release of a prisoner from prison when a certain price was paid the price was paid and secured the release of the prisoner the freedom of the slave now that being true consider with me what is clearly asserted by Jesus of Nazareth in relationship to this matter of his mission being bound up in the concept of ransom notice what is clearly asserted number one the work which Jesus came
into the world to accomplish is a work of ransom do you see that I came not to be ministered unto but to serve and to give my life a ransom surely if the text teaches anything it teaches that our Lord Jesus Christ on his way to Jerusalem was conscious that his fundamental work in the world was that of giving himself a ransom this fundamental work was not that
of pronouncing lofty concepts it was not primarily of teaching a marvelous and admirable system of ethics it was not primarily a mission of healing broken bodies and mending fractured families demonstrating ideal humanity and selfless service no he said I came to serve to be served but to serve and to give my life a ransom Jesus of Nazareth
was either a madman and utterly deluded as to his own mission or he says that the heart of his mission is bound up in this concept releasing captives by the payment of a price the second thing that's very clear in the text is this the ransom price was nothing less than the giving of his own life very clear in the text the son of man came to give his life a ransom and in the setting there's only one meaning that fits he has just told his own
I'm on my way to Jerusalem at Jerusalem I will be rejected I will be handed over to the Gentiles I will be spat upon I will be scourged I will be killed and I will rise again or be raised again for our Lord to say give his life it did not mean merely to give his life in selfless service we say that man gave his life for the cause of the poor what do we mean we meant he said he spent his energy spent his money spent his time exerted his influence for the poor and there's a sense in which that's proper to say that but in the context Jesus is not saying
I came to give my life that is to give my energy my time my influence he said I came to give myself my soul I came to give up my very life in the violent death that awaits me after at Jerusalem which will be no ordinary death but it will be a death that is nothing less than a ransom to secure the release of captive so the text first of all makes clear number one that Jesus understood his mission
as a work of ransom secondly that the ransom price was the giving of his own life and thirdly the ransom was substitutionary in nature look at the text it says to give his life a ransom for many and the little preposition in the original ante in this and in many other contexts can mean nothing other than in the place of or on behalf of in Matthew 2 22 it speaks of one who ruled ante in the place of another
in Matthew 17 27 it clearly means to give the tax on behalf of me and others and so the concept of substitution is embedded in the very language of our Lord this ransom was substitutionary in nature it was a ransom in the place of or on behalf of the many now you say Pastor you've laid the point it's plain it's simple I know dear people but listen often our stability in the faith is greatly influenced by our grasp
upon those texts which distill major biblical doctrines in short compass and I want you to master this text I want you to be able to sit down with your children and expound it sit down with your neighbor and expound it sit down with those who deny that anyone needs a ransom and say if that's so then Jesus' mission was a joke I came to effect and to do it on behalf of many now those three things are explicit in the text but now there are several things assumed in the text without which
Assumed Realities in the Ransom: Bondage, Divine Demand, and God's Provision
the words of Jesus don't make sense and what are they number one that those for whom the ransom is made are in a horrible condition of bondage and captivity you see a ransom means securing release from bondage by the payment of a price but if nobody's in bondage then why make a ransom you see our Lord assumes in this text in this passage the horrible reality that men are held in the grip of that ugly damning commodity
called sin and that their bondage to sin and to the curse of the law and to the devil is frighteningly real if our Lord was anything he was an open-eyed realist he did not look upon men with rosy-colored glasses he saw mankind in its true state as none of us can ever see it and he beheld men in the horrible chains that bound them to their sins for whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin
said Jesus he saw them in their slavery to the curse of the law cursed is every sin and every one that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law he saw them in their bondage to the devil taken captive by him unto his will walking according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit who works among the sons of disobedience and I say to you sitting here this morning my friend boy girl man or woman listen if these realities of your sin your bondage to sin your bondage to the curse of the law your bondage
to the devil if those have never become felt personal realities no wonder Jesus Christ means nothing to you no wonder you can walk by his cross in your mind's eye utterly indifferent utterly indisposed to think there is anything amazing or wonderful or rightful or transforming in the sight of the immolated God-man because you have never known and felt the reality of your horrible captivity for which his death is God's only appointed ransom you see assumed in the text is that those for whom the ransom
was made are in a horrible condition of bondage but secondly assumed in the text is that there are factors in God's being and in God's government which demand the payment of a ransom if sinners are to be released you see that the servant is the servant of the Lord why does the servant say I have come in obedience to my father to give my life a ransom because Jesus knows as only one of the members of the God-head can fully know that there is embedded in the very nature of God as infinitely and inflexibly
holy and just and pure that which makes the payment necessary for God to release sinners and not to relinquish his own holiness and justice and truth even God will not release one sinner if the price to be paid is staining the majesty and glory of his own being assumed in this text is that there are factors in God's being and government which demand the payment of a ransom God is too holy to forgive
sinners without sin being paid for God is too just to release sinners from the curse of the law without that curse being meted out either upon the sinner or upon an acceptable substitute Satan's claims over man are real and his head must be bruised before he can be forced to relinquish his subjects that's why Jesus said I came to give my life a ransom it was the Lord Jesus making that payment God word which secures release from the bondage
and condemnation of sin for sin from the curse of the law and from the devil himself that's why in the verbal form of this word Peter says that Christ has redeemed us ransomed us not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with his own precious blood now there's a third thing that's obviously assumed in the text and that is that God has given man a ransom he said the son of man came to give his
life a ransom why must there be an incarnation why must there be the staggering mystery of infinite humility when God joins himself to man in a virgin's womb who is God and man can a proper ransom be made to release sinners from their bondage Psalm 49 69 we don't have time to turn to it is a wonderful passage indicating
that among all the wealth and possessions of men nothing or no one can be found in this world and so God has given man a ransom he must bring to his payment all of the worth of deity but to make a payment in blood he must bring all the reality of humanity and so the incarnate son of God the son of man comes to give his life and the fourth of all for whom it was paid notice the
text the son of man came to give his life a ransom for many you say pastor what do the words for many mean in some context the words many are used to contrast with few Matthew 7 13 and 14 broad is the way that leads to destruction sometimes the word many is used to contrast with few so we know that the ransom is not for few it's for many but sometimes the word many is used in the sense of all Romans 5 verse 15 and again in Romans 5
19 as through the one man the many were made sinners there many means all mankind were made sinners to determine whether it's many as opposed to the few but not all or whether it's many equal to all we turn elsewhere to scripture that's what's called the analogy of scripture that's what we mean when we say the Bible is its own interpreter and when we turn to other passages we find this and I want you to look
at verse 9 the living creatures and the twenty elders fall down before the lamb and they sing a new song and here is their song worthy are you to take the book and to open the seals for you were slain and its purchase unto God and here is a parallel concept of redemption you did purchase unto God the people and nation now notice and made them to be unto our God
a kingdom and priests where he purchases he makes them a kingdom of Christ all whom he ransomed will be released who are released are released because a ransom was paid for them the son of man who was born on a hope soul mission he says in John six I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him
that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing but raise them at the last of my disciples still walking about in this fog of carnal ambition the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many I was on his heart that day when he was walking to Jerusalem I was in his heart that day when he
was making his way to Jerusalem for his sinners not in general all sinners indiscriminately but for those whom the father had given him and those whom he purchased those whom he ransoms in time he makes the kingdom of priest unto himself and to his father well dear people that's the teaching of the text as I see it now let me to bring home what I believe are several very vital applications and the first is this do you see how this
Application 1: The Vital Principle of All True Biblical Religion
text in Mark 10 illustrates so beautifully the vital principle that lies at the heart of all true biblical religion it illustrates a vital principle that lies at the heart of all true biblical religion and the most important principle that we must remember that the Bible says that the way to greatness and primacy is not to tromp over
one another and get to my ear first and hope to serve us and the greatest illustration of that is in my own person I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life a ransom what happens this most profound statement of the nature of his death comes in the context of the most profound doctrines of the Christian
faith and conversely all of the most profound doctrines in the Christian faith have their only proper flowering in practical experience and when that principle is either fixed in the order of the Holy Spirit or in the drum of the world it is that
what God has to do in the world is to end the task of the Doctrines that are the top roots of all true religion. But if you find people professing ever so loud to believe the grand doctrines of the Bible, then they are not molding and shaping their perspectives about true greatness and how to come to primacy and how to live as husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and in the fellowship of the church.
If the doctrinal roots are not continually breaking out in the glorious fruits of conformity to Christ, you do not have biblical religion. You have mere notional religion.
And just as surely as all true Christian practice ultimately rests upon true Christian doctrine, all true Christian doctrine, when understood and believingly embraced, will flower in Christian practice. And it's a real comfort to me when we get criticized at one and the same time for being altogether too heavy and doctrinal and being altogether too picky and practical. And as long as those both guns are aimed at us, I say, hallelujah, Lord, we must be doing something right.
Application 2: The Touchstone of All Professed Biblical Religion
Because that's what this passage teaches us. But then it teaches another very vital lesson. It constitutes the touchstone of all professed biblical religion. See, it not only illustrates a vital principle, the principle of all biblical religion, it constitutes the touchstone of all professed biblical religion.
A touchstone is the test or criterion for determining whether something is genuine. And this text constitutes the touchstone of all professed biblical religion. In the center of saving religion is Christ. And at the heart of the mission of Christ is a ransom.
In other words, Christ crucified in the room instead of sinners is the very heart of biblical religion. Now, you want a touchstone to test your religion? Here it is. What place does Christ crucified have in your religion?
That's it. What place does Christ crucified have in your religion? That is the Christ of biblical revelation. Is he to you nothing less than the Son of Man?
The God, Man, as much God as though he were not man, as much man as though he were not God? Is it that Jesus, whom you love, whom you serve, whom you seek to imitate in the strength of his spirit, what place does Christ crucify for sinners have in your religion? Do you have a Christ whose mission is always to Jesus Christ? Is he to you nothing less than the Christ crucified in the room instead of sinners?
He's leading to Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Rejection, suffering, death, resurrection.
What do you have of Christ that you can sort of just, oh, a little bit of the cross, a little bit of his teaching, a little bit of his ethics, a little bit of his morals. Pick your choice, church pick, that's fine. The apostle said, God forbid that I should glory, say, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him as crucified.
You see, friend, if you've never seen yourself bound to the curse of a broken law, bound to your sins, bound to the devil, you will not think highly of Christ whose mission is this. He came to give his life a ransom, a payment to secure release. And you say, big B. You'll release me.
I don't need release from anything. I just need to go to church, be decent, love my neighbor, and give to the local hospice and to the United Fund. What's off? My friend, listen, listen, listen.
The day is coming when this whole world is going to rock and shake, and the sky is going to be peeled back, and the Son of God is going to come, and he's going to consume this present world order. And unless you're found in that day as a sinner who has fled, and Christ crucified as your only hope of salvation, you've had it. You've had it. And you can bring out all your brownie points and all the collections you made in the neighborhood for the United Fund and for the local hospice, and you can give to God your string of ribbons for all the lovely things you did.
But, my friend, unless you're under the benefits of the ransom of Christ, you're lost and undone, and you'll cry for rocks and mountains. Don't try to evade it. You say, I came to church to feel good, and the way that preacher talks, I feel uncomfortable. My friend, listen to me.
If a mere mortal passing on you the words of Jesus from the Bible makes you feel uncomfortable, what will you feel when Jesus himself comes and his eyes as a flame of fire meet yours?
If you're a stranger to a true knowledge of your sin, and that the only way, the only way of salvation. And then last of all, and with this I close, this passage underscores the practical demands of all biblical religion.
Application 3: The Practical Demands of All Biblical Religion
It not only illustrates the vital principle of biblical religion, the relationship between doctrine and practice, not only constitutes the touchstone of all professed biblical religion with Christ at the center and with the cross at the center of Christ, but it underscores the practical demands of all biblical religion, because if Christ paid a ransom to release me, then I'm a purchased man.
And that's exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.20. He says, you are not your own. You were bought with a price.
You see, when Christ through ransom secures our release, it is that he might make us part of that kingdom described in Daniel, in which everyone who's in it, gladly serves him. It says there shall be given unto him a kingdom and all nations and tongues and people shall serve him.
My friend, sitting here this morning, I ask you, do you live as one in whom it is very evident you don't regard yourself as your own?
You don't regard anything you are or have as your independent possession to use as you want? You choose.
Your mind,
your energies, your faculties, your desires, your ambitions, your plans, your home, your car, your children. The scripture says, you are not your own. All that makes you you, it doesn't belong to you. You've been bought with a price.
You have no right to choose where you'll live based on mere carnal desires. You have no right, you have no rights to choose whom you will marry based simply on the desire to be married. You have no right to choose and then you fill in everything else. You are not your own.
You're purchased to be his loving bondswain. Have you resent that? If so, you've never had a sight of Christ crucified. The clearest indication that Saul of Tarsus got a saving sight of the exalted Christ was this.
The first words that came out of his lips were these. What will you have me to do? I'm not my own anymore. I'm yours.
Is that true of you? Is that true of you? If it isn't, friend, you have no biblical grounds to claim you're Christian. And if it is, you've got no right to order, govern, direct any part of your life based on anything other than the will of your master revealed in this book.
Prayer of Confession and Supplication
Total control by the one who purchased it. All of that at the end of a little practical lesson of how to be first in the kingdom. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Our Father, we confess again that we feel our minds stagger before
the great and glorious truth of the Christian faith. We've tried to speak of things that in many ways are unspeakable. We've tried to think upon the unthinkable. We've tried to comprehend the incomprehensible.
But, O Lord, help us as we by your grace seek to embrace the truth of your word. We thank you for him who came not to be served but to serve and as the climactic expression of that service underwent the death of the cross to pay a ransom that we might be released. Not released to go about doing our own thing but released to become his willing bond slaves. And, Lord Jesus, we who know you have seen glory in your person and in your cross.
We gladly own that we're not our own. We're ashamed at every point where we think or act or desire or choose as though we were. Forgive us of our sins and help us so to walk that it may be evident to all who look upon us that we are your purchased property and glad that it is so. Have mercy upon those who've never seen their bondage and therefore see no glory in the ransom or in the ransomer.
Have mercy, O Lord, and draw them now before that day when the Messianic King comes as the judge and will consign every unbeliever to outer darkness. Bless your word to the salvation of sinners and to the strengthening of the saints, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is the primary text, providing the narrative context of James and John's request and Jesus' teaching on servant leadership and his mission.
This verse is the theological heart of the sermon, where Jesus explicitly states his mission to minister and give his life as a ransom for many.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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