Christ is every answer

Mark 14: 32–35; And they come to a place of which the name [is] Gethsemane, and he says to his disciples, Sit here while I shall pray. And he takes with him Peter and James and John, and he began to be amazed and oppressed in spirit. And he says to them, My soul is full of grief even unto death; abide here and watch. And, going forward a little, he fell upon the earth; and he prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.

Mark 14: 41 from ‘It is’, 42; It is enough; the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is delivered up into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us go; behold, he that delivers me up has drawn nigh.

Mark 15: 33, 34; And when [the] sixth hour was come, there came darkness over the whole land until [the] ninth hour; and at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, [saying], Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Mark 15: 37; And Jesus, having uttered a loud cry, expired.

Mark 16: 4, 5 to ‘robe’; And when they looked, they see that the stone has been rolled [away], for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right, clothed in a white robe, and they were amazed and alarmed;

I just thought of reading from this gospel since it was brought into the reading. Wonderful matter to be occupied with the sufferings of Jesus. This is at the conclusion of His life, thirty-three plus years of Christ’s life here, compressed period of public service, from the time He was about thirty. Think of the fulness that entered into the life of Jesus. This conclusion is the, really the greatest facts that we could know about, beloved. You sometimes feel at times that you don’t know enough facts, you know, don’t know enough statistics about the world. One finds my, one finds our limitations, finding at times that you don’t know things perhaps that you’re expected to know.

But if you wanted to make a start in your knowledge you could make a start in these chapters, these final chapters of the four gospels, bringing up the conclusion of the life of Jesus here. His suffering in Gethsemane; think of Satan coming against Him, as our brother referred to, the ruler of this world comes, that was in the garden when he came against Him at this point. And think of the pressure that came on Jesus. Think of Him being wholly alone. He was deprived of every resource, you might say, at this point. But the wonder of His glory and His greatness, that He turned, turned away from Satan. Satan, Satan would have at this last hour sought to deflect Christ. Think of Him saying: the ruler of this world comes, the ruler of this world. That’s the one really in whom, whose hands the world is. It says, the whole world lies in the wicked one; that’s Satan. The whole world lies in the wicked one; it lies in wickedness, wickedness.

How could… you couldn’t measure, you couldn’t measure the wickedness that is going on in the world today. This is the Lord’s day. Think of it commencing to the east of us, and then going right round westward, think of the whole day being filled out. You couldn’t measure, couldn’t measure the wickedness. Christ has measured it, He measured it here, measured it really in the garden, measured it here as the whole force of Satan came against Him. And He took, He took the cup from His Father. We didn’t read it, but He says, Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee: take away this cup from Me; but not what I will, but what Thou wilt. Think of the wonder of it, that He went forward, knowing what lay ahead, and knowing what lay ahead in the resurrection.

I thought it was very wonderful here, I just read this reference in Mark, because it says He fell upon the earth; going forward a little, He fell upon the earth. See, the earth was Christ’s, He was the Creator, this was the Creator coming into manhood, glorious Creator. The earth was His, and the fulness thereof. Everything belongs to Christ, everything belongs to Christ. How much we appropriate, you know, at times in our puniness to ourselves, and what man does in his puniness. How quickly God takes it away from them. One loves it when you see how quickly God takes things away from wicked men, wicked, unrighteous men, going on in utter defiance of God, and God comes in so swiftly and takes away what they thought was theirs, He takes it away from them. Think of what He will do finally, beloved.

The point is, you know, to give your heart to Christ, give your life to Jesus, give it to Him now, give it to Him totally, absolutely, unconditionally. It requires surrender, that’s what it requires, surrender. Why you’re having problems is because you will not surrender, you will not surrender. All your troubles could be answered in one single word if you were prepared to surrender to Christ.

Think of Him falling on the earth, think of the humility of Jesus, think of the oppression. And then He goes into the hands of these wicked men. He goes on, and He says, he that delivers Me up has drawn nigh. And then the darkness coming over the whole land these three hours, very wonderful. And these two cries. The first one we get the words, the actual words of Jesus, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? The original words that Christ uttered. My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? The darkness of man’s mind at this point, been, often been said rose to a summit here at the cross. The darkness, the utter darkness in man’s mind, all darkened by malice and sin and envy and hatred, every feature against God, every feature of the will of man as governed by Satan was demonstrated in these times, and at the cross.

And think of the Lord surrendering, submitting Himself to the abandonment; letting Himself be taken by the hands of wicked men, and allowing Himself to be crucified, and then submitting to the abandonment. What a deep matter that is, beloved. Let us go through the thing in our own souls, let us see what it means for Christ to be abandoned, let us hold it in our hearts, let us keep, let the force of it, let the power of it, keep us from sinning.

Mark doesn’t give us the blood of Jesus; John gives us the blood of Christ, he was a witness to it. Very fine the way John refers to the blood in his gospel and then his epistle in a very distinctive way. So it’s held out to us, as we said, I think it was yesterday, set forth as a mercy-seat through faith in His blood. There’s a mercy-seat, you can reach the mercy-seat today in your soul, you can find where God can meet you, with Jesus, in Jesus, in the presence of Jesus. In the presence of God you’ll find Jesus. In the presence of Jesus you’ll find God. And you’ll find the blood there, able to meet your guilt, and in a full way expiate your soul in the presence of God. May we find that peace, may we find that settlement.

I read about this young man because he’s in the light. He’s washed his robes, he’s got free of every element of darkness, every element of contamination, every feature of darkness, any element of looseness, you know, or lightness. See, if you go on with looseness, you go on with lightness, you go on with frivolity—maybe not in everybody’s company, but you might go on with looseness and lightness in some company, and other company you go on soberly—the looseness and the lightness is darkness. Don’t, don’t deceive yourself, don’t deceive yourself, don’t say, I’m entitled to it. You’re not entitled to it, beloved, you’re not entitled to it, it’s darkness.

This young man has come completely free, completely clear. Measure yourself, let every young man here, and old man, measure themselves against, or up against, you might say, this young man. He’s in the sepulchre, he’s got a message, he’s perfectly in the clear, perfectly in the clear. He’s not just half-hearted. What’s the point of dealing with our young people, and just letting them go, get away, and be light about it, and be sentimental, when the Lord is, the Lord is speaking? The Lord is speaking in this accident last Lord’s day it was—was it last Lord’s day? It was Monday morning, in fact, early hours of, very early hours of Monday morning. The Lord is speaking in these matters. It’s no time for sentimentality. Sentimentality will take the edge of it away in a moment, and leave persons in darkness.

This young man had faced up to the consequences of the abandonment, and the darkness that came on the earth, this young man had faced up to it, and he had faced up to it in the experience of his own soul. And he’s sitting on the right, and he’s clothed in a white robe. I think it’s very beautiful. That’s enough, that’s enough, that’s enough, it means no one else has got a claim on you other than Jesus. You’ve had your clothes washed, you’ve cut off all your connections, you’re just alone. Here he was alone, but he knew that Jesus had come out of the grave, he knew that the stone had been rolled away. He said, it’s very, it’s very great. Beloved, it’s a very great matter for you to get converted, it’s a very great matter, it’s a very great matter to get delivered from the power of sin. It’s not easy, it’s not a light matter. These chapters bring out what it cost Jesus to effect redemption, and to provide a remedy, provide a way of escape. Oh, that we might keep it constantly before us, that we might never ever let a sense of the urgency of the glad tidings, or the fervency of the preaching, ever leave us. For His name’s sake.

Bruce Hales

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