The Prophecy of Failure

Peter thought he was strong. He even thought he was a match for his enemies and he would rise above their threads. Peter even thought he was a...he was a match for Satan, more than a match. That's pretty treacherous ground, proud. He sought prominence.

He put himself in a very vulnerable place on very dangerous ground. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today John's going to continue his brand new series called The Divine Drama of Redemption. It's a fresh and fast-paced survey of the crucifixion and resurrection, and we'll get to today's lesson in just a few minutes. But first, John, at Grace Community Church, we have an elders' meeting once a month, and my favorite part of those elders' meetings is your report, because you always give a summary of what you're learning from Scripture and what you've been reading lately, and I love to hear you talk about those things. So let's pretend this is part of your report at an elders' meeting, and tell us what you've been reading and what you've been learning from God's Word.

I've been reading a book that is a little bit obscure and pretty expensive. It's Knox on Rebellion. It's John Knox's sermons and the history around his rebellion against the government of England. He was the great reformer. In fact, you could argue, I think Lloyd-Jones would argue, that Knox was the first Puritan, that he really started the Puritan movement.

And of course, he was pastoring an English church in Geneva during the era of Calvin and the development of the reform movement. So when he goes back to England, he is caught in the fact that he is illegal. He is doing things that the government says don't do. And you know, we all know the story of his run-ins with the queen and the things he said about her, and she even said she feared him more than she feared anything.

And rightfully so. Yeah, because his words were so powerful. So the question comes up in this COVID world that we're still in, and this whole thing. What's our response to be to government? So I've been reading John Knox because he had so many definitive things to say about the fact that we must remain faithful to the Lord, and when government oversteps its bounds, we have to do what God tells us to do. It's Acts 5. You judge whether you obey God or men, and we've tried to follow that.

So Knox has been kind of a model for me as we've resisted the threats of government for the last, well, virtually a year. The second book that has had an impact on me is an Oxford University book, which is a study of Calvin in Geneva and his core or company of pastors. They were absolutely, totally convinced that the only righteous way to preach the Word of God was expositions through books, sequential exposition of the books of the Bible. They actually did this every day of the week. It was either in St. Paul's Cathedral, or it was in the Laudatoire, the little auditorium next door, every day. They were hour after hour expositing, expositing, expositing the Word of God, so people were coming. The second thing that struck me, and I'll be quick about this, is how utterly committed they were to discipline in the church. There were some harsh times, but there was also mercy mixed in. So those were the things that gave birth to the Reformation faith, which was the saving of the gospel, which we now preach. So those two have had an influence on me recently. Thanks, Jon.

That was helpful for me, and I'm sure it was helpful to many of our listeners. And now, friend, let's get back to Jon's brand-new series that's preparing you for a worshipful resurrection Sunday. Jon calls this the divine drama of redemption.

Here's the lesson. Now we come to Mark chapter 14, verses 27 to 31. We left off in verse 26 as Thursday evening's Passover event ended, an event that began at about sundown and didn't end until after midnight. Six hours or so our Lord spent eating the last Passover and introducing the first communion. In and around that, all kinds of important events took place and our Lord did extensive teaching to His Apostles, giving them promises, all laid out for us in the wonderful chapters in Jon's gospel, starting with chapter 13 and running through chapter 16, closed out the evening with a great high priestly prayer recorded in chapter 17.

When the evening was finally done, they sung a hymn, Psalm 136, and they left. We pick up the story at that very moment in verse 27. And Jesus said to them, you will all fall away because it is written, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.

But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. But Peter said to Him, even though all may fall away, yet I will not. And Jesus said to him, truly I say to you that this very night before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.

But Peter kept saying insistently, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And they were all saying the same thing also. This is an insight into the weakness of the followers of Jesus. You do remember that our Lord said, as recorded in Mark 8.38, that whoever was ashamed of Him, He would be ashamed of them. Certainly Judas falls into the category of those who were permanently and terminally ashamed of Him.

But what about the other eleven? How much different than Judas were they? They didn't betray the Lord, they wouldn't sell the Lord, they wouldn't have turned the Lord over, but they certainly appear to be ashamed to be identified with Him. And before the story ends, of course, no one is more on display as one who was ashamed to be identified with Christ than Peter. The shame of Judas was the shame of unbelief. The shame of the eleven was the shame of weakness.

The shame of Judas was irretrievable, without remedy. The shame of the disciples was temporary and could be turned to faith. So what we learn here is not about the shame of Judas, not about a permanent damning shame, but about a temporary shame from which the followers of Jesus can and do recover. It's experience that we all have had because there have been times when each of us has been ashamed to identify with Christ because we thought we'd be rejected, because we thought we'd see hostility, because we thought it might bring about negative consequences. So it will be helpful for us to understand how these men went through that experience of shame and came out bold in the end.

And that's exactly what they did. However, this text doesn't say anything really specifically about our Lord, it really is about them, that they will be scattered, that they will be recovered, and then the claims of Peter. But what shines through this is the majesty and the magnificence and the glory of the Son of God. I'm looking back at verses 27 to 31 and saying, where is it?

That's why I'm here. I want to help you to see what you might otherwise not see. You have here clearly an example of human weakness by believers in Christ. You have here in a sense the low for His Apostles. But against that background, what really comes through here is the shining majesty of Jesus Christ.

Now remember, the Passover meal on Thursday night after sunset being eaten ended with the final Hallel section, then the fourth cup, and then Psalm 136 where every verse ends with, for His loving kindness endures forever, and then they left, an evening that was full of promise and hope. So as the Twelve leave the throbbing city to find quiet in a very familiar place, they're about to have a confrontation with the Lord in which they affirm their trust and strength and courage and He tells them the truth about what they will do. In this confrontation and exposure of their weakness, you see the majesty of Christ.

There's no point in looking at their weakness. We see that and that we can identify with. But what the Holy Spirit has placed in this text that is not necessarily on the surface is what I'm going to show you as we look at our Lord. First of all, we're going to see His knowledge...His knowledge. We would conclude that they are ignorant, they don't know the future, they don't know what's coming, even what He told them about, they're not sure about, they're not sure they can embrace it. In the midst of their ignorance, they are full of fear and doubt that will become panic, anger, cause them to flee and even deny Christ repeatedly, as in the case of Peter.

That's against the backdrop of their ignorance, fear rising out of their ignorance. In contrast to that is the knowledge of Christ, wonderful, wondrous, supernatural knowledge. Let's look at verse 27. Jesus said to them, you will all fall away...wow...you will all fall away.

The Greek verb is skandalizo, you will be scandalized, you will be offended, you will defect. That dear friends is indicative of His supernatural knowledge. He knew they would do that. It was all known to Him because, please notice, it was written...it was written. He knew it and it had been written down in Scripture and even quotes the Scripture in verse 27, the Scripture from Zechariah 13, 7, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered.

It is written as a common Old Testament formula. Jesus said, I know what's going to happen because I know everything, even what hasn't happened, and I know what Scripture says. So He knew...He knew the events of the future and He knew the meaning of the past. He knew what was coming because He knew everything and He knew how to interpret Zechariah 13, 7, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. He knew. He also knew His own future, that He would be struck down and that that would cause them to be filled with fear and terror and scatter.

The point here is simply this, Jesus knew the future. He knew what was coming. He knew what was going to happen to the disciples.

He knew what was going to happen to the nation. He knew the persecution was going to follow against them and against believers even beyond them. This was all pre-written in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He knew all that was going on with Judas, all that was going on with the Jews, how it would all come into focus in a few hours and what would happen.

This is no mere man, this is the Messiah, the Son of God. The best, the most devout, the truest of the true in Israel were the eleven Apostles. They were true believers in Christ. They had confessed Him as Lord and God and Messiah. They had been given salvation. They were the devout.

They were the best. But the truth about them was really sad. Why would the Lord assume that that would happen to them? Because He knew and because it was written. This is so important, I think, for them to learn a lesson that no one can know the future but God and no one can predict what is coming but God and He did.

If we knew everything that was going to happen to us in the future, we would be traumatized into a paralysis. Our Lord knew every detail, every move that would come upon Him and His followers. The disciples thought they knew themselves, they didn't...they didn't. So we see, first of all, His knowledge coming through in this incident.

Secondly, we see His courage...His courage. He says, go back to the text, you will all fall away...you will all fall away. That's a prophecy. You will all be caught in a trap, that's what that word means. The fear of man brings a snare, Proverbs 29 25 says, you're all going to be trapped by your fear.

You're going to end up being disloyal, you're going to be lured into the sin of unfaithfulness by the fear of persecution. You're going to leave me, just like Zachariah said, you're going to scatter. And that's exactly what happened when the pressure was on and Christ was taken captive to be killed, the inseparable eleven separated. It blew that little group that had been together for three years apart.

You will all fall away because of Me...because of Me. Our Lord meant that being identified with Him would be threatening to their lives. It would become dangerous to be associated with Christ.

That's how they perceived it. They were set to kill Christ and they did it and the disciples could only interpret the fact that their close connection with Christ could mean they were next. And they were not willing to pay that price of being associated with Jesus. They were not ready to give their lives.

Matthew 26, 56 says, all this took place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets. Then all the disciples left Him and fled. They ran for their lives. They couldn't face the danger. What shallow love they returned for His perfect love.

That is so cowardly...so cowardly. In contrast to that, what do you see? The amazing courage of Christ. And this again is why I say this passage puts Him on display without even saying it. He has courage beyond any mortal to bear the hatred, to bear the pain, to bear the indignity, to bear the betrayal, to receive the betrayer's kiss, to face death, death on a cross, to bear sin willingly for the sake of men who forsook Him in His darkest hour.

Men who not only scattered at the cross, but slept in the hour of His agony in the Garden. His knowledge is perfect and it's set against the background of their ignorance. His courage is magnificent and it's set against the background of their cowardice.

He stands apart from the ignorant cowards who were the best of men, but no match for His character. He is majestic in contrast and His defective disciples cannot diminish the majesty and dignity that we see in His person. So we see the ignorance, they don't know what's coming and the cowardice, they fear for their lives of the disciples against the beautiful backdrop of the magnificent knowledge of Christ, supernatural omniscience and His wondrous courage as He steps into the vortex of this hurricane of divine wrath about to break on His head and take His precious life and in it all He'll be absolutely deserted by those who should have stood by Him. We also see here His power, verse 28, but after I've been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.

Our Lord sees beyond the cross to...what?...to the resurrection, after I have been raised. That's another indication of His omniscience. He knows He will die.

He knows they will scatter. But He also knows that He will be raised from the dead. He has said it again and again. He will die and rise again. It is recorded that He has said that specifically three times already in the gospel of Mark. He believed what Abraham believed, Hebrews 11 verses 17 to 19, that if God took the life of Isaac, He would raise him from the dead. Well Jesus not only believed in His resurrection, He knew it would happen because He knew everything. He knew He had power over death.

He had displayed that power in raising others from the dead, most recently actually raising Lazarus from the dead. The disciples feared death, that's why they ran. They feared death, that's why they scattered. They feared death, that's why they disappeared into the darkness and into the crowd as it were filling up Jerusalem. All of this because they feared death. Our Lord had no fear of death.

He looked death in the face. It wasn't death that He feared. The horror that came upon Him in the Garden wasn't death, although He had never died, of course, and it was only a physical death, but He feared the horrors in a normal way of the wrath of God and He feared being the sin-bearer cause He had never been touched by iniquity.

That's why He cried out necessarily, let this cup pass from Me. He had no fear of death itself because He knew He, as Revelation 1 puts it, had the keys of death and hell. Scripture makes a strong emphasis about His resurrection power. The beginning of His ministry in John 2 verses 19 to 21, He said, destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up. In John 5 He said that God had given Him the power delegated to Him all authority and all power for the resurrection and He would raise people, some unto life and some unto damnation. In John 6 He says, all that the Father gives to Me will come to Me and I will lose none of them but raise them up. He said that because I live, you will live also. He said, I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in Me will never die.

Over and over again He repeatedly expressed His power of resurrection. So we see here His knowledge as against their ignorance, His courage against their cowardice, His power against their weakness. There's something else, I guess, to say here about the contrast and let's just call it His humility. And in a sense, it's contrasted against their pride. Verse 29, Peter said to Him, here's the proud confidence of Peter who speaks and they all agree, as it says at the end of verse 31, even though all may fall away, yet I will not. This is the proud confidence of Peter.

This is really very, very persistent pride. Why? Because if you go back to the Upper Room, let's go back a little while, maybe a few hours earlier in the evening and Jesus is sitting at the table in the Upper Room having the Passover and Simon Peter in John 13, 36 said to Him, Lord, where are You going? And Jesus answered, Where I go, You cannot follow Me now but You will follow later.

And He's referring to going back to heaven and that's in the future for you. Peter said to Him, this is in the Upper Room, hours earlier, Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down My life for You.

Wow! And Jesus said, Will You lay down Your life for Me? Truly, truly I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.

He said that to Peter hours earlier, sitting at the table in the Upper Room. Now here we are in the Mount of Olives and Peter is still making the same insistent claim, even though all may fall away, yet I will not. In other words, Lord, You're wrong. I will never do that.

Everybody else might, I will not. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, this very night before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times. And Jesus gives him the same warning the second time. Well, Peter didn't buy that.

Verse 31, he kept saying, Insistently, vehemently is another way to translate that. He is stubbornly rejecting our Lord's knowledge of His own weakness. Peter really reveals his pride here. Peter thought he was strong. He even thought he was a match for his enemies and he would rise above their threads. Peter even thought he was a...he was a match for Satan, more than a match.

That's pretty treacherous ground. He was nearer to Judas in serious danger, proud. He sought prominence, willing to stand alone.

He put himself in a very vulnerable place on very dangerous ground. They all had the same illusion. Peter says, Even if I have to die with you, I'll not deny you, and they were all saying the same thing. They are proud to a very, very ugly degree, so proud they contradict the Lord, so proud they overestimate their own spiritual strength. So proud they are unprepared for what is to come. And against that ugly pride is this amazing humility of Christ who humbly faces the cross, forsaken by them, hated by His own nation, rejected. He is magnificent in humility against the contrast of the ugly boastful pride of the Apostles. So I say, in this experience here, while we see the ugly side of it, we see the ignorance and the pride of the Apostles, we also see the majesty of Christ in wonderful and beautiful contrast. And Christians are confronted with Christ as so objectionable and so hated that if they do not deny Him, they will lose their lives. The history is that believers will lose their lives rather than deny Christ.

They will be truthful. How are we empowered to such strength? How are we empowered to such resolve, such courage?

It is by the power of the Holy Spirit. You're listening to Grace to You with John MacArthur. He's been our featured Bible teacher for over 52 years now.

He's also Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, and John has titled his brand new Easter series, The Divine Drama of Redemption. Now friend, if you're benefiting from John's current study, or perhaps you're thankful for all the free Bible study resources at our website, would you do us a big favor and let us know? That's a greater help than you probably realize, so drop us a note today. Our mailing address here, Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or you can email us at letters at gty.org.

Once more, that's letters at gty.org. And thank you for letting us know how God is using Grace to You in your life, and especially let us know that you're praying for us. Also a quick reminder that Grace to You is listener supported. Today may not be your first day listening to this broadcast, but others, maybe new believers or people who are just now finding this station, are tuning in, listening, and learning. And radio offers us a wide and changing audience, and we're able to reach those people because of the support of listeners like you. So to partner with us in taking biblical truth to believers in your community and beyond, express your support when you write to us at Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or call 800-55-GRACE, or go to gty.org. That's our website one more time, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Join us tomorrow when John shows you how Jesus fought temptation, and how you can follow his example. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.