Social Pressure Peril! Mark 15:1-15

Text: “And Jesus....said, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s…”

Mark 12:17.

Good morning, Christian civil servant!  Take care how you fulfil your social services to the State; beware of peer pressures; remember Pilate’s peril; and do what is right in God’s sight.

Sincere Christians serving the State in any given Christian democracy today must be diligent to withstand social pressures to govern or serve the State in manners contrary to God’s will.

 Subtle social pressures to serve Caesar at the expense of faithfulness to Christ are ever present to believers in such positions of civil service, and therefore the dangers of being a latter-day Pilate are manifold. Be vigilant, my friend! 

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8)

Pilate’s example of serving Caesar rather than the Lord God teaches us many things about social pressures today; and the peril of yielding to such pressures.  Social pressure can kill!

Pilate’s Perceptions: (V. 10) Pilate’s perceptions of Christ’s plight were sharp and plain.  He knew the Lord Jesus had been brought before him for judgment due to the envy of the chief priests.  Envy, too, is a killer! 

Beware of Envy: “For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him (Jesus) for envy.” (Mark 15:10) (Acts 7:9) (Proverbs 3:31)

Envy sent Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37:27); Daniel into the lion’s den (Daniel 6:16); and the Living Lord Jesus to the Cross at Calvary.  (Matthew 27:15-18)

Envy fuelled the social pressures to crucify the Saviour, but Pilate chose to yield to it.  (Proverbs 27:4)

The decision Pilate made that fateful day brought him infamy in posterity and damnation in Eternity, as opposed to the mere social approval he sought.  (Proverbs 16:8-16)

Pilate’s Pandering: (V. 15) Pandering is defined as the act of agreeing to, or gratifying the evil wishes of others in society.  God’s Word clearly reveals Pilate’s pandering to social pressures via his decision - against his own perceptions of what was right and just - to release the murdering rebel, Barabbas, and crucify the sinless Christ in his place.

Pilate served Caesar instead of God.  He bowed to social pressure, at the expense of serving the Lord.  He gained the world’s esteem - yet lost his own immortal and precious soul.  (Matthew 16:24-26)

Many Christians today who are employed by the government as policemen, prison warders; prison governors; social workers; doctors; and politicians - come under great social pressures to serve the State’s interests at the expense of personal faithfulness to God.

In many cases, their honest stand for truth against State corruption; justice against State tyranny; can cost them their jobs.  Yet, praise God, NOTHING can cost them their soul’s Salvation, and their profoundest peace of mind.  All things work together for their good! (Romans 8:28)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“These verses begin the chapter in which St. Mark de­scribes the slaying of “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” It is a part of the Gospel history which should always be read with peculiar reve­rence. We should call to mind, that Christ was cut off, not for Himself, but for us. (Daniel 9:26) We should remember that His death is the life of our souls, and that unless His blood had been shed, we must have perished miserably in our sins.

“Let us mark in these verses, what a striking proof the Jewish rulers gave to their own nation that the times of Messiah had come. The chapter opens with the fact, that the chief priests bound Jesus and “delivered Him to Pilate,” the Roman Governor. Why did they do so? Because they had no longer the power of putting any one to death, and were under the dominion of the Romans. By this one act and deed they declared that the prophecy of Jacob was fulfilled. “The sceptre had departed from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet,” and Shiloh the Messiah, whom God had promised to send, must have come. (Genesis 49:10) Yet there is nothing whatever to show that they remembered this prophecy. Their eyes were blinded. They either could not, or would not, see what they were doing.

“Let us never forget that wicked men are often fulfilling God’s predictions to their own ruin, and yet know it not. In the very height of their madness, folly, and unbelief, they are often unconsciously supplying fresh evidence that the Bible is true. The unhappy scoffers who make a jest of all serious religion, and can scarcely talk of Christianity without ridicule and scorn, would do well to remember that their conduct was long ago foreseen and foretold. “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.” (2 Peter 3:3) (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Christian Civil Servants, by refusing to serve Caesar (i.e., the State) at the expense of their faith, show true allegiance to Almighty Lord God and are saved by His grace from the ultimate peril of social pressures - a Christ-rejecter’s Hell.  Christian – do what is right!

Thought: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve...” - the Lord God, or some worldly Government Caesar?

Jesus Declares His Full Deity! Mark 14:60-72

Text: “…Again the high priest asked Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? (Capital B) And Jesus said, I AM: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven.”

Mark 14:61-62.

 “And Moses said unto God, Behold (look closely, and fully understand), when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His Name? What shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

Exodus 3:13-14.

God morning, Fully-believing Christian!  Not for you some half-way-house belief in the Lord God, or some parttime belief in the veracity of God’s revealed will.  No!  You and I are called to be 100% Bible-believing Christians, fully-believing Christians, or we are not true Christians at all! Fact. 

Those that quibble and hesitate, and falter in belief that Jesus Christ IS, was, and Eternally has been, and Eternally shall be – God of Very God, the Creator of this entire world, and mankind in Adam – are NOT genuine Christians at all.  FACT! 

We have God’s own inspired Word on this vital matter: “He that believeth (continual verb: believes and continues to believe; trusts, and continues to trust) on Him (Jesus Christ) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18) Now, this is as clear as a bell, right?

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him (God the Father) that sent Me (God the Son), hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)

The Lord Jesus Christ is, was, and always shall be God of Very God. Believe it, dear friend, for there is no Salvation for those that do not believe this vital fact of Salvation. Believing that Jesus Christ was a very good man; or God’s example of what we should be as Christians – is just NOT ENOUGH to be Eternally saved.  But it is enough to be Eternally lost!  Jesus Christ IS the Lord God.  If you are to miss some fact of faith – don’t let it be this one!

The Apostle Paul writes (at all times in the full inspirational authority of God the Holy Ghost) “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself (by the incarnation – God in bodily form) of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient (to God the Father’s will) unto death, even the death of the Cross. Wherefore (a conclusion) God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Philippians 2:5-11) Amen! Hallelujah!

J.C. Ryle Comments:

Let us observe, lastly, in these verses, what distinct testimony our Lord bore to His own Messiahship, and second advent in glory. The high priest asks Him the solemn question, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” He receives at once the emphatic reply, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”

“These words of our Lord ought always to be had in remembrance. The Jews could never say after these words, that they were not clearly told that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God. Before the great council of their priests and elders, He declared, “I am the Christ.” The Jews could never say after these words, that He was so lowly and poor a person, that He was not worthy to be believed. He warned them plainly that His glory and greatness was all yet to come. They were only deferred and postponed till His second advent. They would yet see Him in royal power and majesty, “sitting on the right hand of power,” coming in the clouds of heaven, a Judge, a Conqueror, and a King. If Israel was unbelieving, it was not because Israel was not told what to believe.

“Let us leave the passage with a deep sense of the reality and certainty of our Lord Jesus Christ’s second coming. Once more at the very end of His ministry, and in the face of His deadly enemies, we find Him asserting the mighty truth that He will come again to judge the world. Let it be one of the leading truths in our own personal Christianity. Let us live in the daily recollection, that our Saviour is one day coming back to this world. Let the Christ in whom we believe, be not only the Christ who died for us and rose again, the Christ who lives for us and intercedes, but the Christ who will one day return in glory, to gather together and reward His people, and to punish fearfully all His enemies.” (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

The high priests and religious rulers of Jerusalem reacted to Christ’s declaration of His full deity by accusing Him of ‘blasphemy’!  Then they proceeded to ‘…condemned Him to be guilty of death…spit on Him…cover His face…buffet Him (punch Him hard), torment Him; and “the servants did strike Him with their hands.” 

Hell will be so much more torturous to those that have treated the Christ of God, and His Christian followers, with such brutal contempt.

Peter was faithful enough to follow Christ into the heart of the conflict – but then began to ‘warm himself at the fire of the world’.  Are Christians like you and I doing the same today?  Are we obvious Christians when in the company of other believers, then warming ourselves at the fires of the world when we are not?  Sobering thought, beloved in Christ.

Thought: Keep fully believing that Jesus is the Christ – God of Very God – He is risen! Hallelujah!

An Abundance of False Witnesses! Mark 14:55-59

Text: “And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many bare false witness against Him, but their witness agreed not together.”

Mark 14:55-56.

 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”                                                                                                      Exodus 20:16.                                                                                                              “Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”                                                                                                                                        Exodus 23:1.                                                                                    

Good morning, Commandment-honouring Christian!  Praise God for Christian believers who take God’s Ten Commandments to be profoundly serious instructions for living obedient lives in Christ Jesus! You do well, dear sister! You do well, dear brother! The Lord is pleased with us when we hear His Commandments with our hearts, and seek diligently to obey them, in the ever-given power of God the Holy Spirit, and to the best of our all-to-often weak and human fallibilities. Praise the Lord for Commandment-honouring Christians!

The alternative to being Commandment-honouring Christians, is a consequence too dire to consider.  If the Lord God has spoken to our hearts/minds – we should be careful to obey His Word.

“And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold (look and fully understand) to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because thou (king Saul) hast rejected the Word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king. And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.”  (1 Samuel 15:22-24)

Disobedience doomed Saul to an ignominious future and eventual defeat in death.  Let us continue to obey God’s Word, especially His Ten Commandments.  Apparently, the Roman Catholic religious system has recently removed the Second Commandment from Roman Catholic Bibles, I wonder why? (Exodus 20:3-6) Could it have anything to do with worshipping ‘graven-images’, or idols of what they call ‘Mary, the queen of heaven’?  Beware such disobedience. (Jeremiah 44:15-30)

However, true and genuine Bible-believing, Spiritually regenerate Christians may also fail, fall, and falter in our faith. Show me the Christian who has never sinned, and I will show you the altogether pure, Holy, and ever-victorious Jesus Christ alone.  (Hebrews 4:15-16)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

Let us notice, lastly, in these verses, how much the faith of true believers may give way. We are told that when Judas and his company laid hands on our Lord, and He quietly submitted to be taken prisoner, the eleven disciples “all forsook Him and fled.”

“Perhaps up to that moment they were buoyed up by the hope that our Lord would work a miracle, and set Himself free. But when they saw no miracle worked, their courage failed them entirely. Their former protestations were all forgotten. Their promises to die with their Master, rather than deny Him, were all cast to the winds. The fear of present danger got the better of faith. The sense of immediate peril drove every other feeling out of their minds. They “all forsook him and fled.”

“There is something deeply instructive in this incident. It deserves the attentive study of all professing Chris­tians. Happy is he who marks the conduct of our Lord’s disciples, and gathers from it wisdom!

“Let us learn from the flight of these eleven disciples, not to be over confident in our own strength. The fear of man does indeed bring a snare. We never know what we may do, if we are tempted, or to what extent our faith may give way. Let us be clothed with humility.

“Let us learn to be charitable in our judgment of other Christians. Let us not expect too much from them, or set them down as having no grace at all, if we see them overtaken in a fault. Let us not forget that even our Lord’s chosen apostles forsook Him in His time of need. Yet they rose again by repentance, and became pillars of the Church of Christ.

“Finally, let us leave the passage with a deep sense of our Lord’s ability to sympathize with His believing people. If there is one trial greater than another, it is the trial of being disappointed in those we love. It is a bitter cup, which all true Christians have frequently to drink. Ministers fail them. Relations fail them. Friends fail them. One cistern after another proves to be broken, and to hold no water. But let them take comfort in the thought, that there is one unfailing Friend, even Jesus, who can be touched with the feeling of their infirmities, and has tasted of all their sorrows. Jesus knows what it is to see friends and disciples failing Him in the hour of need. Yet He bore it patiently, and loved them not­withstanding all. He is never weary of forgiving. Let us strive to do likewise. Jesus, at any rate, will never fail us. It is written, “His compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3.22)

“Footnote: The question has often been asked, “Who was the ‘certain young man,’ mentioned at the end of this passage, on whom the young men laid hold, and who fled away naked?” (Mark 14:51-52) St. Mark is the only evangelist who relates this circumstance; and he has given us no clue to further knowledge as to who it was, or why the event is mentioned.

“No satisfactory answer to these questions has yet been given. The utmost that can be said of any of the explanations attempted, is, that they are conjectures and speculations.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

One thing this young man had in common with Christ’s disciples, he too ‘…fled from them naked…’  Even the most faithful Christian man/woman is still merely a man or a woman. We must trust in Christ.

Thought: Let us seek God’s help to be faithful and true witnesses for Christ, daily.