As I come to us tonight to share a word about the Savior of the world, the disciples of Jesus did not want to believe that Jesus was in the last days of His earthly life. The highway led straight toward the goal which was Jerusalem. His earthly pilgrimage was drawing to a close. There seems to have been a new, obvious resolution, firmness, and purpose about Him. Those who followed Him sensed it and were awed by it. “And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem … and He took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto Him (10:32).

This was the third announcement of His sufferings. “Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the Chief Priests, and unto the Scribes; and they shall condemn Him unto death,
and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles: And they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon
Him and shall kill Him: and the third day He shall rise again. (Mark 10:33-34)

At Jerusalem men would do their worst. The disciples could not take it in. They did not want to hear anything about dying. They wanted seats and power. James and John, sons of Zebedee, wanted to sit, one on the right side and the other on the left side of Jesus in the kingdom. (Mark 10:37) But Jesus said unto them, “Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (10:38) The cup! Oh, that cup! Gazing into it in Gethsemane would bring the blood sweat to His brow. No one but He on earth and His Father in heaven and the Holy Spirit in His heart, could know the full horror
of that cup. And that baptism! He had begun His public ministry by being plunged beneath the chilly waters of the Jordan. Ahead lay a deeper, darker Jordan, the dark river of death. The cup spoke of His inward sufferings; the baptism spoke of His outward sufferings. They said, Lord we can. Jesus saw their future. The both of them were killed. Jesus said to James and John: you want power and positions. I did not come to give out seats, I came to save the lost; but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give.

When the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John (Mark 10:41). Peter was indignant. Judas was angry. Thomas and Matthew were put out. Jesus had to straighten them out. You all are power drunk and position crazy, but I came to die for Adam’s ruin race. I came to give my life a ransom for many. (10:45)
In the first part of Mark’s gospel, we see the Lord Jesus giving His life in service. He came not to be served but to serve. In the second part of the gospel, we see Him giving His life in sacrifice. And what a life it was! It
was a supernatural life. One glance from Him, and water blushed into wine. One word from Him, and the
fiercest demons fled. One touch from Him, and a little lad’s lunch becomes a banquet for more than five thousand.

It was a sinless life. Not once – in thought, word, deed; or hidden, secret desire; whether as a babe or as a boy,
as a teen or a grown man, whether in the home or in the schoolroom, at the workbench or when tramping the highways and byways of His native land – did He ever sin. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. It was a sufficient life. The life that Jesus laid down on Calvary’s cross was no ordinary life; it was an eternal life, an infinite life.

Therefore, it could atone for any number of finite lives. He is a propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2) O thank God for Jesus! He is worthy to be praised! You
can’t praise Him ‘til you accept what He has done on Calvary for you. He died for you, rose for you, He’s your
lawyer in glory if you accept Him in your heart tonight. Paul’s magnificent Christological passage in which he explained that even though Christ Jesus was equal with God, He humbled Himself by becoming a man, by becoming a servant (Doulos, “a slave”) and by becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Because He humbled Himself, He is now exalted and has a name above all other names. One day every knee will bow before that name and every tongue will confess Him to be Lord (Philippians 2:5-11).

As I close tonight, do we want to be ministered to or do we want to minister? Jesus came to give His life in service every moment of every day for over thirty three years. He came to give His life in sacrifice on a cross of shame. O praise His Holy name. You should trust Him tonight. It’s not secular power our world needs; it’s spiritual power! The Lord is being patient with us, but His patience will run out.

Pastor, Rev. Dr. Cullian W. Hill

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