Sermon Tone Analysis

Bible Reading

Mark 14:

Introduction

In , James says that “the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.”

And ...

If we’re honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge and recognise that we all have at least some tendency within ourselves to make boasts with our own tongues.

It takes little training for us to promote ourselves among others.

If there is one thing that we don’t like to hear is that we are going to fail.

Think of how quickly children start to put themselves up against others, and claim to be superior.

But If there is one thing that we as people don’t like to hear is that we are failures.

At least we don’t like to hear it from others.

We may speak negatively to ourselves, and perhaps put ourselves down.

But lo and behold someone comes to us and points out a weakness in us - we very quickly muster up a strong defense for ourselves, no matter how true the words might be of us.

As we turn to our text, we are going to consider this truth proclaimed by Christ concerning his disciples that they would all desert Him.

As we turn to our text, we are going to consider this prediction by Christ concerning his disciples who will all desert.

And as typical people like you and I, they will vehemently deny this.

But there is encouragement for us from this text.

Because as surely as Christ said that the disciples would desert Him, they did.

And yet, that was not the end of the story.

Today, you and I sit here because of the powerful working of God, beginning in those very disciples as they preached the Gospel following Christ’s resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

I’ve titled my sermon this morning “The Shepherd Knows the Sheep.”

I do trust that we will be encouraged through this text to rest in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

He is our Shepherd, and He knows us as His children.

He doesn’t know us as we would want Him to know us.... the polished version.

He knows us as we truly are - those stained, those struggling with sin, those battling the lusts of the flesh, those struggling to be the husband or the wife that we know we ought to be; those struggling to be the children that we ought to be.

He knows us truly.

And yet He is the One who keeps us and sustains, and the One who will bring us all the way to glory by His grace.

I.1 Context

The disciples and Jesus have just partaken in the Passover meal.

Christ had used that Passover meal in order to establish a new covenant ordinance - that of the Lord’s Supper.

The disciples have eaten this meal with Christ, with Christ explaining the meaning of the bread as well as the cup to them.

But it was also significant that at this meal, Jesus declared to His disciples that there was one sitting among them that would betray Him.

One who was dipping his hand with Jesus into the bowl, one who was exceedingly closely connected with Christ, would betray Jesus.

As Jesus announced this, all of the disciples, one by one, said to Jesus “surely not I”!?

But Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot was one who was set apart by God for this task of betraying Jesus - he was the “son of perdition”!

Having finished their meal together, we read in verse 26:

That hymn that is spoken of there is most likely the final Hallel Psalms () which was customary at the Passover.

And with that, they leave the upper room in Jerusalem, and head out again towards the Mount of Olives.

Remember that this is the very night where Judas will betray Jesus.

Jesus now heads out with the 11 disciples (excluding Judas)

And it would appear that the conversation that follows take place as they’re walking along the way between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.

1. Falling Away

The first thing that we note is Christ’s prediction that all of the disciples will forsake Him.

..

These are stinging words from Christ the Messiah towards His disciples.

They were probably shocking words to them!

Firstly, we must recognise that this prediction or prophecy of Christ concerns every single one of his disciples - in other words all 11 remaining disciples.

There are circumstances which are approaching, says Christ, which will result in each and every disciple with Christ deserting him.

Consider that these disciples had walked with Christ for years now, and had devoted their lives to serving Him and to learning from Him.

Each one of those disciples were convinced in their own minds of their own commitment to the Saviour.

Each one of those disciples were convinced of their own commitment to the Saviour.

But Christ now tells them that each and every one of them, without exception, will fall away.

The same word is used in the parable of the sower of the seeds for the explanation of the seed that fell on the rocky places, where Christ explained...

It could mean “cause to sin” or to “stumble”.

It is not a word that has positive

Mark 4:

In fact, the disciples may even have recalled Christ explaining these very words to them, and that he spoke of those who would fall away.

They no doubt believed themselves to be those who would never fall away!

Certainly, they had forsaken all for the sake of following Jesus, and yet here, He says to them that each and every one of them would fall away.

Now I want to be clear, that the falling away outlined in the parable of the sower is not what Christ was conveying here, since He makes it very clear that they would be brought back to Christ, and He would shepherd them.

So this was not a permanent falling away that He is speaking of here.

But it remains true that the disciples would flee away from the Saviour, leaving Him all alone as He would be arrested.

In the time of persecution that would face them, they would fall away.

1.1.

Based on Prophecy

But what we must note further from Christ’s words is the fact that He bases what he’s saying to His disciples on prophecy.

Christ says that the disciples will fall away, and then He says: “For it is written...”

Christ says that the disciples will fall away, “For it is written...”

In other words, this falling away must happen, this falling away is going to happen, because God has ordained it and stated it unequivocally in Scripture.

When God speaks, we must know that what He has spoken will come to pass.

When God speaks, we must know that nothing will change what He has declared will be!

Isaiah 46:

When Christ says “It is written”, he’s simply explaining to His disciples that what he has said to them is going to take place, will indeed take place, because God has declared it.

Christ then proceeds to explain to His disciples where precisely it was decreed by God that these disciples would fall away.

He refers them to the prophet Zechariah.

Turn in Bibles to Zechariah 13:7

Turn in Bibles to Zechariah 13:7

As you’re turning there...

We must understand that one of the themes that runs in OT prophecy is that of the calling out of the leaders of Israel.

So often prophets were sent by God to the leaders of Israel in order to confront them for failing to lead properly as God had required of them.

Furthermore, the picture of a shepherd was one that was used extensively in speaking of these leaders of Israel.

The Israelites were pastoral people.

What I mean by that is that they were a group of people who had herds and flocks of sheep that they would move from place to place and graze their flocks where food was available.

So this picture of them being sheep with a shepherd was very vivid in their minds.

One of the most well-known Psalms in the whole Bible - - speaks of the LORD being the shepherd.

Very often in the Old Testament, in the prophets specifically, the leaders of Israel are rebuked because they are shepherds that are not leading the people of God (the sheep) in the required manner - in the way of God’s law.

With that in mind, look with me at the words that Jesus quotes in our passage, which are taken from ...

For example, in :

The quotataion of Jesus in our passage is from ...

Zech 13:7-

Clearly, Jesus explains to his disciples that this prophecy was in fact about Him as the shepherd of the sheep - those sheep being those who truly believe in Christ.

But this is a striking quotation from Jesus, as the disciples listen to the words spoken here.

As we consider this quotation of Jesus from Zechariah, it will be helpful for us to consider some previous imagery in the prophecy of Zechariah

Often when a quotation from the OT is shown to have its fulfillment in Christ, one needs to recognise that there is a broader fulfilment than simply those words themselves.

Now we must understand that Zechariah didn’t begin his shepherd “picture” in chapter 13:7.

Zechariah had already explained that many shepherds were sent to the sheep Israel, but they failed to lead them as they ought.

The shepherds themselves were those who were failing in their duty and responsibility to the sheep.

Turn back with me to

In , we get a picture of this failure of the shepherds, who in fact sold these sheep and got reward for it, and then said “praise God”...

Sechar

There was rightful condemnation on the shepherds over Israel, because the shepherds of the sheep did not spare them.

There was rightful condemnation on the shepherds, because the shepherds of the sheep did not spare them.