MARK 1-6 JESUS CAME PREACHING2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Mark 1-6 Jesus Came Preaching

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

We are here this evening in the Gospel of Mark, and we'll be looking at chapters 1 through 6 as we begin this incredible gospel by a man named Mark. Now, we are working our way, of course, through the New Testament. So we went through the Gospel of Matthew. Now we're in the Gospel of Mark. We're going to be, for the next couple months, looking at the life of Jesus from these various different perspectives. You had Matthew's perspective, Mark's perspective,

Mark's perspective, then we'll get into Luke, and then John, who has a very unique perspective on the life of Christ, and we'll get to see some incredible things in that gospel as well. But since we're starting back at the book of Mark, I wanted to kind of rewind the tape a little bit and just remind us the context of where we're starting from as we begin in Mark chapter 1. So Mark is talking about the life of Christ and starting back at

the beginning. And so we're looking at this transition from the Old Testament into the New Testament. So you remember, hopefully, going through the Bible in three years, the different things that happened in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel rebelling against God, split into two nations, both nations ultimately conquered and taken captive because of their rebellion against God.

But then when Persia came to power, they released the Jews who were in Babylon to go back to rebuild the temple. And then a few years after that, Nehemiah, who was the servant, the cupbearer of the king, is sent back by the king to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

And so that is the kind of the rebuilding process of the city of Jerusalem after it had been destroyed. Now that is taking place around 444 BC where this ministry is going back, you know, the ministry is going on and the temple, you know, is being rebuilt and the things are being renewed. The city is being established again.

And there's still some issues that God is dealing with. And so there was some prophets during that period as well. The last of which was Malachi. Malachi.

And so he was calling the people to repentance and calling them to be faithful to God. Well, from that point, there was what we refer to as 400 years of silence. That is, there was no Isaiahs or Jeremiahs or Malachi's or Zechariah's. There was no real prophets that were sent by the Lord for about 400 years until John the Baptist comes on the scene. And so there was this silent period where God was,

was working, of course, with individuals, but he was not proclaiming a message to the nation as a whole. Now, there was a lot going on during these silent years. During this time, Greece became the world power, overthrew Persia, conquered the world. It was Alexander the Great. He raced through Europe and just conquered the whole thing very quickly. And so now the Greek language became very prominent and, you know, the primary language of the day.

In around 280 or a little bit earlier, they decided, they arranged and translated the Old Testament scriptures. What we have is our Old Testament. They translated that from Hebrew to Greek. It's called the Septuagint. And that becomes very important because those things are established and translated. And so that as we head into New Testament times,

The quotations that we read in the New Testament, we studied a lot of them in Matthew, were from that Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible because that's the language that the people spoke. And so that was an important thing when they translated the scriptures into Greek.

During this time also, Jerusalem was being conquered and reconquered by a variety of nations and back and forth and back and forth. And so there was, in this process, the temple was defiled. There was a ruler who went in and sacrificed a pig, which of course was not something that God allowed for the Jewish people, but it was an attempt to defile the temple.

And so the Maccabees around 167 revolted, took back the temple and cleansed it and rededicated the temple to the Lord. And so that was a major event during the silent years as well.

Well then, about a hundred years later, Rome comes to power. And Rome takes over, you know, the whole known world at that point. And that sets the stage now for the birth of Jesus Christ, which happens right around 2 BC. Now these dates, of course, are approximations. We don't have the exact dates. But around 2 BC, Jesus Christ is born.

And he comes on the scene with his public ministry around 28 AD or 30 years later. And so here he comes on the scene and that's kind of where we're picking it up in the Gospel of Mark. Rome is in power. There's really relatively, you know, peace in the area.

And Jesus is going to minister for a few years and then be crucified and resurrected. And then I also put on the bottom 63 AD, which is the end of the book of Acts. Because I always think it's important to remember the context that the New Testament really happens within just, you know, a few decades. We looked at the Old Testament and we studied, you know, 4,000 years ago.

But now the New Testament happens, you know, about 30, 40, 50 years, depending on what time all the letters are dated. But the point is the timeline in the book of Acts happens, you know, it's about 30 years after the life of Christ that that comes to completion. And so we're looking at a relatively short period of time compared to what we've been studying in the Old Testament.

So that's the setup. We know that Rome is in power. There has been silence. Now all of a sudden there's this prophet John the Baptist. And that's where the gospel of Mark is going to begin. Now Mark was written probably around 55 to 60 AD. Again about 20 to 30 years after the life of Christ. And there's lots of reasons to believe that. What we believe about the gospel of Mark is that it was...

Remember, Mark was not a disciple of Christ. So he wasn't, you know, a first-hand witness to many of these things. But that Mark recorded the messages that Peter was giving. And so Peter was teaching about Jesus and Mark was taking notes and recording those things

and then put them together. And that's what we have in the gospel of Mark. And so that's what we believe about the authorship and the source for the gospel of Mark. And so Mark wasn't there, but he's recording what Peter shared.

Now as we've been looking at the Gospel of Matthew and now head into the Gospel of Mark, the focus, the emphasis changes. Each of the Gospels have a different focus on Jesus Christ. And that's why we put together the Gospels handout. It's on the back table. And so if you didn't get one before, you can check it out and see the differences between the four Gospels. But Mark emphasizes really what Jesus did.

The book of Matthew had a lot of red letters, right? It was the words of Jesus. The gospel of Mark has much less. It's a lot less teaching and a lot more action.

We believe that he was writing to the Romans. And so he focuses on the power of Jesus, the miracles that Jesus accomplished. There's not very many quotations, not a whole lot of references to the Old Testament because he's not writing to people who knew those things. He's writing to those who would be interested in, okay, you're trying to tell me about this guy. What did he do? Why should I pay attention to Jesus? And so Mark is focusing on what Jesus did and not what he said.

The book of Mark, really, as you compare it also, I'm sure you can see it as you've been reading along with us, it's action-packed. I mean, the gospel of Matthew is kind of like, you know, this slow narrative, there's lots of talking, and then the gospel of Mark is like an action movie. I mean, there's things blowing up, there's fights here and there, there's things happening, and

From scene to scene to scene to scene, there's this cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. And the word immediately, Mark uses over 40 times in these 16 chapters. It's like immediately this, and then immediately that, and then immediately that. And so as you go through it, you see this bounce around of all these different things as he tries to capture a lot of what Jesus did in his short time of ministry here upon the earth.

Well, the geography of Mark is really no different than that of Matthew because, of course, it's telling the same story, the life of Christ, beginning in Bethlehem, moving into Nazareth, then Capernaum as an adult, Jesus ministered from there, and then, of course, in Jerusalem, which was the capital and where Jesus ultimately was to be crucified.

John Mark

And so he could be all three of those at any time. John or Mark or John Mark. Now he wasn't John the Apostle. That's a different guy. He wasn't John the Baptist. And so that's why he's referred to as John Mark because he's different than those two guys. Mark would be his Roman name.

And John was his Jewish name. And so we see that happen a lot in the scriptures where people have multiple names. And that helps clarify who they are. In Acts chapter 12 verse 12 it tells us that he, his name is John. He's also called Mark. And so we know we're talking about the same guy.

We find from Colossians chapter 4 that Mark, he was the son of a woman named Mary. Now this isn't Mary, the mother of Jesus. It's not Mary Magdalene. This is a different Mary than the ones that we've seen before.

But we also see that he was the cousin of Barnabas. And you remember Barnabas and Saul, you know, major figures in the book of Acts. And so Mark or John Mark was the cousin of Barnabas. Mark's mother seems to be a prominent woman in the New Testament church because the church is meeting at her house whenever there was the prayer meeting. Remember when Peter was in prison and they were gathered together to pray for him? That was all happening at

Mark's house or Mark's mom's house. Well, Mark joined with Paul and Barnabas for their first missionary journey in the book of Acts chapter 12. And remember, they're sent out by the church of Antioch and they go out to spread the gospel. Mark goes with them, but then he doesn't complete the trip with them. He leaves halfway through the trip and

And Paul has a real hard time with that. And so later on in Acts chapter 15, when they're deciding to go back for round two of their mission trip, let's go back to those places we visited. Barnabas was like, that's a great idea. Let's remark. And Paul said, no way. He deserted us.

We're not, we can't trust him. He's not reliable. We're not going to bring him again. And the dispute between them was so fierce, it says, that they decided, well, we're just going to go separate ways. And so Barnabas went that way with John Mark. Paul took Silas and went another direction. And so that was, you know, something you're probably familiar with as far as who Mark is.

Later on, Mark did get to hang around with Paul and become an important part of Paul's ministry. You can see that in Philemon chapter 1 and 2 Timothy chapter 4 where Paul tells Timothy, hey, get Mark and bring him with you. I want him with me in these final days.

We also see though that Mark had a close relationship with Peter. Peter went to Mark's house, which is where the prayer meeting was when he was released from prison. That happens in Acts chapter 12.

And then in 1 Peter chapter 5, Peter refers to Mark as my son. And so there's this closeness, this close relationship. And then again, as I was sharing earlier, the tradition and history passed down to us tells us that Peter and Mark were together and Mark was recording the words of Peter as he talked about Jesus. And that's why we have the gospel here.

And then the last note that we have about Mark was that he might be the young man that's mentioned in Mark chapter 14. And we'll get there in about two weeks. But there in Mark chapter 14, while Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, it mentions this young man who is there in the garden. And there's no other reference in all the other Gospels. And so many believe that that's actually Mark, you know, signing the letter and letting us know where he was at during that time.

But all of this, I think, is interesting about who Mark is as we study the gospel of Mark.

Because we see that he was not, you know, he had some good things going for him. But he was not a perfect person by all means. And there was this issue, you know, of him departing and leaving the mission trip before it was completed. That really caused some division and some troubles later on. And I like the way that Charles Ryrie puts it. He says that Mark's biography proves that one failure in life...

does not mean the end of usefulness. Can you imagine, I mean, here's Mark and he abandons Paul and Barnabas on this mission trip. It's hard. It's difficult. There's persecution. Paul's, you know, being executed and things like that. And so you could understand why he left. But at the same time, then afterwards, you know, the regret and what he must have gone through. But then to be able to be used by the Lord, right?

To record the gospel of Mark. And to be included in the scriptures. I mean what a great testimony of redemption. That God can take even though we've messed up and failed. Even though we've failed.

He can still take us and do great things with our lives. And so I love the gospel of Mark and the picture of Mark for that redemption and that reminder that God still uses messed up, broken people and he can use us to do great things for him. Well, let's get into our chapters for this evening. Mark chapter 1 is where we begin. Verse 14 is the key verse.

It says, now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. We begin the chapter in verses 1 through 11 seeing that John the Baptist came on the scene baptizing.

Mark does not start out with some genealogy because he's not writing to people who care about genealogies. He's writing to the Romans. He's talking about the power of Jesus and what Jesus did. And so he doesn't need to tell them who his parents and grandparents and great, great, great, great, great grandparents are and such. He wants to get right away into this is what Jesus did. And so he begins introducing Jesus with John the Baptist.

John came baptizing. He came preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And also we see here in this portion that Jesus comes to John and is baptized at this time. Well then in verses 12 through 15, Jesus begins his public ministry and he went into Galilee preaching the gospel.

As he is baptized by John the Baptist, verse 11 and 12 tells us that he goes into a time of temptation. He's in the wilderness for 40 days and then the devil comes and tempts him. And it's at that point that he begins his public ministry. And his public ministry is really centralized in the northern area of Israel all around Galilee. That's where he does most of his preaching and the majority of his miracles.

Well, we also see in verses 16 through 20 that he calls Simon, Andrew, James, and John. And they began to follow Jesus. These two sets of brothers, Simon and Andrew were brothers. James and John were brothers. They were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus says, hey, come follow me. And they began to follow Jesus at that point.

Well, he gets right into his miraculous works in verses 21 through 28. And Jesus casts out an unclean spirit in this portion. So there's Jesus. He's teaching in the synagogue.

Right from the beginning, Jesus, you know, he came on the scene and he began to proclaim. He began to teach right away in the synagogues of the Jewish people. And so he's there, he's proclaiming. And it says in verse 22 that they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. And so this was something different for the Jewish people. The

They were familiar with teaching. They had a lot of teaching because the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, they had synagogues on Saturdays. You know, they were full of and used to teaching, but this man's teaching was different.

He came on the scene and he had authority. He spoke with authority. There was power in his words and it was something that caught the attention of the people. Well, as he's there teaching, there's a man who is in their midst. They're in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. That is to say that he was demon possessed.

It's interesting. This demon-possessed man is going to church. He's at synagogue. He's there with the people in synagogue. So watch out for the person next to you is the moral, right? The point, watch out. Demon-possessed people go to synagogue. No, well, they do, but Christians can't be demon-possessed, so don't get that in your head. But it's interesting. Here he is right in the midst of them. There's this powerful teaching going on, and now there's an opportunity to

to demonstrate that not only does he have these powerful words, this powerful teaching, but that he has power from God to work miraculously in their midst. And God is using these miracles to back up and to solidify that Jesus Christ is of God. And so this man with an unclean spirit is set free and the spirit is cast out there on that day.

Well, then we go to Peter's house. His mother-in-law is there sick and she is healed. And so Jesus does another miraculous work there. And then in verses 32 through 34, there's a lot of things going on. There's many healed, it says, and many demons are cast out.

It tells us in verse 33 that the whole city gathered at the door. So there's this big crowd who gathered at the door of where Jesus was. And there's all these miracles going on, healings, these demons being cast out. Jesus is setting people free and working miraculously. And the people are getting very excited. And it's drawing a lot of attention. There's a lot of people coming for these works.

Well, then in verse 35 through 39, Jesus continues to go all throughout Galilee preaching. It tells us in verse 35 that in the morning, so that night, the whole crowd, the whole town gathered together at the door. Well, the next morning, Jesus got up early. He kind of snuck away off by himself and spent some time in prayer. The disciples came and found him and said, hey, you know, what are you doing? Everybody's looking for you.

And Jesus says, hey, we got to keep on going. Let's go to the next towns. That's why I've come. You know, if the crowd had it their way, they would have just kept Jesus there. Just, hey, just only minister to us. You know, keep us satisfied and heal us and do these works and teach us.

But Jesus says, no, I can't let them dictate what I do. I need to be faithful to what God's called me to do. And so he has to kind of sneak away and go to the next town so that he can continue to preach the gospel. Well, then in verses 40 through 45, we see another miracle when a leper is cleansed, healed of their leprosy.

A leper came to him in verse 40 and knelt down and said, if you are willing, you can make me clean. So the leper comes to Jesus and this leper has faith. He has no doubt about the power of Jesus, the capability of Jesus. His only question is the willingness of Jesus. He says, if you're willing, you can make me clean. You're capable. I know that. I believe that.

But I'm not sure if you're willing. So are you willing? Will you make me clean is what he is saying. And there is a difference that we need to understand. And sometimes people get confused about that. There's a difference between the capability of God and the will of God.

God can do whatever he wants and there's a lot of things that we pray for and if God you know worked according to our will then there's a lot of things that would be very different in our lives but God has his will for his purposes and it's for the good of those who love God and are the called according to his purpose.

We need to understand that there's a difference between God's willingness and God's capability. And sometimes people wrestle with that. You know, hey, if this happened, maybe God's not that powerful. Well, it doesn't mean that God stops every difficulty in our lives or every hardship or every hurt. Because God's looking at the eternal perspective. And there's a big difference between eternity and the temporary.

There's a big difference between what will last forever and ever and ever and ever and what will last for a short season or for this life. I like what Paul said in Romans chapter 8 verse 18. He says,

He's looking at the sufferings that we experience in this life and he looks to eternity and he says, you know, it's not really proportional. It's not worth comparing the suffering we have now to the glory that will come. So there's some things that you could think about, right? That you could suffer through

Because there's some reward at the end that you would receive. If you are going to, let's say, you know, try to get in shape and run a race, there's some suffering that you have to endure. There's some, you know, you got to get in shape. You got to do the exercise. You got to be disciplined. You got to eat certain things. You know, you got to pull all these things together and it's not easy. That's why not all of us are skinny and running marathons because it's not easy and it's not, you know, attractive to a lot of people. You know, I look at that and I think, well...

the reward isn't worth it. I'm not that motivated by, ooh, I could run a marathon, obviously, right? And so the reward isn't worth it. It's not worth the suffering for me. You could compare it to, you know, a variety of other things. But the point is, yeah, I could go through that. I'm capable of it, but it's not worth the reward. Paul says it's the other way regarding eternity and the things of God. Yeah, we might suffer a lot,

But the reward that we get is not just, well, it's worth it. It's not just, well, then you get to run a marathon in heaven. It's not just that you get something that's like, okay, you know, that kind of compensates for it. It's not like you get to the end of your work week and you get your wages, right? And it's like, yeah, I guess that's fair. You know, I make that much an hour. And so I got what was fair compensation for the suffering of work that I put in all week long. Paul says,

When you think about eternity, the suffering that we go through now, it doesn't compare. It's not like it's proportional. Like, okay, I went through this amount of suffering and in heaven I'm going to have this amount of glory. Paul says, look, it's going to be so much greater than the suffering that we endure here. It's going to be far greater. It's disproportionate. The glory that God has in store is far greater than whatever suffering we go through now.

And so that's why we can understand that there's a difference between God's willingness and God's capability. As part of his will, we endure suffering. And that's not cruel. It's part of God's plan. And he has greater things in store for us. In the same way, you could think of it this way. A doctor will inflict pain in order to heal. Right? All pain is not evil. All hardship, all suffering is not evil. Even having leprosy.

He can go to God and say, if you're willing, you can make me clean. It's also a submission to the Lord at this point. He's saying, if you're not willing, you have that right. But if you're willing, you can make me clean. And so ultimately, we need to come to the conclusion like Jesus did in the garden where he said, not my will, but your will be done. It really has to do with

God's will, his plans, his purposes, which we know are for good because he promises that God works all things together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Well, now we move on into chapter 2 of Mark. Verse 2 is the key verse. It says, Immediately many gathered together so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door, and he preached the word directly.

Wherever Jesus went as he's going through Galilee, there was a crowd. There was all kinds of commotion because people were calling everybody that they knew who was sick or demon possessed. And there was all this attention that was being given to Jesus. Well, in verses 1 through 12, we see the situation as there's this great crowd. There's these guys who have a friend who's paralyzed. He's a paralytic.

And they want to take him to Jesus so he could be healed. But it's too crowded. They can't get in. The doors are, you know, jammed. And the windows are packed. And there's no way to get in. And so they actually tear apart the roof and let the guy in through the ceiling to where Jesus is in order to get him before Jesus to be healed. Well, when Jesus sees this in verse 5, he tells the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. And this caused some confusion.

grumblings in the crowd with the religious leaders because they were like, hey, who does this guy think he is forgiving sins? Who can forgive sins except God? And Jesus goes on to use that to make the point. In verse 10, he says, that you may know that the Son of Man, or that I, Jesus says, have the power to forgive sins. He tells the guy, take up your mat and walk. Jesus here proves that he is God.

Because he can forgive sins, but he can also heal those that he has forgiven.

In verse 13 through 17, we have the call of Matthew or Levi. He's a tax collector. Jesus walks by his table and says, hey, follow me. And so Levi does. He follows him and throws a party for Jesus, invites all of his sinner friends, and Jesus is there ministering to them. And so in verse, well, in those verses, the religious leaders are upset because Jesus is there with a bunch of sinners. And they're saying, why is this guy, you know, with them? That's wrong. He shouldn't be there.

But I love verse 17 because Jesus says, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. He says, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And so Jesus says, where should I be? These are the ones who are sick. These are the ones who are in sin. And these are the ones I came to call to repentance. And so that's why I'm here in their midst. That's the point.

In verses 18 through 22, Jesus says, no one puts new wine in old wineskins. The religious leaders come to Jesus with a question. They say, look, our disciples fast. John the Baptist had disciples and they fasted. How come your disciples do not fast? And Jesus responds and explains that he, the groom, is with them. And when the groom is with you, that's time to celebrate. That's not time to fast.

Can you imagine, you know, on your wedding day, guys, all of your groomsmen are fasting and mourning and weeping. Maybe some of them were on your wedding day. But,

That's not the appropriate time for that, right? Jesus says, look, I'm going to be heading out and then there'll be appropriate time to fast. But now's not the time for them to fast. And then he goes on to talk about putting new wine and old wineskins to make the point, listen, you can't try to fit your old system into this new work of God.

What I'm doing, Jesus is saying to them, is a new work. And so yeah, you guys used to fast and John the Baptist's disciples fasted. But that's not the model for, you know, well God has to work this way. It always has to be this way. That's not the model Jesus is saying. You can't put new wine in old wineskins. He's doing a new work. Then in verses 23 through 28, Jesus declares that he is Lord of wine.

And this came about because the disciples are walking through a grain field and they're plucking heads of grain and they're eating it. And the religious leaders are upset by this because, well, they say it's not lawful to do that. It's illegal. It violates the Sabbath, they say, to do that.

But Jesus corrects them and says, no, that's not the case. And so it was not against God's law for them to do that. It was against God's law if they were harvesting. And so if they got out their sickle and, you know, started, you know, getting the bushels and putting it all together, that's, yeah, you're not to do that on the Sabbath. But to walk through and to grab some food on your way was not against the Sabbath. But then Jesus makes the point, even if it was,

He makes the point that they were using the ceremonial laws in ways that God had not intended. And so they were taking the law of the Sabbath and taking it way beyond what God had intended. So even if it was against God's law, that's not the way that God's law was to be used regarding ceremonies and such.

Well, chapter 3 now of Mark, verse 14 is the key verse. It says,

Verses 1 through 6, we see another situation on the Sabbath. Jesus is in the synagogue and there's a man there who has a withered hand and it's kind of a setup by the religious leaders. They're watching to try to, you know, have an occasion to accuse Jesus. And so they have this guy here and they're going to say, you know, hey, is Jesus going to heal this guy or what? In verse 2 it says, they watched him closely whether they would heal him so that they might accuse him. They

They're looking for an opportunity to pounce, to trap Jesus. And so Jesus doesn't care and he heals the guy anyways. And so in verse 6 it tells us that the Pharisees plotted to destroy him. It's interesting. They're all upset because Jesus healed on the sabbath. So they go out from the synagogue and they plot to destroy Jesus. So apparently plotting to destroy somebody is allowed on the sabbath.

But healing somebody, oh no, that's forbidden. You see the irony there? It's a little bit ridiculous, right? You can't heal, but we can try to destroy you. That's allowed on the Sabbath, but what you're doing, that's not. Here's the thing. They were caught up in legalism. And legalism is something you and I can get caught up in as well. And so that's why I pointed out, because this is something that you and I can get attached to. We're kind of drawn to it.

Making of rules and laws and trying to relate to God according to these rules and laws. But one of the many problems of legalism is that legalism always causes these kinds of inconsistencies. Legalism will always cause this kind of thing where, hey, you can't heal, you can't do good, but we can try to destroy you. There will always be that kind of issue whenever there is legalism.

Because nobody can keep the law. And that's really the point of the Old Testament. That's really the point of the law. That we need a savior because we can't keep the law. But when we're caught up in legalism, here's what happens. You have to prefer certain laws over other laws because you can't keep the law.

So you have these favorite laws and those you're faithful to keep. And boy, I keep those and everybody else should keep these because these are the best laws and I keep these laws. But then there's laws over here that you don't keep. And so you forbid healing on the Sabbath and then you try to destroy that person who does. Legalism will cause you to condemn people who don't keep your favorite laws while at the same time you're breaking laws.

Different laws will happen there. So watch out for legalism. Because it will cause you to condemn people who don't keep your favorites while you break other laws. Well then in verses 7 through 12, we see a great multitude follows Jesus. Again, there was always these crowds around because of the work that Jesus was doing.

In verse 9, he tells his disciples, I like this, like these just kind of practical notes. He tells his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him.

So he pulls Peter and John aside and says, hey guys, you know, look at all these people. They kind of get crazy, you know, almost kind of rioting when all these miracles are being done and stuff. And lots of people pushing and trying to get to me. And so we should have a boat nearby so I can just kind of jump in there if it gets too crazy, you know, just kind of settle the crowd down and keep things in order. So

This great multitude causes them to take these precautions. Well, then in verses 13 through 19, he names the 12 disciples. And so he goes through the list of those 12 disciples, identifies them. These are the ones he's kind of drawing closer and he's going to be teaching them.

And then later on sending them out. It's interesting because some of these names are very well known. We know Peter. We know James. We know John. We know Andrew. We've heard about Doubting Thomas. But it's amazing how many of these names are not really mentioned anywhere else in the scripture. Just in the list of the disciples. There's not, you know, the ministry of Thaddeus. There's not, you know, these...

Other names that are not well known. And I think that's good. I think it's good for us because we need to be reminded that the disciples are just like us. We're members of the body of Christ. And each has their parts, but we all have different parts to play. And some are more well known, more visible, but that doesn't mean the others are less important. And Paul goes through that in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. He says, in fact...

the ones that have, you know, that visibility, those are actually less honorable. And the ones that are less visible, those have more honor in the way that God has designed the body of Christ. And so we might think, you know, well, I don't want to be Thaddeus. I want to be Peter. You know, I want to be John. And we might, you know, strive to be that. But

But God has designed the body of Christ so that we each have a place, we each have a role, and some of us have to stand in front of everybody.

And it's not as glamorous as you might think it is. I've been on both sides, okay? It's something God calls you to and you have to do it. And if you try to run from it, God sends fish to swallow you. It's not something that, you know, is strived for, should be strived for, for our own desires and for our own purposes. God will deal with those who touch the glory and try to take the glory for themselves. God will deal with them.

But don't think that just because there's not a stage in the way that you serve God, there's not a lot of recognition, there's not a lot of people who know about it, then that means it's not that important. Understand, even the disciples, we know some of them, we don't know some of them, but Jesus chose them. He prayed all night and then he chose them. He said, you're an important part of my team.

You're an important part of what I'm going to do and what you're going to do in changing the world with the gospel message. And so I would encourage you to remember that we are the body of Christ and each part has their share. There's no part that's insignificant. There's no member, not one of you is someone that we could live without. We need every member of the body of Christ. That's what the Bible teaches. Well, verses 20 through 30, Jesus declares that a divided house cannot stand.

Because again, as there's all these crowds, the religious leaders are coming against Jesus and they're saying, look, he must be demon possessed. That's why he's able to cast out demons. Refusing to believe that he could be from God, they have to come up with this conclusion. He must be from Satan. And so from Satan, he has power to cast out demons because he's empowered by Satan.

And so Jesus explains in verse 25, your argument doesn't make sense, guys. A divided house cannot stand. It will fall. And Satan is smarter than that. I always think this is important. And so I always highlight this. And so let me just tell you again. Listen, Satan is smart. And he knows that a divided house cannot stand. So don't let Satan outsmart you and divide your house.

Be united and work together. Be united in your home. And it's going to take some work and it's going to take some dying. There has to be death in order for there to be unity. That's just a given. But don't be dumber than Satan. Keep your house united. Be together.

Be united so that you can stand. Satan would love for you to be divided because he knows your house will not stand if you're divided. There's going to be destruction if you're divided. So guard yourselves against division within your home and then let's extend that to the church, okay? Let's be united. Let's be on the same page. Let's be going forward in what God has called us to. Let's not be divided and fighting amongst each other.

That's what the enemy wants. He wants that division because he knows we can't stand when we're divided. Well, Jesus also goes on here to address the unpardonable sin in verses 28 through 30. Now, Jesus here is sharing this as a warning.

He's not saying that these religious leaders have committed this sin, but he's warning them against committing this sin, the unpardonable sin, which is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Now it says in verse 30, it explains why he goes on to talk about the unpardonable sin. He says, because they said he has an unclean spirit.

And so many have stressed and worried over the years about what the unpardonable sin is and whether or not, you know, have I committed this unpardonable sin? I can never be saved. Well, here's the situation. They were watching Jesus work and they said, he can't be from God. He must be from Satan. He's not working by the spirit of God. He's working by the power of Satan. He is not of God. And Jesus says, watch out. You're on dangerous ground.

Because if you reject that Jesus Christ is from God, that Jesus Christ is who he claimed to be, that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if you reject that, that's unpardonable. That is, if you reject Jesus Christ, there's no salvation any other way. He's the only way of salvation. And so the unpardonable sin is rejecting Jesus. And that ultimately happens...

At the end of this life. That's your last opportunity. To reject or to receive Jesus. And so rejecting Jesus is the unpardonable sin. And he says watch out. You're on dangerous ground. Because you're seeing the power of the Holy Spirit. The proof that I am who I say I am. But you're saying that I'm not from God. Instead that I'm powered by Satan. Well then in verses 31 through 35. We see Jesus' family. His mom and brothers come to Jesus.

Now this isn't because they're like, you know, hey, we haven't gotten to see you for a while. We want to hang out, catch up. We find in verse 20 and 21, they're going to Jesus because they think he's crazy. Check out verse 21. It says, when his own people, that's his family, heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him for they said, he is out of his mind. They're hearing about all these crowds and all these things. And it's so, in verse 20, it says, there was so many people there, they couldn't even eat.

It was a forced fast because there was too many people. They couldn't, it was just too busy, too crowded. They didn't even have time to eat. And they're like, oh my goodness, Jesus has taken this way too far. He's out of his mind. He's gone crazy. We better go rescue him from all those people. And so they still did not understand who Jesus was and what he was really about.

Chapter 4 now, verse 34, he says, without a parable, he did not speak to them. And when they were alone, he explained all things to his disciples. In verse 1 and 2, we see Jesus teaching from a boat. So he told them ahead of time, always have a boat ready, guys. And they did. And so now he's able to use it and teach from the boat to the multitude that is there.

And so chapter 4 has for us a few different parables. The parable of the sower with the four different soils. Kind of the point of that that Jesus is getting at is that the initial response of a person is not really a clear indication of where they're at. You have to wait to see the fruit. They might respond right away and then later on when persecution happens, fall away.

They might get twisted up in the cares of this life and fall away. So wait and see. You have to wait and see if the seed is planted in good soil and time will indicate that. He talks about a lamp being put under a basket.

Jesus didn't, you know, put a light in you for you to hide it, but to let it shine. He says in verse 26 through 29, the kingdom is as if a man scattered seed. And he talks about the process of growing. So again, there's this process that goes on with the kingdom of God.

In verse 30 through 32, he says, the kingdom is like a mustard seed because it's a small seed, but then it grows greater than the herbs of the garden. And so it starts out small, but it grows into something great, Jesus says.

In verse 33 and 34, we see that Jesus spoke many parables. And we've talked about this before. He spoke in parables to give them truth for those that wanted it, they would understand. They would seek out, they would find out what Jesus was saying. But those who were not really interested in seeking God, they kind of missed it and went over their heads.

And Jesus did that on purpose. It was a way to show mercy because with greater knowledge comes greater accountability. And so if they were not seeking God, he didn't deliver the full message for them to reject it and be judged accordingly. He gave them a parable so that if they're seeking God, they will find God. But then I like in verse 34, verse

It says, without a parable, he did not speak to them. And when they were alone, he explained all things to his disciples. And so that's the key. Get alone with Jesus and he'll begin to explain some things to you. Here, God's going to speak to you some things. But if you want a clear explanation for you, what God wants to say to you, then you need to get alone with Jesus like the disciples did. In verse 35 through 41, we see the wind and the waves obey Jesus.

They're on the way across the Sea of Galilee. There's a great storm. The boat is filling with water. Jesus is asleep. His head's on the pillow. Again, he's been busy. There's been a lot going on. He's tired, so he's resting. They wake him up in verse 38. Don't you care that we're perishing? Now remember, these were experienced fishermen and they were freaked out. This was a serious storm. It wasn't like

You know, someone who'd never been on the water before and they're like, oh no, the boat's rocking. What am I going to do? No, I mean, this was, their lives were in danger. And so they wake Jesus up. Don't you care that we're perishing? And Jesus wakes up and he says, be still. And the wind and the waves obey. And they say, who can this be? I was listening to Bob Coy this last week and I liked what he said about this. He said,

Jesus was asleep in the boat, but maybe not. Maybe he was just kind of pretending to be asleep. And over here, he had his hand on the wave machine dial. He's just kind of turned up and watched the disciples react like, you know, it's a little rocky, not too bad. He kind of turns it up some more like, what?

Are you scared? I'm not scared. Okay, I'm not scared either then. Okay. And Jesus turns it up some more, you know, just kind of testing their faith. Of course, that's not true. He was asleep. But it's a funny picture. And it does kind of show us, you know, God's in control. He was in control this whole time. There was no time in which he was not in control in the midst of this storm. Chapter 5, verse 19 is the key verse. It says,

In chapter 5, we see Jesus work in impossible situations. First, there's a man who's demon-possessed, but not just demon-possessed. He has a legion of demons in him. We see that in verses 1 through 6. As Jesus crosses over the Sea of Galilee, there's this guy who's hopeless.

Society has tried everything and they cannot help this man who is possessed with a legion of demons. But then in verse 7 through 14, Jesus casts the demons out and allows them to go into a herd of swine and they run off into the water and perish.

Well, the people are freaked out by this in verse 15 through 20. And so they ask Jesus to leave. And so Jesus is heading out. And this guy who is demon possessed says, can I go with you? I really want to go with you. And Jesus says, no, don't come with me. Go home and tell everybody how the Lord has had compassion on you. And that's what he did. And so Jesus reaches out. He helps this guy who was helpless. And now this man is an effective evangelist.

And that whole region hears about Jesus because of this work that Jesus does. Well then there's a helpless lady in verses 21 through 34. It was a woman who had a flow of blood. And she for 12 years had a flow of blood. And it was this issue of blood that she had. In verse 26 it tells us that she suffered many things from the physicians.

She had spent everything, all of her money on the physicians, but was no better. And it says, but rather grew worse. She was hopeless. She was helpless until she heard about Jesus. And she said, if I just touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed. And so she, in this crowd, made her way to Jesus and was healed.

Well, Jesus, when this happens, was on the way to a synagogue ruler's house where his daughter was sick. In verse 35 through 43, we see that she dies and then Jesus raises her from the dead. This crowd is on the way with Jesus and the messengers come to the ruler of the synagogue and they say, don't bother him anymore. It's hopeless. She's dead. There's nothing more that can be done. And Jesus says, don't worry. Just believe.

And he walks into the room, he tells her, little girl arise and she is raised from the dead. So whether it be someone who's possessed with a legion of demons or someone who has an issue of blood for 12 years or a little girl who has died, Jesus works miraculously in these hopeless situations. Well now, finally in Mark chapter 6 verse 56.

It says,

In verses 1 through 6, we see the contrast to all these miraculous works. There was great unbelief in his own country or in his hometown. And so Jesus only works a few mighty works there because they're like, hey, we grew up with this guy. His brothers and sisters are with us right here. Where did he get this wisdom? And they were offended by him, it says. Now Jesus doesn't try to stay there and, you know, convince them.

He moves on then to others who will hear the message and believe. In verses 7 through 13, he sends out the disciples to preach. And so here they go from disciples to apostles. He sends them out by two. He gives them instruction for their journey. And they go out with the power of God to heal, to work miracles, and to proclaim the gospel. And to proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand.

In verse 14 through 29, we see that King Herod beheads John the Baptist. Now, Herod hears about Jesus and he thinks that it's John the Baptist resurrected. And so it tells the story about why he was thinking that way. Basically, because he had a guilty conscience. He imprisoned John the Baptist because John spoke out against his marriage with his brother's wife. And so he didn't like that. His wife

You know. His brother's wife. Who is now his wife. Didn't like that. And so they imprisoned John. And then ultimately. John the Baptist is beheaded. And so it tells that story there. In verses 14 through 29. Then in verses 30 through 44. We see the account of Jesus feeding 5,000 men. Plus.

women and children. The disciples return from their mission trip. They're telling Jesus all about it. Jesus says, okay, we need to get away. Let's come aside. Let's rest for a little bit. There in verse 31, he says, for there were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat. So again, there's all this busyness. He says, okay guys, we need to take some time off, recuperate, kind of reflect on what you did and what God did when you went out.

And so he goes across the sea with the disciples. Well, you know the story. The crowd goes and joins him there. And they're with him for a couple days. They're hungry. And so Jesus feeds them, 5,000 men plus women and children, with five loaves of bread and two fish. Not only did he feed them, but he picked up 12 basketfuls afterwards. And so there was a great surplus once made.

they were finished eating as well. So a great miracle of provision that Jesus did.

Then in verses 45 through 52, we see Jesus walking on water. He sends away the crowd and he gets alone to pray. Jesus did this a lot. He spent some time in prayer. He got alone to be with God and to hear from him. And then the disciples are on their way back and he joins with them by walking across the Sea of Galilee to their boat. And they're freaked out when they see him walking on water. I think verse 52 is interesting because

It says that they're freaked out that he was able to walk on water because they had not understood about the loaves. He had just fed 5,000 people with, well, more than 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. And it says that they didn't really understand that because their hearts were hardened. So they were disciples. They were with Jesus, but still they didn't quite get it. Their hearts were not completely receptive. Their hearts were a little bit hardened and they still did not understand who Jesus was.

Well then in verses 53 through 56 it describes more healing and more miracles taking place. Many are made well by touching Jesus. And so wherever he went there were the crowds that followed. What we see happening here is a lot of fanfare but not much real faith. There was a lot of fanfare. I mean it was great miracles that were happening and people were excited. We learned from other gospel accounts when he fed the 5,000 they wanted to make him king right there.

But their hearts were not really changed. They were just excited about the miraculous works that were going on, which is understandable.

But they weren't ready to be disciples of Jesus quite yet. And so that's what's happening. There's all these crowds. There's all these miracles happening. It's real exciting. But not yet a lot of faith. Even the disciples, they had a hardened heart. And so the encouragement that I would end with for us is we can be here. And maybe, you know, there's some fanfare sometimes and things get exciting.

But we need to really trust God. We need to really love Him, to really walk with Him, to really believe Him. And we need to, like Jesus, get alone with Him. That He can talk with us. That He can explain to us what's going on. That He can give us the direction and the instruction that we need. Heavenly Father, I pray that You would help us to do that. To not just be...

Caught up in religion, Lord, because it's cultural, because we know it's good or anything like that. But Lord, help us to really be excited about you, about knowing you, about hearing from you. Help us to love you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. Lord, that you would be our life's pursuit. Help us, God, to spend time, to make time, to get alone with you even as Jesus did, even in the midst of great busyness.

Lord, he made sure to make time to sit with you, and I pray that you would help us to do that as well. Lord, that we might know you and hear your voice. Lord, that we might walk with you and glorify your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.