The question before us today is without a doubt, the most important question in the world. We find it articulated by the rich, young ruler in vs 17. And it is understood to be main thought of the whole passage. The question asked by the young man is this: “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” It is a question that should be of concern to everyone here, to everyone in every age. It is the question of the ages. If you have not asked this question yourself, then you are either naive in hoping that it is immaterial, or you are hiding your head in the sand.

I was speaking to an older gentleman the other day. And he was burying his father this weekend who had just died at age 93. Though this man did not claim to be religious, or claim to be a Christian, still he seemed to get the crux of the issue. He said there has to be more life after this. There has to be a heaven and hell. And then he added, either you are going to get to heaven by virtue of becoming a born again, as he called us, or you are going to have to try to keep all the dictates of the Catholic Church and hope for the best. I think I will bet my money on being born again.

Because that is essentially what the Lord is teaching here. There are two incidents that are presented for us by Mark in his gospel. The first incident illustrates that in order to enter the kingdom of God you must become like a baby, you must be born again. The second one illustrates the way you will not enter the kingdom, and that is pictured through the self sufficient of the rich, young ruler.

Let’s start by looking at the first one, which is that of the parents bringing their babies to Jesus. And the disciples think that is an interruption, a nuisance to Jesus’s teaching. But Jesus is indignant at the disciples, and says, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” The translation says children, but Greek scholars tell us that the word indicates infants.

Now we often see people bring infants to church to be blessed and dedicated to the Lord. We don’t practice baby baptism here, but some people have used this passage as a text to justify that sort of thing. We don’t do it here, but we will have a baby dedication service if asked, where the parents bring a newborn to be blessed and consecrated to the Lord. However, neither such service is a means of salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith, as the Bible clearly teaches. So it’s impossible for the baby to be saved until such a time as they can exhibit saving faith.

However, I will say that this text, at least in my mind, offers additional assurance that babies who die before the age of accountability, will go to heaven. Jesus says without qualification that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these infants. We don’t know exactly how long this benefit is for every child, it may vary from child to child. But the Bible would seem to indicate that the age of 12 is the age of accountability. And this principle of very young children being accepted into the kingdom upon premature death is verified elsewhere in the scripture. You will remember when David’s son born to Bathsheba died, David said, “He cannot come to me, but I will go to him.” He indicated that the baby would be in heaven and he would see him there. So I think this text is further assurance of that principle.

But the principle as stated by Jesus is much broader than just limited to babies however. Note the next verse, vs15 “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” The indication in the previous verse that the kingdom of God belonged to SUCH as these, that is people who could be characterized such as these babies, is now expanded to include whoever comes like a child. So entrance into the kingdom of God is not limited to infants, but to whomever becomes like an infant.

So the question is then what characteristics do children have that are spiritually desirable and able to make someone acceptable to God? Well, you simply have to imagine an infant. I remember our children well when they were infants. For my wife Susie, that was her favorite time with the kids, when they were helpless and unable to even hold their head up. But for me that was a nerve racking time. I found their complete helplessness unnerving and practically terrifying. I had no idea why they were crying, or what might be going on.

So I would have to say that what Jesus means when He says the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, is that for one they are new born. When Nicodemus came to the Lord at night he asked some very similar questions as the rich young ruler asked. In John 3:3 Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” So Jesus is saying that it’s necessary to enter into a new birth, to become like an infant. Jesus goes on to explain to Nicodemus that there was a physical birth and a spiritual birth. Nicodemus thought that Jesus was talking about going back into the womb again, but Jesus revealed He was speaking of a spiritual rebirth which He compared to being born again.

Now the main characteristics of a new born we have already alluded to; they are helpless, they are utterly dependent upon their parents for sustenance, they are unable to fend for themselves in any way. They are unable to make a living, to own property. They are completely dependent. And as such they are a great illustration of the characteristics of a person who becomes born again spiritually. One who would enter the kingdom of God must first realize that everything that they possess, everything they could do through their own efforts, are completely ineffectual in accomplishing entrance into the kingdom of God. We must realize our helplessness, our hopelessness, and our utter dependence upon the Lord. We are unable in ourselves to provide for ourselves spiritually, to gain spiritual life. Eternal life then is something that we are born into, but not through our own efforts, but being born of God.

So having said these things, having established this principle for entering the kingdom of God, Jesus illustrates the love of God; how God lavishes His grace upon them accepts such as these by picking up the children one by one, and laying His hands on them and blessing them. Such is a picture of the experience of the Christian life. We enter into a familial relationship with God our Father and receive the blessings of being sons and daughters of God. And since God is eternal, and the source of life, then we that are born of God have eternal life as well.

The next incident that Mark records for us in the meeting of the rich, young ruler, provides a sharp contrast to that of the children. The children came to Jesus in their helplessness and dependence and they are accepted into the kingdom. The rich young ruler comes to Jesus in his wealth and self sufficiency and he goes away crestfallen that he cannot enter the kingdom.

Let’s look more closely at why the rich, young ruler was not able to enter the kingdom of God. I keep referring to this man as the rich, young ruler, but Mark doesn’t call him that. Mark just calls him a man, we have to get the rest of the descriptive terms from the other gospel accounts. But all the gospel writers say that he was rich, that he owned much property. The fact that he was young may not have a lot of bearing, but the fact that he was a ruler indicates that he was a religious ruler of a synagogue.

Notice that he comes running up to Jesus. That may be an indication of his youth. He is excited to meet Jesus. He is anxious to find out the answer to a question that is obviously important to him. Those are all good qualities. We should all be anxious to know the truth concerning the kingdom of God, and recognizing that Christ is the source of truth is an important first step. Jesus Himself declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.” So it is a good first step for this young man to come to the Lord with a sense of urgency.

And Mark adds that this young man knelt before Jesus. As a ruler of a synagogue, this would indicate a willingness to humble himself, and a reverence for Jesus. This also is a good beginning, but Jesus is going to seize upon that reference to Him as “good” in order to get this man to see who He really is.

But although his sincerity and urgency and reverence are commendable, it still falls short of what is necessary to gain eternal life. That raises an important point that needs to be stressed. Many people are impressed to come to the Lord for a variety of reasons. And according to popular opinion, you just need to come as you are and be sincere, and have some degree of belief in God, and God will accept you. But Jesus makes it clear that sincerity alone is not enough. Only the truth can make you free. So Jesus questions him in vs18, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”

And that is the crux of the issue. Yes, we are saved by faith in Christ. In John 3:15 we read that “Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” But believes what about Jesus? That is the essential question. What Jesus is pointing out is not that He isn’t good, and only the Father is good. But rather if He is truly good, then He must be God. A lot of people are willing to say that Jesus is good, He is a good teacher. He was a mystic, a shaman, a spiritual guide. But Jesus never claimed to be just a teacher or a prophet. He claimed to be the Son of God. He told Philip, “if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. I and the Father are One.” He told the Pharisees, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Therefore, either Jesus is God, and is Good, or He is a megalomaniac, He is an evil imposter. But He cannot be good unless He is God, because He claimed to be God.

Before you can gain entrance into eternal life, or the kingdom of God, you must recognize that Jesus is God. He is the way to salvation. And it is only through the grace of God that we might come to know God and be accepted by God and receive eternal life. A good man, even the best of men, could not by his death atone for anyone’s sins, even his own. Only God can atone for the sins of the world.

The problem though really wasn’t whether or not Jesus was good, but that the young man thought he himself was good. He was what you might call a good person. He was religious, he had his head on straight, he was moral, he was sincere, he was all the things that we think constitute goodness. In his mind, I’m sure he didn’t think that he needed to be saved, he just needed a little something extra to insure that he was going to have eternal life. If you compared him to practically everyone else around, he was the upper crust. He had no outward failings. If anyone could go to heaven, it would be someone like him. And its’ evident that he thought of himself that way.

So Jesus turns the conversation to the standard of goodness. The standard of righteousness. God’s standard of righteousness is not by comparing you to your neighbor, or your husband, for that matter. According to our standards, we are all righteous. But Jesus turned him to the standard of God’s righteousness, which is the law, or commandments.

Jesus said in vs.19 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” And notice how quick the young ruler answered, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” Now I’m sure he was sincere. But I am also certain that Jesus, knowing all things and able to know his heart, was more than aware of the ways in which this man fell short of those commandments. But the Lord would allow his answer to stand, and move him from the second table of the law to the first table. The second table deals with mans’ actions towards man. The first table of the law deals with man’s actions towards God. Had the young man been in attendance at the Sermon on the Mount, he would have known that Jesus equated hate with murder, and lust with adultery and so forth. But rather than address those internal shortcomings, Jesus brings his attention to his relationship with God.

Vs. 21 Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Notice in bringing his attention to his relationship to God, Jesus first demonstrates God’s love for us. We would have no chance of eternal life were it not for the love of God. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should have eternal life.” God’s love comes first in our relationship with God. We love, because He first loved us. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In any relationship we might have with God, it must be predicated by the fact that God first loved us.

Secondly, if God loved us, then we must love God. Jesus said in another place that the foremost commandment was this; (Mark 12:30) “AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.” So the question Jesus posed to the young man was this; if you think you keep the commandments, then here is the foremost commandment. And if I am good, then I am God. And if I am God and you love Me with all your heart and soul, then you will do what I command you. And this is my command, “God and sell all you possess and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.”

Now no matter how you look at this statement, this is a tough thing to do. Imagine if that were it. Imagine if the only way to enter into heaven was to sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and then follow Christ. If that were truly the only way to become a Christian, then I dare say that none of us here today would really be willing to make that sacrifice. Would you be willing to sell your stocks, your cars, your houses, your jewelry, etc, etc, and give it all away to poor people? I think not. I think all of us would be like the rich young ruler and walk away from this church crestfallen, knowing that we were not willing to give it all up to God.

So then, according to this standard of righteousness, none of us can be saved. This young man’s refusal to sell everything exposed three sins against the commandments. First, He did not love the Lord with all his heart, mind and strength. Secondly, he sinned by holding onto idols in his life. You cannot serve God and wealth. His possessions were his idols. And thirdly, he sinned against the second foremost commandment, which is that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. If he truly loved his neighbor as himself he would have acquiesced to the Lord’s request. In one simple statement, Jesus exposed the young man’s hypocritical adherence to the law. And He has also exposed ours as well. There is none righteous, no not one.

Then who can be saved? That is my cry, and the cry of the disciples. And Jesus does not make it any easier for us. He turned to the disciples when the young man left crestfallen and said, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” I would have half expected Jesus to stop the young man as he was walking away and saying to him, “Hey, come back! I was just kidding! It’s not really that tough. I would never ask you to sell everything and give it all away. I was just using hyperbole! I was exaggerating! Lighten up, salvation is free for the asking!”

But no, Jesus states that it is hard for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples are amazed, so Jesus repeats it again in vs24. But notice this time He does not add the phrase “for those who are wealthy.” In this verse, He seems to include everyone.
But then for the third time, Jesus declares this principle by analogy, saying in vs25, “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.” If there is any doubt, we should have none after three such statements. Jesus has just said that it is practically impossible for a rich man to be saved. Period.

So the disciples are amazed at this statement, and understandably so. I am amazed by this statement. I am terrified by this statement and you should be too. Because we are all rich in this world’s goods, and though we may wish we were richer, none of us would wish that he were poorer.

So the disciples ask the second most important question in the world, in vs.26, “Then who can be saved?” If none of us are willing to leave everything and follow Him, then who can be saved? If the disciples question makes you cry out in anguish, then the Lord’s answer should make you cry out “Hallelujah!”

The Lord’s answer is found in vs27 Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” Notice, Jesus broadens it to all people, not just rich people. With people it is impossible to keep the commandments. With people it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” It’s impossible for anyone to enter the kingdom of God on their on merits, regardless of what they might do, because none of us can measure up to the standard of God’s righteousness.

But the good news is that Jesus Christ has measured up to the standard of righteousness. He is good, and He is righteous. And because He loves us, He has offered up Himself to be our substitute, and God has put the penalty for our iniquity on Him, and transferred His righteousness to us. 2 Cor. 5:21 says, “God made Him who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” With God it is possible to enter the kingdom, because Jesus has paid for our sins and transferred His righteousness to us, so that by His grace we who believe in Him might be saved. That is the gospel of the kingdom of God. The good news of the kingdom. God has made our citizenship in heaven possible through Jesus Christ.

Peter though is not thinking so much about what Christ has done for them, but rather what they have done for the Lord. He’s still thinking of the rich young ruler who couldn’t leave his money to follow Jesus. And so he says to Jesus, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” That’s a rather bold statement. They had left much. They left their nets. They left their homes. But there were times that it would seem they returned to their fishing, and to their homes. So I can’t help but wonder if there is not a hint of the same sense that the rich young ruler expressed when he said that he had kept all the commandments since his youth.

But notice that Jesus does not rebuke Peter for over stating their commitment. But rather Jesus would seem to commend whatever sacrifices they had made, even if it was only temporary. In vs29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

This statement must be understood figuratively to be understood correctly. The point Jesus is making is that there will be a reward for what we give up here on earth for the sake of the kingdom of God. Paul said, “all the things which were gain to me here on earth, I gladly count as rubbish for the surpassing value of knowing Jesus as Lord.” There is great reward in following Jesus. But here in this earth it may be spiritual blessings in exchange for physical. There will also be persecutions. Jesus said elsewhere, “In this world you will have tribulations, but take courage, I have overcome the world.” And when we overcome this world, we will grasp hold of eternal life, and all that eternal life promises; an abundant, fulfilled life in the presence of the source of all life and blessedness. So all of the blessings that this world offers will one day pale in comparison to the blessings we shall enjoy in eternity.

However, Jesus adds one caveat to that future promise of rewards, which will be looked at more thoroughly later, and that is He says “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” This was the qualifying remark regarding the apostle’s reward. All who sacrifice for the Lord will be rewarded, but God’s way and timing of rewarding may not match up with man’s way and timing of being rewarded. When God rewards, He judges with righteous judgment. He sees the heart, the motive, and the sacrifices that were made that may have not been noticed by man. Man judges according to outward appearances. But God judges according to the heart. Thus many who have seemingly achieved great things for the kingdom according to man’s perspective, may find themselves on the end of the line in the judgement to come.

And that should be an encouragement to all of us. Because not all of us have great resources, or great talents to use for the Lord. But we will be judged by what we do have, and as we are faithful in little things, He will be faithful to reward us with better things.

Last Wednesday, Joe mentioned at Bible study prayer time that a man who he worked with had passed away suddenly. It turns out that I knew this man, and had worked for him at one time. We were just about the same age. And though I didn’t see it, one of my coworkers used to say that he thought we could be brothers because we looked so much alike. But if we did, that’s where the similarity ended. This man, that I’ll call Dave, was at the top of the company ladder, while I was at the bottom. I remember working in his beach house, and being a little envious of a lifestyle like he had, with a million dollar beach home fully furnished whenever he chose to come to the beach. He seemed to have everything, and I seemed to have very little in earthly wealth. I was literally sweeping floors and taking out trash in this company, while trying to start this church. And I will confess I sometimes felt like Peter must have felt. “Lord, I’ve given up so much to follow you. What’s my reward?”

Well, Dave passed away suddenly last week from a heart attack. And I don’t know his eternal destiny. From my perspective, there was nothing about him that led me to believe that he was a follower of Christ. But one thing I do know, the beach house, and the cars and the bank accounts and profit sharing is still here, and Dave is not here. He is in eternity. And in light of this passage we looked at today, I wonder what his reward will be? Did he receive eternal life through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, or did he enter into eternal damnation and separation from God for refusing to let go of the things of this world?

What about you? What are you worshipping today? What do you hold more dear than love for the Lord? As you examine your life today in light of the word, let us remember the question Jesus asked back in Mark 8:36, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”

Today is my wife and I’s 29th wedding anniversary. So it’s particularly ironic that we find ourselves looking at the subject of divorce. Twenty nine years is a long time. It’s a life sentence. Seriously though, the secret to our long marriage is that divorce was never an option. We made a promise to God for life.

When I told someone the other day that I was going to be speaking on divorce at this Sunday morning service their response was that I would most likely offend most of the people in the congregation. Last week I already managed to offend most people. And now today we’re probably going to offend the rest of you. So it’s not without some trepidation that I attempt to expound on this subject today. However, in my defense, I will say at the beginning, that Jesus is the author of this message, not me. I am just the messenger.

However the same concern of offense could be said about Jesus’s address on divorce. The question, posed by the Pharisees, was designed to make Him offensive to the ears of the multitudes, if not even His own disciples. There were two possible answers, and both of them would end up offending someone. So that’s why Mark says that the Pharisees came to test Jesus. They wanted to discredit Him, to make Him offensive to people, and they figured that this question was a good way to do it. Because the subject of marriage and divorce has been a volatile issue for a long time. It’s not only a hot button issue in our culture, but it was in Jesus’s culture as well.

But as a preamble to this discussion, I would like to reiterate a point I’ve made before, that Christianity is not just a spiritual experience, nor is it a list of do’s and don’ts, but it is a way of life, a new way of living. That’s why in the early church period it was called “The Way”. It’s not only the way of salvation, but it’s the way that God has designed man to live. The way of the abundant life that Jesus spoke of. So then, as we look at this passage today, it’s important not just to see an iron clad, restrictive law, but life giving principles which precede and inform that law.

So notice the question of the Pharisees. They ask in vs.2, “whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.” The emphasis is on whether or not it was lawful. The Pharisees were supposed to be experts in the law. But now they come to Jesus to seek His advice on the law? Not hardly. They came to catch Him. The problem was not the law. We will see what the law states in a moment. The problem came in interpreting the law. There were two famous rabbis, one named Hillel and the other Shammai. Hillel was for the more liberal interpretation, whereas Shammai favored a very conservative, or strict interpretation. Hillel basically said that the law allowed a man to divorce his wife for almost any reason whatever. If she no longer met his approval, if she burned the toast, whatever the reason he now viewed her unfavorably, he could divorce her.

Shammai on the other hand, held to a conservative interpretation, which said that divorce was only permissible in the case of immorality. The underlying problem with divorce in that society, was that it was predominately a man’s prerogative. Men had complete authority in society. Women were second class citizens. My daughter and I saw a movie the other night which was set in Afghanistan. And the movie made it clear that the attitude even today in our modern times among many in the Middle East towards women is that they are second class citizens. They are considered the property of the husband. And as such they can do what they want with the women. That view gives rise to great injustices to women in the Middle Eastern cultures today. And I think such a view was very popular in ancient Israel as well. Today in western culture we see women suing for divorce just as much if not more than men. It was just the opposite in the past. But in the time of Christ, it was defiantly the prerogative of men.

So Jesus is put on the spot by this question. He’s going to offend many people no matter what He says. So what did Jesus say? Which camp of interpretation did He ascribe to?

You know, the difficulty in these sort of questions is that everyone has an opinion. Everyone wants to express what they think is right and what they think sounds fair. And that’s where the difficulty comes, because though everyone is entitled to their opinion not everyone is in agreement. However, I love the fact that Jesus shows us the source of wisdom. He does not offer His opinion. But rather He goes to the scriptures. The scriptures can be relied upon to give us God’s truth, which is the same yesterday, today and forever. The scriptures do not change. Rabbis, teachers, preachers, come and go over the centuries, most of them long forgotten. But the word of the Lord endures forever. Fashions change, cultures change, societies rise and fall, but God’s word never changes. We have all heard people use the excuse that we live in a different culture today than they did in those times. But I must tell you, that the culture must bow down to the word of God, and not vice a versa.

Jesus answers from the scriptures. He answers from the law, which was the standard that the Pharisees were supposed to be championing. Note vs3, And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” Moses wrote the Law. God gave it to Moses on the mountain, and then Moses gave the law to the people, both verbally and in the form of the scriptures.

The Pharisees of course know the law, and they are eager to show their knowledge, so they answer, “Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY.” They were quoting from Deut. 24. But they were placing the emphasis on the wrong aspects of the law. They interpreted it as saying you could divorce your wife for whatever reason, but you must give her a written bill of divorce. However, this specific aspect of the law was really written to be a protection to the wife, that once you have given her up, you cannot afterwards take her back again if she had lost the next husband for any reason. It was a concession to divorce made for the wife’s benefit, and not an excuse for the husband to dump his wife.

But that was the sort of minute detail that the Pharisees loved to squabble over. Such dissection of the law gave them the opportunity to find a way around the principle of the law. But Jesus brings them back to the overarching principle. Vs 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. “But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, 8 AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Notice first that Jesus tells them that Moses made this concession, not to give license to divorce, but that if they sinned in putting away their wife, they must write her a bill of divorce. The point Jesus is making is that Moses wrote this because of the hardness of their heart. Moses knew that some hard hearted men would want to send away their wives so they could find another one they liked better. So Moses wrote the law that way to protect the woman. Because he knew that the Jewish men had hardened hearts. They were not all going to keep the law of marriage as God intended it. So Jesus said, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.”

What is a hardened heart? Stubbornness, pride, desire for preeminence, an unbending desire to do what you want to do. Well, what would the opposite be? A heart that is contrite, repentant, humble, and willing to serve others. There are many occurrences in the Scriptures of the phrase, “hardness of heart.” We are warned again and again against hardening our hearts. We are reminded of when Moses was sent to Pharaoh and told to deliver the message of God: “Let my people go.” When Pharaoh heard that word, he “hardened his heart,” (Exodus 8:15, 8:32, 9:34, 10:1). What does that mean? It means he determined to handle things his own way. He determined to do what he felt like doing in the situation, to handle it his own way, and to ignore the word of God. This is hardening of the heart. When you determine that you are going to handle something yourself, and not pay any attention to what God reveals about it, you are hardening your heart. This is what was going on in the marriages in Israel and unfortunately is still occurring in the church today.

But then note that after rebuking them for the hardness of their heart, Jesus takes them back to the prevailing divine principle. Jesus said in vs.6, “But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, 8 AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.” To establish the principle, Jesus takes them back before Moses, before even Abraham, all the way back to the beginning of creation. Jesus quotes from Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. But in taking them back to the beginning, Jesus takes them back to the institution of marriage. Not just the concession of divorce, which obviously has to come after marriage, but back to marriage itself. And from these verses we learn that marriage is a divine institution, not a civil institution. That’s why governments have traditionally recognized the church as the governing body for marriage. Marriage’s legitimacy comes from God, not the government.

The problem with the Jews, just as it is the problem of us today, is not that we don’t understand divorce, but that we don’t understand what God purposed in marriage. We have a low view of marriage, and thus we have a low view of divorce. Today many people want to say, “We live in a different culture” or “The rules are different today” or “We need a practical understanding.” Yet Jesus knew that the timeless answers were found in going back to the beginning of God’s purposes in creation.

First, notice that Jesus states the design of God in creation. “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.'” He made them to be distinct and different sexes. He made them to have different roles, different responsibilities. Men and women are designed to be different, yet complimentary.

I couldn’t help but notice the craziness of the Women’s March that was going on yesterday in Washington, DC and other cities around the country. I’m not sure what they were protesting against. I saw people wearing Black Lives Matter shirts, and holding Dump Trump signs. But I guess the underlying goal was equality of women. But the fact is that God didn’t make man and woman the same. He made them different by design. When God created all the creatures of the earth and sky and sea, God said it was good. But when God created Adam, He said that it was not good for man to be alone. So God created woman, to help man, to complete man. That’s the symbolism of taking a rib out of Adam’s side. She is now bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. They are designed to be different, yet one flesh. To complement one another that they may be better together. Man alone is not good, but man and woman as one is good.

And that oneness indicates the desire of God. “‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.’ So they are no longer two but one.” Jesus says, ”For this reason” — what reason is He speaking of? He is quoting from Genesis 2:24 which comes just after Adam says, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” So the reason they are joined together is because she was taken out of Man. She comes back to complete him and he her.

That is what they were made male and female for — in order that ultimately they might be joined together and become one. That is the desire of God. This oneness is a divine attribution which God intends for us to also enjoy. Jesus prayed in John 17:22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.”

The term Jesus uses in vs9 for joined together literally means yoked together. Like two horses yoked together, couples must work together and head the same way to really be joined the way God wants them to be joined. Thus Paul speaking to the church in 2Cor. 6:14 says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

According to God’s principles then, the husband and wife form a team, a partnership. They have been joined together by God to fulfill God’s purposes. What God has joined together, let no man separate.

Furthermore, it’s clear that this passage does away with the notion of a same sex marriages. Marriage is designed by God to be between a man and a woman. And there are no provisions for polygamous marriages. Marriage is one man and one woman, and it always has been from the very beginning. Because of the hardness of man’s heart, men in the Bible sometimes took more than one wife. But they never did so without bringing a curse upon themselves. God never intended for there to be but one man with one woman, and as such He made them for one another. How foolish it is to go against the design of the creator.

The Lord makes clear is that this marriage relationship is the highest relationship possible in life. Note that it takes priority over all others. It’s closer even than the ties of blood; a man shall leave his mother, and a woman leave her home. They come together in a bond that is deeper than family relations. “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.” It is a closer relationship than that to any of their children who follow. The priority of the marriage relationship is before the relationship of mother’s and father’s to children. That’s an important principle that has to be prioritized in blended marriages. In the design of creation, people are to become husbands and wives before they become fathers and mothers. That’s a principle that is fast becoming out of fashion, but it’s not out of fashion with God. But what a mess we make out of our lives when we dismiss these divine principles.

And I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that not only is marriage the highest relationship possible in the physical realm, but it is a picture of the highest relationship possible in the spiritual realm. If you look at Genesis 2, which we were looking at just now. After God said it was not good for man to be alone, He does a strange thing. Notice that God does not straight away create woman. But instead, in vs19 of chapter 2 of Genesis God caused all the animals of the earth to pass in front of Adam. And Adam named all the animals. Notice vs.20 “The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.”

That was the point of the whole exercise. To show Adam that there was not a helper suitable to him in the whole of creation. And so then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and He drew the rib from Adam’s side and created woman. Now I would submit to you that is a picture of the situation in heaven. Before creation, God looked around all of his universe and all of heaven, and every creature that lives in the heavens, and there was not found a helper suitable for Him. God desired a companion, who would be like Him, who would love Him. And so God formed man out of the dust of the ground. Every other creature, every other plant of the earth, every other thing that God made, He spoke into existence, and it was made, and it was good. But when God made man, He got down on His knees in the dirt and formed man out of the dust of the ground, and then when He had finished making him, God put His lips to man’s lips and blew the breath of life into him, and man became a living soul. God created mankind to be His bride, to be married to Him. Male and female He created them. And God wants to be one with His bride. God loves His bride which the Bible teaches us is the church. God made it possible for the church to be with Him forever through the death of Jesus Christ. And God wants us to love Him, to cleave to Him and Him only. God promised that He would never leave us, nor forsake us. He will be with us forever. God hates divorce and so He will never divorce us.

So marriage is a serious business to God, because it represents God’s relationship to the church. Jesus then gives the disciples a further word of warning. “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”

When the disciples were alone with Him later in the house they ask Him to explain about divorce again. They want clarification. Perhaps they too held to the liberal view of marriage, and were having a hard time accepting what Jesus had taught.

So Jesus says again in vs11, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.” Notice first of all, Jesus includes our more modern society in this statement. It’s not just a man thing in Jesus’s eyes. Jesus makes it clear that women who divorce outside of Biblical grounds are in sin as well. Notice second of all, that Jesus expands the law. The Jews were looking to limit the law. They were looking for loopholes. They were looking for the concession to divorce to be liberal beyond adultery and to include burning the toast. But Jesus goes beyond the letter of the law to the principle of the law. And ironically, rather than enlarging divorce beyond adultery He makes it clear that divorce except for adultery constitutes adultery. Rather than exempting divorce, Christ equates divorce as adultery.

In Matthew’s gospel there is a more complete record of Christ’s teaching. In Matthew 19:9 Jesus said, “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” With this answer, Jesus interpreted the meaning of the word uncleanness in Deuteronomy 24:1, showing that divorce and the freedom to remarry was only permitted in the case of sexual immorality.

Jesus makes it clear that though God permits divorce, He does not command it. In fact, Malachi 2 makes it clear that God hates divorce. And in vs.13 God associates unanswered prayer with divorce. So though God may give permission for divorce, yet His divine purpose is that there would be no divorce.

There is another scripture which we should mention which gives one other permission for divorce. In 1 Cor. 7:15, Paul added the case of abandonment by an unbelieving spouse. Paul says, “Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.” So if you are married to an unbeliever and they leave the marriage through divorce, then you are no longer under the bondage of the marriage. You are free in regards to being married and can remarry. Paul says the same thing to those who are widowed. In 1 Timothy 5:14 he says he wants younger widows to get married. So there are some things such as death and abandonment that constitute grounds for being set free from the marriage bonds. But the overarching admonition Paul makes is that God has called us to peace.

And that ties us back to the connection of the last verse of the last chapter. Mark 9:50b, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” To have salt, you will remember, is to have no corruption of sin, no hardness of your heart that would cause you to sin. And then to be at peace with one another. Paul reiterates that God has called us to peace. Peace is the lack of strife, envy and lust. Peace is the lack of striving against one another. Peace is unity, oneness. That is what marriage is supposed to accomplish. Marriage should be a divine symbol of peace and love, harmony and unity. As an example of the relationship we are to have with the Lord.

A Christian marriage is one in which there is peace in the home. But it takes a humble, servant’s heart to have that sort of peace. Men are to love their wives and serve their wives as Christ loved the church and gave up His life for her. So Peter tells husbands in 1Peter 3:7-9, “You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”

Peter speaks of a woman being weaker in a physical sense. And you can debate that with the Lord if you want. But in a spiritual sense Peter is saying she is not weaker, but notice she is a fellow heir. She will receive the same measure of reward in heaven as the husband. Both husband and wife are one in Christ. Gal 3:28-29 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

In Christ the woman is not culturally inferior, but she is a fellow heir of Christ. Man and woman were created to live in harmony with one another, to become one, even as we are one with Christ. When we have that kind of attitude about marriage, then we will have no problem with divorce. Christ laid down His rights, His power, His privilege, for the sake of reconciliation with mankind. Let us walk in HIs example, humbling ourselves, serving one another in the love of God.

In the section of Mark we are studying, we have been watching Jesus through a variety of ways instruct the disciples in the true nature of the Kingdom of God. We have seen that Jesus makes it clear that the cross comes before glory, but this is a difficult thing for the disciples to comprehend. And this lesson is very applicable to us, because, if you are like me, you do not like the cross in your life. Christians often make much about the blessings and the glory of Christianity. But usually we avoid the thought of suffering and persecution, of discipline, and of sacrifice. Much of the teaching of the church today avoids talking about these thorny implications of the cross. But Jesus makes clear to his disciples, and by extension to us, that there is no glory without the cross — no cross; no crown. Romans 8:17 says that if we suffer with Him, then we shall also be glorified with Him.

The chapter began with the transfiguration, which was a prefigurement of the glory to come, both in the life of Christ and for his disciples. But then Mark says that they came down the mountain, back on the road to the cross, back down to the suffering and hardship and trials that often are a real part of the Christian experience. They came to find the rest of the disciples being scorned for their lack of power, their impotence over a demon controlled boy. They came down to find unbelief in the absence of the Savior. And now they are traveling again, headed to Capernaum, but Jesus knows that He is ultimately headed to the cross. His public ministry is virtually over at this point. His primary focus is on teaching and equipping the disciples for the time when He will no longer visibly be with them. So Mark says He goes out of His way to avoid the crowds, and as they are walking along on the hot dusty road to Capernaum, He tells the disciples of His destiny. Jesus said vs.31, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.”

He is speaking of His humiliation. His suffering and death, and then His exaltation, when He will rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. Once again, there is the order of first the cross, then the glory. But the disciples don’t understand what He is saying, and perhaps they are afraid to find out. So they don’t ask Him what it means, and they are fearful.

In this announcement of the cross, a new element is added which has not appeared before and may have contributed to their fearfulness. Jesus said, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men.” The word translated “delivered” really means “betrayed.” It is a word that is the technical word used for a criminal being handed over to judgment and punishment, and perhaps execution. It is a legal term and the use of it here even hints at the fact that the execution of Jesus will be to some degree a legal act. It’s an indication to these disciples that the Lord would be delivered over to his enemies by an act of betrayal. After Peter’s rebuke in the last chapter, where Jesus called him Satan, it is not surprising that this revelation would make them afraid that one of their own could betray Christ and He would be killed as a result.

But the principle Jesus wants to teach them is that He is going to suffer the cross before He would be exalted in the resurrection. His humiliation is an important principle that they need to understand, because humility is something that they needed to learn was an essential tenet of the gospel of the Kingdom. In the following verses we are going to see four ways in which the Lord teaches or illustrates the humility of the kingdom in action.

The first is brought about by the Lord asking the disciples in vs33, “what were you discussing along the way?” Jesus knew that they had been talking among themselves during their journey about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom of God. They are still thinking about glory. And perhaps, though Peter, James and John had not told them about the transfiguration as Jesus had requested, yet the rest of the disciples knew that they had gone up to the mountain with Jesus, and had to have realized that something momentous had happened there which they were not privy to. So it’s not surprising that led them to start to argue with one another about who would be first in the kingdom, and who would be next and so forth. They were picking out the seats of honor already, and there was probably some jealousy going on amongst them. In fact, this concept of glory is so fixed in the disciples mind that in the next chapter John and James even had their mother ask Jesus that her sons be seated on the right and left hand when Jesus took His throne. This kind of unbridled ambition is something that is incompatible with the new life that Jesus was illustrating for them.

So Mark says they were quiet, because they didn’t want to admit that they had been talking about who was the greatest. Yet Matthew’s account says that eventually they did ask Him straight out who was the greatest among them. So in vs35, Jesus calls them to come around Him and He sits down in the posture of a rabbi teaching His disciples and He begins to teach the principle of humility. And the principle He gave them is this; “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

You know, it is a very natural desire in the heart of man to excel, to achieve, to distinguish yourself among your peers. We teach that to our children, don’t we? We put them in sports, that are competitive. We give them grades at school. They are tested to see how they rank in regards to others in almost every endeavor. And it doesn’t stop there. We do the same thing at work. Those that excel generally are the ones that get the bonuses, the raises, the promotions. It is part of our culture to be competitive, to try to outdo one another, to rise to the top.

But the gospel is not natural; it does not operate on natural principles. It operates on spiritual principles, based on the truth of God for how we are to live. So what Jesus did was to tell them the way to true greatness. “It is not by seeking to be first,” He said, “It is by a willingness to put others first. It is not by getting people to serve you; it is by becoming a servant of all.”
What Jesus is really saying is that there are two kinds of greatness, two kinds of ambition. There is the ambition to be approved and applauded by men, and the ambition to be approved and applauded by God. One way is natural, and one way is spiritual. One way involves pride, and the other way requires humility.

Now to illustrate this principle, Jesus calls forth a child, maybe 2 to 4 years old. It could have possibly been Peter’s son, as they were probably in Peter’s house. So picking up the little boy in His arms, Jesus said, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

So Jesus reveals, in three remarkable ways, the real marks of greatness as illustrated by this child. Children are illustrative of the Christian. But especially in that culture, children were not considered important. They were property. They were workers for the family good. But they were not given the esteem that our culture gives children today. So the first mark of greatness in the kingdom of God is found in these words: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” The important words there are “in my name.” The motive for receiving such a person, such a little, unimportant child, is that it is done as unto the Lord — done in his name. It is not done because the child can reciprocate by doing good things for you; it is something you do regardless of whether you receive any benefit in doing it, because it is done as unto the Lord.

The first mark of greatness is that you learn to be no respecter of persons, to welcome people simply because they are people, to take no consideration of whether they can do something for you or not, and not to be concerned whether knowing them enhances your own prestige, but because, potentially at least, they are sons and daughters of God Himself. Romans 12:10 tells us to be “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor.” We do this without regard for their standing, or rank. We should put others importance and needs before our own.

This is illustrated in the next section by John. At this point, Mark says, John interrupted Jesus. “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is for us.”

Probably the mention of the phrase, “in my name” caused John to suddenly recall an incident which had taken place not long before, when he and some of the other disciples had seen a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus. John said, “Teacher, when we saw him, we told him to stop, because he wasn’t following us.” This is a typically human reaction, isn’t it? This is jealousy, and it was probably brought on by the fact that the disciples had recently been unable to cast out the demon in the boy. They were jealous of the fact that someone else was doing something, even successful at doing something, that they thought only they were entitled to do.

I think what also must have irked them was that this man actually was succeeding in what they were having trouble doing. This man was not an imposter. Jesus gives him credit for accomplishing a true miracle. Let’s be clear about something though. We aren’t encouraged here to accept shysters in ministry who claim to be faith healers and are not. The Bible makes it clear that we need to beware of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing. But this man was legitimately casting out demons and they were jealous of him.

This is what Jesus was saying to his disciples. The mark of greatness is that you look not at a person’s credentials, nor at the outward characteristics they manifest, nor at their affilations, but that you see a life of faith that honors Christ. And if the name of Jesus is being honored by any such person, do not hinder them, but honor them and accept them. And very importantly, don’t measure yourself against other Christians. Don’t judge people according to the gifts God has or hasn’t given them. Let God be the judge of those who are His. God uses a variety of people for a variety of purposes. One person is not more valuable in God’s eyes than another. But their value is in doing what God has purposed for them to do. And if we are to be great in the eyes of God, then we will not hinder others from doing God’s work, but rather encourage and build them up in the Lord.

The next mark of greatness follows immediately in vs 40, “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”

Remember that Jesus is still holding the child in His arms, and now He is giving a positive and a negative charge concerning how we are to treat the children of God. The positive is obviously meant to represent doing a small thing which has a big reward; as even giving just a glass of water has a great reward in the kingdom of God. The negative thing uses a similar equation in reverse; whoever by even a small sin causes a Christian to stumble, will be guilty of a great punishment.

I think the mindset of most Christians today is far too often focused on their liberties in Christ, rather than their responsibilities. Remember Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. But a lot of times we are only focused on what we receive as Christians, rather than on what we can give. The real blessing and sign of maturity for a Christian comes not from getting, but giving. What may be a small sacrifice for you in time or effort or resources can have great eternal benefit.

On the other hand, what liberties we take with our Christianity often can become a stumbling block to others. 1Cor. 10:23 says, “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify,” that is not all things build up others. If we truly loved others, then we would gladly sacrifice our liberty for the sake of another brother. Especially in those areas where other Christians are weak.

I will speak bluntly of a couple of examples. Women you need to be careful in the way you dress for the sake of your Christian brother. Yes, men are weak. Many men are perverted in their thinking. Yet that doesn’t relinquish your responsibility. The Lord loves those who are weak. He died for those who are weak. How can we then not sacrifice our liberty for the sake of someone who is weak? And I will also speak of drinking. I’m not going to say that you have to be a tee totaller to be a Christian. But I also shouldn’t have to tell you that alcohol is a tremendous problem in our society. We need to be careful not to present a temptation to a weaker brother, nor an excuse because they see us indulging in something that would be destructive for them. And as such we need to take Jesus’s warning here seriously, “if you cause one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better to be cast into the depths of the sea with a millstone around your neck.” Sounds like Jesus takes such things seriously. So should we.

And to illustrate just how seriously Jesus considers such stumbling blocks, the next characteristic follows in vs43: “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For every one will be salted with fire.” What Jesus is teaching is that the path to greatness starts by judging yourself correctly, rather than judging others. The Lord is saying that the mark of greatness in the kingdom of God is one who takes seriously the importance of sanctification, which means that he begins to judge himself according to the standard of God’s righteousness, and deals drastically with himself, purifying himself.

The analogy he draws is very graphic. If you have an infected arm that develops gangrene, and it is threatening your very life, and the doctors cannot do any more for you, there is only one thing left to do: cut it off, amputate it. Your life is at stake. Jesus uses that very graphic analogy to tell us how serious it is when we are involved in wrongful and hurtful attitudes and actions, and what we must do about it. We must deal drastically with these things; otherwise they bring upon us the judgment of fire.

The word used here for “hell” is gehenna. Gehenna was the name of a valley outside Jerusalem. It was the place where some of the past kings of Israel had offered their children to the god Moloch, to be burned with fire. Consequently it was a defiled place, and it became the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Fires smoldered there continuously; repulsive worms ate at the garbage. And that garbage dump becomes the symbol of the eternal waste of life. When we read these words of Jesus about hell we must understand that when they are applied to an unbeliever, i.e., one who resists and rejects the good news of Jesus and dies an unbeliever, it means his whole life, spiritual and physical, is like that — wasted, a total loss. There is nothing salvageable about it. He may have won the approval of men, may have lived very comfortably, but at the end his life is a worthless, a total loss, good only to be thrown on the garbage heap for eternity. When these words apply to believers, as they do here, he is speaking of physical loss. Our physical life is wasted, squandered, lost; it is misused. And such wantonness brings about the fire of judgment that we might suffer the loss of such things.

The way we avoid that loss and wasting of life is, as Jesus said, to salt ourselves with fire, i.e., to judge ourselves. The fire represents judgment in our life. He tells us to deal drastically with ourselves in this way, and, in this very helpful analogy he gives, he starts with the hand. To “cut off the hand,” of course refers to eliminating the actual act that is wrong, the evil deed. If you have a dirty mind, a filthy mouth, stop thinking evil thoughts, stop using obscene language. Deal with the sin, cut it off. If you are engaged in sexual wrongdoing, stop it. If your attitude toward another is bitter and resentful, stop thinking that way. Stop saying the things you say about them. Deal with the act, cut it off. Otherwise you waste your life.

And God will bring a refiner’s fire into the life of a Christian who lives in sin. 1Co 3:13 “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.” God brings this fire not to consume us, but to refine us, so that we might be useful to the kingdom. As it says in 1Peter 1:7 “so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

So then, if we judged ourselves correctly, then we not only cut off the hand that does evil, but the foot that runs to it. The foot is the symbol of the path that leads to evil, the approach to temptation, the circumstances that lead you there. You may have to change where you go and what you spend your time doing, lest you are confronted with temptation too strong for you to handle. Cut it off. It may be that you will have to limit the time you spend watching television, or stop watching certain programs, or not attend certain movies, or not read certain books, because these expose you to temptations which are too much for you to handle. Cut them off; otherwise you will waste your life.

Or it may be that the eye — the things we look at, the pictures we see in our imaginations, the fantasies, the memories and dreams of the past which light the flame of temptation — must he plucked out. Jesus is saying that you must deal drastically with these things. They not only waste you, but they affect others. They must be dealt with.

He concludes with these words in vs.50 “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Salt in those days was a thing of great value. It was used as currency in some cases. That’s the origin of the phrase being “worth your salt”. And the primary thing salt was used for was a preservative. They had no refrigeration in those days. So they salted fish or meat in order to preserve it against corruption. So Jesus is saying have salt in yourselves. Don’t allow the corruption of jealousy and selfish ambition to creep into your lives. Be salt in the church. Be salt in your community. Guard against the corruption of sin.

Salt was often used in primitive cultures to clean a wound, to guard against infection. And when the salt is applied it burns like fire. It may burn now, but it cleanses and purifies. So the Lord says, judge yourself, look at yourself and evaluate what you are doing and learn to control yourself. But it must be the salt of truth. Salt which has lost its saltiness has no worth. It must be real, genuine salt. And so, have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. Judge yourselves correctly, and let God judge others.

Jesus says that the receipt for greatness in the kingdom of God is to have salt in yourselves, to begin with yourself, to deal with your own weakness and not another’s, to cleanse your own life and not another’s. Start dealing drastically with the things which are wrong in your own life. For the marks of greatness in the kingdom of God are these: to learn to treat everyone the way you would treat the Lord, without respect of persons; and be concerned to put others ahead of yourself, to build into their lives and strengthen them, and not harm them or injure them; and to begin to judge with yourself and to deal drastically with the things in your own heart which are wrong. Such a person rises in stature and greatness in the eyes of God, and will be honored before Him.

As most of you know, our family went to Santa Barbara, CA to spend the holidays with our kids. And it truly was a great time that we had there together. The weather was fantastic, we had all our children under one roof, the house we stayed in was cool, overlooking the ocean. You just couldn’t ask for a nicer time together. And I have to admit, that just the thought of getting on the plane to come back to Delaware during the middle of the winter here was kind of tough. Little did we realize just how tough it was going to be. The weather alone here has been almost unbearable.

The questions we always get after going away like that to California is usually very similar. “Why don’t you guys move out there? You would be close to your kids. It’s such a beautiful place, the weather, the waves are great, why don’t you move out there?” And the truth is, such thoughts are tempting, especially when the temperature is in the single digits like it was last night. But the reality is that we believe this is where God has called us to live and work and minister. And it is far better to live here and be in the Lord’s will, having the blessings of God upon us, than it would be to live in what we think might be paradise and not have the Lord with us.

So in that regard, I was struck by the opening phrase in today’s text; “As they were coming down from the mountain….” As a Christian, there will be more time spent in the valley than on the mountaintop. God has not called us to live on the mountain top but to toil in the valley. We need those mountaintop experiences from time to time, but they are not intended for us to live there, but to equip us to live in the valley.

You may remember what Peter said when they were on the mountain during the transfiguration, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” “Let’s stay here and build tabernacles.” Peter was thinking, this is Paradise. Let’s stay right here. Let’s keep this going. There is no need to go back down the mountain. And I think most of us could identify with that. We would love to stay on the mountaintop. We yearn for the mountaintop experiences. Troubles and trials and heartaches are not something we want to experience. We want to avoid trials. Though God may occasionally take us to the mountaintop, yet He then leads us through the valley of death.

The Lord could not stay on the mountaintop. He had to come down the mountain and suffer and die on the cross in order to effect the salvation of mankind. Christ was in heaven with the Father before He came to earth. He left heaven to suffer and die on the cross. Peter and the disciples needed to see Christ transfigured on the mountain, and to hear the divine decree from the Father, and see the shekinah glory come down from God, but all of that was intended to equip them to be able to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

So as they came down from the mountain, the Lord gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen. Why? Because they had a flawed understanding of the gospel. They had gotten a glimpse of the glory, they knew the theology of the glorious kingdom of the Messiah, but they did not understand the suffering of the cross that had to come first. So many Christians only want to see the glory. They are all in for getting stirred up by a rousing concert, or being whipped into a ecstatic frenzy in a camp meeting, or healed at a miracle service. But not many want to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Thus Jesus said, wait until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Dying must have seemed so incongruous with what the disciples had just witnessed. It must have taken all Peter’s resolve not to blurt out, “Not so Lord. May it never be. We will not let you die.” They did not realize that though Jesus had come as the Messiah, yet He came to die. Salvation could not happen without the cross. The glory of the Kingdom of God could only prevail on earth if it was preceded first by the suffering of the King.

Mark said they seized upon that statement, wondering what rising from the dead meant. They might have thought it referred to the general resurrection. They wanted to focus on the glory. He wanted them to focus on the cross. Hence they ask about the glory of the Messiah, and how the prophecy stated that Elijah must come first. He, on the other hand, responds by asking a question of HIs own about the prophecy concerning the suffering of the Messiah. Vs.12 “And He said to them, ‘Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?’”

That illustrates a good point. The gospel must be taken fully and completely to be the truth. We dare not capitalize on certain texts which we find appealing, and leave others dangling which are not quite to our liking. The disciples were undoubtedly referring to Malachi’s prophecy concerning Elijah who would prepare the way for the kingdom to be inaugurated by the Messiah. The language of Malachi evokes a picture of the glorious kingdom of the Messiah.

Malachi 3:1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.”

And then in Malachi 4:1-3, 5-6 it says “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3 “You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts. … 5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. 6 “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

All of that prophecy indicates the Lord establishing His glorious kingdom by judgment and power, and that Israel will participate in that glory. But Jesus understands that there is another aspect of the gospel, that is that the Messiah will suffer and die so that He might bring about salvation for all men.

Jesus was probably referring to the prophecy in Isaiah 53 where it says in chapter 3 vs 3 “He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” There were other such prophecies in the Old Testament, such as in the Psalms which talked of the suffering of the Messiah, but the theology of the Israelites had conveniently overlooked them.

So Jesus said Elijah did come already. He was speaking of John the Baptist. Jesus had already said in Matthew 11:14, “If you’re willing to accept it, or willing to accept the truth, John himself is Elijah who was to come.” And the angel had testified concerning John’s birth that John was coming in the spirit of Elijah as recorded in Luke 1:17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

So Jesus said in vs 13 “But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.” They put John the Baptist to death. They rejected the forerunner and herald of the Kingdom of God. They would also reject the King when He came and do unto Him as they pleased. They would put Him to death.

There is a sense in which Jesus is teaching them through John the Baptist’s example, that if you would follow Him, you also can expect persecution, even death. This was certainly not something that the disciples were thinking about or looking forward to. In fact, later on in this chapter, Jesus asks them what they were thinking about, and Mark says they had been discussing who would be the greatest among them. They were in effect, fighting over the chief seats in the rule of the Kingdom when it came in with glory. They had no concept of the suffering that must come first.

But the fact is, that Jesus had been teaching them that if you wanted to be His disciple, you had to take up your cross and follow Him. In the previous chapter, Jesus said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” Not only had Christ come to take up His cross, but all who will be His disciples must take up there cross as well. We must die to self. We must die to this world. And very often, that means that we will suffer the loss of much of what this world counts as dear, for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus and being counted as one of His own.

According to the gospel, glory follows suffering. Paul says in Romans 8:17 and if [we are] children, [then we are] heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

The cross represents suffering, which is equivalent to a life of faith; believing in what is not seen. The cross and resurrection would mean that Jesus would be absent. He would not be physically with the disciples continually, whenever they found themselves dealing with the trials of this world. So it would be necessary to learn to live by faith, which is a type of suffering, putting to death the physical and learning to live in the spiritual. When the cross is borne now, then glory will come later.

And yet the irony is that we fully expect glory now. When the cross comes, we find it unbearable, untenable with our tightly held expectations of what glories we believe are guaranteed to be the day to day experiences of the Christian life. We misunderstand the reality of our calling. We misunderstand the gospel.

So they came down the mountain, and they find there a vivid illustration of what is often the reality of the Christian life as we walk through the valley. They found scoffing, sarcastic scribes. They found disciples that are impotent of any power to heal a demonized boy. They found a person that is held captive by the devil, that is incapacitated in regards to life. They found a demon that wanted to destroy this young boy and ruin his father’s life. And they found a crowd that is watching. What a picture of the world that is waiting at the bottom of the mountain, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. There are the scoffers, ridiculing us for our weaknesses. We find that we are often impotent to effect real change in the world around us. We find loved ones that are caught up in sin and held captive to the devil to do his will. We see a devil that is bent on destroying lives and seemingly be successful at it. And we see a world that is watching, wondering why these so called followers of Christ are so powerless to do anything to help.

So Jesus is going to use this situation to teach His disciples how to operate in such a fallen, hopeless world. He is going to teach them how to live by faith. So He asked his disciples, “What are you discussing with them?” I think it was the equivalent of “What’s going on here?” And a man from the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.”

Some commentators have said that this was a case of simple epilepsy. But I don’t think so because his father says he was possessed with a spirit, he was mute, and Jesus adds later that he couldn’t hear either. And Mark adds that it was a spirit which threw him to the ground.

Vs. 20 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”

I want to point out that Jesus doesn’t ask these questions such as we see here in this text because He doesn’t know the answer, but because He wants to illustrate to the disciples the dire nature of the infirmity. He wants them to understand the complete hopelessness of the situation.

And that is important for us to realize as well. Before we can be successful in our walk of faith, we need to recognize the hopelessness of our condition. This young man and his father are a picture, albeit almost a caricature, of the sinful condition of the entire human race. I have often thought of this example in regards to the condition of an addict. They are so helpless many times to help themselves. The drugs or alcohol have completely taken over and the devil seems intent on destroying them. I think the hopelessness of the father is similar to the hopelessness of parents who see their child suffering the devastating effects of addiction.

But in reality, addiction is not so different than the effects of the sinful condition of us all. Though to us some sins don’t seem as destructive or damning as others, yet the fact is that Satan has duped us all to sin, and all sin is damning and ends in destruction.

So to the question, “If you can…” Jesus responds, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

The first problem that Jesus identifies is that of unbelief. This is the real nature of sin; it is unbelief. Sin is not believing what God has said, and instead believing in your own interpretation, in your belief in yourself that you know what is best, that you can handle it, that you have it under control. Belief is simply surrendering control to God, who has the power to deliver us from sin on the basis of our belief in Christ.

That’s why Jesus starts out the conversation by saying, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?” It’s not just the lack of faith of the disciples who could not heal, it’s not just the small faith of the father, or the unbelief of the crowd, but He is speaking of the unbelief of a generation, of the human race. The greatest unbelief is holding onto the lie of the devil that we can make our own decisions. That we can determine for ourselves good from evil. That we can know how to live life according to our terms. That’s the sin that Eve was tempted with. She was tempted to determine for herself what was good and evil. To be wise like God. We think we know better than God what is good and evil. And so we decide for ourselves, and the result is that we fall for the devil’s lies and eat of the forbidden fruit and as a result we are damned. And then the devil takes liberty through our sin and destroys us.

Belief then is not just believing that God exists, or even that Jesus exists. The people there that day could see Jesus. They believed He was real. But belief is believing that Christ is the Son of God, and that only through Him was their deliverance from sin, when one submits completely to His Lordship of their life.

And by extension that doctrine of faith speaks to the time when Christ would die and be resurrected and no longer be with them on earth. What the Lord was trying to teach the disciples, is that belief, or faith, is believing in what you cannot see. Heb. 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” After His resurrection, when He would no longer be there with them, there would be a need for an increased faith on their part, to believe that He was with them, when they no longer could see Him. Faith is living not on the basis of what we can experience on a physical level, but living according to the word of God, believing what He has promised, when there is no physical evidence to support it.

So the answer of Jesus to their unbelief was that all things are possible to him that believes. Such a broad, all encompassing statement. We have to be careful not to make it a doctrine that stands alone, isolated from other scripture. But we need to recognize that it is meant as an explanation of the doctrine of faith. In other words, what is possible to him who has faith? All things. The Bible says that whatever is not from faith is sin. So faith is the means of righteousness. Romans 1:17 says, The righteous man shall live by faith.” And then in Romans 4:5 it says, “faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 9:30 says “righteousness is by faith.” So it is clear then that all things, all good things, the life which is from God, is available by faith.

Now the answer of the father is a great answer and one that speaks for all of us; “I do believe; help my unbelief.” A little faith is all that is required for receiving more faith, when that faith is centered on Jesus Christ. In other words, to him who has, more shall be given. We see that expressed in Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” Our faith in Christ’s righteousness, results in our righteousness, which increases our faith, as we go from faith to faith, that we may do even greater works.

Now Mark goes on to record how the Lord delivered this boy from the power of the unclean spirit. And it’s worth noting that the demon screamed and threw him into such terrible convulsions that the boy seemed to have died. You know, as we saw in our study of Daniel a few weeks ago, there are some demonic angels that are more powerful than other angels. Jesus Himself seems to infer to the disciples when they ask why they could not cast him out, that there are varying degrees of strength in demonic forces, by use of the phrase, “this kind.” As if to infer that there are various kinds. Ephesians 6 gives us the same sense of hierarchies of demonic forces.

But the point of this miracle is not to teach about demons, because Jesus has authority over all demons, stronger or weaker as they may be. But the point is to teach the disciples the necessity of living by faith, especially in light of the fact that He would soon be leaving them. So when they ask Him why they could not cast out this demon, He says, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

What Jesus is teaching is not a prayer formula for casting out demons. Notice that Jesus Himself doesn’t pray to cast out the demon. So there is no formula. What He is teaching is the necessity for a dependent relationship with Jesus Christ. The King James Version adds, “prayer and fasting.” More modern translations don’t include the phrase “and fasting.” But the important thing is not whether you eat or don’t eat, but that you have an intimate, continual relationship with the Lord that is exemplary of the principle of “faith to faith.” Where you are in a continual, constant communication with the Lord, dependent upon His leading and guiding in all situations. And that relationship for us is only achievable through faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And faith is expressed through prayer, as we talk to the Lord and commune with Him.

If you will remember, at the transfiguration God gives the disciples the first key to being able to walk through the valley when they would come down from the mountain. God said, “This is My Beloved Son, listen to Him!” The first key to our walk when we come down off the mountain is that we rely totally upon the written word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to listen continually to the Word.

The second key that we see illustrated here is that we must understand the doctrine of the cross must be central in our lives. Not just the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins, but the cross that we must bear as well, as we die to the world and walk by faith in the power of Christ.

The third key is that of faith. Believing and trusting in His power and His promises that will not fail, in spite of what the world seems to tell us.

And finally, the last key is to stay in communion with the Lord through prayer. Prayer is the connection back to God, it completes the circuit of our faith through which we have power in the darkness. This world is a dark place. But we are called to be lights in a dark world, to be lights on a hill. The world is watching. We are to be working for the kingdom. We are to carry on the business of the kingdom until the King returns. And if we are to be successful we must stay in the word, listening to the Lord through His word. We must take up our cross, realizing that glory follows suffering for His sake, and dying to the lusts of the world. We walk by faith and not by sight, and we must maintain prayer without ceasing as we rely constantly on the leading of the Holy Spirit.