Coeburn Presbyterian Church Sermons - Pastor James Ensley

Mark 4:21-34 Jesus' Parables: His Kingdom, Our Hearts

Introduction: In Mark so far, we have had teaching on Jesus’ IDENTITY, Jesus’ Mission in Conflict with the Pharisees, and now in Chapter 4 we get 4 parables about Revelation and our receptivity to it AND the end result of a coming Kingdom, more being given OR it all being lost, hiddenness sprouting forth by God’s providence at the right time, a harvest. Small beginnings producing a large shelter for the birds, a small kingdom beginning in Jesus, the 12, the death and resurrection, moving to Pentecost, to a giant shade under which we live built by Christ’s work, as we all live under his Kingdom and reign. And to put it in context, we get the parables, the disciples are being instructed in them, and Jesus will continue to display his identity to the Disciples as the Lord of Creation, the defeater of the kingdom of Darkness, our souls’ satisfaction. But in 4, the mystery is unveiled in front of them: will they see and believe? Will they hear and heed? Or will they throw the basket over it and close their eyes to the light of Christ? Now is the time to pay attention and believe. Read: Mark 4:21–34 A Lamp Under a Basket [21] And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? [22] For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. [23] If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” [24] And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. [25] For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” The Parable of the Seed Growing [26] And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. [27] He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. [28] The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” The Parable of the Mustard Seed [30] And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, [32] yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” [33] With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. [34] He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (ESV) #1 Will you Hear or Hide? Be Added to or Removed? (vv. 21-25). #2 Will you Grow, Grow, Grow? #3 The Blessings and Usefulness of Kingdom Growth As you think back to the parable of the seed, sower, and soils, and forward to the lamp under the basket, the mystery of the farmer and seed growing, and the mustard seed Douglas O’donnell reminds us of our key words: “The words “seed” and “earth”/”ground” and “grows” point to the basic story of the parables, and the verb ‘hear’ indicates the main application. We are to ‘hear,’ that is, ‘respond to’ what Jesus teaches on the nature of the kingdom. How so? Two ways. First, we are to make visible the mystery of God’s rule. Second, we are to work for growth and expect growth —a slow, certain, and phenomenal harvest.” - Douglas O’Donnell, 115 Right parables provoke, and we are being provoked to answer. Will you hear and respond to the kingdom of Rule of God through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross? Second, having heard and responded, will you grow? Will you be a part of the harvest of life and righteousness that is, with patience, expected to occur as Jesus ushers in the grace of the new covenant by his finished work on the cross? Let’s take these one at a time: Look in vv. 21-24 #1 Will you Hear or Hide be Added to or Removed? A Lamp Under a Basket [21] And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? [22] For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. [23] If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” [24] And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. [25] For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” A. How many of you have had a light shined in your face? How did it make you feel? How did you react? a. Oh Jesus is the light of the world, great. Oh, this dark night is ending, the mystery the secret of the kingdom of God is finally coming to light hurray! b. Or shut that light off! I’m sleeping, I’m not dressed, I’m not ready. B. The crowd laughs. Who would put a lamp under a basket? a. More ridiculous than a flashlight that’s wasting cheap electricity. Were rechargeable. No, that’s wasting oil, limited fuel! b. No one would hide the light. Especially not under a basket or bed. i. Don’t trick yourself by accidentally hearing flashlight and not lantern. What happens if you put a flashlight under a basket or bed? Now answer that with an open flame candle…(parables provoke sometimes with humor) ii. Hide it under a bushel becomes….burn the house down no, I’m gonna let it shine. c. But would we? Do you? Will you hear Jesus. Or bury your head back in the pillow? Will you open your heart? As we said last week, do you have ears to hear? C. Do we really want the lights turned on to see our sin and need, and to keep the light on as we turn it all over to Jesus for forgiveness? a. If you can survive the initial discomfort, it will be glorious and life giving. b. Jesus is the one who cleanses; the Spirit is the one who gives new life. c. ILL: Pilgrims’ progress cleaning the room. Sprinkle the clean water then sweep it up. d. So there is certainly the personal heart work here, how we react to light. To this we respond by Asking the spirit to do the work in your life, to give you eyes to see and a heart to receive. Why? What’s the provocation, the warning of Jesus? D. But there is the second and probably main component: For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light a. O’Donnell remarks, “He is looking to a future time when his followers will proclaim his full message to the whole world. As he says to the twelve in Matthew 10:27, ‘What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.’” - O’Donnell, 116 b. Will you believe, will you proclaim? Or are you going to do the humorous thing and put a candle under your bed? i. Faith is given. New life in Christ is not just for ourselves, our benefit, our ticket to heaven, but to benefit those God has placed in your life. ii. Religious knowledge is not an inert dragon’s hoard to be slept on like Smaug. The wealth of scriptural revelation is to be spent in daily life and conversation as a valuable transferable thing to others. That is, your lantern is the light that goes about a darkened world and others benefit from it. iii. It makes me think of the image of the Ferryman and the Ferryman’s lantern going back and forth across the river. c. “This little light of mine….song E. The lesson, First, inwardly our hearts ought to embrace the light. Don’t hide away; Take HEED, listen up my soul), Second, Outwardly, our proclamation (the mystery is unveiled so shine it to the world), and lastly for this parable: there is the warning of this parable V24-25 Pay attention to what you hear! Why? A. Because with the measure you use it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you” a. Have much? Get more. Have little? All taken away. b. You will be weighed. Will you be lacking….We don’t weigh things in marketplaces anymore: i. [products lying about weight, But we get this, there was a recent article I saw where grocery store products all came back 20-30% lighter compared to advertised weight.] ii. Jesus is saying, will you be fraudulent? 1. If you were generous with your measure e.g. the bakers dozen the just-in-case bonus roll to not cheat your customer, you will be rewarded. But if you short change your spiritual life, you don’t just get a slightly less robust spiritual life. No, it’s gone. a. You treat the kingdom lightly, by not paying attention, not HEARING, you will not be less, but gone. b. “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. [25] For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” B. What is Jesus saying to do? Good works to get into heaven, God forbid Paul says. a. No it is HEAR, BELIEVE. AND so being saved and brought by grace into the kingdom bear fruit. Have it added into you. But if you IGNORE. DO NOT BELIEVE. All will be taken away. Israel the Pharisees will experience this. Their role as rulers will be taken away b. The gospel is good news. Do not hide or suppress it. Do not assume it in your family or friendships. Cherish what is a gift. c. Light vs. dark - you have the light. No electricity; how would the household the community feel that the light has been hidden? d. [Penn and Teller Fool Me], think it’s Penn - he respected the believers who told him about Jesus. i. “I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward… how much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you… and this is more important than that” – Penn Jillette Ok, this doesn’t make everyone an apologist or evangelist in the big A or big E sense. But it does make us a community whose when gifts are taken together we do this for people. A. I need to hear this. While also knowing Christ has revealed the mystery, revelation has come and is in the word. We trust the word not our cleverness, we sow the word we said and entrust the Holy Spirit to do the heart work. Transition: The second two parables go together being more about growth. The first two of Chapter 4 were more about hear. Believe. Sow. Though still mentioning growth. Look in vv. 26-29 #2 Will you Grow, Grow, Grow? The Parable of the Seed Growing [26] And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. [27] He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. [28] The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. [29] But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” A. Growth comes by scattering seeds. Not knock down gospel presentations. Growth comes from just letting the light shine. Growth comes by sowing the seeds and going to sleep, faithful human rhythms that entirely depend on sovereign, divine grace. That is letting the mystery of God’s Providence do its work. B. How many times are people’s lives touched by dozens of people before the harvest comes in? How many nights before you wake up and all of a sudden, there is a harvest. You can’t control the rain and the temperature and the amount of sunlight in a growing season. C. How joyful it is to put in the sickle and gain the fruit? To bring in a basket of vegetables or a basket of apples from a tree. D. The word does the work. Sleep. E. God changes hearts. Be faithful and go and sleep. a. I’ve had conversations, I’ve done XYZ, and I fear I didn’t do enough are they lost because of me? b. [Revelation] the full number will come in. Only ask was I faithful? leave the harvest of the soul to the Lord. To the Holy Spirit (John 3,4,6 quotes)…. c. John 3:3–8 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. … That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” d. John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” e. John 6:37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” F. O’Donnell says “the seed has an inherent power that is unstoppable” a. Some of us need encouragement to sow b. Some of us need encouragement to go lie down and sleep. c. To go home and pray for our lost loved ones. We have sown. May the Lord, in his sovereign timing, bring the increase. May the lord send more laborers into the field who will reap a harvest. d. Our bulletin: Is. 40:8 The grass withers….. G. [[Illustration of the patience and on how people are converted]] a. Kosumi. [Transition] This brings us to the Mustard seed, look in verses 30-34 Before we even get into one apologetic aside…. Apologetic dilemma: Critics (often citing modern botany) note that mustard seeds (Brassica nigra / black mustard, roughly 1–2 mm) are not the smallest seeds on earth—tiny orchid seeds (some ~0.05 mm) or other microscopic seeds are far smaller. They claim this proves a scientific error by Jesus or the Gospel writers, undermining biblical inerrancy or Jesus’ omniscience. Jesus was speaking to Galilean farmers and crowds familiar with local agriculture. The phrase “the smallest of all the seeds on earth” (or “least of all the seeds”) is understood in context as referring to seeds commonly sown in fields or gardens by Palestinian farmers of that time and place—not every seed in the world, including exotic tropical epiphytes or microscopic seeds unknown or irrelevant to them. Black mustard was the smallest seedtypically cultivated and sown in 1st-century Jewish fields/gardens in thatregion. Orchid seeds (the common counter-example) are irrelevant: they are notsown by farmers, you don’t scatter orchid seeds, do not grow into large shrubsor trees with branches for birds to nest in, and would not serve the parable’simagery at all. Plus, Jesus uses a word for the land, the soil, which naturallydoes not have to mean every square inch of this globe. It is the smallest seedfarmers in Jesus’ day sowed upon the earth to produce a spice yield. In a story. I draw attention to this as aclassic “um actshually” moment that “um actshually” is exactly what Jesus put upwith the pharisees and scribes with constantly and is not a threat to biblicalinerrancy. The Parable of the Mustard Seed which we can see is both parable and prophesy, it is a parable of the future of the church between Christ’s first coming and judgement day. [30] And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? [31] It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, [32] yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” [33] With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. [34] He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (ESV) Truly the emblem of the grain of mustard seed was verified and fulfilled to the very letter. To the eyes of man the beginning of the visible church was contemptible, insignificant, powerless, and small.” – Ryle, 62. [the humility of Christ] Lead to the growth of the church. A. This tree that grows up large with shade and branches for nests is the interconnected kingdom of God, the Church, flourishing down through the centuries. B. One privilege of being a seminarian is reading a lot of pastors and theologians and seeing the connected chain. a. But we all see this, the web of branches that all of us represent that provide shade, nests, and a mighty refuge. C. Empires come and go.- The gates of hell will not prevail against the church a. Revelation Babylon is fallen. The church is not. D. Mark 1 the kingdom is here. It’s tiny. Its Jesus. a. Wednesday nights…We said how is BC vs. AD going for Satan b. Which is the better half for him? Not gonna lie he had us in the first half. c. Isa. 2:2 “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” E. The nature of the kingdom is one of a. Salvation by Grace for enemies and rebels b. This in the parable is one of small beginnings, humble beginnings c. The shade the rest of the kingdom is scene in its i. Upside-down kingdom ethics ii. The fruit of the spirit. iii. Multigenerational community that is covenantal and enfolds those who come under the shadow of the almighty’s wing. d. As those who have been shown grace and mercy it is a generous kingdom. Generosity that has built hospitals and orphanages and Dramatically impacted pagan cultures. i. Jesus is in parable giving a prophesy of the future of the kingdom. ii. The parable veils the full extent of what that will be iii. Until then Jesus says, will you believe? When you let your light shine? Will you trust that God is at work… O’Donnell summarizes this way: Jesus wants unbelievers to believe. And he wants believers to believe afresh. Christ wants his church to be encouraged. There has been a great harvest already: billions of believers to date. Even more to come. Soon and very soon “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9) and “a great multitude that no one [can] number” will worship before the throne (Rev. 7:9). So what then? Believe afresh. Work hard. Share the light; sow the seed. Make visible the mystery of God’s rule. Work for growth. Be patient. Expectant. Confident. God is at work. Take comfort. All the growth is in God’s good hands. - O’Donnell This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com [https://jamesensley.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Mark 4:1-20 Parables: Examining Hearts (Sower and Soils)

Introduction: How do you respond when you are informed of big events? - A hospital diagnosis OR the prospect of a big inheritance OR a Change in your relationship such as a new member of the extended family. - But how do we respond to the deeper news: our sin, spiritual state, our savior, what he has down, and how will we live our lives once that word has been physically received but will it bear lifelong, persevering, fruit? Read: Mark 4:1–20 The Word and Our Hearts [1] Again [Jesus] began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. [2] And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: [3] “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. [4] And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. [5] Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. [6] And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. [7] Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. [8] And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” [9] And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [10] And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. [11] And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, [12] so that “‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” [13] And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? [14] The sower sows the word. [15] And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. [16] And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. [17] And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. [18] And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, [19] but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. [20] But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” (ESV) 1. The Setting vv. 1-3 2. The Purpose of Parables vv. 10-13 3. The disciples are rebuked and The Meaning of the Parable are explained to them (v. 14-20). a. The Seed is sown on four kinds of soil: The Path, Rocky, Thorny, and Good soils. Chapter intro: Chapter 4 is the biggest unit of pure teaching of Jesus. Especially parables. This is about the Kingdom coming, and people hearing the word and how our hearts respond, and we grow in response to the Word proclaiming Christ to us. 0. The Setting look in vv. 1-3 again [1] Again, he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea [remember Mark already said the boat was there to handle the press of the very large crowd. We can see that he now has THE 12 Disciples. He has the full 12 and he is going to be explaining his teaching to them in private, it’s a little funny it’s says when he is ALONE with the core disciples. The crowds are so much that being with the 12 and other core disciples is ALONE is Private….] [2] And he was teaching them many things in parables. What is a parable and how should we read it? First, they are stories, usually simple nature or situational stories, farmers, merchants, sheep owners, seeds, coins. Simple. Second, not every single detail has an allegorical one to one. The 3 coins in the good Samaritan aren’t representing the Trinity. The main details have meaning, some things are just part of the story to make it work. Today it is the seed and the soils, the birds and sun just make the story work, they don’t have hyper-specific secret meanings outside the obvious in the story… Look in verses 9-13, the Purpose of Parables: “He who have ears to hear let him hear” a. Note verse 9 already teaches something: Hearing ultimately is individual – do you have ears for the word of God. To know Christ, to know the gospel, to trust Christ and his salvation. Or do you not have ears for it? b. This fits what we’ll see of the parable, the Sowing is indiscriminate. The Farmer flings the seed far and wide with great abundance. Jesus is teaching to great crowds, but already he says PAY attention, search more deeply, examine how you are hearing this proclamation that the Kingdom of God is here: Do you have ears to hear? will you truly hear this parable? And this fits with the disciples question and Jesus’ explanation of why parables. c. Or are you just going with the large crowd, hoping for a healing, or a miracle, with no interest for Jesus or his message. [what this is today?] 2. Verses 10-13 [10] And when he was alone [ha], those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. [11] And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret [the mystery] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, Something has been ‘granted’ or given to the disciples; to others that something ‘has not been granted! The ‘something’ is Revelation. The disciples are privileged ‘to know,’ the rest are not...at least not YET. What is the difference between the two? Why is one group made up of disciples who know and other of non-disciples who do not know? “The doctrine of election lies behind these words,’ says New Testament scholar Leon Morris (339). They are disciples because Jesus chose them to be His disciples and God has given them understanding. ‘You did not choose me but I chose you, Jesus said (John 15:16). They were gifted revelation, the mystery of the gospel unveiled. This gift, being granted the mystery of the kingdom is the same word group as in Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [right its been given, it’s a gift] [verse 9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV) Terry Johnson of Indepentdent Pres, Sav., GA says, “What we know about God and the things of God, we know only at God’s good pleasure. We are entirely dependent on God’s gracious self-revelation.” Remember the disciples were all called by Christ. Levi especially highlighted the free choice of Jesus to call sinners not any prior qualification in ourselves to have earned or deserved our calling, Christ’s choice. The disciples ask, why parables? And Jesus continues his answer with Isaiah 6, where similar to Jesus Isaiah preaches to a hard-hearted Israel that will not hear his warnings. Isaiah, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ [10] Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (ESV) 1. Isaiah shows that Israel in exile will have hardened hearts to the prophetic ministry of Isaiah, and Mark’s gospel shows this is additionally fulfilled in the hardened hearts towards Jesus’ ministry. 2. But this purpose of parables was for a very fixed time, leading up to the events of Jesus’ life. Parables temporarily hid the meaning of Jesus while allowing him to teach about the Kingdom of God, his death, and the way the gospel and the word would bring new life to people once he had died on the cross, been resurrected, ascended to heaven, and poured out his spirit. 3. We then, on this side of the cross, with the gospel of Mark in our hands, get to read these parables with the private answers Jesus gave the disciples. These private answers become public answers with the public preaching ministry of the Apostles, who were witnesses. 4. The Parables were sufficiently clear to those with hearts receptive, but sufficiently veiled to further Jesus’ path to the cross as the Pharisees continued to oppose him as the true messiah. 5. Remember they have already purposed to kill him for healing on the sabbath for casting out demons, accusing him of having done so by the power of Satan. 6. Think of three categories of people hearing these parables (Dr. William Lane draws this out): The disciples, the 12 apostles are being entrusted with the mysteries of the Kingdom of God…the as-of-yet-unbelieving great multitudes receive the truth behind the veil, and the pharisees hear it with hostility. a. All three categories need the work of the Holy Spirit to renew their hearts and their minds. But Jesus clearly distinguishes the disciples, actual followers of him, from the crowds gathered for the sake of miracles and the show, and further the hostile pharisees. b. Only the Disciples (the 12 plus other actual disciples get the further explanation, alone with Jesus.) c. But remember, even for the disciples the fullness of the truth remains behind the veil. But on the other side of the cross. As the veil is removed, as Jesus’ miracles, identity, and dealing with sin on the cross is held out plainly to you, how will you respond? 1. Will it be any better than the disciples? The crowds? The pharisees or will you like Jesus says quoting Isaiah: indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” a. Ok say, The Disciples are rebuked: v. 13 Jesus simply is saying, this is a simple one, it gets trickier here on out. I won’t go off on the disciples for 10 minutes…Plenty of Chances to watch Peter struggling as we go through Mark…Let’s look at Jesus’ explanation and start applying it to ourselves. And parable doe what? Provoke, reveal, and demand a verdict: So you are meant to be provoked in your heart to say, “Is that my heart? “Do I think of the word as this living seed, planted in my heart?” The Word of God and Different Kinds of Heart (v. 14-20 First, the word of God is Sown without discrimination falling on various soils. 1. France (paraphrase) the parables focus is that the seed is always good, the seed is living, the soil is the problem. The word of God is living and active, but what about your heart? 2. Jesus is exactly on point with the image of the farmer with his sack of grain flinging the seed, every preacher in every century, every individual Christian to their sons and daughters and neighbors and co-workers, every bible that has been translated into a new language and come off a printing press is the seed of God being scattered with abundant zeal. 3. Praise God for the written word of God and the spoken, the proclaimed Gospel. The word of God has gone from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the Earth. 4. This is the key emphasis, to mix the metaphor: hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine. Keep the seed in the sack? No! fling it across the whole 100 acre property God has placed you in. God has determined your times and seasons, where you will live, your family, your classmates, fling the word far and wide. 5. Then leave it in God’s hands, pray for the fruit, you don’t know the kind of heart someone necessarily has. Let’s examine these soils, and we will say these soils are kinds of hearts, minds, souls in response to God’s word…Responses to Christ and to the Gospel, to the promises and precepts of God. [Terry Johnson’s thoughts are throughout this explanation of the soils] #1 First soil: The Path (v. 14-15): Satan immediately takes the word away [14] The sower sows the word. [15] And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. The path, the road’s soil is hard-packed. The seed does not take root. You hear the gospel. You are made in the image of God. He is your creator. You owe allegiance, love, and loyalty to God. To call good what he calls good. To repent of your sin and entrust your forgiveness to Christ. You have the very life of Christ on the cross offered to you. But your heart is hard. You never let it cut your heart. Shake your apathy. Penetrate your emotions. Cause you to grieve and hate your sin. Instead, your hard heart is stubborn and resists. A hard heart may claim that “the Bible is not true.”This heart never yields to the truth of the word, the evidence for the Word for Jesus, whether internal beauty, weightiness, depth, or external confirmations. It then yields easy, unexamined approval to the philosophical bankruptcy of atheism or materialism or the simple pleasure of hedonism. These substitutes act as A hard shield is placed over the heart and mind to the truth of the gospel. Jesus read it on their faces. They didn’t believe his words and they weren’t going to search the scriptures like the Bereans to see if he fulfilled the messianic prophesies foretold. Satan delights in and is active in this. He is the father of lies. Is deceitful and will use any tool to make sure the heart never hears quote 2 cor. 4:4. 2 Corinthians 4:4–6 …to those who are perishing... the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [5] For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God…..in the face of Jesus Christ. (ESV) You may say I don’t have a hard heart ok. But do you have an apathetic heart? A spiritually lazy heart? The Bible? Never read it. Books defending the truth and need for Christianity? Ignored. And petty take-downs of Christianity are easily swallowed because it frees you from having to consider your sin before a Holy God. The emotional weight of being a sinner…..loved by Jesus….the friend of sinners. If you’ve been thinking this, until now, run to Christ. Run to the word of God, take it up as a plough and have it till and turn over the soil of your heart to know Christ Jesus and so be saved. [transition] Second, maybe you are receptive to the word. Yes, I know Jesus, I’m a sinner, Jesus saves me…But your heart is rocky. It is shallow. There is no deep-rootedness. No strength. The shallow roots are easily parched of water and poor nutrition. #2 Rocky (v.16-17): Initial Joy but falling away under persecution [16] And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. [17] And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. There may be emotional enthusiasm, but no strength of heart. No depth of the renewed mind. No courage for when hardships and struggles come. What must we do if we heed the warning of a rocky heart? Take that initial joy and add maturity and growth to it. Take up and read wisdom, listen and read sound and hardy books. Grow into spiritual maturity, Gaining the strength to persevere and to walk as a Christian. Strength supplied and sustained by grace, by the grace of the word and spirit in the heart, but strength exercised nonetheless in your perseverance. And by now hopefully, you know I believe this means commitment to the Lord’s day, to rhythms of Bible, prayer, and Christian conversation with other believers. Many sources of wisdom in your life. To day by day, till the soil, remove the rocks of poor and shallow thinking, breakdown false ideas and worldview, tear down morally weakening habits and vices. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Scripture, and brothers and sisters in community. Initial enthusiasm does not prove a regenerate new heart. Initial enthusiasm is not a guarantee for persevering faith in the believer. How many of this enthusiastic crowd will fall away from Jesus as his teachings get difficult? Take up your cross and follow me Lose your life to gain it The world has hated me it will hate you Become last I am crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Take the word of God seriously as milk. Long for the word as an infant longs for milk it is your life. And so be strengthened for when persecution and suffering comes so you will not be shaken. The second and the third kind of soil are very similar all my exhortations of what to flee from and what to pursue are quite similar. The thorns. Or a false crop they choke out the true crop. The cares of the world that crowd out your growth in grace. You can suffer ridicule. Being the bad guy. Being on the wrong side of history. Losing your money, reputation, so look in verses 18-10. #3 Thorns (v.18-19): Hearing the Word but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. Weeds choke out the word. Weeding is not fun. Especially daily or a weekly rhythm of weeding. Spiritual weeding is never going to feel amazing. weekly weeding of your heart. It’s not going to be spectacular. But when the weekly habits, the daily habits of just plucking a weed as you go by are practiced, that is the difference between a thorn and weed-infested garden and a well-tended one. Do not allow neglect of the ordinary means of grace to say ah you have a thorn infested heart not a tended garden. Your heart is a garden. Now Jesus zooms in on worries and riches. Probably because both these things occupy our minds and our lives. They both can be all-consuming. Riches and Worries will always accept more of your thoughts and meditations. Remember Mark has already reminded us: Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the Lord of your rest. And riches, second to consuming time in pursuit, also determine our tastes. Your love for materialism. For Babylon. The classic example of this is moving to a place for a job without consideration to the Spiritual climate you are moving to, is it a spiritually impoverished region? A churchless city? Never sacrifice a healthy church, community, and family for the promises of wealth. Ruth 1 (Elimelech) Famine, go to a place of physical prosperity but spiritual poverty. Ruth Follows Naomi back to the land of God’s people where she enters the line of Jesus. 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 of life—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. (ESV) [transition] Finally the good soil. It is not hard, it is receptive, has depth, and understanding, and it will be fruitful. #4 Good Soil (v.20): those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” Note the grace here. It is the grace of the word coming to us. The grace of the revelation of the gospel to us. And ALSO yes from our human responsibility side yes HEAR, understand, believe, and persevere in the TRUTH Of the word in your life. Because it’s the voice of your savior applied by the Holy Spirit. The fruit we know is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, taking the word and giving life to our lives. (FOS). I won’t re-read Ephesians 2:8-10 or 1-10 but its there. Good works prepared by God but truly worked by us. The fruit is because of hearts made alive. Minds shaped by the word. And a community of hearts filled by the Holy Spirit. Fruit is growth in grace. And if you have planted a garden you know initially it’s not impressive. And you might say why church each week. Why read this boring theology book. Why go to that group? Why sacrifice time and struggle to be holy? Story time: Anna and I left for our trip and we had planted the garden in May, and absolutely tiny growth right? Well, two weeks later, when we came back, explosive growth, small crop yields just beginning to burst forth. The lesson is this: be patient with what the lord does in a person or church over 3 days 3 months, but be amazed at what he does in 3, 10, 30 years in people’s lives. And it will be an abundant crop. The gospel in the 1st century went from Jerusalem to Jude’s to samari to the ends of the earth and had conquered the Roman Empire within 300 years. Not totally but pervasively. If there is no fruit in your life, the fault lies not with the seed, the word, the message, the gospel, or Jesus. It is a call to examine your heart to commit to being receptive to the word and to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to till the soil of your heart. Pray with me. Benediction This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com [https://jamesensley.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Psalm 6 How Long, O LORD? The Dark Night of the Soul

Introduction: David asks God questions in the Psalms regularly. Psalm 6, David is not comfortable in psalm 6. And he asks in his distress 1 question But you Lord—How Long? This question is actually similar to Psalm 4 “How Long shall my honor be turned to shame? As my enemies exchange the righteousness and truth of God for slander and lies. There, David appeals resoundingly to the JOY and Peace that he has in his relationship to the Lord. He is triumphant. He is assured because God is with him. God has drawn near. And yet now, the cry is How Long. Not just relational opposition. But how long will David be going through the deep and dark valley, the dark night of the soul. Read: Psalm 6 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to v [https://www.esv.org/1Ch15.21]The Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD—how long? 4 Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me // for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For // in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes. // 8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. Prayer #1 The Dark Night of the Soul (vv. 1-3, 6-7)#2 Deliverance that we Might Worship (vv. 4-5)#3 (briefly) The Lord Hears and re-affirms David’s Call to service (vv. 8-10). Usually commentaries and sermons on passages get repetitive after about 2 ½. And They don’t say much that you yourself aren’t seeing at first glance. But this psalm, this psalm was different. No two commentaries were the same in their broad-approach really only agreeing on minutiae. This is one of those psalms where you could hear a different sermon with each pastor. Each attempting to plumb the depths of this problem of David. This Dark night of the soul. Each one would yield something helpful and unique. And usually that would terrify me, if this were A Pauline Epistle or a Parable. Because its about Ideas applied to the heart. But this Psalm, reading it is almost as important as preaching it, it is not about ideas applied to the heart so much as our hearts applied to a Person. Our hearts crying out to the Lord, which sometimes is simply groanings to deep for words. Ans so when it comes to the comfort we seek in the complexity of the Human heart. There are blessings in a multitude of counselors. SO my first point of application becore we get into it is if the words of this psalm resonated with your heart then speak about it to God in prayer but also speak of it with someone who holds your confidence in your life, someone of wisdom. But lets now hear David talk to the Lord. I. Vs. 1-3 The Problem: The dark night of the soul O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O LORD—how long? a. Right away you can feel David’s cry for deliverance. He is feeling the heavy hand of the Lord upon him (right “rebuke” “discipline” “anger” “wrath”. He is weighed down in body and soul. He feels the Lord’s anger and wrath. For this reason this psalm is classified historically as a Penitential Psalm. i. But many point out and I agree with them that David in his prayers, as you read the psalms, is quick to confess that He has sinned. ii. That against you and you only Lord have I sinned. He asks for cleansing from his sins. iii. Yet here, David is expressing a common Christian experience. The weight of a dark and brooding lack of assurance of God’s forgiveness and mercy. iv. A deep despair over sin and guilt. For we are all sinners. We all, rightly, are under God’s wrath and curse. So, for the Christian, of course, there remains indwelling sin of some kind in our lives. Sins that can rightly be confessed and brought to the Cross of Christ to have our burden removed. (Pilgrim leaping for Joy, removed burden!) v. [Pause] But David has no comfort, no burden removed. No reassurance of God’s mercy and grace. vi. His words are vague enough, general enough that we can’t place a finger on an event, a specific heinous sin, but instead we are left with a Man more like Martin Luther—who tires out his brothers and father in his monastery with his overwhelming burden of sin and overwhelming burden of being a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Yet he feels this as a Christian, not a hardened and unrepentant Sinner. vii. What do you do in the face of uncertainty? When you FEEL a lack of assurance viii. Knowing, Lack of assurance wears on Body and Soul. ix. Body and Soul are a unified whole for humanity, suffering in body or soul is very much real and affects your whole person. We are not Buddhist, suffering is not an illusion. “Lord—How long?” you have forgotten me can look like a lot of questions: b. Will I be sick forever? Will I be anxious forever? Will I get that Job, ever be reconciled? Will they be angry with me forever? – And I have no power to heal myself, I cannot simply just turn off my anxiety like a shut off valve, just declare my next job, and call that person and say the friendship is restored? How can I restore the years of anger and bitterness in my marriage? i. Our anxious thoughts cry out, “God does not care.” “He does not heal or transform or repair… At least not for me.” ii. David feels God is Angry with him. David feels he is reaping Wrath. iii. That was the Case with Assyria we heard in Nahum. iv. Certainly that is the Case with David, in Psalm 51. There is a clear case of sin and loss there for David. A prophet told him and pulled back the curtain on God’s punitive will. And it allowed David to confess his sin specifically and to wash his face and be restored. // v. This Psalm I am convinced has nothing to do with Specific. Heinous. Unrepentant sin in David’s Life. vi. Instead, this is a King. Who has Enemies, And could be a young David or an old David vii. If he is young, then he has a period of sickness, the years of running from Saul and the warfare have caught up to him with, PTSD, viii. or perhaps this is the David we meet in his old Age languishing, unable to be warm under the covers of his bed. ix. And he feels alone // isolated // his friends are old and his enemies are nearby // he feels alone. II. Initial suffering and hardship can drive us to a quick Blitz-krieg of prayer with the Lord. To cry out to him. i. But then when it prolongs, we tend to flee from God. The prolonging bringing about distance – The absence of prayer here would be a victory for Satan. But David cries out. ii. Martin Luther says, “TO all suffering people time seems long, and…to joyous it seems short. But it seems especially and immeasurably long to those who have this internal hurt of the soul, the feeling of being forsaken and rejected by God.” iii. Praise God for this Psalm: Because if there is a prayer, there is a drawing near in conversation, and a remembrance that God is gracious and has dealt mercifully with us. iv. If indeed you are a Christian, you have already experienced mercy, grace and truth in Christ Jesus. So, you can look backwards in prayer, rehearsing your salvation in Christ, v. OR you can look forward to the time in the New Heavens and the New Earth. 1. Where every sin is banished, every tear from our eyes are wiped and we have New resurrected bodies in a world…where the curse of sin is fully exterminated. And how long? Becomes answered with eternal blessedness in the presence of the Lord. 2. …with the people of the Lord, and never that experience of isolated prolonged suffering ever again. [Pause] b. But here and now we are not yet glorified. i. Be warned:The world will attempt to solve our present suffering not with the perspective of Future Hope of Glory and not with the promises of our present Salvation, not with the relationship we have the Lord and his people, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit crying out in our hearts in prayer. ii. The world would cast aside: The comfort of belonging to a local body of Christ to the strength of exchanging the right hand of fellowship, fellowship that with hospitality ought to follow us into our homes and lives and moment by moment put people next to us in our struggles. Because that is what the spirit produces in his people. iii. No the world knows nothing of these things, iv. Instead, the world falsely promises a cure with either one of two anti-Christian dualisms. Materialism or Spiritualism. v. On the one hand there is deistic, or pantheistic, or therapeutic-spiritualism: Think: Oprah or the next super-psychologist’s book. Here the Christian is told if you just meditate and pray better, if you just had a better thought life, practiced mindfulness, and really addressed your personal truth and spirituality, then You will never suffer the way you do now. Stick to the spiritual plan because suffering is spiritual, and physical misery is an illusion of the mind. 1. There are secular versions, Gnosticism, Healing Ministries, and then there are well meaning much more orthodox friends. be a better Christian, and you will no longer, have to pray this Psalm, Christians don’t pray Psalm 6, don’t get depressed, and Do steps 1-15 and will be back to your best you. Insert whichever theology-book-pastor-or Church movement, cult-of-personality, achieves that in your mind. vi. And as we often do, if you’ve been burned by a hyper-spiritual solution to suffering, then you may embrace a purely physical psychiatric solution. vii. If you Just: Eat Keto, did Crossfit, did more cardio, less cardio and more weights, Bought this Pillow, Did a Gene-based diet. Took the right Medicines then you will be cured! Perhaps if David changed his diet. For this approach there is a scoffing and disdain if you ever dare imply that my unaddressed sin, my soul might be sick, that my heart might love idols that are physically impacting me. Or that the ways people have sinned against me has left heart-wounds viii. David reveals that complexity of fallen humanity here. ix. Brothers and sisters tread very carefully here. 1. When we suffer it may be the sorrow of a broken world and finite bodies. Suffering can be very Physical. 2. When we suffer it may be our hearts and souls finite and suffering. It may be for our sin it may be from a soldier suffering the affects combat, or disease in our body or mind c. David says his languishing is Bodily, his “Bones are trembling,” and spiritual: his “soul is troubled.” i. David wonders rightly, is it my Sin? Or is it just a sinful a fallen world? ii. There is a book that unpacks more of this titled simply: Christians Get Depressed Too by David Murray. In it he affirms that iii. We are all sinners, we live in a fallen world, and we suffer both physically and spiritually even as believers. And that these two aspects of us interact. 1. Chronic back-pain can aggravate the sin in our hearts or by God’s grace may be a testimony of Long-suffering and gentleness under pressure. Addressing back-pain, brain chemistry, whatever “physical brace of mind or body” may be what allows you to then have the strength to engage God in his word and prayer and gather with his people. 2. Yet also, A Heart that is angry with the Lord and raging against his will and world can bring about great harm to the body and the mind. 3. Forever Banish a separation a dualism of the spiritual and physical from your sensibilities. The inner and outer man are in constant interaction 4. and our OUR counseling of brothers and sisters should ask questions that allow for love and care of both body and soul. 5. Ask questions, ask open-ended spiraling, meandering questions, state back “I’m hearing you “say,” don’t latch onto the first quick solution. Allow for many contributions and aspects to what feels like a single prayoblem. 6. Brothers and sisters Your physical presence matters. Presence. Love. Long-suffering. Persistence and constancy of both bodily-presence and prayer are called for when body and soul are being cared for. – The Christian Agape-Meal, Or potluck meals matter, they exist for a reason. (I know Pot-providence) iv. jump down to Verses 6-7 with the eye to body and soul both at play: 6 I am weary with my moaning; // Every night I flood my bed with tears; // I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes. 1. David lays it all out there. His heart and body are sick and on top of it all his enemies are compounding his grief. Or perhaps they are like Jobs friends-who-might as well be enemies. d. In the midst of verses 1-3, and 5-6 this psalm does what many tend to do the Middle of The Psalm offers the request, the lesson. So David rehearses the problem his dark night of the soul, and his isolation, his weeping, and torment, and in the middle he offers us some surprising and a helpful reasons and even GOALS for the suffering saint in Christ. i. David essentially says, God how long? Will you heal me heart and body? One answer is “The secret things belong to the Lord.” And for some of you that is enough. That has been my disposition since childhood. ii. But David, is feistier than me, Challenges God iii. And He Gives one surprising rationale for at least a Why God should heal him. iv. This I believe, is a model reason for prayer for healing and deliverance for the believer and should find its way into our own prayers for sick brothers and sisters. DAVID Desires Purpose. To stay on duty and on mission as a believer. He desires Ongoing Earthly Service. The unbeliever, the atheist does not have these two things. The atheist has the cold darkness of the vacuum of space. David, however, is a good Covenant theologian, David grounds Hope and Purposeful Ongoing Earthly Service in God’s Steadfast Love. III. v. 4-5. Appeal for Deliverance is actually a refocusing of our sergice to the Lord. 4 Re-turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? a. Come back O God! And I have some reasons. Come back O God. b. Why? , On the Basis of your Covenant Love. And the basis of your promised salvation. Return to your son or daughter ultimately on the basis of him or her being in Christ, , being in Christ who drank the cup of wrath, bringing salvation far as the Curse is found. c. Salvation and deliverance ultimately involves deliverance from the guilt of sin. Deliverance from the ultimate problem of our sinful, dead hearts. Deliverance from dead hearts to a living, reborn, regenerated heart. d. And thus an assurance gained by the Spirit placed in our hearts crying Abba, Father. There is salvation from the guilt of sin. And then there is a remembrance of the unceasing Love of our Heavenly Father. Ultimately, this is given by the Spirit of Christ crying Abba, Father in our Hearts. e. Praise God he will never cast me away, no sin can separate me, this if it is a chastisement from God for my sin is the Chastisement of my Heavenly Father and all things work together for my God. He sees Christ risen and reigning in heaven and Christ’s righteousness not my sin. – f. This is why Christ can say, to Martha in John 11, “Though you die, yet you will live.” Our salvation means we hope in the resurrection. i. But has David denied that resurrection in saying there is no remembrance of you in Sheol? ii. That’s what many commentators say, David has a small view of the aftrerlife. And perhaps no doctrine of the Resurrection. iii. But David wrote Psalm 16, For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, iv. or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. v. David knows that there is Praise of God forever in his presence. But what he will miss out on if he dies is the ongoing ministry of the praise of God, here and now with God’s people, the remembrance of him in Worship here and now. IV. Look again at VERSE 5) For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? a. Remembrance is a covenantal term, God remembers Israel his covenant people in Exodus, Remembrance of God is what we do in worship, in ordinances you need to just hear the words of Institution of the Lord’s supper: This do in Remembrance of Me. b. David’s Dilemma is Paul’s Dilemma expressed in Phillipians 1: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.. c. All Christians should live with the fact that for the believer there is no RETIREMENT. We live for the love and edification of the body of Christ. We live for the worship of God in remembrance. i. When you are hard-pressed, Ask, the Lord give me grace and mercy so that I might serve you, my church, my neighbor, family and friends here and now. ii. BUT physical and spiritual darkness tells us that we are Useless. Depression chokes out our feeling of USEFULNESS. – But come to the table, feed on the word, sing praises no matter how mournful, melancholy, and tinged with ambivalence and we are all strengthened. If you cannot gather for worship. Pray. iii. And when you cannot gather? PRAY. Pray for Christ’s church, her ministers, her children, her officers, and the world that needs Christ. Pray for marriages, for work, and comfort in suffering. There is much kingdom work done by the saints. V. Verses 8-10: The Lord Hears and David is re-affirms to Service Look in verses 8-10: The Lord hears all our prayers, Sometimes God’s answer to prayer for healing, is that he calls his dear saints home. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. He does not do this lightly. But as Paul says to be with Christ is far better. a. But on this occasion God intervenes. He is not done with David on this side of Heaven. i. But what of you? If you are in Christ, your enemies cannot continue to heap rebuke and ridicule for your weaknesses and sins. You are forgiven, you are accepted and valued in Christ. ii. Prolonged illness tends to make us struggle to believe this. But the psalmist is confident. The Lord hears. The Lord accepts our prayers. VI. We have the blessing of experiencing this prayer. It can be our prayer. a. Psalm 6 gives us a resource in our weeping, our sickness, and our tender care towards brothers and sisters. Christ has cared for us as a most excellent physician, savior of sinners, And he equips us with the same prayer. Prayer Benediction This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com [https://jamesensley.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Mark 3:20-35 Doubt, Blasphemy, and Forgiveness

Recap: Last week we saw the humanity of Christ under the pressure of growing crowds and demands on him. Jesus called the 12 apostles who were with Christ as a blessing to Jesus and to us today. Christ the cornerstone, they, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are the foundations of the church. Giving us the complete bible by which we can know and love Jesus. Today we are going to see Jesus’ confrontation with his family, his call to submit our will, our loves to God above all others, and a severe warning to the pharisees hard hearted reaction to him, these three paragraphs are what is often called a “Markan Sandwich” meaning Jesus’ dealing with his family (a case of unbelief, of struggling to believe in Jesus) frames either side of the hard-hearted, blasphemous rejection of not just Christ but the entire work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the messiah. Read Mark 3:20–35 [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.” [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 were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” [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] For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (ESV) Prayer of Illumination #1 Faithful Pains: vv. 20-21 & 31-35 #2 Painful Blasphemies: vv. 22-30 #1 Faithful Pains: The Renewed, the Righteous mind lives Life Zealously Devoted to God above all other callings 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.” (ESV) J.C. Ryle says, Zeal is often opposed, in the book of Acts Festus calls Paul (mad) Was Jesus out of his mind? Certainly not, He has fulfilled the role of prophet in his history-shifting preaching about the need for repentance and faith. He has shown he is fulfilling the priesthood and sacrificial system, by forgiving sins, he is the priest-physician of sinners, he is the Lord of a Creation ordinance—claiming to be the Lord of the Sabbath, and He now has massive crowds, all with the singular opposition of the religious leaders, the scribes and pharisees. We don’t know what precisely shook the confidence of Jesus’ family that he is on the right path; Even if they might be holding out that he is a human messiah who has gone off track, they do not believe in him as the Son of God who forgives sins. So they seek to seize him and bring him back by force. But Jesus will not be derailed from the mission he has received from his heavenly Father, the mission he has promised to accomplish, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform. Preach. Heal. Cast down Satan. Die. Defeat Death and Sin and rise as the Lamb slain ascended to the fathers right hand. Jesus’ mind was zealous for his ministry. We do not have the same identity as Jesus, or the same mission, but we ought to have the same zeal for our individual callings and, as Jesus says later, do the will of God. Do you have the mind of Christ? This is important, Christ calls us to prioritize the renewed mind that follows the Will of God. Zeal and being in your right mind may get confusing to people who don’t prioritize a life devoted to God. ILL: Derek Thomas (religious excitement and the kindly wicked priest) For the believer, when you have zeal, and zeal is joined with being grounded in the scriptures, and in community with mature believers, then you will grow in discernment, wisdom, and resiliant convictions. 1 Corinthians 2:14–16 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (ESV) Our passage raises the question, What if we are tempted to love father or mother, sons or daughters more than Christ? The Gospel transformation study bible answers this well: “Jesus never calls his followers to sever ties with their natural families (as do some cults and sectarian movements). He does, however, exhort each follower to place the call of Christ above all ties to the natural family. The hyperbolic language of Matthew 10:35 [https://www.esv.org/Matthew+10%3A35/] and Luke 14:26 [https://www.esv.org/Luke+14%3A26/] should not be interpreted as a call to family antipathy” Pause here, Jesus speaks even more hyperbolically to compare loyalty to God vs. family: Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. “but as a clear reminder of the priority of Christ’s claim upon his disciples—his purposes must outweigh all other loyalties. This requires a sober assessment of loyalties toward one’s natural family. While honoring parents is very important, Jesus does question absolute subservience to the natural family (see Mark 7:10–13 [https://www.esv.org/Mark+7%3A10%E2%80%9313/] with 10:29–31 [https://www.esv.org/Mark+10%3A29%E2%80%9331/]). [ E.g. Muslim converts and more collective societies…] Focus on the will of God (3:35 [https://www.esv.org/Mark+3%3A35/]), as ascertained by means of prayer, humility, and in consultation with other believers, is central to defining one’s relationship with his or her natural family. Having been delivered by Christ in a work of sheer grace, our fundamental loyalty is to him.” – Gospel Transformation Study Bible See this in vv. 33-35 again, 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] For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (ESV) Absolute Allegiance is to Christ First, this allegiance to Christ comes from his being our creator and law giver, but also because by his grace he has loved us when we were enemies, in our unloveliness. But disordered love, Love for Family above God, disordered romance, disordered desires, coveting fame, coveting fortune, money or career above Christ that ignores the words and voice of Christ, his objective will as revealed in scripture, is idolatry and diminishes the capacity to ultimately love family. Loving Christ will increase your capacity to love family with a bold love (not love faking or love breaking). Love for Christ allows for the truest definition of love, doing the will of God, love God and love neighbor. True love is this. “Love seeks the other persons highest good, ultimately” 2x Love Seeks the other: it calls us to pursue being interested in others lives. Seek the Highest Good vs. cultural good Seek goodness, mercy, beauty, and TRUTH. Not cultural fads or compromise. Seeking the highest good has an objective moral component, wisdom component, you can find this objectivity in the 10 commandments, the fruit of the spirit, the book of proverbs, and the instructions for believers in the second half of paul’s epistles. Seek it Ultimately not near term. We know a dentist visit is near term unpleasant but is for the long term health of the child. We know withholding money now and putting it in a savings account is good for a child. A near term pain of calling sin “sin” or expressing a correction now can steer the ship of someone’s life back into save water. Have you, like Jesus, crossed “the pain threshold?” where integrity could cause relational and cultural friction with the world and your fallen desires. In the context of this June, as pride month, you must be willing to side with “the will of God” “with the renewed mind of Christ” and cross the pain threshold with the world and our fallen natures. We saw last week that Jesus determines his Apostles, by implication the N.T. by implication the OT 2 Timothy 3:16 says, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (ESV) Therefore, Jesus determines our priorities and what knowledge directs our zeal. He is not out of his mind, he has a righteous mind, is calling us to renewed minds, that will flow to renewed wills, affections, and lives. And his Holy Spirit by the WORD is effectively shaping this renewal. Satan is our enemy, and he knows, and Jesus knows that family (or the promise of a family-like belonging, inclusion) can call us to compromise on truth and goodness. (by family like I mean the peer pressure & internet or media pressure with the promiste of acceptance e.g. Reddit acceptance, sub-culture acceptance, family like belonging and inclusion on the SURFACE…But Satan always hides the Hook! Deuteronomy warns if a family members goes and worships idols, not to join them in it. In our post-modern age we know that the ONE of the biggest pressures of compromise is often in the area of Christian sexual ethics, and the pressure is often when a family member has pursued a morally distorted relationship of some kind. And then holds the relationship hostage to the affirmation of the sinful lifestyle…or else be cut off. (or peers or internet sub-culture). This is an unfair blackmailing of unconditional love being by slight of hand replaced/confused with unconditional approval. Faithful relatives love each other by telling the truth, praying for, and in love, including wayward family in wise and appropriate ways. This takes wisdom. Remember seek the other persons highest good…ultimately. Our passage today stresses family. But this principle holds true for friendships. Are you still seeking their good? Are you finding ways to show love? Affirming sin, sins against nature that will harm both soul and body is not seeking the other’s good. And short-term compromises may ruin the long term witness of love. I would encourage you to read Rosaria Butterfield’s story, her testimony is found in numerous places on Youtube. Beckett Cook’s “a change of affections” is another wonderful account of God’s Grace. Chloe Cole, is a faithful story of regaining a grounding in her calling as a woman. Christopher Yuan’s mother and him toured the country explaining her faithful love to him from, a truly broken lifestyle in Atlanta Georgia, to prison and drugs, all the way to his conversion and faithful witness. (their testimony is on youtube His story in particular is one of Family faithfully loving him, praying for him, but yet never always thinking that faithfulness to Christ and the Will of God was the solution not the hindrance to healing their relationship. The Call to follow Jesus is Real. When you follow Jesus you are following your creator and your savior. You are beginning life as a forgiven sinner, and a beloved son or daughter, and all the benefits and assurance of adoption, of being filled by the Holy Spirit. And you can know and do the will of God, objectively found in the scriptures. Jesus knows the feeling of struggle to be faithful as a finite human 1. Take your struggles to Jesus in prayer 2. Ask for friends & Mothers & sisters to walk alongside you 3. Be resolved to cross-the pain threshold to be called crazy by the world, I hope not by your family, but it did happen to Jesus. a. The Good news is his family did eventually believe and follow him, and his brother James even wrote a book of the bible. 4. Enjoy the blessing of church family being brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. a. And remember your very much still true calling to in the 5th commandment: Honor your father and mother, to love and care for kin. Jesus has crossed the Pain threshold, following the will of his Heavenly Father Now he has to answer a Character Assassination and Accusation that he is not just out of his mind but Wicked, Unclean, Demonic, Working for the kingdom of Darkness and Satan THAT is how he does healing is by Satan, that is how he casts out demons by Satan. #2 Blaspheming the Holy Spirit vv. 22-28 Or Painful Blasphemies [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.” First, the Pharisees identified the work of the Spirit to heal, to cast out demons, and to grant power to Jesus’ preaching as demonic. They are challenging Jesus yes, but it is also a challenge to the claim that Jesus is Fulfilling scripture, specifically ones like Isaiah 61, Jesus has preached Isaiah 61 in the synagogue, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, [19] to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus continued: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [22] And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. Jesus’ claim was grounded in the Old Testament anticipation of his work as the Messiah. The Pharisees say” this is of Satan.” They are opposing Jesus and the Prophets, saying he has an unclean spirit. Rather than recognizing that these good deeds of Jesus are from God they claim they are of the devil. Because to accept these exact kinds of signs would be to accept Jesus as God’s anointed Messiah. Per. Is. 61. Jesus soundly dismantles this Objection He is casting out and opposing demons. He is healing the sick and oppressed and these things are clearly opposite of Satan’s goals. He is forgiving sins and calling people to repent of sins, to turn away from uncleanness to holiness. – If he was TEAM Satan, then Jesus is waging a civil war against Satan. [Video games friendly fire…oops the first time but the 3rd time, the little option to kick the team mate pops up….Jesus is saying, If I was on satan’s side then he is down a few teammates and he is losing this game in no time. Look in verse 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. Douglas O’Donnell says that, Jesus’ point is he has shown by his power that he has entered satan’s house, “bound the strong man” and plundered him of his captives. He has freed people from his dominion. ( Par. O’Donnall, 100). So first, Pharisees, your position is absurd, Second, hear this warning! You are calling the Work of the Holy Spirit demonic. This is dangerously high-handed blasphemy Look in 28-30 “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 were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” “all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter.” Let’s pause there a minute. Jesus is the savior of sinners; he took our humanity so that for men and women, young and old, with sins lighter and heavier, limited or heinous, shameful, harmful, and hateful, “all sins will be forgiven.” If you have hated and harmed your neighbor, God, and even yourself. Jesus says your sins can be forgiven. If you have never turned to Christ for forgiveness and healing, go to Christ, experience his love, he died for the broken and messy, the ruined and wretched. And he will restore, cleanse, and separate those sins from us as far as the east is from the west. This is why we have a confession of sin and assurance of pardon each week. We need to remember daily, weekly that we are sinners, and that we ARE Forgiven! You if you have rested, trusted, and cried out to Jesus in prayer are forgiven. It is true. [pause] But in this context Jesus is talking to scribes and pharisees who walked all the way from Jerusalem to look at the messiah in the flesh, the God-Man working to heal, to cast out demons and say, what you are doing, Jesus, is demonic and evil. And Jesus in the context of his family struggling to believe in his ministry and knowing that many are wrestling with whether he is the messiah, says, You can insult me all day long. But do not insult the work of the Holy Spirit? You do not call the work of the Spirit unclean. [ILL] This like siblings saying, You can call me names, you can pick on me, but don’t say anything about my brother, my sister, my mother… Or Military branches we can pick on each other, but don’t you dare as non-military attack any branch of the military in front of us…. Jesus recognizes there is a difference between a slowness to accept that he is the true messiah vs. a hard-hearted looking at the work of the Holy Spirit to heal and restore people, to undue darkness with light and holiness, and to call that satanic. And so Jesus says, in a verbal warning to the Pharisees, be careful, if you are hard-heartedly opposed to the very work of the Holy Spirit there is not forgiveness for you. DO not attribute to Satan the work of the Spirit. Now with this, Douglas O’Donnall asks two helpful questions of this passage: 1. Can we still commit this sin? And (2) if so, have we committed this sin? Let’s answer that first one, can we still commit this sin and answer that precisely. There is certainly a uniqueness to being face to face with Jesus as the Pharisees were and their hard-hearted rejection and accusation, this seems to bear out for most of them in the crucifixion of Jesus and lack of repentance ever noted in the book of Acts! Whereas numerous people were slow to recognize Jesus as the messiah but later respond in faith. That seems to be the very point of our passage. Jesus’ family says, this is crazy, they struggled to believe, or Mary struggled at least to know this is How this ministry ought to be going. Therefore, Keep wrestling with following Jesus if you’re slow to believe. But do not delay saying I will do that tomorrow, no one is guaranteed tomorrow, take your sins to Jesus today and entrust your life, your love, and your loyalty. Be encouraged even Jesus’ siblings struggled. But be pressed to believe even Jesus’ siblings believed! In Acts 1:14 gathered at Pentecost with the apostles “Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” And Jesus’ brothers James even pens a letter of the bible, he speaks at the Jerusalem council. So, struggling to believe in Jesus is not the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, it is wrong and dangerous. Yet even after the life of Jesus the Apostle John In 1 John 5 still talks about “the sin that leads to death.” That some sins simply need repentance and prayer, but that some lead to death and should not even be prayed for. J.C. Ryle Says it well, “the doctrine here laid down is to be found in other places of Scripture beside this. I allude of course to the well-known passages, Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26 and 1 John 5:17. In all these places there seems a reference to a sin which is not forgiven. What then is the unpardonable sin? It must be frankly confessed that its precise nature is nowhere defined in Holy Scripture. The most probable view is, that it is a combination of clear intellectual knowledge of the gospel, with deliberate rejection of it, and willful choice of sin. It is a union of light in the head, and hatred in the heart. … The limits which knowledge combined with unbelief must pass, in order to become the unpardonable sin, are graciously withheld from us. It is mercifully ordered of God, that man can never decide positively of any brother, that he has committed a sin which cannot be forgiven. [pause here, it is interesting to note the pharisees were literally watching the healings and casting out of the demons in the unique period of history…and their hearts were so hard that they assigned this work, a withered hand restored, the sick healed to SATAN. And so while there seems to still be a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, listen to this second half by Ryle answering… Have I committed the unforgivable sin?] But although it is difficult to define what the unpardonable sin is, it is far less difficult to point out what it is not. … those who are troubled with fears that they have sinned the unpardonable sin are the very people who have not sinned it. The very fact that they are afraid and anxious about it is the strongest possible evidence in their favour. A troubled conscience-an anxiety about salvation, and a dread of being cast away— concern about the next world, and a desire to escape from the wrath of God—will probably never be found in the heart of that person who has sinned the sin for which there is no forgiveness. It is far more probable that the general marks of such a person will be utter hardness of conscience—a seared heart—an absence of any feeling, a thorough insensibility to spiritual concern. The subject may safely be left here. There is such a thing as a sin which is never forgiven. But those who are troubled about it, are most unlikely to have committed it.” (Ryle, 46). And in all this do not miss this comfort of Christ, save this one mysterious exception, all sins will be forgiven mankind who hide themselves in Christ, whom to Jesus for refuge have fled…And we can be certain those in this sin will not seek to entrust themselves to Christ. The ESV study bible notes “even heinous sins are forgivable. Christ pardoned Peter for denying Him (John 18:15–27; 21:15–19) David repented and was forgiven for murder and adultery (2 Sam. 11:1–12:15a) Paul was made an apostle even though He once persecuted Jesus (Acts 9:1–19) Matthew Henry comments, “Those who fear they have committed this sin, give a good sign that they have not.” What can you know for certain today. Christ has broken the power of satan. If the idea of the power of sin being broken in your life is beautiful, is hopeful to you, then know ALL YOUR SINS MAY BE FORGIVEN if you cast them on Christ. He is a good savior. The second thing you may know is if you are ungrieved, in bondage to, and unwilling to break with sin it will be the death of your soul. You must cry out in order to be forgiven, or else your heart will harden in sin, and an unrepentant heart is an unforgiven heart. Which way, the way of life or the way of death? The will of God or your own will? Choose this day the LORD and LIFE go to him in prayer. Prayer Benediction. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com [https://jamesensley.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Mark 3:7-19 Jesus Under Pressure

Sermon on Mark 3:7–19 We are back in the Gospel of Mark after spending our fifth Sunday in the Confession in Revelation chapter 9, thinking about the Church of Christ. This week we will be in Mark chapter 3 in verses 7 through 19. As you’re turning there, remember there’s been these increasingly severe conflicts between Christ and the scribes and Pharisees. The Gospel of Mark has been building this action-packed, cumulative case for who Jesus is and what He is accomplishing, what He is bringing with the kingdom of God as Lord and Savior, as Messiah. Jesus has been focusing on preaching repentance and faith. That as a gracious and merciful Savior, He forgives sins. He reconciles and restores sinners to table fellowship. And that is as the bridegroom. We’re starting to get titles for Christ. He is the bridegroom. Finally we saw the scribes and the Pharisees said we’re going to go to our political enemies Herodians and we’re going to plot together how to kill Jesus. But in the face of all this, his fame is spreading as he preaches, heals, and casts out demons. And that is where we join Jesus again in Mark 3. Scripture Reading I’m going to read verses 7 through 21 because those final two verses bridge the two passages. So we’ll read those over the next two weeks. Mark 3, beginning in verse 7. This is God’s holy, inerrant and inspired word for us this morning. “Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from beyond Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirit saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God.’ And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired. And they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.” Prayer Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we pray that you would, by your Holy Spirit, take your word and make it living and active to pierce to the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, that we might be changed by it, that we might know and love Christ. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Two Main Points: Pressure and Plan Two points for us this morning: if you want the words, pressure and plan. First, ministry pressure in verses 7 through 12 and second, a plan—authority delegation planning—as we have the 12 apostles gathered in verses 13 through 19. Ministry Pressure (Mark 3:7–12) So why is Jesus withdrawing? The previous verse was this conflict with the scribes and Pharisees where we’re told they’re ready to kill him. He will go back to Jerusalem eventually, but for a time he is going to be returning to preach in Galilee and Judea among the common people. He’s not in the urban power center, but neither is he just in the wilderness away from everybody. He is in a very average cluster of medium-sized towns with the common everyday Galileans and Judeans who have access to him by the sea. But yet they’re also coming to him from Jerusalem and from cities up to 60 miles away. So from all directions, north, south, east, and west, he is now officially nationally and internationally famous. He has great crowds following him wherever he goes. They are pressing him. Verse 20 says he can’t even eat. He’s trying to preach. Yet, when he finishes speaking, he has demons yelling at him that he is the Son of God. They are, of course, right, but they’re falling down out of fear. They’re not worshiping him. They’re revealing too much too soon of his identity, and he tells them to be quiet. Then comes the waves and waves of people suffering the effects of the fall. So in his compassion, he heals them. So he’s teaching with authority, power over the spiritual realm. Satan is clearly opposed and cast out, and that’s going to come in the following verses. They’re cast out by a holy, clean, powerful Savior who has compassion on sinners. They came, they followed because they were weary, miserable, and in need of a Savior. You can picture the scene. If they surge forward simply because they are wounded and hurting and in desperate need and the desire to be healed, they press him back into the ocean. And this is hectic and exhausting. How many celebrities have we seen just snap after the paparazzi have worked them up? There is a very real human nature to just the press of people, to the unendingness of the needs, to have it simply be exhausting and overwhelming. And we need to admit that for Jesus, to be human, to take on a human nature, is to be vulnerable to exhaustion. There are simple realities to when you are stretched to exhaustion. What do you do when you are at the end of yourself? When you are exhausted, when you are overwhelmed with life. We see it’s true of Jesus and it’s been true of many ministering the gospel throughout the years. There’s been seasons and people who have experienced this as well and they all need help. This is commonly felt by the followers of Jesus. In the Great Awakening, you have John Wesley and George Whitefield just touring vast parts of the country. Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther—many people that we know from church history have this common reality of their life where they have escalating popularity, escalating opposition, escalating need for relief and withdrawal. But they also have a need for a team, for key institutions, for support. All leaders need help, support people to alleviate the press of life by multiplying leaders. And this is true for everybody. This is not just for famous pastors through history. Everybody in life has this basic human need. So with this passage, we see the true humanity of Christ, the compassion of Jesus, and that Christ has always blessed His church with the officers she needs. The Plan: Appointing the Twelve Apostles (Mark 3:13–19) We’ve seen four of these disciples several times, we’ve listed six names, but now the number jumps to finally the twelve disciples, the twelve apostles. And in this passage, Jesus’ apostles are fully delegated, and there’s an authoritative witness given to them, called, set apart, and sent. Jesus, as we saw last week with talking about the church in Revelation, furnishes His church with officers, oracles, and ordinances—all that we need for teaching, worship, fellowship, the sacraments. Christ has left His church well supplied. Let’s think about just this jump of the number to 12, that he needed these 12 men for a minute before we move fully to our second point. Jesus calls these 12 partly to solve the pressure of the crowds. Jesus knows what it’s like to be physically and literally overwhelmed, to have expectations and social pressures. Later, his family, as we read, are going to tell him he’s out of his mind, he can’t even eat because of the pressure. With this, we can see you can take your fears and exhaustion to the Lord. There is an exhaustion to planning and thinking and being alert all the time. We can say, literally, in not being able to eat, Jesus’ glucose levels in his brain would have dropped, and it would have been fatiguing to him. And over that time, we see this blessing. He gathers the twelve disciples to be with him always. We give Peter and a lot of them a bad rap sometimes. But think about, you have fiery Peter and the sons of thunder who alleviate, who press the crowds back. Even Judas, who would eventually betray him, might have started to say, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep track of the money, the supplies, the planning, the logistics.” They didn’t give him that job for no reason. It was the beloved apostle John who said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go talk to that man, that lady that you didn’t get to talk to an hour ago. I’ll track them down for you.” So you must remember the divine, omniscient, omnipresent Son of God left heaven and took on our flesh. He suffered all the miseries of this life, even the ones that come from struggling to do a very good thing with a human nature that is truly human. So you can take that to God in prayer. Let’s look at these 12 men now as apostles, as emissaries, ambassadors, sent ones in the name of Christ in order to speak on behalf of Christ. Verses 13 through 19. So he goes up the mountain, he appoints the 12 that they might be with him, that he might send them out to preach, that he might give them authority to cast out demons. First, let’s think about the twelve. He goes up on a mountain with twelve disciples. And that might ring a bell. Where else do we have a mountain in 12 of something? Mount Sinai with the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus is assembling the new covenant renewed people of God back from exile as the kingdom of heaven comes. We’ve been working through Revelation on Wednesday nights and we saw the 24 elders, the 12 and the 12, the old and the new covenant people of God completely present with the Lord in heaven, God’s people from all times and ages. So Jesus withdraws, has this officer retreat. He calls the 12 men who are going to represent the new covenant people of God. They’re very different kinds of people. You have a zealot, a tax collector, fishermen, brothers who were boisterous men of some kind. You don’t get the name Sons of Thunder without that describing something about them. And there is even a traitor, a Benedict Arnold who’s better yet a Judas, and you have a Doubting Thomas. The apostles are so central to our thinking we name things after them. What are they called to? Jesus does not do his three-year ministry alone. He requires companionship, brotherhood. The human nature of Christ is once again plain here. He needs human fellowship. There is no lone wolf, no lone ranger Christianity. They were called to be with Christ. And today we can say you are with Christ in a sense. You read the apostles’ witness to his life. Recall the words of 1 Peter, “Though you do not now see him, you know him and you love him.” They received that from the apostolic witness. In the Ensley home we’re nearing the end of Catherine Vos’ storybook Bible and we’ve been covering the crucifixion of Christ, the trial of Christ. And throughout this time, as we come to every injustice and unfair thing done to Christ, every time the Pharisees deny who Jesus is, Elijah says, “That’s not right. They can’t do that. That’s unfair. Don’t they know who he is? Don’t they know how good he is?” And where does knowing and a desire to defend Christ come from? Having encountered him through the Gospels. The disciples were with Jesus. They know Jesus. And we too know and love Jesus by the word of their testimony. And all the scripture, but especially the fourfold witness of the gospel. Has the Holy Spirit so indwelt your heart and mind that through the witness of the gospel and the word, you truly know and love Christ as your Savior, your Redeemer, and your friend, even as he was a friend of these 12 men? So by being with Jesus, they get to know Jesus. Their word allows us to know him, but Jesus also impacts them. He transforms his disciples. He grows them. He’s changing them over three years. Acts chapter 4 has a particularly poignant reference to this. Acts chapter 4 verse 8 says, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed? Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” So they’re witnesses to the gospel and identity of Jesus. But how do people respond? “They recognized that they had been with Jesus.” It’s obvious how these mere fishermen were now richly understanding the Bible, the writings of Scripture. And we see this in the Gospels and Peter’s sermons, his letters and John’s letters are astounding as they pull together the unity of the Word. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, had changed them. It wasn’t simply knowledge. They were now from the heart worshipers of God. They were merciful men. They were men of deep community and fellowship. While you have not been with Jesus physically, you too can in your lives, by the Word and by the Spirit, by the fellowship of the saints or the body of Christ here on earth, have the same transformed hearts, training in the Scriptures and wisdom and an assurance of salvation. You can have the same desire for men and women to be saved, to know the Lord. They’re also sent forth. He appointed them by a battlefield commission to be apostles. And he commissions them with particular gifts and miracles that are signs to give authority to their preaching ministry. The apostles are unique. There’s uniquely Jesus’ messianic gifts as prophets, priests, and kings. It’s divine authority that he gives to the apostles which is also a divine authority as they write scriptures. As he gives them the sign gifts. But then with the completion of the scriptures, the uniqueness of the apostles, there’s also the ordinary ministry that depends on the word of the special offices of the pastors, elders, and deacons in the church, and the general office of the saints. This can be helpful because I think sometimes believers carry around a lot of false baggage, basically thinking they need to be doing everything they ever saw Jesus or the apostles doing. Or even that everyone has the exact same vocation as church officers on the same level and intensities. So this is simply saying there are unique vocational callings. And it’s proper to ask, what does my calling look like for me—not as an apostle, not necessarily as a church officer, but as a faithful member of the church? And it’s quite freeing without shirking shared responsibility. The apostles were sent out to preach from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Early history suggests Thomas made it all the way out to India. They were given unique healing and miraculous gifts to be apostles. You can see that in Hebrews 2 or 2 Corinthians 12. Paul says they had unique authority as emissaries of Christ, eventually to write or supervise the writing of the New Testament. They had here specific authority over the spiritual realm to oppose Satan’s evil, to cast out demons as he is cast down at the first coming of Christ. For us today we can say resist the devil and he will flee from you. He has been defanged because we are covered in the blood of Christ. Satan no longer has anything legally he can accuse you of. Our sins are covered by Christ. 1 John 3 says Christ has destroyed the works of Satan and his lies and power over us at the cross and we see that is also furthered as the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost on the church. The apostles are given the authority to write Scripture. Jesus in John’s Gospel says, The Scriptures are trustworthy. Peter, in fact, says Paul’s writings can be difficult, as are the other Scriptures. The Bible recognizes the writings of the apostles are Scripture. And lastly, the apostles were temporary. Ephesians 2:20 says the church is built on the foundations of Christ and the apostles, Christ being the cornerstone. We can see the nature of it being temporary because scripture says that there’s a unique qualification to being an apostle. You see this in Acts chapter 1. Matthias is chosen to replace Judas because he had accompanied Jesus beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us. So to be an apostle is to be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Praise God for the ministry of the apostles, for they were the foundation of the church. Revelation chapter 21 verse 14 says, “And the wall of the city, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church, had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Conclusion So this morning, praise God for the apostles. Praise God for their example of a growing, sometimes faltering faith. Mark shows us here a pressured Savior who took action to plan for the future that brings us the apostles, who down through church history to today we are thankful for. So when you feel the pressures of life, know Jesus, love Jesus, and ask Him for help. He knows your weaknesses. Closing Prayer Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the words of Mark, that we might know Christ and love Christ. We thank you for the work of the apostles and your finished, fully sufficient scriptures. Amen. This is a public episode. 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