Sunday September 18, 2016 “Peter’s Passion Proves Unprofitable” Mark 14: 26-42

Sunday September 18, 2016 “Peter’s Passion Proves Unprofitable”

• Peter Passionately Proclaims Loyalty (Mk 14: 26-42)
• Jesus Is Pressed & Prays in Gethsemane (Mk 14: 32-31)

1. Jesus is such a long time in Garden, because the PARC’s agreement with Judas is to capture Christ after the Passover, but Jesus compels the action to coincide on the Passover, so the Judas has to run around and convince the PARC it must be done now.
2. The PARC have to send messengers to call in all their favors to get the Roman gov’t to stop its festivities and attend to their neeArrested Under the Cover of Darkness

• Peter’s Passion Didn’t Prevent His Denial (Mk 14: 66-72)

1. A Young Man’s Clothes Are Pulled Off (Mk 14: 51-52)

• Perseverance Picks Us Up & Propels Forward In Christ.

The hallel hymn  Mark 14:26

Mk 14: 26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

This “humnos” or hymns generally speaking ar “song of praises addressed to God”. In Mark 14:26 the “hymn” was part of the Hallel portion of the service for certain Jewish festivals, where Psalms 113 – 118 were sung.  These Psalms 113-118 are known as the Hallel psalms.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary – Praise, the name given to the group of Psalms 113-118, which are preeminently psalms of praise. It is called “The Egyptian Hallel,” because it was chanted in the temple whilst the Passover lambs were being slain. It was chanted also on other festival occasions, as at Pentecost, the feast of Tabernacles, and the feast of Dedication. The Levites, standing before the altar, chanted it verse by verse, the people responding by repeating the verses or by intoned hallelujahs. It was also chanted in private families at the feast of Passover. This was probably the hymn which our Saviour and his disciples sung at the conclusion of the Passover supper kept by them in the upper room at Jerusalem (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26).

There is also another group of Psalms called “The Great Hallel,” consisting of Psalms 118-136, which was recited on the first evening at the Passover supper and on occasions of great joy.

Strike the shepherd & sheep scatter Mark 14: 27 & Zech 13:7

In Mark 14:27  Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7  to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, (Chief point or principal leader) and the sheep (metaphorically, those who follow Christ).  This is before Christ has empowered His followers to be leaders at Pentecost in Acts 2.

Smart organizations work to build deep benches of leaders and people ho can play multiple positions, so if one person is taken out of commission, there are layers of others who can fill those roles. While there is only One God & Christ, many of us can co-align under Him, and be prepared to fulfill leadership role in the organizations He inspires us to found. 

Jesus always spoke of His death within the context of His Resurrection. Thus i Mark 14:28 he says, “But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

In Mark 29-31 which of the disciples pledged to die with Christ?

1. Doubting Thomas
2. James and John, “Sons of Thunder”
3. Peter
4. All the disciples

Mk 14: 31 “And they all said the same” – meaning – They all passionately proclaimed with Peter that they’d die with Christ.

For scripture to be fulfilled only Jesus must die.

 Gethsemane – the garden of the oil press

Gethsemane means: the Oil press – an apparatus for applying pressure to extract juice or oil from seeds or fruits. Imagine the pressure required to squeeze oil from a seed! That is the pressure Christ’s humanity is under, as He anticipates what He must endure.

In Mk 14: 32 – 33 Jesus is under this type of pressure “greatly distressed and troubled and says “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” because …

1. Jesus, is God incarnated in the flesh (John 1: 1-3 & 14), and He feels what all humans feel.
2. He knows the painful price He is about to pay for our sins.
3. As Luke 22:44 says, “being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke was a physician and provides this medical detail that explains th severity of the stress Christ endured. (Mk 12: 30) Agony = severe emotional strain and anguish. Smith’s bible Dictionary says – “His sweat was as it were great drops (lit. clots) of blood falling down to the ground.” Of this malady, known in medical science by the term diapedesis , there have been examples recorded in both ancient and modern times. The cause assigned is generally violent mental emotion.
4. Although this medical condition is relatively rare, according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe (Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland County, New York) it is well-known, and there have been many cases of it. The clinical term is (Hee-Mah-to’ hedrosis”)  “hematohidrosis.” “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.” Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture, allowing blood to pass through the sweat glands which then pushes the blood now mixed with sweat to the surface and out of the body. This process, produced from great stress results in the pouring our of great droplets of blood mixed with sweat. (Read more at: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t018.html)

The cup of God’s will – In Mk 14: 3 36And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  

A cup in this sense is one’s a) lot, condition, b) task, role, responsibilities, c) experience, whether it brings joy or sorrow.  d) All the above.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak  Mark 14:38

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mk 14: 38) means …

1. There are 2 – 3 parts to our beings: 1) physical body/flesh, 2) soul/emotions/flesh and 3) spiritual capacity
2. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So after we are born physically, we must become alive to God through the “born again” experience of John 3:16 (John 3: 3-7 & John 3:16) 3Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again^b he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^c 7Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You^d must be born again.16“For God so loved the world,ⁱ that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
3. Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
4. Gal 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
5. Gal 6:8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
6. Victory in our Christian walk involves being empowered by the God’s Holy Spirit to overcome, the weakness of our flesh, meaning our human, carnal, self-centered nature. .

Peter’s passion proves no match for Christ’s prediction. Mark 14:26-31 & 66-72

Christ did not make Peter and the other disciples fail. God is everywhere, always present, and so knows what the disciples would do under the incredible Satanic pressure that accompanied the sin of the entire world from the beginning to the ending of time placed on Christ on The Cross. 

Contrast Peter’s denial, Mk 14: 66-72 with Christ’s self-denial, which saves Peter, and proves…

• Peter’s and our human passion is not enough to win in spiritual warfare.
• Peter is not the infallible 1st Pope, the “Vicar of Christ!”
• Rom 3:23 is true ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom 3: 21 -26 21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak  Mark 14:38. Christ our Passover triumphs where peter’s passion failed Mark 14:26-31 & 66-72  Peter’s denial brings shame with Christ’s self-denial, brings salvation.  The 4th thing that happens is Peter is redeemed (bought back, purchased, ransomed) by Christ – as are all believers.

During the passover celebration the Israelites ate 1 passover meal, and then ate The Feast of unleavened Bread for 7 more evening meals.  This is a picture of our immediate salvation that starts our life-long process of santification, where the Holy Spirit continually works in us to make us more life Christ. The goal and outcome of this experience is to remove the leaven from our lives.  Salvation is a one time event, when we receive Jesus Christ, fully understanding He is God in the flesh who took on the sins of the world, dying in place of us, as a substitute in place of the death we owe God for our sins. Without Christ we’d pay for these sins in Hell, which Rev   20:14 says, “This lake of fire is the second death.”

1Cor 5: 6- 8 Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Peter’s predicament is resolved in redemption  Mark 14:26-31 & 66-72

The outcome of Peter’s sanctification is that he is credited with the contents of 3 books of The Bible: 1) The Gospel of Mark, to whom Peter narrated his account of Christ’s life. 2) The book of 1 Peter, and 3)  The book of 2nd Peter. 

At the end of Mark 14 we last saw Peter, weeping bitterly over failure.  Peter responded to the Holy Spirit’s call to persevere, and the HS picks us up & propels us forward in Christ. Let’s see how the Holy Spirit renewed Him.  Let’s start with 2 Peter 1: 3-4, and then we’ll read 1 Pet 1: 3-9.

• 2 Pet 1: 3-43His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
• 1 Pet.1: 3-9 ³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

God gave peter & all disciples power to drink from a new cup Mark 14:26-31 & 66-72

God wants to make us all reconcilers “that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”  2 Cor. 5:19

Perseverance Picks Us Up & Propels Forward In Christ.

Are you going to answer your call?

To view the recorded service on YouTube, go to:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGpvV23W6DY