Jody Simmons, (Mark 6)

Descripción

SUMMARY In today’s sermon on Mark chapter 6, the narrative follows Jesus’ ministry as He returns to Nazareth, where He faces unbelief from those who knew Him, leading Him to marvel at their lack of faith. He sends His disciples out on their first mission, empowering them to heal and cast out demons, stressing their reliance on God for provision. The chapter highlights the fate of John the Baptist, who is beheaded due to Herod’s fear and the influence of Herodias, illustrating the dangers of following Jesus. As Jesus continues to teach and heal, He compassionately feeds 5,000 men with just five loaves and two fish, showcasing His divine provision. The sermon emphasizes that, like the disciples, Christians are called to a long-term commitment to faithful service despite hardships, and they must continuously seek Jesus’ strength and guidance in their ministry. The closing reflections encourage believers to recognize the greatness of Christ, beyond their fears and difficulties, and to embrace their role in His unshakeable mission. TRANSCRIPTION Choose show more to view the transcription. Transcriptions are AI generated and MAY be incorrect. Rely on the spoken word heard in the audio file. show more The sermon text for today is from the Gospel of Mark chapter 6. And I will read that chapter. It is 56 verses. So hear now the word of the Lord. And are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, And he went about among the villages teaching. And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some said John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others said he is Elijah. Others said he is Elijah. He is a prophet like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised. For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife. And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, but she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. But an opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias’ daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guest. And the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you. And she said to her mother, for what should I ask? And she said, the head of John the Baptist. And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guest, he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent and executed. And he went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl. And the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd. And he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages. And buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said, five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out. For they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to the land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplace, and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment, and as many as touched it were made well. The word of the Lord. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, by your Holy Spirit, give us understanding of these verses that we might know you better. Help us to walk in obedience to your ways and to do so out of love for you. Make us more like Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. So that was Mark chapter 6, 56 verses. And I do hope you brought some loaves and fish, because this might take a while. I’m just joking. I’m just joking. You and I are privileged to follow Jesus Christ. And we must not take this privilege for granted. Being a Christian is not simply about having that title given to us. It is about being in union with Jesus Christ and becoming more and more like Him, with the result that not only we as individuals are transformed, and not only that we as a church body are transformed, but that this transformation extends out into the world around us. In many ways, our culture is divided, and many of these divisions are extreme. They are really polar opposites. And because of this, the tendency of human nature, including our own, is to become angry and hateful. And while there are many things that should make us angry as Christians, what we do not want to do is engage with the world like the world. We are living outside of Jesus Christ, apart from Jesus Christ. We have to remember that their weapons are not our weapons. Jesus Christ said that He will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. For over 2,000 years, this has been proven true. And this will be the case into the future, and this is the case right now in the present. Therefore, it is imperative that we look to Him by faith, obey Him, and trust that the way the world is transformed is through the church. And this transformation is most of the time slow. But in that slowness, we must not become sidetracked into thinking that Jesus’ plan isn’t working, and so we need to come up with something else. Even in the current climate, where evil seems so visible, so in our faces, we must not let this distract us or make us feel like we are backed into a corner and therefore desperate. We must not also allow this to make us become discouraged. Instead, even when things don’t seem to be going well, or all we can see before us are the many obstacles, or we are not making very much headway, we must not lose heart. Because when we lose heart, we lose the ability to see the awesomeness of our God, thinking instead that either He must not care, or that He is unable to help, or that He is too weak to bring about real gospel transformation in this world. Here in Mark chapter 6, I know this has been various pastors coming through, preachers coming through. We’re in chapter 6, and in this chapter, we continue to learn what it looks like to follow Jesus. And we are encouraged to see Him as He truly is, which is an important part, a very important part, of following Jesus Christ faithfully. So, in chapter 6, after ministering throughout the region of Galilee, Jesus then returned to the town He grew up in, which was the town of Nazareth, 500 or so people in it. So, very small town, a town where everyone knew everyone. And this visit that He takes to Nazareth is not a family visit. He’s not going to see His family, per se. Instead, this is a trip in which His disciples follow Him. He’s taking them there to teach them something. And what they learned, one of the things, is that unbelief can come from some of the most unexpected places. And it has very powerful effects in a bad way. In this situation here in Nazareth, their unbelief was so great, in fact, that we’re told Jesus marveled over it. So this must have been very noticeable. Yet, even though their unbelief was so great and He marveled over it, He was still willing to heal a few sick people, showing forth, even in the midst of all of that, He’s still gracious, He’s still powerful, and then we’re told He left and went to other villages. Unbelief, even widespread unbelief, is detrimental to those with the unbelief. But you and I as Christians must remain confident knowing that Jesus is still greater. And Jesus continues His work. He continues His ministry. He continues His mission. There is absolutely nothing that can ultimately stop Him. This is something else the disciples learned there in Nazareth that day. Jesus then does something that up until this point He had not done before. He calls His disciples to Himself and then He sends them out two by two. And He gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He sends them out on mission for the very first time. He doesn’t take anything with them on their journey. No bread, no bag, no money. Don’t even take your normal two tunics you would have taken. Just take your sandals, take your walking stick. By telling them that, He’s reminding them right up front, the first mission, that they were to depend completely and solely upon God. This would be true for all the missions they went on. Both to provide their physical needs as well as to perform the task that He was sending them out to perform. They were being sent out under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it would be only under His authority that the mission would be accomplished. He was using them, these men, to carry out His mission, which was a huge honor, as well as something they needed to carry out exactly as He commanded, leaving all the results up to Him. And so, we’re told, they headed out, they have their sandals, they have their one tunic, they go forth under the command and authority of Jesus Christ, they proclaim repentance, they cast out many demons, they anoint sick people with oil, and they heal them. Again, under the authority of Jesus Christ, according to His plan. So, in between the rest of that story, which is just a little follow-up when they return to tell Jesus all that had happened, we have these pretty lengthy verses here about, John the Baptist. As the disciples are out on this first mission, Jesus’ name is becoming known more and more, we’re told. And so, He’s becoming more and more well-known. Now, for Herod, there was some confusion, and there was also some great fear. Because whenever he heard about Jesus, and he heard all that Jesus was doing through these men, what he began to think was, and there were others thinking the same thing, this must be John the Baptist raised from the dead, and he’s come back and he’s using these men and he’s working these miracles through these disciples. Now the story is then recounted of how John the Baptist had his head cut off. Now this Herod here is Herod Antipas. This is the son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great being the king who was there ruling whenever Jesus Christ was born. So this is now his son. Herod, who was the unlawful wife, did not like this at all. And so she wanted Herod to put John the Baptist to death. But Herod feared John the Baptist because he was such a righteous and holy man. And he kept him safe. Now we don’t want to miss this. Herod, a man with great power, was afraid of John the Baptist who had no human authority, no human position or title or anything like that. And why was Herod, this powerful man, afraid of John the Baptist? It’s because we’re told he knew that John was a righteous and holy man. Let us take note of this. And this may be especially fitting for this city that is full of powerful and influential people. This may, to our modern ear in this culture, sound strange or even unlikely, but whenever you live a righteous and a holy life, other people will fear you. Just your presence in a room will have a powerful effect simply by living a righteous and holy life. For even then, even though they might not understand it, the power and the presence of God will be evident in your life. Darkness cannot stand in the presence of light. And so don’t miss the fact that just by living a righteous and holy life, you as individuals, you as families, you as a church, have a powerful effect in your community and your culture around you. But to be clear, living a righteous and holy life also led to John’s death. During a party full of powerful people, Herodias took the opportunity. Her daughter was dancing in front of the guests and this pleased the king. And what we read is that John’s head ended up on a platter. So even a man, John the Baptist, a man with such gravitas, really, I mean, this was a wild man. He’s eating locusts and wild honey. He’s just a rugged guy. This guy with gravitas who was so faithful and who simply lived a righteous and holy life day in and day out didn’t get to retire. He didn’t get to live a comfortable life for his faithful service as the forerunner to Jesus Christ. That didn’t happen. Instead, his short life, ended in jail, and then his head was cut off, and it was served on a platter at a feast. I mean, humanly speaking, that is very humbling to think about your head, your own head, being sort of passed around at the feast on a platter for everyone to laugh at and mock. So before giving the rest of the story with the disciples who were sent out on their first mission for Jesus, Mark includes this story. There is a cost to following Jesus. Scripture is very open and clear about that. It can, in fact, be dangerous to follow Jesus Christ. The growth and the spreading of the kingdom do not come without suffering. As Jesus’ name is made known, such that His power and authority are made manifest, this will bring about some difficulties for those who follow Jesus Christ. Now, with this in our minds, the disciples now return from their first mission and they report to Jesus everything that had happened on that mission. Now, it’s important for us to keep in mind that while their first mission went well, this was not their only mission for the God they followed. The disciples would continue to labor for years and as we read scripture and then if you read even tradition outside of that, things were very difficult. This was a very difficult time for the church. I mean, really the first 300 years or so was very difficult for these Christians. And other than John, the Apostle John, we’re told through tradition that all of the other apostles ended up as martyrs. And yet, they are the foundation of the church. We’re told in Ephesians that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. So though they had many missions and many struggles, and though most of these men, apostles, died as martyrs, they were successful because they followed Jesus and they did things the way that he taught them to do them. So one thing we have to remember is we have to be faithful to our master, no matter what’s going on around us. Another thing we need to keep in mind here as we think about the lives of the apostles, is that we have to think long term rather than short term. We have to make sure that we stay faithful and keep on track even when we meet setbacks, even when we come across struggles. We are playing the long game and we need to keep putting one foot in front of the other even when things get difficult. We’re told they wanted to take them away to get some rest. They had been busy. They needed some rest. But there were so many people coming and going who noticed them that they get out on a boat and they go across the Sea of Galilee to a desolate place where they can rest. But all these people who notice them, they see kind of where they’re heading and they begin to run around the edge of the Sea of Galilee on foot. And in fact, they get there ahead of the disciples who are in this boat. Now, once they get there on shore and here’s these people again that they’ve been ministering with and they’re tired and they need rest, instead of getting angry because their plan had been messed up to rest, we’re told that Jesus had compassion. And he went ashore and he began teaching them and he saw them, we’re told, as people who were sheep, like sheep without a shepherd. And he didn’t want the people to be like sheep without a shepherd. And so he had been laboring among them for many years and now he’s passing the baton on and he wants these people to be cared for. He wants these people to have a shepherd. And the Lord tells Moses that Joshua would be that man. Now as you probably know, Joshua in Hebrew is the same name as Jesus in the Greek. And so pointing forward many years later, here we are and we see that the people are in the wilderness once again and Jesus is the shepherd who gives them rest, who leads them, and who cares for them. And dear saints, just as a reminder for you, the Lord Jesus Christ is your good shepherd as well. He leads you. He cares for you. He gives you rest as you follow him. Now, it was getting late. The disciples were concerned that all these people out in this desolate place would not have anything to eat. So they tell Jesus, look, we’ve got to send these people away. They need to get out of here so they can go find some food. And Jesus looks at them and says, you get them something to eat. Now, I don’t know what exactly they were thinking, but they’re probably thinking, what are we going to do? We don’t have the food. There’s nowhere to buy it, even if we had money to buy it. We’re told that there were 5,000 men. This does not include, apparently, women and children. So this is a huge group of people. There was no way they were able to do this. And so Jesus says, okay, go find out how many loaves of bread there are here. And they come back and they say, Jesus, we found five loaves of bread and we also found these two fish. So really not much here. Jesus then commands the crowds to sit down in groups, so they sit in fifties and hundreds. And when you’re thinking of this, many passages might come to our mind. Psalm 23 is one of the ones that comes to our mind. He tells them to go. They’re sitting in the green grass, we’re told here. And Jesus took this little bit of food. He overlooks these thousands of people. He looks up to heaven. He says a blessing. He took the food. He broke it. He gave it to the disciples and told them to go set this food before the people. And the result is every single one of those people ate and every single one of those people were satisfied. So much so that there were leftovers. Much like God provided bread from heaven when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, so Jesus, the good shepherd, provides miraculous bread for these sheep to eat. We don’t have enough money. We don’t have the right position. We don’t have the right influence. We don’t have the time. We have so much going on. We’re busy. We don’t have the energy. We don’t have the strength. Or maybe you look at your life and you think, I have failed so many times before. I mean, what am I going to do? And the reasons and the excuses can keep coming. But something we learn in this story is that while serving God, there are times purposefully that God will remind us of our weaknesses and our limitations. And that is good if our response is to obey Him anyways. Relying upon Him to work through us to accomplish what He wills to accomplish. It is good for us to know our weaknesses. But it is not good to get stuck focused on our weaknesses. You and I serve a God who is an expert at using weak people to get things done. Something else interesting about this story, feeding this multitude here, is that when Jesus involved his disciples in this work, they were having to go back to Jesus again and again and again during this feeding of the multitude. The way this is written. So the New American Standard says it this way, which makes this kind of clear. It says, Instead of producing all this food at one time, he did it little by little, by design, so that his disciples would need to keep coming back to him every time. They’re having to come back to him. It is good for us. When in our weaknesses and limits, Jesus does not simply do everything all at once, but he does it slowly over time and little by little, so that you and I have to keep going back to him, remaining dependent upon him, learning to rest in him as we keep working. Now you and I, and God thankfully gave us a pattern of rest every week, right? But you and I, we like to rest whenever the work is done, right? You mow your yard or something and then you go inside and you rest or you do some chore and you go inside and rest. But as Christians, we have to learn to rest in him while the work is ongoing. Because until we die, the work is there. We have to learn that we can either wear out, right? We crash and burn because we’re doing it in our own strength. Being refreshed in Christ, we’re not going back to Christ again and again and again like we’re supposed to. But we’re trying to do it in our own strength and we burn out. Or we can learn to rest in him along the way. Learning that he makes us strong in our weaknesses. Again, God designed it to work this way. So take advantage of that and keep going back to Christ again and again. Now in the next verses, Jesus immediately made his disciples get into a boat. He tells them to go to the other side of the sea while he gets alone and goes up on the mountain to pray. Well, about the fourth watch of the night, which is roughly somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 a.m., they’ve been out there a while rowing in this boat. The wind is against them. They’re not making much progress. And so Jesus sees them out there and he begins to walk toward them, walking on the water. But whenever they saw him, they were terrified and they think, this is a ghost. Which, when you’re reading this, kind of sounds strange. Like, why wouldn’t they just know this is Jesus? Well, we’re told here that their hearts were hardened. But Jesus says to them, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. He gets in the boat with them. Immediately the wind stops, which is another miracle. And they were utterly astounded. Because they did not understand about the loaves. Again, their hearts were hardened. They did not understand that just as only God could miraculously feed all of these people with so little, so only God could walk on water. An interesting part of this story is when Jesus meant to pass by them. Does this mean that he was going to keep walking and just kind of wave at them and leave them behind? Well, the answer is no. There’s something else going on here. In Exodus chapter 33, right after the golden calf incident, Moses asked to see God’s glory. You remember that passage where he’s pleading with God, let me see your glory. But God tells him, you can’t see my glory. You can’t see my face. And so he tells Moses, what I’m going to do is I’m going to pass by, but when I do, I’m going to hide you in a cleft of this rock so that you won’t be able to see my face. And so the Lord is passing by him in this way. But then in John 1.14, we read this, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. With these passages in mind, in this story, the reason that Jesus meant to pass by His discipleship was not to hide His glory from them, but so that His glory might actually be seen by them, so that they might see that He is God in human flesh. And instead, they’re terrified, and they didn’t get it. But again, Jesus, the good shepherd that He is, is very kind and patient with them and with us. He says to them, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. When He says it is I, He is not simply saying, hey guys, it’s me. But rather He’s saying, I am. He is saying that He is the Lord God. But their hearts were hardened and they didn’t really understand this at that time. Now as we’re coming to a close here, we need to understand that we are no different than these disciples in many ways. Sometimes we struggle with this as well. So ask yourself a few questions. Do you see Jesus for who He truly is? Or is your heart hardened in some way? Is there something you’re missing about Him because your heart has become hardened? For whatever reason and in whatever way. As you follow Jesus, is your heart full of fear and frustration? Right? Fear of man, fear of everything going on. And you’re just frustrated and angry and even bitter. I heard earlier, some repentance and reminder not to be bitter. Or are you in constant awe of your God? As you follow Jesus, are you distracted by the endless difficulties to the point of discouragement and anxiety? Or do you find that even during the ongoing work and all of the struggles that your soul is still able to find rest in Him? Do you only see the trials and the things piling up in front of you, the big decisions at work, the endless tasks in the home, children who need constant care, the large amount of work within the church itself? Do you become so focused on all of that, with all of this piling up, or in the midst of all that, are you able to see Jesus Christ as He truly is? Be honest before God. Maybe you think, or you pretend, or you do have a tough exterior. Maybe you are the guy, or the lady, or the child who thinks that you have it all together on your own, but in reality you are near crashing because you have not yet learned to rest in Christ, or you are struggling to see Him as He is. Confess and repent where necessary. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. He is given to us as our helper. Be encouraged and take heart. Be of good cheer. Christ is building His church. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. You are part of His church. And even in all of your weaknesses, all of your failures, all of your fears, He continues to use you and work through you in the particular role that He has given you, which is a part of His great mission, a mission that will not fail. Let us pray. Our Father, Your Word has gone forth by the power of Your Holy Spirit. We ask now that it may perform in us the work that You have intended. Thank You for ministering to us in this way today, in each Lord’s Day. show less

Tyler Hatcher (Mark 9)

SUMMARY In this sermon based on Mark chapter 9, the speaker emphasizes Jesus’ identity as the great King, Prophet, and Priest, particularly highlighted through the Transfiguration and His miracles, including the healing of a boy possessed by a demon. Jesus instructs His disciples about the necessity of humility and servitude, teaching that true greatness comes from being the last and serving all. He discusses the importance of cutting off sinful behaviors, advocating for a vigilant stance against sin while also reminding them of God’s covenant faithfulness. The sermon culminates in a call to recognize Jesus as the ultimate solution to their internal struggles with envy and disputes over greatness, urging the congregation to maintain a focus on Christ to cultivate peace with one another and live as “salty Christians” filled with His grace. TRANSCRIPTION Choose show more to view the transcription. Transcriptions are AI generated and MAY be incorrect. Rely on the spoken word heard in the audio file. show more Our text this morning is from Mark chapter 9. Before I introduce this, this is another long one. So children especially, give your attention to the reading. Stay with me. These are the words of God. And let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. And so they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising of the dead meant. And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, What are you discussing with them? Then one of the crowd answered and said, So I spoke to your disciples that they should cast it out, but they could not. And He answered and said to them, So He asked His father, How long has this been happening to him? And He said, Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, Then the spirit cried out, And when he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could we not cast it out? So he said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but fasting and prayer. Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know it. For he taught his disciples and said to them, The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And after he is killed, he will rise the third day. But they did not understand this saying and were afraid to ask him. Then he came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road? But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And he sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Then he took a little child and set him in the midst of them. Then he said to them, Whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. And now John answered him, saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us. But Jesus said, Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me, for he who is not against us is on our side. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. These are the words of the Lord. Our Father and our God, we thank you for revealing yourself to us by giving us your word and by sending your Son, our Lord Jesus. We ask as we continue to worship you this morning that you would give us wisdom by your Holy Spirit to understand what you would have us see in this chapter. Guard and guide my tongue and open the ears and hearts of those gathered here. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Please be seated. I bring you greetings from the other coast, from Seattle area, and thank you for orchestrating the weather so I feel right at home. This was very thoughtful of you. It is a pleasure to be with you all, and I do bring you greetings from the saints at Trinity Church in the Seattle area. It is a wonder to see what God is doing here. It is exciting. We pray for you. We are blessed to see you all gathering faithfully to worship in this place, and so thank you. Carry on. It is a wonderful thing. As we dive into this next chapter of Mark, I want to remind us a little bit of what we saw previously. In chapter 8, in the previous chapter, Jesus had asked the disciples who they thought he was. This is towards the end of the chapter, and Peter identified Jesus as the Christ. Jesus asked, who do you say that I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ. This is the Messiah, the anointed one, who would be like a new David, a new anointed king. And he was to be the Lord and king over all the nations. This calls to mind Psalm 2, where we see the Lord setting up his anointed one on the throne. And he says to this anointed one, ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And we see this fulfilled then in Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension. But at this point, this all hasn’t happened yet, but Peter identifies Jesus as the anointed one, as the Messiah. He identifies him as the one who’s going to become this king. He testifies to this. And so then Jesus goes into, at the end of chapter 8, describing what it looks like to follow this king. He says that it looks like denying oneself, picking up the cross, losing one’s life for the sake of Christ and the good news in order to save your life. In Romans chapter 12, we are to be living sacrifices before God. To pick up one’s cross is a death sentence, and Jesus calls us to do this denying ourselves daily. We are to be living sacrifices, living before God, and wherever we find ourselves, that is the altar that God has called us to, to deny ourselves and to die. This sort of commitment to Christ. And that is the idol of the self. He does this both by, in two primary ways. In the first half of the chapter, we will see that Jesus hints at, it’s not all fully revealed, but he hints at the fact that he is the great king, that he is the great prophet, that he is the great priest. In other words, Jesus is the greatest. And then this is followed by this dispute that the disciples have, talking among themselves, who is the greatest? There’s this great irony here in this chapter. And then this is contrasted. So this claim that Jesus makes, that he is the greatest, is contrasted with this dispute that the disciples have about who is the greatest. And then Jesus corrects this and exposes this idol of the self. This is obviously a long chapter, and there are lots of things in here that we don’t have time to get into. Lots of questions that I think this chapter raises, and there are lots of details here that we won’t touch on. Keep this theme in mind as we go through. Jesus is establishing in types and shadows, it’s not all fully revealed yet in this chapter, but he’s establishing that he is the greatest, that he is this great king, and then you have this contrast with the disciples disputing among themselves with this envious, covetous sort of argument about who is the greatest. This is the main theme I want us to focus on this morning. Following the disciples’ testimony that Jesus was the anointed, and again, keeping Psalm 2 in mind, the psalm where the anointed one is high and lifted up and is declared to be the one who will receive the nations as his inheritance. So following that testimony from the disciples, keeping Psalm 2 in mind, Jesus declares in verse 1 that some from among the people and the disciples that were gathered with him would not die until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. There were some that were present there with Jesus among the disciples and the other people that were gathered around that would see the kingdom present with power. And then Jesus takes Peter, James, and John, three of his disciples, with him up to this high mountain. They witness Jesus being transfigured before them in such a way that his garments are startlingly white. This is signifying that there is a greater glory bestowed upon Jesus in this moment. In Daniel’s vision, the Ancient of Days is described as having garments that are startlingly white. In this story here, we see Jesus himself bearing these garments, and we’ll see that he’s actually the Son of Man that comes to the Ancient of Days. But there’s some hints here that we should have Daniel’s prophecy in mind. Okay, so there’s so many things going on in this vision. Not vision in an unreal sense, but this thing that the disciples see. Jesus up on a mountain. Okay, so what do we have going on here? This is all hinting at Jesus as the great king. Hinting to Jesus as this great king. Jesus is the greatest king. He’s the king of kings and the Lord of lords. This is a preview of his ascension. The Mount of Transfiguration is a preview then of the ascension that Jesus would take after his resurrection. But at this time, Jesus instructs the three disciples not to discuss it. Don’t discuss this until the Son of Man had been risen from the dead. The disciples obey this. But they are confused by what the rising from the dead could mean. It says they obeyed him and they kept this to themselves, Peter, James, and John. But they’re confused by what Jesus means that the Son of Man would rise from the dead. So this first part of the chapter here, we see Jesus hinting at his ascension, hinting at the fact that he is the great king. Jesus, of course, is also the great prophet. He is the great prophet fulfilling Moses’ prophecy in Deuteronomy 18. Moses gives this prophecy in Deuteronomy 18 that there would be this prophet that would come after him, and he is this particular prophet that the people must hear, and if they don’t hear this prophet, they will be cut off. Jesus is clearly here identified with Moses and Elijah, these two great prophets in Israel’s history. As a side note, we also see, many commentators will allude to this, Moses representing the law, and Elijah representing the prophets, and Jesus representing the gospel, all together in unity and communion with one another. But there, Jesus is identified with Moses and Elijah, so his disciples see this, and then as they’re coming down the mountain, Jesus says to them, this is verse 12, he answers, why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And then Jesus answers, Elijah is coming first and restores all things, and he’ll say that Elijah already has come, and other passages tell us that this is fulfilled in John the Baptist. But in the middle of this part, Jesus says, he asks them, how is it written concerning the Son of Man that he must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? And so he puts in the disciples’ mind that he’s with Moses and Elijah, and he comes down from the mountain, and the Son of Man is to suffer many things, be treated with contempt, which was sort of characteristic of the prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus says in other places that no prophet is received in his own country. He’s treated with contempt in his own country. Okay, but not only this, Jesus, so he’s associated with Elijah and Moses. He then says that he’s going to suffer like the prophets suffered, but then Jesus descends the mountain, and what does he find? He descends the mountain, and he finds a tumult. There’s all kinds of commotion going on, and this, I think, is similar to, the golden calf incident with Moses. Remember, Moses is up on Mount Sinai after having brought the people out of Egypt. God is delivering to him the law, and Moses comes down the mountain. What does he find? He finds the people in all sorts of licentiousness, worshiping this golden calf that Aaron had made for them, all kinds of idolatry and immorality, this huge commotion. In fact, it’s such a big commotion that when they’re coming down the mountain, Joshua says to Moses, there’s the sound of war in the camp. It’s that crazy what’s going on down in the camp of Israel. Similarly, Jesus descends the mountain. He finds this big commotion. When Moses comes down the mountain in the golden calf incident, he notes that the people were unrestrained in their licentiousness. They were unrestrained. Look at what Jesus sees here. Jesus comes down the mountain, and he sees the scribes and the disciples disputing amongst themselves, and he asks what is going on. Jesus comes down the mountain, and he’s confronted with this demon, this spirit, who takes this boy and makes him like one who is unrestrained. This spirit casts this boy into the fire and into the water in order to try to destroy him. I think we’re to see here a similarity back to what Moses says about the people as he comes down the mountain. They’re unrestrained. They are possessed with this idolatry in a sense, and they are unrestrained in their worship of this golden calf. While on Mount Sinai, Moses interceded with Yahweh to not wipe out Israel because of their idolatry. Because of this idolatry, this worship of this golden calf, I’m done with Israel. I’m ready to wipe them out. I’ll make a new line just out of you, Moses. And Moses intercedes on behalf of the people and asks God to be merciful to them for his own namesake. So Moses intercedes like a good prophet, intercedes with Yahweh on behalf of the people. And Jesus we see also coming down the mountain, and he calls the people a faithless generation. He finds out what the dispute is about. He says this is a faithless generation. But he asks this question, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Jesus, this prophet, this great prophet, continues to bear with this generation at least for the time being. There is judgment that is going to come upon them. There is the wrath of God that will be poured out upon them. But for now, Jesus bears with them, almost as though he’s interceding on their behalf, Moses did. And of course, we know that Jesus is the one who intercedes now before the Father on behalf of his people. So we see all these parallels with Jesus being identified with Moses. He sees Moses. He’s going to suffer like Moses suffered. He comes down the mountain. He sees a tumult like Moses saw a tumult. He calls the generation a faithless generation, but he bears with them for now. He sees the people unrestrained in at least a type or a symbol. He is like Moses. But he’s also like Elijah. Remember that the story of Elijah, when God sends him out of Israel and he goes to the widow of Zarephath and the widow that he stays with, her son, falls deathly sick. And Elijah, God, through Elijah, works this miracle to revive the widow’s son. When he revives this son, the widow says of him, now by this I know that you are a man of God. And by the fact that you have raised my son back to life, you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord is in your mouth is the truth. Jesus is identified as the great prophet. He’s the one who’s rebuking faithless Israel and demonstrating his authority through a miracle that his disciples, even though they had been given power to cast out some spirits, they were not able to cast out this one. They were not able to perform this miracle. Jesus is the great prophet. He’s the one who speaks the words of God with authority. And this is why the father says of him, this is my beloved son, hear him. He is being hinted at, being shown to be the great king. He’s also being shown to be the great prophet. And these things are, there are types and shadows here, but there’s a sense in which these things are obvious. Jesus is obviously being glorified to be this great king. He’s obviously powerful with the words of his mouth, able to cast out this spirit, able to revive this boy, faithful as a prophet in calling the generation that he is speaking to a faithless generation. But then, in the middle of this chapter, we have something slightly different. Oh, I’m sorry, I neglected one thing. At the end of this, his disciples come to Jesus, and they ask him, why could we not cast out the demon? Why could we not cast him out? Jesus says, this kind can only come by prayer and fasting. It can only be cast out by prayer and by fasting. But Jesus, there’s no indication that Jesus himself took time to pray and fast in order to cast out this demon. Again, his power is so much greater than his disciples. Okay, so then we come to, if you’re following along, we’re now in verses 30 through 32. Jesus travels on with his disciples, but he does so quietly because he wants to teach his disciples. He has something important that he wants to teach them, and he doesn’t want to be interrupted by the crowds that are coming to see him. So he travels quietly, and he doesn’t want anybody to know it because he has something that he wants to teach his disciples. And he tells them plainly, the Son of Man will be betrayed. He will be killed, and he will be raised from the dead. He tells them very plainly at this time. But Mark notes that they did not understand this saying. Just like James, John, and Peter did not understand when Jesus said that the Son of Man will be raised from the dead. Don’t tell about this transfiguration until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. They didn’t understand that. Now Jesus tells all the disciples, the Son of Man will be betrayed, he will be killed, he will be raised from the dead, and they don’t understand this. But not only do they not understand, this is very striking, Mark says that they were afraid to ask him. They don’t understand, and they don’t want to go ask Jesus to explain it to them. Why might this be? We’re not told exactly why. Maybe it was because they were full of shame because of their bewilderment. Jesus is obviously spending some time to teach us something very particular. He doesn’t want to be bothered by the crowds right now. He doesn’t want to be interrupted by the crowds. He’s trying to give us a very important message, and I don’t get it. So maybe they didn’t come to him because they were sort of ashamed because of their lack of understanding. Maybe they’re concerned that Jesus would chide them for not getting it. He said this a couple of times leading up to this, hinted at the fact that the Son of Man would die and would be raised from the dead, and still they’re not getting it. But in any case, there’s this fear that they have. They’re not really with it. They don’t understand. And they’re afraid to talk to Jesus about it. So what is Jesus saying here? Well, while still in types and shadows, again, Jesus is being revealed so far in this chapter as the great king who would have an everlasting dominion. He’s being revealed as the great prophet whose word accomplishes wonders. And here he speaks very plainly about what is going to happen to him. And we know on this side of the cross, on this side of the resurrection, we know that this reveals him to be the great priest. But here his disciples don’t see it. Maybe they could see that he’s the great king. Maybe they could see that he’s the great prophet. They don’t get that he’s the great priest. They don’t see it. And so then Jesus moves on. They come to Capernaum, verse 33. Jesus and his disciples come to a house, and there Jesus perceives that they are disputed among themselves about who is the greatest. They come into the house, and Jesus says, what are you talking about? And it’s very quiet. Kids, have you ever experienced that? You’re riding in the car, and there’s this something going on in the back, and all of a sudden mom says from the front, hey, what are you guys talking about? It’s suddenly very quiet in the car. Why might that be? And so they’re very quiet. They don’t answer. They keep silent because they know. They know. They know that they were disputing amongst themselves who would be the greatest, and they know what Jesus thinks about this kind of thing. Jesus’ response here is very interesting. It says, Jesus sat down, and he called the 12, and then he says to them. So his disciples are these 12 men that have been with Jesus. They’re kind of a rough-and-ready group. They’re arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. There’s this big dispute that’s happening. Jesus calls them out on it, but instead of laying into them and rebuking them because of their idiocy, he calls them to himself, and he sits down like a good teacher. He says, guys, huddle up for a second. If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all. Jesus doesn’t even tell them, like mom and dad sometimes say, well, actually, I know what you were talking about. Jesus, of course, knows what they were talking about, but he doesn’t come out front and say that. Instead, he gives them the word, the exact word that they need to hear. He gives them the exact word that they need to be last of all. They need to be the servant of all. In the midst of his teachings and his revelations that he’s given to the disciples through this chapter, they’ve been confused. Verse 10. They didn’t understand what Jesus was saying about this son of man who would rise from the dead. They were unable. They had been demonstrated to not be greater than their master. They couldn’t cast the spirit out. Verse 28. They’re confused. They’re unable. And then when Jesus is teaching them privately, they are bewildered and afraid to ask him about it. They’re not good students, right? The good student is the student that’s willing to ask the question when he doesn’t understand. The disciples are too afraid to ask. And here’s this great irony, right? The disciples, we’ve seen them fall short and be confused and they’re unable and they’re afraid. And then they have the audacity amongst themselves to have this dispute about which one of them is the greatest. You can understand maybe why this came up. Peter, James, and John had been kind of selected as this center group of the disciples. They got to go up on the mountain with Jesus. And then Jesus tells them, don’t tell anybody about this. So they come down the mountain. You can imagine the other disciples are coming around. What did you see? Maybe they’re talking about this as they leave. There’s this commotion that’s going on right away. Maybe after they depart and they’re wandering down to Capernaum through Galilee, maybe that’s when the disciples say, so what happened up on the mountain? Peter, James, and John say, well, we can’t tell you. You can see how perhaps there might be a little bit of envy and covetousness being stirred up. And the disciples, all of a sudden, they find themselves in this mess, disputing about who is the greatest. Jesus instructs them, though, that greatness is demonstrated by lifting up the lowly. Right? If anyone desires to be first of all, he should be last of all and servant of all. Right? One who serves. Jesus will say the same kind of thing in the next chapter. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And Jesus himself models this as he leads his disciples on. As he continues to shepherd them. He’s gentle with them. He lifts them up. They are this lowly, ragtag bunch of disciples who are acting like a bunch of kids squabbling in the back of a car. And he’s gentle with them. He says, come here. You need to be servant of all. Jesus himself is modeling this. He sits down. He gets down with them. To show them what it means to serve. And he does this having made it very, very clear that he is the greatest. He’s the great king. He’s the great prophet. He’s the great priest. But it’s interesting that in all these things, it’s the great priest that they particularly don’t understand. They don’t know what it means that he’s going to rise from the dead. And I think here we see they don’t understand it because they don’t understand what it means to serve. Jesus is going to rise from the dead because he gives his life. His disciples don’t see this. John then responds to this in verse 38. And he recounts how they rebuked someone who did not follow them but who did cast out demons in Jesus’ name. Just like Jesus had cast out the demons and just like the disciples had cast out other demons, they see this other guy who’s casting out demons but he’s doing it in Jesus’ name. He’s doing it in Jesus’ name but he doesn’t follow with the disciples. And so they rebuked him. They told him to stop it. And Jesus corrects this also. In other words, Jesus is saying it’s not good for them to dispute among themselves who’s the greatest and it’s not good for them to dispute with an outsider and tell him that he can’t do that because they’re the inner circle of the apostles. Jesus says if he’s casting them out in my name, he’s on our side. This reminds us of other instances we see in scripture of this kind of thing. Moses in Numbers chapter 11. Moses tells Joshua, there’s these two guys, Eldad and Medad, in the camp that are prophesying. And Joshua gets up in arms about it and says to Moses, we should go tell them to stop. And Moses says, no, I wish that all of God’s people received a spirit of prophecy like these guys did. Paul says something similar in Philippians 1. Paul is in prison and he says that there are some who are preaching with contempt for him and envy towards him, but they’re preaching Christ. And Paul says, look, as long as they’re preaching Christ, I don’t care. As long as the gospel is preached, I don’t care what they say about me. I don’t care if it’s done with envy and contempt. At least Christ is preached. What’s the point here? Well, the focus for the disciples should not be on who’s the greatest, on who’s inside the group or who’s outside the group. The focus should be on Christ himself. They are to be looking to Christ or him, denying themselves, serving those that are brought in in order to continue to follow Christ. We can imagine that the disciples would not have denied that Jesus was the greatest. They wouldn’t have denied. If you ask them, okay, disciples, you’re having this dispute about who’s the greatest. What do you think about Jesus? They’d say, of course, Jesus is the greatest. They wouldn’t deny this, but this shows our grasping hearts. Okay, we might know who the greatest is, but we want the next honorable place. We see this so clearly on the playground or on the field during recess, and you’re picking teams, right? Everybody knows who’s going to get picked first, and we’re okay with that. We just don’t want to be picked last, right? And so the guy that gets picked first, that’s okay, and then there’s kind of this jostling and kind of stand up straighter, right? Look tough, because you want to get picked. You want to be next, and it’s okay if you’re not the first. But you just better not be last. These are our grasping hearts. We fundamentally don’t want to be last. We want somebody to be beneath us. I don’t have to be the first, but I’m going to dispute about who’s the greatest because I just don’t want to be the last. But what does Jesus say? Jesus says, no, if you want to be first, be last. Be a servant of all. All sin fundamentally is idolatry. All sin fundamentally is saying that I’m going to break God’s law because I know better than God. Or I want things that God has not given to me because God is not really good. He’s withholding from me. All sin is idolatry. It’s worshiping yourself or worshiping some other God than the true God. But Paul twice says in the New Testament specifically that covetousness is idolatry. All sin really fundamentally is idolatry. There’s something specific about covetousness that Paul associates with idolatry. And keeping that in mind then, we come to the end of the chapter. Jesus strikes at any complacency toward the things that lead us into sin. So first he gathers the disciples in together. He’s very gentle with them. But then he speaks very strongly about any sort of complacency with your sin, with the disciples’ sin. In the Gospel, we have him saying, if your hand causes you to sin, you better cut it off. Because it’s better to go into the kingdom of God without a hand than to go burn in hell forever. And if your eye causes you to sin, it’d be better to pluck it out and not have two eyes and enter into the kingdom than burn forever. And if your foot causes you to sin, you might as well cut it off and go into life lame. Because then as you enter into the kingdom lame, rather than go into hell. And on the one hand, this is of course very clear that we ought to be so vigilant toward our sin, or as Jesus ropes in here, causing the weak to sin, that we are willing to cut off the very thing that causes us to sin. Your fight, your battle against your own temptations should be so strong that you are willing to cut those things off if that would stop you from that sin. that our hand doesn’t really cause us to sin. Right? Go back to the Garden of Eden. Would the problem have been solved if Eve cut her hand off so that she didn’t eat the fruit? We know that that’s not true. The problem is not the hand. The problem is not the eye. The problem is not the foot. The problem is the heart. It is our selfish desires, the worship of oneself that really leads us into further sin. And so what is the solution? It’s interesting in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus makes it very clear, connects these things with the sins of the heart. But here, Jesus doesn’t go there directly. Instead, he starts talking about salt. He starts talking about salt. Jesus says that first, everyone will be seasoned with fire. Comparing this with what he has said before about the fires of hell, the fire that will not be quenched, he says that everyone will be seasoned with fire. So either we will be burned in the fires of hell that are not quenched because we worship ourselves and refuse to cut off that sin, refuse to submit to the greatness of Jesus, or we will be seasoned with his fire. John the Baptist said that Jesus would come and would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. That’s the fire that you will be seasoned with, or you’ll be burned and consumed with the fires that cannot be quenched. But Jesus also, so Jesus first says everyone will be seasoned with fire, but then he reminds the disciples that all the sacrifices are to be seasoned with salt. This is not something random that Jesus is pulling up. In the Old Testament, we’re told in Leviticus and in Numbers that, and then it’s mentioned again in the prophets, all of the sacrifices were to be seasoned with salt. And it was called sometimes the salt of the covenant of your God. So the priests were to actually put salt on these sacrifices that were to be offered to the Lord. This reminds the offerer, because it is the salt of the covenant of your God, this salt, this purifying agent, this seasoning agent on the sacrifice, reminds the offerer and the Lord then, the one who’s consuming the sacrifice, of his promises to his people. Jesus indicates to the disciples that they need this covenantal savor in them. They need this covenantal savor, the blessings of God, his promises in them. Because, again, what are they called to do? What does it mean to follow Christ? It means to deny yourself and take up your cross. It means to walk as a living sacrifice. Sacrifices must be seasoned with salt. Sacrifices must bear the covenant grace of God. That must be evident in them. You need to be a tasty sacrifice before God. What does this mean, though? And how is this connected, then, to the solution of these envious disputes, this covetous argument that the disciples had? Consider how the idol of the self makes the disciples themselves unrestrained. We saw how, when Moses comes down to see the golden calf commotion, that the people were unrestrained. And Jesus comes down the mountain, and he sees this boy who is unrestrained because of this demonic spirit that has him. The disciples themselves are unrestrained. They’ve been walking with Jesus, and he’s been declaring to them that he’s the greatest, and they are unrestrained in their covetousness and their envy, arguing amongst themselves who would be the greatest. We need Jesus to cast out this evil spirit, this spirit, this idol of the self. We need him to cast it out from us. The disciples needed Jesus to cast it away from them. Jesus does this with the boy. We read this at the very beginning. Jesus casts out the spirit. The spirit cried out. It convulsed the boy greatly and came out of him. And the boy became as one dead. So that many said, he is dead. We need Jesus. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves and take up our cross. That’s a call to die, to be a living sacrifice. But you need Jesus to cast down that idol. Of yourself. This is not something we can gin up and do in ourselves. You can’t be salty yourself. This is God’s grace poured out upon you. You need the great priest to cast this salt upon you. We need him to make us fall and be left like one dead. But we serve this son of man who himself died and himself was raised from the dead. And he grabs this boy’s hand and he lifts him up and he brings him back to life. This is the solution to the envious disputes. This is the solution to fundamentally all of our sin as followers of Christ. Yes, you need to do battle with your sin. Yes, you do need to cut off the things that fuel your sin. But fundamentally, you need to fall on your knees with whatever that sin is that is restraining you or making you live unrestrained, not following the ways of God. Not following after His law. You need Jesus to cast down that idol. And so, have salt in yourselves, like Jesus says. Remind yourselves of God’s covenant faithfulness. We’re on the other side of this. Jesus is saying this to His disciples, but we’re on the other side. The death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus has already taken place. He already is our great high priest. He already has poured out His Spirit. That’s why we’re celebrating Pentecost. He’s already poured out His Spirit upon you. And so relinquish those idols. Have salt in yourselves. Remind yourselves of God’s covenant faithfulness and that He is the God who has granted you everything. And thus, have peace with one another. This is how Jesus ends. Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. The way we deal with those envious disputes and fighting is to remember who really is the greatest. Who really is the greatest. This is what it means to be a salty Christian. It means to have your eyes constantly on Christ. Constantly seeking after him. By means of this then, those sins that so easily ensnare you are set aside. They’re cut off. Not by your own works. Not by your own ginning up the strength in you to do it. But faithfully following after Christ. Trusting in him as you deny yourself and pick up your cross. As James says in James 4, Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, which is a mirror to us. Father, with all this talk about idols and our self and who is the greatest, we need your word to be this mirror to us. Show us where we need to deny ourselves. Where we need to put to death our selfish idols. And Father, we know that we need to deny ourselves. We know that we cannot do these things apart from your grace working in us. And so we ask you to remove the idols in our hearts. And then revive us. And then lift us up. That we might follow more after Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. We sing now the words our Lord Jesus taught us to pray. Amen. Amen. show less

24 de may de 202643 min

Toby Sumpter, (Mark 5)

SUMMARY In this sermon based on Mark 5, the pastor discusses Jesus’ encounters with profound challenges, illustrating three core issues: the madness of sin, its uncleanness, and the death it brings. Jesus arrives in the Gadarenes, where he confronts a demon-possessed man identified as “Legion.” After casting out the demons into a herd of about 2,000 pigs—which then drown in the sea—local inhabitants request Jesus to leave. He then heals a woman suffering from a blood issue for 12 years and raises Jairus’ daughter, emphasizing faith amid fear of death. The sermon highlights that human attempts to address sin and its consequences are insufficient, and only through Christ, who grants forgiveness and peace, can true healing occur. Touching on contemporary issues, it criticizes humanism and identity politics as futile responses to guilt and despair. The central message is to embrace faith in Christ, who overcomes sin and death, and to remember the assurance that “there is no condemnation” for believers. The pastor encourages congregation members to share their testimonies of God’s faithfulness, reinforcing the importance of living boldly for Christ amidst societal madness. TRANSCRIPTION Choose show more to view the transcription. Transcriptions are AI generated and MAY be incorrect. Rely on the spoken word heard in the audio file. show more The sermon text is taken from the Gospel of Mark chapter 5. These are the words of the living God. And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one could bind him, no, not with chains. Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And so the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. There were about two thousand and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country, and they went out to see what was done. And they that saw it told them how it befell him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. And he began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. And behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live. And Jesus went with him, and much people followed him and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was nothing better, but grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked around about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. And while he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the master any further? And as soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter and James and John, the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept, and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he said unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entered in, and the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha kumi, which is being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, rise. And straightway the damsel arose and walked, for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straightly, that no man should know it, and commanded that something should be given her to eat. Let’s pray together. You may be seated. Bring a greetings from the saints in Moscow. It’s good to be with you all again. We pray for you all all the time. And it gives a whole new meaning to worshiping in the presence of your enemies. To stand here with you and to hear them. And we love you and we’re cheering you on. The reason why you hear that is because you’re right over the target. And thank you. Thank you for being here week after week worshiping the Lord. Thank you. We’re cheering you on. We’re praying. We’re with you. And God gave us this chapter. Which is fantastic. I didn’t plan this. Joe Rigney planned this months ago. And we have three scenes in this chapter that present three fundamental problems face faces. We face the madness of sin. We face the uncleanness of sin. And we face the consequences of death because of sin. Those are the three scenes we have in this story. The madness of sin. The insanity of sin. The uncleanness of sin. And the consequences of sin. Which is death. Sin always brings a kind of insanity. We try to justify our angry outbursts. We try to justify drinking too much. Why you told, there was a reason. There was never a reason. But you say those crazy things in your head. You try to defend sin in your head, but if you’re honest, you know it never made sense. Sin is always, even the littlest sin, is a little insanity. It’s madness. And that madness grows up into great madness. That madness left unchecked goes into significant insanity. Sin is always uncleanness. Hardhearted unbelief can build up calluses. But guilt is real and sin always feels awful. It’s a stain that cannot come out. It’s a stain that we cannot remove on our own. And if you have the Holy Spirit, one of the signs that you have the Holy Spirit is it feels particularly filthy. It feels particularly awful when you have sinned and when you’ve not made it right. You feel that because the Holy Spirit is inside of you. And the Holy Spirit is at war with that sin. And the wages of sin is death. The fear of death is directly connected to knowing you deserve it. I distinctly remember trying to hide from my grandfather as a little boy before getting a spank for sassing my grandmother. There I was hiding behind the couch and then it all goes dark. I don’t know what happened after that. But you hide. Your instinct is to hide because you’re afraid of the consequences. You know you deserve the consequences. And just like Adam and Eve in the garden, trying to cover up nakedness with a few leaves, we all try to hide from their consequences. Ultimately, we’re hiding from death itself. So sin is insanity. Sin is uncleanness. Sin deserves death. And these problems do not have human solutions. These problems do not have human solutions. Sin cannot be solved by legislation or by economic progress. You cannot grow GDP to beat this. It cannot be solved by medication. Or therapy or some sexual relationship or identity. Identity politics are a desperate search for justification and cleansing. This time we’ve got it. We’ve found the pure people. We’ve found the stained people. Now we will get it. Now we will have justice. And more people lose their lives. The message of the entire Bible is that only God can deal with our insanity. And our uncleanness. And these scenes declare to us that God has come in his only son, Jesus Christ. Only Christ can save us from these problems. He heals our insanity. He clothes us with his righteousness. He restores our minds. And he takes away our uncleanness and promises to deal with death itself. So let’s walk through this text together. It’s a longer selection. Chapter 5, Jesus has just calmed the storm on the sea. That’s the previous scene in chapter 4. He’s just calmed the storm. He just spoke to the wind and the waves. And they obeyed him. And he comes ashore to the country of the Gadarenes. And he faces another storm. He faces a storm of demons. Right? He faces a storm of demons tormenting a man who cannot be tamed. Just like you can’t tame the storm. You can’t tame a hurricane. But Jesus does and can. So too he faces a storm of demons with this man who cannot be bound. He lives in the tombs. And he’s constantly cutting himself and breaking the chains. That’s verses 1 to 5. This is a perfect picture of the madness of sin. The insanity of sin. So Jesus commands the legion to leave the man. And he sends them into an enormous herd of pigs. It says about 2,000. And they immediately rush down a cliff and drown in the sea, just like Pharaoh’s armies. We’ve got legions, which are Roman armies. They fill a bunch of pigs. Those are Roman animals as well, pagan animals. And then they drowned in the sea. There’s a little mini exodus going on right here. Verses 6 to 13. Of course, news spreads quickly. They’re terrified, it says. And they send Jesus away. And Jesus sends the man to tell his friends what happened to him. That’s verses 14 to 20. Now Jesus crosses the sea again. And there, Jesus meets the ruler of the synagogue who falls down and begs him to come heal his sick daughter. That’s verses 21 to 23. That’s verses 24 to 27. Of course, this would have made her ceremonially unclean in the old covenant system. And Jesus senses this healing. And he, I think somewhat humorously says in the midst of a bustling crowd, wait, who touched me? Right? My son and I went to an Orioles game yesterday while visiting the area. And we were in a couple of very packed crowds. We’ll put it that way. And you just think to yourself, you’re crammed into a tiny elevator or you’re in a crowd. And Jesus says, wait, wait, I think somebody touched me. The disciples are a little bit like, that’s ridiculous. Everybody touched you, Jesus. And he says, no, but no, I’m talking about something different. He says, who touched my garment? And the woman comes and kneels down before him. And he assures her of her salvation and healing and of his peace. That’s verses 28 to 34. Right after that, right after that moment, as the woman has been healed and assured of that healing, the messengers bring word that the ruler of the synagogue’s daughter has died and to let Jesus go. There’s no sense in bringing him to your house. She’s died. But Jesus, undeterred, says, do not be afraid, only believe, I’m going. He goes, he arrives at the house. Of course, there’s many people there. They’re gathered. Mourning, great sorrow for the death of this little girl, but he urges them not to be afraid. He says, in fact, again, asks a question that’s a little bit ridiculous if you think about it. Why are you crying? It’s a little bit, Jesus is not in his most sensitive moment here, right? I mean, at least recognize they think she’s dead. I mean, you know, be gentle. It’s such a fuss. She’s only asleep. Of course, they quickly turn on him and mock him. Verses 35 to 39, Jesus takes the immediate disciples, mom and dad, up to the upper room where the young girl is lying. And there it says that he took her by the hand and he calls to her, to Letha, which means little girl, Kumi, rise up, rise. That there be something given to her to eat. That’s verses 40 to 43. Humanism is fundamentally the belief that the problems humans face can be solved by human solutions. Humanism is fundamentally the belief that the problems we face as human beings and as a human race can be solved by human solutions. But this is to radically misunderstand the nature of the problem. It’s to radically misunderstand the depth of the problem. The depth of the problem, the problem itself is sin. The problem is sin and sin has no human solution. Sin is a metaphysical stain on your soul. Sin is something that goes deeper than all human attempts to fix it. It’s guilt that always torments human souls. They’re ultimately worthless, like trying to chain this demon-possessed man. Good luck. He’s going to break the chain. He’s going to break it again. He’s going to cut himself again. He’s going to be free again in five minutes. Or like the physicians trying to help the woman, only making her case worse and worse and worse. Or like death itself. Whatever the next transhumanist solution is, we’re going to live forever. This has always been the lie of humanism. That we can somehow cheat death. That we can beat death. The problems that humans face, the insanity of sin, the uncleanness of sin, and the consequences of sin, death itself, cannot be solved by human solutions. We live in a culture that’s inundated with these humanistic solutions, only making things worse. We’ve medicated our kids, and they’re more confused and depressed than ever. We’ve given ourselves over to sexual depravity. We listened to Freud and all of his friends that said, the problem is that we are all being sexually repressed. We don’t feel free. Everybody feels really bad about these sexual desires, so you need to let them not feel bad about them. Celebrate them. Let them act on them. Then everybody will feel better, and they’ll ease up, and they’ll calm down, and we’ll have a normal society. No. You let it out, and it only got worse. We’re more lonely and childless than ever. We’ve asked the government to fix us, and we’re more enslaved than ever. We are a culture that is increasingly tormented by our sins, increasingly naked, and cutting ourselves in all kinds of ways. And we’re living among the tombs of our aborted babies, our abandoned grandparents, and those who have destroyed themselves with drugs and booze. But the real solution is terrifying. The reason why human beings do not turn to the solution. It’s terrifying. It’s disruptive. It even seems embarrassing. Even kind of ridiculous. When Jesus healed the demon-possessed man, a local economy crashed. 2,000 pigs. That’s a lot of money that just went down the drain. Not to mention the ecological environmental issues that they might have had in that part of the Sea of Galilee for a while. I mean, how bad did that smell? 2,000 dead pigs. Remember, pigs are unclean animals for Jews. What are those pigs doing there? There’s likely some kind of bustling pagan shrine somewhere in the region. And so the men of the region say, no thanks. You need to go. No thanks. They’d rather have the ravings of a naked madman in the cemetery and a bustling economy that Jesus brings. We got money, we got a bustling economy, we got tourism, we got all this stuff going. No, no, we can deal with one crazy guy. Maybe a couple. Jesus disrupts idolatrous economies. Of course, the peace and the freedom of Christ creates truly thriving economies as well, but the idols will have to come down and that will bring disruption. Jesus healed the woman with the flow of blood. He created a fairly awkward public scene. Just think about it. He’s asked a woman to confess in public. She’s been bleeding for 12 years. It’s awkward. It’s embarrassing. And so it is that Jesus requires all his disciples to publicly own him. There are no anonymous Christians. Only public Christians. This is why having a Christian testimony has always been important. You’ve heard no doubt many times from us and from preachers in the CREC that we love a boring testimony. Especially as we’re talking to covenant kids, we love boring testimonies. What do we mean by boring testimonies? We mean we love covenant kids growing up in the faith, never remembering a day they didn’t know Jesus. That’s what we mean. We don’t remember when they first were converted. They don’t remember when they first believed in Jesus. It was sometime back there early on when mom and dad were teaching them, bringing them to church, and they believed. That’s my testimony. I grew up in a Christian home. My dad’s a pastor. I don’t remember when I first believed in Jesus. All my early memories are loving to sing and worship the Lord. Those are my early memories. So we love boring testimonies like that. But there’s always a danger in saying that, because I don’t want anyone ever to think that your testimony is actually boring. Because you know what? Even if you don’t remember the moment you first believed, even if you don’t remember the moment that God came and gave you a new heart, maybe it happened when you were six months old. Maybe it happened like John the Baptist in his mother’s womb. Maybe it happened when you were five or seven. But you know what? When that happened, you came from death to life. The man of Satan to the dominion of Jesus Christ. That’s not boring. You may say, well, I didn’t join any biker gangs and I didn’t do drugs and I don’t even have any tattoos to show for it. Well, great. Glorious. But you know what? You were brought from death to life. You were raised from the dead of sin to life and that’s not boring. It’s not boring at all. I said a little while ago that one of the ways a Christian knows they have a Holy Spirit is because when you sin, you feel awful. And the Holy Spirit doesn’t let you get away with that. That’s a central part of my testimony because I don’t remember the first time that I first believed in Jesus, but you know what I remember? Feeling disgusting for my sins and trying to get away with it. I remember as a little boy, no, I’m not going to confess. No, I’m not going to confess. And I just get sicker and sicker and sicker and then eventually it’s like, you know, trying to not puke, you know. And that’s how I know. The Holy Spirit lives in me. Because that’s my testimony. And every single one of you must have a testimony. Maybe you remember when you were in the dark. Maybe it’s like a saw on the way to Damascus. Maybe you hated Jesus. Maybe you hated the gospel. Maybe you mocked the Christians and maybe Jesus knocked you down and said, why are you persecuting me? Maybe you were at the end of your rope and you cried out. Maybe you remember. Glory be to God. Glory to God for that. Maybe you don’t remember. But you ought to remember times in which God has demonstrated his presence in your life. That’s the kind of testimony everyone in this room needs to have. Everyone in this room must know that Jesus is alive because of the way that he has dealt with you. You need to know that. You must know the glory of being forgotten. Of not forgotten, of being forgiven. Your sin being forgotten. Forgiveness means you know and you remember. The burning hot shame of sin. It means you remember the uncleanness of your guilt. Even if it was for moments and God in his mercy, you did something, you said something and all of a sudden you think, ah, I got to get rid of that. I got to confess that. I got to make that right. That’s the Holy Spirit. And you need to know the glory of his peace. That’s a glorious word that Jesus speaks to that woman. Go in peace. You have that? You must have that. It’s that peace that guards and protects your hearts and minds when you’re being accused of all kinds of evil. It’s that peace of the forgiveness of sins that can smile in the face of insane accusations. You’re an evil dad or you’re an evil mom or a horrible kid or your parents are horrible people. Jesus says go in peace. Notice that. That’s not you saying somehow I’m sinless, I’m pure. No, it’s the peace of knowing you’ve been forgiven. It’s the peace of knowing the declaration there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You know the glory of his peace. The young girl who had died, he insisted that even death is not too strong for him. And the people who were there weeping laughed at him. Thought it was ridiculous. But Jesus requires his disciples to live like that. Jesus requires his disciples to live like that in the face of death. We believe in the resurrection of the body. We just stood a few minutes ago. We recited the Apostles’ Creed. We believe that just as Jesus rose from the dead, he will call everyone who trusts in him to rise, just like that little girl. He will say to every one of us, I say to you, arise. This means that we do not live according to the mantra of you only live once. No. No, we’re just getting started. We get, you know, 50, 70, 100 years maybe if we’re God’s kind, but that’s just the beginning. That’s just the preface. You think about eternity. I mean, how’s that gonna measure? That’s gonna be the blink and eternity is forever. We live in the light of eternity. We live in the light of the reality of the resurrection. That means we have plenty of time. We have plenty of time, which incidentally is why Sabbath is so important to Christians, right? We have a lot of work to do and make sure once a week you rest. You say, well, you know, if we worked one more day, Lord, that would be, you know, do the math. God says, yeah, I did. And you’ll be dead a lot faster. This is one of the places, and you’re doing it right now, right? What do we do on the Lord’s day? What do we do? Well, we come and we sit down and we sing psalms and we hear the word and we sit at his table and we eat bread and we share wine, right? But fundamentally, what you’re doing in that, what you’re confessing in that is that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, of life and death, history, time, all of it, and he has it in hand. And we’re willing and happy to return with grateful hearts everything we can. All that we are, life, death, all of it, we’ll give it back to him, lay it out to him out of gratitude. But fundamentally, he doesn’t need us. Fundamentally, it’s not like Jesus is desperate. We’re a few more converts this year. No, Jesus is not. Jesus is not at all. Now, he is determined to win. He’s determined to fill this earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That’s what he’s doing, right? When he rose from the dead, he said, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them everything I’ve commanded you. We do that because, therefore, why? Because he has all authority in heaven and earth. He already has the keys of death and Hades. He already has struck the fatal blow to Satan. He already has confirmed our forgiveness of sins and our eternal life. But he wants to do it this way. He’s determined to do it this way. He says, it’s more fun this way? I don’t know. It’s more glorious this way? He’s like, Lord, you could just be done with this. It could all be over. Jesus says, no. I like the thousands of years plan. With all of you. With all of you. That’s what Jesus is determined to do. But we have to remember that. We have to remember that. We live in the light of eternity. We live with the one who says to death, no, all done. Every cemetery you drive by, another D.C. story for you. We drove by the Arlington for a moment on Friday night. Every one of those stones. It’s like a post-it note. Right? Jesus, God created the world and it was full of life. And death was not the way it was supposed to be. Death is not the way it was supposed to be. But everyone, reason why we mark them, reason why we mark them as Christians is we’re saying, God’s not done. The story’s not over. Every one of those tombs, every one of those grave sites is our declaration that we live and know that Jesus has risen from the dead. God’s not done here. He has promised to come. We have plenty of time because Jesus is Lord. We want to work hard for the king every day, but we’ve got to work hard in a way that is constantly acknowledging that the king has everything in hand. The king has everything in hand. So sin is insanity, but it is an insane response to a real problem. Sin is insanity, but it’s an insane response to a real problem. The stain of guilt and looming death. And in the grip of that reality, in the grip of that madness, moderns seek justification. I said earlier that’s what identity politics is all about. It’s the latest version of this. It’s the search for victims and their perpetrators. It’s the search for victims and their perpetrators. This is why people are screaming obscenities. Why are they screaming obscenities? Well, because they’re guilty. Penance and indulgences. How do you get justification according to modern identity politics? Well, you identify with the victim groups and you scream obscenities at the perpetrators, so-called. They’re just doing penance. They’re doing indulgences. Scream five obscenities and you’re more righteous. Why? Well, because the guilty party are whites and males and heterosexuals, et cetera, and Christians. Those are the guilty parties. They’re the perpetrators. They’re the colonizers. They’re the abusers. And so they scream obscenities to get clean, to get justification. Of course, it doesn’t work, and so they have to keep screaming. It doesn’t work, and so they have to keep screaming. They’re trying to get clean by political activism. They’re trying to get clean by protests. They’re trying to get clean by condemning so-called perpetrators. But you can’t chain this rage with human action. Cleanse this stain with meds or booze or more screaming. Only the blood of the truly innocent victim can cleanse. Only the blood of the truly innocent victim can cleanse. Only Christ crucified can make you right with the Father. Only Christ crucified gives you peace that no one can take away. Only his resurrection can deliver you from the grave. And only his justice can establish justice and make any room at all for mercy. So that’s the message we preach here week after week. Christ crucified for sinners. Christ crucified for sinners. Which is still folly to the PhDs and the policy wonks. And it’s still a stumbling block to do-gooders and social justice warriors. It’s not good enough. Sick of your prayers, why don’t you do something? But we are doing something. We’re doing the most effective thing. We’re crying out to the one who can do something about it. We’re going to the one who has done something about it. And who is entrusting us with that ministry. There’s no other way out of this mess except by the authoritative voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. There’s no other way out of the mess except for Jesus Christ saying, peace. That’s it. There’s no other way. But for the last 2,000 years, he has been doing that. That’s the thing. Don’t miss this. Jesus has been speaking peace and they calm. He’s been cleansing the unclean. He’s been taking away the fear of death. And so, do not be afraid. Only believe. Listen. Do not be afraid. Only believe. You are with the one who calmed the storms. You are with the one who casts out demons. You are with the one who is not afraid. He is not afraid of death. He’s not afraid of crazies. He’s not afraid of sin. He’s not afraid of any of it. And he speaks to you just as he spoke to these people 2,000 years ago. Do not be afraid. Only believe. We have met the Lord. I know we’re Presbyterians, but you can say amen. We’ve met the Lord. He’s with us in the boat. He’s with us on this shore. He’s with us, and he has risen from the dead. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to him, and he’s called you to disciple here. Disciple your family. Disciple your business. Disciple whatever he’s called there. You are an ambassador for Jesus Christ there, and the Lord is with you. And the Lord does all things well. So let’s pray. Father, I ask that your authoritative peace would guard our hearts and our minds right this minute. I pray that the peace of Jesus Christ would remind us of your great mercy in our lives, that we would remember distinct moments in our lives where you have granted us that peace, and I pray that you renew it in our hearts now. I pray, Father, that this peace would allow us to think clearly about the challenges we face, I pray that we would walk boldly before you clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ without any fear, knowing that there is no condemnation because we are in Jesus Christ. And I ask that you would send forth ministers of this gospel with great boldness so that there would be a great reformation and revival in our land. We pray that you would drive back the darkness. We pray that you would awaken the light of your gospel and that it would shine bright on this land. And we ask for this in the strong name of Jesus who taught us to pray. Sing him. Our Father who art in heaven. Sing. show less

26 de abr de 202635 min

Jody Simmons, (Mark 6)

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