Shepherd Smitten, the Sheep Scattered

Introduction: Setting the Scene in the Upper Room

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, May 14th, 1989, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together in the word of God to the gospel according to Mark, Mark's gospel and the 14th chapter. And I would ask you to follow as I read from this chapter beginning in verse 22 and completing the reading at verse 31, Mark 14 and verse 22. And as they were eating, he, that is, our Lord Jesus, took bread, and when he had blessed and break it, and gave to them and said, Take ye, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them, and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Verily I say unto you, I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink,

1:30 take it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended or caused to stumble, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad. How be it? After I am raised up, I will go before you into darkness.

2:01 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that thou today, even this night, before the cock crowed twice, shalt deny me thrice. But he spake exceeding vehemently, If I must die with thee, I will not. I will not deny thee. And in like manner also said they all.

2:41 Now let us again ask God to do the very thing we have prayed together in the hymn we have just sung. Send his spirit, that the spirit taking the word will bring Christ himself to our hearts. Let us pray.

3:03 Our Father is once again we are privileged to enter into the kingdom of God. And to these sacred galleries of the king, where our Lord is painted before us in those actions and set before us in those words that more and more draw us close to his cross. How we pray that the spirit will come and take of the things of Christ and reveal them to us. We pray.

3:38 Especially as we contemplate his announcement of the defection and stumbling of those eleven who truly knew him and loved him, that we may learn vital and precious lessons about ourselves and about our Savior. Oh, come by the Holy Spirit and teach us in those inner chambers of the heart where only you can teach effectively. Hear us and answer us we plead for the good of our own needy souls and for the honor of your own glorious name. Amen.

4:20 We know from our previous studies in this portion of the word of God that it is Thursday evening of what we commonly call the Passion Week. Our Lord and his disciples have gathered for the Passover meal. Amen. large furnished upper room of an unnamed friend in the city of Jerusalem. The details of this are given to us in verses 12 to 16 of this same chapter. Then, during the Passover meal itself, two significant events have taken place. First of all, the betrayal has been announced by our Lord, and the betrayer, partially identified and having been identified, has left the upper room to do his devilish deed of handing over the Lord Jesus to the religious leaders who were seeking to kill him. And then the second most significant thing done

5:34 in that upper room, in the midst of the Passover feast, was the intercession. The intercession is the institution of the new feast of celebration, one which focuses upon the remembrance of the body of our Lord given for his own, and his blood poured out to secure the blessings of the new covenant for many. And now, in verse 26, we have what we may rightly call a transitional verse, and in the Old American Standard, it is set before us visually as a separate paragraph in order to indicate that it is indeed a transitional verse. For it is by verse 26 that we are taken out of the upper room, and privacy and intimacy of that setting, into that which comprises the next place in which the activities and words of the Lord Jesus are taken. The words of the Lord Jesus are focused in Mark's description, namely, the Mount of Olives, or particularly, the Garden of Gethsemane. And in that transitional verse, we are told,

The Hymn and the Journey to the Mount of Olives

6:53 and when they had sung a hymn, or literally, having hymned, they went out unto of olives. The words, when they had sung a hymn, are simply one word in the Greek, and we could render it more woodenly and literally. Having hymned, they went out unto the Mount of Olives. And one of the commentators has captured in a very helpful way what was involved in that hymning that they did together before leaving the upper room. I read from this commentator who writes, The table fellowship at the Passover meal was concluded by the recitation of the second half of the Hallel songs. It was customary to sing the Hallel antiphonally, that is, one member of the table company chanting the text, and the others responding to each half verse with the shout of praise, Hallelujah. Jesus took the words of these songs as his own prayer of thanksgiving and praise. He pledged to keep his vow.

8:14 In the presence of all the people, Psalm 116 was one of the very psalms that would have been hymned on that occasion. He called upon the Gentiles to join in the praise of God the next psalm that would have been sung, Psalm 117. And he concluded with a song of jubilation, reflecting his steadfast confidence in his ultimate triumph. I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord, words taken from the 118th psalm. In the assurance that the rejected stone, also the language in Psalm 118, had been made the keystone of action, Jesus found a prophecy of his own death and exaltation. When Jesus rose up to go to Gethsemane, Psalm 118 was upon his lips. It provided an appropriate description of how God would guide his Messiah through distress and suffering into the path of glory.

9:32 Late in the night, then, Jesus and his disciples left the city, perhaps in discreet groups so as not to be conspicuous. They crossed the Kidron Valley and began the ascent to the Mount of Olives. The

The Sad Prediction of Our Lord: Substance, Basis, and Sequel

10:14 egenotic Gospel of the Gospel Vol. Psalm 1 117. was night, and now with the eleven, begins his descent down the slopes and then into the Mount of Olives, and uses this occasion to make another, I say, another stunning disclosure, for just shortly before he had stunned them by the announcement that one of their own would betray him, now he gives another stunning disclosure, and as we read of that disclosure and study it together in verses 27 through 31, let us note first of all the sad prediction of our Lord in verses 27 and 28, and we will look at this sad prediction in its substance, its basis. And its sequel, the sad prediction of our Lord, first of all, the substance of that prediction, Jesus saith unto them, all ye shall be offended, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad.

11:37 He tells the eleven that just as surely as one of the twelve would betray him. So all would be offended or cause stumble. This word translated cause stumble or offended comes from a root word which refers to the stick which held the bait to a trap. And when the animal would go for the bait, he would trip the stick and thereby be ensnared and trapped.

12:16 And so our Lord is. All of the remaining. The eleven. will soon be ensnared they will become entrapped they will be caught humble that is sense in which mark consistently uses this word they will be so ensnared by fear and opposition as to defect temporarily from the way of truth and from the way of attachment to their lord matthew 26 31 add little but very significant words to this sad prediction of our lord there in matthew we read jesus said unto them all ye shall be offended in me that is you will be caught humble in connection with the things that are about to transpire in my own in connection with the things

13:34 that are to happen to me all of you my remaining 11 disciples of the inner circle will be ensnared so as to defect from attachment to my person you will have a lapse in your loyalty and and to me now that is the substance of our lord's sad prediction but now what is the basis of that prediction look at the language of the text all of you shall be caught stumble for or perhaps the word should be translated because to give a fuller sense of the strength of the word that is used all of you shall be offended in me that is you will be offended in me that is the substance of this proposal it is about what is to happen to fit over and over again in allkie we will minister about shem you shall be afflicted and worship people neither

14:59 bear pelos 알 get fortune fifth second third four five now about to take place and the passage which our Lord has in mind in the book of Zechariah and I would urge you to turn there with me for a moment if you will please to see it setting the book of Zechariah chapter 13 this chapter begins with that prophetic formula that day the day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness so the subject in the mind of the prophet at this point in his prophecy is the day in which God will open for his people a fountain for sin and uncleanness the mighty act

16:12 of Jehovah in making a way whereby he may be purged from their sin and cleansed of their uncleanness here our Lord this cup is the new covenant in my blood and we know from concerning the new covenant that one of its central blessings was this from their sins and uncleanness will I cleanse them I will purge their sins and iniquity will I remember no more and in conjunction with that day of God's gracious activity to open a fountain for sin and uncleanness we read in verse 7 awake oh Lord against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow saith Jehovah of hosts might the Sheppard will and the sheep shall scatter and here is this prophecy in which a sword is called

17:34 to awake against the one whom Jehovah calls his Shepherd awake oh sword against my Shepherd against the man that is my fellow though he is Jehovah's Shepherd he is Jehovah's fellow and equal And now a call mighting of the shepherd that is his fellow with the direct result that the sheep shall be scattered. And as our Lord goes to Gethsemane and in a few hours treatment before the various tribunals of men and then on to the very church of hell itself upon the cross. When Jehovah health in the language of Isaiah 53 will raise up the rod of his righteous anger and smite his only beloved and only begotten son.

18:46 Our Lord is confident that this prophecy of Zachariah must be fulfilled and therefore the basis for this sad prediction the prediction that the eleven will utterly stumble they will be ensnared on the occasion of the events that are now to unfold. The basis for that sad. Prediction is that God has decreed as written that is surely as son of man goes of betray as it is written so in the of being smitten his true followers will all be called to stuff that is a to confusion to cow and the fear of men. They will leave the shepherd and.

19:57 Sees to be a co he of his sheep. In these words the precise nature of the stumbling or being identified by himself and so he not only gives the sad prediction of this departure snare mint but he describes wines written that upon the occasion of God's in the shepherd. The sheep. Shall be scattered abroad.

20:41 But then in the sad prediction we not only consider its substance and its basis but then its sequel in verse twenty eight certain all of us to stumble you will all be humble because it stands written on the occasion of the smiting of the shepherd the true sheep will be scattered abroad. But here is a marvelous sequel to that. Prediction verse twenty eight how be it. After all before you into Galilee our Lord certainly come to pass there is a wonderful sequel to this sad prediction. The things pertaining to me which will cause you to stumble that is my betrayal death of all certain to come to pass to other things are certain to come to pass. One with respect to himself. One with respect to the eleven disciples.

22:02 With respect to himself. He is certain that he will be raised from the dead. How raised and even give it as a formal prediction. It is given.

22:21 I return assumption.

22:25 I confident that Jehovah who smites him the shepherd who is Jehovah's fellow. That that's Jehovah. Who will vindicate him by raising him from the dead and then with reference to the eleven the sequel to the prediction contains a marvelous word of encouragement he says you're being ensnared scattered in fear and cowardice and in temporary confusion will not cause me to disown you. Rather in the very. Place where I.

23:17 Eleven of you for remember Judas was the only Judy and all the rest were Galilean it was by the lake of Galilee ruin James and John it was up in Galilee Matthew it was in Galilee that he had called himself and now he says how be it after I am I will be ensnared and temporary from me effect from you.

24:04 But I.

24:10 You is my own. And though you will be temporary scattered as the great shepherd who has been smitten by Jehovah I as the great shepherd will gather you together again about my resurrected person and I will do so in Galilee and this was a very significant word for it's a word that's repeated on the resurrection day. Turn to chapter. Sixteen of marked in verse seven.

24:45 Mark sixteen and verse seven.

24:50 We could back up to verse six. The angel speaks to the frightened visitors to the tomb. And he said unto them be not amazed. You seek Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified.

25:04 He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him but go. And Peter.

25:15 He. Goes before you into Galilee there shall ye unto you and when did he say it precisely at this point in Mark's gospel as they had left the upper room for making their way into the Mount of Olives and so the sequel to the sad prediction is that with reference to himself the events which caused them to stumble. Are not. The end of the story he shall be raised by the father and he shall go before his stumbling and ensnared disciples and once again gather them about his person in Galilee now having considered what we have in the text and I have the sad prediction of our Lord noticed secondly the sincere protestation of the Lord.

The Sincere Protestation of the Disciples

26:25 Station of the disciples the sincere station of the disciples and this too has three parts to it first of all Peter's dominant protest Peter's dominant protest our Lord is made a general sad prediction in these words all shall be called to stumble he has given the basis for that prediction. Namely it stands written that when the shepherd who is God's fellow is smitten by Jehovah the sheep will be scattered abroad but now Peter comes forward and he begins to issue a sincere protest to these words of our Lord that's why I've the sincere station of the disciples while before when our Lord.

27:35 Predicted he was to die Peter stepped in and said this shall never be to you he's finally to realize I cannot turn my Lord aside from death he'd been called the devil when he tried that so he figured no sense trying to dissuade him from that but what he does is in a way to correct the statement and the all in his statement and say Lord there will be section to your prediction. You have said all will be offended and even though you've rooted that sad prediction in your father's decree as it stands written in the prophecy of Zechariah I Lord want to make a slight correction on the whole scenario that you just announced and my correction is this all be offended and it might be true to speak in general.

28:46 And say all he shall be offended Lord it's only all in a general sense be one exception though others will cease to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah and thereby your father's word be true I will be the exception to any stumbling to any defection that will lead to a scattering yet not if I may paraphrase it. This is. What Peter is saying in his protest Lord you may be found accurate in saying all shall be offended shall be caused to stumble that is shall be scattered in fear and cowardice and confusion yet not I move to be the one great exception to your sad prediction and really Peter's dominant protest consisted of a contradiction of the word.

29:55 Of Christ and was a boasting commendation of himself to the demeaning of the other ten that's exactly what it was he was contradicting the word of Christ rooted in the prophecy of Jehovah and he was boasting and commending him at the expense of demeaning the other ten they may have such stuff that in them stumbling and scattering and. Defection under the impulse of fear and sparing themselves and stuff I made a better stuff both in the affections of my heart in the strength of my resolve in the graces of courage of Christian manliness I will stand by your side yet not I and then we see after Peter's dominant protest. The response of Jesus verse 30.

31:05 And Jesus said unto him that is unto Peter verily here comes one of those magisterial sayings the verily is of Jesus his own weighty words of truth coming to us in bold with additional weight of his solemn verily unto thee that is Peter that thou today even this night before the cockcrow. Twice shall deny me thrice and in this response of Jesus introduced with this magisterial introduction giving it peculiar solemnity our Lord with ever increasing precision and detail says to Peter.

32:02 There then being the exceptional hero are going to be the exceptional coward while the aviation with. I will be this one. What a condo. From bragging would be the grow.

32:44 That he could not be the great. And look at the language now first of all today the day that had begun at sundown on that Thursday evening remember the Jewish reckoning of the day from sundown the sundown this was the passover day. And he says today. Within this block of twenty four hours that began.

33:08 With the appearance of the evening star. In this watched this hour. I will speak. beginning of the commemoration of the passover feast today begins to narrow it down for this night the part of this day that is still designated night time which limits it before the rising of the sun and the introduction of what we would call daytime on friday today this night then he gets even more precise he says before the cock twice and that was a term used to designate that crowing of the rooster that signified that the dawn of the new day come so he says today then he narrows it to this night then he narrows it further and says before the rising of the sun before the dawn and then he gets specific and he says three times and there's an intensified form of the ordinary verb for deny it has a preposition stuck on the front that gives it an intensity which

34:28 means you will utterly repudiate association with me and what i say peter i've introduced taking all truthfulness and authority by my my I verily unto you that was jesus response to the protestation of peter now notice under this general heading of the sincere protestation of the disciples we've looked at peter's leading protest the response of jesus now notice the united reaction of peter in the other ten verse thirty one but he's seeding vehemently the words of the end of the day about jesus and if I am with me defiant and dives if I with the one of the parallel messages it is time surprise or go to prison with the and tá覾ó mild manner

35:56 with equal tea mints and confidence at assertiveness also said theyаф is the night it vehemently does not so much point to intensity as it does to voluminous use of words. It's a word that comes from a family of words, superabounding, superabundance. So we'd say with a mass of verbiage, he sought to assure the Lord that even if he had to let out his blood, denial would never, never be part of his experience. He spoke earnestly with tons of verbiage, with never denial. And then, as though somehow infused with Peter's spirit, the other ten pick up the chorus and it says, in like manner. Not just with like words, but in like manner. That is, with all kinds of verbiage to reassure their Lord that he would not let out his blood.

37:08 He was dead wrong in predicting that they would deny him. They also join in, and in like manner, said they all. And the verbs used both for Peter's saying and their saying are imperfects. They didn't say it once and let it drop. I can only picture them taking hold of the Lord and saying, Lord, if you'll forgive us, you just must have missed it in that prediction. Lord, this would never be. I would never do this. And Peter bellers out, if I've ever done it again. That's the picture that is.

37:41 It's given to us by Mark. It's like young boys in a little group, bolstering each other's courage while on their way to confront the bully on the block. And they're all shaking in their boots. And one of them says, I'm really not afraid of him. I'm not afraid of him. Before long, the other guy says, yeah, I'm not afraid of him either. But they're bolstering each other's courage until, we're not afraid of the bully. We're not afraid of the bully. And they begin to believe their own words until the bully turns around a corner and pow, they all split. That's the picture we have here. The Lord says, you're all going to be offended. You're all going to be scattered. You will all, to one degree or another, disown your association

Salient Lesson 1: The Futility of Mere Sincerity Coupled with Self-Confidence

38:31 with me. And Peter, you who make yourself the exception, you will be the outstanding denier. Really deny me. And he gives the specific details today, this night, before dawn. Then he associates. Well, we've looked at the sad prediction of our Lord, the sincere protestation of the disciples. Now, what are the salient lessons of the passage? And again, I've chosen the word salient purposely. It means conspicuous, prominent. The lesson is like a mountain range,

39:21 or the passage is like a mountain range of lessons. And I've had to exercise what I've learned. I speak to the men in the academy about, quite frequently, the discipline of exclusion. And as I've looked over the whole range of the lessons contained in this passage, I've tried to keep the eyes of my soul. The salient lessons, the ones that shoot up above the mountain range of lessons and stand in prominence and grandeur. And we shall concentrate our attention on just two such lessons. The first is this. Behold in this passage the futility of mere sincerity coupled with self-confidence to sustain allegiance to Christ in the face of intense temptation. Behold

40:26 in this passage the futility of mere sincerity coupled with self-confidence to sustain allegiance to Sincerity coupled with confidence to sustain in the face of intent temptation.

40:45 When Peter's protested their elite Christ, were they insincere?

40:53 When Peter says, Lord, if all that, and when they exceedingly with substance of words said, if we must even die with you, we'll not forsake you, were they sincere? Well, of course they were. Judas was no longer in the ranks. Had Judas been there and chimed in, that would have been the height of hypocrisy.

41:19 He had already agreed to betray him.

41:23 They were utterly sincere. And their sincerity had already been vindicated by the Lord in the upper room discourse recorded in John chapters 13, 14, and 15. Again and again in those chapters spoken in that upper room before they left, recorded only by John, he told them, that they were his friends. He clearly identified them as the real thing.

41:54 Just before this incident, or possibly just after it, those precious words of John 17 were prayed by our Lord, in which he says, I have given unto them thy word, and they have received them, and they have known that I came forth from you. He vindicates the reality of their faith, the sincerity and genuineness of their love, so when they speak, they speak sincerely. When they protest, they protest sincerely, that they are bound to him with unshakable allegiance. However, it will soon be evident that that protestation, though sincere, was interlaced with the evidence that they could sustain that allegiance by sincerity alone, for when the Lord called them to watch and to pray that they enter not into temptation, knowing they were facing an intensity of pressure in this matter of their allegiance to Christ that hitherto they had never known. They had known this looks of the scribes and the Pharisees.

43:17 They had known some opposition in terms of verbal abuse, but they had never, never, never,

43:26 never, never, never, never, never, never, never, they would face in conjunction with Jesus being apprehended by the Roman authorities, dragged before the Sanhedrin and then before the Roman courts, then whipped, then crucified. They had never known anything like that. As one man said, their boasting was like soldiers sitting around in the tent imbibing too much alcohol, and when the bugle call to battle goes forth, because the alcohol brought their brains to the reality of the conflict, they grab their swords upon their horses and go forth bravely to battle. But when the cool night air neutralizes the effect of the alcohol on their brains, and they realize they're in a real war with real swords and real blood and real death, they become scared and pull the bridle of their side and make a quick retreat. These men were drunk with the heady wine of self-confidence. They were drunk with the heady wine of self-confidence. We'll face imprisonment, we'll face death, whatever you want, we're ready to face it with you.

44:54 And while he is straight, in the darkness and the coolness of the night, agonizing for grace to go through the ordeal, they're sound asleep, convinced they've got what it takes without even having to pray. And in this passage, there is set before us as the great salient lesson for sincere, real disciples of Jesus Christ, the futility of mere sincerity coupled with self to sustain us to Christ in the face of intense temptation. Listen to good old Bishop Ryle commenting on this very point in the passage. We see in the last place in these verses how much ignorant self-confidence may sometimes be found in the hearts of professing Christians. The Apostle Peter could not think it possible he could ever deny his Lord.

46:07 If I should die with you, he says, I will not deny you in any way. And he did not stand alone in his confidence. The other disciples were of the same opinion. Likewise also said they all.

46:21 Yet what did all this confident boasting come to? Twelve hours did not pass before all the disciples forsook our Lord and fled. Their loud professions were all forgotten. The present danger swept away all their promises of fidelity.

46:41 So little do we know how we shall act in any particular position until we are placed in it. So much do present circumstances alter our feeling. Oh, let us learn to pray for humility. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

47:06 Proverbs 16, 18 There is far more wickedness in all our hearts than we know. We can never know how far we might fall if once placed in temptation. There is no degree of sin into which the greatest saint may not run if he is not upheld by the grace of God. If he does not watch and pray, the seeds of every wickedness lie.

47:43 We need the convenient season to spring forth into a mischievous vitality. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. He that trusts in his own heart is a fool. Proverbs 28, 26 Let our daily prayer be O thou me up and I shall be safe.

48:17 Dear people, I am personally convinced that one of the reasons God decreed this very lapse for Peter and their biblical grounds to prove it with Peter directly and inferential grounds to prove it with regard to the other ten is they could never be good shepherds to God's people as apostles until they had learned this lesson. Sincerity of intention in favorable circumstances joined with a disposition of self-confidence you in the mystery of the blind man is the most oppressive temptation. Remove your circumstances your sincerest of joy but get into the midst of it especially when there is a peculiar satanic accompaniment. And here I quote the parallel passage from Luke 22 where Jesus said Satan hath desired you

49:40 to sift you as wheat. There was a peculiar satanic involvement in seeking to discredit our Lord when even one of the twelve and the other eleven forsake Him in the hour of His greatest shame.

50:03 What better way could Satan discredit his whole cause than to be able to point and say, Look, if He was real, why would one of the inner circle hand Him over and the other one when he needs the most?

50:21 And my dear Christian friend, and particularly my young Christian friend who knows precious little of what is in your heart, all the sincerity you feel, and I do not question that sincerity, that causes you to sit here this morning and say, My attachment to Christ is such, my allegiance to Christ is such, that I would never deny and betray sensual passion in the air, physical and sexual lust, husband, a lifer, eternal,

51:09 better salary, better position. Oh, my friend, listen to me. There is no sin that's ever been committed on the face of the earth which as a sincere disciple of Christ you could not commit in a moment of time given favorable circumstances pressured by the power of the devil himself who like a roaring wind a lion goes about seeking whom he may devour. And the sooner you learn that lesson not by... It's a fool!

51:58 If you believe that,

52:12 get close enough to let some of the enticements of that sin begin to cause, as it were, the horrible Adamic of the soul and give a felt-out and there's nothing you or I are not capable of doing. Someone came to an old saint and said, Brother so-and-so, have you heard the latest sad news? And the sad news was that a man who had been marked for godliness and usefulness in the kingdom of Christ for years had fallen into grievous moral sin bringing shame to Christ and to the gospel and to the people of God. And do you know what the old seasoned saint said? The man of God did in responding to that news. He didn't stand there and shake his head and say, How can a Christian do that?

53:18 He didn't say, How can a minister do that? It is recorded that the man who conveyed the news to him saw a tear begin to form in his eye and make its way down his cheek. And after a few moments of silence he then spoke in whispered tones and said, My brother, who knows but that I may be the next one.

53:48 Who knows but that I may be the next one who did not trust his heart because he did not believe the delusive lie that sincerity of intention alone will stand any man in good stead in the hour of temptation.

54:19 It is sincerity of heart joined to the present efficacy of the power and the grace of Jesus Christ. Without me, ye can't. He had a whole story when he said, One of you shall betray me. They didn't all jump up and say, Well, not me.

54:56 Lord, is it? There was wholesome distrust with the announcement of the betrayer. But here at the announcement of causing to stand there is a confidence that is not befitting the safety of any true Christian.

55:21 Oh, children of God, learn the lesson from this passage. It is the salient lesson of the passage. The futility of mere sincerity coupled with confidence to sustain us in the face of temptation. No, what we need is the presence the present strength and it is those things that we only know when we are vigorously engaged in the means appointed by Christ to convey those very things to us.

56:05 Self-distrustful prayer, watchfulness upon occasions of temptation, avoidance of the devil or the stirring up of our own remaining flesh.

Salient Lesson 2: The Constancy and Efficacy of Christ's Love and Keeping Power

56:26 That, I say, is the first salient lesson of the passage but now the second and with this I am done. Behold in this passage the constancy and the efficacy of the love and keeping power of Christ with respect to His true but weak disciples. Behold in this passage the constancy efficacy of the love and keeping power of Christ with respect to His true but weak disciples.

57:08 Jesus knows that when He leaves the upper room He will face the old ordeal of Gethsemane and of Golgotha. As He does, He knows that added to the betrayal of Judas and the false accusations of His enemies, the scourge eaters lie.

57:34 There will be the ensnarement of the inner circle who were all He had left.

57:43 The chief spokesman will become the chief denier validating his denials with oaths and with curses. And Jesus knew that this was all going to come to pass. So what does He say after He announces it? All it stands when Jehovah is the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered abroad.

58:11 The Lord must be fulfilled. All of us are going to stumble. I know, Peter, and I know of all of you, Satan has desired you to sit you as wheat. But what does he do?

58:26 We go back to the language of the text, how be it? Fully conscious of all these things, my weak, my deceived at this point, disciples trusting in the energy of your own intentions mingled with horrible self-consciousness, self-confidence. How be it? After I'm raised up, having laid down my life even for this sin of your presumption, having been raised up to validate I've paid in full for all your sins, though you in my hour of need will deny me, I'm telling you right now, but ahead of time, I'm not going to deny my relationship to you.

59:11 I will go before you into Galilee. Do you see the force of the passage? You will be able to see me. You will be able to see me.

59:18 You will be able to see me. You will be offended offended by your denial. I'll go before you into Galilee. Where did I first gather you as a flock?

59:31 In Galilee. And though upon my being smitten, the flock will be scattered, my love is such that I'll regather my flock around me in the very place where I first gathered them. I'll go before you into Galilee. Oh, what words pregnant with love, the constancy and the efficacy of Jesus' love.

59:56 It's constant. I will go before you. I'm bound to you in cords of everlasting redemptive love. And having poured out my life's blood for you as I've already told you I will do in the new supper of remembrance that I instituted a few moments ago in the upper room.

60:31 Bound in those cords of love. Love that will not be frustrated. Love that will serve you. Love that will serve you.

60:37 Love that will serve you. So efficaciously work that you, Peter, will repudiate that repudiation and once again affirm your love to me. And the rest of you will be gathered together again to me. I who went forth several years ago and you are truly my and I have prayed to my Father that you would be kept and none of you would perish or be lost.

61:04 My love is both constant and efficacious. I will go before you into Galilee and you'll be there for me. You'll be there in Galilee and I'll be there and I'll reconstitute you as my flock. And isn't it interesting that it's in a mountain in Galilee that he commissions them and says now you go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.

61:28 You've seen the kind of love that I have for my own. Love that not only goes through the ordeal and the agony of Gethsemane and Golgotha treading the winepress all alone. While you're trembling in your carnal cowardice. But that love that I bear to you is constant and it is efficacious.

61:57 Peter, I've prayed for you and when you are turned again not if but when. Strengthen your brethren. Peter, from a denier I'm going to make you a strengthener. From those who scattered you I will send my spirit upon you in power and make you so bold.

62:19 Bold that you'll be willing to go to all the nations and make disciples. And even if you must be martyred in my cause you'll not deny my name. And tradition tells us that all but one of those apostles was indeed martyred for the sake of his Savior.

62:40 And why? Not being. But they learned their lesson.

62:51 That all the sincerity in the world is not efficacious to keep a man alive. Not a man in the way of attachment to Christ. But it is the constancy and the efficacy of the love and the keeping power of Christ.

63:07 And dear children of God that's the Jesus who is the same excuse me, yesterday, today, and forever. And as we think of what is in us and we have at least a little knowledge of the potential for sin that yet lies within us Shut up! away from evidence to struggle only with the intent of our remaining sin and satanic attacks. How can we live a life of normalcy let alone of aggressively seeking to serve Christ in the midst of a wicked world with horrible remaining sin and with a cunning and a powerful devil? Well here is the point of our confidence. There is a constancy and an efficacy in the love and in the keeping power of Christ. And it is that love and that power that he extends to the weakest of disciples.

64:17 Disciples here about to deny him about to be scattered. But he says I will not take back what I said in the upper room. This is my body which is for you. My body given for you.

64:34 Yes, even for you.

64:41 But for you whose hearts I've won to me and there is true sincere faith in me true sincere love towards and in spite of your weakness I don't take back my words. This is my body which is for you. I lay down my life for you to secure your redemption. This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for many.

65:07 Poured out sin of cowardice. Peter poured out sins of cursing. And swearing and denying me. Poured out to secure that you will again be brought into the way of truth and righteousness and obedience and confession of my name even unto death.

65:28 In other words his love is efficacious love just as his death is an efficacious death that does not merely make salvation possible. But blessed be God that God secures complete redemption for every single sinner for whom he died. And what is your confidence in mind that we're going to make it? These men lived with him, walked with him.

65:58 If hope is there for me my hope is exactly what theirs was. That Christ would send his spirit and Pentecost was yet future for them. It's past for us. We experience Pentecost.

66:19 The day we were young. We were united to Christ. And we are indwelt by the spirit. The spirit who is not a sinner but of power and of love and of soberness.

66:31 Go forth not as drunken soldiers going to the battle because the alcohol has turned our brains. But we go forth because we've received the spirit of Christ. The same spirit that enabled him to go through the agony of Gethsemane and on to the terrors of Golgotha. We've received the same spirit that we might be faithful unto death and receive the crown of life.

Application for Believers: Humility and Dependence

67:06 So what do we do? We don't do like these disciples come into the Lord's presence bragging, saying, Lord, we've fallen. You've won my love. I love you.

67:25 You love you and I love you because you first loved me. But Lord, I also know there is a horrible potential for evil. There is a wily devil without a seductive world around me. Oh God, hold me up and I shall be safe.

67:44 Lead me not in temptation but deliver me from evil. Lord Jesus, keep me and I shall be kept. And then we ground that plea in the work of his cross. We say, Lord Jesus, what did you die for?

68:02 You died for your church. That you might do what to it? That you might present it to your...

68:10 No spot, no such thing. Lord Jesus, I am part of that company on the basis of the efficacy of your death. Do in me, do for me what I have no power to do for myself. You keep me.

68:33 You cleanse me. You present me. And blessed be God, every one for whom he died will be found as part of that glorified company. This I say, or these I say, are the two great salient lessons of this passage in which our Lord predicts this horrible defection of the eleven, but in the midst of it reveals his heart to his own.

Application for Unbelievers: Embrace the Compassionate Savior

69:05 My unsaved friend, aren't you jealous for us Christians? Maybe you came in here pitying Christians. Oh, they're a bunch of weak people, a little bit off balance. Oh, I hope what you've heard today said, Oh, I wish I had a relationship to Jesus Christ such as I've heard the preacher describe today.

69:26 Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a Savior who is committed in life and death and now in his ever reigning life to get me safely to heaven in spite of all the sin around me and within me? Wouldn't you want to know you have a Savior like that? He stands ready to receive you. You go to him in all your filth and uncleanness and weakness and say, Lord Jesus, I come asking nothing but mercy for a hell-deserving sinner and he will delight to take you into the company, not of a bunch of heroes.

70:10 This is a bunch of cowards. You'll all be scattered and deny me, yet he says, I go before you. Oh, my unconverted friend, don't treat lightly such a precious Savior. Don't attempt to make it through life and into the jaws of death and on to judgment without him.

70:34 Go to him. Plead with him to have mercy upon you. And he's promised, he that comes unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Let us pray.

Concluding Prayer

70:52 Our Father, what thanks can we render to you for so gracious and mighty and compassionate a Savior as our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that this day you will make him precious to all of our hearts. Forgive us for the sin of carnal self-confidence. How again and again you have allowed us to discover that we are a mass of weakness and left to ourselves.

71:29 We can do nothing but err and sin and bring shame to you and grief to our own hearts. Oh, Lord, hold us up and we shall be safe. Write your word then upon our hearts we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.