Two Stones

Have your Bibles with you today.

Turn with me if you would to the 14th chapter of Mark, and we're going to start with verses 53 through 56. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray for our sick and our hurting this morning. Jeremy Carriker, Jim Belk, an answered prayer who is with us today, continue to be with him and help him to heal completely.

Elsie Camaro, Lance Walker, Georgia Allen, Nicole Lowes. Father, I pray for Nancy Lindley's family as they grieve her passing. We praise you that she is with you today and will be with you forever. You also pray for healing for Murray Rice, who's also here today, and I praise you for that. Pray for Judy Andrews' dad, who's got double pneumonia and very sick. Pray for the Bailey's, Lord, with a sick mom in Florida that you would help them and encourage them.

I pray for Theresa Naylor's mom, who's suffering right now with Afib. Heavenly Father, we are looking at a passage of scripture today that teaches us the danger of self-dependence. We have a comparison of two men, one the Lord Jesus Christ and the other Simon Peter. Jesus was the solid rock, the chief cornerstone, the stone that the builders rejected. His character was perfect. His life was sinless. He was 100% pure.

He was, is, and always will be our solid foundation. The other man was Peter. Jesus gave him that name. It means rock. His birth name was Simon, and that means shifting sands. But Jesus called him the rock.

But today we see a crack in that rock. Peter was a godly man, but far from perfect, and self-dependence almost destroyed him. Lord, use these scriptures today to drive self-dependence out of our heart. Help us to remember that without Jesus, we can do nothing. Keep my lips from error, for it is in the precious, holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints of the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God is the living word.

Now what do I mean by that? I mean that God gave us his word, and he breathes life into that word. 2 Timothy 3 16 says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and instruction in righteousness. The word of God convicts me when I sin. The word of God comforts me when I hurt. The word of God corrects me when there's misunderstanding, and the word of God challenges me to follow Jesus.

Let me tell you what the word primarily does. It opens my eyes that I might see who God really is, that I might see his grandeur and his goodness and his greatness and his glory, that I might see that he is eternal, that he had no beginning and he had no end. He's been here forever and will be here forever, that he is omniscient, that he knows all things, that he's omnipresent, that he's everywhere at the same time, that he is omnipotent, that he is all-powerful, that no one can stay his mighty hand.

And in his love for us, he gave us his word, and it is a living word. You know, I can read a regular book written by a human being. I can read that book, and I might really like it, but when I get finished, I put it up on the shelf. I might come back to it for reference one day, but I don't read it every day.

I don't have a desire to. The word of God is different. I've got to have the word of God every day.

I need it. It's like food for my hungry belly or it's like water for my dry tongue. Most of you in this room right now hunger for the word of God. You don't want to live without it because it is the living God-breathed word. Reading through some commentaries this week and over the last few weeks on this particular passage in 14th chapter of Mark, I saw Kent Hughes had some, I thought, very interesting insight. He said that what we have here, and he believes that it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, to show us the contrast between two rocks. First, the spiritual solid rock, Jesus Christ, and second, the cracked and crushed rock, Simon Peter. Mark wrote the gospel to the Romans, and the Romans were Gentiles.

And they, unlike the Jews, did not have the wisdom and the theology of the Old Testament. And so Mark's intention in writing this was not to castigate Peter and to show us what a horrible failure that Peter was. But it was to help us that we might not put our faith in a pastor, preacher, or a Christian leader. Folks, the Holy Spirit of God knew the danger of the personality cult.

We see it today. A vibrant, energetic pastor comes along. He preaches something that tickles the ears or appeals to the flesh, and he gets a huge following. We've seen it with the prosperity gospel. Wealth is promised, and people get excited about that. And they hear some dynamic preacher that comes along telling them that they can get rich if they just listen to him and follow his teaching, and they are very easily led astray.

How many times I've seen this happen, where a dynamic preacher with very much charisma gets up and begins to preach that prosperity gospel, and then that preacher stumbles and falls, and all of his followers are terribly devastated. I was behind the Iron Curtain on a mission trip to Romania back in May of 1987. That was before almost anybody had cell phones, and it's when the internet had not really got going strong yet.

And so if you were behind the Iron Curtain in Romania, it was very, very difficult to get news from the United States. And it just so happened that we came on the week where Black Monday hit. I don't know if you remember that or not, but stocks plummeted, interest rates were going crazy. One of the guys that we had on our team was a stockbroker, and his clients were going crazy. What are we going to do with our stocks?

We're losing all of our money. Finally, the company got in touch with him and said, why didn't you do something? Why haven't you called back?

Why haven't you contacted your clients? And he said, man, we're in Romania. We're back behind the Iron Curtain.

We hadn't heard anything about this economic downturn. We don't even know what you're talking about here. And so he had to get in touch with all of them. But it was very interesting that very same week, about two days later, the Jimmy Swaggart scandal broke out. And I had a pastor from Romania come up to me and said, do you hear what Jimmy Swaggart did? He said he got into some horrible immorality.

And I thought, wow, here we are behind the Iron Curtain in Romania. And we can't get any news about the worst economic downfall probably that has been in the United States since the Great Depression. But what did get through, what did get through, it was gossip about an immoral televangelist. Folks, listen, pray for your pastors. Pray for the evangelists. Pray for the missionaries. Pray for your ruling elders.

Pray for us. But don't ever put any one of us up on a pedestal. The only perfect one is Jesus Christ.

Kit Hughes said this. He said, Mark is not trying to destroy Peter's reputation. He's not telling us that Peter was a phony, hypocritical failure. But he's saying that Peter is just a man. And if we choose to follow any man outside of Jesus Christ, we're going to find ourselves horribly, horribly broken and just messed up. So Mark contrasts the failure of one man, Peter, with the steadfastness of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Got three points that I want to share with you this morning.

Number one is the scene. Look with me at verses 53 through 54. And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and he was warming himself at the fire.

So remember that what has just happened. Judas had walked into the garden and there was Jesus. He walked over to him. He kisses him right on the cheek.

It's a kiss of betrayal. The soldiers start to come over to arrest Jesus. And as they are walking up, Peter jumps up, he pulls his sword out of his sheath and he starts swinging it.

The closest man to him is a guy named Malchus, a servant of the high priest. And he sees that sword come and he ducks and he hits him right on the side of the head and he cuts his ear right off his head. The ear falls down on the ground. And so here's Malchus. He's running around, blood spewing out of his ear.

The pain is absolutely horrendous. His hearing's going and Jesus reaches down to the ground. He picks it up. He places it back on his ear and immediately there's healing. The pain stops.

All the hearing comes back. And I doubt if there was even a scar there. And folks, the high priest here wants Jesus dead. The Sanhedrin want Jesus dead. But I bet you Malchus didn't. I bet you Malchus wanted to worship Jesus more than anything else in the world. And Malchus and everyone there is absolutely shocked. And so as the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, the spirit of fear comes on the disciples.

And they take off and they scatter. That's a fulfillment of a prophecy. Zechariah chapter 13 verse 7.

Where Zechariah says, Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. And that's exactly what happened. But Peter's heart was hurting. And Peter just followed the soldiers that were taking Jesus and pulling him along.

They followed him right all the way to Caiaphas' house. And so Peter's standing there in the courtyard. Now, I want you to think he's over there. He's warming himself by fire.

That has to give enough light that people could recognize him. And Peter is the one who jumped up and cut Malchus' ear off. And so I'm sure the soldiers remember him. This is a pretty brave thing that Peter's doing here. But Peter doesn't run away at this point in time. He's there and everybody else would probably question why he's there. But he loves Jesus.

So I want you to think about that. This trial that was set up for Jesus was absolutely illegal. The Sanhedrin, that's a 70-member Jewish high court, had met there illegally in Caiaphas' house for the purpose of condemning Jesus to death. Folks, they did not care whether this trial was illegal or whether it was legal. They did not care whether Jesus was innocent or whether he was guilty. They didn't care who was right and who was wrong. They didn't even care what God's law said. You see, this was political. And they wanted to keep their positions and they wanted to keep their wealth. Now, they were breaking three laws here.

Let me share with you what those three laws were. Number one, the court was not to make decisions like this. They were not to issue a verdict when it was nighttime.

And this was already after midnight. Number two, these proceedings were to be done in the temple in a trial like this. And they were not in the temple.

They were at the house of Caiaphas. That was illegal. And then number three, a capital offense was never to be issued during Passover and this was Passover.

Like that takes us to point to the solid rock. Look with me at verse 55 through 65. Now, the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him saying, we heard him say, I will destroy the temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?

But he remained silent and he made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power.

Come in with the clouds of heaven. The high priest tore his garments and said, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy?

What is your decision? They all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him saying to him, prophesy. And the guards received him with blows. Early in the ministry of Jesus, three years before this particular time, Jesus had made this statement, destroy this temple in three days.

I will raise it up. Now, Jesus was not talking about Herod's temple. He was talking about his body. He was talking about I'm going to die when you kill me. After three days, the Lord will raise me up. That's what he was talking about. Matthew 27, verse 40, Jesus is hanging on the cross.

He's dying. And the spectators down below go back three years before and they begin to mock what Jesus said. They said, hey, you, destroy the temple now and raise it up in three days.

And they said, save yourself, Jesus. Religious leaders did not care what Jesus was referring to. This statement that Jesus made three years before didn't have anything to do with Herod's temple.

And they said, you know, that took us 46 years to build that. That's not what Jesus was talking about at all. They didn't care about what Jesus was talking about. They wanted to use this to accuse Jesus of getting ready to destroy the temple and that was a capital offense.

So what did they do? They brought in false witnesses to lie about what Jesus said and about the intentions that Jesus had. But the lying witnesses couldn't even get their story straight. They told testimonies that just didn't even mesh and so the religious leaders were getting frustrated.

They couldn't make anything work. They were getting angry that Jesus stands there. He didn't say a word.

I mean, absolutely nothing. He stands there and lets them just make a total mockery of true justice. Embarrassed and infuriated, Caiaphas walks over to him. He says, have you no answer to make? In other words, he said, aren't you going to say anything?

Aren't you going to defend yourself? And Jesus refused to dignify the contradicting witnesses and so all he gives them is silence. Did you realize that that silence was a prophecy of what the Messiah would do? In Isaiah chapter 53 verse 7, the scripture says this. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Caiaphas is at his wits end at this point in time. In verse 61, we are told that Caiaphas asked a question. He said, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed? It's not one question.

Here's two. He said, are you the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, the one that we are looking at, the prophesied one to come, and are you the blessed one which is a reference to God? He was saying, are you the Messiah and are you God? You claim to be the son of God.

Is that what you claim? Jesus did not have to answer here, but this was the chosen time for him to do so. Jesus' answer put Caiaphas and all the Sanhedrin on trial. He essentially told them that the final day of judgment was coming and they were going to stand before him at the great white throne judgment and they were going to have to give an account for their rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus will say to Caiaphas on that day, did I not tell you without hesitation and with perfect clarity that I am the Messiah and I am the son of God? Right there at his own trial, Jesus looked into Caiaphas' eyes.

I think he probably looked at every member in that Sanhedrin. He looked into their eyes and then he made this prophecy. He said, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.

You remember the verse that I used to start this message? It was Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 and that verse says this, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints of the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Jesus Christ gave to Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin not just truth, but riveting, undeniable, deeply convicting truth and how did he give it to them? He gave it to them by the word of God that is quick and powerful and went right to their hearts. Jesus' answer pointed to three verses in the Old Testament. Three verses that prophesied who he would be when he would come and they knew those verses. They knew them well. They had often used those verses when talking about the Messiah and now let's see Jesus is fulfilling those verses.

What were they? Isaiah 52 verse 8, for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Daniel chapter 7 verse 13, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. Jesus was saying you're judging me but the day is coming when I'm going to judge you.

You're going to stand before me and you're going to stand before me and you're going to be judged in ways that you can't even begin to imagine. Listen to what Paul said in Romans chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. And I want you to put the Sanhedrin as the ones who should have been listening to what Paul said.

This is what he said. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your heart and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans chapter 3 verse 19 says now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. Caiaphas did not hate Jesus because of Jesus' sin, because Jesus had no sin. He hated Jesus because of his righteousness, because of his perfection, because of his godliness. Brothers and sisters, Caiaphas and his cohorts did not fully understand what the consequences of their hatred of Christ was going to be. But it's coming for them and it's coming from every person in every culture who mocks the love that Jesus shared for us on the cross of Calvary and who embrace the lies of Satan. Look at Caiaphas' contrived expression of horror and indignation.

It is so phony. He jumps up and he acts like he's mad about this, that he is so self-righteous that this is a terrible thing. It's got to be dealt with.

And he even rips his garments to make a show of it. And he says, you've heard the blasphemy. What's your decision, Sanhedrin? What should we do with Jesus? And they said, this is what we do with Jesus, crucify him.

Take him to the cross. His condemnation deserves crucifixion. And they mocked him and they spit on him.

They laughed at him and they beat him in the face. Peter later said the following about this Jesus. First Peter chapter 2 verse 23. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Was Jesus a solid rock?

Absolutely he was. The rock of our salvation did not crack. 1 Corinthians 10, 4, the apostle Paul said, that rock is Christ.

There's a prophecy of him in Isaiah chapter 28 verse 16. It says, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of sure foundation whoever believes will not be in haste. Then the prophecy in Psalm 118 verse 22, the stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. Kent Hughes said the following, the question for us is this, how did he remain unmoved? How did he do this as a man considering the weakness of human flesh? The answer is Jesus stood rock-like before the Sanhedrin, then Pilate, and then the cross because he did not rely on his flesh, but on God the Father. Thus he became the perfect example for all who seek to live out their faith in a hostile culture. Mark wanted us also to see that while Jesus was suffering abuse for his deliberate messianic claim, Peter was deliberately denying him.

That takes us to point three and that is the cracked rock, verses 66 through 72. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene, Jesus. But he denied it saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to bystanders, this man is one of them.

But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. And he broke down and wept. My contention in sharing this with you today is not to share the failure of Peter and disparage him, just mock him or to pretend that I could have done better.

That's not what I'm trying to say. My contention is this, don't put your faith in anyone but Christ. I love our ruling elders here. I love our deacons here. I love my staff. I love Eugene and Will and Jay. And I trust these men.

These are good and they're godly men. But I know this about them and I know this about myself. We're cracked rocks. When the pressure is on, sometimes we're going to fail. Sometimes our skin is too thin. Sometimes our resolve is too weak. Sometimes our faith is not strong like it should be. And sometimes we crack just like Peter did. Peter had made very bold promises.

He made them to Jesus in front of the disciples. He said, Jesus, I don't know about these guys but I can promise you this. I would never deny you. I'd go to prison first.

I would die for you but I would never deny you. He said, Jesus, you can take those promises and put them in the bank. Well, Jesus is refusing to buckle. Well, Jesus is confessing absolute truth that is going to send him to the cross. Peter is folding like a house of cards.

Peter is right outside the home of Caiaphas. Only thing that's separating him from Jesus right there is a brick wall. And what is Peter doing?

He's doing exactly what he said he would not do. Three times people come to him and accuse him of knowing Jesus. And three times Peter says, no, I don't even know the man. Third time he curses and he swears that he doesn't even know who Jesus is. And after the third time the rooster crowed. The second time and all of a sudden all that garbage hits Peter right square in the face. And then to make it worse, in Luke chapter 22 verse 60 through 62, this is what happened. Luke said, but Peter said, man, I do not know what you're talking about. And immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.

Now, I want you to think about that and think about it deeply. Peter denies that, makes that third denial. He hears the rooster crow for the second time. He's trying to get out of there, he feels so bad. And as he is coming around this corner of the building, Jesus is being led out of the other corner of the building and they come face to face. Jesus' face is beaten and bloody and so swollen you can hardly recognize him. But Jesus looks at Peter, Peter looks at Jesus and then Peter just loses it. I can imagine him trying to get out of there.

Man, he's pushing people out of the way, he's running as fast as he could go, people are getting knocked down, he's getting out of there and his heart is absolutely broken over what he's done. And you know, I know that the rooster crowed the second time, but I got a feeling that rooster didn't quit crowing. I got a feeling as Peter is running out of that courtyard, that the rooster is crowing over and over again and that's all that Peter can hear. Peter, the cracked rock, learned the important lesson of the danger of self-dependence. Paul had to learn the same lesson in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

Paul said that the Lord taught him this truth. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. For the sake of Christ, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Vance Havner said this, the Lord had strength, I had weaknesses, so we joined up and made a team and it was an unbeatable combination.

I love that. Kent Hughes said these words and I'll conclude with this. Two rocks met their challenges as men. One made one stand and the other fall. The answer becomes crystal clear when we see that Peter found it easy to be self-dependent. No disciple speaks as often as Peter.

No disciple was reproved like Peter was and he's the only disciple who thought he could reprove the Lord. He was impulsive. He was numero uno always.

About the only time he was second was when he lost the foot race to the tomb with John. He had the great natural disadvantage of being the kind of person who always did it for himself somehow. He became a follower of Christ.

He naturally carried that style right into his service. He had the strength. He had the will. Whatever the cost, Peter would follow Jesus. Jesus on the other hand knew that even perfect humanity apart from God the Father cannot succeed. Therefore he lived in profound dependence upon the Father and he remained the rock.

That's my message. Not to put down Peter but to use Peter's failure to point us to Christ. The solid rock, the steadfast rock, the one who gets us through life, the one who will save us for all eternity.

Let me ask you something. Have you trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you repented of your sins and bowed your knee and your heart to him? Just coming before him, crying out to him, Lord, I need you. You are the only one that can deal with my sin. You are the only one who can prepare for me that way to heaven. You've done that by what you did on the cross and through the power of your resurrection and now I bow my heart before you. If you haven't done that today, I would encourage you to do that with all my heart. I would encourage you to do that for you will never know peace. You will never know joy.

You will live with nothing but anxiety for the rest of your life until that takes place. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as I preach this sermon today, I was forced to look at my own heart. I was forced to admit that I am too much like self-dependent Peter. I'm not near enough like perfectly faithful and perfectly dependent Jesus. May this not just be a story to ponder but a vision to pursue. Lord, we love you. Help us to love you more. For it's in Jesus' precious and holy name that we pray. Amen.