Hating and Loving Christ (Part A)

At the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Tabernacles, they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. How many lessons are in that one verse? Many do show up to the house of God empty-handed, empty-hearted, empty-headed. So something we should be mindful of in our own lives, not critical of others but concentrating on ourselves. As the writer to Ecclesiastes says, you better be careful when you go to the house of the Lord.

It's not a trivial thing with God, it shouldn't be with us. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Gospel of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now let's join Pastor Rick and Mark chapter 14 for a brand new study called Hating and Loving Christ. Mark's Gospel chapter 14 verses 1 through 11. After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the chief priest and the scribe sought how they might take him by trickery and put him to death. But they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar of the people. And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, he sat at the table. A woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head. But there were some who were indignant among themselves and said why was this fragrant oil wasted?

For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor. And they criticized her sharply. But Jesus said let her alone.

Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me. For you have the poor with you always and whenever you wish you may do them good.

But me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.

Assuredly I say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told as a memorial to her. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priest to betray him to them. And when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray him. We are going to now start that walk towards the cross and the empty tomb with this 14th chapter. The men who hated Jesus Christ were publicly daring to defy their corruption and expose them.

Now plot his death. Mark and Matthew tell the same story. Matthew gives us a few more details, but both interject into this story of betrayal, this moment of love being poured out on Christ from one of his followers and yet the betrayal of another follower.

It's a stark contrast. It's fraught with lesson for anyone who would consider that the Bible has put these two together on purpose. Christ is in total control, even though he is in his humanity and he matured into this matured state of his humanity, if you will, as he grew in stature and favor with God and men, the Bible tells us. He is in total control of this crucifixion that is coming. His enemies, they don't realize this. He is in control of my life and as you look at the crucifixion, if you're one of his disciples and you see him murdered and you go through those three days of blackout, you've got to be questioning your faith. Sometimes for us it's more than three days that we're questioning our faith. Where is Christ? Where is the one that loves me? Why are these things happening?

Why am I less the person that I wanted to be? He's still in control, absolute control. Jesus said, the very hairs of your head are numbered. And this is the Christ we are considering this morning. Returning to verse 1, Mark writes, after two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by trickery and put him to death. That two days there, not necessarily a 24-hour period, it gets kind of difficult to track everything with the Jewish, you know, they count the days from sundown to sundown and we count it from midnight to midnight. That's our 24-hour run and theirs is different. And we have to remember that as students of the Bible if we want to get more from what the Scripture is saying, I believe.

But I calculate this to be their Thursday beginning and still our Wednesday. They were at the Passover season. That means there would be quite a few Jews, a million or more men converging on Jerusalem.

This was mandated. God required assembly, he still does. New Testament and Old Testament, and God required men to show up at the house of God. The three holidays that this was demanded was, and we get this from Deuteronomy 16, I'll read it to you, three times a year, your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses. At the festival of unleavened bread, at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles, they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. How many lessons are in that one verse? Many do show up to the house of God empty-handed, empty-hearted, empty-headed. So something we should be mindful of in our own lives, not critical of others, but concentrating on ourselves. As the writer to Ecclesiastes says, you better be careful when you go to the house of the Lord.

It's not a trivial thing with God, it shouldn't be with us. Anyway, the Passover began in the first month of the Jewish calendar on the 14th day, and with the slaying, incidentally, of the Passover lamb. And we're not there yet, we're two days out according to Mark's writing in verse 1 of Mark 14, but it commemorated their being delivered from the messenger of death. The blood was put on the doorposts, and they were passed over. And those that did not have the blood on the doorposts, the angel of death, the messenger of death, did not pass over that house, and the firstborn was slain as judgment upon Egypt. God had warned them, he'd given them a way out, and they did not take it.

And so, God intensified his dealings with Egypt. And for some 1,500 years, the Jews have celebrated their emancipation from Egyptian bondage with the Passover. And when the Jews spoke of the Passover, it included the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so they would just, when they said it's the Feast of Unleavened Bread, they knew that meant the Passover too, because as they were having the Passover meal, the Feast of Unleavened Bread would be starting, because at sundown the day transitioned, and so they were considered together.

The true Passover lamb, however, had been in their midst for over 33 years. Most did not know it. John the Baptist, he called it out early, about three and a half years before this event, John said he was in the world. John the Apostle is writing this, I'll get to John the Baptist saying in a minute. John the Apostle writes, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him, and nothing has changed in 2,000 years. The difference between the church and the world is the world does not know him.

And by world, in the context of the Scripture and how I'm using it, of course we mean those who do not believe who live on the planet. He continues, John does, he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. This, again, is Jesus Christ, the Passover lamb, and the Jewish leaders will have none of it. They want to kill him, but not as the Passover lamb, they just want to silence him. But John the Baptist called it, he said, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know. Quite a powerful pastor he was. The shedding of his blood would open this fountain of cleansing for all humanity, not just the Jew.

This is what's so powerful about just thinking about it this way. He's the Jewish Messiah, but he is the Christ. He now takes on a different language, a Gentile word.

It's gone beyond Israel. They're included, they're very much a part of God's love. So are the Gentiles, lest Satan, as we know he does, comes and drives a wedge of division. But the shedding of his blood opens this fountain, making salvation available. John's Gospel chapter 4, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, said Jesus, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. When you were born again, you who are born again, do you recall the excitement, the water that was welling up, going to spring out of you? And maybe some of you look back and you're not as excited about your faith anymore, because you've taken so many hits that you thought Christ was going to protect you from. Christ says, I'm going to shield you within these problems, but I will not take them all away.

It rains on the just and the unjust alike. Revelation 21, Jesus speaking, and he said to me, It is done, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of water of life freely to him who thirsts.

He is the fountain of life. But the Jewish people as a nation would have to wait until the end of the great tribulation period for the fountain of pardon to open up on them as a nation. Zechariah the prophet wrote, In that day, that is when Christ returns in glory, a fountain shall be opened for the house of David, for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

So go back to my original statement. He is the Passover lamb, and at his death this fountain would be open, and this fountain would be for sin and for cleansing. Dealing with sin and cleansing it, the very thing we need. If we're ever going to get to that banquet in heaven, it is going to be through Jesus Christ. And the feast of unleavened bread, he says here in verse 2.

This was the last meal it commemorated as slaves in Egypt as they ate the Passover lamb. They would have already rid their homes of the leaven, the yeast that goes into the bread, and for seven days this feast would last. If you were making bread and heading out of Egypt packed up with as much as you could carry, having bread that was not bloated with yeast would be easier to carry. You'd stack more of it into your suitcase. The Lord, looking ahead, when he told the Jews to make the Ark of the Covenant, it was wood overlaid with gold, and the Levites would carry it. What if he had said, I want it made out of solid gold? Well, they would not have been able to carry it. Gold is very heavy. I remember years ago working in the airport loading planes, and every Tuesday this armored car would show up and we'd load gold onto this flight to Argentina, and it was just a small box, wide as this pulpit but not as tall, just a few inches tall, and it took two men to struggle to get that into the plane. They tried to take samples home, but they didn't go for that. Anyway, my point is gold is very heavy, and God in his mercy gave them the gold that he would see on the outside, and what a blessing that was. I don't want to go down that rabbit trail.

That would just take us away from this for the moment. But anyway, it says here in verse 2, And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by trickery. These were supposed to be holy men. Why are they up to this deceit? Why are they liars and cheaters? Holiness depends on honesty and integrity and the truth of God.

It cannot function under God and find his favor, and at the same time be dishonest, be deceitful, be false, and be murderous. We cringe when we find our pastors behave this way, and what about when we behave this way? Doesn't honesty mean something? Usually when people lie, it's because they're under some pressure. Maybe their image or maybe they don't want something found out.

It's always wrong. You shall not bear false witness. And I think that any Christian that is comfortable lying is in serious trouble. Their hatred of Jesus began when he defied their unholiness in public, because they were pretending to be holy men with their robes and how they'd walk around, strut around, and criticize everybody else, and be these celebrity characters, and Christ called them out. He exposed their hypocrisy, and they are now going to kill him for it. These same men, when they died, they stood before Jesus forever doomed. As far as we know, none of these characters repented, and the ones that would have repented would have found mercy. Luke chapter 13. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.

Man, that's scary. Depart from me. I never knew you. Or in this case, though, these were not pretending to have known him. Revelation chapter 1, we read, Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him. Now, that is a direct reference to the Jewish people, but it does not leave out these characters to those Jewish hearts among the Jews who approved of Christ's death comes judgment. Thank God there were Jews that did receive Christ. It's not anti-Semitic.

These are the facts. Peter, who was a Jew and loved the Lord and is in heaven, never lost sight of who these guys were. And after Christ ascended to heaven and Peter began to come to the front of Christianity and began to preach with boldness, he let everybody know that they plotted the death of the Holy One of Israel, Acts chapter 2, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and crucified and put to death. Peter is saying the prophecy was fulfilled, but it was your choice to be against God. God was going to fulfill this prophecy.

Here's an interesting thought. Judas was a pawn of Satan and also of God. God in the sense that God is in control. He is sovereign. You are free to be wicked but not, not out of God's control. Acts chapter 3, Peter continues, Would you deny the Holy One and the just and ask for a murderer to be granted to you and kill the prince of life whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses. So there's Peter and he is holding them accountable and many of the priests were converted at his preaching. But he never forgot. We should have some of that.

This should be sermons preached and experiences in Christianity that we never forget, that we use to the glory of God in our lives. It says here in verse 2, and put him to death. These guys played for keeps, did they not? That's what they were going to do. They wanted to put him to death and they did. They wanted it not only to be death but they wanted it to be shameful and painful.

They did not want a quick execution. Verse 2, But they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar of the people. This is very important to the sovereignty of Christ and God who, of course Christ being God the Son. They said not during the feast.

They wanted to wait till the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread was finished because all the men were required to be there and they wanted the multitudes to be diminished before they pulled their act. But he was arrested at the feast in spite of them because they weren't in control. Just like right now, the very hairs of your head numbers because God is in control.

Men were in control of their choices but never in control of the outcome. He overrules their plans, forcing them to conform to his will. He controls every foe and bound them, the whole lot of them, to cooperate with the fulfillment of his purposes, his plan for salvation. He had found those whose hearts were wicked and would not change and so he used them. Same with Judas Iscariot. God did not put a knife to the throat of Judas and say, You will be a betrayer. When Judas was born a baby and his mother looked into his eyes, he did not see a traitor. He was a child like everybody else.

But as he grew, he decided to take that path of greed, that path of self. And God honored him. It's always amazing when you treat adults as some, treat some adults as an adult and they're insulted. I mean, you said X, Y, Z and I honored what you said. Now you're angry with me for honoring what you said.

How does that work? If I said you're lying to me or dishonored you, you'd come at me for that. Well, that's just how it is. All of this could have been avoided in the lives of these men who were cast out at judgment. All they had to do was side with Jesus Christ, the very thing they refused to do.

They would never give him the satisfaction of considering him a legitimate rabbi, let alone Messiah. And so we see him in control, deliberately moving towards the cross, the will of the Father and his will. The plan was set for salvation, not allowing the wicked to choose the hour or the method or the purpose. Later, he will drive Judas out into the night. When Judas goes out into the night, John says, And it was night.

It's an intentional word to us. He will drive Judas out to earn his 30 pieces of silver. At the hour of his choosing. Because again, he's going to send him out during the feast. Not as his instructions were, not, you know, wait till after the feast. Later, he will also keep righteous Peter from interfering too.

And he says, put your sword in its sheath. It's not how we do business here. It says, lest there be an uproar of the people. Part of the problem was the crowds considered Jesus Christ to be not only a miracle working prophet.

Well, that's what they did. They considered him a miracle working prophet. And a prophet means they preached the truth in holiness and righteousness. The people had this mindset from 1 Chronicles chapter 16.

Touch not my anointed ones. Do my prophets no harm. And if they tried to arrest Christ with the multitudes, they feared that the civil disservants would be disastrous for them. And even if the people did not get their hands on the leaders individually, the Roman authorities would. These guys are gangsters. That's how gangsters do business. They find someone getting away with opposing them, diminishing their prophets. They look to execute them, to put a hit out on them. Verse 3, and being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard, pardon me, costly oil of spikenard.

Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head. You know as I read these words, as I'm reading the scripture verses, I want to say this, I want to say that. God's word is so robust, but at the end of it, I hope when it comes my time to die if I die, that I'm still excited about God's word. If someone says, well you've got about 30 minutes to live, well maybe I'm going to study something in maps and see how it relates to the prophets or something.

I want to go out defying death. I want to go out saying I love God's word in season and out of season because it is real, not because it has become a favorite pastime of mine. And I enjoy when I read the scripture and study the scripture, I forget all about the boneheaded things of life to some degree. Except when we talk about the persecution. No, you have to keep it real, that's where I'm going with it. What good is a Bible study if it's not real? If it's just religion?

Or if it's just something that's interesting? Well the story now moves from the haters of Christ to the lover of Jesus. It is the same story as found in John's Gospel chapter 1 with Mary of Bethany. There are some little differences, not contradictions, additions and omissions.

Yes, but not contradictions. You might think so because John says six days before the Passover this happened in Bethany. But Mark just said, well two days before the Passover.

Mark's not even trying to keep the sequence. That was for what the Pharisees were doing and he injects this into the story because it's setting up Judas. He's saying this was the last straw for Judas Iscariot when he finally decided he was going to trade on the Lord to the authorities.

It was because his feelings were hurt he was insulted. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry visit our website crossreferenceradio.com Once you're there you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark right here on Cross Reference Radio.