Mark 14:26-31 Betrayals

Joel and Mary Nadel, Covenant Church

From: The Holy Bible and J.C. Ryle’s “Expository Comments on the Gospels - Mark”

House Rules: Phones, Respect, Stay on the Text

Pray

Review

In Jerusalem, the night before the Lord’s trial and crucifixion

Preaching, teaching, performing miracles for three years

Now He is in Jerusalem, to finish His work on the Cross.

After the Lord celebrated His last supper with His disciples, they are now enroute to Gethsemane, where He will be arrested

Mark 14:26–31 NASB95

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’ “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.

Point 1 - Our Lord knew ahead of time the weakness of His disciples

He tells them plainly what they are about to do. Mark 14:27 “And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’”

He tells Peter specifically that He is about to commit a surprising sin: Mark 14:30 “And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.””

Our Lord’s fore-knowledge did not stop Him from choosing these twelve disciples to be His apostles

He made them His closest friends and companions, knowiing full well what they would do this day

He allowed them the great privilege of being with Him continually, hearing His voice and teaching, with a clear understanding of the disappointing weakness and the lack of faith they would show at the end of His ministry

This is an important fact, and we need to remember us, because it applies to all His followers

Its comforting to know that the Lord does not cast off His believing followers because of failures or imperfections

He knows what we are - He takes us, as the husband takes his wife, with all the blemishes and defects, and once they join with Him in faith, He will never reject them.

He is a merciful and loving high-priest

It is for His own glory that He passes over the sins of His people

He knows what we were before He saved us - wicked, guilty, defiled, yet He loves us anyway

He knows what we will be after conversion - weak, prone to mistakes, and yet He loves us

He has determined to save us, in spite of our shortcomings - and what He decides to do, He does.

We need to have loving understanding for the behavior of other believers

We shouldn’t look down on them, say they have no grace, simply because they may show weakness and corruption

We need to remember that our Lord takes on our weaknesses and mistakes - we need in the same way to be understanding of other brothers and sisters

The Church of Christ is like a big hospital - we are all, more or less, sick and weak, and each day we need the skilled treatment of our heavenly Doctor

No one will be fully cured until the resurrection day

Point 2 - Christians miss out on comfort and encouragement by not paying attention

Mark 14:28 ““But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.””

Jesus spoke plainly here, yet none of His disciples seemed to pay attention or took Him seriously

When Judas betrayed Him, they all ran away from Him

When He was crucified, they were shattered

When He rose again on the third day, they didn’t believe it

They certainly heard enough times that these things would happen - He prophesied it repeatedly - but it never made any impression on them

This is a great picture of our human nature - we see the same thing among Christians even today

How much do we read every year in the Bible, and completely forget what we read?

How much wisdom do we hear in sermons and lessons, that we pay no attention to?

When times of trouble come upon us eventually, we are completely unprepared

When we are seriously ill, or grieving a death, suddenly texts and passages gain new meaning, that we never noticed before

When things flash across our minds at those times, we suddenly feel ashamed that we didn’t notice them before - we remember we read or heard them, but we didn’t take notice, or didn’t really believe them

We need to pray for a quick understanding when we hear and read God’s word

We need to search every part of it, and not lose any of its truth because we are not paying attention

By doing this, we will have ready a good stock of wisdom when the times get really rough

Preachers and teachers should not be surprised if their messages go unnoticed and unheeded. The same thing happened to the Lord.

Even He said many things which were not noticed when first spoken - the disciple is not greater than the Master

We need patience - many truths that are ignored at first, will bear fruit later

Lastly, Many Christians sometimes demonstrate an ignorant self-confidence

The apostle Peter did not think that He would ever deny his Lord

Mark 14:29 “But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.””

Mark 14:31 “But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.”

Peter was not alone in his confidence, the others were saying the same

What was the result of this bragging? Within 12 hours they all fled from Him

Their loud bragging was all forgotten

The danger the Lord was in completely swept away their feelings and talk of loyalty

We have no idea how we will respond under pressure until we experience it - the situation can completely change our feelings

We need to learn to pray for humility

Prov. 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

There is a lot more wickedness in our hearts than we are aware of

We cannot know how far we might fall, if placed in temptation, under stress

The greatest saint can run into the worst of sins, if not held up by the grace of God - we all need to “watch and pray”

The seeds of the worst sins lie hidden in our hearts - they will turn up at the most surprising times, with amazing strength

1 Cor. 10:12 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Prov. 28:26 “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,”

Our daily prayer should be: “Hold me up and I shall be safe.”

The Gospel

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (NASB95)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Romans 10:9 NASB95

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

Let’s pray

Prayer requests