We are going through Mark, and last, Brian closed off with a discussion about the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. And verses 14-20 begin like this. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Passing along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were in their boat, mending the nets. and immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. Father, we come before you and we recognize once again that we are a needy people. We pray that you would be with us and be with the preaching of your word. Be with your servant for he is weak and I pray that you would bless your word as it goes forward that spirit you would inhabit our time even now that you would awaken our hearts that you would awaken our ears even to hear what you would say to us through your word. We pray that we would be changed more and more to be like Christ our Savior who we prayed in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. you Well, one question that often people like to contemplate or talk about is the question of what is the gospel? What is the good news? And in fact, we've been sort of pondering this question ourselves as we've looked at Mark's gospel these last few weeks. But additionally, people often don't stop at just asking what is the gospel, but what role does the gospel have in ministry and in our lives? This question is discussed even in terms of the church. What should the church do with the gospel message? What should be its focus? What should the church preach about and talk about? But thankfully, we don't have to wonder and question and look far into this matter, though some want to suggest that the gospel is just a nice Sunday school story. Maybe it's a story about morals or good things. We can actually look to the life of Jesus and specifically how he began his ministry for the answer to the question, what is the gospel? And what role does it play in our lives? And that's what I want for us to consider in our passage before us today is looking at the beginning of Jesus's ministry. We're going to consider that the ministry of the gospel begins with a proclamation of a divine message and a call that requires a response. The ministry of the gospel begins with the proclamation of a divine message and a call that requires a response. And to do that, we'll look at that under two headings. First, we'll consider that Jesus began his ministry with the message of the gospel. And secondly, Jesus began his ministry with the call of the gospel. So with that, we're going to take a look at Mark. chapter 1 verses 14 through 20, but before we do that just a couple of comments where we're at in Mark's gospel so far. So we've been talking about the theme of prophecy and fulfillment. We've seen that John the Baptist was prophesied, the Elijah messenger, who came according to the scriptures in time and space and prepared the way of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And last week we were introduced to Jesus of Nazareth who came to be baptized, empowered by the Spirit, and tested by Satan in the wilderness as he was prepared to begin his public ministry. The declared Son of God proved himself to be the Son of God. And so now we've come to the point where it's finally beginning. Jesus, the Messiah, is beginning his ministry. All the time of preparation, all the time of prophecy about his coming has been fulfilled. And here he comes. Look at verse 14. We'll start here. Mark says, "...now after John was arrested." So what Mark is doing here is he's connecting the ministries of John the forerunner, the messenger, and Jesus yet again. We've seen this thread throughout even just the beginning of the first chapter, that he's connecting these events. They're not isolated, but these are very much related to one another. And so we see John being arrested and put in prison. And what Mark is showing us here is that the baton is being passed, if you will. Maybe some of you have done a relay race before and you take the baton and you run and you pass it to the next person. And both of those runners are running the same race. They're not just disconnected events where somebody happens to get a baton handed to them. And that's what Mark is showing us here about John and Jesus, that their ministries are inextricably linked, that they are connected. John has now fulfilled his ministry. He's come to do exactly what the scriptures foretold. He's prepared the way, and now he's giving things over to Christ. And just as we considered in one of the other gospel accounts, this very much goes with John's own words where he says, he, Jesus, must increase, and I must decrease. So John is decreasing, and now we have Jesus beginning his ministry. Looking further at the verse, we see that Mark tells us that Jesus came to Galilee. So we know that he came from Nazareth, and he's now in the region of Galilee still, his home region, his home base, so to speak. But why did Jesus come to Galilee? Look at verse 14 again. The verse tells us that he came, it doesn't say it this way but it could be translated this way, he came in order to proclaim the gospel of God. So he came for the purpose, this is the way in which he came, he came to Galilee to preach or to proclaim. And this is actually the same word that's used about John. earlier in verse four, where John came preaching, there was a message, there was a proclamation of something. It wasn't just his own ideas or his own thoughts. And in the same way, Jesus is coming preaching. But what is the content of Jesus's message? Well, we can look further at the verse and see that Mark tells us he's proclaiming the gospel of God. The gospel of God. Now this isn't a phrase that's often used in the scriptures. We're familiar, if you refer back to verse 1, about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the Son of God, but this is more of a rare phrase that Mark is using here. The gospel of God. We could actually understand this as the gospel being both about God and from God. So this is the good news that's about God and from God at the same time. We know from the gospels and from the testimony of the scriptures that Jesus came to reveal the father, or exegete, or make him known. He's the divine logos, you can picture it, he's the word going forth from God, if I can speak that way, that he's God's word sent to us. And what a powerful picture this is, that the son of God comes in flesh, incarnate, bearing to us the word of God. the God of heaven and earth, that he's giving us a picture and a glimpse into what is his will for our lives, what does he want to tell us? Well, Jesus is that letter. Jesus is the letter from the Father to his people. And so Jesus comes proclaiming and speaking this good news. We've considered the content of Jesus's message, but what was he actually saying? Well, Mark actually tells us, he gives us a glimpse into the substance of Jesus's divine message. Look at verse 15. So Jesus was saying the time is fulfilled. He begins his message there. The time is fulfilled. Again, we've talked about the theme of prophecy and fulfillment as it relates to John's ministry and now Jesus's ministry. He was foretold by the scriptures and now he's linking back what he's doing to the testimony of the sacred scriptures. The time has been fulfilled. But the tense here in the Greek, it can actually be understood as it's an already state of fulfillment. It's not something that's going to happen in the future. It's sort of an already and not yet that it's already in fulfillment, but he's coming bearing this announcement that the time has been fulfilled as foretold. And what this refers to is the messianic expectation. We've talked about this already, this idea that was on people's minds of this coming Messiah. I know he was foretold by the scriptures. It's been 400 years. It's been a long time waiting. But there's this expectation that's still looming. And especially with the appearance of John, he's not an ordinary person. And now with the appearance of Jesus, he's even more not an ordinary person. So we're considering this messianic expectation of the coming one who's going to deliver the people from their sins. And this is what Jesus is saying, the time is fulfilled. Look further at the verse. The next part of what Jesus says is the kingdom of God is at hand, or has come near, it could be translated. The kingdom of God is near. And what this phrase refers to is actually God's kingdom reign. So what Jesus is doing is he's announcing that God is reigning, and it wasn't as though God wasn't reigning already. But in a very real sense, in the embodied incarnate Son of God, His reign is coming further and further. And so this is the reality, is that God is here, He is the sovereign King, and He is going to be having His kingdom. In Isaiah 43.15, for example, we can see that God is referred to as a King. Isaiah says, I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. So He identifies Himself as His people's King. And so this is what Jesus is coming to proclaim, that the kingdom of God is coming near, but it's coming near in Christ. Jesus is the personification of the kingdom of God coming. So Jesus taking upon himself flesh, he is both the personification of the message and the proclaimer, the one who is the herald, the bringer of the good news. You can sort of catch marks urgency here. There's a there's a bit of an urgency that he's getting across because the kingdom of God is coming near the time has been fulfilled and now look at the rest of the verse of what Jesus requests what he commands. Actually, he says repent and believe the gospel repent and believe These two words in the Greek are actually in the imperative tense. So this is actually a command. This isn't a suggestion. Well, God's kingdom has come, you should repent. You could repent. Jesus in no uncertain terms is saying, repent, believe in the gospel. He is commanding His hearers to respond. He demands a response from them. This isn't a suggestion. This isn't just somebody who's nice and trying to be kind to people as so often the picture of Christ is painted. And of course, Jesus is kind. But he also comes with a message that requires a response, a divine message from God himself. Repent and believe. Believe in the gospel. With the coming of God and his kingdom coming, the reason that Jesus is saying this message is to flee from the coming wrath of God against sin. because with the arrival of God's kingdom, God will be judged against sin, against your sin, against my sin, and in this case, against the people of Israel and all those who are hearing this message. And so, because of God's coming judgment, He's warning people in a sense with this command. He's saying, repent and believe that you might flee the coming judgment against sin. And so, this is a kind thing. This is a gracious thing that Jesus is doing. But I don't want it to be lost on us that Jesus is not talking to pagans here. He's talking to the covenant community, the people of God. He's saying, repent and believe. And we might ask ourselves why these people have known the scriptures from day one, since they were little, they've been taught it, or we hope they've been taught it. We can see Israel went up and down through apostasy and other things, but in a general sense, These people know the message. Why is he calling them to do this? He's reminding them of their covenant. vows, the things that they promised to do as God's people. We can even see this in Ezra Nehemiah, where the law is read and the people say, we will follow her with Joshua and the people say, we will do it. But of course, Moses prophesying, no, you won't. You will disobey and you will be exiled. And God himself having revealed this, but he's calling his people back to turn, to repent, to pivot, to turn back to him, turn their hearts to him and to repent. So this is a message of a call to repentance and faithfulness. And really, this is a message of discipleship. It's a message to return to be following Jesus to be repenting of their sin, not just a one time thing, not just a one and done thing, but a pattern of their life is to be repentance and belief. And indeed, the gospel message, it's not one, friends, just to be heard, just to be read, and thought, this is great, I know this, I'm familiar with this. But it's one that demands a response. It demands a response. The authority of Christ, through His word, demands a response. And the response that it demands is a turning. It's a repenting from sin. It's a belief in God. It's a belief in Christ. And of course, this requires faith. This requires belief in this itself also is the work of God. This is the work of his spirit. It requires regeneration, new birth or the changing of our heart to believe in the gospel. We can ask ourselves also the question, what exactly is repentance? Jesus is repent. What is that? Is it just a sort of sobbing a tearful reflection on the things we regret? Is it just sort of a going through the motions or rituals something that we need to do some kind of penance that as the Church of Rome would tell us no. Our Shorter Catechism in Question 87 defines it this way, that repentance is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it to God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. That is a lot. I encourage you to look that up, question 87. It's a wonderful description of repentance. It's a turning from our sin to God in Christ. As a result of having a new heart, the Spirit regenerating our heart through the hearing of the word, what happens is that sinner comes to turn from his sin to God in Christ. We, of course, still struggle with sin. You can reference Romans 7, where Paul talks about the battle between the flesh and the spirit. So it's not this idea of perfection, but rather it's this idea of the overall trajectory. If you were to zoom out bird's eye view, maybe you've seen a chart or a graph, a line graph or something like that. And overall, the trajectory is up, though there may be ups and downs along the way. That is what the Christian life is. It's an overall trajectory of turning from sin to God. in belief. We must repent and believe the gospel. These things are inseparable. There's no repentance without belief. There's no repenting and turning from your sin without believing in the gospel. And there's no believing in the gospel truly from the heart without repenting from your sin. These things go hand in hand. So beloved I ask you this morning, are you turning from your sin? Are you repenting daily as the covenant community? Are you trusting in your own righteousness, your own works, the spiritual disciplines that you do, as wonderful as they are? Are you looking at those things? Are you trusting in those things? Or are you trusting in your sin that supposedly brings you comfort, but really is just a bait-and-switch, that it's a lie, that it's not going to bring you comfort, it's not going to bring you peace? Well friends, today, through Mark's gospel, we are called to the same obedience. Repent and believe. And we obey God not to earn His favor. If you've trusted savingly in Christ, even earlier in our service you saw the pronouncement of forgiveness. Know that your sins are forgiven in Christ. Past, present, and future. So then the question can be asked, but why is Jesus calling the people of Israel and us today to turn and to repent and believe? because it's out of love. It's out of love for so great a salvation that he's given. If you're given an extravagant gift, I mean, you're elated, right? If someone were to give you a brand new car or something today after service, you'd be elated. You'd say, this is wonderful. And so you'd want to then do something for them. And so what we're doing is we're expressing through our obedience that God is all wise and all sovereign and he knows what's best. and we're thanking him for so great a salvation because the path that he calls us to is the path of blessing and the path of salvation. For those who aren't trusting in Jesus this morning, this text commands you to repent and believe in the gospel. You don't have a choice, you have to reconcile with this. You will either listen and obey or you will not listen and you will be relegated to the flames of hell for all eternity. You don't know when your life's going to end. So act now, repent now, turn now to God in Christ. Jesus began his ministry with a divine message. This divine message was from God and it was about God the coming of his kingdom reign, but Jesus didn't stop there in his ministry because Jesus ministry also began with the call of the gospel. Look with me at verse 16. Verse 16 tells us that Jesus was passing by the Sea of Galilee, and as he passes by, he sees two brothers, Simon and Andrew, and these brothers were fishermen. They were casting their nets, as the verse tells us. So Jesus begins to now call people to action. He's proclaimed his message, and now he's going to gather his inner circle, his apostles, who are going to come with him on this message bearing, and follow him. And he begins to call two brothers, Simon and Andrew. And look at the verse again. Verse 16 tells us they were fishermen, and then look at verse 17. Jesus then has a message for them. He calls them to something. But notice, before we look at what exactly Jesus calls them to, that it was Jesus who sought the brothers, not the brothers who sought him. And such is true for any one of God's elect, that we don't seek him, because in our own state of sin, we won't. That's the thing. Paul tells us in Romans 3, quoting from Psalm 14 and other passages, that no one is good, not even one. No one seeks after God. Why? Because in our state of sin in which we are born, we don't want God. We want what pleases us. We want our own desires, those things that matter. Because our nature is in bondage. Our nature is locked up in bondage. You can picture chains around somebody. That's our nature. So it's not that, oh, I wouldn't choose God if only I was set free. No, it's I don't want to choose God. I hate God. I want what my flesh wants. That's the picture of man before they're regenerated. You can picture when talking about a bound nature, if you present a dog with a nice juicy steak, What's it going to do? It's going to salivate, and it's going to want to eat that steak, because it's according to its nature. In the same way, man born in sin is, according to their nature, not going to chase after or pursue God. They're going to pursue themselves. And so what this requires is the Spirit's work. David, in Psalm 51, says, In sin my mother conceived me. And because Adam, the representative of all mankind as our federal head, is the theological language there, Because of his sin, we sinned with him and fell with him in his first transgression, as our confession says. So we're born in sin and then we commit sins after that. Take a look at the Ten Commandments if you need reminded of, do I sin? Real quickly, you'll look at them and go, oh yeah, I do. And our confession says that we sin daily in thought, word, and deed, all across the board. So, we need our nature changed, we are in bondage, we need that key that's going to unlock our nature so that we want to desire God in Christ. And this is what happens when the Holy Spirit changes the heart of a person, is that he looses the bonds, and then that person sees the beauty and glory of Christ, and pursues Him, and comes to faith in Him. He is sovereign over calling his sheep to himself. And he is sovereign exactly as he called his disciples to service. So after seeking Simon and Andrew, let's take a look at what Jesus says. He says, follow me. This is his first call. Follow me. And additionally, he says, I will make you become fishers of men. So there's an urgency here as well, where he is saying, I have just proclaimed this divine message. Now join me, join me in the proclamation of this message, just like snatching a fish out of water as they would have when they fish, they're going to join the Messiah and snatching people away from the coming judgment by calling them to faith and repentance. In his call, he uses this fishing analogy to relate to them. This is what they do. But we can also look at the scriptures and find, interestingly enough, the similar metaphor of fishing. In Jeremiah 16, the prophet, speaking about the Lord restoring exiled Israel, listen to these words. He says, Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they will catch them. fissures, and they will catch them. So the children of Israel will be rescued from exile, and now the people of God, which includes both Jew and Gentile, will be rescued and caught from coming judgment, and will be rescued and brought into the kingdom of God. Notice, though, that Jesus's call here to his disciples, interestingly, isn't rooted in the Torah, the law. It's not rooted even in the name of God himself, but it's rooted in his messianic authority. After all, Jesus didn't perform any signs. We're not told that in the text. He didn't perform any miracles that normally would accompany his call to belief in him or to authenticate his ministry. But he simply says, call. And he calls them to follow. His call goes out to these two brothers, these fishermen, and what do they do? They follow him. They immediately get up out of their boats and just follow this guy without any other proof, if you will. I don't know about you, but let's, you know, I guess just picture it this way. Pretend you're at work or school or something. Imagine it's just a normal day and somebody comes up and says, hey, follow me. You'd be like, well, hold on a second. One, where are we going? Secondly, who are you? There would be a question on your mind, but these people don't ask that. Why? Because Jesus is not an ordinary person. And that's what Mark is trying to show us exactly from the beginning of his gospel. that like an ordinary person walking up to you would be strange and you would, okay, I don't want to follow you. Jesus is not an ordinary person. He is the incarnate son of God. He's the Messiah. He's the coming one, the mighty one, the incarnate kingdom of God coming to this earth announcing his reign. Well, following Jesus is a call to discipleship. It demands service in the kingdom. And in the same way, you and I are called to service in God's kingdom. If you were to enlist in the army, you wouldn't just enlist and then presume to just sit there. I think I'll just make myself at home. No, your commanding officer would be like, what are you doing? There's a job to do. There's a call that you're issued. And the same is true for us in the kingdom of God. There's a call, beloved. There's a call to service. There's no such thing as becoming a Christian and being inactive and not doing anything for the kingdom of God. And part of where you can begin is asking yourself, in what ways am I gifted? And if you don't know, what are you passionate about? What could I ask you and you would talk to me for an hour about? That just gets you going, that you're good at, that brings you joy. That's one place to start. What are you passionate about? What are the ways that God has gifted you? And make no mistake, He has gifted every single one of you. There's not one of you that's out of the picture. Every single one of you, He's established with gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. So start there. Part of that involves also in school or work or other spheres you find yourself in in life. How can I be a light? How can I be a light for the gospel and for Christ there? Verse 18 tells us how Simon and Andrew respond. And again, it's immediately. There's no hesitation. They immediately drop what they're doing, their livelihood, and they follow Jesus. Look at the verse again. They obeyed, abandoning, as it were, from a human perspective, their livelihood. I mean, this was their occupation. They were fishermen. But what they're going to do is trade that occupation for a different one. It's service in the kingdom of God. They're still going to be fishermen, but they're going to be fishing a different type of thing. They're going to be fishing human beings and not fish. Look at verse 19. We see kind of a repeated pattern of the calling of these two brothers with another set of brothers. And this time it's James and John. And though the text doesn't tell us exactly what Jesus said, we can infer that it's likely a similar call. Because they were also fishermen, the text tells us, if you look at verse 19. So these brothers were fishermen as well, and Jesus now goes about calling more people to his cause. It's not just a certain few. A certain few people can be called, but nobody else can. No, the call of the gospel actually goes out to all. We know, of course, in the background that only God's elect will be truly saved, but we don't know who they are. So the gospel call goes out to all. And this next set of brothers are called in a similar way, because if you look at verse 20, look at verse 20 with me, we see a similar response in Mark's favorite word, and immediately, and immediately he called them and what? They left their father Zebedee in the boat with hired servants and followed him. So we see a similar pattern again, but what's really sweet here is that they don't abandon their father Zebedee without any help. This is apparently a lucrative family business, this fishing business, but they make sure that he has the hired servants, and then they go follow. The call to discipleship and to follow Christ is a call of sacrifice, but they also are taking care of their father. Presumably he owned the business, for example. But again, they don't delay, they don't hesitate. And this is the same for us, that the call to discipleship is a demanding call. It's a call to leave everything behind that matters to you, everything of comfort, and to follow Christ, to follow Jesus in the mission of bringing the kingdom of God to bear on the lives of those who are in darkness. Are you willing to heed the call of Jesus this morning? to sacrifice, to leave your comforts, to leave those things that matter to you, those things that seem of eternal importance, but this life is a vapor. They're going to be gone like that. Will you risk it all? Will you sacrifice for the cause of Christ? Jesus says that for disciples, you must deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow him. And that is the cost of discipleship. Yes, it will cost you. But here's the thing, you will gain everything. Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish minister, said, ìThey lose nothing who gain Christ.î You will gain everything in the person and work of Christ. You want comfort? Do you want peace? You want security? Do you want purpose and meaning in your life? It is only found in Christ. It is not found in the junk that this world offers you, in the desires of your flesh, in the temptations of the enemy. It is only found in the second person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And he calls you today, friends, and I to join him on this same mission. This call goes out to you because it's a divine message. It's a divine message and a call that requires a response. So Christian, will you enlist in God's kingdom? Will you follow him into discipleship in his mission to save sinners from this dark world? Will you consider what ways that you can help him? What ways that you can bear that message in your workplace? Ways you can serve your church? Ways that you can be a light in this world? His kingdom is here, so how will you respond? And for those not trusting in the gospel of Jesus Christ, your sinful desires want to entangle you in this world of darkness, in this ocean of darkness. Just like a net or chains were locked around you, that's what they want to do. But, oh friends, do you want freedom today? The freedom that the gospel offers is to loose the bonds. Jesus calls you this morning. Indeed, he commands you. Repent and believe the gospel. Follow me. Follow me. Take up your cross. Because in so doing, you can flee from the wrath to come and it will come. Just as these prophecies were fulfilled, Jesus came, John came. All of these things were true. The coming of the Day of Judgment is at hand. It will come when we don't know the hour. So will you turn and repent and follow Christ? Let us all follow the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, and join Him in declaring that the Kingdom of God has come. Let us pray. Almighty God, we give you thanks. for the coming of Christ, the Son of God who began His ministry with the message of the gospel to repent and believe in Him that we might have eternal life, that we might flee the wrath to come. God is both the one who will extend wrath towards sin, but will also extend His grace to us as He shelters us from the wrath against sin in Christ. Please help all of us today, whether we are trusting in Christ or whether we have yet to trust in Him, please help us all to repent and believe the gospel. Because it's the power of God, the salvation for all who believe. And help that to spur us on to service in His kingdom. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.