Introduction to Mark

[Music] mark's gospel tonight you know the message of this great book is as some would put here really on the topic of servanthood in the four gospels uh often this is what we call you know the gospels matthew mark and luke are known as what is called the synoptic gospels the word synoptic is actually derived of two greek words the first word is sin and that word means together it means a grouping together if you will an optic means view kind of like the word optical and so so the synoptic gospels which um kind of gives us a picture of a together view of the life of jesus that's what matthew mark and luke do and in these three what we call the synoptic gospels in these we truly capture the ministry of jesus christ now mark's gospel out of all of them is the shortest of the four gospels and what we find here in mark's gospel is a couple of things remember that each gospel writer wrote to a particular group now remember that it was matthew gospel as we've already studied that who wrote to a jewish audience and that jesus truly is the messiah he is the king and matthew did a great detail of getting so much of jesus's story from the old testament and saying you know this is according to what has been written concerning the messiah mark's gospel on the other hand is not written to a jewish audience but to the current audience of jesus's day which would be the romans and this was to present jesus as the suffering servant who came to serve suffer die and then would rise again or rise or you know be risen from the dead so this would be a very powerful powerful story of the very impact of one who was prophesied to come and be god then die and come back to life that would be really good for the for a witness to the romans right because they were very big on greek mythology they were very big on gods and various gods their powers their strengths and so on and so forth but ultimately here it shows a life the life of jesus as a servant constantly fulfilling the will of the father and what we see here that jesus's ministry was a ministry of preaching his ministry was also a ministry of teaching and a ministry of healing and so he ministers to the needs of others even to the point of death even to the point of death and remember in jesus own words because we often say this that jesus said listen i didn't come so that you can serve me i came so that i can serve you that was jesus's ministry his purpose his plan and mark will begin to lay this out throughout his gospel and we see here that then mark also closes his book with jesus commissioning his disciples to go and do the work of the ministry not only a work but the work of jesus and also in his power and so really the picture is a servants following in the steps of a perfect servant and this is what we're going to kind of gather from all of this here some things that i think are very important for us to highlight kind of walking in by way of introduction so the author here is obviously none other than mark who is known as john mark and remember there's a couple of things about john mark one we do know that he is the son of mary who according to the book of acts in chapter 12 i believe it's around verse 12 where the disciples would gather at her home at her place so we see that the ministry life that surrounded not only mark but also his his mother as well we also see according to the book of acts in chapter 12 that mark's ministry also kind of coincided with a relative of his known as barnabas and remember that in chapter 13 and 15 we see that it was because of mark who was going along with barnabas and paul to do ministry then left early he just kind of just walked away from the ministry we don't know the details but we know that they didn't sit well with paul and it caused some contention there between both barnabas and paul and we've seen that their ministries continued moving forward but because of mark's departure or early departure if you will it it in a sense served a purpose because both continue to preach the gospel and minister the word of god but then we also see later on that mark then you know proved himself in ministry proved himself and and i would say that you can't write an entire gospel and not have conviction listen what we see a little bit later is in second timothy chapter 4 and verse 11 at the end of paul's life he calls for mark he says bring mark to me he is useful for me now meaning what that mark vindicated himself in the ministry and established himself as as one of these you know early disciples and apostles that were in the ministry in the early church and doing a work so this is the gospel according to mark and and some believe that mark received all of this really under peter's tutelage and a lot of what is written here uh because it highlights a lot of peter's uh dealings with jesus in his gospel so his name is john mark and interesting name why because the name john means like gift of god that's that's clearly what the hebrew name means and then you also have his roman name which means mark which means polite or shining and clearly this could also be the young man who who flees in the garden remember that as as jesus is getting arrested a young man who flees it's believed to be mark as well this young man here john mark if you will so getting into how he sets his gospel up there are some things that john wants people or excuse me mark wants people to understand and that is what that clearly who jesus is and he not only wants to highlight jesus's title but he also wants to highlight jesus's service and in mark's gospel there are several titles that he emphasizes about jesus number one he emphasizes that jesus christ is the son of god so he talks about this jesus christ son of god that's there in chapter one and verse one he also speaks concerning jesus son of the most high god son of the most high god i thought those two titles from the get-go were pretty cool number one because he's declaring jesus christ the son of god okay now remember that to state that you are the son of god in essence is to say that you are equal to god this was a statement that got jesus in trouble with the religious leaders when they asked him if he was the son of god and he said he was and immediately they wanted to pick up stones and they wanted to you know put him to death because for him to say that he was the son of god was blasphemy because you cannot be the son of a man and not be at least in jewish culture considered to be equal to him it's kind of like remember in matthew chapter 16 when jesus asked the disciples who do men say that i am and then it was peter who stood up and said you are the christ the son of the living god and then jesus said simon bar yonas well simon was really his name but he calls him bar yonas meaning son of of jonah and you could have easily called peter at that time simon or you could have called him jonas and people would have understood oh that's his father's name so there's that equality there that you see and so by jesus's statement along when he says that he is the son of god he's basically declaring to be god he's declaring to be equal to his his father and so this was one of the things that they wanted to stone and kill jesus for but here john is making it or excuse me mark is making it very clear that jesus christ is the son of god that jesus is the son of the most high god and then you also see him giving jesus the title as jesus son of david and that's pretty remarkable why because remember in second samuel chapter 7 god made a covenant with david and he told david that there will always be a descendant of his on the throne in other words there will always be one from your lineage on the throne and it would culminate into the messiah so god promised david a forever reigning on the throne and that his family would always have a lineage there well that would ultimately end with jesus who today is seated on the throne and here the title jesus son of david is a clear indication that jesus is the one whom the lord had promised would come forth from the family of david the messiah then we also see he calls him christ he calls him christ now remember that you know this this term here christ is the greek word for the hebrew word messiah and the hebrew word messiah or some pronounce it mashiach means the anointed one the greek equivalent to that word is christ which also implies the same and so he uses this term in regards to saying this he's saying the christ and they know that the equivalent word is messiah this is the messiah that is promised to us in the scriptures then we see also that he speaks concerning christ the son of the blessed and that is also a reference to jesus being the messiah and clearly the son of god then he also and we'll as we highlight these we will go into these each one as he gives the name for his titles here then there's also christ king of israel and the anointed one the king of israel and that always goes back to the promise in genesis chapter 49 and verse 10 remember when it talks about you know a scepter well only a king has a scepter and it says the scepter will not depart you know from you and this was in regards to judah and so it's talking about that a king would come from judah and that you know this king would be would have an eternal reign the scepter shall not depart implying that a king would rise and that he would be there so obviously jesus does come from the tribe of judah right just as much as david did and we also see that jesus is a king and this is what mark highlights christ king of israel then we also see a famous term that everybody always asks me the question on why did jesus refer to himself as the son of man and why do the gospels refer to him as the son of man and i think for many reasons there there are perhaps maybe short answers to that some would say well it is the statement alone is displaying his you know his humanity that he is the son of man i think that that probably is a quick answer but i think there's more of a biblical meaning and a revelation to the jewish people whom he came to be the messiah for because in the book of the prophet ezekiel the term son of man is is used close to 200 times and also a hundred times it refers to man's frailty and weaknesses and so by the time jesus comes on the scene they're not using the term son of man anymore because there you hear the lord speaking to ezekiel saying son of man you know son of man can these bones live son of man and it's always referring to men's frailty and weakness so in their mind our messiah is not frail and he's not weak so the term that they begin to use was taken more from the book of the prophet daniel in chapter 7 where it speaks concerning the one approaching the ancient of days with the cloud of glory so the term that is believed to be used in jesus day in regards to him by the religious leaders because it doesn't express frailty and weakness is son of the clouds because remember the clouds always represent the glory of god and so jesus referred to himself as the son of man clearly indicating that i am the one whom the scriptures are speaking of okay and then also uh another title that mark gives jesus is the holy one of god and we will see that here in chapter one as well but the holy one of god the holy one now this is a very profound statement as well because we see here that jesus's life clearly depicted holiness and that's the life that we're to live remember as the lord not only called the nation of israel to live a holy life because he's holy but peter also spoke the same sentiment to the church and used that example to the church that we are to live holy lives because the lord is holy then we have another title lord of the sabbath this was a very good one why because this was actually a title that was a rebuke to the religious leaders of the day and then a very notable one lord mark will use that quite a bit and then also king jesus and so or king of the jews excuse me and so these titles alone mark will begin to display time and time again in regards to jesus's life and ministry so all of this to say that mark declares this to be true that jesus is the son of god jesus is the promised christ jesus is the king of israel jesus is the holy one of god jesus is lord and jesus is king of the jews i love that you know and so this is kind of what he's going to display all the while though these are titles of great importance and they highlight jesus's life but jesus is a servant as all of these are being displayed in his life so remember what the bible says that we're to humble ourselves in the sight of the lord and then in due time he will exalt us jesus's life in mark's gospel is a perfect picture of humility something that we all have right we don't struggle with being humble we're very humble people here tonight so no listen it's a perfect example of what it is to be humble so let's look at what mark does here as we kind of prepare this mark then starts off with really an introduction to someone that comes before jesus in his public ministry the introduction in mark's gospel is an introduction really to the ministry of john the baptist but what was the purpose of john the baptist's ministry mark then kind of lays it out this way he says in verse 1 the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ the son of god and when we hear the word gospel think about this for a moment the word itself in the original language evangelio means to evangelize it means where we get the word evangelize it means good news and in a day and age where there is nothing but bad news this is the good news that we need to hear this is the hope that we are to give and to display this is the good news of the gospel of jesus christ this is what the gospel is it is a message of hope it's a message of the good news and what was needed in this day well i often always refer back to luke's gospel at the very start of it because i think it's important just to kind of by way of introduction consider the day and age and the time in which jesus's ministry comes on the scene according to luke's gospel we see in the very first couple of chapters here that this time of of of jesus's coming into the world came at a perfect time it says in chapter 2 of verse 1 it says and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from caesar augustus now remember here that this is not a coincidence this is all according to god's perfect plan you know sometimes people say you know well it's just so much so that the stars aligned in their right place you know and it all just kind of worked out and and um you know it just it just happened that way no everything was according to god's purpose and plan galatians 4 4 says but when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law notice that when the time when the fullness of the time had come god sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so it wasn't a coincidence galatians 4 4 says that when the time came so god had a specific time he had a time in which he would bring his son into the world and it says born of a woman and under the law there's a there's a reason behind this so in the same way we see here caesar augustus put a decree out that all the world should be registered in other words this is all of the roman empire of the day okay remember mark's gospel is written to to this group of people here and so what we see here is this individual here caesar augustus we know was clearly the first emperor of rome and we see here that the people were looking to a leader they they had a desire and he actually deified himself uh he that the whole idea here of augustus really means he kind of made himself to be god and the roman people really worshipped caesar augustus they they worshipped him in the roman empire and the romans viewed him as in a sense deity so jesus came at a time when the world was ruled by rome the roman empire and they had their first emperor and the people deified this man who declared himself to be god so the known world was worshiping a man as god and god doesn't by coincidence step into time what he does is at the right time galatians 4 4 says when the world was worshiping a man as god god sent forth his son jesus to come into the world and to declare to the world that caesar augustus isn't god but there is a god in heaven who is the lord god the god of israel now listen to this guys when we look at this and we see in chapter 2 of luke's gospel how this all kind of unfolds notice how the lord then continues to bring this about this census took place while carinius was governing in syria so all went to be registered everyone to his own city joseph also went up from galilee out of the city of nazareth into judea to the city of david because which is called bethlehem because he was from the house and the lineage of david remember that when we were saying at the very start of this this is the title jesus the son of david it's pretty interesting here that all this kind of falls into place here look at to be registered with mary his betrothed wife who was with child so it was that while they were there the days were completed for her to be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son now remember what it says there the days came about they were completed for her to be delivered was that a coincidence no it says and she brought forth her firstborn son galatians 4 4 says at the right time at the fullness of time when the time was completed right god sent forth his son born of a woman under the law and the law of the day not only the law of the people of israel but the law of the day was go to your city of origin where you were born at go get registered they were taking a census of the people you see caesar augustus thought he was getting more control over this empire and the lord was like no you're just helping me out do the work that i have to do well the people thank you to be god and they're worshiping you because you're the first emperor of rome listen to this and the known world is dominated by the roman empire and here's caesar augustus thinks that he has it all under control but look at this what the lord does the lord then as galatians 4 4 says at the right time and it says here that she brought forth her firstborn son wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end notice here that it says her first born son she had other sons after that and also some daughters jesus had brothers and sisters he had siblings and we'll see here in mark's gospel when they think he's crazy and actually go and look for him and try to maybe pull him and and kind of reel him back in and they say your mother and your brothers and your sisters are out there looking for you and jesus says who is my mother and who is my brother but he who does the will of my father in heaven i love that he just puts his family at the same level as everybody else he in no way does he exalt his mom and and make his disciples praise her and worship her at none at all whatsoever he just brings her down to the same love who is my mother who is my brother who is my sister but he who does the will of my father in heaven i love that but here we see that this picture of the gospel that time in which christ's birth came listen to this it was a time in which the people of israel there was no good news it was good news for the romans that they had a emperor right it was for them they were dominating the world but how was that good for the people of israel they didn't worship the gods of the romans they worshiped the lord god the god of israel the romans had many gods they were polytheistic in their views and they had all these different gods that they worshipped and you have here the people of israel who were you know monotheistic in their view there was one god like the shema says in deuteronomy 6 hero israel the lord your god the lord your god is one and here they are as the world has gone crazy after this caesar here in obscurity in a small little city called bethlehem at the right time god then sends forth the true god man his name is jesus this goes all the way back to this idea here when mark says the beginning kind of like john's gospel when john starts his gospel he says in the beginning the book of genesis is what is known to be titled that book of beginnings and that's how the book of genesis starts in the beginning god created in a sense it's important for us to emphasize okay the beginning of the gospel is the beginning of the gospel with jesus or was the beginning of the gospel in the beginning i believe it was in the beginning some i don't know if it was last year the year before i taught a message the only gospel adam ever heard and we talked a little about about this on sunday morning more on the area of sin in regards to you know man's fallen nature but in genesis chapter 3 after adam and eve had fallen into sin and god was dealing with their issue now sin has entered the world and now man began to die and things now have changed drastically as far as creation is concerned and as far as man is concerned and now man began to die and sin had clearly had its effect and today you and i are really products of that every single person that is born is born into sin and if you just trust and believe the word of god if you just listen to what the bible says you have an answer to all these questions that people who don't know god ask i have yet i have yet to meet someone who truly knows the lord in the word of god ask me the questions that non-believers ask what are the common questions they ask if there is a god why is there people starving to death if there is a god why do babies die if there is a god why is there so much evil in the world you know a christian who knows the word of god doesn't ask those questions but a person who doesn't know the bible at all and they don't even believe in god or they don't believe in it at all whatsoever they have these questions because they don't understand that these things that we see today that are atrocities and evil and wicked that we have no control over it's sin everything that is evil and wicked is sin it's a product of sin we live in a fallen world and that's the state that we live in so in a sense you look around and you say well then what is the hope well the hope is found in what god said the moment sent into the world and man began to die and before he laid out the curse upon the woman and upon the man and upon the earth that's exactly what the lord did he did it in that order too he cursed the woman he cursed uh you know adam the man and he cursed the earth that is the effect of sin and what happened was the lord then but before this the lord says here's the only way out this is the only gospel adam ever heard this was the only help to adam's dilemma in that day and it's found in verse 15 of genesis chapter 3 and he says i will put enmity between her seed and your seed and speaking to the serpent he says and you will bruise his heel and he will bruise your head or crush your head so in that one small verse god speaks to the serpent and curses him because of his deception to eve and man falling into sin and he says you might have deceived them this time but a seed is going to be raised up that is going to put an end to your deception and to your lies that is a promise now remember guys pay attention to this the woman doesn't carry the seed men do but he's not speaking to a man he's speaking to the serpent who is none other than satan the devil lucifer and he's saying you've caused this deception upon them i'm going to put enmity between your seed what is the seed of the serpent well what is the seed of satan everything that is demonic and evil in this world there's demons there's the reality of demons there and that is the seed of the serpent and that's why you see a lot of what's going on today it's warfare it's spiritual warfare and people don't know this and then they realize wow this is all this is why it's so powerful this is why the forces of darkness are so great a lot of times in and we don't see it and people just accept it well that's just the way it is the world is you know it's it's a wicked place no but there are elements behind it there is a reality of wickedness in the world and the seed of satan is that and it births fear in people it births all kinds of things in the mind of people they go crazy and people lose it and we've seen it we've seen all these things that transpire and that is the seed of satan it it continues to do its work and the day is going to come where the lord says it will be put to an end and one of the things is the more powerful part of it was at that moment man began to die so it is important to say this and it is true that from that moment until this seed would come to pass that would bruise or crush the head of the serpent seed that death belong to the serpent because he brought it about by deceiving adam and eve so this is why paul then says in first corinthians 15 he says oh death where is your steam because jesus when he came he's the promised seed he was born of a virgin we know that to be true right because we see here that the man doesn't carry the seed or excuse me the man does carry the seed the woman doesn't carry the seed and so who is the seed of the woman well that would be a virgin birth so through this virgin birth whoever that is god knows who it is that seed you see many people believe the reason why cain killed abel is because satan probably thought that the promised seed would be that they're of of able and always looking for a righteous person to come against the work of the enemy but but god works differently satan doesn't know all of god's dealings and doings only god knows what he's doing and so we always seen righteousness and we've always seen these things transpire where there is always an attack and a coming against and so this is where we find these stories in the bible where we see all this wickedness coming against what is good but here's the thing i want you to understand in all of this ultimately the seed was promised time and time again and there's so much in the bible that points to jesus being the promised seed and through this virgin birth here's the point that i want to make tonight is that the promise was made that sin would be dealt with by this seed and ultimately that's exactly what happened when jesus was born of a virgin this good news the gospel was realized you see this the the serpent was now dealt with satan was dealt with why because jesus died on the cross and satan truly thought he was winning he thought he was going to win he thought this is it there is that seed i i got it i'm going to win remember in mark's go or matthew's gospel in chapter 4 satan tried to deceive jesus in the same way that he tried to deceive adam and eve and he figured i have deceived your first children adam and eve i'm going to deceive this child of yours too and he failed to do it because jesus didn't give in as a matter of fact in matthew's gospel in chapter 4 jesus quoted from the word of god he quoted from deuteronomy chapter 6 and deuteronomy chapter 8 and he spoke the word of god he spoke it to the serpent and we only had the account of just these few times that satan tempted jesus but jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and the bible says that he was led by the holy spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil in other words this was god's way of saying to him this is the promised seed that you've been trying to take out from the very beginning starting with abel all the way through and you couldn't do it and you might say how do you know well it's very simple remember that even satan quotes the bible to jesus when he's in the wilderness and he says why don't you jump down from this you know from this high cliff jump down he says for it is written concerning you isn't that interesting you know so many people they they they look at you know the passage of psalm 91 and they say like oh yeah you know a lot of people were quoting that verse during the whole covet time you know they were saying you know i'm going to name it and claim it you know well that psalm is not about you and me it's a messianic psalm about jesus and jesus in a preeminent way he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high god jesus did that in a preeminent way shall abide under the shadow of the almighty and that entire picture there is a prophecy concerning the messiah who would come and it says you will not be affected by the arrow that flies by day or by night and it speaks about you know the entirety of that person's day be not affected by anything but yet we get sick our bodies you know succumb to diseases and we die the person of psalm 91 is not affected by anything it's speaking about jesus that's a messianic psalm concerning the mashiach of israel the messiah and satan listen to this i don't care what people say well we can apply it to our lives if you want you can but it's not talking about you it's talking about jesus it's the fulfillment of who jesus is and even satan is a better scholar than you and he tells jesus this verse is speaking about you but you know what i love about this and this goes to show how much satan knows the bible when you read it what does he do well he says this is written concerning you and then he says he will give his angels charge over you but he doesn't say the rest where the rest of the verse says and then you will tread upon the head of the serpent like you're gonna you're gonna kill the the serpent well he doesn't quote that because then he's there now admitting his doom but isn't that interesting that he knew that the following set of verses spoke concerning his end but he failed to what utter it or recognize it satan understands that he's defeated but he believes that he's going to win somehow that is the deception of sin that is the cycle of sin and addictions in people's lives and somehow they think they're deceived that somehow they think that by living a life of sin things are going to get better listen it doesn't work that way and we see that in the way satan operates but listen to this jesus then there stands strong and he's able to withstand that's why the bible says this that jesus was tempted in all points but he didn't sin he was tempted in all points but sin not so jesus is sinless now the whole point that i want to make to you guys is this very truth here because i think the problem today with the church is your view of jesus and i say this to you tonight i'm not speaking this to the church as a whole i'm speaking this to the fellowship here at living way who is jesus to you jesus is god's promise jesus is not your genie in the bottle jesus is not your emotional feeling he's not the goosebumps that you get on your arms jesus is not the hairs on the back of your neck standing up jesus is not this good feeling that you get this burst of excitement jesus is god he is a person the second member of the trinity god the father god the son god the holy spirit jesus is not only just that but jesus is also god in human flesh this is what john chapter 1 teaches in the beginning was the word jesus is the word and the word was with god jesus was with god this was all in the beginning how do we know that because we see it if you just read psalm chapter 2 what does it say jesus didn't come into existence when he was born he already existed prior to his birth you might say so you mean to tell me that when god told adam that he was going or the serpent that he was going to put enmity between his seed and the seed of the woman jesus was present absolutely he was there in genesis chapter 1 and verses 26 and 27 it says now let us make man according to our plurality image and our likeness well we're not made in the image of angels man nowhere in the bible doesn't say that we're made in the image of angels well who was god speaking to the father the son and the holy spirit and so we are made and fashioned in that same way you might say you mean to tell me that there's three elements to this one individual of who i am absolutely i'll prove it to you very simple in first thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23 it says now may the god of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our lord jesus christ spirit soul and body isn't that interesting the bible says in genesis chapter 3 that when we die our body our body goes back to the dust of the earth that we were made from from the dust of the earth you came so shall you return right ashes to ash's dust to dust we say at the time that we're laying people to rest because that's what happens so what happens to the soul and the spirit well the spirit remember when god created man what did he do he breathed the ruach hakodesh the holy spirit and it says when he breathed into him man became a living being your spirit goes back to god who gave it what about your soul that's what christ came to die for our soul will spend eternity in heaven three separate and distinct things about you but it's you now i know the doctrine of the trinity people have a hard time wrestling with that because they say things like well the word trinity is not in the bible you're right it's not but the bible teaches it and the people that always say that i always tell them this well do you believe that god is all-powerful and they say yes the omnipotence of god he's all-powerful yes omnipotent yes do you believe that god is all-knowing yes he's omniscient the psalmist says the omniscience of god he's all-knowing do you believe that god is everywhere at one time because he's god he's not he's not confined or constrained by time they say yes so you believe he's omnipresent absolutely show me the word omnipresent in the bible it's not there and they say oh but it teaches it absolutely the word trinity is not there but it teaches that god is father god his son god is holy spirit and what is the quote that people often quote me for that we are chosen by the father we are purchased by the son we are sealed by the spirit blessed god three and one it's exactly what we see here so god promises that this son would come and be delivered will be the deliverer and then in isaiah chapter 7 in verse 14 the lord then speaks to the people of judah and says behold i will give you a sign a virgin shall be with child well now that echoes back to genesis chapter 3 verse 15. a virgin shall be with child this is a virgin birth guys this is stuff you should know when people come and they ask you who is jesus where did he come from what are you going to say he came from heaven how you got to walk them through this you got to these verses you got to memorize listen genesis 3 15 isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 isaiah 9 6 micah chapter 5 verse two you just gotta and then you walk them into the gospel and all of a sudden their eyes are so they're like whoa like yeah whoa because then in isaiah chapter nine in verse six it says for unto us a child is born for unto us a son is given the child of the virgin mary was born the son of god was given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor prince of peace everlasting father right mighty god all these beautiful titles that jesus would hold not only in his first coming but in his second coming it clearly speaks of this messiah that would come and deliver the people of their misery and it doesn't stop there not only does it speak of a virgin birth and that he would be deliverer but the bible also even gives us the very place in which he would be born it says in micah chapter 5 and verse 2 for you ephrath although you are little among judah for out of you shall come forth one to be ruler of my people epaphratha was the name of bethlehem before it was called bethlehem and it says there he would be born in that very place now we also see according to daniel chapter 9 and verse 26 that when the messiah comes he will be cut off he will also be cut off but not for himself he will die but not for himself and this is as all this is coming into play here we see the promise once again isaiah 53 verses 8 and 9. we see also that he is given life isaiah 53 verses 11 and 12 which also fulfills what zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10 says that they look upon him and they'll see him and they'll say who pierced you who did this to you and jesus will say you did and then israel will re recognize him as their messiah and all of this clearly is just in just the beginning of what he's saying here so number one you can say in verse one god kept his promise god kept his promise the virgin birth the seed of the woman the virgin birth the messiah listen to this has come this is the good news that god is faithful at keeping his promises and often time again you'll see over and over many passages that point to jesus is coming as the messiah so this is the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ the son of god as it is written in the prophets and you know what i i just trip out on how people say you know the bible is written by man i can't trust it the bible is it's it's a man-made book and you know and i i love that question because it just shows how ignorant they are you know but i'm not going to tell them that you know i just look at them i'm just like i'm you you just fell right into this right here come on man you know and then i play dumb too like oh yeah it is you know it's like and they're like yeah you see you see so you sure you know what you believe and then i say well where do you get your knowledge from oh you know i read i read a lot of books interesting who wrote those books different men interesting and so you mean to tell me that you discredit the bible because it was written by man but all of your knowledge was written by man too so now let's look two things and let's see whose man is right and i'll tell you what it's funny how every generation thinks they're the first ones to think of that statement it's written by man listen every generation has struggled with that that's why the bible says the word of god is god breathed as the spirit of god came upon men and moved of the holy spirit yes men wrote them but they were the vessel the instrument that god used by way of the holy spirit to do this very thing and just in this very start mark wants to get the record straight here he's saying listen this whole picture here is that god keeps his promises there's no need to go any further mark is saying here unless you truly understand this what is the good news all is not lost you're not going to die in your sin there is an answer to all of life's questions there's an answer to all of life's problems and this is not the end there's better days ahead of you and there's a hope that you could have because the good news is that the messiah whom the father has promised has come into this world that's the hope that we have you know a good church service and a good worship set is not going to change a person's life it can't ch it can't it can't save a person but when you begin to speak this message listen to this when people don't understand why they're in the addiction that they're in or the cycle of addiction and they're lost when you meet people that are just lost and all of a sudden you begin to speak the good news the gospel to them what you're doing is you're speaking life you're speaking life into them because that's what jesus did jesus didn't only die jesus was raised from the dead and he is alive he's seated at the right hand of the father and when we speak the word of god and share the good news of the gospel guess what that does it takes that dead spirit in these people and it begins to resurrect them and bring them to life and then what happens they begin to respond to the gospel and then you begin to explain to them how this all came about majority of the time we think that our present condition or circumstances prior to christ is because of every bad decision we made but then you realize that there's sin in the world and then you begin to realize this is why i struggled so hard i tried with every effort on my own and i've tried to do it with my own hands and failed miserably but all of a sudden they hear the good news the gospel that jesus says you don't have to live that way you don't have to live in that desperation you don't have to live in that present condition or state you can be set free and you can be delivered because god promised that the one who would come would set men free from the bondage of sin he's come he's here his name is jesus and that's why paul says in romans 6 14 for sin shall no longer have dominion over me i think a lot of times guys what's wrong with the church today we have a very poor view of jesus and and we don't understand the power of the gospel that it could set men free and church becomes a religious type of thing where we just attend regularly so we can get our religious fix as if god is keeping tally up there in heaven and saying you want to know what you were a faithful church attender now listen religion has showed us time and time again that's not how it works your love for god should grow your hate for sin should grow and listen this is the struggle that we always have nobody's perfect and god doesn't say hey i only want perfect people he says i want the most messed up and the most jacked up and the most torah yes look to your neighbor and say that's you okay listen and he takes you just as you are and guess what he does guess what he does he calls you his child the creator of heaven and earth there are people listen in your life and in your family and in your past that would never acknowledge or recognize you because of all the damage you've done in the carnage you've done and perhaps whatever the situation might be sin ruined relationships but you want to know what god will never be ashamed of you the whole purpose of god keeping his promise so that he can reconcile man to himself and say these are my children and mark is saying listen the beginning of the gospel the good news of jesus christ the son of god mark says you need to look nowhere else don't go to people or man to know who jesus i love what he does here because today we got the almighty google right and all of a sudden you're googling some of you're probably doing it right now as i'm teaching let me see if he's right about this you know and comparing me to google you know but hey listen whatever but the almighty google it'll tell you who jesus is but it's not going to give you an accurate account you'll go ask a denomination who jesus is and guess what they're going to tell you according to our denomination and our polity this is who jesus is you go to the you go to the occult and you ask the occult who is jesus according to our false religious system and beliefs this is who jesus is you go to the person who is uh what we call a youtube prophet youtube preachers they have no church that they're under they're just out there on their own with all these weird types of teachings they're going to tell you who jesus is according to their understanding but i'll tell you what you don't have to look anywhere mark tells you very clearly just right here in the second verse as it is written so what is he saying if you want to know who this jesus is the son of god the promised one the one who god has been speaking about the entire time it's right here in this book 843 000 words in here get it in and you'll know who jesus is you know the reason why the church has a hard time knowing who jesus is because let's be honest here tonight i just want to give you guys a clear clear picture let's be honest here today can you be honest in your heart and say that in the day maybe not today maybe yesterday but just in a day that you could say yeah i've i've wasted a half hour of my time or i know i could have been doing something else anybody here you ever wasted okay listen to this you know that and ask my mom okay i use her as a reference because all you guys you know you guys like her and love her but ask her but listen to this you know my mom never read through the entire bible until she sat under me and called me her pastor she never read from genesis to revelation and she was living in my home and i said to her mom you know what you need to read through the bible man and she's just like well i know the word i'm not saying you don't know the word i'm just saying you need to read through the bible read it she says you know what all right what do i got to do i said well there's an app and just put it in your phone and then what you're going to do is you're going to open it up every morning 20 minutes of your day if that and it's going to give you all the chapters to read and read it you know that while living in my home my mom read through the entire bible after knowing the lord for close to 30 years she had never read through the entire bible you know what she said there are things in there that i'm just like tripping out on like this has been there this whole time now i kind of have an understanding why this happened this way in that you see guys listen how many of you here have read through the entire bible don't don't don't listen don't don't don't start raising your hand like wow you know i started and you know just kind of no i mean literally literally you've read through the entire bible either in a year or in 90 days raise your hand if you have don't be embarrassed raise your hand if you have okay raise your hand if you have not go ahead raise it hi i want to see it because i want to count okay that's that's more than half of you guys in here you've never read the entire did you know that you just admitted to wasting a half hour of your day when you could have been reading the bible and in one year you could have read through the entire bible the psalms and the proverbs twice and the new testament i've read through the entire bible yearly for eight years and you know what i did i picked a different translation every year i teach out of the new king james because it's the translation that i prefer to teach from because everybody either reads the king james or new king james but you know what my favorite translation of the bible is the living translation it's my favorite translation you know what the most accurate translation of the hebrew and greek text is the new american standard version and one of my favorite bibles to study through is the english standard version why do i say this not because popular pastors that we like because they preach so good use this i don't jump on the bandwagon i choose these texts because i've read them and i've read through them and i'll tell you guys this when you read through the bible you're going to begin to see jesus on every single page i can assure you of that and it will re-revolutionize your christian walk trust me try it you guys know that we have a route 66 page how many guys know that you know you need to get on there and get on the reading plan that we have on there to read through the bible with many of us that are going through the bible and reading it every year trust me this is what he's saying as it is written so tonight you want answers to what's going on in the world guess what the bible says as it is written you want answers to know why you struggle with the things that you struggle with and you feel like there's no way out but there really is but in some way you've been deceived and you think it's works rather than a work of god as it is written if you're wondering tonight man how come i don't know as much as he knows or so and so knows mark says as it is written man i just want to help my family members and friends i see the world losing it all these people afraid the vaccine and the covet and people dying and all this stuff and and and and people just passing away listen all this stuff breaks my heart man yes it does you could never get used to someone passing away especially people you know as it is written see for the christian we understand who we are in christ and mark is saying here do you understand that in the midst of all this chaos even when the world was facing idolatry god sent forth his son the good news came in the darkest times and in the darkest times in your life god brings the good news the good news is always good news it's never bad and i keep referring back to this statement in my mind we watch the news to know what's going on in the world and we see all the bad things we read the bible to know why the bible tells us why and the bible tells us what we need to do and look at what mark then goes on to say and i want to close with this mark says as it is written in the prophets or by the prophets behold i send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make his path straight notice that it says prophets plural why because here is a passage of scripture from both malachi and isaiah but mark did something interesting here he actually combined three texts mark combined exodus chapter 23 and verse 20 behold i am sending my messenger along with malachi chapter 3 and verse 1. i will send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way notice the emphasis guys listen way before the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make his pastorate he knows the term the way and or way here path road or highway is referred to time and time again especially in mark's gospel as it pertains to jesus dealing with his disciples god wants us to walk the way of jesus christ and it's not anything that you do in your own effort in your own strength guess what the lord says right here mark says god prepared the way and the way has been set and remember what jesus said in john 14 i am the what i am the way there's no other way and often times we try to find other ways listen you try to find other ways for happiness for acceptance for peace of mind for easy things in life you try to find another way to be at ease with all this stuff and listen all those little rabbit trails that you go down are short-lived you realize that by the time you get to the end of that road you've wasted either years of your life time money relationships effort you've lost trust listen to this the only way is jesus and god's not asking you to be a denomination or get religious what the lord is saying just get to know me and put me first and watch what i will do walk the way that i have prepared for you and see what i can do for you and guess what he did i quoted a lot of verses tonight yes but god prepared the way from genesis 3 15 all the way up to mark's gospel and what mark is saying listen what i'm about to share with you is not anything new this is actually our dna so when people say oh you're a christian oh yeah you're one of those ones no ah not one of those ones not what you think i'm a follower of jesus christ i'm a disciple who's been discipled by the way like when they called them those of the way in the book of acts what does that mean it means that we are followers of jesus and we are going the path that god has prepared level the roads make them safe the lord is coming and that's what we're to be doing mark is preparing the way so that his readers can come to know jesus the lord the deliverer the savior the anointed one god's promise fulfilled and come to life and let me tell you something guys for you tonight what god wants you to take from this little introduction to mark's gospel is this very thing that god has prepared the way so that you can experience every spiritual blessing that he gives us through his son jesus christ so that you could live the victorious christian life no matter what takes place in life that we put our hope in trust in jesus christ our lord our savior the servant king may we live a life of service unto him let's pray

Channel: LivingWayTV

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Id: CVIE413w92s

Length: 62min 24sec (3744 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021