to Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, we start at 42. 9, 42. And we end the chapter at 50. So 9.42 through 50. There are a couple of verses you might notice missing or seem to be missing, but they are also repeats of the same phrase. Verse 44, verse 46, and 48. So I'll be reading a slightly different version than the one that you'll be having if you're using the one which is before you in the pews. We'll talk about that a little bit, very briefly, but ultimately all the same words are there, just in mind they're repeated three times. Listen now, this is the Lord Jesus speaking, and the triune God speaks through his word. God says, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 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 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 hell fire, 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 you season it. Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another. These are the words of the Lord Jesus, and they are the word of God. At this time, let us pray. Father in heaven, we have read these words. Words which come from you, for we understand that the Lord Jesus speaks nothing that he does not receive from his Father. We thank you that these are then your words, and these are the Lord Jesus' words. And we thank you that he speaks by the power of the Spirit, and therefore these are the Holy Spirit's words. We pray that you, the triune God, would bring conviction to us. We pray that you would give correction to us, and that you would bring a mighty amount of comfort, that we would be built up, and that we would be encouraged by the truths that we find. And as we look to the future, may we be able to delight in all that you have promised to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, As we come to a passage like this, I must say, we do not come to the feel-good passage of the year, we can say. I remember talking to a friend, and I asked about a movie that I had never seen, I've still not ever seen. He said, it was not the feel-good movie of the year. And someone could say, well, this is not the feel-good Bible passage of the year. But I'm preaching through Mark, and this is what is next. So I am bound. This is a very important thing for preachers. You ought to keep Jonathan accountable. Regularly he ought to be preaching, starting at the beginning of a passage or of a chapter and of a book and going on to the end. Why? Because he can't preach his hobby horses. I can't preach my hobby horses. I need to preach the difficult things. Well, the Apostle Paul tells the Ephesians in Acts chapter 20, he says, I did not shrink back to proclaim to you in public and from house to house, the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of God. So I must preach to you the whole counsel of God. And when I come to the places which are a bit uncomfortable, I must preach them all the more. And that is the case with Jonathan as well, with every preacher. We can't just spend our time in the places which are encouraging and comforting, although there's a lot of comfort and encouragement here as well. Let me read to you the ending of the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah, I trust you are somewhat familiar with, that one of the most quoted books of the Old Testament as it's quoted in the New Testament. Of course, number one is the book of Psalms, but the book of Genesis, Deuteronomy, Even Leviticus gets a surprisingly higher amount than we'd think, and Isaiah gets a pretty high amount. Isaiah, this is how it ends. It ends with a discussion of God's victory over those who oppose him, and then it says this, this is the last verse. It says, and they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me, for their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched. They shall be and abhorrence to all flesh. Here's what's going on. Isaiah chapter 66, after he has proclaimed the oneness of God, as he's given many hints about the Trinity, as he has given to us Isaiah 53, which is all about the suffering, the passion, the crucifixion of our Savior and his death. It ends on this, some would say, extremely negative note, but there it says that their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, in a sense, forever. There's a sense in which the people of God will be able to go and see those who are dead, yet they are still alive. That's a chilling thought. They are dead, yet they are still alive. They are suffering eternal condemnation. Well, sometimes the Lord Jesus says something and you think, I want to know more about what he means by that. Sometimes we may be afraid to ask. The Lord Jesus, in verse 42, Mark 9, 42, he almost leaves us hanging with what he says. He says something that's very profound, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. Here's what's going on, the Lord Jesus, a couple of passages back. When in the midst of his disciples talking amongst one another and bragging about who was greater and who was going to be greater in the kingdom, Jesus points to a child and says, this is greatness. This is how you be great. And Jesus in verse 42 tells us about his protecting power and the consequences of one who would go against one of his little lambs. Now, I think this has a lot of application to young people, to children. Let us just be frank. The fact is, in this day and age, the wicked one and those who have followed him, those whose words are serpentine, have made no secrets about the fact that they want our children, and they want to do awful things to their minds, and they want to introduce to them many things that Adults should be shamed of face to hear of, and they want to speak to children about these things. This is deeply wicked and deeply offensive. There was a choir in San Francisco about a year or two, three ago, something like that. And one of the choruses of that choir said, we're coming for your children. We're coming for them. Well, there was an outcry. Of course, what did they say? Oh, we were just joking and we're just exaggerating. Well, no, you were not. Because jokes are supposed to be funny. And that was not funny. And of course, we know that many people, when they say what they really mean, and then they're shamed for it, what do they say? Oh, I was just joking. No, own up to it. You meant it. You're coming for our children. But it's the case as well. We can say children of all ages. Children of all ages. By which I mean, you and me, which I hope that we are children, according to the kingdom. I hope we're not immature, that's not what we're saying, but that we are as those who trust in a gracious and merciful Heavenly Father, that we would not seek to make ourselves high, but that we would make ourselves low, that we would make ourselves servants of all. That is greatness. Childlike faith and simplicity. The Lord Jesus is gonna bring great consequences against those who will scandalize one of his little lambs. And he says it would be better if you were to take a millstone, I think like a big cement block of sorts, tie a rope to it, tie it around the neck of someone who harms one of his little ones, right into the sea. It's gonna be worse than that? Oh, it's gonna be much worse than that. We're almost afraid to ask, what could be worse than that? What could be worse than that? Well, Jesus does tell us whether we are ready for it or not. Verses 43 through 47, tell us of the seriousness of sin, the seriousness of sin. The Lord Jesus tells us this. He says that if your, what? Eye, if your hand, if your foot causes you to sin, Cut it off, cut it off, pluck it out. Now Jesus is speaking in a very hyperbolic manner. He is speaking in a way to get our attention. He does not mean this literally, because the fact is that if you and I were to take this literally, each and every one of us would just cut off our hands and our feet. And we would cut off our eyes. And then we would need to cut out our hearts, but we would have no hands to do it, would we? We would need to cut out our mind, our brains at least, but again, we would have no hands to do it. The fact is Jesus is telling us that sin is so very offensive that we must cast off anything that causes us to fall into it. Let me just encourage you in this way as you come to a passage like this. Some of you are very casual when it comes to sin. Some of you think very, very lightly. We ought not to think of sin very lightly. There is a tendency for some Christians to think, well, I believe in Jesus, and my sins are forgiven, so I can just be really casual about it. No, no, no. The Lord Jesus is telling us that if we would have anything that would cause us to fall into sin, we must throw it from us, cast it from us. It is a very serious thing. Jesus is speaking of the seriousness of sin, and we are far too casual. Some people will think, oh, God predestined everything, so I can just do whatever I want. No, you realize you're taking something that God teaches and you're abusing it for your own ends. And the same is the case with His grace. Some people think, oh, God is gracious and I've asked for forgiveness, so I'll just kind of have a leisurely relationship with sin. You ought to have a relationship with sin such that you see it as old, stinking, Rotten fish. You ought to see it as trash and as filth. That's what you ought to see it as. As a Christian believer, the Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew 18, he says similar things. If your eye offends you, if your hand or foot offends you, what is in Matthew's gospel, separated by many chapters, In Mark is given to us right here, hand, foot, eye. The consequences are very great. We live in a day and age of people who deny the existence of God's eternal punishment, eternal conscious punishment. And of course, many of us as Christians would say, if there's one doctrine I could just erase from the Bible, that would be it. But the fact is, we cannot do so because it is a biblical doctrine. The Lord Jesus is speaking hyperbolically once again when he says, Let's weigh the differences, the pros and cons. Would it be better to enter into heaven without a hand, without a foot, without an eye, than to enter into hell with all of your limbs? Wow. And yet in the face of that, some people say, God just destroys everything. I wish he did, but no, he does not. There is an eternity to the souls of mankind, to each and every one of us, and there is great punishment for those who oppress God's people. It will be all the more strict, all the more severe. And then we have this, verse 48, words that I trust are ringing in your ear, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. This is borrowed from Isaiah chapter 66, the very last chapter. That passage where Isaiah is describing heaven and God's victory in Old Testament terms, and he says, as it were, it's like you can go and see all of God's defeated enemies And really, we could say especially we see those who opposed God's children, and whether they sought to bring physical harm to them, or whether they sought to undermine their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the consequences will be great. This is really very heavy. Think of our brothers and sisters in many Muslim lands and communistic lands where they have to hide, where sharing the gospel can be a great offense. Becoming a Christian and being baptized is a great offense and sometimes a capital offense can lead to death, oftentimes leads to torture, deprivation of goods. But also, think of the many teachers, college professors, deceptive historians, people who write books and TV shows. What do they seek to do? They seek to undermine your faith in the Bible. or your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was watching, there was just somewhat of a debate just a week ago. There was this young man who was quite arrogant, and he's written books, and he pretends to be a scholar. And so a friend of his brought a scholar on, and they had this discussion. And someone can sound so very convincing, That the Bible is just a copy and paste job of a bunch of ancient texts. What happens is everybody pretends to be a scholar until someone who actually knows what he's talking about enters into the chat. That's exactly what happens. in this debate just a month ago, it blew up the internet. It's really fascinating. This man, this man who lost, who was pretending to be a know-it-all and pretending to be a scholar, he actually started trying to sue people and cease and desist orders because he didn't want his public shame to be brought about. This is what he did. This man is a deceiver and we could say it would be better for him that he were to have a millstone wrapped around his, rope wrapped around his neck and a millstone. with the rope and then tossed into the sea. This is very severe. This is what it's like, though, in this world. People come to us and they love to seek to undermine, undermine our faith. There are many college professors. They love when the freshmen come in because many of them have not been exposed to the lies and the things that they've been told, that they will be told, and they Seek to undermine the faith of freshmen, young people, because they've not heard these things before, and so they contradict the truth, contradict the faith. Woe unto those who would do such a thing. I want to introduce a word to you very briefly. The word is ordeal. Ordeal. Now I know you're probably familiar with that word, it's a common word. It's not like, you know how theologians are, they like to use big words, multi-syllabic. with a little Latin thrown in, right? We're not going to ordeal a fiery ordeal or a time of testing, a testing ordeal. What I want you to see is that oftentimes the Bible gives to you incidences of ordeal judgments where there is a supernatural testing A supernatural form of testing happens constantly in your Bible. Remember when Elijah has a showdown with some prophets on Mount Carmel? What happens? We're gonna find out whose God's going to answer. And so the priests of Baal, what they do is they walk around and they chant and they try to get their God's attention. He never says anything. Elijah says, okay, this is what I want you to do. I want you to take this sacrifice on the altar. I want you to cover it with water. And then what happens is he prays to the Lord and What happens is the fire comes down and consumes it, showing the ordeal judgment that Elijah was vindicated and the prophets of Baal were not. Astonishing when you think about it. Think about Noah's Ark. We think of Noah's Ark and we make it out to be this cute little thing and we have this ship with elephants and giraffes sticking their heads out the windows and these sorts of things. Think about this. This man is building this for years, looking like a fool. And people saying, you are an idiot. And he's saying, it's gonna rain. We're not even sure that really knew what rain was. It was gonna rain. You're building a ship right here. There's not even any water. There's gonna be water. What was the flood? It was an ordeal judgment. And I want you to see this, that water, which was condemnation. For the unbelievers and to the skeptics was redemption for Noah and his family. This was an ordeal judgment. And the same is the case with the Egyptians and the Israelites. When they pass through the Red Sea, what happens? The Israelites pass through the water And they are unharmed. And it is, as it were, walls on either side. The Egyptians seek to pass through that same water. What happens? The water comes crashing down upon them. What do we see? The same water is vindication for one and condemnation for another. many instances of this. I'll hold back, giving you many more examples of it. What I want you to see is this. In this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ is setting before you and setting before me an ordeal judgment. The ordeal judgment is brought about by what? Fire and salt. Fire and salt. And that same fire, which is punishment for one, is purification for the other. Punishment for one and purification for the other. And salt, which is preservation for one, is a picture of love for the other. the ordeal, the same elements, slightly different effects come about from them. So what do we see? We see the Lord Jesus warning. Some people would say once, I would say thrice, their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The Lord Jesus is saying right here, one that sin is very serious, sin is very serious for those who would seek to do harm to God's little lambs, to Jesus' little lambs, but it must be very serious to the Christian as well. We must not have a casual relationship with sin. but also we should see that sin has its consequences. And so those who are oppressing and persecuting the people of God, they must be made to know, they must be made to understand that a great condemnation is coming. The consequences of their seeking to undermine your and my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the consequences will be very, very stark. It will be worse than the millstone. Then we also see that we must, as the people of God, seek to live in the light of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that he has given to us. I would say that verse 42 through 47 are relatively clear enough. Sin is serious for the unbeliever and the persecutor, and it is serious for the believer But what are we to make of this? 49, for everyone will be seasoned with fire. What? When he says everyone, does he mean everyone? In fact, I think he does. What if I were to tell you, I could go back to Noah's Ark while Noah's preaching and say, everyone in the world, is gonna be baptized with water. That'd be a true statement. Because you see, Noah and his family were baptized, but so was the rest of the world. And we could go to the Red Sea, get in a time machine and go to the Red Sea, we could say, everyone will be baptized with water. And we could say, that would be true, because the Israelites are baptized in the waters. And so are the Egyptians. And so, the Lord Jesus, you know, and God Himself has said, I'm going to put this rainbow up in the sky after it rains. And why does He do that? Well, because God is making a covenant. And whenever God makes a covenant, He causes there to be a sign and a seal. And so we may be inclined to look at a rainbow and say, that reminds me that God has made a covenant, and that rainbow is the sign and the seal that I am never gonna see the world flooded with water. But remember, the rainbow is not the sign and seal to remind you, it is to remind God. That is why he placed it there, the Bible tells us. Now he is not going to flood or baptize the world with water ever again, but it's clear enough through God's Word, from the preaching of John the Baptist, from the letter of 2 Peter, that God is going to baptize the world again, but he's going to baptize it with fire. Everyone will be seasoned or salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Multiple places, the Bible tells us that this is the case. That there is going to be a time in which God sends fire, and he melts the heavenly realm, and he fills the earth with fire. This will be the last day when God destroys everything and makes all things new. He takes that which exists and He purifies it. This is what the Bible tells us God is going to do. 2 Peter chapter 3 tells us all about it. That, though, which will be punishment for some will be ultimate purification for others. What did we sing? What did we sing in that hymn? It's the same thing that Isaiah chapter 42 tells us. 408, very similar. When fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee. I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine. Here's what's going on here. As Isaiah tells us, there is a fire that's coming and it will not harm us. So it is the case that John the Baptist foretells a time in which the Lord Jesus will baptize his church with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In Acts chapter 2, what happens? Tongues of fire fall upon the church. And what do the churchmen begin to do? They begin to preach In languages they do not know and do not even understand what's going on. God has sent a fire and it has caused the going out of the gospel. It's really pictured for us in the book of Isaiah and given to us in how firm a foundation You, as believers, you understand you need not fear the day of God's baptism with fire if you're trusting in Christ alone for salvation. You need not fear, just as the Israelites really needed not to fear the waters of baptism, the waters of the Red Sea. They had no reason to fear. And so do we have no reason to fear as well. Isaiah tells us the flames will not hurt us just as the flames of Pentecost did not hurt them. But in a sense, we can say that we are preparing for that day, because the Bible tells us that we go through many fiery trials. 1 Peter chapter 1 tells us that God is using, metaphorically so, fiery trials to purify us. Now we may think, why did this happen to me? Why did I have to go through that? Why do these things constantly happen to us? And God has given us the answer. He is using these things to refine you and to refine me. Why? Because we have too casual of relationship with our sin. And He is working out the impurities and causing us to be in His eyes as of gold and as of silver purified. This is what God's Word tells us, and therefore it is true. But it's interesting as well, think about this, 49, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. What are we to make of this? Well, let me just tell you, Leviticus, that book, sometimes we avoid because it's kind of dry. I have a friend, PhD in Hebrew, dissertation on the book of Leviticus. You get him talking about Leviticus, he can go for hours and hours and hours, but we're not all built the same. Well in Leviticus chapter 2 verse 13 it says, and every oblation or sacrifice of the meat offering thou shalt season with salt. Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt. What's going on here? What's going on here is this. Once again, the Lord Jesus is telling us that we are called to be sacrifices, not sacrificial lambs to the slaughter, but willing sacrifices, giving of ourselves. And just as they were to be salted, The meat was to be salted in the old covenant before it was offered up to God and offered up before the priest. So are you and I, to be salted. and to made to be sacrifices to our God. Romans chapter 12 verse 1 tells us, after all the theology and all the things that Paul proclaims, he says this, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Think about that. This is what God is calling us to do, to be sacrifices, to love God and to love our neighbors, to love our God and our Christian neighbors, and to love our non-Christian neighbors, to make ourselves a willing, living sacrifice so that we no longer live for ourselves that we live for others, to help and build up and serve others. And if we would be such an acceptable sacrifice, we would do so as those who are seasoned with salt or Those who would be salted, Colossians 4, 6, near the end of the book of Colossians, Colossians 4, 6, Peter, excuse me, Paul says this, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know what you ought to answer every man. He uses this imagery right there. Let your speech have grace in it, seasoned with salt. You understand there is a sensitivity to the use of salt. You ever had chicken stock or beef stock that's unsalted? That's not too good. You ever had food that's over salted? That's not too good. There's a middle way, just enough salt. If I can say this, there's a Goldilocks amount of salt, just enough. And our God who is refining us with fire, It's causing us to see that we have to have our speech seasoned with salt. Our speech is a sacrifice. We're giving of ourselves, but we need to know how to speak. We need to know when to speak. We always need to speak with grace. Sometimes our speech is over-salted, and sometimes it is under-salted. We need to have that mediating amount. This is what the Bible is training us for and training us to do. He says, salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, what is salt without flavor? Might as well be dirt. How will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. So as we endure the ordeals of this world, what are we called to do? Know that we are undergoing fiery trials, not because God is playing tricks on us, but because he is refining us, and that we are called to live lives of peace and of grace with one another. insofar as we are able to live at peace with one another. And you see, this salt and this fire for us is such a good thing, and it is such a beautiful thing, but for those who continue to fight against God and fight against his church, it's a horrifying thing, because they cannot say, the fire does not harm us. Especially for those who have persecuted and killed the Christians, and those who have sought to undermine their faith, the consequences are very great. In a sense, salt is a purifier. Let me take that back and say that again. Salt is a preserver. You put some meat in salt before refrigeration, what do you have? You have a preserver. In a sense, as we see the wicked, they're salted with fire. What are we to think of this? They are salted. That is to say they will preserve forever, but with fire. Did the Lord Jesus tell us that the consequences of harming his little lambs was very great? Yes, it's far worse, far worse than a millstone taking someone down to the bottom of the sea. Indeed, it is salting with fire. For you and me, we will embrace this. The salt is good and the fire is good, though it's unpleasant for a time. But for those who continue to reject the gospel and hate the Lord Jesus and hate His people and seek to harm them either by killing them or seeking to kill their faith, the consequences are great. This is very important for us to see. And it's also important for us to see that, in a sense, the Lord Jesus Christ has made himself a willing sacrifice. The Lord Jesus has suffered immensely for you and for me to purchase redemption so that you and I who do not, who are not born with righteousness and true holiness are made to be born again with righteousness and holiness. And we who have had the first Adam as our father and in a sense who have been born to have Satan as our father of the Heavenly Father with us. Why? Because Jesus died and because he rose again. Why? Because he underwent the fiery ordeal of the cross, which he calls a baptism. Think about that for a moment. The cross was an ordeal judgment upon the Lord Jesus. that he would die and rise again to purchase redemption for you and for me, and so that we would make ourselves living sacrifices who adore our God and seek to better our neighbors. May we warn the wicked of the consequences, and may we do right to one another and to our neighbors, speaking about God's grace and speaking with grace to each and every one. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the sobriety, for the seriousness of your word. And we thank you that it is good news for those who are persecuted, for those who have been hanged and thrown to lions and dipped in tar and lit on fire. and those who have been dragged behind cars, and those who are beaten so cruelly. that there is an end to these things and that the consequences are very great for Christ's persecutors and his people's persecutors. And we thank you for the good news of the day of judgment. And we thank you for the good news of the fiery baptism which will come and which will make all things new. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Help us to look to Jesus and cause your Holy Spirit to work repentance and faith, conversion in us. In Jesus' name we pray.