His disciples leave everything
-or-
Breaking the insanity of sinful man
Mark 1:16-20
Impact march 2
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.Mk 1:16-20
Hetty Green
Let me tell you the story of Hetty Green. (hand out picture of her.)
Hetty Green was the richest woman in the world. At the time that she lived, about a hundred years ago, so accumulated a fortune of over $200 million. A hundred years ago that was an insanely large amount of money.
She was not a very nice lady. She was called the “witch of wall street”, being a ruthless business woman. But that is not what is most shocking about her. Most shocking is what she did with her money. Nothing. She never spent a dime of it. Here she was, sitting on more money than she could ever spend, and she lived in a small rented room, one that you would not stay in for a night. She would find the cheapest, shabbiest places, and rent a room. She had only two sets of clothes, both black, and would wear them until they were in tatters. She would not wash them unless absolutely needed, and even then she would instruct the cleaners to wash only the part that was dirty. She lived almost completely on small pies that were sold on the street for 15 cents. She never used hot water or turned on the heat. She even refused to pay rent for an office for her business, and would do her work out of the banks where she stored her money.
Worst of all, her insanity effected not just her. Her son, when he was little, was hurt in a sledding accident. His leg was badly injured, but she refused to take him to the hospital. She dressed him in rags, and disguised herself, and tried to get him free charity care at the hospital. When that didn’t work, she took him home and tried to care for him herself. Eventually, his leg became infected and had to be amputated. Doctors said it could have easily been saved if she had simply paid for the doctor.
Hetty Green was indeed a sick woman. What drove her to do what she did? No one knows for sure. Some say she was afraid that others would steal her money, so she tried to convince everyone that she was really poor. Others thought that she was just simply insane, out of touch with reality, not realizing she could never spend all her money. One thing I can say for sure about Hetty. You are just like her.
Refusing to live
You, like Hetty, refuse to take what is so available to you. In a sense, Hetty never really lived. She just worked, and worried, and carried out an existence we would wish on no one, all along she had the resources to really live. You are just like that. I look around at you and I see Hetty Greens, and it breaks my heart. You have the resources to really live, you have treasure beyond anything you can ever understand, more than you could ever spend, and you go on with your own dirty set of clothes, eating the cheapest food you can find, scared to death you will lose the little bit you have.
You right now are being called to really live.
Do you understand that? The fact that you are here, that is evidence that God is calling you to really live, maybe for the first time.
What are you living for?
Are you really ok with living the same, ordinary, empty life that everyone else lives? Do you really think it will be different for you? Do you think that somehow, for you, you will find out the secret to be happy, you will finally get what everyone else is looking for but never finds? You will be one exception?
Sure, there are many who look happy and pretend to be ok. But you know as well as I do that the truth is sometimes we do the same, and inside we know something is missing, something is not right.
Look, I want to appeal to you, please consider- aren’t you sick of the fake, empty, half living that you have been doing? Are you not sick of 15 cent pies and the same two sets of shabby clothes?
Look at her picture. Look at Hetty Green. Is that you? Aren’t you tired of it?
I wonder if the disciples were tired of it when Jesus called to them. I don’t know. They are just going about their daily work, their normal lives. Did they often think of what was missing. They weren’t out partying, or stealing, or anything like that, but they were not living for what they were created. They were not doing what they were designed to do. We are all created to do more than just survive, to just settle for what this world can give us. We were created for more.
For some reason, on this day it got through to the disciples-
16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.Mk 1:16-20
They leave everything. In an instant, in one call, at one moment. They wake up, they see that they are to live for more- and everything changes.
Breaking through the insanity
But like Hetty, we are trapped in insanity. I can stand here today and give the best message of my life, and you still won’t wake up to the truth. You will not answer that call, unless God wakes you up.
Do you know how he wakes you up?
It is going to have to be a powerful call.
We are so cynical, we need great power to awaken us. We are so ready to dismiss any chance of hope. This can’t work for us. There is no hope for me. No one will show us any good.
Jesus calls, He screams to us, but what do we think of his words? He even appeals to that longing in us, that deep, empty feeling, that knowledge that we are not at peace with God, and something is not right.
“Is anyone thirsty?”, he cries out. “let him come to me…” yet the crowds do not flock to him. Many want him dead for what he says.
Insanity.
Insanity explained
Listen, is why I say we are insane-
Everything that you do, you do it for your happiness. That is not the insane part. Everything that everyone does, they do because they think that it will make them happy. At first we might think that this is not true, people do all kinds of painful and difficult things, don’t they? But I am suggesting that the reason they do it is because if they didn’t, they would not be as happy as if they did it. So in everything, our motive is our happiness.
Got it? (any questions?)
We are motivated, and we are built this way- to do what will make us most happy.
That is not evil, or a problem. The problem comes in when we examine what we believe will make us most happy. And here is where we get into trouble. Because God is calling to us, and telling us that He is what will make us most happy. But- now, here is the insanity- we don’t believe He will actually be able to do what he says. We think- consider this, it is true- we really think that the things that are made are better than the maker. We really think that we can figure out how to satisfy ourselves better than our maker can. He doesn’t know, we think, how to give us what we need. We are better off without Him. The source of truth is a liar, the source of beauty will give us ugliness, the perfect one will give us defective goods. This is insanity.
Hosea
God has to break through our insanity.
How?
The answer to how is in the book of Hosea.
Hosea is written to a people who are living in insanity. Like Hetty, like you and me, they are living in emptiness, satisfying themselves with 15 cent pies. Turning away from all the good that is offered them.
It is a book written by a man named Hosea, a prophet, who God sends to talk to a people called the Jews. (if you are familiar with the book, just think about it as for the first time.) Hosea brings a message to the Israelites from God.
The Jews are running away from God. God is calling them, and they are running away. In their insanity, they think that they have found something better than God. God has throughout their history given them good things, and they have over and over again run away from Him.
Running from the one who gives good things
But you wouldn’t do that, right? If God gave you good things, you wouldn’t run away. The problem is that God doesn’t give you good things, right?
No. You are the same. God gives you good things, and you run away from the one who gives you good things!
16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Ac 14:16-17
God has, for all people at all times, satisfied hearts. And they have run away from the one who is raining blessings on their heads. They have run away from the one who gives food and gladness. And so do you. That is insanity my friends.
And God has strong words for them about all of this. The book opens with a very shocking command to Hosea. Hosea is commanded to marry a prostitute.
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Ho 1:2-3
Why? You see what God is saying. He is saying that he feels like a husband who is abandoned. He has given good things to his wife, Israel, and she is not faithful. And he wants to paint this picture for them, and Hosea , as His prophet, shows the people what they have done. He is saying “Hosea, I want you to feel what I feel. I want you to understand, and communicate to the people what I feel.”
Can you imagine, God feels like you are an unfaithful bride. This is his message to the Jews. He has blessed them, and committed to them, promised them he would love them and deliver them and provide for them, and they are running away from the blessings.
Crediting our evil with the good things
But it is worse than that.
Not only are the Jews running away from the one who blesses them, they think that their running away is the reason they are doing so good. They credit their sin and rebellion with their blessings!
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
Ho 2:5
What she is saying is that her lovers, that is, the things she is turning to to be satisfied, they have given her all the blessings she has.
What were they doing? They had set up other gods. Statues in their fields to bless the crops. Temples in their towns to keep enemies away. And they thanked these false gods for protecting them and giving them food.
This is just like us, and it is scandalous. God is the one who gives you every good thing you have, every blessings, every smile, the glad hearts and full stomachs you have. And we thank our rebellion. We run away from God, we do what he says not to do, give him no credit for anything at all, and then think that our happiness is the result of our sin. It is like being really good at a sport, and thinking “wow, look at me, look at the attention and benefits I get…” and not realizing God has given you that ability. Or it is like partying with friends, and enjoying them, and then ignoring the fact that they are given to you by God, and you are misusing them and sinning with them. Or like running after the pleasures of the world, and enjoying them, and saying “ah, that’s so wonderful, all that this sin gets me” and forgetting that it is God who blesses you with a body and senses that function that makes it possible for you to enjoy anything to begin with. And He gives you these blessings so that you can see His goodness, and to point you to Him. But, the insanity is we fall in love with the blessings, and not the blesser. It is like a husband who falls so in love with his wife’s cooking and affection that he loves it more than her. It is like having a friend who loves what you get them more than they like you. It is evil, and it is insane.
God intervenes
So how will God stop this insanity?
Blocking the paths
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
Ho 2:6
The first thing he does is he blocks the paths to what we want. Perhaps not completely. But he makes it difficult for us to get to these things. The pleasures are shaken up a bit. Access is cut, or made more difficult. He is trying to show us that HE is the source, and that if we fall in love with the blessings, and not the blesser, we will end up heartbroken.
You may have experienced this mercy of God. In your rebellion and running away, you may have seen some of the things you set your heart on taken away.
But this does not do anything. This does not wake us up. It usually just makes us mad at God. It makes us more willing to run away from him and try and be satisfied in other things. How dare he take away what is most precious?
It is going to take more than this to wake us up from our insanity.
What will it be? Will he have to kill forever what we want? Will he have to punish us harshly?
Alluring His Bride
Amazingly, God’s response to our failure to answer his call, his response to our preferring 15 cent pies to his greatness, is not to punish us.
14 “ Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Ho 2:14-20
He will have to teach us that what we have wanted all along is not the things, but the giver of the things. That they were only hints, that he is the real desire. And he does this with a powerful display of his love. We have judged God, the giver of all good things- as not good enough. We have said he is not sufficient. We have not walked away like the disciples, and followed God, because we do not believe that God will be able to make up for the lose. Do you see the insanity in this?
And let me remind you- this is not a small thing to do. This is a great insult to God- so great that it breaks our relationship with him, and we are not at peace with him anymore. We are in rebellion, and upon death will not find God as our husband, and heaven as our home. We have not wanted him.
We are running away from Him. And His response is to allure us. He will put on a display of love that cannot be matched.
What does he do?
And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. Ho 3:1-2
First, notice again he is pointing out her insanity. “Raisin cakes” makes an unusual appearance here. The comparison is God to cakes of raisins. They are insane, guys. They want cakes of raisins over the Creator of the universe.
Don’t pass that up to quickly. Think about it. Think about your choices. Think about how you live. Think about what you want and how you are so quick to trade God away.
Yet, he tells Hosea to go and purchase her. And not only that, but to love her.
What trouble did she get into that she has to be bought back? We don’t know, but we sure can imagine with the type of life she was living, she was in need. And her price is small, and it shows she is for the most part worthless to her society. And the command- “go, to this whore, this worthless one, and love her. And buy her back.”
This is what God does for Israel. He is going to purchase her, and He loves her. She is doing nothing good. She is not seeking him. She is not trusting he is good. He goes and buys her. And he loves her.
And this is what he does for you.
What kind of love are you walking away from?
Listen, He is calling to you tonight. He is trying to wake you from your insanity. So am I.
Before you refuse his call and walk away tonight, make sure you realize what it is you are turning away from. Maybe that will help you see the insanity of what you are doing.
Ask- “What kind of a love is this that God has, that you want no part of?”
It is a love that is patient. Has he given up on you? Though you have spent so many days rebelling, he is still calling. You are still breathing and hearing my words, aren’t you? Is this a coincidence? He is calling to you even now. He is patient, he is so patient. Where could you find this love in the world? Who would put up with this much abuse and still love in this way?
It is a love that is kind. He has given you so much. All of the blessings you have are his gifts of love. Think of all you have, think of all the care he has provided. Not because you are good, but because he loves you.
It is a love in the face of hate. This is what you must see- he has given all those things while you doubted his goodness. More than that, while you rebelled and often hated him, while you ignored him. His love is still there. Even though you hate him, even if you leave here tonight hating him, he loves you, and you will still have blessings, screaming to you- “wake up!”
It is a love that holds no record of wrongs. How this is needed. I am certain you do not understand the wrongs that you have done, if you did, you would be weeping right now. If you understood that you have done so much worse than Israel, if you understood that you have treated him so poorly, like an adulterous wife, you would be heartbroken. But he is willing to forgive it all. He will keep no record of wrongs. He will take away all memory of what you did.
It is an eternal love. How long will the love of your friends last? How long will that earthly love you seek really be there for you? His is eternal and unchanging.
It is an unconditional love- that is, not offered you because you are good. Not like the love you are offered by those around you. They love you only because of what they can get out of you. Hosea was doing nothing good when she was bought and loved. It is not based on what you do, or how good you can be. It is just love because He loves.
It is the love that we have always wanted.
“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which hardly can be put into words- to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. … At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.”
- CS Lewis, the weight of Glory
It is a proven love. Many of you hear this, and you wonder “how can I trust?” How do you know that this love is real? He proved his love for you in how he bought you back.
Jesus Christ walked the earth as a man, and died a horrible death. He drank the cup of God’s wrath for you. You earned wrath because of your rebellion, and because you have considered God not worthy or sufficient. That must be punished. And God sent his own son to take it for you- he did it with willing love. He has taken your pain away, he has been your substitute. The cross is his proof- proof first of your sin, that you did do something worthy of death. And also proof of his love.
It is an immeasurable love. It is a love that takes your punishment. It is a love that gives you the righteousness you need.
Song- “beloved”
Love of my life
Look deep in my eyes
There you will find what you need
Give me your life
Lust and the lies
The past you’re afraid I might see
You’ve been running away from me
You’re my beloved
Lover I’m yours
Death shall not part us
It’s you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we’ll be
Our Love it unites us
It binds you to me
It’s a mystery
Love of my life
Look deep in my eyes
There you will find what you need
I‘m the giver of life
I’ll clothe you in white
My immaculate bride you will be
Oh come running home to me
You’re my beloved
Lover I’m yours
Death shall not part us
It’s you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we’ll be
Our Love it unites us
It binds you to me
Well you’ve been a mistress, my wife
Chasing lovers it won’t satisfy
Won’t you let me make you my bride
You will drink of my lips
And you’ll taste new life
Cause you’re my beloved
Lover I’m yours
Death shall not part us
It’s you I died for
For better or worse
Forever we’ll be
Our Love it unites us
& it binds you to me
You’re my beloved
Forever we’ll be
Our love it unites us
And it binds you to me
It’s a mystery
It’s a mystery
And if you decide to not take this love for yourself tonight, let me remind you of what you turn back to.
You turn back to lies.
You turn back to the fake ways of the world.
You turn to what you know will never satisfy you no matter how much of it you get.
We don’t want him.
We don’t want the one who touches lepers.
not the one who gives us food and drink.
not the one who forgives sin.
not the one who welcomes outcasts.
not the one who raises the guilty dead.
not the one who offers life to those who murder him.
not the one who in spite of our murders, gives life.
not the one who continues to bless a world we have given to evil.
Beloved, you are not here tonight to turn away from this love. You are here tonight to surrender to it. Trust Him, and give up- hand yourself entirely to Him.
Understand- you have forsaken this love, you have trampled this beautiful love as though it were garbage- and he still loves.
The punishment for what you have done in insulting him is more than you can imagine. You deserve to never feel love again. That punishment was taken. He offers forgiveness to you, to all who will trust in Christ to take away that penalty for sin, and give them a righteousness that they could not earn.
Look deep into the eyes of God and see what you have always wanted. And find a savior from your destructive behavior. Run no more- embrace Him.
Will you answer His call, and surrender, or will you continue to hold on to the hope that something else will give you what you need? I leave you with the picture of Hetty Green to take home. Will you go back to your 15 cent pies, or will you look at her, and think “no more”, and embrace His love?
Monday, June 23, 2008
A voice in the Wilderness
Fall 07 Mark message 1, 1:1-8
A voice in the Wilderness
Have you ever thought that it seemed like God was not hearing you when you prayed? That God was silent?
Have you ever felt distant from Him? Have you ever felt like there was no hope- that God was not interested in rescuing you from your sin and foolishness? Did you ever wonder if God hears you, and if He will rescue you?
Have you ever felt like there is something wrong with the world? Something is just not right- in your heart, in the world, all over?
I saw the leaves this fall, they were beautiful, did you notice? And there is this one house in particular on our block, well, a block away, and its not well kept, and its falling apart, and the people who live there are not saints. They have no care for God. And yet I saw one day that their entire home, yard, car, their entire lives, were covered by leaves. Beautiful, colorful, magnificent colors. As if God were bestowing upon them a blessing that would certainly be missed, and was certainly not deserved, but that He could not help bestowing in His goodness. And they sat there, covered in this beauty, in utter rebellion. Perhaps even complaining about all the leaves. (I wonder how many times i have done something similar?) God’s judgment is just for such things. But it is not right, that this would be- that the world would not see His beauty and honor Him.
Then I had this beautiful tree outside my window while I worked. Full of oranges and yellows and even reds. And in one night the wind robbed me of that view. (I of course deserved this as much as the family down the street.) And it was such a reminder to me- all is not well here. Nothing good lasts. This is a place of fleeting pleasures.
There was something wrong with the world. something is incomplete.
We are so often let down and betrayed here. And sometimes we wonder, will God leave us too? Will he hear us? Will he answer? We know, and are often reminded, that it would be more than fair for him to leave us. It would be fair, since we have betrayed him, to simply be left all alone, with no hope. That would be fair, and we know that, and it causes us to fear even more. What if He never rescues us?
This is how the man we are going to look at tonight felt.
I want you to feel the weight of that. I want you to understand the weight of that silence from God. There was a time when people had not heard from God for 500 years. Can you imagine? After the OT closed, there was silence from God.
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Lk 1:5-7
Zechariah. A priest, and he has no children. Something is wrong. This priest, this man who was a blameless man- he had faith in God, he trusted God was good and would deliver him. Yet he knew something was wrong. They had no children, in that day it was a curse. He knew that the world was not right. He served the people as a priest in a time when the prophets had been silent for five hundred years. Can you imagine being a priest at that time- no word from God.
Not only that, but the people of God were overrun by Rome, owned by them. It was clear that they had been abandoned. They were left as prisoners.
The God who would deliver- where was he?
There were Pharisees and others who trusted in their own goodness- their jewishness, to save them. Most of the people did this. “We are the Jews, we will eventually be saved. we will certainly not be cast into hell.”
But there were those who knew what the Romans occupation was about. I believe Zechariah, being righteous, he knew. He knew that this was God's judgment. As was his wife's barrenness. The world was not right. He knew it. The world was broken. The world was lost. The Jews were judged by God- and the Jews were God’s people- the only way of salvation for anyone on earth- through the Jews. You realize this, right? The only way was to become a follower of the one true God, and that God was the God of Israel. And this people, the people of God, were captured. Imagine all the churches destroyed, all the bibles burned. That still does not give you the image. Imagine they dug up the body of Christ, and showed it to you- and he was still dead. This is a bit of the hopelessness that these people faced. All that was promised was gone. Now, it is a bit different in that they were told this would happen if they abandoned God- yet, the feeling is much the same. All is lost.
And yet Zechariah and others did not give up hope, they waited on God. He waited for Him to deliver.
I am sure that he cried out to God many times- as did many faithful Jews- to God to deliver. But there was silence. Can you imagine 500 years of silence from God?
They had transgressed. They had rebelled against God so bad. He had over and over come to them and blessed them, and they had don’t nothing but refuse the blessings.
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘ I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
Ho 2:4-8
This is what they did. They took his good things, and thanked a false god for them, and then used them to worship other gods. they, in modern language, broke God's heart. They grieved him. And they made him jealous.
And Rome comes in, and captures them, and there they sit. Waiting. In silence.
And Zechariah is a priest during this time. He would go in to the temple, and offer sacrifices for the people, and for himself. I wonder how many times he wished he had some sacrifice he could bring to make God happy again. I wonder how many times he wished he had something to bring to make up for all the many sins of him and his people.
I wonder how many times you have felt that way- that you wished you had something to bring to God to make him smile upon you, to bring peace between you and him, to make everything ok- to break His silence.
I think this song says well what Zechariah felt-
(song- deliver us.)
But God would not leave it this way. There is hope at the end of that song- and there is always hope with God. God was preparing to do something new. Our God is a God of hope- of mercy. There was hope.
A child will be born
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,
Lk 1:8-24
And so Zechariah goes into the temple to do his priestly duties, and he encounters an angel. Gabriel himself. Amazingly, he doubts the words! Yet, and get this- it does not depend on Zechariah’s faith, but on God's plan. And God blesses them. And his wife becomes pregnant.
This is such a good picture for us! a blessing! something new! There is blessing on the horizon! something wonderful! What a wonderful way to bring this new news, this good news, but to bring new life into the world.
And the baby is born, and so they name the child, and Zechariah calls him “John”, and his mouth is opened and he speaks!
and Zechariah prophecies-
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Lk 1:67-80
Deliverance! redemption! a prophet!!! God will no longer be silent! He will now speak, after 500 years, he will break the silence!
What will he say? How exciting it would be! And it should be for you- God has broken the silence. He speaks.
This is what he prophesied he would do many years early in that same book of Hosea-
14 “ Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Ho 2:14-20
God will allure his people. He will win them over. He will bring them into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her there.
Where will he bring her? the wilderness…
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“ Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Mk 1:1-8
The voice of one crying in the wilderness!
This is it! This is the voice promised, the voice that will speak tenderly!
God has spoken to his people before in the wilderness. He always chooses the wilderness to speak to them to start something new. something wonderful.
He spoke to Moses in the wilderness.
He spoke to the people of Israel in the wilderness.
Why did John the Baptist preach in the wilderness? Because whenever God starts something new with his people, he speaks to them in the wilderness. This is the starting place. And something new has come.
John the Baptist was the last great prophet. Spoken of in the OT. He brings the first word of God after the silence!
Look at the last verse of your OT-
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Mal 4:5-6
sound familiar? it was what was spoken to Zechariah. This John is a prophet in the Spirit of Elijah.
look at what he wore. look at what is said of Elijah-
8 They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
2 Ki 1:8
the people were told one day they would hear a voice in the wilderness, a great prophet, and he would prepare the way for the Messiah, the savior.
3 A voice cries:
“ In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Is 40:3
A new hope, unmerited Favor
I want you to feel the desperation of this people, and the hope that is kindled when a prophet speaks. I want you to feel it, because i pray it will awaken in you the desperation we all should feel in this world.
I wonder if you feel desperate to hear from God, I wonder if you feel scared to think that perhaps God will not speak, that he will remain silent, you will not hear from Him, there will be no deliverance, no redemption for you.
You do not have to fear that. You do not have to wonder that. God has spoken. He has brought a prophet to deliver to you good news. What kind of news? What is the message?
You read it- Zechariah told us!
Doubt on our part?
The problem is we don’t believe it.
I have a cat named Emma. And when Emma, who is very scared of people, needs to go to the vet, we have trouble getting her there. She does like food a lot, and we can get food, and offer it to her. But, when I get the cat carrier out, and set it down, and then take out the cat treats, and set them before her, and call her over, and hold them out, what she does is very interesting. She comes over, and smells around, and looks at me, and most of the time, even though she loves food, she will not take it, or come close enough for me to grab her. The whole thing seems too suspicious to her. She doesn’t trust it.
I think the same thing is true with you. You are just like Emma in that God is holding out his hand, and offering good things, and you smell around it, and doubt the goodness of the one whose hand it is in, and walk away.
What God is offering is good, and it is something you like, just as much as emma likes food.
Look at what is offered again-
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Knowledge of salvation- rescue from sins. The shadow of death that you sit under will be lifted!
Death will be defeated, sin will be defeated, all your fears will be removed, and God will smile upon you. You will be at peace with Him.
Your heart has longed for Him, he has designed the universe to make it so- He has left a witness of Himself to make you ache for Him-
16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Ac 14:16-17
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, Ac 17:26-27
He has also placed where you live, what you would do, who your parents would be, and this very moment right now in his plan, that you would seek Him. That you would see that in your heart there is a need for something more.
The leaves fall off the trees, guys. The beauty all around you fades. The good we see and love dies.
This is all a blessing from Him, all a hinting to us that something more is needed, something more is wanted. All excitement here ends in disappointment. All hope placed in things here will not satisfy, and from trusting in these things around you you have to turn.
This is the message that John Brings- Repent. Do you know what it means? We will look much more at it next week, but I want you to see that you need to turn from trusting in things here to be your all in all, and turn to Him to be your all in all.
Don’t you miss Him? Doesn’t your heart ache after Him?
(miss him song)
Does that song mean anything to anyone here?
If so, the fact that God has spoken and revealed to you that He has not left you, that there is a way, that is good news.
This book is about that way. Mark tells the story of the new way, the new thing God has done to bring peace between you and God.
His hand is open to you, he offers redemption. Forgiveness. Have you looked into his hand and doubted?
Do you want Him?
I want you to understand something tonight- if you doubt his goodness is for you tonight, make sure you understand who sent John.
What do I mean?
You didn’t send for john to come preach to you. You were in the darkness. You were in the night. You were without hope. He- HE, the offended one, the one we rebelled against- He sent John. He sent hope.
And understand, you didn’t send for Jesus. No. you would have nailed him to the Cross to get rid of Him. You didn’t send for Him, he came for you.
And understand, you did not seek out the Name of God. You did not seek all your might until you found Him, and then, as a reward for your seeking, He gave you salvation. No. he sought you out. He found you.
And understand- you didn’t move your heart to come here tonight. Some of you may not be here for Him, you did not come here to find Him. Yet, even you, you who did not come here to hear about his goodness to you, He has given you a great gift- he has sought you out, and brought you here. Why? To tell you of His love for you, to whisper to you of His love. To let the leaves fall all over your rebellion, until you could resist it no longer.
Think of that with every leaf you see this fall. And think about how that goodness is neglected. With every pile of leaves you see, sitting uncared for, raked away, think of the goodness he has offered, that has been pushed aside like so much trash.
The truth is, you do not want Him, yet, He has sought you out. You could not have come to Him. You are crippled, and weak, and empty.
You are here tonight because He has carried you here.
And He will carry you further. Do you want that?
He will carry you to His table, and bless you there.
And what is the application?
Think about this. And love Him.
A voice in the Wilderness
Have you ever thought that it seemed like God was not hearing you when you prayed? That God was silent?
Have you ever felt distant from Him? Have you ever felt like there was no hope- that God was not interested in rescuing you from your sin and foolishness? Did you ever wonder if God hears you, and if He will rescue you?
Have you ever felt like there is something wrong with the world? Something is just not right- in your heart, in the world, all over?
I saw the leaves this fall, they were beautiful, did you notice? And there is this one house in particular on our block, well, a block away, and its not well kept, and its falling apart, and the people who live there are not saints. They have no care for God. And yet I saw one day that their entire home, yard, car, their entire lives, were covered by leaves. Beautiful, colorful, magnificent colors. As if God were bestowing upon them a blessing that would certainly be missed, and was certainly not deserved, but that He could not help bestowing in His goodness. And they sat there, covered in this beauty, in utter rebellion. Perhaps even complaining about all the leaves. (I wonder how many times i have done something similar?) God’s judgment is just for such things. But it is not right, that this would be- that the world would not see His beauty and honor Him.
Then I had this beautiful tree outside my window while I worked. Full of oranges and yellows and even reds. And in one night the wind robbed me of that view. (I of course deserved this as much as the family down the street.) And it was such a reminder to me- all is not well here. Nothing good lasts. This is a place of fleeting pleasures.
There was something wrong with the world. something is incomplete.
We are so often let down and betrayed here. And sometimes we wonder, will God leave us too? Will he hear us? Will he answer? We know, and are often reminded, that it would be more than fair for him to leave us. It would be fair, since we have betrayed him, to simply be left all alone, with no hope. That would be fair, and we know that, and it causes us to fear even more. What if He never rescues us?
This is how the man we are going to look at tonight felt.
I want you to feel the weight of that. I want you to understand the weight of that silence from God. There was a time when people had not heard from God for 500 years. Can you imagine? After the OT closed, there was silence from God.
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Lk 1:5-7
Zechariah. A priest, and he has no children. Something is wrong. This priest, this man who was a blameless man- he had faith in God, he trusted God was good and would deliver him. Yet he knew something was wrong. They had no children, in that day it was a curse. He knew that the world was not right. He served the people as a priest in a time when the prophets had been silent for five hundred years. Can you imagine being a priest at that time- no word from God.
Not only that, but the people of God were overrun by Rome, owned by them. It was clear that they had been abandoned. They were left as prisoners.
The God who would deliver- where was he?
There were Pharisees and others who trusted in their own goodness- their jewishness, to save them. Most of the people did this. “We are the Jews, we will eventually be saved. we will certainly not be cast into hell.”
But there were those who knew what the Romans occupation was about. I believe Zechariah, being righteous, he knew. He knew that this was God's judgment. As was his wife's barrenness. The world was not right. He knew it. The world was broken. The world was lost. The Jews were judged by God- and the Jews were God’s people- the only way of salvation for anyone on earth- through the Jews. You realize this, right? The only way was to become a follower of the one true God, and that God was the God of Israel. And this people, the people of God, were captured. Imagine all the churches destroyed, all the bibles burned. That still does not give you the image. Imagine they dug up the body of Christ, and showed it to you- and he was still dead. This is a bit of the hopelessness that these people faced. All that was promised was gone. Now, it is a bit different in that they were told this would happen if they abandoned God- yet, the feeling is much the same. All is lost.
And yet Zechariah and others did not give up hope, they waited on God. He waited for Him to deliver.
I am sure that he cried out to God many times- as did many faithful Jews- to God to deliver. But there was silence. Can you imagine 500 years of silence from God?
They had transgressed. They had rebelled against God so bad. He had over and over come to them and blessed them, and they had don’t nothing but refuse the blessings.
4 Upon her children also I will have no mercy,
because they are children of whoredom.
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6 Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say,
‘ I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.’
8 And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished on her silver and gold,
which they used for Baal.
Ho 2:4-8
This is what they did. They took his good things, and thanked a false god for them, and then used them to worship other gods. they, in modern language, broke God's heart. They grieved him. And they made him jealous.
And Rome comes in, and captures them, and there they sit. Waiting. In silence.
And Zechariah is a priest during this time. He would go in to the temple, and offer sacrifices for the people, and for himself. I wonder how many times he wished he had some sacrifice he could bring to make God happy again. I wonder how many times he wished he had something to bring to make up for all the many sins of him and his people.
I wonder how many times you have felt that way- that you wished you had something to bring to God to make him smile upon you, to bring peace between you and him, to make everything ok- to break His silence.
I think this song says well what Zechariah felt-
(song- deliver us.)
But God would not leave it this way. There is hope at the end of that song- and there is always hope with God. God was preparing to do something new. Our God is a God of hope- of mercy. There was hope.
A child will be born
8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying,
Lk 1:8-24
And so Zechariah goes into the temple to do his priestly duties, and he encounters an angel. Gabriel himself. Amazingly, he doubts the words! Yet, and get this- it does not depend on Zechariah’s faith, but on God's plan. And God blesses them. And his wife becomes pregnant.
This is such a good picture for us! a blessing! something new! There is blessing on the horizon! something wonderful! What a wonderful way to bring this new news, this good news, but to bring new life into the world.
And the baby is born, and so they name the child, and Zechariah calls him “John”, and his mouth is opened and he speaks!
and Zechariah prophecies-
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Lk 1:67-80
Deliverance! redemption! a prophet!!! God will no longer be silent! He will now speak, after 500 years, he will break the silence!
What will he say? How exciting it would be! And it should be for you- God has broken the silence. He speaks.
This is what he prophesied he would do many years early in that same book of Hosea-
14 “ Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
Ho 2:14-20
God will allure his people. He will win them over. He will bring them into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her there.
Where will he bring her? the wilderness…
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“ Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Mk 1:1-8
The voice of one crying in the wilderness!
This is it! This is the voice promised, the voice that will speak tenderly!
God has spoken to his people before in the wilderness. He always chooses the wilderness to speak to them to start something new. something wonderful.
He spoke to Moses in the wilderness.
He spoke to the people of Israel in the wilderness.
Why did John the Baptist preach in the wilderness? Because whenever God starts something new with his people, he speaks to them in the wilderness. This is the starting place. And something new has come.
John the Baptist was the last great prophet. Spoken of in the OT. He brings the first word of God after the silence!
Look at the last verse of your OT-
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Mal 4:5-6
sound familiar? it was what was spoken to Zechariah. This John is a prophet in the Spirit of Elijah.
look at what he wore. look at what is said of Elijah-
8 They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
2 Ki 1:8
the people were told one day they would hear a voice in the wilderness, a great prophet, and he would prepare the way for the Messiah, the savior.
3 A voice cries:
“ In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Is 40:3
A new hope, unmerited Favor
I want you to feel the desperation of this people, and the hope that is kindled when a prophet speaks. I want you to feel it, because i pray it will awaken in you the desperation we all should feel in this world.
I wonder if you feel desperate to hear from God, I wonder if you feel scared to think that perhaps God will not speak, that he will remain silent, you will not hear from Him, there will be no deliverance, no redemption for you.
You do not have to fear that. You do not have to wonder that. God has spoken. He has brought a prophet to deliver to you good news. What kind of news? What is the message?
You read it- Zechariah told us!
Doubt on our part?
The problem is we don’t believe it.
I have a cat named Emma. And when Emma, who is very scared of people, needs to go to the vet, we have trouble getting her there. She does like food a lot, and we can get food, and offer it to her. But, when I get the cat carrier out, and set it down, and then take out the cat treats, and set them before her, and call her over, and hold them out, what she does is very interesting. She comes over, and smells around, and looks at me, and most of the time, even though she loves food, she will not take it, or come close enough for me to grab her. The whole thing seems too suspicious to her. She doesn’t trust it.
I think the same thing is true with you. You are just like Emma in that God is holding out his hand, and offering good things, and you smell around it, and doubt the goodness of the one whose hand it is in, and walk away.
What God is offering is good, and it is something you like, just as much as emma likes food.
Look at what is offered again-
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Knowledge of salvation- rescue from sins. The shadow of death that you sit under will be lifted!
Death will be defeated, sin will be defeated, all your fears will be removed, and God will smile upon you. You will be at peace with Him.
Your heart has longed for Him, he has designed the universe to make it so- He has left a witness of Himself to make you ache for Him-
16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Ac 14:16-17
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, Ac 17:26-27
He has also placed where you live, what you would do, who your parents would be, and this very moment right now in his plan, that you would seek Him. That you would see that in your heart there is a need for something more.
The leaves fall off the trees, guys. The beauty all around you fades. The good we see and love dies.
This is all a blessing from Him, all a hinting to us that something more is needed, something more is wanted. All excitement here ends in disappointment. All hope placed in things here will not satisfy, and from trusting in these things around you you have to turn.
This is the message that John Brings- Repent. Do you know what it means? We will look much more at it next week, but I want you to see that you need to turn from trusting in things here to be your all in all, and turn to Him to be your all in all.
Don’t you miss Him? Doesn’t your heart ache after Him?
(miss him song)
Does that song mean anything to anyone here?
If so, the fact that God has spoken and revealed to you that He has not left you, that there is a way, that is good news.
This book is about that way. Mark tells the story of the new way, the new thing God has done to bring peace between you and God.
His hand is open to you, he offers redemption. Forgiveness. Have you looked into his hand and doubted?
Do you want Him?
I want you to understand something tonight- if you doubt his goodness is for you tonight, make sure you understand who sent John.
What do I mean?
You didn’t send for john to come preach to you. You were in the darkness. You were in the night. You were without hope. He- HE, the offended one, the one we rebelled against- He sent John. He sent hope.
And understand, you didn’t send for Jesus. No. you would have nailed him to the Cross to get rid of Him. You didn’t send for Him, he came for you.
And understand, you did not seek out the Name of God. You did not seek all your might until you found Him, and then, as a reward for your seeking, He gave you salvation. No. he sought you out. He found you.
And understand- you didn’t move your heart to come here tonight. Some of you may not be here for Him, you did not come here to find Him. Yet, even you, you who did not come here to hear about his goodness to you, He has given you a great gift- he has sought you out, and brought you here. Why? To tell you of His love for you, to whisper to you of His love. To let the leaves fall all over your rebellion, until you could resist it no longer.
Think of that with every leaf you see this fall. And think about how that goodness is neglected. With every pile of leaves you see, sitting uncared for, raked away, think of the goodness he has offered, that has been pushed aside like so much trash.
The truth is, you do not want Him, yet, He has sought you out. You could not have come to Him. You are crippled, and weak, and empty.
You are here tonight because He has carried you here.
And He will carry you further. Do you want that?
He will carry you to His table, and bless you there.
And what is the application?
Think about this. And love Him.
Recognizing Life
Recognizing Life
Mark 3:7-35
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
The Twelve Apostles
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mk 3:7-35
Who is Jesus?
Have you ever seen the real Jesus?
Maybe we don’t know him, that is what we said last week- we have so many saviors, things we cling to for peace and joy and they don’t do it for us. And we think we have tried him, and he was not enough- and I said I don’t think you have ever met him if you have not found in Him a life changing, enrapturing, transforming vision of beauty and glory and holiness.
I played a song for you last week to get you think about this- to consider that maybe we don’t know him.
Song- what do I know of holy.
And that really is my question to you today – what do you know of Holy? What do you know of this one who claims to be Holy, this Jesus? Do you know Him?
This text deals with that very question, because in this text we see people making decisions about who Jesus is- that is exactly what this text is showing us. So we should look at it, and see what they are deciding, and see how that effects us, shouldn’t we?
Do we really want to Know Him?
But I have to first stop and ask this- do you really want to know Him?
Two reasons I want to ask that- first, if you don’t want to know, this message, and in fact all of impact, will end up being very boring.
And second- to come to know means change. And I wonder if you are really wanting it. Listen, this is why some of you don’t want to know, and why it gets boring, because you shut down and don’t listen- this is what we said last week- we don’t want to be confronted with Jesus, He claims to be the real savior, and if we have all these false saviors we are trusting in, we are in trouble- either we have to dispose of Jesus, or we have to dispose of the false saviors.
So, I ask again- are you sure you want to meet this Jesus? The old wineskins might burst if you do. I can tell you now that if you meet Him you won’t care if the old wineskins burst, but you might not believe that, that might seem impossible. But it’s true- you won’t care one bit. But are you ready to see who He really is?
Understand that He will be bigger, and more, than you want him to be- he will be almost scary, in a sense, because he, when we see Him, when he comes near, threatens to be more than we can handle, threatens to be unable to be hidden, threatens all that we know, all that we have thought- He will take apart our false saviors, he will disrupt all that our life is about.
So I have to warn you- the real Jesus is dangerous- yet, you need Him. Draw near to Him, tonight, this very night, though you fear- fear the consequences of not drawing near more.
(lewis story from Narnia, about the girl who drinks from the stream with Aslan by her)
He is scary, and dangerous- and because of that many run away, and many will not allow themselves to know him. Is that you? Have you allowed yourself? Because, listen- I tell you each week who He is. You can learn of Him, if you want to. Do you?
In what way have you known Him?
Do you know the real Jesus?
In this text today we come across a number of people who do not know the real Jesus. What is really cool about these stories that are coming up next in Mark is that there are four times that we see someone confessing something about Jesus- saying “you are” or “he is”. Are they right? Do they know Him? Do they have Him all figured out?
And, most importantly, is the way that you know Him the same way as they know Him?
1- you call Him the son of God, but…
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
Do you know Jesus in the same way that the demons know Him?
Now this reaction to Jesus doesn’t seem all that bad! He is the Son of God! That’s true, isn’t it? Why is this all that bad?
It actually sounds a lot like professions about Jesus in the gospels that are good-
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jn 6:66-69
This is exactly what the demons are saying-
24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Mk 1:24
He is the Holy One of God- this is right- so what’s the problem? The problem is that the demons go to hell, and so whatever they are saying here about Jesus is not complete. But isn’t this just like what many say about Him?
Perhaps you are like this- you are willing to admit that He is the son of God, you are willing to say that He is the holy one- but not much more. What more is there? What is missing? There must be something, right? We wouldn’t say that having the faith of demons will save us, would we?
Is this how you know Him? You know some truths about Him, but you do not know him truly?
2- The “embarrassing” real Jesus.
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
The second group who react to Jesus and confess something about Him is His very family. Apparently word came to them that their brother and son was drawing big crowds. They were flocking to him so much so that he could not even stay near them without being crushed by them. And now he is calling to himself disciples- organizing some movement of some sort. It is time for the family to go and take care of things before it gets out of hand. It is one thing to go around and pray for people and tell them a bit about God, and maybe be a nice healer or something of that nature- but to be this radical, to separate yourself from the rest of the world, to start changing everything- this is crazy, isn’t it? To call a bunch of followers to yourself and tell them they have authority to preach a message, and to cast out demons- this is insane.
Many people think Jesus is out of His mind- this Jesus. They are, as we have seen, ok with the Jesus who heals and brings us to heaven and makes us good people. We can love that Jesus, but when you start to really shake things up, when the real Jesus appears, the Jesus that tells us that to live is Christ and to die is gain, the Jesus that tells us to rebel against the world system, this Jesus is rejected. He is crazy.
Is this what you think? That a bit of the good Jesus is fine, but the Jesus that wants you to give Him your whole life, and to trust Him in all things, and to live a different life, this is too much?
Understand that the real Jesus calls for radical, life changing, submission to Him. Life with Jesus is not going to be “normal” by the standards of the world. This is scary to us.
Listen, there are those who have, because of changes in their lives that they have made, been called cult members. There are those who are not allowed here because the changes in their lives were so great that they were thought of as strange. The Jesus that doesn’t change us, he is fine- but the Jesus who wants you to be different- that’s too much.
So maybe the Jesus you have heard about is the Crazy Jesus, who talks about you doing all these crazy things and following all these rules, but it all seems to be a bit much to you.
3- Dismissing Jesus
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The third group we see does something incredible. They basically dismiss Jesus completely. This is what is so sad to me- we are so unable to recognize him, and here are the experts in who God is to the Jews, and He stands before them, and they say “oh this? this is satan. This is evil. “ They are that blind. And Jesus is explaining to them that you can be so blind that there is no hope to ever see. If you call light darkness, how can you see? If you thought the cops were the bad guys, who could you call for help? No one. And that is where the scribes are- they see the only one who can help them as the one they need help to get away from. It’s like being scared of the dentist when your tooth hurts, being so scared that you think he is as bad or worse than the pain in your tooth. There is no hope for you.
Can it be we are so blind that we get it that wrong? That we miss who Jesus is so badly that we actually think that the one who is life and love and goodness and Holy, that he is evil and death and pain?
Do you run from Him, the one who offers good gifts, because you think that the gifts are something bad? What does he offer you tonight? And will you take it? Or will you, like these men who were condemned and so hard hearted they could not see him, will you walk away turning your nose up at his gift, thinking it is worse than the death that awaits you without him? Those who end up in hell end up there because they think being with Jesus is worse than hell.
Who is Jesus?
We can make so many bad judgments about who He really is. But how is He really?
He does tell us who He is, without any confusion, he simply tells us. Now, you know a lot of what he says about Himself. He claims to be the Son of God- He claims to be one with God Himself- He claims to be God. But we can know that and not really see Him. The demons know this, as we will see in this passage. What is it about Him that he wants us to see?
In another gospel, the gospel of John, Jesus over and over again tells the people who he is- he says things like “I am…” And then follows it up with what He is. So what is He?
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Do you notice anything similar about these passages?
Jesus claims to be life- bread of life, light of life, life itself. Jesus is life- the life that we all want and need and are searching for- because you all are searching for life- that is what you want your saviors to give you. You long to really live- and Jesus claims to be that life- and the way to get to it-
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Jn 10:9
The life comes to the earth, a place where there is death- and what happens is a great struggle between life and death ensues.
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
You see this battle?
He and death and all that goes with it- sickness and pain and sorrow, they just don’t mix. Sickness is fleeing from before him, and pain is fleeing- and demons, ministers of death, are fleeing from before him. He rights the wrongs of death! He is binding evil and death and all that leads to pain and death, and casting it out. He and death cannot be near each other. They cannot stand each other. Death flees from before Him. Do you see this?
Stop and think about how refreshing that is. Nothing associated with death and pain and sorrow can stay near Him.
Who we are
And now do you see why you have such a hard time seeing who He is?
It is because you are dead.
eph 2:1- you were dead
and we find offerings of life to us- how do you offer life to someone who is alive? No- in a real sense, we are dead, and we know it- and we want to live.
The problem is worse-
We seek the living among the dead- we seek life from dead things.
Luke 24:1-6
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen…
There it is- that one sentence haunts me. Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why Anthony? Why do you seek life from things that have no life in themselves?
Do you see guys- we seek life, we try and get life from the world around us.
The problem-
1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
And then Jesus comes and offers us life- he claims to be Life itself.
But we don’t want life, we want to hold on to the death that is all around us.
Do you doubt that you struggle to hold on to death?
Let me help you see it. Here is Jesus, the one who calls himself life itself- he comes to you and he wants to give you life and take away death- and all that leads to death. He wants to this second take from you all the fake, all the lies, all the false saviors that you have and all the sin- he stands with his hand open saying to you “give me your life, and let me do what I want. Let go of those sins.” And you feel yourself repel from that, don’t you? You want to hold death- do you see how sick and twisted we are? We are so confused, we so have missed life, that when life approaches we would rather hold on to death, because we think death is safe.
We are used to death. We are so used to it that we don’t even know it. We think it is normal.
We are so used to death we don’t know what to do with life. This causes a problem when we come across Jesus- we don’t know what to do with Him. He is life, and we do not know life. We know death- and get this- we are comfortable with death. It feels safe to us- it feels right to us- do you hear me- this should shock you- we are good with it, we like death, it is a cozy blanket for us, an old comfortable pair of shoes, our favorite clothing. We embrace and love it, and we fear anything else. Aren’t we safe with death?
William Wallace says: "Every man dies, but not every man truly lives." So the obvious question from this is "what does it mean to truly live?"
I think we all know, even if we can’t define it. We want to live, even if we don’t know what it is- we do know this- we aren’t doing it. We are born with a feeling that we are not truly alive.
Jesus is the life you need- He is the real Savior- and He saves you from death! You need This savior, because you are dead, you are heading to hell forever, to experience all that death is, forever, perfectly. Think about that. All the things that you love now, all the fake and false gods, they do have hints of pleasure and goodness in them, but they also have hints of evil in them, hints of death- and you will one day taste the full fruit of death if you do not trust the one who is life before that.
And actually, your situation is worse- you have loved death and hated life, and the penalty for that is that you will have to experience death forever, and never get to taste the goodness of real life. That is the penalty. You have earned it, and your false gods are leading you to it.
A Call to separate from the dead – Live!
Are you sick of death? Are you ready to live, to live for real?
Do you know what it would be like for one like you, who is so used to death- to see life for the first time?
Let me show you a movie clip that so well shows this. In this clip, you are the dead king sitting in the chair, with an evil voice in your ear, telling you not to care, not to listen.
But one comes into your presence bearing life- one who has been through death, and defeated it- and he comes to you and calls you- at first, you laugh at his call- but when he shows His true self, when His bright glory shines, It will cast all death out of you. And you will be born again.
(movie clip- Lord of the Rings, Theoden is set free!)
This is what it would be like! A renewing! New life! Only if His brightness would shine into your life today!
Now hear me, listen to this- you who have not trusted him, you who are dying, you who are afraid to let go of your false gods. Listen to me, you who are His children, but are again running toward death, and still struggling to let go of the evil around you- understand what I say next.
There is only one door out of death into life, and it is Jesus Christ, and there is only one way for you to eat this bread of life.
Do you know what the bread of life is? It is His flesh. He can give you life, by giving you Himself. How can he do that?
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jn 10:11
Oh, what a great God we have! Do you see what had to happen?
The one who is the opposite of all death, the one from whom all death flees, the one who comes and chases away all that is evil and sick and painful, the one who is Life Himself, he must embrace death for you. He must give up His life, so that you can have it forever. Do you not see this beauty? He is willing to embrace what is the opposite of all He is, and Life Himself is willing to die for you, to take your place, so that you can live forever!
And get this- He did not remain dead! Death could not hold Him! Do you see the beauty of the empty grave?! Death cannot win- it is defeated, it is finished!
And will we still doubt Him? Will we call him crazy? Will we call his offer of life death? Will we look upon the good he gives and turn our noses up, and say his blessings are death?
Yet, though we do this, he still comes, and He calls us to Himself. He will have to call you to bring you to life- Just like Lazarus. Is He calling you tonight?
And when He calls, you are changed, you are separated from this world and live a completely new life.
You have stored up death for yourself, and He comes to you and takes it away by bearing it Himself on the Cross. God’s anger burns at you for hating His gift of life- and so He dies in your place, and offers you an eternal life! What mercy and grace! And if you hear this call, you will be changed into someone new!
The gap is so big, the separation so final and so rebellious, it severs all ties, it creates new people.
At the end of these stories, we see Jesus with his followers-
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mk 3:7-35
And he says to them “you don’t get it. The dead, they are not my family. The living are.” He brings radical change- he brings life to those who are among the dead. It creates new people. The living among the dead. Which are you?
Stop trying to live by finding life among the dead. What things have you been seeking life in?
I am so sick of the foolishness I find in myself, of seeking the living among the dead. I will not do it- though I may stumble, and fall- I will not believe that the dead will give me life. I am so sick of seeing others make that decision- the decision that life is found anywhere but in the author of Life- in Jesus Christ.
The grave could not keep Him-
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:51-57
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“ Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “ O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Life is offered to you- What is life?
In the end, life, eternal, unchanging, life, the life you thirst for right now- this is it-
John 17:1-3
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Do you want it? Oh, I want your dead hearts to yearn for it, to long for more, to desire more and more of life- I want you to want to live.
He must call to you, cry out to Him to call you to life- seek him, never stop.
Listen, you have two choices- give up, go home, and continue in death until you die and go to hell- or go home, and cry out to Him, and continue to cry out to Him until He breathes life into you.
He claims to be the life- the life we all need- the One who will save us from the death that awaits us. Do you want to live? Do you trust Him?
Mark 3:7-35
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
The Twelve Apostles
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mk 3:7-35
Who is Jesus?
Have you ever seen the real Jesus?
Maybe we don’t know him, that is what we said last week- we have so many saviors, things we cling to for peace and joy and they don’t do it for us. And we think we have tried him, and he was not enough- and I said I don’t think you have ever met him if you have not found in Him a life changing, enrapturing, transforming vision of beauty and glory and holiness.
I played a song for you last week to get you think about this- to consider that maybe we don’t know him.
Song- what do I know of holy.
And that really is my question to you today – what do you know of Holy? What do you know of this one who claims to be Holy, this Jesus? Do you know Him?
This text deals with that very question, because in this text we see people making decisions about who Jesus is- that is exactly what this text is showing us. So we should look at it, and see what they are deciding, and see how that effects us, shouldn’t we?
Do we really want to Know Him?
But I have to first stop and ask this- do you really want to know Him?
Two reasons I want to ask that- first, if you don’t want to know, this message, and in fact all of impact, will end up being very boring.
And second- to come to know means change. And I wonder if you are really wanting it. Listen, this is why some of you don’t want to know, and why it gets boring, because you shut down and don’t listen- this is what we said last week- we don’t want to be confronted with Jesus, He claims to be the real savior, and if we have all these false saviors we are trusting in, we are in trouble- either we have to dispose of Jesus, or we have to dispose of the false saviors.
So, I ask again- are you sure you want to meet this Jesus? The old wineskins might burst if you do. I can tell you now that if you meet Him you won’t care if the old wineskins burst, but you might not believe that, that might seem impossible. But it’s true- you won’t care one bit. But are you ready to see who He really is?
Understand that He will be bigger, and more, than you want him to be- he will be almost scary, in a sense, because he, when we see Him, when he comes near, threatens to be more than we can handle, threatens to be unable to be hidden, threatens all that we know, all that we have thought- He will take apart our false saviors, he will disrupt all that our life is about.
So I have to warn you- the real Jesus is dangerous- yet, you need Him. Draw near to Him, tonight, this very night, though you fear- fear the consequences of not drawing near more.
(lewis story from Narnia, about the girl who drinks from the stream with Aslan by her)
He is scary, and dangerous- and because of that many run away, and many will not allow themselves to know him. Is that you? Have you allowed yourself? Because, listen- I tell you each week who He is. You can learn of Him, if you want to. Do you?
In what way have you known Him?
Do you know the real Jesus?
In this text today we come across a number of people who do not know the real Jesus. What is really cool about these stories that are coming up next in Mark is that there are four times that we see someone confessing something about Jesus- saying “you are” or “he is”. Are they right? Do they know Him? Do they have Him all figured out?
And, most importantly, is the way that you know Him the same way as they know Him?
1- you call Him the son of God, but…
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
Do you know Jesus in the same way that the demons know Him?
Now this reaction to Jesus doesn’t seem all that bad! He is the Son of God! That’s true, isn’t it? Why is this all that bad?
It actually sounds a lot like professions about Jesus in the gospels that are good-
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jn 6:66-69
This is exactly what the demons are saying-
24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Mk 1:24
He is the Holy One of God- this is right- so what’s the problem? The problem is that the demons go to hell, and so whatever they are saying here about Jesus is not complete. But isn’t this just like what many say about Him?
Perhaps you are like this- you are willing to admit that He is the son of God, you are willing to say that He is the holy one- but not much more. What more is there? What is missing? There must be something, right? We wouldn’t say that having the faith of demons will save us, would we?
Is this how you know Him? You know some truths about Him, but you do not know him truly?
2- The “embarrassing” real Jesus.
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
The second group who react to Jesus and confess something about Him is His very family. Apparently word came to them that their brother and son was drawing big crowds. They were flocking to him so much so that he could not even stay near them without being crushed by them. And now he is calling to himself disciples- organizing some movement of some sort. It is time for the family to go and take care of things before it gets out of hand. It is one thing to go around and pray for people and tell them a bit about God, and maybe be a nice healer or something of that nature- but to be this radical, to separate yourself from the rest of the world, to start changing everything- this is crazy, isn’t it? To call a bunch of followers to yourself and tell them they have authority to preach a message, and to cast out demons- this is insane.
Many people think Jesus is out of His mind- this Jesus. They are, as we have seen, ok with the Jesus who heals and brings us to heaven and makes us good people. We can love that Jesus, but when you start to really shake things up, when the real Jesus appears, the Jesus that tells us that to live is Christ and to die is gain, the Jesus that tells us to rebel against the world system, this Jesus is rejected. He is crazy.
Is this what you think? That a bit of the good Jesus is fine, but the Jesus that wants you to give Him your whole life, and to trust Him in all things, and to live a different life, this is too much?
Understand that the real Jesus calls for radical, life changing, submission to Him. Life with Jesus is not going to be “normal” by the standards of the world. This is scary to us.
Listen, there are those who have, because of changes in their lives that they have made, been called cult members. There are those who are not allowed here because the changes in their lives were so great that they were thought of as strange. The Jesus that doesn’t change us, he is fine- but the Jesus who wants you to be different- that’s too much.
So maybe the Jesus you have heard about is the Crazy Jesus, who talks about you doing all these crazy things and following all these rules, but it all seems to be a bit much to you.
3- Dismissing Jesus
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The third group we see does something incredible. They basically dismiss Jesus completely. This is what is so sad to me- we are so unable to recognize him, and here are the experts in who God is to the Jews, and He stands before them, and they say “oh this? this is satan. This is evil. “ They are that blind. And Jesus is explaining to them that you can be so blind that there is no hope to ever see. If you call light darkness, how can you see? If you thought the cops were the bad guys, who could you call for help? No one. And that is where the scribes are- they see the only one who can help them as the one they need help to get away from. It’s like being scared of the dentist when your tooth hurts, being so scared that you think he is as bad or worse than the pain in your tooth. There is no hope for you.
Can it be we are so blind that we get it that wrong? That we miss who Jesus is so badly that we actually think that the one who is life and love and goodness and Holy, that he is evil and death and pain?
Do you run from Him, the one who offers good gifts, because you think that the gifts are something bad? What does he offer you tonight? And will you take it? Or will you, like these men who were condemned and so hard hearted they could not see him, will you walk away turning your nose up at his gift, thinking it is worse than the death that awaits you without him? Those who end up in hell end up there because they think being with Jesus is worse than hell.
Who is Jesus?
We can make so many bad judgments about who He really is. But how is He really?
He does tell us who He is, without any confusion, he simply tells us. Now, you know a lot of what he says about Himself. He claims to be the Son of God- He claims to be one with God Himself- He claims to be God. But we can know that and not really see Him. The demons know this, as we will see in this passage. What is it about Him that he wants us to see?
In another gospel, the gospel of John, Jesus over and over again tells the people who he is- he says things like “I am…” And then follows it up with what He is. So what is He?
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Do you notice anything similar about these passages?
Jesus claims to be life- bread of life, light of life, life itself. Jesus is life- the life that we all want and need and are searching for- because you all are searching for life- that is what you want your saviors to give you. You long to really live- and Jesus claims to be that life- and the way to get to it-
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. Jn 10:9
The life comes to the earth, a place where there is death- and what happens is a great struggle between life and death ensues.
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
You see this battle?
He and death and all that goes with it- sickness and pain and sorrow, they just don’t mix. Sickness is fleeing from before him, and pain is fleeing- and demons, ministers of death, are fleeing from before him. He rights the wrongs of death! He is binding evil and death and all that leads to pain and death, and casting it out. He and death cannot be near each other. They cannot stand each other. Death flees from before Him. Do you see this?
Stop and think about how refreshing that is. Nothing associated with death and pain and sorrow can stay near Him.
Who we are
And now do you see why you have such a hard time seeing who He is?
It is because you are dead.
eph 2:1- you were dead
and we find offerings of life to us- how do you offer life to someone who is alive? No- in a real sense, we are dead, and we know it- and we want to live.
The problem is worse-
We seek the living among the dead- we seek life from dead things.
Luke 24:1-6
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen…
There it is- that one sentence haunts me. Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why Anthony? Why do you seek life from things that have no life in themselves?
Do you see guys- we seek life, we try and get life from the world around us.
The problem-
1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
And then Jesus comes and offers us life- he claims to be Life itself.
But we don’t want life, we want to hold on to the death that is all around us.
Do you doubt that you struggle to hold on to death?
Let me help you see it. Here is Jesus, the one who calls himself life itself- he comes to you and he wants to give you life and take away death- and all that leads to death. He wants to this second take from you all the fake, all the lies, all the false saviors that you have and all the sin- he stands with his hand open saying to you “give me your life, and let me do what I want. Let go of those sins.” And you feel yourself repel from that, don’t you? You want to hold death- do you see how sick and twisted we are? We are so confused, we so have missed life, that when life approaches we would rather hold on to death, because we think death is safe.
We are used to death. We are so used to it that we don’t even know it. We think it is normal.
We are so used to death we don’t know what to do with life. This causes a problem when we come across Jesus- we don’t know what to do with Him. He is life, and we do not know life. We know death- and get this- we are comfortable with death. It feels safe to us- it feels right to us- do you hear me- this should shock you- we are good with it, we like death, it is a cozy blanket for us, an old comfortable pair of shoes, our favorite clothing. We embrace and love it, and we fear anything else. Aren’t we safe with death?
William Wallace says: "Every man dies, but not every man truly lives." So the obvious question from this is "what does it mean to truly live?"
I think we all know, even if we can’t define it. We want to live, even if we don’t know what it is- we do know this- we aren’t doing it. We are born with a feeling that we are not truly alive.
Jesus is the life you need- He is the real Savior- and He saves you from death! You need This savior, because you are dead, you are heading to hell forever, to experience all that death is, forever, perfectly. Think about that. All the things that you love now, all the fake and false gods, they do have hints of pleasure and goodness in them, but they also have hints of evil in them, hints of death- and you will one day taste the full fruit of death if you do not trust the one who is life before that.
And actually, your situation is worse- you have loved death and hated life, and the penalty for that is that you will have to experience death forever, and never get to taste the goodness of real life. That is the penalty. You have earned it, and your false gods are leading you to it.
A Call to separate from the dead – Live!
Are you sick of death? Are you ready to live, to live for real?
Do you know what it would be like for one like you, who is so used to death- to see life for the first time?
Let me show you a movie clip that so well shows this. In this clip, you are the dead king sitting in the chair, with an evil voice in your ear, telling you not to care, not to listen.
But one comes into your presence bearing life- one who has been through death, and defeated it- and he comes to you and calls you- at first, you laugh at his call- but when he shows His true self, when His bright glory shines, It will cast all death out of you. And you will be born again.
(movie clip- Lord of the Rings, Theoden is set free!)
This is what it would be like! A renewing! New life! Only if His brightness would shine into your life today!
Now hear me, listen to this- you who have not trusted him, you who are dying, you who are afraid to let go of your false gods. Listen to me, you who are His children, but are again running toward death, and still struggling to let go of the evil around you- understand what I say next.
There is only one door out of death into life, and it is Jesus Christ, and there is only one way for you to eat this bread of life.
Do you know what the bread of life is? It is His flesh. He can give you life, by giving you Himself. How can he do that?
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Jn 10:11
Oh, what a great God we have! Do you see what had to happen?
The one who is the opposite of all death, the one from whom all death flees, the one who comes and chases away all that is evil and sick and painful, the one who is Life Himself, he must embrace death for you. He must give up His life, so that you can have it forever. Do you not see this beauty? He is willing to embrace what is the opposite of all He is, and Life Himself is willing to die for you, to take your place, so that you can live forever!
And get this- He did not remain dead! Death could not hold Him! Do you see the beauty of the empty grave?! Death cannot win- it is defeated, it is finished!
And will we still doubt Him? Will we call him crazy? Will we call his offer of life death? Will we look upon the good he gives and turn our noses up, and say his blessings are death?
Yet, though we do this, he still comes, and He calls us to Himself. He will have to call you to bring you to life- Just like Lazarus. Is He calling you tonight?
And when He calls, you are changed, you are separated from this world and live a completely new life.
You have stored up death for yourself, and He comes to you and takes it away by bearing it Himself on the Cross. God’s anger burns at you for hating His gift of life- and so He dies in your place, and offers you an eternal life! What mercy and grace! And if you hear this call, you will be changed into someone new!
The gap is so big, the separation so final and so rebellious, it severs all ties, it creates new people.
At the end of these stories, we see Jesus with his followers-
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mk 3:7-35
And he says to them “you don’t get it. The dead, they are not my family. The living are.” He brings radical change- he brings life to those who are among the dead. It creates new people. The living among the dead. Which are you?
Stop trying to live by finding life among the dead. What things have you been seeking life in?
I am so sick of the foolishness I find in myself, of seeking the living among the dead. I will not do it- though I may stumble, and fall- I will not believe that the dead will give me life. I am so sick of seeing others make that decision- the decision that life is found anywhere but in the author of Life- in Jesus Christ.
The grave could not keep Him-
1 Corinthians 15:20-22
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:51-57
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“ Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “ O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Life is offered to you- What is life?
In the end, life, eternal, unchanging, life, the life you thirst for right now- this is it-
John 17:1-3
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Do you want it? Oh, I want your dead hearts to yearn for it, to long for more, to desire more and more of life- I want you to want to live.
He must call to you, cry out to Him to call you to life- seek him, never stop.
Listen, you have two choices- give up, go home, and continue in death until you die and go to hell- or go home, and cry out to Him, and continue to cry out to Him until He breathes life into you.
He claims to be the life- the life we all need- the One who will save us from the death that awaits us. Do you want to live? Do you trust Him?
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