Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are picking back up in the Gospel of Mark.

If you’re new to MCF, it would be good for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means is, we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible, and then studying them from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in order to understand what they mean in our lives today.

With that said, we are currently working our way through the Gospel of Mark.

A Gospel written primarily to teach us who Jesus is, what He came to do, and what it means for you and I to follow Him.

So, if you are new, I would encourage you to go online to marysvillefellowship.com or download our smartphone app where you can listen to all of the messages leading up to today.

As we come back to our study today, we are picking back up in chapter 14.

And as you may recall, chapter 14 begins the final stretch of this gospel as Jesus is now just a couple of days away from his arrest and death on the cross.

We see this beginning in chapter 14 as Mark tells us there is a group of religious leaders known as the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes, who have been plotting to kill Jesus, and with the passover weekend just a couple days away, an opportunity to kill Jesus has presented itself.

An opportunity that has come through an unexpected and shocking circumstance.

Listen to what Mark tells us beginning in verse 10:

“Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.

And he sought an opportunity to betray him.”

(ESV)

10 mThen nJudas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, nwent to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.

And he sought an opportunity to obetray him.

Mark says one of Jesus’s closest followers, one of the twelve, a man named Judas Iscariot, is now working with the enemies of Jesus to betray and kill him.

And as you can imagine, this represents an unbelievable betrayal that will eventually lead to the arrest and death of Jesus.

The betrayal is shocking.

I mean imagine how you would feel or how shocked you’d be if one of your closest friends, somebody you’d spent time with, somebody you’d shared meals with, somebody you’d invested in, somebody you cared about and you thought cared about you, betrayed you.

And when I say betray, I’m not talking about them posting something negative about you on Facebook.

I’m not talking about them stealing your girlfriend or boyfriend.

I’m not talking about them betraying your confidence.

When I say betray, I’m talking about one of your closest friends plotting to have you killed.

Hard to imagine, right?

That’s what’s going on here.

That’s what’s about to happen.

Now, at this point, a lot of questions about this betrayal come to mind.

One question might be, “How could Judas do this?

How could he betray Jesus?”

Well, as we learned a couple weeks ago, we really don’t know why Judas betrayed Jesus.

Unfortunately the Bible doesn’t give us a clear cut reason.

Some say it was for the money.

Some say it was for political purposes.

And others say it was demonic influence.

In fact, the gospel writer John tells us that Satan himself was involved in influencing Judas’s decision.

So, it could have been one or all of those reasons.

But the truth is, it doesn’t really matter why he did it.

The fact is, he did.

A second question we might be tempted to ask is, “How could Jesus not of known?

I mean he is the Son of God after all?

Shouldn’t Jesus have seen this coming?

And if he did know, why didn’t he do something about it?

Why did he allow Judas to throw him to the wolves?”

That’s a great question.

In fact, it’s a question we need to know the answer to if we want to follow Jesus.

In fact, I would go as far to say, if you don’t understand why this betrayal had to take place and why Jesus allowed this to happen, then you can’t follow Jesus.

That’s how important this next section is.

So, in order to set up where Mark is taking us, and help us get a framework, I want to begin by asking you a question.

And to be honest, this question is going to date me.

And there’s a good chance that some of you born after 1990 won’t even know what I’m talking about.

So here goes.

Here’s the question.

Question - How many of you remember the television series called “The A-Team”.

Some of you over the age of 40 know what I’m talking about.

And for those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, then you missed out one one of the greatest television series of all time.

Some of you are like, “Really pastor, greatest television series of all time?”

Well, at the age of 10, I thought it was.

So, just so we can all be on the same page, let me give you a quick reminder of what the A-Team was all about.

Check this out:

Video - A-Team Intro

Now, at this point, some of you are probably thinking, “Where in the world is he going with this message?

And what does the A-Team have to do with Judas, Jesus, and the betrayal?”

Here’s where I’m going.

As you saw in the video, the A-Team was the 80’s version of a Navy Seal team, kind of.

And because they were the A-Team, they were the best of the best when it came to dealing with what you might call no win situations.

In fact, that’s how every episode would go as each episode began with somebody in a life threatening situation or circumstance.

Something their friends couldn’t help them with.

Something the police couldn’t help them with.

Something only the A-Team could take care of.

And what was amazing about the A-Team, is when they were called in to help, they could always see a way to solve the problem in a way no one else could.

And typically, their plan to solve the problem didn’t make any sense and often seemed ridiculous.

Because it always involved some kind out of the box solution or plan that seemed crazy.

For example, they’d take an old pick up and turn it into a tank.

Or they’d take a bicycle and turn it into an airplane with machine guns on it.

And you’d be watching the show thinking, “Come on, how in the world are they going to make that work.”And

somehow, as crazy as it was, the plan always came together.

In fact, one of the most quotable lines of all time comes from the A-Team as each episode ended with Hannibal saying, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

So, here’s where I’m going with this.

As we come back to , like an A-Team episode, we have a problem that needs a solution.

Something that is threatening us.

Something we need help with.

Something that is going to take us out.

So, what’s the problem?

The problem is sin.

The Apostle Paul puts it like this, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” (ESV)

Paul says, “Listen, we are all guilty of sin.

Guilty of offending a holy and righteous God.

Guilty of living in a way that is dishonoring to our creator.”

We have a sin problem and it’s a universal problem, it affects all of us.

A sin problem that has separated us from God and is leading us to certain spiritual death.

The Apostle Paul puts it like this:

But not only is it a problem, it’s a lethal problem.

Because Paul goes on to say in , “3 For the wages of sin is death...” (ESV)

In other words, because we are all sinners, and because sing brings death, we are all going to die.

And we know that’s true, right?

The fact of the matter is, every one of us in this room, at some point, is going to die.

It’s inevitable.