Pastor Grant Brown's sermon 'True Greatness' centers on Mark 10:32-45, where Jesus predicts His death and resurrection for the third time. The sermon highlights the disciples' misunderstanding of true greatness, contrasting their desire for status with Jesus' teaching that greatness in God's Kingdom is rooted in humility and service. Jesus uses children and a blind beggar to illustrate that the least in society are the greatest in His Kingdom. Pastor Brown emphasizes that Jesus, as the 'Son of Man,' willingly went to Jerusalem to face suffering and death to ransom sinners, fulfilling the prophecies of Daniel 7. He also explains the significance of Jesus being handed over to the Gentiles, drawing parallels to the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23, where Jesus becomes both the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat. The sermon concludes with a call to recognize the gravity of sin and the greatness of Jesus' sacrifice, urging listeners to repent, believe, and embrace true greatness through humility and service.

Mark chapter 10 will be beginning this morning in verse 32. And if you have a pew Bible, you'll be able to find that on page 1008. So if you have a Bible, it's under the chair in front of you. Turn to page 1008, you'll find our passage. And if you do not own a copy of God's Word, boy, we would so very much be thrilled if you'd take that copy of God's Word home with you and read it And then come back and ask questions about it.

Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 32. If you'd please stand with me. This is the word of the Lord. They, Jesus and the disciples, were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed.

And those who followed were fearful. And again, he took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him and three days later he will rise again. James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, what do you want me to do for you?

They said to him, grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, we are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.

But to sit on my right or on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John. Calling them to himself, Jesus said to them, You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. May God bless the reading of His Word. Amen. You may be seated. My dad always said, and his dad always said before him, and his dad's dad said always before him, and I'm sure your dad said before you that there are three keys to learning repetition repetition and repetition and for some of us We need a few more of those repetitions.

Well, Jesus, He's on His third repetition. Our passage this morning is the third time that Jesus has predicted his passion, his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. Jesus began to tell his disciples these things about his death and resurrection all the way back in Mark chapter 8, so a couple of chapters prior to where we're at today. And there in Mark chapter 8, Jesus talks about his passion the first time, and well, Peter doesn't like it. Peter says to him, you got that wrong, Jesus.

And Peter tells Jesus you're wrong, and Peter then gets a very serious rebuke in return. And then again, just moments later after that rebuke of Peter, Jesus takes Peter and a few other disciples up on a mountain and they see him transfigured. They're blown away, they're terrified because there is the Son in all of His glory and a voice from heaven, God the Father, speaks to the disciples and says this is my beloved son listen to him as if to say you didn't listen to him right before the mountain so now when you come down the mountain make sure you listen to him well not long after that experience On the Mount of Transfiguration in verse 31 of chapter 9, Jesus gives them an opportunity to obey God's voice from heaven. Jesus gives his second passion prediction. He says this, The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men.

They're going to kill him, and when he has been killed, he will rise three days later. They're told by the voice of God from heaven to listen to Jesus but do the disciples in fact listen to Jesus. Well the second repetition fails because no instead they continue toward Jerusalem and Mark tells us that the disciples they have a question in their mind. They just heard Jesus talk about his coming death, burial and resurrection twice already. They've seen His glory on the mountain, they've seen His greatness on the mountain.

And you don't want to know what their question is as they're walking after Jesus has just told them twice that He's going to suffer and die and be raised from the dead. They're asking themselves who's the greatest among them? Wow quite the opposite of listening to Jesus Twice now the disciples have heard that Jesus is headed to Jerusalem to die he's going to be raised from the dead. These are not just like normal things for the disciples. And twice the disciples have been completely wrong.

Twice they've responded in completely the wrong way. Peter was rebuked and then so were the disciples rebuked. Jesus tells them, guys, you've got this all wrong. The first will be last, and the last will be first. You've got greatness completely wrong in the Kingdom of God.

Your idea of greatness is completely backwards from true greatness. Jesus has just redefined just a chapter before, in chapter 9, Jesus has just redefined what it means to be truly rich in His Kingdom. The rich young ruler comes, you think, this is a rich man. And what do we find out by the end of chapter 9? He's the poorest.

He's a poor man. He's not truly rich in God's eyes. And now, Jesus is making his disciples, now that they see what being truly rich is, having treasures in heaven, now they're going to be taught what true greatness is. Jesus is talking about dying, And the disciples are talking about status in Jesus' kingdom, and they aren't putting the two things together. And so what does Jesus do?

Well, He does something wild. Right? The disciples, they don't understand greatness in His kingdom. They're not getting what He's talking about, His death, burial, and resurrection. So what does he do?

He takes a child and sets the child before the disciples and he says to the disciples, my kingdom is received by people like this child. Weak, needy people. People who come to me in humility. They are first in the kingdom. Children, the least in society, are the greatest in my kingdom.

Then he takes a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. He sets the poor, desperate for Jesus Bartimaeus before his disciples. In my kingdom, this man who is last and least in the world is the greatest in my kingdom. And Then he takes the rich young ruler, whom all the disciples thought to be the greatest. He says, that man is the least.

In fact, this rich man is the poor man. He's not even able to enter my kingdom because of his idolatry. The first will be last and the last will be first. And so from chapter 8 to chapter 9, the disciples have been headed to Jerusalem with Jesus and Jesus is consistently talking about what? I'm going to die.

I'm going to die. He's redefining what true riches are, what true greatness is in His kingdom, and really what it ends up being in the economy of God. True riches and true greatness get flipped on their heads from everything that you and I typically believe and see in our world. True riches is having Christ. Having riches in heaven.

Embracing the reality that there's only one life, it will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last. And true greatness, we are going to see, is rooted in humility. It's rooted in humility. And so now Jesus gives his third repetition about his coming death and his humble service to sinners. Here we see Christ's prediction of his death a third time, and we see true greatness.

True greatness, we see Christ's prediction. You could say Christ's prophecy about his death. Well this context that I've just reminded us of, I'm trying to always help you remember what's come before in Mark so that you don't just take individual servants and think well that's its own little book. This is a whole book we're talking about. Everything is interconnected.

And so I think what I've just described about the way Jesus has been talking about his death and his resurrection in increasing detail really helps explain verse 32. If you were to study verse 32 this week, if you were like me, you would have had lots of questions about verse 32 of chapter 10. You would have said things like, why does it say in verse 32 that Those who followed were fearful and they were also amazed. Amazed and fearful. Well I think, and a number of commentators agree, that this is talking primarily, those who followed him were amazed and fearful, this is talking primarily about the disciples.

And the disciples were actually both amazed and fearful. And that's really what I want you to see, because they're amazed about what Christ has been teaching regarding the kingdom and its simplicity that even a child can come in. Children can come into the kingdom. They're amazed that the rich and the famous and the greatness of the world, that's the least in Christ's eyes. They're amazed at this upside-downness of the kingdom, but they're also fearful regarding the cost of the kingdom, thinking about what is coming as they're going up to Jerusalem.

They're getting closer and closer to Jerusalem. You know, again, I know we just turn pages and we don't think about a journey, but from chapters 8 all the way to where we're at today in chapter 10, there has been quite some distance covered. They are moving towards a destination, and Jesus has been very clear, I'm going to die. You understand why they might be a little bit fearful? Jesus hasn't changed his tune.

It's just getting clearer and clearer. So they're amazed at his teaching, but also fearful, thinking about what is coming as they go up to Jerusalem. And that's the first thing I want you to see. Jesus has been going up to Jerusalem for some time now. Jesus has been going up to Jerusalem.

Again, that is in verse 32. He first predicted his suffering, his death, and resurrection in chapter 8. And in that prediction, Jesus mentioned the elders, chief priests, and scribes. Clearly, Jesus had Jerusalem in view all the way back in chapter 8. Now you need to understand this.

When he starts using phrases like chief priests, elders, and scribes, well the Sanhedrin and the chief priests are all headquartered in Jerusalem. And you need to remember what has come in the chapters prior to where we've been. Scribes have been sent from Jerusalem to trap Jesus since the beginning of Mark's Gospel. Scribes have been sent from Jerusalem to call Jesus' names and to discredit Him. In Mark chapter 3 we are told that Pharisees and scribes, from where?

Jerusalem are banding together with other groups, where? In Jerusalem to seek to destroy Jesus. That's the exact verbiage, to destroy Jesus. There's groups in Jerusalem that normally hate each other, and they're getting to be friends because they want Jesus destroyed. This is in Mark chapter 3.

You think that's gotten any better? No, in case you were wondering. They are from Jerusalem, And where is Jesus going? To Jerusalem. He is going right into the mouth of the lion.

He is going into the belly of the beast. He's going into the lion's den. He's going to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the place and people who killed the prophets and stoned those sent to her. Jerusalem, the place where the great judgment of God will fall upon His people forty years after the death of this Jesus Christ whom they themselves killed.

This is where Jesus is going. I wonder if you see the significance of what Jesus is doing. He is going to the place of His death. He is on a mission to enter into the lair of His enemies. He is invading the fortress of his enemies, so that the enemies of God would be ransomed and redeemed.

You see that picture there? You should. This is amazing to the disciples. Jesus is headed to Jerusalem and they know what Jesus has said is coming. It's amazing.

And this is terrifying to the disciples because Jesus is headed to Jerusalem and they know what Jesus said is coming in Jerusalem. Jesus is pressing on ahead. I mean what a Savior who willingly went into the belly of the beast for your salvation, church. I mean what a better David who willingly when all of Israel cowered and hid in their camp under the curse of the first Adam that they might not face mighty Goliath like each of these disciples it says in the text lagging behind Jesus. What a better David Jesus is the second Adam who goes up to fight the mighty Goliath of sin and Satan in enemy camp to secure the freedom for his people.

Knowing full well the cost, this is who Jesus is. This is what Jesus has come to do. When you sing a song like, Hallelujah, what a Savior! He went into the belly of the beast. He went and took care of your sin.

It wasn't a light cost. It wasn't a medium cost. He had to go and face mighty Goliaths in your place, for you. He went up to Jerusalem to die. This is true greatness.

This is true humility. The great one on his way up to Jerusalem To give his life for the least I Like how theologian James Edward says this When it comes to humility and suffering, Jesus does not only teach, He leads the way. When it comes to humility and suffering, Jesus does not only teach you, He leads the way for you. Jesus has been on a mission, and that has been to get to Jerusalem, for that is the mission of the Son of Man. And He says so in verse 33.

Look at verse 33. In all three of his pastor predictions, Jesus has continued to call himself the Son of Man. It's been his favorite title in all of Mark's Gospel. Let's just see it there. Let's see if you see that title, Son of Man, again.

Jesus was saying, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death. We'll hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him, And three days later, He will rise again. Do you know that Jesus uses that phrase, Son of Man, you see that there, Son of Man, 14 times in Mark's Gospel.

That's His favorite title in the Gospel of Mark. And We've discussed this already, but we need to discuss it again. You know the three keys to learning. Do you remember where that phrase, son of man, primarily comes from? There's a couple places in the Bible about primarily.

Do You know where it comes from? Daniel chapter seven. If you're taking notes, write that down. Daniel chapter seven. And in Daniel chapter seven, the Old Testament, the Son of Man is said to have authority, glory, sovereign power, eternal kingdom.

He's to be worshiped by every nation. Let me ask you a question. Who is the only one who has all power, all authority, and all sovereignty? God. Who is the only one who must be worshiped?

God. Yahweh. The Son of Man in Daniel 7, it's clear. The Son of Man is God. The Son of Man is God.

That's what the Bible teaches. That's what God says. If you're the Son of Man, you're God. And so if anyone ever tells you that Jesus didn't say he was God, Well, he said he was the son of man 14 times in Mark's Gospel. That's a lot.

Almost once a chapter. And anyone, including the disciples, who knew Daniel 7, knew what Jesus meant when Jesus used that title. Jesus is God. And if that's not convincing enough for you, if you say, okay, well, son of man, okay. Well Jesus called himself the Lord of the Sabbath in Mark chapter 2.

And God is the Lord of the Sabbath, right? And Jesus just said in Mark chapter 2, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus just called himself God. But if that's not enough, okay. Jesus forgives the sins of people throughout Mark as he does miracles throughout Mark's Gospel.

And he forgives their sins. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Only God can forgive sins. Jesus is declaring himself to be God. Jesus has time and time and time and time and time and time again declared himself to be God.

Our friends that say, well, Jesus never said he was God. They ain't reading the Bible. But let's just say you don't want to take Jesus' word for it. Cool. Take the demon's word for it.

That helps you. The demon, after demon, after demon in Mark's Gospel declares that Jesus is the Holy One of God, God in the flesh. The demons knew it, Jesus knew it, lots of people in Jesus' day knew it. If you don't believe it, it ain't because it's not in here. It's because you hate the truth that is clearly here in the Bible.

And the good news for you is that Jesus is God. Jesus is the promised Son of Man who came to do the work of verse 33 and 34 so that you might be set free from your sin. So that you might be set free by the truth. That you would know the truth and the truth would set you free and you would no longer see Jesus as a crutch in your life but that you would or a crutch in these Christians' lives all these need Jesus. This is hobbino.

These need Jesus kind of like a crutch. No, that's wrong. Christians need Jesus because He's a stretcher. He's everything for the Christian. You take Jesus away?

Plop! Not moving. I'm dead. The good news for you if you do not know Christ this morning, is that Jesus Christ is God. The good news is if you hate Christ this morning, the good news is Jesus Christ is God, and He is more mighty than your hatred.

He is more righteous than your sin. God came, He took on human flesh. He was delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes and they condemned Him to death and they handed him over to the Gentiles, and they mocked him, and they spit on him, and they scourged him, and they killed him, and three days later, he rose up. Now, let me just tell you something. All those things should have been you.

You should have been mocked. You should have been scourged. You should have been placed on a cross. You should feel the white hot hatred of God's wrath towards sin. You should have experienced that.

But Jesus, truly God and truly man, suffered in the place of sinners. Suffered in your place, Christian. Look again in verse 33. Verse 33 and 34, Jesus predicts what's going to happen. All these things in verse 33 and 34, scourging, mocking, killing, being handed over, and then rising again.

That's what Jesus said would happen. And do you know if you get to the end of Mark's Gospel, that's exactly what happened. It happened exactly the way Jesus said it would happen. Jesus truly is the promised Son of Man who gave His life for lawbreakers. And then was raised up for their justification.

Jesus didn't stay dead. We've said this before, I'll say it again. When we baptize people, we are showing to the world and to this congregation that someone has been buried with Christ, their sins have been forgiven, they identify with Christ and His death. The old them is gone. But we don't hold them under.

Because Jesus didn't stay under. That'd be a good way to kill a church off. We raise them up, because Christ has been raised up. He has been raised victorious over the mighty Goliaths of your life, your sin, and your slavery to it. Friend, you should be handed over to Satan.

You should be handed over to Satan. You should be handed over to hell forever as a result of your sin. But the truth, the goodness of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ suffered, He was condemned, and He died for you. So that your condemnation would be taken away from you and dealt with by Him. That's amazing.

So I want to ask, is that true for you this morning? Is it true that Christ died for me? Do you wake up in the morning? Are you sitting there right now and you think, Christ died for me? Whoa!

Is that going on? It can be. It can be true. This day, the call for you is to repent, to turn from your sins, to trust in Jesus Christ and what He did here on the cross and in His resurrection. Beloved, the prophecy in Daniel chapter 7 was fulfilled.

Jesus did not stay in the grave. He was raised up on the third day, just as Jesus said He'd be. And He was presented before the ancient of days. If you're not familiar with Daniel 7, I encourage you to go read it. We've read it here a number of times.

But he was raised up, presented before the Ancient of Days. He was presented before God the Father. God the Son presented before God the Father. And according to Ephesians chapter 1, Christ the Son was seated at the right hand of the Father and given all authority in heaven and on earth. Everything was put in subjection to Him.

Daniel 7 fulfilled. Greatness achieved. You know, there is none greater than Jesus Christ. There is none greater than the Son of Man who suffered and died, who became the suffering servant in the place of sinners, who experienced the greatest humiliation by hanging on the cross and being condemned, not just by man, but by God. And as a result of His humble service in the place of sinners, greatness happened.

From the humiliation of the Savior came exaltation. It came gain, triumph, greatness. I want to remind you, beloved, Jesus has just redefined what being truly rich was earlier in this chapter. And now at the end of this chapter, He's redefining what true greatness is. Humility.

The Son of Man was to be mocked and spit on, and in exchange, He was to be raised up in victory. Given a glory and a kingdom, He was put to death for sin, and in exchange, raised up in victory over that sin. That's greatness and it came through suffering, the suffering servant's humility. So young men, do you want to be great? Young men you wake up in the morning and you go, man, feeling good, I want to be great.

Well then look to the suffering servant. Look to the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. The Son of Man is the greatest, full stop. Daniel chapter 7 says so, that there is none greater than Jesus Christ. There's none greater according to glory, majesty, dominion than the great Son of Man.

And He was shown to be great how? By flexing in front of a mirror? He was shown to be great because he had some facial hair. No, he was shown to be great. He was demonstrated to be great through sacrifice.

His infinite greatness was displayed through humbling himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. To make salvation, which was impossible for man, He secured it by the blood of His cross. Why? Because He's God and He's great. My father, growing up, would multiple times a week go over to our neighbor's home who was a widow.

She was very old, very frail. He would tend to her. He would tend to her lawn, care for her needs, fix things in her home. I would see him many times in a week, day after day, week after week, as I would play in the yard, as I would sit at my desk in home school looking out the window and I'd see my dad walking across the yard to go to this widow all the way up until she died. All the way until she died.

You know not a soul besides my mother and my siblings and I knew that my dad did that. Hope I'm not ruining his treasures in heaven. Not a soul besides my immediate family knew that my father did that day after day. You know, he never got a certificate in the mail. He never got any money.

He never received an ounce of worldly recognition from anybody. You know, nobody has yet to ask to organize a parade in his honor? Nobody. But boy did he get so much more than those silly things. You put my father up against anybody.

You put my father up against anybody who's fought in the great wars through human history? You put them up against great political leaders who have whole libraries written about them, the greatness of their leadership, the greatness of their valor. And I tell you what, my father will go toe to toe with him. Is my father in the history books? Not one of them.

Will my father's face ever be etched in marble or some monument like it? No, he won't be like other war heroes, but he has won great and mighty battles. He won the battle against the sloth day after day that I am very aware of as a young father. As he walked across the street week after week, month after month, year after year, he won the battle against the sloth. He won the battle against complacency and smugness after playing with four very high energy children.

Three boys and a girl in my household growing up. He won the battle after just expending himself fully to the delight of his four children. He then walked in weariness with a smile on his face to this widow's home day after day to serve another, taking a deep breath. My father's name is not in any book found here on earth. But there is one book that my Father's name and all that He's done in His faithfulness is written.

And that is the Lamb's Book of Life. There is not a man in my life that I esteem higher or I think is greater than Charlie Brown of Lone Jack, Missouri. I have forever, forever been altered by the example of my father in just that one labor with our widow neighbor among many labors. I have been altered by the greatness of this man in my life, seen in his humble act of service towards this helpless woman. Always a smile on his face, He spent hours tending to this widow's needs.

That is true religion according to God in James chapter 1. And that is true greatness according to Jesus in Mark chapter 10. Greatness in God's economy, greatness in the kingdom of God is found in humility greatness is found in the example that my father followed in following the son of man who laid his life down for the least greatness is found in service toward helpless sinners like you and like me. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, and he was quoting Calvin, and Calvin was quoting probably the Father, the Church Father, Irenaeus, and who knows who Irenaeus was quoting. This comes from somebody.

The Son of God became the Son of Man. The Son of God humbled himself and became the Son of Man that the sons of men might become the sons of God. You want to be great? Young men, young women, old men, old women, you want to be great? Look to the son of man who went up to Jerusalem for those who could not go up to Jerusalem themselves.

Look to the son of man who, for helpless sinners, for helpless, powerless children, became the Son of God that you might become. He became the Son of man that you might become the Son of God. If you want to be great, then have this attitude in yourselves also which was in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men. Found in appearance As a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And for this reason, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That's greatness. That's true greatness, humility. If you want to be great, look to the Son of Man who went up to Jerusalem to conquer sin, to rescue sinners like you and me from their damnation. Look to Him who was given over to the Gentiles to secure your salvation through humiliation. And that's our third and final element of Christ's prediction you will see in the text this morning.

The Son of Man was headed up to Jerusalem to be handed over to the Gentiles. Handed over to the Gentiles. You'll notice that detail at the end of verse 33, this final detail. Look at the end of verse 33. They will condemn the Son of Man to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.

You see that there? Now Jesus has mentioned His death, His suffering, His death, His resurrection a number of times already in Mark's Gospel, But this is the first time that he's included this phrase. He hasn't mentioned the Gentiles before. But as he gets closer to Jerusalem, now he does. And being handed over to the Gentiles is not just something you can just gloss over, friends.

You can just gloss over that. This is a significant thing. And it's significant because the disciples had an Old Testament Israelite category for being handed over to the Gentiles. When they heard Jesus talk about being handed over to the Gentiles, to the pagans, it would have made them think about the day of atonement that God had instituted for His people, beginning in Leviticus chapter 23. When they thought of the phrase, hand it over to the Gentiles, that was the idea of being placed outside the camp, away from God.

That would have made them think of the Day of Atonement found all the way back in Leviticus 23. If you were a Jew, this would have been in your mind. But what happened in Leviticus chapter 23? What happened every year in Israel? Well on the day of atonement every year the great high priest would have two goats.

He'd take two goats. How many goats? Two goats. He would take the first goat and they would cast lots for the goat, and one would die and the other one wouldn't. Well, the one that would die was called the goat of atonement, and that goat was slaughtered, and the blood of that goat was placed on the altar.

It was a sacrifice made in blood. And what that symbolized was the wrath of God being poured out on the first goat and the goat dying and shedding its blood in the place of sinners. It symbolized the idea that the wrath of God that was due to your sin, you're a law breaker. You deserve the penalty, which is God's wrath. The blood was shed so that the goat suffered and died instead of you." That was the first goat.

The second goat was placed before the priest, and the priest would lay his hand on the second goat. And this goat was called the scapegoat. And it symbolizes, he laid his hand on the goat, it was symbolizing all of Israel's sins passing into that goat, being expiated. The sin, your sin, being removed, the sins of Israel being removed and placed on the goat. You know what happened to that goat?

It would take that goat outside the camp. It would take that goat to the land of the Gentiles. It would bring the goat to the Gentiles and set it free, never to come back into Israel's camp again. You know what that symbolized, right? God taking Israel's sin and separating their sin as far as the east is from the west.

Their sin would never return to them again. One goat symbolized how a sacrifice had been made for that sin. The wrath of God had been satisfied, propitiated. The second goat placed away from the camp showing that your sins had been completely removed from you. That's an amazing picture.

That would have been on the minds of the disciples when they hear this new phrase, handed over to the Gentiles, being placed outside the camp. Jesus means for you to understand that He is truly the fulfillment of all prophecy. He's the final sacrifice that the first goat foreshadowed. Jesus is the one who satisfied the wrath of God that sinners deserve in hanging on the cross, shedding His blood for you. Jesus is the one who will shed His blood so that the penalty for my sin and your sin and your sin will be taken and dealt with upon Himself.

He's the first goat. He is the greatest of all time too. He's the goat. But He's also the better scapegoat, foreshadowed in Leviticus 23. Here in Mark chapter 10, Jesus is saying, I'm going to go into the camp.

I'm going up to Jerusalem. I'm going into enemy territory to rescue enemies and make them my children. How am I going to do that? I'm going into the camp that is impure and I will clean it. I will purify it.

I will be both goats. I will bear the punishment for the sins of God's people. I will satisfy the wrath of God due to the elect sin, and I will take away their sins as far as the east is from the west." That's the work that Jesus has come to do, beloved. Verse 33 is loaded with gospel, if you have eyes to see it. The Son of Man being handed over to the Gentiles.

To be handed over to the Gentiles was to be placed outside the camp, away from the blessing of God. Jesus was to take the impurity of His people. He was to take your impurity upon Himself, and in your place, He was to be sent away in the place of sinners as the scapegoat. Just think about that. Jesus has bore the righteous indignation that you deserve upon Himself and has removed it from you.

If you were in Sunday school this morning, we talked about the sandwich of the doctrines of grace. And how He truly has separated your sins as far from you as the east is from the west, and they will never revisit you again. You might wrestle with sin. You might wrestle with indwelling corruption, but your sin no longer has condemning power. Your sin can no longer be mastered over you.

Your sin will no longer return and say, oh I'm back. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. If your sin ever comes back, a habit is forming in your life again, you can look right at that sin and say you've been dealt with. You've been dealt with.

My Savior was handed over to the Gentiles. My Savior took you sin, took you condemnation, took you curse, and He became a curse for me. He was placed outside the camp in a place away from God's blessing so that you might have God's blessing. I just think it's an amazing thing that Jesus came to do what He did. And I think You need to recognize how serious your sin must be because of these verses.

You who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here at the cross may view its nature rightly. Here your guilt may estimate. Jesus Christ who is God, the Son of Man, had to come and deal with your sin himself. Your sin is so serious that God had to deal with it. If you think the way all of The world thinks about sin, you think it's not that big a deal, we're all sinners.

Man, you don't understand your sin. God had to come to deal with sin. It's massive. You should hate your sin as a result. But God did come.

He came for helpless and powerless people who are helpless and powerless to deal with their sin, to deal with your guilt and your shame. God came. He gave Himself over to the Gentiles. He endured the shame. He endured the mockery and the spitting and the scourging.

But most of all, the wrath of God being poured out over Him on the cross. He endured that. He stood condemned so that you would not be. So have you come to church this morning guilty? Are you here this morning feeling condemned and unclean?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus who became as one unclean for you, who came to take away your shame and guilt upon Himself on the cross, to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Look to Him. You should confess your sins this moment right now. What would stop you, friend, from confessing your sins to Him who has made unclean as if one unclean for you that you might be cleansed? There's a promise from God this morning for you.

Confess your sins to Him who is righteous, and He who is righteous will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness because of the shed blood of His Son. Have you come this morning heavy laden? Have you come beaten to a pulp by despair and doubt? You know, there is a giant called giant despair that hangs over our lives so often. But let him no longer hold sway over you.

Let the giant called despair and his mighty fortress called Doubting Castle, let him no longer hold sway over you. Turn to the greater David, who toppled the giant called sin, Satan, condemnation and despair. Trust the greater David, Jesus Christ, who crushed the head of that Goliath forever. And he made peace by the blood of his cross. You can leave here this morning, beloved, with peace, having Jesus Christ be becoming born again so that obeying Christ would no longer be something that would make you doubt or give you reason to feel like a burden.

No, obeying Christ would be a delight and a joy and an assurance of your salvation. So will you this day, I ask, repent and believe the gospel. This passage that we just started to unpack is full of gospel. Repent and believe it. Let us go out to Him, Jesus Christ, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

For we do not have here a lasting city, but we are seeking a city which is to come. Turn to the Son of Man who went up to Jerusalem and was handed over to the Gentiles so that verse 45 would be accomplished. Your ransom would be paid. And Lord willing we will tackle the second half of this section next Lord's Day if you'd all come back. I hope you will.

Let's pray and thank God for this, His Word. Father, thank You for Your Word. We thank You for how precious it is for those who are being saved. I ask, Lord, that in Your kindness, in Your kind sovereignty, that if there are those here this morning that are plagued with doubt, plagued with guilt, plagued with shame, because they know the truth about their sin, that they would hear this hope held out to them. And they would hear the words of Jesus, come to me all who are heavy, weary, heavy laden.

Come to me you'll find rest. Come to me you'll find forgiveness and a refuge for your soul. And that this day they would trust in Christ, be saved, and join His church. In Christ's name we pray, amen.