The gospel’s path to greatness, Mark 10:32-52

Last week we looked at the most important question in the world, which is what must I do to inherit eternal life? The rich young ruler was considered a good person. But he found that he wasn’t good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven. The question before us today in the passage we’re looking at, is how do you become great in the kingdom of God? A desire for greatness is a worthy goal, if it is achieved within the realm of the kingdom of heaven. But I would be willing to guess that many people who may desire

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The gospel of the Kingdom of God, Mark 10:17-31

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.   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 the upmost concern to everyone here, to everyone in every age.  Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that comes the judgement.”  The certainty and the inevitability of death should be apparent to any thinking person.  We consider it prudent to

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Becoming like a child, Mark 10:13-16

Today’s passage is one of the best known stories of the gospels. It’s very simple truth, presented in a simple, straightforward way. So much so, that the full significance of this passage might be easily overlooked. I believe it contains some of the richest theology in regards to salvation that we might find anywhere in the scriptures, and so I want to focus on just these four verses this morning. Let’s read it in it’s entirety first of all, and then I will try to comment on it. Vs 13, “And they were bringing children to Him so that He

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Adultery and marriage, Mark 10:1-12

As you know, our tradition at the Beach Fellowship is that we study the scriptures verse by verse. That tends to keep us from over emphasizing some things, or under emphasizing other things, depending on what we think people want to hear. Last week I said that the subject matter of Jesus’ teaching on hell at the end of chapter 9 was very unpopular, and if I were a smarter, more popularity conscious preacher, I would have skipped over it. Well, I suppose that today’s passage of scripture is even more unpopular than the subject of hell. Today Jesus speaks

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In Christ’s name, Mark 9: 38-50

As I so often tell you, I preach through the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter.  In so doing, we end up dealing with the attractive parts of the gospel, and the not so attractive parts of the gospel.  But irregardless of a particular scripture’s agreeableness, we know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, thoroughly equipped for every good work. I suppose that I preach through the gospel verse by verse, is because I’m not smart enough

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A lesson in humility, Mark 9:30-37

I have said previously that Jesus has entered into a transitionary stage in His ministry, in which His focus is more on teaching His disciples rather than ministering to the multitudes. And that reveals a principle that should be paramount in the church, which is that once a person is saved it is essential for them to be discipled, for them to grow in maturity, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It is essential for the person who is saved to grow in sanctification. Hebrews 12:14 tells us that without sanctification no one will see the Lord.

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War of the worlds, Mark 9:14- 29

I have titled this message this morning “War of the Worlds.” That title may sound familiar to some of you who may be aware of the Orson Welles science fiction radio program of that name that ran during World War 2. It was based on a book by H.G. Wells which was written around 1897. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, it was a book about the invasion of earth by Martian alien creatures. It was one of the first of it’s kind of that sort of science fiction. One significant quote from that book says, “Yet

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A foretaste of God’s glory, Mark 9:1-8

Today’s passage, Mark 9:1-8, you will also find a parallel passage in Matthew 17, and also in Luke chapter 9. So if I appear to say something which is not in your text as you look down at it, then that is probably because the reference that I’m making is either to the Matthew passage or to the Luke passage. John, in the prologue to his gospel, makes at least a tangential reference to this event when, in the course of his statement concerning Jesus, he says of him in John 1:14, “we beheld His glory, glory as of the

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The Mission of the Messiah, Mark 8:27-38

Last week I said that we were entering a stage of Jesus’s ministry in which there was a transition. It was a transition from Him primarily preaching and ministering to the multitudes, to His ministry primarily being focused on the disciples. Jesus knew that it would be less than a year until He is taken away from them, and they must continue to carry out His ministry. And so He wants to prepare them for His departure. But there is another transition in His ministry, and that is that He is slowly but inexorably heading for the cross. In this

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Progressive sanctification,  Mark 8:1-26

I want to emphasize something about Mark’s gospel as we continue in our verse by verse study of it this morning. And that is that Mark is not writing a biography of Jesus, he is not writing a history of Jesus Christ nor His ministry. But Mark is writing the gospel. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. The good news is God’s plan of salvation for His people, brought about and manifested through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now I emphasize that point because understanding that helps us to discern

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