The sermon, based on Mark chapter 10, verses 32-45, emphasizes Jesus' prediction of His suffering, death, and resurrection as He journeys to Jerusalem. It highlights the misunderstanding of greatness by James and John, who request positions of honor in Jesus' glory. Jesus teaches that true greatness in God's Kingdom is defined by humility, suffering, and service, not by power or status. He challenges them to consider whether they can endure the suffering He is about to face, symbolized by drinking the cup of God's wrath and being baptized in suffering. The sermon draws parallels between Jesus' atoning sacrifice and the Old Testament imagery of the Day of Atonement and the scapegoat. It underscores that Jesus' submission to God's will and His sacrificial death are the ultimate demonstrations of true greatness. The sermon also addresses the concept of biblical submission for women, urging them to find greatness in humble service and submission, as exemplified by notable women in the Bible. Finally, it encourages believers to embrace their suffering as divinely ordained, leading to ultimate glory in Christ.

Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 32. If you would please stand with me in honor of God's word now being read. We are hearing from God now. This is the word of our God. Beginning in verse 32, They 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. 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. Amen.

You may be seated. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Jesus is on his third repetition. As we discussed last week in our passage, Christ has now told his disciples three times clearly what is coming in Jerusalem. And first, we made note that Jesus has been going up to Jerusalem.

We have been seeing the champion of righteousness going into the den of thieves, the den of unrighteousness, to purify the enemy camp. Jesus is going up to Jerusalem where they will kill him and he will win, For he will rise again. And in his resurrection, out of the belly of the beast, in the midst of his enemies, the great Goliath's head will be cut off by Jesus Christ, the Almighty Savior. Sin and its condemning power will be severed by Christ Jesus who in his death cried, it is finished. And then in his victorious resurrection demonstrating that indeed it is finished, that death and condemnation have been conquered.

And we live in the time now where that conquering is working itself out. Jesus The better David is going up to Jerusalem to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is going up to Jerusalem to win. And wonder of wonders, Jesus is going up to Jerusalem to win to such a degree that many of His enemies, like you, become His friends. That's greatness.

That is the greatness of the Son of Man. And That's what we saw next last week. We saw that He was going up to Jerusalem. And we see that Jesus is the Son of Man. In all three of His passion predictions, Jesus has continued to call Himself the Son of Man.

It's been His favorite title in all of Mark's Gospel. And that Messianic title, Son of Man, is from Daniel chapter 7. Jesus knows that. The disciples know that. You know that.

You know what Jesus is saying there, and if you don't, read it again. Jesus is God. Jesus is telling everyone that He is God. And God is great, is He not? We're just talking about true greatness in God's kingdom.

Well God is great, and that Greatness, because Jesus is God, is demonstrated by, and it comes from, the Son of Man giving His life for the salvation of many. Greatness in God's Kingdom is seen In the Son of Man being mocked and scourged and hanging on a cross in the stead of helpless and ruined and powerless sinners. So that by hanging on the cross in the stead of sinners and giving himself in humble submission and obedience to the will of God the Father, we see in the promise of Daniel 7 fulfilled in Jesus Christ that he will be exalted over all things. Great and glorious. The greatness of Jesus Christ is found in His humble submission and obedience to God the Father who highly exalted Him in fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel chapter 7 regarding the Son of Man.

Now, ladies, ladies, I spoke to the young men last Lord's Day and I wish to speak to you this Lord's Day. Ladies, how do you define greatness? Do you borrow from the world's definition when it comes to defining greatness? Strong, independent, To be great as a woman I answer to no one. I'm the boss.

Is that what makes you great? You know all that submission talk, that idea of humbling yourself and Submitting yourself to underneath the authority of someone else, like submitting to a husband or submitting to your own father. Do you think that that's for weak people? That that's for inferior people? That submission is the opposite of greatness.

You think that marrying a godly man and submitting to that man as his wife and following and submitting and obeying that man as your husband or your father as he obeys Christ, Is that foolish to you? You think that's the opposite of greatness? Independent. Strong. That is greatness to you?

You believe that? Well, if you do, if you believe that strength is found in independence, then you do not believe that Jesus Christ is great. In fact, you don't believe God at all, because Jesus Christ submitted Himself to the will of the Father. And there is none greater, according to Scripture, than Jesus Christ. Your submission, ladies, you humbling yourself and submitting to your father when you are still under his authority, and you humbling yourself and submitting to your husband when your hand is placed into his on the day of your wedding.

That shows the greatness and the glory of God. That submission is great and glorious in God's eyes, in God's kingdom. That's true greatness according to God. First Peter 3, 4 says exactly what I just said. When you adorn your life with the grace of submission for the one in authority over you, be it your father, be it your husband, that is precious in the sight of God.

It's glorious in His eyes. It's greatness to him. And if I may paraphrase Pastor Toby Sumter, let me exhort you ladies to remember the holy women of old, the great women of old. Remember the Hebrew midwives. Remember Rahab and Jericho.

Remember Ruth. Remember Queen Esther. Remember Mary. Remember the mother of our Lord Jesus. And their humble and courageous submission.

The Bible says that this is your glory ladies This is what you were made for Of these women that I just mentioned are in the Bible and they are held up in God's eternal Word forever as examples for you to follow. That's greatness. Their names will never pass away. True greatness, ladies, is found in humble service. It is found in submission to Jesus Christ, who calls you to glorious and courageous submission to your fathers and your husbands one day.

So ladies I want to exhort you as I exhorted the young men last Lord's Day I wanted them to think through what is true greatness. And I said, young men, look to Christ, who gave Himself for His bride. And now ladies, I am asking you to consider Jesus Christ, who submitted Himself to the will of His Father. He was raised up in glory. Look to the submission of Jesus and get true greatness settled in your hearts and minds.

Get it settled. And then, when it is settled in your heart because you can't get enough of looking at the amazing submission of your Savior, then walk over to your Father and tell them, Father, find me a man who can lead me rightly and then submit to that man. And ladies who are already married, there is exhortation for you too. Stop borrowing women who are married. Stop borrowing definitions from the world.

Stop thinking that submission is a drudgery. What a lie from that serpent Satan who wishes to rob you of the joy and satisfaction and glory of biblical submission as you follow your husband as he follows Christ. The greatness and glory of your Savior was on display when He submitted Himself to the Father. So how can you say that your submission is anything less than glorious? Jesus has been going up to Jerusalem.

Jesus is the Son of Man, promised to be exalted as a result of his humble humiliation, his humble suffering. And lastly, we discussed that Jesus was to be handed over to the Gentiles. That was our final consideration last week, giving you a summary of what we discussed. Verse 33, you see that there. They will condemn the Son of Man to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.

And we discussed last Lord's Day that Jesus means for you, when you read verse 33, He means for you and I to think of the day of atonement when he uses language like that, being handed over to the Gentiles. Jesus was to take the sins of God's people upon himself. He was to deal with the wrath of God himself as the goat of sacrifice. The shedding of His blood was for the pardon of your sin, and Jesus was also to be the scapegoat, wherein He took the sins of God's people and removed them from His people outside the camp, as far as the east is from the west, so that God's people would bear their sins no more. That goat would be brought into the land of the Gentiles, would be handed over to the Gentiles, just as Jesus, the better scapegoat, was handed over to the Gentiles, that His people would be forever forgiven.

All of that was last time. That was Christ's third repetition when it came to predicting His death. And what He did in humbling Himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. That is true greatness. You need to see that.

Amen? You need to see what true greatness is. But The disciples, they have struggled to see it. They have struggled to set their minds on anything but worldly interests and man's interests. They cannot set their minds, it seems, on God's interests.

And they struggle again in verses 35 through 40. On this Lord's Day, we are going to examine the disciples' pride. If you'll notice in verses 35 through 40, You'll see the two main characters of this section. Who are they? James and John.

And they are called the sons of Zebedee. And in Mark chapter 3, do you know what Jesus calls these two brothers? The sons of thunder. You might wonder at that, why do they call, why does Jesus call these brothers the sons of thunder? Well, I'll get to that in just a moment.

But first, notice the demand that the disciples make of Jesus. Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Look at that demand that they give to Jesus. We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. Again, these are the sons of thunder.

This is a demand that really fits them, actually. It's not in Mark's gospel, but if you were to go to Luke chapter 9, and you might jot that down if you want to do some further study on this Lord's day. Luke chapter 9, Luke gives us a little clue into why Jesus calls these men the sons of thunder. At one point in their journey, much like we're in a section now in Mark where Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem and they're getting closer to Jerusalem and closer and closer. In Luke 9, they get to a part of the landscape where there are Samaritans.

The Samaritans are along the way, And it's written there in Luke for us that the Samaritans won't receive Jesus in their disciples. They don't want Jesus in the disciples in their home. And so here is what James and John ask Jesus in Luke 9 verse 54. Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume these Samaritans? Do you want us to call down fire and brimstone and just lay waste to these wicked Samaritans who reject you?

I mean, these guys go from zero to sixty. Like that. Samaritans don't want us? Nukem! Sons of Thunder, I think, is a pretty good name for them.

Now We don't know for sure, based on the text here in Mark 10, what is going on in their hearts and minds. But it is quite possible, and I think it's quite probable, that these words of Jesus, beginning in verse 32, and 33, and 34 about the coming suffering and passion of Jesus. It's quite probable that these words about Jesus' suffering are just whizzing by their heads because They're still in their minds all the way back in Mark chapter 8, where they heard Jesus say, I'm going to come in glory with my holy angels. I think they've keyed in on that. Sweet!

That's what Jesus said at the end of Mark chapter 8. And so whether they're all just about the glory and that the reality of suffering and death are whizzing by them or not, or maybe they think that the suffering and death of Jesus is not that big of a deal, we don't know. But these are the sons of thunder and we know glory is coming. And so that's what they ask. They say to Jesus in verse 37, glory is coming so grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory.

So it's on their minds. They're thinking about greatness. They're thinking about what it means to be glorious. They're demanding to Jesus, Jesus we know you're gonna win. We know that glory is coming.

We know that your kingdom is forever. We've left everything behind and followed you. So we would like what you promised, treasures in heaven, namely, we would like to have the position of power under you when you come, and your kingdom is established. The picture there is a throne room, and the king's at the center, and on his right and on his left, flanking him on either side, are those who wield His authority and power. Those are His advisors.

Those are the greatest among all the ranks in His Kingdom. Make us great, Jesus. That's what they're asking, Is it not? Make us glorious. Make us great in Your Kingdom.

The issue here is power and glory and true greatness in the Kingdom of Christ. I remember... This is a funny story. I remember when I first started teaching, I taught fifth grade my first year. Fifth grade math.

I loved fifth grade. I loved all the grades, but fifth grade was something else. I had a simply adorable little fifth grade boy in my class. I want to say this clearly, I loved him to pieces. But he was so soft.

Weak. I mean, when it came to toughness, I don't know, I think of the definition of softness. That boy. Anything that caused this young man to try hard or maybe to try again, if he didn't do a math problem right, Sorry, you've got to do it again. You would have thought I was asking this young man not to solve 2 plus 2, but to solve world hunger.

You would have thought that I was asking him to lift 2, 000 pounds when I said, can you please pick up your books and move them over here?" The poor boy didn't have a clue what hard work looked like, what true work looked like. The boy was soft. And so One day, this little boy comes up to me and he says, Mr. Brown, this is at recess, he's just glowing. Mr.

Brown, I have figured out what I am going to do when I grow up. You want to know what I'm going to do? I said, absolutely. What are you going to do when you grow up? And this is true story.

Look me right in the eyes. I am going to be an NFL player when I grow up. And then he paused and he goes, I don't know if he paused because of my look. But then he goes, but If that doesn't work out, I'm going to be an astronaut. Now what do you think was going through my mind in that moment?

Well here's what I was thinking. You don't have a clue. Those guys running around on that field, on that TV screen, they are smoking each other just for the chance to grab a small piece of leather and move it to a part of the field and score a touchdown. And that suffering and that blow after blow after blow, finally somebody gets a little bit of glory when they get into the end zone. But before that moment of earning millions of dollars because you got a piece of leather past the line, before you get that glory, there's a great deal of suffering.

That's what was going on in my brain. And I was wanting to tell this young man, you see the astronauts walking on the moon, well before that step of glory, before that greatness, one small step, before that happens, there are decades, whole seasons of life of excruciating, sleepless nights doing calculations and reading books and drooling over your homework. Well, that's what I was thinking. Suffering has to come first, and then what? Greatness comes later.

That's not exactly what I said to the young man. Instead, I just simply said, I would love to see that, but your habits right now aren't lining up with those things. And he looked at me a little bit strangely. And I think, perhaps Jesus was looking a little bit strangely at these disciples. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they're asking Jesus, make us great.

We want the greatness. We want the glory. And Jesus is telling them, you don't understand what true greatness is. You don't understand that true greatness in my kingdom is found in humility. It's found in the suffering servant laying down his life for his sheep.

That suffering has to come first and then comes the exaltation. Suffering comes first and then exaltation. Listen to R.C. Sproul. Here's how he says it.

These brothers want glory. They crave greatness. But they aren't listening to Jesus, who is clearly telling them, you say you want to be at my right hand and my left hand in my glory, but there is No glory without the cross. There is no glory without the cross. And that's verse 38 if you'll look there with me in the text.

Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? What's he saying there? Don't you know that there is no glory in my kingdom apart from suffering? That there's no glory without the cross.

In John's Gospel, Jesus says it a different way. Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will do nothing. But if it dies, it bears great fruit. Victory comes out. Greatness is displayed, but first, death.

Humiliation, Jesus says. Humiliation is the condition for my exaltation. And the same must be true for you, James and John. And the same must be true for you, brothers and sisters. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized like I will be baptized?

Now what's Jesus mean by those two phrases? Drink the cup and be baptized. What is the cup? What's the baptism? Well, those are important things to nail down in this passage.

So we're going to nail them down real quick. Let's start with the cup. The Old Testament was clear about what the cup was. The cup was almost always a symbol of judgment. Nearly almost always in the Old Testament the cup was a symbol of judgment.

Psalm 11 verse 6 will give you a few instances. Psalm 11 verse 6, upon the wicked the Lord will rain snares, fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup Isaiah 51 verse 17 Isaiah the prophet condemns the people rouse yourself and arise oh Jerusalem you have drunk from the Lord's hand the cup of His anger, the chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs." That's a kind of interesting phrase, drained to the dregs. You know what that phrase means? There isn't anything left in the cup. You've got to the very bottom of the barrel.

There's nothing left. You've drained it. And then in Mark chapter 14 verse 36 New Testament, Jesus clues us in. So If you were to go to Mark 14, go there. Mark 14, 36, Jesus even tells us what this cup is.

Mark chapter 14, verse 36, Jesus tells us what the cup is. Jesus was greatly troubled and in agony and so in a place called Gethsemane Here's how Jesus prayed in chapter 4 verse 36 Abba father all things are possible for you, but He's about to head to the cross, remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. There's the mention of the cup. And in another gospel, we're told that Jesus sweat drops of blood as He considered what was to come in His death on the cross, in His drinking of the cup of God's wrath.

Beloved, the cup that Jesus is speaking about is the cup of God's judgment and wrath. The Old Testament, the New Testament, all bear witness to this. His cup, Christ's cup, was the cup of God's wrath. And it was to be poured out on the Son for the sake of those who would believe upon Him for the salvation of their sins. Your sin, Christian, your sin, that was what was in the cup.

God's white, hot anger and punishment. The curse that you deserve as a sinner. That was what was in the cup. And it was poured out on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for you. You need to make no mistake about this.

You are accursed. Friends, make no mistake, have you not heard, have you not seen in God's Word that all who break God's law are accursed? All who disobey the commandments of God are to be punished? This is so clear in the scriptures. Have you not heard?

Have you not seen? Do you not know that all those who practice iniquity are to endure hellfire and everlasting condemnation. You know these things. You know these things, friend. You know that those who practice iniquity deserve such things, and you also know that you don't even have to try to practice iniquity.

It comes easy to you. And you know that such a thing merits damnation. It merits the wrath of God. You know these things. Carissa and I were just recently evangelizing one of our neighbors.

Pray for them. And our neighbor told Carissa and I, and it was a good first step, she said, I know that I'm a sinner. I was grateful for that. But I did say to her that that is good, but that is not enough. You must not just acknowledge that you are a sinner, but you must also acknowledge that you are in desperate need of a Savior.

That you desperately need someone to come and bear your curse as a sinner. That you as one who is accursed will endure in hell if He doesn't bear for you. Friend, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, He came and on the cross, He bore that curse that you should have borne as a sinner, as a law breaker. The Son paid the fine that you should have paid as a luster, as a thief, as a glutton, as a proud man, as a fickle woman, a covetor, an idolater, Jesus Christ drank the righteous and potent wrath of God for you, Christian, as if He was those things. He was not those things, but He drank them for you as if He was.

He drank the full cup of God's wrath for the elect. For those who have repented and trusted in Jesus Christ for their sins, He drank that cup that you deserve down to the dregs. All of it. Every last drop. Did you hear that verse I quoted in the Old Testament just about three minutes ago?

Isaiah 51 verse 17 Jerusalem the people of God were to drink themselves from the Lord's hand the cup of his anger eternally because of their sin and it says down to the dregs every last drop you will pay for in hell. And you will never exhaust it. They were to suffer in eternity as they drank the wrath of God for their sins. And yet that is what Christ did in your stead. That is what Christ did in your stead, Christian.

Every drop, every ounce of God's righteous anger and rage and every ounce of his awesome fury towards your sin, it was supposed to descend upon you for your past sin and your present sin and your future sin. It was hanging over you. It was going to devour you for an eternity. You would have to deal with these things. And Christ came in, the Almighty One, and he drank every drop that you should have drank himself.

That is amazing. Christ bore every drop. He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but the Lord in his almighty mercy has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him And Christ drank that iniquity to the dregs for you, Christian." So yes, look at the mocking and the ridicule that Jesus Christ endured on His way to the cross. And on the cross, consider Mark chapter 10, verses 30, 31, 32, 33. Consider these phrases, that he was to be flogged and mocked and scourged. Yes, look at the flogging and the cat of nine tails that the Romans used to rip apart his body. Look at his nail-pierced hands and the vile abuse that was hurled at him.

All of the mocking. Shudder. Look at the agony. What a cursiveness. Yes, look at those things.

Consider, yes, how this innocent god man, how he was so shamefully treated and humiliated, and how he physically suffered in such almost unimaginable ways. Yes, consider that. But just for a moment. And then recognize and look deeper and consider forever that as horrid as that suffering was physically, it was but a shadow of the cup that Jesus Christ was to drink. You need to hear the groans of Jesus up on the tree as He drank the cup of God's wrath poured out by God the Father on him.

You need to hear him say, Elohe Elohe Lama Subbathani, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Forsaken of God. You need to hear the rocks split open and the sky blacken. You need to see in that moment the full cup of God's wrath for His people poured out on the sun in which the outrage of God for the sins of the elect were contained in that cup. The cup where your sins, your past, present, future, your sins from this morning were contained in that cup.

Your sins from yesterday were contained in that cup. Your sins for tomorrow were in that cup. The world's sins were in that cup. And they got poured out on the sun. They got metered out on the sun.

You have rocks splitting and light being extinguished. The moment of Christ's death and him drinking the cup is not a moment of God the Father turning His back on God the Son. Stop thinking that way. This is God the Father piercing His gaze upon the Son. This was God the Father crushing the Son in almighty rage.

He hates sin. This is how massive your sin is that it took Christ God Himself to die. This is not God just holding His nose doing this. This is Him saying sin must be punished. And He did it for you.

What an offering. It was the will of God to crush His Son. It was the will of God that His Son would be the propitiation for the sins of His people. That word propitiation sounds super theological, doesn't it? Here's the definition.

A satisfaction of God's wrath. Imagine a cup filled to the brim with poison. That poison is the sins of the world for all who would trust Christ. And Christ took that to His lips and there was not a drop left over. That is propitiation.

God's wrath has been truly and fully satisfied. Poured out. Now, When you think about that, if you've turned from your sins and trusted in Christ, you need to remember that not a single one of your sins, if you're a Christian, has been left unattoned for. So when you hear us say things in the middle of a service and say, beloved church, beloved saints of crossroads, beloved Christian, in Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven, and we always say something like, praise the Lord, we mean that. Your sins are forgiven.

And if you say, how do I know? Look to Calvary. For there was a Savior who drank the full cup of God's wrath and then was placed in a tomb. But he did not stay in that tomb. He arose victorious, proving that his propitiation, his satisfaction of God's wrath was sufficient and victorious For you, Christian.

Forever. Forever. You sin when you leave this building. You sin as you're in this building. And you plead the name of Jesus.

You trust in Christ so that all who believe, they are forgiven. I want you to think about this. Every ounce of the curse that was due for your sin, Jesus endured for on the cross. So that far from being accursed, you are called blessed. If you've turned from your sins, that's called repentance, and you're trusting in Jesus, that's called faith, Christ gave Himself for you so that you would no longer be accursed.

He was accursed for you. And when God the Father pronounced a blessing on God the Son at the beginning of Mark's Gospel, this is my beloved Son, and whom I'm well pleased, He switched places with you. Christ became a curse for you, that you might become the beloved son and the beloved daughter in whom God the Father is well pleased for the sake of the Son. What a Savior! When you read phrases like, He loved you and He gave Himself for you, You read phrases like verse 45 in our passage just a little further down.

The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. You could put your name in there, He gave His life as a ransom for you. Marvel at that. Marvel at that. He drank the cup of God's wrath down to the dregs, down to every last drop for every last one of God's children.

You might be wondering, well, even me, Do you this day cling tightly to Christ? Do you this day hear me preach and within you say, Yes! Well, that's the Spirit crying out, Abba Father. Jesus cried out, Abba Father, did He not? And He was to endure judgment and condemnation.

So that now this day, if you are hoping in that Christ, as you cry, Abba, Father, you do not receive a cup like Jesus received. You receive a cup of blessing and belonging. And we celebrate that every Lord's Day. You should marvel. You should approach this table with joy in your heart, proclaiming the goodness of God.

King Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is a prince indeed. He drank the poison cup. If you've never read R.C. Sproul's The Prince's Poison Cup, slap yourself and then say, I'm going to repent and read it.

It's out there in the library. It needs to be checked out. Nobody checks it out. I don't know what I'll do. Be sad, I guess.

You need to check that out. It's an RC Sproul book. Excellent. It's exactly what I'm just talking about. All who drink from Jesus, all that dip their cup into His will, Drink not death any longer.

He drank the poison cup, so if you drink from Him, you drink eternal life. Eternal cleansing. Eternal blessing. That's the cup. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

Disciples, sons of thunder, are you able to drink that? Then he asks, are you able to be baptized? With the baptism with which I'm baptized? Well just as the cup was a metaphor of suffering and condemnation, so too was this reference to baptism. In Psalm 69, verse 1 and 2, David described being plunged under affliction and disaster as a type of baptism.

Often in the Old Testament, baptism was a symbol of judgment and condemnation, just like the cup. David writes, save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire and there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me. So in the same way that the cup of God's wrath was to be poured out on the sun, on the cross for him to drink, that wrath was to cover him.

That wrath was to submerge Him. Christ was to be plunged under the wrath of God for your sin. That was the baptism that Jesus is describing that He will undergo at the cross. These disciples would have connected this word, this idea. You should connect these ideas to Noah.

Think about Noah for just a moment. How was the world before Noah? Well, the world was a wicked place with wicked people and foul people. It needed cleansing. What did God do?

God sent a flood. God baptized the wicked world in judgment and cleansing. He killed every living beast on the land, man and animal and crawling thing. But, He saved those in the Ark. Friends, Jesus is saying here, my baptism is the same.

God is pouring out His wrath for sin, and I am to be submerged into it. I am to be counted as though the one wicked. But for any who find their refuge and their salvation in Me, as Noah found his way in the refuge of the ark, you will be saved. The waters of judgment will come and they will not hurt you. You think about that.

Baptism for you, Christian, symbolizes the work of Christ in cleansing you, not in judging you. What a reversal you have in Christ. Christ is the better ark, and now baptism is no longer a baptism of judgment. Oh it is a work in declaring that Christ has made you new. Christ has made you born again and Christ has made you His.

You are in Him. There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, just as Noah was in the ark. Jesus is the better ark. In His baptism on the cross, Jesus endured your condemnation. And so in your baptism, Christian, you are declaring, I belong to Jesus Christ who took the curse from me.

He is the greater Noah and the ark. His blood shed on the tree. The Father poured out His bitter wrath and submerged the Son in pain. And I in Him, now found by grace, am cleansed and all is gain." There is no glory without first across. Jesus is asking these two disciples, you want to be great?

You want glory? Well, do you remember what I said in Mark chapter 8 verse 34? If anyone is to come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. You remember that? You think you're going to be able to endure what I must endure in satisfying the wrath of God?

Are you able to drink the cup and be baptized like me? And these men say what? Yep. Yeah, we are. We see here in these two brothers, I don't want to shortchange them, I think we see a great deal of zeal.

Do we not? The sun's a thunder. Bring it down to five. Oh yeah, we'll go. We'll go with you.

We see a great deal of zeal, but we also see a great deal of ignorance. The disciples' ignorance. I think Mark is being very intentional here. It's not certain, but I think it's probable. I think he's being very intentional here with this language.

I think... Let me ask you, who do you think these disciples sound like a little bit? Think about what we just read earlier on in the chapter. Right before this section is a section about who? The rich young ruler.

Self-confident, self-esteem, strong. I'm able to do it. Committed, strong, self-confident. Yeah, we can drink the cup. We can go through the baptism with you.

So we should be able to sit on your right and on your left. I think this is very similar to the rich young ruler. And yet both the rich young ruler and these two brothers, were they truly strong? They just said, yeah, we're going to do it. We're going to go with you all the way.

So we need to be on your left and on your right. But these brothers, just like the rich young ruler, are found out. Are they truly committed? Are they as strong as they think they are? Well, later on in Mark's Gospel, this is huge, we are shown that they actually had a chance to follow Jesus, exactly like they said.

They actually had a chance to join with Him in His sufferings. That night in the garden, when the soldiers came to take Jesus away, and there was James, and there was John. And what does the text tell us at the end of Mark's Gospel? They ran away. They ran away.

These two brothers actually could have stood on his right and on his left. They could have been lifted up on the right and left of Jesus. But who was lifted up on the left and right of Jesus instead of James and John? Two criminals. Two criminals.

These two brothers abandoned Jesus in the garden. These two brothers ran away frightened and ashamed. And they went away sad. Does that sound familiar? Just like the rich young ruler.

They left Jesus alone to endure the cup and the baptism, and while Jesus hung on a cross, where James and John could have been on either side, two criminals stood instead. Were they able to drink the cup and be baptized with Him? No, they were not. But they would. They would.

That's what verse 39 tells us. 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. Jesus tells them that one day, they will in a way, in a way, experience the same type of suffering for the cause of Christ, and then join Him in experiencing glory through suffering. Experiencing greatness, true greatness through humility. Jesus pronounces the disciples' future.

The way to glory, the way into the kingdom was through costly discipleship. Again, lest we be just like the disciples, Jesus has made this clear many many times in Mark's gospel already. Right, if anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it forever.

And so Jesus tells them, you will share in my sufferings, I promise you. And in sharing with my sufferings, you will share in my glory. Now Paul would later say the same thing in Galatians chapter 6. We are children of God, Paul says, if indeed we suffer with Him, so that what? We may also be glorified with Him.

That's Galatians 6.14. True greatness is found through humble service and suffering with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's exactly what happened to these two brothers. Remember the cup and the baptism, what were they? They were just metaphors, symbols for suffering.

And Jesus is telling them, you will suffer, you will join with me, and that's what happened. James in Acts 12, 2. Acts 12, verse 2 was the first martyr among the 12. James was killed by Herod Agrippa I, and it was to the cheers of the Jews. Just like Jesus was cheered and jeered by his murderers, at least at first.

And according to church history, this isn't in the Bible necessarily, but John endured great suffering. We know a little bit of his suffering with his exile, the Patmos. But according to church history, he miraculously survived several attempts on his life. Church tradition actually records a really unique story about him again. This isn't a part of the inerrant Word of God, so this is just church tradition.

But according to church records, One event when he was under great suffering, his persecutors plunged him, plunged him into boiling hot oil. And God miraculously saved him. Now, Could God do that? Absolutely. We don't know for sure, but that's quite the baptism.

It's quite the baptism. We aren't sure, but we are sure that John suffered, especially at the end of his life. He spent great time in exile. Both of these brothers experienced what Jesus had promised them. And you know what?

Both of them are said to be great in the kingdom. I need to point out though, as much as they suffered in a way similar to Jesus, they did not suffer the same way as Jesus did. Did they actually drink the whole full cup of God's wrath for their sins? Were they plunged into God's wrath for their sins? No.

Praise God. Though they joined Him in His sufferings, and you are to join Christ in His sufferings. The wrath of God has been dealt with already for you, Christian, as I've said a number of times. Let me let R.C. Sproul say it once more.

None of us has ever been asked by God to drink the cup that Jesus drank, or to be baptized with the baptism Jesus experienced. Nonetheless, we are called to identify with that cup and that baptism. Our water baptism, which is the sign of the new covenant, signifies that we are united with Christ in His death and in His resurrection. We must be willing to identify with Jesus in His disgrace and humiliation, or we will never participate in His exaltation and glory. But He promises that all who identify with Him in His suffering will indeed, according to Romans 8, participate with Him in His glory.

That is your hope, Christian. That is Christian hope. Let me add this, And this is the note that I wish to conclude on and then we'll be through. This is a precious truth I found, I think. Let me point this out to you as you consider this suffering.

So you've just been told a number of times you too are to join with Christ in His suffering. If you're to gain your life, you might have to lose it. You have to pick up your cross and follow Him. I need you to hear this. Your suffering, Christian.

The suffering that Jesus is talking about, that John and James will participate in, that you're called to participate in, that Sproul just exhorted you to be a partaker in That suffering that's going to come that you're involved in right now It's ordained by the God who loves you Your whole life you need to listen to this This is my final thing. I'm almost done. Zero in back. Just come back with me. It's not even been an hour yet.

Your whole life is held in the sovereign divine care of Almighty God He gave his son for you Do you need a better Sign of his love Do you need a better indication of his great care and tender mercy towards you? You cannot ask for something greater! God the Father gave Christ the Son over for you. He gave him as a sacrifice for your sin. What better sign of love, what greater sign of tender care and commitment to you can He demonstrate?

None. There is no greater love than this that a man would lay down his life for a friend. Your suffering for Christ, beloved, all of that comes your way as a Christian. It is from His loving hand, the same hand who gave you His Son. All of that suffering comes to you, Christian, from that hand.

It is divinely ordained by the Father who loves you. And that's what Jesus says in verse 40 if you have eyes to see it. James and John, you want to sit on my right and on my left? Well that's not mine to give. It's for those to whom it's been prepared.

What's Jesus telling them? God is sovereign. God has prepared these things already for His children. It's all been written. It's all unshakable.

All of it. God the Father has works and trials for you to walk in beloved that He has prepared beforehand, before even time began. God has assigned these to you Christian. Think about that! You have an assignment!

God has placed you in the story that you are in right now. You're in His story. You need to marvel at that. You need to recognize that He is writing this story and your story so that no matter what comes, you know who the author is, and you know where the story's going. You know it.

It's going to glory. It's going to greatness. And all of this breathtaking story that you, that you, Christians, somehow, by the grace of God alone get to participate in and enjoy with every ounce of your soul, This story, all of it, has been settled from eternity past and the perfect wisdom of God. That's verse 40. Your suffering will not be wasted.

Not a drop of Christ's blood was wasted, was it? Not a moment, not a millisecond of your suffering and your trials is wasted either. It's meaningful. It's working something. The author of your story has written it out perfectly.

Suffering is not wasted. Glory is coming. God has said so. And what God, the author of your story decrees, is unshakeable. Christ predicted His death in verses 32-34.

The disciples' pride is on display in verses 35 through 40. And next week, Lord willing, we will finish part three, Christ's proclamation of true greatness is proclaimed in verses 41 through 45. And I look forward to that conclusion with you if you'd come back again next Lord's Day. Let's pray and ask now for God's help as we consider His Word preached. Our Father in Heaven, Thank You for this Your Word.

Thank You that it is true. Thank You for Jesus Christ Almighty who loved me and loved this body. Oh, I lift my people up to You. Lord, have mercy on us. Give us eyes to see the sweetness of the Gospel, the preciousness of the truth, that whatever happens in our lives comes from Your hand, and You work all things together according to Your wise and tender purpose for our good and your glory forever.

Oh, give us the grace to trust you more, to love you more. Make us a people that worship you, especially in suffering, that Christ would be exalted and that we would begin to have some measure of what true greatness is in your kingdom. We pray these things in Almighty God your Son's name. Amen.