Disciple 7: Hope Arrives

Bill Connors

Disciple: Hope in the Book of Mark • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Mark 14:22–26

Mark 11:1–10

Mark 9:2–8

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B: Mark 9:2-8; Mark 11:1-10; Mark 14:22-26

N: Communion cup

Opening

Good morning again, church! It’s good to be here together this morning, whether you are here in this room right now or whether you are online joining us on Facebook, YouTube, or on our website. It’s a blessing to get to worship our Lord and Savior together as a church family. We’ve already had the joy of witnessing the ordinance of baptism, and in a few minutes, we will join in worship as we take the Lord’s Supper together as well. It’s a full service this morning!

I want to start this morning by saying thanks to our Associate Pastor of Children and Families, Joe Vivian, for stepping into the pulpit last week. I really appreciated his message on Hope Revealed. Joe is actually down south, filling in for another pastor friend of ours, Matt Henslee, at FBC Mayhill NM this morning. Melanie and I had the opportunity last week to serve as parent sponsors with our student ministry on Winter Retreat with the mid-schoolers, and we had a great time doing so. Thanks, Trevor, for putting that retreat together. I also want to say thanks to our whole staff collectively. I was on vacation this past week, and a LOT of things came up around here: the sanctuary roof was reshingled, there was a burst water line, all the lights in the gym were replaced, and a PNM power pole was blown over on the back 40. They handled everything, and I’m grateful for them, for their friendship, their teamwork, and for their leadership. I’m also very grateful for everyone who helped with things, especially Tim Allen and Charlie Fagan.

I also wanted to announce to everyone that Adam and Andrea Portillos welcomed a new baby boy, Joshua, to their family yesterday. Everyone is doing great. Please keep them in your prayers.

We are in the process of taking up our annual special offering for North American missions, called the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. You’ve already seen a video this morning about a ministry that is supported by that offering. We take this offering up during the months of March and April each year, and our goal as a church for 2021 is $15,000. As of earlier this week, our church has given $8,056.25 toward this offering. Thanks for your generosity, church! Please continue to pray and ask the Lord what He would have you give toward this offering this year.

Easter is next Sunday, can you believe it? That being the case, next weekend is full of opportunities for fellowship and worship together. On Friday, April 2, we will have our Good Friday service here in the Sanctuary at 12:15 pm. It will be a short 30-40 minute service so that people can get back to work. Then, there will be the Easter Egg Hunt for the kids on Saturday morning. Then on Easter Sunday, our sunrise service will be held at 7:30 am here in the courtyard. If the weather forecast holds, it should be a beautiful morning. We are planning on streaming that service live if you can’t make it. We’ll worship together and then we’ll have breakfast available afterwards, served in COVID-safe fashion by our student ministry. Finally, we will have our Easter morning Family Worship service at our normal time of 10:30 am back here in the Sanctuary. Please plan to be a part of all that God is doing through this church this coming weekend.

All of our Easter messages next week will be focused in the Gospel of Mark, and we will finish our look at this Gospel next Sunday morning. On April 11, we will start our next series in the book of Acts called “Proclaim: The Gospel Has Come.” The plan is a seven-week series looking at seven sermons preached by the apostles in the early days of the church. But for this morning, we’re going to tie together three well-known passages from Mark’s Gospel as we consider the fact of the arrival of hope in Jesus. One of those passages is Mark 11:1-10: the Triumphal Entry. Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read this passage:

Mark 11:1–10 CSB

1 When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ” 4 So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, 5 and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

PRAYER, including for the Portillos family.

COVID has created a real struggle in the lives of many. Sure, there’s the physical side of someone actually contracting COVID. But one of the greater areas of concern for this pandemic is the mental health aspect. The Kaiser Family Foundation published a report on February 10 of this year, with their findings that four times as many adults have reported struggles with anxiety and depression in 2020 than in 2019. 56% of adults in ages 18-24 reported these struggles, and about 52% of all adults affirmed that the stress related to the pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health overall.

https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/#:~:text=During%20the%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic,largely%20stable%20since%20spring%202020.

So for many of us in the United States, hope has been in short supply for the past year. New Mexico may even have been one of the more “hopeless” states, as far as our perspective on things. Nearly last in the nation as far as per capita income, medical services, tax income, and infrastructure, it has seemed like our state government’s response has been severe, and maybe it really had to be, especially during that surge in the fall. That’s not my call to make. I’m glad I’m not the governor.

But even the messaging was severe. Does anyone remember driving on the freeway during October and November? The messages on the rapid info boards were dire: “COVID on the rise!” “COVID is deadly - stay home!” People driving from different states into New Mexico said the difference in messaging was dramatic.

And then the vaccines started being approved for emergency use. And our signage changed from the doom and gloom to a new message: “Hope is here!” While definitely more “positive,” there’s a couple of things about that message that bothered me. First, the statement that “hope is here” implies that before the vaccine, hope was NOT here… that we were “hopeless.” Has coronavirus been a struggle? Absolutely. Has hope been hard to find for many? Yes. But before the vaccine, were we hopeless? Not by a long shot.

And second, the messaging of “hope is here” when it comes to a vaccine says that the vaccine itself is our hope. Now, there’s nothing wrong with useful medical technology. I believe it is part of God’s provision for us—giving us bodies that work in particular ways and minds that allow us to observe that and figure out how to treat ailments and illnesses. But if we place all of our hope eggs in the basket of medical technology, we’ve horribly misplaced our hope. Every medical technology, even the coronavirus vaccine, is only a temporary and limited help. Can it help us keep from catching this particular disease? Sure. Can it keep us well forever from everything? No.

Joe last week talked about questions. So I’ll ask one as well: In what or in whom do we place our ultimate hope? I’m not doing a “faith vs. fear” dichotomy here, because I think those things are often unfair. God has designed us to feel afraid when we perceive that our lives are in danger, and that’s not from a lack of faith.

Where do place our ultimate hope? What or Whom is worthy of being the object of our hope? The issue is that we often think that things give us real hope when they actually don’t: not lasting hope, anyway. The people of Israel were the same. And in our three passages this morning, we are going to see the thread of hope that is only ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.

1: The Law didn’t bring hope.

Since the nation of Israel were the chosen people of God, and since God had worked so mightily to rescue them, they saw themselves as pretty special. God had given them the Law unlike any other nation, so that they would be set apart in how they lived as well. He had given them the Law as part of a covenant agreement: that He would be their God, and they were to be His people. God made this covenant with His people through Moses:

Exodus 19:5–6 CSB

5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, 6 and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

Unfortunately, most Hebrew people saw themselves as set apart because they were special, not special because they had been set apart for a particular role to play in bringing glory to God. So their hope got all wrapped up in following the rules that they had been given, and in so doing, looking down on all the other nations who didn’t have the same rules.

They were still living this way when Jesus came onto the scene of history. The most faithful among them were those who best kept all the rules. But Jesus was different. We’ve already seen how He stood against much of the legalism that the Hebrew people lived in. And immediately on the heels of the passage that Joe preached from last week, we find Jesus revealing His glory to a few of His disciples in spectacular fashion:

Mark 9:2–8 CSB

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling—extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them. 4 Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good for us to be here. Let’s set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—6 because he did not know what to say, since they were terrified. 7 A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

Jesus is “transfigured” before them, and shows them who He really is—God in the flesh. And He standing and speaking with two giants of the OT: Moses and Elijah. Moses was the one through whom God gave the Law, the Old Covenant, and Elijah was the transitional person: the proclaimer of the coming of the New. Collectively, they represent the Law and the Prophets, essentially the entire Old Testament message.

But the problem with the Mosaic Covenant was that it didn’t bring hope… it only showed the people their need for mercy and grace, the need to approach God in humility and faith. It wasn’t meant to save them, but to drive them into the arms of God by showing them the severity of their sin and their desperate need for God.

Paul would later explain this in his letter to the churches of Galatia:

Galatians 3:10–12 CSB

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed. 11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. 12 But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.

If you’re going to trust in the Law to save you, then you’re going to have to live by the whole Law. And you’re going to have to do so perfectly. There’s only One person who did that: Jesus.

But back to our text, you’ve got to love Peter in this moment. He makes a classic understatement: “It is good for us to be here!” Well, yes, Peter it is good.

He sees this incredible transformation, and his idea is to keep all three of them: Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, right there where they were. But he’s missed the point. Moses and Elijah are there with the glorified Jesus as a testimony of His being the focus of the Law and the Prophets. He is most important, not just a man through whom God worked, but God Himself. Peter shows that he doesn’t really get it. He’s still hanging on to the Old, trying to keep it around. But God tells them to listen to the New: Listen to Jesus.

Jesus’ ministry was to fulfill all that the Old Testament had promised, and to complete all that the Old Testament Law had required. As I said, the Law was meant to show us how desperately we need God’s mercy, and how we must approach God by faith because of our inability to keep the rules. It was our guardian until Jesus came:

Galatians 3:24–26 CSB

24 The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25 But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

The rules weren’t the hope then, and they aren’t the hope now. If we’re thinking that if we keep the rules then that will save us, then our hope is empty. The Law isn’t ultimately going to save anyone, because our ability to keep the rules isn’t worthy of our hope.

We can’t be saved because we keep all the rules, because we can’t do it. We can only be saved because Jesus kept all the rules. He fulfilled the Law completely, so that if we trust in His work and not our own for salvation, then we can be saved. He did the work. All we can do is surrender to Him in faith because He is the Lord.

2: The earthly kings didn’t bring hope.

The second human king of Israel was David. The people had rejected God as king, and had asked for a king “like all the other nations have.” God granted that request and gave them a self-centered, paranoid, egomaniac king named Saul. Once Saul died, God raised up David as king. David was used by God to deliver Israel from all of the enemies around them, and his son Solomon received a united kingdom in peace, and well on its way to its greatest moment of glory: the dedication of the temple of the Lord. God had promised David that there would always be a king from David’s line on the throne of Israel. This is called the Davidic Covenant. We can summarize the Davidic Covenant with 2 Samuel 7:16. Speaking to David through the prophet Nathan, God said:

2 Samuel 7:16 CSB

16 Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’ ”

At the point of Jesus’ ministry on earth, it had been over a thousand years since that promise had been made. They had had many kings, and very few even came close to the model of King David. The people were putting their hope in that covenant still, waiting for its fulfillment for centuries. And when Jesus showed up, for just a minute, they thought that things were going to change. They thought that their idea of hope had arrived. This is why they celebrated as Jesus came into Jerusalem on that first “Palm Sunday.”

Mark 11:1–10 CSB

The expectation of the people was that Messiah was going to come into Jerusalem and clean house. This is what they were cheering when they shouted “Hosanna!” They were calling on the heir of David’s throne to “Save!” They thought their biggest problem was the Romans, and that the solution for that problem would be a military and political one: Messiah would show up, kick out the Romans, and set Israel up again as this global power under His righteous rule. In a way, they had it totally right. Jesus is their King. And on that first Palm Sunday, he fulfilled a prophecy evidencing His identity as King:

Zechariah 9:9–10 CSB

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of war will be removed, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

Messiah will most certainly reign throughout the entire earth, according to prophecy. But the Hebrew people missed the bigger picture. Their biggest problem wasn’t the Romans, and it wasn’t an enemy that could be defeated by leading an army against it. Don’t get me wrong: Jesus came as a conquering King, but not to conquer a political or military enemy. He came to rescue us from our bondage to our spiritual enemy: sin. And He didn’t come to rescue us by force: He came to rescue us by dying in our place.

1 John 2:2 CSB

2 He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

Jesus willingly died for us so that we could have our sins wiped clean, so that we could be forgiven and have a restored relationship with God, which is way more important than a military or political victory. He didn’t come to give hope through an earthly government. He came to set up His Kingdom on earth in the hearts of people who follow Him—a spiritual kingdom.

If we look to ours or any government to rescue us, to save us, to provide for all of our needs, we are again placing our hope in something that will not live up to the demand we are placing on it. Our government wasn’t set up to provide for all of our needs. It was set up to protect our liberties and the unalienable rights given to us by God. When we make earthly government our ultimate provider of hope, we are going to be let down… even if our party or our candidate is in office. This is because the government is still made up of people just like us: people who sin, who fail, who get it wrong sometimes.

No, there’s only One who brings ultimate hope:

3: Only Jesus brings ultimate hope.

We have seen that we cannot put our ultimate trust in ourselves and our ability to keep the rules, as the Hebrews did with the Mosiac Covenant. We cannot put our ultimate trust in the governments of the earth, as the Hebrew people did as they reflected on the political aspect of the Davidic Covenant. No, we can only put our ultimate trust in Jesus, and the New Covenant that He inaugurated with His death, burial, and resurrection.

We are going to take the Lord’s Supper together in a few moments. This is the picture that Jesus gave us of the New Covenant, as found in Mark 14:

Mark 14:22–26 CSB

22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

We’ve already seen that Jesus fulfilled the Law, keeping the rules perfectly because we can’t. We’ve also already seen that Jesus came to rescue us from the penalty that we all owe because of our sin. And here at the Lord’s Supper, Jesus was taking these physical things: bread and wine, and using them to illustrate and commemorate the New Covenant. The next day, Jesus would give His body, shedding His blood while dying on a cross, taking the wrath of holy God against our sins on Himself. He died in our place, so that if we will surrender to His work in our place, we can be forgiven. And then, Jesus beat death and rose again, and He lives forever. If we have surrendered to the provision of His death, then we also will receive the provision of His eternal life by faith.

This is the New Covenant—a covenant that is full of hope, because in this covenant, God Himself pays the penalty that He requires for our sins, and because of that, promises salvation to those who are surrendered to Him:

Hebrews 9:15 CSB

15 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 9:27–28 CSB

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Jesus will return and set the world right as that conquering King, and when He does, He will deliver those who belong to Him from all the pain, toil, heartache, and struggle of this broken and dying world. He is our hope. He is our only true eternal hope. He is our only ultimate hope. Nothing and no one else can provide that ultimate, eternal, hope.

Closing

Baptism and Lord’s Supper on the same day… awesome. In baptism, we see the picture of the work of Jesus in saving us, and in the Supper, we remember how that work was applied to us collectively and individually. It’s seeing what the Gospel of hope can do, and then celebrating it together as the family of God. If you are a believer, you are welcome and invited to take the Supper.

You have heard the Gospel this morning, and I ask you in this moment to consider your relationship to God. Have you believed the Gospel? Have you understood that Jesus died to take the wrath of God against your sin and mine, so that we could be forgiven? Have you understood that He defeated death and rose again, so that we can have eternal life in Him? Have you trusted your forever to His grace and mercy, knowing that you cannot save yourself, and surrendering your life to His lordship, realizing that He is your only hope? If you cannot answer yes to these questions, then this morning, right now even, I call on you to believe the Gospel, surrender your life to Jesus, and be made new, saved by the grace of God.

And if that is you, then I would love to know that and be able to connect with you to help you as you start this new faith journey. Please reach out to me after service or by email at bill@ehbc.org so we can connect with one another. Also, if this morning you have believed the Gospel and trusted in Jesus to save you, you are welcome to take the Supper with us this morning as your first public act of worship to your Lord. If you still do not believe the Gospel, if you are not saved through faith in Jesus Christ, then I will ask you not to take the Supper with us this morning.

We don’t exclude because we hate those who don’t believe. We exclude because we love those who don’t believe. We believe that the Supper is a testimony of one’s faith and trust in what Jesus has done by His sacrifice and His resurrection. If you don’t believe, you don’t have that faith. For you to take the Supper would be a lie, and thus a sin.

If you are already a follower of Jesus, even if you are not a member of Eastern Hills, you are invited to take part in the Supper this morning. You are a visiting family member. The table is a family table, and you are family, so the Supper is for you as well.

Let each of us who are going to participate in the Supper to take out our elements, and let us take a moment in silence to pray, asking the Lord to consider our hearts and our relationship with God through faith in Christ as we prepare to take the Supper together.

As we take this time of reflection, let us consider Paul’s words to the church at Corinth:

1 Corinthians 11:28 CSB

28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

Amen. Take a moment to ask the Lord reveal to you anything in your heart that would prevent you from taking the Supper in a worthy manner this morning, and confess those sins to Him now.

A FEW MOMENTS OF SILENCE

Pull the top clear plastic off of the wafer on top.

Mark 14:22 says: “As they were eating, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.”

Let’s ask the Lord’s blessing on the bread.

PRAY

Mark 14:22 ends with Jesus saying, “Take it; this is my body.” (EAT)

Pull the second top off of the cup.

Again in our passage from Mark 14, verse 23 says, “Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.”

Let us give thanks for the cup as well.

PRAY

Verse 24 says that Jesus said to His disciples: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (DRINK)

Thank you for your reverent participation in the Lord’s Supper this morning.

I want to close this morning by inviting those who believe that God has brought you to Eastern Hills for your church home to let me know about that. You can stay in your seats as we dismiss today, and I will come find you after most have left. I’d like to set an appointment with you so that we can sit down, get to know one another, go over the church’s Statement of Faith, and answer any questions you might still have. You can also email me if you’d rather not hang around or if you’re online this morning. bill@ehbc.org

As Donna comes for our closing time of reflection, use this time to worship the Lord for His grace in providing our ultimate hope: Jesus. You can also use this time to give online as an act of worship as the Lord leads.

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

Business meeting lack of quorum last Sunday night. Moving business meeting to Sunday night, April 11, at 5:30 pm.

Bible reading: New calendar posted for April. Reading Proverbs 17 today, still going through Proverbs one chapter at a time, finishing on April 11. Then we will start reading the book of Acts.

Instructions

Benediction:

1 Corinthians 11:26 CSB

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.