 for today is Mark chapter 10 verses 35 to 45. Before we begin to worship in this way I just want to express my great love for you all and my great joy to be back with you all and to see your faces, to hug you. I can't communicate the support and love that you all have given to us and so I pray that you be encouraged by seeing the Lord's work and Guamala and hearing of it and I just want to glorify Him by thanking Him for your support and love as well. So thank you all and it's unbelievably wonderful to be back here with you all. So let's worship the Lord together. Mark chapter 10 verses 35 to 45. Let's stand for the reading of the word of God. Then James and John, sons of Zebedee, came to him saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? They said to him, Grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? They said to him, We are able. So Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink the cup that I drink and with the baptism I'm baptized with, you will be baptized. But they sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give but is for those whom it is prepared. And when the 10 heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus called them to himself and said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them. And they're great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servants. And whoever of you desires to be first 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. Let's pray. Lord God, we pray now for this time of worship through your word. We pray that you would be glorified. We pray that you would bring the gospel to our minds. We pray that by your spirit you would open our understanding to be able to see and behold your glory to feel the horror of our sin and to repent. Put our faith in you. Help us to understand what you've done on the cross. Help us to understand what it means to be a humble slave in your kingdom. Help us to understand what it is to serve you. Lord, we pray for this congregation now that you would reveal your will to them by your word and they would grow in every good fruit as a result. We pray Lord that you would use these truths in homes with families. You would use these truths for others to communicate the gospel. You would use these truths to humble and you'd use these truths to make people seek you, to draw upon you, to trust in you. We thank you for this our Lord. We thank you for this time to be able to worship you. We pray that you would be front and center in our minds. Please help us now and please help me as the preacher to edify your people and serve them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You have an outline in your bulletin to help you follow along and in that outline this sermon is entitled Selfishness Slaves and the Savior. Selfishness Slaves and the Savior and we'll be covering Mark chapter 10 verses 35 to 45 and we'll see two main points today. First in verses 35 to 41 the prideful request to be first in verses 35 to 41 and then secondly we'll see the humbly choose to be last in verses 42 to 45. Do you know what it is to calibrate something? I was an airplane mechanic here in Orlando area for some time and calibration is very important for tools in order to work on an airplane. You want to be able to adjust things to the right level. You want it tight but not too tight. Many things break on airplanes by mechanics making them too tight in order to make it safe and then as the breaking. So calibration measurement, calibration to measure precisely and adjust precisely to a set standard is important. For example in there was a in radiation treatments in Costa Rica in 1996 the radiation treatment was turned up and it changed to be 60 percent more radiation than what was originally planned because the instruments were out of calibration and 114 people got overdosed with radiation and 17 of them died because of a radiation overdose. Why? They weren't calibrated. They weren't calibrated. So now let me ask you why are you here? Why are you here this morning? You need to be recalibrated. You have gone out of the set standard by the influence of the world, by the influence of your own heart, by the influence of Satan and you need to be recalibrated or perhaps you need to be completely made anew. And so the word of God is why you're here to hear the word of God and to be set right and calibrated to him. The disciples in this text they needed a recalibration. They had fallen off way off the standard and what is it that recalibrates us? The gospel. Jesus Christ and his good news of what he has done on the cross, his death, resurrection, this good news recalibrates us so that we understand ministry rightly. We understand what it is to serve him in home, work, on the street or as a pastor or missionary. Serving him in ministry we need to understand the gospel. That's what Jesus Christ will do for the disciples today in this text and I pray that he will do the same for you. So first we see in verses 35 to 41 we see the prideful request to be first. Picking up in this section in verses 35 to 41 we're in the book of Mark here and if you look in your wider scope of the book of Mark Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. In chapters nine and to ten these longer chapters he is walking towards Jerusalem with his face set like flint headed for the cross. The book of Mark can be thought of as three books on a shelf with two little bookends. Three books on a shelf with two little bookends. The first little bookend is the introduction to the book of Mark about eight verses where it introduces the prophecies of who Jesus is and John the Baptist. And then the first of the three books is Jesus' ministry and galley, the largest. Chapters one to eight more or less. And then from the middle of eight into the end of ten we have Jesus' road to the cross. Then chapters 11 to 15 we have the last week of Jesus' life, his time in Jerusalem, his death on the cross, and his substitutionary atonement for sin. And then lastly the last bookend is the resurrection in chapter 16. Here we are in the middle of Mark and Jesus is set his face like flint and is determined to go to the cross. But in this time where he's going to the cross the tone has changed from his ministry and galley to focusing on the disciples and he has much to teach them about ministry. He has much to teach them. He teaches them about who is the greatest in chapter 9 verses 33 to 37. He teaches them against creating divisions in verses 38 to 40 of chapter 9. He warns about the offenses and what will bring you to hell at the end of chapter 9. He gives instruction about marriage and divorce which will be important for the apostles to understand in chapter 10. He has the evangelism encounter with the rich young ruler in chapter 10 and then he has much to teach his disciples after that encounter. And then again he predicts about his death and resurrection in verses 32 to 34. Let's read those verses to set the context. Now when they were on the road going up to Jerusalem Jesus was going before them and they were amazed and as they followed they were afraid. Then he took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to him. Behold we're going to Jerusalem and the son of man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles and they will mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him and the third day he will rise again. So Jesus telling them again the prophecy of what he will do in Jerusalem, his death and burial resurrection. And now we're on the road and we're not told about it shortly afterward but along in the context here comes James and John. For getting the gospel out of calibration they come to Jesus. We pick up in verse 35. Then James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him. So we look at James and John and we see two disciples. We see two disciples of the inner three. These are disciples that are able to fellowship with Jesus in a closer more intimate way. He spends more time with them and so they may by that privilege or they may by way of their mother feel that they have the end. If you read the parallel account in Matthew 20. So Lo May their mother has come with them and is the one that they are using to help communicate to Jesus their request. And it is very likely and very possible that their mother is Jesus's aunt. So those of you who have an auntie and you know that when auntie comes and asks for something it's good to be able to say yes. It's good to be able to say yes. And so in a sinful way that James and John the sons of thunder the sons of Zebedee known for their their brash words known for their their pride and known for their fishing business with their father Zebedee they come to him with the influence of possibly Jesus's aunt. And what is it they say first they say teacher. They address him as he's known to be to them their great teacher Rabbi. And they say we want you to do for us whatever we ask. They come to Jesus and they say here's a blank check. Will you sign it? Will you sign the blank check? And you know who have those of you who have had teenagers you know you've had requests like this before parents have a teenager come and say dad would you do something for me. And they they want you to sign the blank check. There's something prideful in that request. But if we consider our own hearts we often pray this way to God. We often relate to Jesus in the same way through our prayers asking him for something we really want but putting a label on it as though it's ministry and saying this will be good for your glory Lord this thing that I want. And so that's what James and John come to Jesus here in verse 36 Jesus wisely responds what do you want me to do for you. He wants him to fill out the check. He wants him to know what is it. He won't foolishly say I'll do whatever you ask like Herod did in chapter 6. And so if Jesus asks you this question right there in verse 36 what do you want me to do for you. Would you love Jesus to ask you that question. You have many things you would write in there right. What would it be that you would write in. Fix my kids for me. Fix my husband for me finances health and easier life and easier ministry. Perhaps ministry. Yes it's ministry but easier ministry. What would you ask for Jesus from Jesus. In verse 37 we read. They said to him grant us that we may sit one on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory. What they are asking for positions of honor and authority. The request is not for redemption. Not for spreading the gospel. But it is for themselves truly. They asked for the two highest positions. Jesus has already told them he's going to sit in his glory. He's already told them there will be 12 other seats for the disciples. And so they're thinking about those two seats that are the closest. They're thinking about the positions of influence greatest authority. They notice they don't mention Peter. They have the inner three to the inner three. But there's only two seats. Likely Peter is listening to this conversation to hear what's going to happen. When we can see this story we can often as Christians we can often think I would never be that brash. I would never say something like that. I wouldn't be that prideful. Don't they see what how how bad they are. That's the nature of pride. Pride blinds you. Pride blinded them and it blinds us to think I'm not like that. You know when you get the head so swollen that it swallows your eyes shut. That's what happens with pride. Pride is naturally swells up your head so that you cannot see. You cannot see. And so this is what's happened to them. They can't see the sinfulness of their question. It's blinded them. But it's in your DNA. Pride is in your DNA. And something you must confront. Something you must see. And you the Bible must be the light that shines into the dark corners of your pride. Many a pastor or church member have thought this way before. They think give me something where others will think well of me. Many of you have come in this room today hoping to present yourself as someone holy and wanting to keep something secret so that you would present yourself as holy to others with perhaps with a nice smile or a way of greeting or how you know your Bible or something. This happens all the time in all sorts of churches where we want to present ourselves this way. And we want to present our request, our selfishness to God as though it is holy. And we want to have a box filled with selfishness but put a label on it that say it's for you Jesus. And so we have to examine our own hearts in this. The disciples are given not as examples to be laughed at and say what fools they're given is to be examples for you to consider. How am I like them? How do I too often think like them? And so they're asking for something good in a sense. Look at how in the sense the good what do they believe about Jesus? They believe Jesus will rule and reign over this world. They believe that their hope is in Him. They believe they've forsaken the world and they're following Him. They know they're going to go to Jerusalem and there may be death, there may be great difficulty and they're following Him anyway. They know these things are coming. There's a reason why in verses 32 to 34 they're afraid. There are people afraid because they know they might die following Him. And so they're moving along following Him. That's good. Their hope is good in Him ruling and reigning but they've forgotten the way that the cross comes before the crown. They've forgotten that suffering comes. They've forgotten the association of suffering that goes together. They've forgotten and had a superficial understanding what it means to be a disciple. Look how Jesus helps them humbly, kindly, graciously. The Savior helps them. In verse 38 but Jesus says to them you don't know what you ask. At this point they should stop. At this point they should stop and say what don't we know? But pride doesn't do that. Pride is like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. I get it. I know. I understand. And doesn't stop to listen. Jesus says you don't know what you ask. They're ignorant. What goes with this position is great suffering. There's a great association with great blessing and service with suffering. The two go together. He says, are you able to drink the cup that I drink? I mean baptize the baptism I'm baptized with. Jesus is using these metaphors to communicate an Old Testament idea. The Old Testament is full of communicating the cup as the wrath of God. Psalm 75-8, Isaiah 51-17, Jeremiah 25-15-28, Ezekiel 23, 32-34, Habakkuk 216. The cup of the wrath of God is a common theme in the Old Testament. There is other ways that you can use the word cup in the Old Testament but this is the way that Jesus is communicating. He is referring to the cup of the wrath that he must drink on the cross. He's referring to what he will pray about in Gethsemane when he prays that let this cup pass, let this cup pass for me, that I wouldn't have to drink it. And he's referring to all the wrath of God, all the horror of health that would be poured out upon him on the cross for all of those who would repent in belief. This judgment, this horror is what he's referring to. In himself, this cup that I drink, the cup that I drink, and we baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with. Now obviously the disciples are not going to be there for an atonement but so what is he referring to? He's referring to the association that is necessary, a necessary part of being a Christian. Do you want to rejoice with him in glory? Well, you have to suffer in this world and in this life for him now. That is part of what it means to be a Christian, part of what it means to serve him in ministry, ministry in home, ministry in church, ministry at work, ministry at school, wherever you serve him. That connection is important to understand and he communicates it with another term with baptism in verse 38 and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with referring to an overwhelming suffering. Are you able to be dunked into this suffering that I'm going to be dunked in? In verse 39, we see, they say, they said to him, we are able, we are able, we are able. So Jesus said to them, you will indeed drink the cup that I drink and with the baptism that I am baptized with, you will be baptized. First in verse 39, they say we are able by virtue of their own ability, by their own resources, by their own strength, they look in and they say in their own heart, they say, yes, I can do it. I can do it. They're confident. They're probably thinking of a messianic war. They're probably thinking, Jesus is going to rule and reign and I'm ready to fight. I'm ready to suffer. How often we misjudge our own ability like that? How often we think, yes, I'm ready. I'm ready for the trials. And then we don't realize the dependence we need. Can you see Jesus kind of smirk and shake his head when he hears them? When he says they are able? He just looks at them and thinks, you don't know what you're saying. How gracious he is with them. You notice how he's different than how he responded to Peter. In chapter eight in Peter, Peter opposes Jesus Christ and when Jesus Christ talks about the cross and what does Peter say? Man never be a Lord and he directly opposes the work of the cross. And but Jesus has a different response. He's much harder on Peter because Peter has a direct confrontation, a direct opposing of Jesus. But here the disciples are still wanting to come along in the right direction. So Jesus kindly helps them, kindly helps them. He says, you will indeed drink the cup that I drink with the baptism I am baptized with, you will be baptized. They would suffer for Christ, right? In Acts chapter 12, James would have his head cut off and die. John in the book of revelation would be exiled to the island of Patmos and tradition speaks of him being dipped in hot oil. They would suffer. They would suffer reputation, lies. They would suffer beatings. They would suffer in many, many ways. Jesus wants them to understand here with these words. He knows that he places these words in front of him and he knows they don't get it all yet. But he knows that one day they will so that Peter would write in 1 Peter 4, 12 to 13. Look at what he writes. Listening to this conversation and Peter understanding better later on. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 4 and read verses 12 to 13. Beloved, do you not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you? But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings. You see, there's the connection. There's the connection. The suffering is partaking of Christ's sufferings. In no way is it for salvation or for atonement, but it's part of what it means to be a Christian. This necessary part of discipleship. It goes on then that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. The suffering that you have now as part of being a Christian will make you happier in heaven. We'll make you happier in heaven. Look back in Mark chapter 10 in verse 40. Mark chapter 10 verse 40. Jesus says, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. He's referring to this is something that's prepared by the Father in Matthew 20, 23, the parallel account. And there's some mystery here. He doesn't explain who will sit there, but he says it's for the ones who have been prepared. And our point today is not to dwell on that mystery, but to consider what Jesus has to say that's more important. In verse 41, the disciples, the rest of the disciples respond and it says, and when the 10 heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. They may not be displeased by just simply what they've said, but rather how they thought of it first, how they got in line first. You know, when you're in traffic and you're trying to, you're in a long line, maybe to get onto I-4, to get onto the toll road, and then you see somebody who cuts in front of the line all the way in front of the line, and then they move ahead. And what do you think about that person? Perhaps like the disciples here. This is the move that the disciples have done, a political move. They're like with an up and coming politician. Let's become his friend. That kind of slimy, sneaky, you think he's just the boss's friend just to get a promotion. That's why he's that way. So the disciples begin this fight. They're ready. They're indignant. They're angry, grieved, resentful. It's a strong description of them in the original and towards James and John. So now that we've seen this prideful request to be first in verses 35 to 41, do you see yourself there? In verses 42 to 45, we'll see the humbly choose to be last. And how do we do that? By the gospel, by the motivation of the gospel. In verse 42, it reads, but Jesus called them to himself and said to them, so here at first Jesus sees what's happening. He sees it developing. He sees looks on their faces. He sees the sin and he acts. He acts to move ahead of time to teach them, to correct them kindly and graciously. He says, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them. He says, this is something you know. This is something that happens in every time and every generation and every place when it comes to leadership. When there's leadership or service at jobs, at political positions in the home, whenever there's some sort of position of authority, this is what happens. You know this happens. Those who are considered rulers, those who have the power, those who have the rule over someone, they use that for their own good. They use it to get something. I've been serving in Guatemala and Guatemala has a history of dictators, military dictators, sometimes voted in, sometimes it's shady whether they're voted in or not, but they're in. In the 1960s, one of the Guatemalans produced a work called El Señor Presidente and that is a book that won a Nobel prize for literature and basically what happens is in that book he speaks figuratively, the author speaks figuratively of dictatorship and other people in other countries who had dictators, they resonated with that book in order to say how helpful it was to communicate the abuse of dictatorship and dictatorship is something that's not new. It's not new in some churches for people to be dictators. It's not new for in many rulers in political arenas. This is not anything new. In Jesus' time, Caesar Augustus, remember the Caesar Augustus of the Christmas story, he had printed on money his picture and then it said he who deserves adoration. It didn't say in God we trust, but he who deserves adoration. And so this is something everybody knows, everybody has to deal with. It's the way the world works. The great ones, those who are important, significant, they exercise authority over other people. We think of greatness as being better than others, having more money, more fame. We think of greatness as having many people serving us. Let me read you a quote and you tell me who it's from. I'm the greatest. I said that even that before I knew I was the greatest. I'm so mean I make medicine sick. Another quote from the same person. You know who it is? Muhammad Ali, the greatest. The greatest, right? And we in our culture, we love to say he's the greatest. Why? Why? Because he said he was the greatest before he proved he was the greatest. Does that make someone great? Is that what is going to be great in 100 years from now or 1,000 years from now? Will people still call him the greatest when Jesus returns? No, that is just for a short time. That is the world's version of greatness. Someone who declares themselves to be great and tries and rules over others. In verse 43, Jesus says a contrast, a strong contrast, yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servants. You see how Jesus draws these two things in great distinction, great difference. It should not be so among you in this room. You should not think of yourself that way. You should try and be great, but not great in the world's eyes, but great in the way Jesus describes. So what should you do? The kingdom of Christ is opposite of the world. In order to climb up in the world, you climb up. In order to climb up in the kingdom, you go down. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. In your home, you want to have your children to have a great future. You want to follow the Lord. In your job, you want to be significant. In your job, you want to be influential. You want to serve here in this room with these people in the church. You want to be a missionary? Be a servant. Admit that you're a diaconess, the table waiter, the minister to others, the helper to others. Look at verse 44. And whoever desires to be first shall be slave of all. He gives a parallel statement. And yet he makes it a little even lower. Not just a servant, but you be the slave. You know who's the greatest? The one who's the slave of all. To be completely controlled, completely owned by another. Jesus Christ. To be completely owned by him. And to submit all of your will, all of your ways, all of your desires to Jesus Christ. You know how you are a slave of Jesus Christ? You end up becoming a slave of someone else. A slave to serve them. You consider them. You consider them to be better than you. You consider them to be better than you. Do you remember when Jesus tells the story about a slave in John and Luke 17? And he says when the master comes in and then from work, and then he says to the slave, I'll go ahead and eat. Is that what he says to the slave? What does he say? Because first, you make the food. And then that's what you're supposed to do first. You're supposed to serve me first. You remember that? Consider that as how you're supposed to do that for others first. You're supposed to see them, look at other people, and think of them as better than you. Your identity changes. Your identity changes by means of the gospel. You no longer see yourself as the greatest, whether in your artistry, or your talents, or your money, or your skill, or whatever you got. More experience. Whatever it is that you think identifies you and makes you better than somebody. Maybe you've got more intelligence. Maybe you've got more physical strength. Maybe you're fatter. Maybe you're skinnier. I don't know what it is. Whatever it is where you think, I do this well. And this is what distinguishes me from the pack. This is why, you know, the things you put in your resume, right? The things you put in your resume, you're supposed to do some bragging there. You say, that's what identifies me. That's who I am. No. You want to be great? The way you see yourself has to change. You have to think of yourself as a slave, a do-loss. You know this word. You've heard this word described before in this church. You must submit all of your will to the Lord's. While you live in Stiphal Christ, you will be mocked. You will be scorned. You will be thought little of by the majority in this life. But work done truly with integrity for Jesus Christ by slaving four others will be a work that lasts for eternity and investment in true riches. Don't you see that serving somebody when you're tired after work and going to serve somebody as small group is what lasts? That's the way to serve and be a slave now, to be there for them, to know them, to care for them, to listen to them. That's an investment in true riches. Whatever way there's ministry, it is not about you. Whatever way there's ministry, it is not about you. Your gifts, it's not about your gifts. It's not about your family. It's not about your career. It's not about your possessions. It's about Jesus Christ. His, your will must die if you would be great in God's eyes. Now we come to verse 45. This is the key verse for the passage. Some preachers have pointed out this is the heart of Mark in verse 45. He says in example, a calibration, this is what you need to recalibrate. For even the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life are ransom for many. Look at the emphasis for the, for even. There's describing a purpose here. There's a contrast. You know slavery? You want to be a slave for others? Well here's one who went above and beyond. Anything you could ever think of in the terms of serving or slaving for another. Jesus Christ. Look at the beauty of this verse. The Son of man describing Jesus Christ, his favorite term for himself. He refers himself into the third person. He's the second Adam. He's the one in Daniel seven where all the world will come praising and bowing before him. The one who stands in glory in the book of Revelation where every tribe and tongue and nation, people bow before him and say worthy is the lamb, worthy is the lamb who is slain. The one who receives all that praise is the one who left that praise, who left glory, who came down to this world, came down to this world. What goodness for you to literally sell yourself into slavery would be nothing compared to what he has done. Let alone humbling yourself to think of yourself that way and to serve someone. You don't know what it is to serve in this way, to this capacity. The Son of man. Jesus Christ our Savior. This verse is what changes Christianity into the gospel. Do you see that? It's not just the religious following of Jesus's example. But this verse, what Jesus himself describing what he will go to do on the cross in a salvific way. This changes everything. This changes everything. He says he did not come for something, but he did come for something. He did not come to be served. He didn't come to be praised. He came to die. This is the heart of the gospel. He came to suffer. He came to be spit upon. He came to be punched in the face. He came to die on the cross to allow creatures he created and could rule and reign over in a moment. He allowed them to make nails. He allowed them to have the intelligence to make a hammer and he allowed them to put the nail to his hand and drive it through his own flesh. He came to serve. You see how it describes how it came, but he came to serve and to give his life. How does he serve? But by giving him his life. These two things go together. Describing the same thing. He's connecting this service to the gospel. He's connecting his service is in it giving his life, giving his body, giving his blood, giving his life here. What good news. What good news that our savior would be this sacrificial substitute that he would give his life. He's the one who acts this way. And why does he do it? Why does he do it? He does it to give his life as a ransom for many. Ransom is describing he has come to pay a price. He's describing the purchase price for a slave where we get our doctrine of redemption from. When you consider a systematic theology of salvation and what Jesus is talking about here in the ransom is redemption, redemption. He's given his life to buy a certain people. This was used to describe to buy a POW, a prisoner of war in Jesus's time or used to describe buying a criminal or describing the purchase of a slave, the price of redeeming. In 1st Timothy 2, 6, Jesus is described as the one mediator who gives himself a ransom for all. In Isaiah 53 in verses 10 to 12, we have a connection here between this passage, this verse and Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 perhaps the most well-known passage in the Old Testament. The connection is that we have the connection of servant is one point. There was a suffering servant Isaiah 53. Here you want to be the servant of all? Here's the real servant of all. Here's the real slave of all Jesus Christ. There's this connection with him pouring out his soul. Isaiah 53 verses 12 and 13. He needs to pour it out himself. He needs to pay a price. In Isaiah 53, 10, there's an offering for sin. And here, this ransom in Mark is the offering for sin. In Isaiah, there's one who's offered for many. Here in Mark 10, 45, there is one who is offered for many. He came into the world to accomplish this, to do this, the giving of this ransom price, this substitutionary penal atonement, this legal action, the substitution of one for many, a real price paid for people who are slaves to their own sin. Why did you need a ransom? Why do you need a ransom? Because apart from Christ, you are a slave. The Bible describes you as a slave to the law, a slave to keep the whole law. You're under the curse of the law if you don't keep the whole law. In Galatians 4, it describes how we were slaves under the ceremonial law. And we're also slaves to sin, slaves under the law, but then also slaves under sin, under the guilt and the power of sin. Sin makes it so that we cannot forgive ourselves. We cannot wash away our sin. We are stained with a permanent stain that only he can wash away. And we are slaves to a power, to our own hearts, to our own sin that only he can break those chains. That's how we are a slave. So this price, this price need to be paid. When you look at your own soul, you're gonna look at your own soul and see a price, a price to be freed from your own sin. A price need to be paid so that you would be free from the curse of the law. And you have no money to pay that price. This is what makes the gospel good news, that he came, that he would be a slave for us, that he would be a slave for us to die and pay a price we could not pay. Acts 20 describes how he purchased the church with his own blood. Titus 2 describes that he might ransom us from all iniquity and purify to himself of people for his own possession, those for good works. He pays this ransom. Pastor Rick referenced 1 Corinthians 6, he bought you with a price. He bought you with a price. And this was that great price. And in Revelation 5, the worship describes Jesus Christ as being slain and having redeemed us, having redeemed us to God by your blood from every tribe. They sing of this redemption, of this price. Look in Mark 10.45 and how it says his life a ransom, a ransom, and how his death was an example of servanthood. And he will connect these things, but it's much more than that. It's much more than an example. It is a payment for sin. And the Old Testament uses the same language, the same language in examples of all the different examples we set about buying from slavery or about delivering the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. So if this is a price to be paid and Jesus is a slave to pay it, who does he pay it to? Does he pay it to Satan, the ruler of this world? No, he does not pay it to Satan because then Satan would be the victor. No, there is no victory for Satan in the cross. He pays it to the Father. The Father is the offended party. Jesus is the offended party. And he pays this price. The Son humbles himself to pay this ransom. And what could pay the price? Only Jesus Christ. So stop and realize. Stop and remember. Stop and be recalibrated. Stop thinking of yourself the way the world does. Stop looking at yourself externally. And look and think. Praise Christ that he would hum and value him. Humbly worship him for his priestly work that he would make the way so we could be saved. He would be our substitute. Praise him for his example. One preacher said, you know, God declared let there be light and there was light. But he can't say, I declare you forgiven and you just be forgiven. You realize that? He can say, let there be light and declare it. But he cannot declare, you're forgiven, you're forgiven, you're forgiven. In order for there to be forgiveness, someone must absorb the price. Someone must take the price. If you understand Christianity apart from this, that God will just declare you forgiven. If you ask, you don't understand Christianity. There must be a price paid. Your hope must be in someone to pay that price. If you learn something about your car, like my mother-in-law, we borrow the car for this week. And if I crash it, who pays that price? She pays that price. She's a slave and a servant of all. You see the point of the illustration? Someone must pay the price in order for there to be true forgiveness. In order for her to say, I forgive you, Mark, there must be an absorption of that price. And so it is with the Savior. So it is with the Savior. I'm preaching to you the good news today. Do you hear it? Do you see it in Mark 10, 45? Do you see how it's for many a great number? Not for all, but for some, this particular price for a particular people, a definite price paid for definite a number of people. Are you in that number? If it has been a great number, shouldn't you be included in that number? Shouldn't it be for you? Shouldn't you, by faith, put your trust in Him to pay that price for you? Stop now and look at this text. We've covered two main things. Verses 35 to 41, we've seen a selfish request to be first. In verses 42 to 45, we've seen humbly choose to be last. How should you apply this? What should you do after hearing this sermon? First, do you trust Him for your soul? Are you a true Christian? Have you admitted your slavery to your sin? Have you seen that you need a Savior, someone to pay the price? You need a mediator. You need someone to buy you. You need Him in every way, shape and form, more than you can possibly imagine. Have you seen this truth? Has Christianity not just become Christianity, but has it become the gospel to you, the good news to you in particular? You will lose, you will forget everything from this sermon. You will get nothing out of sitting here and listening to me talk for an hour if you don't believe this. If you don't, more than losing an hour, you will lose your soul. You will lose your soul. Do you see this and believe in a Savior? Is it not just words on a page, but does it describe a person in whom you put all of your hope and dependence upon? Will you repent and admit you need to identify yourself this way as a slave who needs to be bought? Next, in another way to apply this, do you, how do you serve? When you serve at home and you are, your patience is running thin. You don't feel well? You're behind? You're late? Are you a slave? Are you a slave with your husband or your wife? Do you look at them and consider, how can I serve them? Or do you look at them and think, they don't serve me like they should? This text changes your identity. You want to be great at home? Motherhood is a, in a great way, service and our society works and rages against the, that idea of being something great. Instead, super girl is great. Instead, super mom is great. She's got one and a half kids and she's got the full, she's got her master's degree and she works at a great corporation and she goes home and has time for her one and a half kids. The way our society, in American society, rages against true service in the motherhood. If someone asks you, you're your occupation, are you ashamed to say, mother? Isn't it greatness? Isn't it service? You won't be ashamed in the kingdom to say that. What about the workplace? It's a dog eat dog world in order to get up. You got to make some compromises. This changes your identity, changes you to think who you are. That if Christ came to be a slave of all, to purchase me, shouldn't I be a slave of others and serve others? This changes how you think about ministry. You don't use ministry to say, I'm the greatest. I'm the greatest. I'm so mean I make medicine sick. Boy, can I preach. Boy, can I teach a lesson. Boy, can I pray. You should listen to me pray. I can't wait till they listen. They get the chance to hear me pray. Then I'll show them. If they knew how many Bible verses I memorized, they would want to learn from me. You've had thoughts like this. Don't lie to yourself. Don't lie to God. You have taken things from him that he's given to you. He's given them to you so that you might know him and love him and help others. And you've used it to try and make yourself better. Don't do that. Don't do that with whatever form of ministry you're in. Ministry is where God wants you to obey him and serve him. Whether that's a missionary in another country or whether that is here changing diapers and folding socks or witnessing to some industry or showing up to small group. God wants you to admit I'm a slave. I'm a slave. He was the greatest slave of all. I cannot compare to him. All true leadership has that mentality, has that understanding. If you're going to be a leader in any capacity, in any place as a Christian, you must have that understanding or you will not make it. You will not last. That is what you must apply. If you have any form of leadership, dad at home, in a government position, you're a supervisor, you are a leader in church, any sort of position leadership, you must apply this lesson. Apply what the disciples were to apply in their own leadership. And stop looking at the world. Stop being influenced by the world, by celebrities, athletes, musicians, businessmen, politicians, and turn to look at our Savior. So in these many ways, you can apply what Jesus has said here. To close, look one last time at the beauty of this verse in verse 45. The Son of Man, for even him, for even Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ came to be a slave, to what degree? He didn't come just to receive the best of this world. He came and received the worst of this world. Even the worst to the point of death on the cross, to drink in the cup, to drink in the wrath, to pay the price for all the worst of this world, for all the sins of all of those who repent and believe, he would pay for their price. If you can understand these words, trust in him, repent and believe in the gospel. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, we are a selfish people. We are a egotistical people. We need to be recalibrated by the gospel. We need the gospel to change us again and again, help us to consider these truths and to change the way that we present ourselves, the way we choose to act for ourselves, and help us to worship you by serving one another. Help us to worship you by repentance and faith. Please bless these dear people, Lord. Please bless them with your word. Please bless them with the understanding of the gospel. Please help them to grow in understanding of your will here in this text, what you want, and bless them with every good fruit. Lord, pray these things for your honor and your glory through them. You're the same. Amen.