We want to put feet to our faith today, and our first presentations, which also serves as devotions, is the Gospel of Mark. most challenging assignments I ever undertook was to summarize every book in the Bible. It was a six year project preaching through every book in the Bible, summarizing each book in one sermon, which ended up not just on sermon audio, but a summary of it in Joy and York Tate Scrip, Joy Magazine and York Tate Scrip, Translated Afrikaans, summarizing every book in the Bible. Now here, I'm going to try and summarize the gospel of Mark, we all believe in Sola Scriptura, scripture alone is the ultimate authority, but most Christians have not read through the whole Bible, and most pastors have not preached through the whole Bible. It's a huge task. And so in preparation for the Reformation 500, I started to preach through every book in the Bible, which was more demanding than I would have expected. To study it was like a marathon race actually, but Gospel of Mark was without a doubt one of the most important and helpful of all those chapters, which is in our New Testament survey, exploring the central message of every book in the Bible. Mark chapter 10 verse 45, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Who was John Mark? John Mark was born in Sarini in Africa, which today would be called Libya. He is of the tribe of Levi, and while his name, John or Yohanna, is a Hebrew name, meaning the Lord has shown grace, Mark comes to the Latin Marcus. So he was both Hebrew and he had Latin culture. John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas, the great encourager, as we read in Colossians 4.10. His mother Mary played an active role, very active role in the early days of the church in Jerusalem. So John Mark received an excellent education and he is fluent in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He had the privilege of growing up in a God-fearing home and he is surrounded by leaders of the early church. What a privilege he had. His mother Mary's upper room was the venue for the Passover supper used by the Lord Jesus for the last supper with the disciples. It's the same upper room that the Lord appeared to the disciples after the resurrection. And it was to John Mark's mother's home that Peter went after being freed supernaturally from prison, as we read in Acts 12.12. And it's been a great tourist venue, or should I say pilgrim's venue, over many centuries, people going to see the actual upper room. It's in the same upper room that the believers are gathered in prayer on the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit came down and the church was born, Acts chapter two. If walls could talk, can you imagine? I mean, all that happened in this upper room here. And this is the upper room that inspired us naming this venue here when we did our Livingston House extensions to call this the upper room. John Mark was present at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, which we read about in John two. John Mark was one of the 70 disciples sent out by the Lord to proclaim the gospel. Mark was the young man who on the night the Lord was betrayed, was following the Lord wearing a linen garment and who fled into the night. John Mark accompanied the Apostle Peter on his missionary journeys in Jerusalem and Judea. He's also privileged to be part of the Apostle Paul's historic first missionary journey that began Acts chapter 13, sent out for the church at Antioch. And although Mark failed to complete his mission, he later repented, restored, and made restitution, and he actually rebuilt Paul's trust in him, which must have been hard because Paul was not someone to easily accept someone who had given up the first time. So much so that Paul, in his pastoral letter to Timothy, describes Mark as helpful to me in my ministry. Again, I don't think Paul gave out compliments very easily. Mark became a co-worker with the Apostle Peter, and after Peter and Paul were martyred for the Lord, Mark went on to establish churches in Pentapolis and in Alexandria, Alexandria being one of the greatest cities in the world at that time in Egypt. It was under the apostolic authority of the Apostle Peter that the gospel according to Mark was written. Unlike the epistles, the gospels do not identify their authors. So Mark didn't write the gospel according to Mark or Mark as we read in our Bibles here. It was just the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the early church fathers are unanimous in affirming Mark as the author of this first gospel. Justin Martyr in A.D. 150 referred to the gospel of Mark as the memoirs of Peter. and that Mark had written this gospel under Peter's mentorship. Now, an Old Testament book needs to be written by a prophet, or in some cases, like Ezra, a scribe. A New Testament book has to be written by an apostle or by one under the apostle's authority. You have to believe the Old Testament because our Lord Jesus quoted from the Old Testament authoritatively. And you have to believe the New Testament because the Lord Jesus chose men who he trained and he commissioned to proclaim his gospel. And so on the authority of Christ, you must accept both Old and New Testament. Irenaeus in 185 described Mark as the disciple and translator of Peter. And he recorded Mark's gospel consisted of what Peter preached about Christ. Clement of Alexandria, another church father, affirmed that Mark wrote this, the second gospel of our New Testament. It's the second in order of how our books are printed, but it's the first gospel to have been written. Papias, the Bishop of Heriopolis, stated in 140 AD, and the presbyter, or Elder John, said this. Mark, having become the interpreter, Peter wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ, for he neither heard nor accompanied him personally. But afterwards, he accompanied the apostle Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities of his hearers. So Peter, of course, wouldn't have, every time he stood up to preach, given a chronological accounting of what Christ did when and then next. But he would have preached on whatever was appropriate to the audience at that time. Mark accompanied him, heard this, doubtless took it down, and then later organized it into this gospel. Mark made no mistake in thus writing things as he remembered them, for of one thing he took special care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements. And this is from the Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord by Papias, one of the early church fathers. Mark's gospel is the shortest of the four gospels, and it's full of rapid action. Mark's gospel is the easiest to read and can be read in a single sitting. Unlike Matthew and Luke, Mark omits the genealogies and the details about the birth of Christ. He says virtually nothing about Mary. He just begins with the baptism and the temptation of Christ. He's really an evangelistic journalist. The gospel of Mark is breathless, it's fast-paced, it's compelling. It effectively builds up dramatic tension to focus on the climactic last week of the Lord's ministry on earth, culminating in his betrayal, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Mark is presented like news headlines, proclaiming the greatest news of all times. In many ways, Mark is an ideal journalist. Here's the structure of Mark. The beginning, the introduction is extremely brief. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God. But the first eight chapters are all about the identity of Jesus, who he is. And then from chapter eight through to chapter 15, it's about the mission of Jesus. And then the conclusion of the resurrection of Christ, the Great Commission, go into all the world, preach the gospel, repent and believe, you've got plainly from the authoritative king, and our right response to who he is, is to repent and believe. And then the suffering servant, our right response is to follow Christ, to follow his example. So that's a quick summary. Other people have put summaries like this. Jesus, the servant, and the ransom. The servant who meets all needs, the ransom who frees all. plainly see who Christ is, the holy one of God, the bread of life, the Christ, son of God, son of David, son of man, and the one who is risen. Interestingly, the first nine chapters deals with two and a half years of Christ's ministry. And then chapter 10 is the transition to the last week in Christ's earthly ministry. So basically what you've got is from chapter 11, you've got six months. And many people think of Jesus' ministry mainly being in Jerusalem. That's not true. Most of Christ's work was in Galilee. Most of his ministry was up in Galilee, and only the last part of his ministry was in Judea and in Jerusalem where he was rejected and crucified. So intriguing that effectively a third of the Gospel of Mark is on the last week of Christ's earthly life and ministry. So when people speak about the Gospel, If you ask somebody, are you a Christian? They say, yes. And you say, what do you understand by the gospel? Especially people who say they reject the gospel, for example. What do you understand to be the gospel? Most people say, well, the teachings of Christ, trying to follow the teachings of Christ. Well, actually, that's not the emphasis of the early gospel preachers, as we'll see in the Book of Acts. And the Apostles' Creed, which was required for people to memorize for baptism, the Apostles' Creed says nothing about the teachings of Christ. It's all focused on the identity of Christ, who he was and what he did. And so you see how Mark could put about a third of his gospel's emphasis on the betrayal illegal trial, death, crucifixion, resurrection of Christ. That's where a third of the gospel's emphasis is. His last week of ministry on earth, what's called the passion of the Christ, in many cases. So again, when people tell you, when you ask them, what do you understand to be the gospel? And I'll speak about following the teachings of Christ, the Sermon on the Mount. I mean, these are all very, very important, but that is not the heart of the gospel. The heart of the gospel is the life, death, burial, resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is at the heart of the gospel. And you can see that in how much emphasis is given in Mark's gospel to just that last week in Jerusalem. There are three clear phrases in the ministry of Jesus. In the first phrase, Jesus is super popular. Thousands come to him to be healed. He heals people. Who would not like that? The second phase that you see in the Gospel of Mark is characterized by controversies, confrontation, conflict with the Jewish religious leaders who should have existed to welcome and prepare the way for the Messiah, but who seemed to be most threatened by him when he actually did come. The third phase of Christ's ministry is concentrating, preparing his 12 disciples for his coming betrayal and his death. Now, there's an interesting geographic structure of Mark that once you've seen, you'll never forget. The Gospel of Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus at the River Jordan, which is at the lowest point in the surface. It's actually below sea level where Christ was baptized. And there's a steady ascent through Galilee to Caesarea Philippi, climaxing at the highest point in Israel, which is Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon is so high, it's got snow-capped mountains, and that's where he is transfigured. Then it goes on to the foot of Mount Hermon in the town of Caesarea Philippi, which is named after Caesar and Philip. Philip is one of the sons of Herod the Great. Now there are quite a few Herods in the Bible, so don't get too confused. Herod the Great is the wicked, evil Herod who murdered the babies in Bethlehem to try and murder the Messiah in the manger. But then you get a whole bunch of other Herods, such as Herod Antipas, who was there for the trial of Christ. But this is Philip, who is one of the sons of Herod the Great. And so Philip built a statue to Caesar, named the town after Caesar and himself, hence the name Caesarea Philippi. And you could see that right at the foot of Mount Tamor, really. So this town is located at the source of the River Jordan, which emerges at the foot of Mount Hermon. The source of the water is actually the snow that's melted from Mount Hermon, which melts and filters through a crack inside the mountain. It flows out through a hole beneath the actual surface of the water. It must be super cold, refreshing, and doubtless extremely pure. At this polytheistic town, which also had a statue to the Greek god Pan, Now, it's a bit disturbing how many children's novels and so on speak about, you know, like Peter Pan. Pan isn't a false god, he's an idol, demonic figure, and by the way, into child abuse. So the idea of having this Peter Pan novel, which is so popular, it just shows how paganism seeps into the modern culture too, and Hollywood loves that sort of thing. The Lord Jesus Christ at this polytheistic town of Caesarea Philippi asks his disciples the critical questions. Who do you say that I am? First of all, he starts, who do men say that I am? I answered John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. But then he says, but who do you say that I am? That's key. That's what you've got to ask people in a good evangelism. Who do you say Christ is? Everyone will agree he's a good man. Some, like the Muslims, would say he's a prophet, but he's much more than that. We've got to push people because, you know, just take a Muslim, for example, you speak to him and he says, Jesus is a prophet. Yes, but even the Quran teaches Jesus is holy, sinless, perfect, supernaturally born. He healed the sick, he raised the dead. He's called the word of God in the Quran. Of what other prophet can any of this be said? He's coming again to judge. And again, even according to the Quran, Jesus must be much more than a prophet. And whatever people say about Jesus, he's far more than good or prophet. We must push people to this. Look at his life, look at his teachings. But then when Peter answered, the disciple is always ready to step forward and be spontaneous. He said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Interestingly, Jesus says, He warns him, he strictly warns him, do not tell anyone about this. Now later, we're all commanded to preach the gospel, but at this stage, you see the messianic secret. Jesus does not want people speaking about who he is during his earthly ministry, not during his earthly ministry. He commands him after he rose from dead. He began to teach him, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed. And after three days, he will rise again. And he spoke this word openly with his disciples. He's got to prepare them for the shock. And he's been so popular, people in the streets waving parfums and shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the highest. But a week later, many of the same people will be screaming, crucify him. released Barabbas, crucified Christ. We have no king but Caesar. He's got to prepare people for the shock that he's going to be rejected. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. No, Lord. I mean, can you imagine? No, Lord. And if we find ourselves arguing against God and saying, no, Lord, we must know we're in trouble. But Jesus rebuked Peter saying, get thee behind me, Satan. You're not mindful of things of God, but of things of men. Now, from a human perspective, Peter was being rational. I'm gonna be, Jesus is gonna be rejected. No, Lord, you're not to be rejected, crucified. We can't have you die. We've got so many hopes. You're the one who has the words of eternal life. You're the one who's healing the sick. No, Lord, we can't have you rejected and crucified, not at all. So it makes sense that he's trying to protect the Lord from suffering and from rejection, but he's not thinking as God thinks. He's getting in the way of God's plan of eternal salvation, which he couldn't possibly have understood at that stage. When he called the people to himself and his disciples also, he said to them, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, let him take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. Now, when the Lord said, take up your cross, he wasn't talking about an ornament, you know, jewelry, or I like my chaplains cross that I wear on my jacket. That's nice, but that's not what he's talking about. It's not by their jewelry will people know you. It's by this will all men know that you're my disciples. If you have love for one another, if you obey my commands, do the things I told you. But take up your cross was like saying in our modern era, take up your gallows or your noose or In America, it might be the gas chamber or the electric chair. Or in France, it might be the guillotine. The cross was a symbol of execution. At the time that Christ spoke this, the cross was a symbol of a curse. I mean, curse is everyone who's nailed on a tree. This is a disgraceful criminal's death, a death for traitors and criminals done by the Romans. It was the symbol of disgrace. The fact that the cross now is universally seen as a symbol of blessing and a symbol of hospitals, like the Red Cross Children's Hospital just across the common there. When you think how the cross thinks today, that's not the way people would have thought. When Jesus had taken up the cross, he's basically saying, be ready to die. In this case, die to yourself, die to the world, die to sin, die to Satan, to everything that's selfish. Take up your cross and follow me. Now remember, the person taking up the cross was on a one-way journey. He wasn't coming back. The person who took up his cross was going to be killed. So Jesus is calling the people to die, basically. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but he loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with holy angels. We've got to think differently from how the world thinks. The whole world isn't as important as the value of your own soul. After this, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain, Mount Hermon, by themselves, and he was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no laundry on earth could possibly whiten him. The Mount of Transfiguration, this is the high point in the Gospel of Mark. and geographically the highest point in Israel. Elijah appeared with him, with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And a cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son. Listen to him. From this watershed high point in the gospel, the story rapidly progresses downhill to the final confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem and Christ's betrayal, suffering, and death. From this pivotal point, the Lord begins to plainly speak to his disciples of his coming betrayal and death. For he taught his disciples and said to them, the son of man is being betrayed in the hands of men, and they will kill him. After he is killed, he will rise the third day. But they did not understand this saying, but were afraid to ask him. How often are we too afraid to try and understand what God is saying? We don't understand because the spiritual things are not understood by a natural man. All four Gospels focus on the messenger who prepared the way for the Lord. Now, bear in mind, when you speak about preparing the way for the Lord, in Greek the word is kurios, but in Hebrew, Lord is normally substituted for Yahweh, for Jehovah, for the name of God. So, prepare the way for the Lord, Isaiah prophesies, and then along comes John the Baptist, and he is fulfilling what Isaiah said. Prepare the way for the Lord, prepare the way for Yahweh. This is the Lord himself, God almighty. He is coming, the great I am. Mark's gospel begins, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. As it is written in the prophets, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare the way before you. And speaking about God, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And John came baptizing in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And then all land of Judea and those in Jerusalem went out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with leather belts around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey, and he preached saying, there comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to stoop down and lose. Indeed, I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Now Malachi 3 prophesies that a prophet like Elijah would come and prepare the way for the Lord, who would come suddenly to his temple. Here John the Baptist comes dressed like Elijah, preaching like Elijah, calling people to a baptism of repentance. The Jews required Gentile converts to be baptized in order to symbolize the washing away of the filth of their past as idol worshipers. as Gentiles, and I know how this works. I know some people who came from a Christian background who were baptized when they wanted to marry a Jewish person, and they had to go through baptism, and it symbolized the fact that you're a filthy Gentile, and you've got to be washed before you can enter into a relationship with a Jewish person marrying a Jew. And I remember my dad even walking somebody along the, somebody's ringing at the gate, walking someone down the aisle who I think was the secretary is getting married, and it's normal if you want to, as a Gentile, become a Jew, you're going to have to get baptized. That's because you're a filthy Gentile. You're a disgusting idol worshiper. So this is shocking. This is scandalous to them. Was John the Baptist suggesting the unclean Gentiles and idol worshipers? Yes, that's exactly what John was not suggesting but stating. you are wicked sinners, you need to be washed in the water baptism. And so John's baptism symbolized also death and resurrection. He baptized in Jordan because there's much water there. Now it's funny, in some films made by Catholics, you've got the people coming into the water and he picks up a little handful of water and sprinkles it. Well, why are they in the river if they're going to practice this little sprinkling? Some people call the children's baptism a damp dedication because You know, really, a baby can't believe, so there's believe and be baptized. Well, how can a baby do that? Well, there's symbolism that, well, the parents are doing it on the baby's behalf and he'll confirm it later. I understand that idea, but why is it just by a bit of sprinkling a bit of water on the head when the word baptized means to dip right under or to submerge? And the symbolism in Romans 6 is burial. Buried with Christ in baptism raised in years of life. So baptism symbolizes you dying to the old life. Being born again means you're dying to something to be born again into the kingdom. In Mark 1 verse 9, the public ministry of our Lord begins. And although Jesus did not need to be baptized, obviously Jesus did not need to be baptized. He is perfect. But he chose to identify with John the Baptist and to be an example for us by going through the wards of the Baptist. Because Jesus is an example to us, we've got to follow in his footsteps. He starts off by showing us how we should begin our identity of following him as his disciples. But immediately coming up from the water, he saw heavens parted, the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. Then the voice from heaven, you are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. So this is a symbol of the Trinity. At the baptism of Jesus, we see a picture of the Trinity. God the Father speaks from heaven, the Holy Spirit comes down like a dove, and the Lord Jesus comes up out of the water. Three distinct persons, one God. Immediately the spirit drove him into the wilderness and he was there 40 days tempted by Satan. Here we see baptism and temptation crowded together. Immediately after his anointing for his earthly ministry, Jesus driven by the spirit into the wilderness where he hears whispers from hell. The baptismal benediction from the father is only a preparation for spiritual warfare in the wilderness with the evil one. Temptation can be part of our preparation for service. Suffering, testing, trials are as much part of God's plans as success and triumphs. There's nothing wrong with being tempted. The sin comes when you give in to temptation. Martin Luther, the great reformer, put it so well. He said, you can't stop birds flying over your head, but you can't stop them building a nest in your hair. And I mean, that is so true. There we get to understand it. In fact, temptation is part of preparation for the military, too. We had times of selection where they were trying to whittle people out of the unit, and one of them was a long route march where we were dumped in covered trucks. We couldn't see where we were going. Far away from the unit, and we had to find our way back. and a bit of map and compass work, too, and while we're finding our way back, there was some place yet to find, and there'd be well-camouflaged there, a corporal waiting in his bivouac, and he might have a bribe going. He might say, you know, do you want some of this? Everyone's hung. All you've got to do is give up. Then, of course, you're out the unit, but this was just the kind of temptations they're doing. They'd have cooler bags, they'd have, you know, Coca-Cola and ice. They want to tempt you. Not because they want you to fail, but because they want you to resist the temptation to become better and stronger later. And there's so many times you can't be a good and effective soldier if you're easily tempted, distracted from your goal. And so they would sometimes seem to tempt you, but while God cannot tempt anyone, we're tempted by our own lusts within ourselves that leads us off, but God does test us. But remember, a teacher tests you because they want you to pass. The evil one tempts you because he wants you to fail. So spiritual warfare, the devil's trying to tempt you to get you to give up and fail. But God is willing to allow some things as a test because he wants you to pass. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with a temptation will also make a way of escape, since you might be able to bear it. So you think of John, you think of Joseph, the one with the multicolored coat from his father. He was tempted several times in Egypt. And in one case, he fled from the temptation, leaving his cloak behind him, just fleeing. Sometimes the best thing you can do with temptation is flee. Now there follows a relentless whirlwind of activity as the Lord teaches those who are in darkness, encourages those without hope. He heals those who are sick and suffering. He frees those under the power of Satan under bondage. He pardons those who are sinful and repentant. He preaches by the seashore. He selects four fishermen to become his first disciples. so that they can learn to be fishers of men. And they were all astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes. Jesus didn't have to quote footnotes and say, according to this authority and according to that authority. We are encouraged to do at college. What's your source? What's your authority for making a statement? Well, Jesus didn't need any footnotes. He didn't need any bibliography. He is the authority. He is the word. He is not just someone who knows the truth. He is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and life. We are lost. He is the way. We are deceived. He is the truth. We are dead in our trespasses. He is the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. The Lord does not call people from idleness, notice. He calls busy people. He calls successful workers to follow him. Jesus said to him, follow me, I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him. Now notice, Jesus didn't say, I want you to start following me next week or next month. When the Lord calls you, it's like, come, follow me. They left everything and they followed him there and then. When he gives the word, there should not be delay. immediately called him, immediately called him and they left their father's Hebridee in a boat with the hired servants and they went after Jesus. He said to him, let us go into next towns that I may preach also because for this purpose I've come forth. We called to service, we not called from idleness, we called from activity. The disciples began to argue amongst themselves as to who is the greatest. And the Lord rebuked them and he sat them down and called the twelve and said to them, if anyone desires to be first, he shall be the last of all and a servant of all. And he took a little child and set him in the middle of them. When he had taken the child in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. And later, John and James came up and asked the Lord, grant that they may sit at his left and right hand in the kingdom. which is really pretty presumptuous. I mean, that's not for them to say. But Jesus said, you do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism I will be baptized with? And they unbelievably answered, yes, we are. Jesus said, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones excise authority of them. I mean, just think how you'd think in Zimbabwe, Mugabe would be traveling in his, they called it Bob Mugabe and the Silent Wailers, waves of, maybe eight motorbike outriders, and then police cars, and armoured stretch limo, and then a truck full of gooks with rocket launchers and heavy RPDs and RPKMs, and you don't stop, you get shot. A deaf person who couldn't hear the sirens in Harare got shot dead because he didn't pull to South Road and stop the presence coming through. And so, you know, Those who are rulers amongst gentiles lauded over them, you know, the presence coming through. In fact, all the roads going near the president's palace in Harare got closed. Major roads, which required people to do serious deviations, tremendous waste of time and everything else, creating traffic jams because the road going past the president's house was closed to all traffic. Doesn't matter how much inconvenience this caused. I remember at one point, they closed the whole of the N2. Why? Vice President Al Gore was coming to town, David Clinton, and they closed down the N2 from the airport. So his entourage could go down, you know, outriders all around, and he's in this bubble, and there's no other cars on the whole road on either direction. Hours and hours and hours, everything shut down because Vice President Al Gore is coming to town. And it doesn't matter how many people's lives are inconvenienced, how much wreckage is done to the local economy, El Presidente, or in this case, El Vice Presidente is coming to town, and you can all be inconvenienced as much as you like, we don't care, you don't matter. He's important, you're not. That's how it works with Gentiles. But Jesus, it shall not be so amongst you. Whoever desires to become great amongst you shall be your servant. And so this is why in a church we've got deacons, and a deacon means servant. Think of the leaders of the church, they're the deacons. That means they're the servants. And in Britain, they have a prime minister, which means a first servant. Even the concept of cabinet ministers means cabinet servants. And it's using the same word in Revelation, in Romans 13, as deacons. They are deacons. Government is to be the deacon of God. They're to be the servants. And so we are not, we who call to leadership are called to servant leadership. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even a son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. We just think there's our Lord. washing his disciples' feet. Now bear in mind, these are not feet that come encased in nice shoes and socks. These are sandals. People are walking through dust and filth and manure and donkeys and everything else on the streets, dusty roads. So these are filthy feet. When you come in and the people are lying by the table, The kind of tables they had then was more like couches rather than sitting at chairs. And so people's feet are kind of pretty close to the food. You don't want to wash your feet first. This is the job of a servant or a slave. And Jesus does this humble service. And they're arguing who's the greatest amongst themselves. So the contrast, you think the Pope has people come and kiss his toe, and yet Jesus washed his disciples' feet. Mark is primarily concerned with what Jesus did. In Mark's gospel, you are reading a quick introduction to Jesus. Matthew is the best gospel to give to a person who's from a Jewish background because Matthew's a Levite and he also is explaining how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled by Christ, he is the Messiah. Luke is best for the Greeks because Luke is focusing mainly on the teachings. Mark is ideal for the Romans because action, action, action, lots of action. It's what Jesus did is mostly emphasized. And John's gospel is ideal for believers who've already read the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, because John presupposes that you understand a whole lot of information that's not given in Mark and John. You've got to have read Mark or Luke or Matthew to make sense of John's gospel. So John's gospel is not the best gospel to give to a person first if they haven't been brought up in a Christian environment. John's gospel is excellent for evangelizing Christians, so to speak, or religious people. So for example, in Ireland, Ian Paisley worked on putting a gospel of John in every home in Southern Ireland, which is Catholic Ireland. That's a good idea. When I was converted, the first book I read was Mark's gospel. and we were putting gospels of Mark in different homes around Ponson. Mark's gospel is perfect to give to a person who knows next to nothing about the gospel. The first introduction, I came from a totally secular background, never went to Sunday school, never been to church before. So when I got converted, they started me with Mark, and I think that's the best gospel to start with with a person who is not from a religious background. Get them in Mark. Mark makes it clear that the Lord revealed himself to his followers gradually. Jesus would not let the demons speak because the demons knew who Jesus was. When somebody says, I believe in Jesus, great, but even the demons believe in Jesus and they're not going to get to heaven, that's for sure. After having healed the man of leprosy, Jesus sent him away with a strong warning, see that you don't tell anyone about this. When speaking to the demons, the Lord gave him strict instructions not to tell anyone who he was. Why would that be? Because the Lord wants to be able to fulfill his mission before he's betrayed. He's got to prepare his disciples, he needs time. If he came out at the very beginning with who he is, the chief priest would have had him crucified early in his ministry. He needed to have these three years of preparing his disciples. So the Messianic secret is a key emphasis in Mark as well. After having raised Jairus' daughter to life, he gave strict orders, don't let anyone know about this. And there's all kinds of other cases where the Lord required silence concerning his true identity. Even on Mount Hermon, the Mount of Transfiguration, the Lord required his disciples to keep quiet about his identity. Timing is everything. The Messianic secret reflects the Lord's concern to complete his mission without interruption. His disciples need to gradually understand who he was. It was too much to understand in one go. He desired to keep his identity hidden from the masses. Premature recognition of his messiahship would lead to intense agitation and demand that he become some kind of political messiah. A lot of people wanted the messiah to be some military leader who would free them from the oppressive Romans. While many in Judea were expecting the messiah to be some kind of military political deliverer, they were ignoring the Old Testament prophecies about the suffering servant, like in Isaiah 53. The shepherd who'd be struck and the sheep would be scattered, like Zechariah 13, seven. This would hinder his ministry. This would hasten his death. He needed time to train and prepare his apostles to fulfill the Great Commission after his coming death. Mark gives us an insight as to how crowded the Lord's life was with words and works of mercy, healing the sick, feeding the starving, excising power over disease, power over nature, power and authority over demons, authority over death. The Lord cleansed lepers, stilled the storm, delivered people who were demon-possessed. He healed a paralytic. He raised Jairus' daughter. He healed a woman of hemorrhaging. He healed a man with a withered hand. He walked on the sea. He healed the Gentile woman's daughter. He healed the epileptic boy. He healed two blind men, healed a deaf mute, healed the blind men at Bethsaida. And as a result, the Lord was constantly pressed in, harassed by the crowds. His devotions were interrupted. There's no time to even finish a meal. The Lord was continuously pressed for help at such an extent that his family and his friends said he was unbalanced. Anyone who's involved in the Lord's service will find their family and friends saying, you know, you're unbalanced, you're a fanatic. C.T. Studd said, when I was a fanatic for cricket, Everyone was happy with me. He's a sports fan, a cricket fan, and fan is just short for fanatic. How many people say, you know, I'm a soccer fan, I'm a rugby fan, and it's fine to be a fanatic for sports, but the moment you become a fan for Jesus, you're a fanatic, and that's unacceptable apparently. You can be fanatical about anything except what really matters. The Lord was pursued even when he sought rest. The key word that one reads over and over in Mark's gospel is immediately. When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret, and they anchored there. And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him. They ran throughout the whole surrounding region, began to carry about in beds those who were sick to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he entered, into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in a marketplace. They begged him that they might just touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched him were made well. Mark presents the Lord Jesus as the suffering servant of the Lord. He focuses on the actions of Jesus, particularly emphasizing his service, his suffering, his sacrifice. Early on, the escalating conflict with the Jewish religious leaders raised its ugly head. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven you. Now, it's interesting with this case of there's so many people around Jesus, these men who bring their friend to be healed, they can't get through to Jesus. So they climb up the roof and they dismantle the roof and let their friend down in front of them. And this really impresses Jesus. Jesus, when he saw their faith, when he saw the faith of his friends, He said, son, your sins are forgiven you. This is an interesting case because I believe, and quite a few Bible students do, that the man was not physically sick. His first need was to be forgiven. Yes, he was acting paralyzed, but sometimes you get people who have a physical ailment that is emotionally or spiritually connected. And so, not saying that we know Jesus can heal paralytic people, but in this case, he was not really paralytic in a physical sense from a medical reason. He was basically from a psychosomatic, from a spiritual complaint. Some of the scribes sitting there reasoned in their hearts, why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But immediately, when Jesus perceived the spirit they were reasoning thus, he said to them, why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins have forgiven you, or arise, take up your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house. And immediately he arose and he took up his bed and he went out in the presence of them all so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, we never saw anything like this. And I mean, can you imagine, you would be amazed to see this. Now, Jesus calls Levi sitting at his tax office. He goes to the tax collector and says, follow me. So Matthew arose and followed him. And Matthew organized a feast at his house so that many tax collectors could hear the teachings of the Lord. Obviously, he's got lots of friends. The best time for evangelism, many times, is immediately after your conversion. Immediately after your conversion, you are in an ideal situation for evangelism. You shouldn't tell people you first got to go to college and you got to study and you must do this for years before you're allowed to evangelize. People should be evangelizing from the moment they get converted. You have a testimony and you still have lots of pagan friends. You're going to lose them pretty quickly as you become consistent following the Lord. So the best time for evangelism is actually immediately. We should mobilize the new converts instantly for evangelism. And when the scribes and the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and the sinners, they said to his disciples, how is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I did not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners. You don't need a savior if you are perfect, do you? And these people are convinced, I'm a good person, I'm a very good person. I'm very religious or something. Well, how can you save them? They're not even aware that they need to be saved. A doctor, nobody's going to a doctor who says, I'm perfectly well, I've got no ailments. People go to the doctor because they're sick. So people who are going to turn to the savior, the ones who recognize that they're sinners and need to be saved. Other controversies followed. The Pharisees complained about the Lord attending feasts and not fasting enough. We have the pharisaical spirit out in our churches today. Some people have a gift of criticism, ministry of discouragement. When the disciples ate some of the grain on the Sabbath, the Pharisees complained, it's not lawful to pluck the heads of grain on a Sabbath. But Jesus said to him, have you not read what David did when he was in need and he is hungry? He and those who were with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest. He ate the straw bread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priest. And he gave some to those who were with him. Well, this is a time of necessity. I mean, if people are starving and on the run and outlaws from an evil King Saul, they need to take what food's available and He said to him, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. When the Lord healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue, the Pharisees were ready to kill him. Imagine, wanting to kill somebody because he healed someone. He said to him, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill? But they kept silent. How can you not answer such a simple question as this? Jesus healed a man. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against him how they might destroy him. They, out of concern for their traditions concerning the fourth command, were willing to break the sixth command against committing murder. In Mark 4, the Lord gives the parable of the sower, and he warns of those who sow hard-hearted that the seed of the word of God doesn't take root in their heart. We try and throw the seed, and it's a tarmac, or it's a hard road, the path. Well, that's not gonna penetrate, is it? And so the first birds coming past will pick up the seed, and that's the end of that. But then you get some shallow ground. And shallow ground, well, what's going to happen to shallow ground? Can't put down its roots. And so that's not going to last. And as soon as the sun comes out, it'll die. And then there's those who like thorny ground. The roots might go down deep, but it can't bloom or grow because the thorns are going to choke the plant. but then you get the prepared soil, which is good soil, prepared soil, and it's able to receive the seed and give space for it to grow and to develop roots. Four kinds of responses you tend to get the gospel. The Lord warned, for there's nothing hidden which will not be revealed. There was anything being kept secret, but that it should come to the light. Take heed what you hear. With the same measure that you use, it will be measured to you. To you who hear, more will be given. Whoever has, to him more will be given. Whoever does not have, even the little he has will be taken away from him. You reap what you sow. When the Lord sent out his disciples two by two to evangelize, he taught, and whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against him. we will be judged according to the light that we've received. There's some places that hear the word of God, they've heard the word of God, but they won't respond to it. Well, that's a judgment on him, shame on him. Assuredly, I tell you, Jesus, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in day of judgment than for that city. I think Sodom and Gomorrah symbolize some of the most wicked, perverted, evil cities in the history of mankind. And yet the Lord says to Capernaum and other cities that were receiving the Lord's teachings, it'll be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, these pagans, than for you. Why? Well, Sodom didn't have a Bible. And here you've got the Lord Jesus himself and his apostles preaching in your neighborhoods and you're unresponsive. You will be judged according to the light that you've received. And so in many cases, people who are going to church, being baptized, being confirmed, whatever it is, but they are not submitting to that word. They will be judged with greater strictness than somebody out who's living in a rural pagan area, and this church person might look down on them. But that church person's exposed to so much more light. Too much is given, much is required. Too much more is given, much more is required. And it's a serious thing. We need to warn people like at the Lord's Supper. Don't bring damnation to yourself by taking for granted the blessings and the grace of God. When the Pharisees rebuked the Lord for his disciples not following the traditions of the Jews, Jesus answered and said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites. As it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. And the Lord gave us 10 commands. And the Pharisees multiplied that to 613 commands. And you sort of think that's the way it often works. A lot of people call God's 10 commands oppressive, but how many hundreds of thousands of laws does our government produce out there? I bet most of our members of parliament have never even read all the laws they've produced. They don't even know about all the laws that they've produced, but they're there so that they can prosecute any of us at any time for almost anything if we become a problem to the government. And that's the way they do it. For laying aside the commandments of God, you hold the tradition of men, washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do. Jesus said to him, all too well you reject the commandments of God, that you may keep your tradition. And there's a lot of people who are far more excited about their traditions than their particular church abomination, rather than what the Bible actually says. For Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and he who curses his father and mother, let him be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father and mother, whatever profit you might have received from me as corban, that is a gift to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father and mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And there are cases where people have made their traditions higher than the commandments of God, and that's very dangerous. And many such things you do. Jesus warned his disciples, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. But whoever caused one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better if a millstone be tied around his neck and he be cast in the depth of the sea. I don't know if you've seen a millstone. In some museums like out at Connaughton, you might see a millstone. It is like the heaviest thing that existed in those times, bigger than an anchor, heavy, heavy. And you think of a millstone being tied around someone's neck and him crossing the sea, he's gonna go down fast to the very bottom of the sea. This is what the Lord thinks of people who cause the little ones of the Lord to stumble. And if you've seen the film Sound of Freedom, there's that great part in it where the man rescuing these children says to the child, pervert, the child abuser, you'd look good with a millstone around your neck. And this chap's just laughing, saying, is that a joke? And then you hear the sirens. No, he's called the police to take this man away in handcuffs. It's a very serious thing to cause the little ones to stumble. And what will God say to the people in Hollywood and Facebook and Google and so on who can't scrub child pornography? off the internet. But if it's ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine or some other questions, the vaccine mandates, that can disappear in seconds by the fact-checker sensors. But they can't deal with child pornography somehow, although technically they can. They can block any criticism of the Chinese government entering China's internet source. They block it on entry. China, they've got a complete lockdown version of internet so that there's no criticism of the government line, but they can't deal with pornography in the West. How is that possible? Well, they look good for this. millstone around their neck one day. When Jesus called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, there is nothing that enters a man from the outside which can defile him. The things which come out of a man, those are the things which defile a man. So under the traditions, you got defiled by eating certain types of food. Let's mention like pork, for example. Go to hell, go straight to hell, do not go past, go, do not collect chandran. You are damned to hell forever for doing certain things. And in Islam, they've got that kind of pharisaical religion. It's more important that you don't eat a certain type of meat than that you keep your heart and soul clean. They wash the outside, but they don't clean the inside. And so the Lord says, you're defiled by what comes out of you, by what you say, by what you think, by what you believe, by what you feel, by what you love. That's what can defile us. It's not the type of food we eat that can defile us, it's what's coming out of our heart. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. We are wicked and selfish people. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. I mean, how much clearer can you hear the Lord say it? Jesus teaching the depravity of man. The Pharisees sought to test Jesus by asking him under what circumstances it could be lawful to divorce your wife. And Jesus answered, said to him, because of the hardness of your heart, Moses wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of creation, it was not so. God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two become one flesh. So they're no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate. So the Lord counters their reasoning. When the disciples sought to prevent parents bringing their little children to Jesus, the Lord was greatly indignant. In fact, the word there suggests he is incensed, he's absolutely furious, outraged. Jesus said, let the little children come to me, do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God. What does the Lord think of governments that forbid Bible reading and prayer in the school classrooms? Let the little children come to me. Do not forbid them of such as the kingdom of God. Assuredly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will by no means enter it. He took them up as in arms, he laid hands on them and blessed them. And this again just tells us you don't need to be of great learning and academic stature or maturity to become a Christian. When people speak about the children of today are the church of tomorrow, nonsense. There's no age restriction of church. The children of today should be part of the church of today too. This idea that you've got to have children's church where the children, even teenagers, aren't intelligent enough to handle a sermon. They've got to walk out and have some games event while the pastor preaches the sermon for the week. This is not healthy. In the Bible you read, like in times of Ezra, all of the people were together, everyone, including the babies in arms, to hear the law of God being read. There's no age restriction to the church, and not in the Old Testament, not in the New Testament, and only in the latter part of the 20th century has it become common to age-segregate the church. That is not a biblical concept. It's something that's grown out of evolution. and the idea that children should not be part of the main worship service. Sunday schools used to be, from the 17th century on, for evangelizing non-Christians in the afternoon. So Sunday afternoon was when you had Sunday school. And I've been to church in England where they still do it. In the afternoon, everyone is a Sunday school teacher of the congregation, and it's for immigrants and people who don't speak English, and they've got Sunday school to reach the unchurched people with a church program. But the idea that Sunday school is now a babysitting service for Christian church members because they don't want their kids to disrupt them in the church service, that's a very recent phenomenon. That's not the way it's been generally. And so this is the origin of dedication services where you bring your child to the church shortly after they've been born to give thanks to God for them and to ask God's blessing on them and to commit yourself to bring them up in the faith. This is the concept. It's not a magical act like what they call baptism in some churches where they sprinkle a bit of water on a kid and now pronounce him a Christian, which they've got to confirm sometime later when they're about a teenager. No, you should bring your children to Jesus, ask them to be blessed, and that's a dedication service in church. What must I do to inherit eternal life? This gets to the heart of the gospel. In Mark chapter 10, a rich young ruler comes running to Jesus and he kneels before him and he asks, what must I do to inherit eternal life? What did the Lord do? Did he say, just believe, just pray this prayer, just raise your hand, while the apostle John plays on the piano and apostle Peter dims the lights, just quietly slip your hand up on, nobody's looking, don't peek, nothing like that. So the man doesn't just raise his hand, he runs to Jesus. He doesn't just bow his head and repeat a set prayer. He falls on his knees and he cries out, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I mean, this man's earnest. And the Lord begins by rebuking him. He doesn't start off with God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Now, as he's going on the road, one came running, knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus rebukes him and says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not commit murder, do not steal, do not bear false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. And this young man answers and says to Jesus, teacher, all these things I've kept from my youth. I mean, isn't that an incredible answer? Amazing. All these things I've kept from my youth. Notice, though, our Lord had only pointed to the second tab of the law that deals with relationship with man. He hadn't mentioned the first tab of the law, like worship God alone, don't have any idols, don't bow before idols. So he didn't even mention the last command, which is you shall not covet. Because the young man couldn't have said I haven't coveted. He proved that he, in fact, had made an idol of his wealth with his response. Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, one thing you lack. Go your way, sell whatever you have, give to the poor. You'll have treasure in heaven. Then come take up your cross and follow me. Now how many evangelistic services have you heard where a person's asked to do that? Surrender everything to Christ. Give up everything. But at this the man was sad and he went to a sorrowful, for he had great physicians. So did the rich young ruler believe what Jesus said? He did believe, he went away sad. If he didn't believe, he would have gone away angry. Why is he playing games with me? He went away sad because he must have believed what Jesus said, but he wasn't willing to pay the price. And Jesus didn't run after him and say, 90%, 50%, just for you, bargain to 10%. No, the Lord didn't do any salesmanship tricks. It was, this is the command of the king, 100% total surrender. And the man went away sad. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. And his disciples were astonished at his words. I mean, to them, some of the richest people are the most blessed. I mean, obviously, in the prosperity cults today, the richer you are, the more blessed you are, the more godly you are. The poorer you are, the less Christian you are, and you're probably not saved at all, and so on. But Jesus answered and said again to them, children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And they were greatly astonished, saying amongst themselves, who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, with men it is impossible. When we're asking about salvation, remember, you're not asking for people to try. We're calling for people to trust. We're not asking for people to do something for their salvation. We tell them, it's absolutely impossible for you to get saved. You cannot be saved. from a human perspective. There's no church that can save you. There's no denomination that can save you. There's no music group that can save you. There's no preacher that can save you. There's no charged atmosphere that can save you. What we're after is a miracle from God. When you're thinking about salvation, you've got to think of the tomb of Lazarus. There's Lazarus, Luke chapter 11. He's dead. He's been dead four days. Jesus comes outside the tomb of Lazarus and cries, Lazarus, come out. Is that reasonable? To ask a corpse that's been dead for four days, come out. But that's what evangelism is. You're calling for life under dead. It's like Ezekiel going to the Valley of Dead Bones. Can these bones live? Lord, you alone know. Prophesy to these dead bones. That's evangelism. You're going to a bunch of people who are deaf, dumb, blind, dead in their trespasses. They are unresponsive. You cannot argue, persuade, cajole, negotiate them into the kingdom. What you're asking for is the Holy Spirit to move, and for people to be born again, for a miracle to be done in their heart. This is not something you or I can do. With man, this is impossible, but with God, nothing is impossible. With God, all things are possible. So Mark 10 is a good passage to study, and you see evangelism according to our Lord Jesus Christ, how he did it. Jesus warned his disciples, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles will mock him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him. And the third day he will rise again. The Lord is really preparing his disciples for the shock that's coming. In chapter 11 of Mark, we read how the Lord approached Jerusalem. He sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village opposite you, and as soon as you've entered it, you will find a colt tied up, which no one has sat on. So they came to Jerusalem, and Jesus went into the temple, and he began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple. He overturned the tables of the moneylenders, the seats of those who sold doves. He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. I mean, this is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild, that we sing about in some of the hymns. The fact is, Jesus was intimidating. You know, whenever you've got corruption going on, you've got bouncers and you've got bodyguards there too. And so who's stopping? Geez, while he's overturning money changes tables and money is being scattered and doves are being set free and sheep are being set free. And, you know, this is pandemonium and you're seeing all these corrupt criminals there. businesses are being undermined, but none of them try and stop Jesus. He must have been pretty intimidating. I think those eyes were blazing with fire. And of course, he's wielding this whip. And so what do you think the Lord would do if he came into some of our churches and church conferences? I don't think it would be some of the prophecies I've heard. I've been to some church concert where people say, ah, you know, as the snow from Mount Hermon, as the honey drips down the beard of Aaron, you know, it's so pleasant to see God's children drilling together in unity. I know all the backstabbing and gossip and garbage going on there. And there's no way that God's some senile grandfather who's just thinking his wicked little grandchildren are little angels. If God came into some of our conferences, I'm sure he'd do something akin to a whip. Yes, there's a lot of unpleasant things going on in many church conferences. And the Lord taught, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. You have made it a den of thieves. and the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests heard this and they sought how they might destroy Jesus. They worked out how could they kind of, for they feared him because all the people were astonished at his teaching. Jesus was a threat to the religious status quo. And to be honest, Jesus is still a threat to the religious status quo. A lot of religious leaders would not want Jesus interfering with their churches. I remember my father-in-law often said that not even the Holy Spirit could change the order of service of the average church today. They've got an order of service and the Holy Spirit's not allowed to interfere. The Lord wouldn't even be welcome in many churches because they've got their program. Don't interfere with our program. The Lord approached a fig tree which had leaves but no fruit. In response, the Lord declared, let no one eat fruit from you ever again. So the Lord is not impressed with a fruitless tree. What would God say to ministries and Christians who have no fruit? Let no one eat fruit from here ever again. He cursed this fig tree for not having fruit. The whole point of fruit tree is to have fruit. The next day the disciples saw the fig tree had dried up from its roots, from its roots. The Lord taught on the importance of forgiveness. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your father in heaven might also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. Now here is an absolute cast iron rule. If you are not forgiving, you are not forgiven. Because the Lord even taught that even like when a king forgave the servant who had this massive debt, when this servant went out and choked a fellow servant who owed him a small amount, and had him thrown into prison to pay off his debt. The king, when he heard about this, withdrew the forgiveness he had given. And he had this man cast into prison so that he might pay all that he owed, which is an impossible sum, mind you. And so, if you refuse to forgive others, God will withdraw his forgiveness of you. I mean, the Lord teaches us. This is harsh because I know a lot of people want to believe that the Lord's forgiveness is unconditional. But here's one condition the Lord gives. If you will not forgive others, neither will I forgive you. Quite straightforward. If you will not forgive others, you break the bridge over which you must pass if you want to get to him. The conflict with the Jewish religious leaders now reaches a climax, as a series of attacks are launched, attempting to undermine the authority of Jesus in front of the people in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to trick or trap Jesus. Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders said to Jesus, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things? Jesus answered and said to him, I also will ask you one question, then answer me. I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or was it from men? Answer me. They reasoned amongst themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why didn't you not believe John? But if we say from men, they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. So they were trying to trick Jesus and he does a judo throw on him. completely destroys their basis of their attack. So they answered and said, Jesus, we do not know. And Jesus answered and said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. You know, don't cast your pearls before swine. When these people are anti-Christ and they're trying to destroy Christ, they're not gonna listen to what he says. So he's not going to give his straightforward teachings to people on blatant rejection. If you come to somebody and they are completely closed, there's no point you're going through all the different facts the evidence of the manuscripts and the fulfilled prophecies and so on, it's good to take the time to do it to the person who's seeking. But a person who's raised said, I will never believe under any circumstance no matter what. I hate God and I don't care what the Bible says. Mind you, I've even heard Christians saying, I don't care what the Bible says. I know this or that and so on. Well, if something's above the Bible, well, that's why we've got sola scriptura, and I wonder they were the Luther Rose. Scripture alone is ultimate authority. Then Jesus began to teach him in parables. A man planted a vineyard. He set a hedge around it. He dug a place for the vine vat. He built a tower. He leased it to vinedressers and he went into a far country. Now at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vinedressers that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. You know, sort of like rent. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty handed. Again he sent another servant, and at this they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Again he sent another, and him they killed, many others beating some and killing some. Therefore, still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him last, saying, they will respect my son. But those vinedressers said amongst themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? Now Jesus is referring to God as the owner of the vineyard. He will come and destroy the vine dresses. He will give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read the scripture? The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. And they sought to lay hands on him, but the multitude they feared, for they knew that he had spoken his parable against them. They knew. that Jesus was speaking about them. These scribes and Pharisees, they were like these unfaithful tenants who had killed many of the prophets, and now they were ready to kill the son himself. He spoke this parable against them. They recognized themselves in the parable, but they didn't come to repentance. Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and Herodians, to catch him in his words. When they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true, and you care about no one, for you do not regard the person of men, but you teach the way of God in truth. You can just hear them smearing honey around his mouth, I mean, flattering, trying to ingratiate themselves, but they're not sincere or honest. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? This is a trap. If Jesus teach him not to pay the taxes, he could be arrested for sedition by the Romans. But he, knowing that the hypocrisy, said to him, why do you test me? Bring me a denarius that I might see it. So they brought it. And Jesus said to him, whose image and whose inscription is this? And they said, Caesar's. And Jesus answered and said to him, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And it marveled at him. I mean, he was able to do a judo throw in every one of the attacks, turn the momentum against themselves. Give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar, and to God the things that are God's. Now, I should point out that the way things are today, Many people put this back to front. So render to God the coin, give God a coin, and give Caesar everything else like your children, your worship, your devotion, your trust. It's entirely the other way around. Jesus said, give Caesar the coin, give God everything else. like your children, son. But the average interpretation today is, you know, put a coin on a collection plate and give Caesar everything Caesar demands, not what belongs to him. Your children are made in the image of Caesar. Why should your children be brainwashed by Caesar and by his people and so on? You know, which Hebrew sent their children to the Philistines to be trained? The Sadducees, who were the materialists of the day, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, they came up with a ridiculous scenario of a woman who'd been married to seven brothers. Can you imagine anyone in the history of the world married to seven brothers in succession? Without any offspring, mind you. And they asked, therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife. And Jesus answered and said to him, are you not therefore mistaken? Because you do not know the scriptures, nor do you know the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given marriage. They are like the angels in heaven. But concerning the dead that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken. Here again, the Lord's taken their momentum and he's done a Judo throw and completely and utterly wiped out the whole basis for how can they say they believe in Moses and they believe in the law that God gave and the God who appeared in the burning bush, where he revealed his name Yahweh, and yet they claim that there's no resurrection. Well, how can he be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, unless Jacob are still alive, that they've been raised, that they will be raised, that they are alive right now in heaven? When a scribe questioned Jesus, what is the greatest commandment? Jesus replied, quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, the first tablet of the law is summarized by love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second tablet of the law is summarized by love your neighbors as yourself. How do you love God? You worship God alone. You don't bow before idols. You always speak respectfully of God. You never take his name in vain. You honor the Sabbath day. How do you love your neighbor? You don't steal your neighbor's life, you don't steal your neighbor's wife, you don't steal your neighbor's property, you don't steal his good name by slandering and gossiping against him. You don't covet, you're not jealous and envious of your neighbor. So, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Summarize the two tablets of the law. After that, no one dared question him. Then Jesus posed a series of questions of his own to the religious leaders. How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore David calls himself, David calls him, prophesied in Psalms, Lord. How is he then his son? If the son of David is the Lord of David, the Messiah obviously predates King David. And the son of God is obviously greater than David. The son of David is not the descent of David as much as the ancestor of David in many ways. And he said to him in his teachings, beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, the best place at the feast, who devour widows' houses. for pretence to make long prayers, they will receive greater condemnation. Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money in the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and put in two mites, which make up a quadrant. That's like two of the smallest copper coins possible. So Jesus called his disciple to himself and said to them, assuredly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who have put into the treasury. For they all put in out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, she put in all she had, her whole livelihood. She's put in everything she has to live on. Now many misunderstand this passage and misapply this passage. I've heard umpteen Prosperity Cult preachers, preachers saying that Jesus is commending the example of this poor widow, that we should put everything into offering as she did, but it cannot possibly be so. The entire context is the Lord warning the people to beware of the scribes and pharisees who devour widows' houses, who for their religious pretense make long prayers. They will receive greater condemnation. This is the final condemnation of the great chapter of confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders in Mark 12. They devour widows' houses. They will receive greater condemnation. God doesn't want us to put all that we have to live on into offering. I mean, she'd be destitute. What she did was not wise. It's not an example we could follow. As they went out of the temple, one of the disciples pointed out the magnificent temple to the Lord. The Lord responded and said, do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. The Lord warned of deceptions and coming turmoil, persecution, being delivered up to councils, beaten in synagogues. Brother will betray brother to death. A father will betray his child. Children will rise up against their parents. Children will even cause their parents to be put to death. But you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. Those who today go to Jerusalem to pray at the Wailing Wall, believing it to be part of the temple, are mistaken. Jesus made it clear, not one stone here will be left upon another. The over 11,000 stones making up the Wailing Wall were not part of the original temple. Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews, makes it clear every part of the temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. They had, in the fire, gold ornaments were melted, and they came between the cracks of the Romans, literally pried apart every part of the temple to get the molten gold. The wall that today is being presented as a tourist attraction was part of Fort Antonio, which was built by King Herod the Great, named after Mark Antony, and probably dedicated in the name of Apollo or Mars, because there's no way it could be the temple. The Romans who came to Jerusalem said, this is the greatest building in the world. There's nothing in all of Rome to compare with the temple. The temple in Jerusalem was the greatest building in the whole planet. and there's not a stone of it left upon another. The historian Josephus makes it clear only Fort Antonio was left standing after the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. And that must be a bit frustrating for some of the people who go there with a superstitious belief that they're praying at an actual wall of the temple, folding up prayer, putting it in there. Now, you know, God, We'll hear our prayers wherever we are. We don't need to be at a particular physical location. Your prayers aren't made more powerful standing before a wall that used to be part of some Roman temple or Roman fort or was dedicated to Mars or Apollo. And even if it was dedicated to Yahweh, it wouldn't be any more powerful. Put it this way. If we had here in this upper room a piece of the actual cross of Christ, a piece of wood from the cross, and if I had in a vial some of the actual blood of Jesus shed in Calvary, could it add anything to your salvation? Not sure. When my son was born with kidney failure, we had a Catholic friend say he has a piece of the true cross. He'd be willing to lend it to us to lay on our son to pray for his healing. and had to say, I thank you for your kindness, your thoughtfulness, but we're Protestants, we don't do those sort of things. And, you know, I mean, really, if he really had a piece of the true cross, and apparently there's enough piece of the true cross to build a new ark. but an amount of nails, Martin Luther said there were enough nails that pierced Christ to shoe all the horses in Saxony. So there's a lot of frauds out there. But even if you had an actual real piece of the cross, it couldn't add to your salvation. When we speak about being saved by the cross of Calvary, we're talking about the blood of Jesus. We're not talking about the physical, we're talking about what was really achieved in the spiritual eternal matters. So people going and thinking, this is part of the actual temple. Even if it was, it wouldn't add to your salvation or empower your prayers anymore. The prolonged, escalating controversy between the Jewish religious leaders and the Lord Jesus Christ reaches its climax in Jerusalem. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad, and they promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Jesus. And there's a conspiracy that develops here. The scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Romans, they had very little in common. But notice how they conspired and cooperate together to crucify Christ. The Jewish religious leaders charged Jesus with blasphemy for saying that he is the son of God. I mean, imagine this, all these people who could not work together for much else, but they cooperated to crucify Christ. Why is it that Christians can't cooperate to advance the gospel of Christ? You've got a heathen willing to work together to crucify Christ, Like even today, what do the LGBTQ and the Muslims and the communists and atheists have in common? Well, I hate Christianity. And so you see them working together. They don't have much in common, but they do hate Christ. Well, can Christians not cooperate to advance the gospel? It seems much harder for some reason. They demanded the death penalty for Jesus. Many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies didn't agree. Some rose up and bore false testimony against Jesus, saying, I will destroy this temple made with hands. Jesus never said he would destroy this temple. He said, if you destroy this temple, within three days I'll build another without hands. But their testimonies didn't agree, either with the truth or with one another. The high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, do you answer nothing? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked Jesus, saying to him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus answered, I am, Yahweh. You will see the son of man coming. On the right hand, the power, coming with the clouds of heaven. Now the chief priest objured him and commanded him, in the name of God, to answer the question. And he answered straightforward, as you have said. Even then, the high priest tore his clothes and said, what further need do we have for witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy. What do you think? They all condemned him to be deserving of death. And they began to spit on him and to blindfold him and to beat him. And they said to him, prophesy. And the officers struck him with the palms of their hands. Can you imagine mishandling the Son of God like this? One word from Jesus and all the angels in heaven could have wiped out Jerusalem and every human being on the planet for daring. But the Lord endured it all. However, the Sanhedrin could not put someone to death since the land was occupied by the Romans under Roman law. They had the death penalty alone. They needed Roman approval for the death sentence. But in Roman law, blasphemy was not a crime. Therefore the Jewish high priests and the Pharisees, when they came before the governor Pilate, they didn't charge Jesus with blasphemy, but they now charged him with treason against Caesar. Pilate was not convinced, for he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd. You can always rely on the mindless messes and the mob in the street. So they would rather release Barabbas to them. The Lord was tried before the Sanhedrin, before Pilate, before the Roman governor and King Herod, the same King Herod, whose father had murdered the children of Bethlehem, the same King Herod who had killed John the Baptist. But while condemned by Annas and Cephas, the high priest, and by the Sanhedrin, Pontius Pilate on three occasions declared Jesus innocent. This man has done nothing wrong. This man has done nothing to deserve death. I will have him scourged, whipped, and let him go. Why are you scourging him if he's innocent? Herod also dismissed it. But despite being effectively declared not guilty three times by the Roman governor and once by Herod, who dismissed the case, Pilate bowed before the scheming of the religious leaders and the screams of the mob, release Barabbas, crucify Christ. Pilate answered, said to him, what then do you want me to do with him? And the crowd again, crucify him. And Pilate says, why? What evil has he done? And the crowd all the more, crucify him. No answer to the question, no reasoning given. So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them. The Bible says people pleasers make traitors. He delivered Jesus whom after he had scourged him to be crucified. This is the worst crime in history. The greatest sin of any age is the rejection of Jesus Christ. The worst crime ever committed in the history of the world was the betrayal. Illegal trial, crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Because this is the only innocent person in history and a crime is aggravated by who the crime is done against. And in this case, you couldn't have a higher authority or more important or innocent person. Mark's gospel clearly presents us with a choice. You either follow the world or you follow the word of God. Now, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James Salome, brought spices that they might come and anoint him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said amongst themselves, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? When they looked up, they saw the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he's going before you into Galilee. Interesting saying, tell the disciples and tell Peter. Well, Peter is the one who had said, You know, even if everyone forsakes you, I will not, and I'm willing to die for you. And now he had denied Jesus before, a little maid, denied Jesus three times, and he probably thought he'd blown it and he'd have no hope. So the angel's given him this. You know, Peter is still part of the apostles. He's still being called. The Lord has not written him off. And even though he had failed so badly, then you will see him, as he said to you. The sight of the empty tomb and angels' announcements that Jesus had risen threw the woman into wild excitement, and they ran to tell others in joy, fear, anxiety, wonder, bewilderment, I'm sure. At the resurrection, the Roman gods had fled, frightened and dazed, to tell the priests and to seek protection from the wrath of the Roman governor. Mary Magdalene ran ahead of the group to announce to the disciples, Jesus has risen. When John and Peter reached the tomb, they saw the empty shroud. And Mary Magdalene, who had followed Peter and John, returned to the tomb, remained outside weeping. She saw the angels, then the Lord himself appeared to her. And Jesus later appeared to other women as they came back from telling the disciples. And Jesus appeared to the 12, and to seven of the disciples by the Sea of Galilee, and to 11 disciples in Galilee with 500 others. Jesus also appeared to James, and he appeared in Jerusalem. Later, when he appeared to the leaven and they sat at the table, he rebuked the unbelief and the hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every preacher. Later, Cornelius' household at Caesarea, the apostle Peter declared how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went around doing good and healing all that repressed him, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all these things, which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God. And even those of us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to all the people. To testify that it is he who is ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead, to him all the prophets witness that through his name whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. That the apostle Peter said in Acts chapter 10 at the household of Cornelius. Mark's gospel presents us with a clear picture of the person and the work of Jesus and the exhortation to respond in faith and obedience. Trust and obey, there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. And they went out and they preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through accompanying signs. When we work for God, we can work with God. And they went out and preached everywhere. The Lord worked with them, confirming the word to accompanying signs. If we're faithful in preaching the word, God will look after the results.