The nature of the gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the character and nature of Jesus. Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature. Hebrews 1:3 says, “[Jesus] is the radiance of His glory (speaking of God) and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

The good news then, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is that He has manifested God’s nature to us, and being God in the flesh, has become our propitiation through His sacrifice, in order to reconcile us to God.

Now we could spend a month of Sunday’s talking about the nature of God and showing from scripture all the various aspects of His character. But what I would like to do today is just use this passage before us to examine certain aspects of God’s nature which Jesus manifests through this event. It is probably a more traditional approach of theologians and preachers to expound on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees or to show the various aspects of the law of the Sabbath. But I think that most of you are familiar enough with those themes. We all know that the scribes and Pharisees were scoundrels of the worst sort. Most of us know we are no longer under the ceremonial law but under grace. And perhaps it’s helpful from time to time to review those things. But I think today instead I would like to focus on Jesus. And we can never get enough review of considering Jesus. We should never get enough of Christ. We can never spend enough time contemplating God’s nature.

It’s important though that in this pursuit of learning about God, we go to the right source. There was a hit song I used to hear occasionally a few years ago which had the phrase that has stuck with me over the years. It said “tell me all your thoughts on God cause I’d really like to meet her.” Well, the songwriter’s going to get his chance someday. And the first thing that he’s going to learn is that God is not a she. But beyond that, it is important that our theology is not framed by our prejudices. As if God is a compendium of our thoughts and ideas derived from man’s intelligence or a figment of his imagination. No, God must be, and is self declaring. Otherwise, we could not know God. And He has declared Himself in His word, and in the manifestation of Christ Jesus.

So let’s look at this passage in it’s context, and notice not only the historical events recorded here, and learn the spiritual significance of these events, but let’s also learn about God by examining the nature of Jesus Christ.

In context, it’s important to notice that the opening scene of chapter 3 is tied back to the closing scene of chapter 2. In that scene, the disciples are walking through the grainfields and eating the grain off the stalks as they walk. it was a practice called gleaning, which the law provided for in order to feed the hungry and impoverished. A farmer was to leave a certain remnant of his crop in the field so that poor people could eat. There were no government charity programs in those days to help people in need. So God, as the Sovereign of Israel, provided for the poor through gleaning.

But if you will recall, the Pharisees questioned Jesus why the disciples were breaking the law of the Sabbath. And Jesus gives them an illustration of David eating the showbread, which was reserved for the priests only, in order to sustain him and his men in their extreme hunger. But the illustration was explained when He gave this doctrine, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Now that is a tremendous principle that teaches us a lot about the law, but also a lot about the nature of the Lord God.

And then Jesus added another even more explosive statement, saying, “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” In other words, He is saying, someone greater than David is here. “I made the Sabbath, and so I have authority over the Sabbath to use it for My purposes or even to change it as I see fit.”

Now as chapter 3 opens, we come to another Sabbath, and another incident involving the Pharisees, and yet another illustration of Christ’s sovereignty over the Sabbath. But even more significantly, we see the Lord put an even greater emphasis on the purpose of the Sabbath.

So the first thing we notice is that though Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and has the authority over it to do as He wills, yet on the morning of the Sabbath He is doing what all good Jews were doing; He is at church. There was no law that said you had to go to synagogue on the Sabbath. The law was that you were not to work. Sabbath in Hebrew means to cease, to desist. It was to be a day of rest. And furthermore, Exodus 20 says that it should be kept as holy. Holy means set apart, consecrated to the Lord. So in that respect, there is no better place to make that day holy than to be in the midst of His congregation worshipping God and learning of God.

And Jesus, though He is Lord of the Sabbath does not excuse Himself from keeping that requirement because as God He rested on the Sabbath and established it as a day of rest. Though He was God the Son, He loved God the Father and wanted to fellowship with Him and with His people. And I believe He wanted to bring them into that rest that the Sabbath promised was to come.

Now in the new covenant, we are free from the law of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was on Saturday, and we observe Sunday as a celebration of the Lord’s Day, or the resurrection. But Hebrews 4: 9 says “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” Though it is not the Saturday Sabbath under the Law, there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God in the new covenant.

That rest is found in Jesus Christ. Listen to Hebrews 4 again, in vs.3, “For we who have believed enter that rest.” Then in vs 6 the author says those Israelites failed to enter into that rest because of disobedience. But in vs 7, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” And in vs 10, “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” So we enter into the Sabbath rest of God through faith in Christ, and not through our works.

So what can we learn about the nature of God from Jesus attending church on the Sabbath? First, God has not made His law to be a burden to us, or to give Him some sort of pleasure at our fawning over Him. Rather, God has made the Sabbath for man. When you honor God on the Sabbath, who got the benefit? Man got the benefit. Man was blessed. Man was rested. Man had fellowship with the Lord. And that benefit to man is woven throughout the law, throughout the scripture. God wants what is best for us, and His laws are not burdensome. Someone said that the law is not a fence to restrict us, but guardrails to keep us safe.

I read a quote by the atheist Richard Dawkins the other day, who said, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.” He then proceeded to back up that assertion by calling God all kinds of unpleasant names. But for all of Dawkins purported intelligence, he is ignorant about God. God is not vindictive. God does not want to make life difficult or unbearable. But rather God loves us and wants to bless us. However that love of God must be without compromising the other aspects of His nature. And He does that through Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to die in our place, so that whosoever believes in Him should have eternal life. Jesus was punished for our iniquity, that we might go free, and might even become the sons of God and share in His glory.

The problem with Dawkins and others like him, is the same the problem of the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus day, which is that they don’t want what they want called sin. They want to be like god and declare what is good and what isn’t. But they do so out of ignorance, unable to discern what is ultimately good or evil.

So true to God’s nature, on a Sabbath morning Jesus is at church. Luke indicates that He was teaching at the synagogue. But Mark tells us that the scene is set for the Pharisees to try to trap Jesus and find something with which to accuse Him. Now this is purely conjecture on my part, but I think there is a possibility that this man with the withered hand was set up by the Pharisees, knowing that Jesus would be there, in order to get Him to heal on the Sabbath and be able to find fault with Him. We know the Pharisees were not above such things, as another time they brought a woman caught in adultery before Christ to try to entrap Him. Furthermore, the way the texts say that the Pharisees were watching closely to see if He would heal him, indicates a prior scheme on their part to set up an incident whereby they might trap Him.

But regardless how or why the man with the withered hand is there, the fact is that he was there, and Jesus knew he was there. I find in this another principle about God’s nature. He knows our needs. Jesus said God knows our needs before we even ask Him. He knows the numbers of the hairs on our head. Jesus said He knows when the birds of the air fall, so how much more does the Father concern Himself with us?

Psalms 139:17-18 says “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” God is concerned with our needs. And so we see that Jesus knew this man with the withered hand was there. He knew his need to be healed. He knew that this man would have been unable to work, to provide for his family. So Jesus speaks to the man and says “Get up and come forward.”

You know, Jesus could have put off this man’s healing until the next day. Actually, He could have told him to come back after sundown and healed him then without fear of reprisal by the Pharisees. But Jesus doesn’t back down from conflict. He wants to use this incident to teach a life giving principle, even if it means that He has to take the heat for it.

And I like that attribute of God’s nature as well. That He is willing to sacrifice Himself for our sakes. That’s our definition of a hero, isn’t it? Someone on a battlefield, or responding to an emergency, that risks his life to save another. That’s the kind of nature of our God. Jesus is willing to put Himself at risk so that this man might be made free from his sickness, and by that we might know the love of God for us.

In vs.4, after the man came forward, Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. This question is so simple that even a child could answer it. Of course it is always lawful to do good, and never lawful to do evil. Regardless of what day it is. Much more if the Sabbath is to bring rest, to be holy, then you should do good. But anyone could have known that is always wrong to do evil. But the Pharisees don’t care about distinguishing between good or evil. They already have planned evil in their hearts. So they keep silent, hoping that He does something so that they can accuse Him of sin. They have purposed to do evil, but Jesus has purposed to do good.

We see much here of the nature of God, who desires to benefit man, who desires to heal, who desires restoration of man, but now we see the nature of the Pharisees. They have hardened their heart so much towards God that they hate Jesus and all He stands for. They don’t want to see one of their sacred cows done away with. And not only do they hate Jesus, but by their silence and their scheming to trap Jesus they show their lack of sympathy for the handicapped man.

There is a principle found in Romans 12:21 which says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This principle is founded on the nature of God. His response to evil is to overcome it with good. Man’s wisdom says to retaliate, to take vengeance. But that is not God’s approach. He causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. We are to follow Christ’s example, of overcoming evil with good. Leave vengeance and retribution to the provenance of God.

We see another attribute of God’s nature in Jesus’s response. In vs. 5, “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” The word Mark uses for angry there literally means wrath. There are a lot of people that don’t find the Old Testament God appealing, because they seem Him as a God of wrath. But they think Jesus is not wrathful, but rather loving. Here though we see the wrath of God displayed in Jesus. There are other times we see this anger or wrath displayed. For instance, when Jesus cleansed the temple, kicking over the tables of the money changers, and driving out the merchants with a whip. That was the wrath of God displayed.

But I want to point out the focus of that anger. It was at sin. It was at the hateful sin on the part of the Pharisees that hated Him so much they were willing to do anything, even use a person’s handicap for their advantage. Their utter disregard for the pain and suffering of someone else was a just cause for God’s anger. God is justifiably angry at those that mistreat, those that take advantage, those that hurt the weak and helpless. 

Listen, we want a just God when He deals with others, don’t we? We just don’t like His justice when it is directed at us. But when catastrophes or natural disasters happen, don’t we hear people cry out “Why did God allow this to happen?” When it suits our sense of rightness we want God to be just. But when His justice demands something from us, then we call foul.

The fact is though, that James 2:13 says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” God may have wrath towards sin, but He has mercy towards the sinner. Psalm 30:5, “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” The wrath of God towards sin is mitigated by His mercy towards man.

And we see a sense of that in Mark’s report here in vs 5, “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart…” Though He had wrath at their hardness of heart, yet He was grieved by their sin. Seeing the hardness of their hearts, the intractability of their sin caused Him grief. It caused Him pain. Here is the nature of God, though their sins be as horrible and cruel as man can imagine, yet God is willing to forgive them if they would only repent. 2Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” When their hardness of hearts nailed Him to the cross, Jesus prayed for their forgiveness, saying that they know not what they do. Jesus grieves at the hardness of their heart.

You know, one of the most dangerous things you can do is misinterpret the patience of God for the permissiveness of God. God is long suffering, He is patient. Romans 2:4 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” But there came a day when God’s patience ran out on the Pharisees. In one generation, 35 years, their entire way of life, the Judaic system, the temple, the ceremonies, Jerusalem, everything Jewish was destroyed. God was patient, yet they hardened their heart. God is grieved today with the hardness of our hearts, that persist in rebellion, that stiffens the resolve to continue in sin in the face of God’s conviction, knowing that you are heaping coals of fire upon your head. God wants to forgive you, if you will only turn to Him in repentance.

Well, the Pharisees showed their rebellion against God, but the withered man showed his obedience. It was impossible for a withered hand to be stretched out. This man had a withered hand. We don’t know why. But we know that it means his muscles had atrophied, perhaps due to paralysis or an accident, and his hand had shriveled up and drawn up. But Jesus demands that he stretch it out. And by the strength of God, he obeys and he is able to do it.

This illustrates another attribute of God’s nature, and that is His provision. There is a little saying that you see from time to time that says, “where God guides He provides.” It’s not in the Bible, by the way. But it is an attempt to say that if God asks us to do something, He will provide the resources to do it. We see that illustrated here in a command of Christ to stretch forth his hand. It was impossible for this man to do that. His weakness prohibited him from stretching it out. But by his willingness to obey, God gave him the ability to stretch it out and he was healed. We saw the same illustration in the paralyzed man in the last chapter. He is paralyzed, and yet Jesus says to stand up and walk. Impossible for him, and yet by believing in Christ and being willing to obey, God gives Him the strength to obey.

God provides all that we need for salvation and a life of sanctification when we believe in Him. He gives us new desires, a new heart, and then a willing spirit. In Ezekiel 36: 26 we read the about this purpose and provision of God; “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” This passage teaches the great doctrine of God’s provision for our salvation, by changing our hearts so that we have new desires, and then giving us His Spirit to be our strength, so that we might do His commandments. So many people have the wrong view of the Holy Spirit’s purpose. He is the source of our strength to do the things that God has called us to do. The provision of God gives us the desire and capability to be what God wants us to be.

Well, the Lord gave this man the ability to obey, the ability to stretch out this withered, atrophied hand. Let me add something else about that. Our nature is to be a reflection of God’s nature, is it not? If we have the Spirit of God in us, then we are to mirror Christ, so that we are a reflection of Jesus to the world. But we need to understand that when we see someone caught up in the snare of the world, their lives destroyed or atrophied because of sin, their spirit is withered from despair, it is heartless on our part to ask them to do something that they are incapable of doing. We need to realize that they need a spiritual rebirth, they need to have their eyes opened, for the lame to be made able to walk, for the withered to be able to stretch out, and that has to be a supernatural act of God to heal them. It does no good to tell a sinner caught up in some destructive sin to get right, or get sober, or go straight, if they have not had the infilling of the Holy Spirit to give them the strength to do so.

So as the ambassadors of the gospel, as representatives of Christ, when we call someone to obedience in Christ, we should also do what we can to provide what is necessary for them to respond with the same sense of provision that God has for us. As James 2:15-16 says, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” God uses His people to provide His provision.
And let me add that it is the prerogative of God to judge, not us. Now when the Bible says do not judge, it doesn’t mean we are not to judge between right and wrong, or deduce that a person is being destroyed by sin, or that a person needs to get right with God. There are plenty of places that tell us to judge with a righteous judgment in scripture, to rebuke, reprove, exhort with all long suffering and patience those that are caught up in sin. We judge such things according to righteous judgment. But when the Bible tells us not to judge it’s saying not to cast judgment as in a penalty. I see Christians routinely call for some sort of judgment upon a person as if to wish that they endure some punishment in order for them to “hit rock bottom” or something like that. Their motives may be that they want to see the person get right, but our job is not to condemn. Our job is never to be vindictive. We are never to cast the first stone.

God is the one who condemns and judges and punishes. Our job is to forgive, to implore, to compel them to come back to the Lord. To execute the verse we quoted earlier, “the kindness of God leads us to repentance.” As David said, if the Lord counted our iniquities against us, then who could stand? If God shut off our oxygen supply every time we lost our temper, some of us would have suffocated a long time ago. If God shut down our heart every time we lusted after something or someone, most of us would be in cardiac arrest. God gives us life and breath and health and money and mercy again and again, knowing that as soon as He does, we will forget about Him again and run off to serve ourselves. He is long suffering towards us, He is patient towards us, how much then should we be patient and long suffering towards those that are down and out.

Well we need to draw this curtain to a close. We see that Jesus exhibited wrath, but it was a righteous wrath, the wrath of God towards sin that leads to destruction. But now we see the Pharisees in wrath that is sinful. Ephesians 4:26-27 says “BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” We see here the Pharisees going against that doctrine. Their anger is sinful because it is out of jealousy and hate for Jesus. It is doubly sinful because it continues for days as they plot how to destroy Jesus. You better watch out for hate, folks. Hate is a cancer that matastacises in you. It will lead to death. In fact, in the sermon on the mount Jesus equated hate with murder and said it’s the same thing. Hate will destroy you first and foremost. God forgives our most heinous crimes against Him. So must we forgive others for their trespasses against us.

So the Pharisees and the Herodians begin to plot together how to destroy Jesus. They have given the devil an opportunity, and that hatred towards God’s Son will end up destroying all that these people held dear. Both of these groups were political in nature, in that they had power and prestige from their party. And that is kind of what they were; one a religious party, the Pharisees, and the Herodians a political party. But like the old adage which says “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” these two former enemies make an alliance against Christ.

But they offer us a contrast to the character and nature of God that we can learn from. Where the Pharisees and Herodians were conniving for the Lord’s destruction, Christ is planning on HIs atonement for their sins. Whereas the Pharisees were willing to burden men with laws in order to further their own benefit, Christ came to free men from the law in order to benefit us. Whereas the Pharisees were hateful towards Christ, the Lord was loving and gracious to those in need. Whereas the Pharisees were enslaved to the Sabbath, the Lord made the Sabbath that we might have rest.

Today in closing, I hope that if anyone here has not entered that rest, they would simply believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He has paid the penalty for your sin, and for those who believe in Him He has provided new life and a new spirit that we might be able to walk in that newness of life. That we might have abundant life. Listen, the Pharisees thought they weren’t sick and so they weren’t healed. But the man with the withered hand knew that he was sick, and so Jesus healed him. If you know that you are a sinner today, then that’s a good place to be. Jesus came to save sinners. Simply believe on Him today and receive forgiveness and a new life in Christ. And for those that have believed in Him, and have received the new life in Christ, let us also put on the mind of Christ, reflecting the same nature and attributes as He reflected of the Father.

Phil. 2:3-5, 15 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, … so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.”

The Bible has a lot to say about food and eating. Some of you are very appreciative of that fact. My wife thinks that food is next to godliness. You’ve heard the phrase, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?” Well, my wife thinks it should be “the way to God is through a man’s stomach.” She loves food and loves to cook. Her solution to all of life’s problems is to make a cake. When we were first married, she hadn’t been a Christian long. And so she was very disappointed to learn that in heaven there is no marriage. But the longer we have been married, the more she has come to appreciate that fact. However, she cheered up considerably when she discovered that the marriage supper of the Lamb is going to last 1000 years.

I’m just kidding, of course. But my wife does think that food plays an integral part in Christian fellowship. And I have to admit that she might be on to something. Jesus seemed to place a great deal of emphasis on food as well. His first miracle was done at a wedding feast, turning the water into wine. You will remember He fed the 5000 and then another time 3000 some bread and fish. He conducted the last supper. After His resurrection, He prepared fish and bread for his disciples for breakfast. He declared that His words were the manna or bread which had come down out of heaven. And there are many more examples of Jesus’s use of food or meals as an opportunity to minister or teach.

Today as well we are looking at three incidents concerning food that Jesus used to teach gospel doctrines. So in keeping with that theme, I have titled today’s message “The gospel in three courses.” I hope to use, as Jesus did, these three incidences concerning food to teach some important biblical principles.

The first incident is that of a dinner party held at a new disciple’s house. Matthew, the author of the Gospel of Matthew, was also called Levi before he was converted. Levi was a tax collector, or as some of your versions might read, a publican. These guys were some of the most hated people in Israel. In the case of a guy like Levi, who was obviously a Jew, he was considered a traitor to his country. And the reason was that tax collectors worked as agents for Rome, who bid for a territory, promising Rome a certain degree of taxes, and then adding their generous commissions on top of that by Rome’s permission. So they were generally very wealthy people, but hated by the Jewish population.

It’s interesting that in the previous study last week, we see Jesus healing, even touching the untouchable. A leper was considered so unclean that you would walk across the street to avoid them. And now in this passage, once again Jesus reaches out to someone that in Jewish culture was considered abhorrent.

Now the scene starts with Jesus teaching by the seashore. Today of course, we are teaching by the seashore. And we do it for the same reasons that Jesus did it. Not to be cool, or novel, but first of all out of necessity. We have no other place, no other building that we can use. And secondly, we do it because we want to reach people where they are with the gospel. I would love to have a building someday here in Bethany Beach that we can hold services in, but I am sure that we reach people on the beach that we will never reach inside.

And that’s the case with Jesus’s ministry. Matthew had his tax office near the seashore in Capernaum. Matthew must have heard enough of Jesus’s message that he became under conviction. And as Jesus passed by after the message, He said to Matthew, “Follow Me.” And the scripture says simply that Matthew got up and followed Him. In Luke’s gospel account of the same incident, Luke says that Matthew left all, and followed Him. He walked away from his lucrative business and followed Jesus.

I can imagine Matthew’s surprise not only when Jesus acknowledged him, a despised tax collector, but when Jesus invited Him to follow Him. Jesus obviously knew his heart, He knew that Matthew was convicted by His message and was desiring to become a disciple. But society would have prevented Matthew from even approaching a proper Jew, much less an esteemed Rabbi. But Jesus knew Matthew’s heart, knew that he was willing to leave everything in exchange for Christ, and so Jesus simply said to him, “Follow Me.” And Matthew left a thriving, successful business and never went back.

That’s what is required for salvation, folks. Not just a tacit acceptance of truth, or intellectual acknowledgment of Christ, but a willingness to forsake everything and follow Him, wherever He leads. To walk with the Lord, relinquishing your self control to His control.

Well, later that evening, Matthew’s gratitude was so great, that he decided to use whatever resources and opportunities that his job had provided to further the kingdom of God. Prior to that, his resources and opportunities had always been used for his own advantage. But in one final grand gesture, he invites all his friends and coworkers who were also outcasts from Jewish society, to come to his dinner party. And the guest of honor is Jesus. He wants to use what he had to introduce people to Jesus.

There is a good principle to be learned in that, as Jesus taught in a parable found in Luke 16:9, ”And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” The principle being that your resources even of unrighteous things like money and wealth, should be used to bring people into the kingdom of God, and in so doing, you will store up treasure in heaven. Matthew might have taken the approach that he no longer had a job and so he needed to conserve whatever money he had left. But he willingly spent it on a lavish dinner so that he might bring others into the kingdom of God.

So Jesus attends this dinner party in His honor, at the house of a former despised tax collector, and all of Matthew’s friends from the wrong side of town are in attendance. Such events were commonly held in the courtyard and open spaces of wealthy homeowners. So it was evident to everyone in the community that there was a big event going on, and the Pharisees were standing nearby offering criticisms. And so they approached his disciples and asked, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” Let me explain the word sinners. It referred to people that openly lived in defiance of Judaic law. They were people who had received a scarlet letter so to speak, but unable or unwilling to make themselves acceptable in polite Jewish society, they had become outcasts and lived openly in rebellion to Judaism. So we can imagine the type of crowd that were in attendance. And of course, the self righteous Pharisees found the whole thing scandalous.

So they ask the disciples what is Jesus doing? They want to establish a rift between Jesus and His disciples. That’s why they don’t go to Him directly. But once again, Jesus hears their question, whether supernaturally or because the disciples ask Him, and He responds to the Pharisees, ““It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Some commentators think that the first part of Jesus’s answer might have been a familiar proverb: “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” But whether that’s the case or not, it aptly describes Jesus’s purpose in attending the party.

The Pharisees had a point in that as people of God, we are called to separate ourselves from the world and not participate in the deeds of darkness. A lot of Christians today want to label every attempt at that sort of holiness as legalism. And yet I’m afraid that often in their rush to prove they have a right to do certain things as Christians, they are merely using it as a covering to serve lusts of the flesh. I can tell you that as a person who was saved out of the nightclubbing, partying lifestyle, it would be a mistake for me to start hanging out at the local clubs. 1Corinthians 10:23 says “All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable.” Jude speaks of our attitude being towards such people that walk with the ungodly that we should snatch them out of the fire, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. There are places where Christians should not go lest we be enticed by the world and drawn into destructive practices.

But Jesus establishes by His answer that is not what He is doing. He isn’t just hanging out with some of the locals after a hard day of ministry, knocking back a few cold ones. Far from it. Rather, Jesus said “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” He is like a physician that is ministering to the sick. A doctor may need to visit the sick, but he does so to make them well, and he takes great care not to get contaminated himself.

So also Jesus teaches that it is not the self righteous that He had come to save, but the sick, the sinner, the one who knows that He is lost. Luke’s version adds that Jesus said, “ but to call sinners to repentance.” For that repentant person, that sees his sin as a deadly sickness, Jesus stands ready to forgive you and give you righteousness resulting in life as a gift from God.

Now let’s move on to the second course. And in this incident we don’t explicitly see anyone eating, but it is understood that the disciples were eating. We know that because it was evident that the disciples were not fasting. The only way you can know that is if someone sees you eating. So the disciples were eating, when the Pharisees were fasting. And they wanted to know why the disciples weren’t fasting like they were. They knew also that John the Baptist’s disciples fasted on occasion, and so again they wanted to know why Jesus’s disciples did not fast. There was a certain self righteous indignation on their part in asking the question, as if to question the legitimacy of Jesus’s ministry.

This was a serious question as far as Jesus was concerned, as is obvious from the extent of His answer. Jesus uses no less than three analogies to answer this question of fasting. The first one Jesus gives is the analogy of a bridegroom and his attendants at a wedding feast. Jesus says when the bridegroom is with the attendants, they cannot fast. A wedding is a celebration, a festival, a cause for rejoicing. It would be inconceivable to expect the attendants of the bridegroom to fast while the wedding festivities are going on.

The analogy is showing the parallel of Jesus’s ministry of the gospel, the good news, to that of a bridegroom taking his bride, which is the church. God has become man, and made it possible for man to be reconciled to God. He has chosen to shed abroad His love for man, to offer forgiveness of sins, and give eternal life. So Jesus is saying, in light of the fact that His ministry is a ministry of good news, it is to be celebrated, not mourned. But there will come a day, He says, when He is taken away, and in that day there will be cause for fasting.

The problem with fasting as it was practiced by the Pharisees, was that it was done to be seen of men. It wasn’t to be right with God. The Pharisees fasted twice a week, and rubbed ashes on their faces so that everyone knew that they were fasting. They fasted to be seen of men, and in Matthew 6, Jesus said that such received their reward; the applause of men. But not of God. God sees the heart. And God knows which fast is of repentance, and which is not. In the case of John’s disciples, they may have been fasting because their leader had been arrested. And so they paralleled Jesus’s statement concerning HImself, that when He was taken away there would be cause for fasting in that day. Such was the case for John’s disciples when he was taken away. So fasting is associated with mourning, but the gospel of Christ is a reason for rejoicing; that the Savior of the world had come and made it possible to become reconciled to God.

The other two analogies are very similar to one another. One is that of an unshrunk patch of new cloth put in an old garment. When it is washed, or gets wet and it shrinks, it will tear away from the garment making it worse. The other analogy is of new wine in old wineskins. An old, dried out wineskin would not expand with the fermentation of wine and so new wine would burst it, resulting in losing the wine. In both accounts, Jesus is saying His gospel is something new that cannot fit into the old paradigm. The old paradigm was the ceremonial aspects of worship, the rituals that were intended to be a picture of Jesus Christ. But now that the picture is fulfilled in Christ, the symbols are no longer necessary because the real is manifested. So Christ has enacted a new covenant, enacted on better promises, and the old symbols are no longer necessary. The gospel is such good news, that to try to put it in the old wineskin of the ceremonial law and rituals would be to constrain it so as to even ruin it. It would not be a covenant of grace, but of law. Christ came to establish a new covenant, a better covenant, through His sacrifice, and not on the basis of the blood of bulls and goats.

This principle of a new covenant of grace is spoken of to a great extent in Hebrews, but we will read just a few verses fro chapter 10:11-17 just to get a sense of it. Speaking of the old covenant based on the law it says, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART, AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,” He then says, “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”

And in Romans 8:2-4 we read that these two covenants are contrasted as flesh and Spirit. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” So the old fleshly requirements of the law such as fasting and washing and rituals that could never make us righteous have been replaced by a new law of the Spirit, who is given to us that we might have new life in Christ. This is certainly good news worth celebrating.

Now let’s look at the final course. Again we see the disciples eating. This time however, they are eating on the run. This is the first century equivalent of a drive through fast food restaurant. They are walking through a grain field on a Sabbath day and pulling the grain off of the stalks and eating it. This was called gleaning and it was provided for under the law. It was legal, and it was a way that God provided for the poor or destitute so that they might have enough to eat.

But the Pharisees were also tagging along, trying to find something to criticize, some reason to find fault with Jesus’s teaching. And since it also happened to be the Sabbath, they thought they had found it. Because the Pharisees and their lawyers had so embellished the law that they had made a bunch of little laws to keep from breaking the big law. If God said to do no work on the Sabbath in the 10 commandments, then they established 39 other laws defining how to keep the Sabbath, or what constitutes work. The problem was, as Jesus said later on, they tied burdens impossible to bear on other men’s heads, but they refused to bear them themselves. They defined the law to the nth degree not because of a zealousness to keep the law, but so they might know how to manipulate it to their advantage.

For instance, they said that you could not bear a burden on your back, or carry it in your hand on the Sabbath, because that would be work. But you could carry it on your foot, or your elbow, or tie it to your hair. And so they had all these crazy ways worked out to get around the law. But for the uninformed, they gave the appearance of being strict and zealous for righteousness, when in fact they used it to restrict others but not themselves.

So now they tried to turn Jesus against His disciples. They said to Him, ““Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” They made the case that the disciples were harvesting grain, thus they were working and breaking the Sabbath. Jesus answers them by taking them back to the Old Testament, the source of the law, and says to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;
how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

Now in using this example, Jesus is showing that the high priest had no problem giving David what was considered unlawful for him to eat. The showbread on the altar was for the priests to eat, and it was unlawful for anyone else. It was holy to the Lord. But the high priest recognized that David and his men were starving, and in need of food, and so there was another law which took precedence over the ceremonial law. It was a law of mercy which triumphs over judgment. Jesus would say later on another occasion in Luke 14:5, if your ox fell into a well on the Sabbath, which of you would not take it out? There was a principle inherent in the scriptures, that the preservation of life takes precedence over ceremony.

So Jesus says in vs.27, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” By that statement Jesus shows the order of creation establishes the precedence of life over ceremony. Man was made before the Sabbath. Thus the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was given that man might have rest from his labors.

In the new covenant that Jesus came to establish, Jesus fulfilled the symbolism of the Sabbath. He provides the Sabbath rest in that He did the work that we can rest in. In Hebrews 4:9-10 it says, “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” Thus in the new covenant the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday, as Christ rose from the dead, so that we walk in newness of life and not labor in our dead works. We rest in HIs righteousness, and not ours. He is the Sabbath rest that we have entered into.

And Jesus confirms that in vs.28 saying, “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” In other words, Jesus made the Sabbath. He is Lord of the Sabbath. He was not subject to the Sabbath. And as Lord of the Sabbath, He can use the Sabbath anyway He wants. And He has chosen to give us rest from our works, so that we might have rest in Him. Because He finished His work, we can rest from ours.

So in closing, I would just say that these three courses in the gospel represent salvation. First, Jesus came to save sinners. If you recognize you are a sinner, if you are sick of your sin, then Jesus is the Physician that has come to save you. Secondly, the good news is that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God’s mercy He saves us. God has come to man in Christ Jesus to reconcile us to God, so that we might have forgiveness and be invited to become the bride, or church, of God. The gospel is the good news, it is the source of joy, peace and life. And then thirdly, when you receive Jesus, when you follow Him as your Savior and Lord, then He will give you rest. You can rest in His righteousness and find rest for your souls.

Jesus said in Matthew11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Not only does the Lord want to give you forgiveness and rest, but He wants to have fellowship with you, to be with you as His bride forever. And there is verse in Revelation that speaks to that desire of Christ for His bride. And actually it’s in another reference to food. It’s an invitation to dinner. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” I hope you will answer the door.

I’ve said it many times before, that every miracle of the gospels is a spiritual parable, meant to teach spiritual principles. And we are looking at such a miracle today and the spiritual principles that we can learn from it.

Last time we talked about the gospel’s authority over the spiritual realm and the physical realm; the spiritual realm was illustrated by Jesus casting out the demon of the man in Capernaum, and then the physical realm was illustrated by the healing of the leper. Today, Mark is showing us the priority of the spiritual over the physical. The purpose of Christ coming to the earth, the purpose of the gospel, is to free men from sin. 1 John 3:8 says “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” He came to set the captives free from the dominion of darkness, to proclaim liberty to the captives. Christ’s authority over sin is the spiritual emancipation that delivers the physical from bondage. Sin is the root cause of all of life’s ills. The biggest problem in society is not lack of money or education, or resources. The biggest problem in life is the need for forgiveness of one’s sins.

So as I said the purpose then of the miracle is to teach spiritual principles. It is not to give us the idea that God intends for all people to be healed physically. There are a lot of fake healers out there who purport that God doesn’t want anyone to remain in illness or any sort of malady. And that it is a matter of faith to claim your healing. They say if you aren’t healed, it is due to a lack of faith. I am here to tell you today that is not what the Bible teaches. Paul had faith more than anyone, and he asked God three times for his thorn in the flesh to be removed from him, and yet God told him that His power is made perfect in weakness, and His grace was sufficient for Him to endure his illness. As I said a moment ago, God’s purpose in the gospel is to deliver men from sin, so that they might have spiritual life, that they might escape the second death, and that they might have fellowship with God. Everyone is going to die sooner or later. You may be healed from cancer, or some other sort of illness, but you will still die. The million dollar question is whether you will die in your sins, or be forgiven and receive eternal life.

Now there are several principles that we can establish that are being taught through this miracle. Let’s take them in order of appearance. We left off last time with the leper being cleansed, and contrary to Jesus’s command, he broadcast it far and wide, so that Jesus could hardly preach or teach due to the crowds that came looking for a miracle. We can determine from the gospel accounts, that the crowds were drawn to the miracles, but Jesus did not want them to come for that reason. Thus he told the leper not to tell of his healing, except to the priests. Jesus wanted him to follow the law’s requirements for healing of leprosy and present himself to the priests so that he would be declared clean and could return to society. Jesus wasn’t interested in building a ministry based on sensationalism. He wasn’t interested in drawing a crowd who were just interested in miracles. But Jesus’s main ministry was preaching the gospel. His main ministry was preaching the word. And so that is what we find Him doing in vs 1. He’s come back to Capernaum after a long time away, and He is in His home or possibly Peter’s home, and He is preaching the word. Jesus would say later, that the truth would make you free. That is the purpose of preaching the gospel. Only the truth will make you free from the captivity and dominion of sin.

There are a lot of people out there teaching a mixture of man’s philosophy or psychology with a little bit of the gospel mixed in. It has the appearance of godliness, but it is man’s wisdom. It is presented as self improvement. I heard a Christian counseling program on the radio the other day, and they gave 5 points to some poor guy who was struggling. The first step they recommended was to go to a psychiatrist and get some anti-depressant medicine, 2, see a counselor weekly, and so on. Around #4 they said go to a men’s Bible study, and the last one was another secular program. It sounded like wise counsel according to man’s wisdom. But that is not the truth of the gospel. Paul said in 1Cor. 2:3-7, 13 “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; … 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

So we need to be aware that the wisdom of God, the power of the gospel, is the the only thing that really has the power to save. A lot of man’s wisdom sounds good, because it focuses on the physical. But the root of all man’s troubles are spiritual, and the sin that causes death. Jesus was teaching the word in Capernaum. That reveals the priority of the gospel.

The second principle I want to point out is the necessity for personal evangelism. I don’t like to use the word evangelism though. It sounds as if it’s some sort of revival crusade. How about we substitute the phrase personal intervention. If we can agree that sin is the source of all problems, and that the gospel is the only cure for it, then it stands to reason that men and women must help those caught in sin to come to the One who can help them. The problem with sin is that it is a trap. Again and again in the gospels we see sin likened to death, to leprosy, to lameness, to blindness, and here in this text, to being paralyzed. The point being that such people are in many cases helpless to help themselves. And as such they are a perfect picture of those who are trapped in sin. Sin is a condition that blinds people to the truth, that traps people in addiction, that causes people to be so handicapped that they are unable to extricate themselves on their own. And so their salvation many times is dependent upon a divine intervention. And God uses people to intervene on their behalf. That is what the Bible calls love. To intervene on behalf of others is loving one another.

This principle is such an integral part of the gospel. Jesus came not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. So as His ambassadors, we too must be about saving the world. In Zechariah 3 there is a vision of Joshua the High Priest, and he is standing in front of God in filthy garments. And it says that Satan was standing next to him to accuse him. But the Lord rebuked Satan saying, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” And the Lord removed Joshua’s filthy garments and clothed him in righteous garments. And as Christians, our mission is not to accuse the world as Satan does, but to tell the world of the forgiveness that is made possible through Christ, to pluck them as a brand from the fire.

As people who have the mind of Christ (let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus) our reactions towards those caught in sin should be one of forgiveness, love, encouragement, esteeming their needs for salvation as worth any cost. The devil stands at our side to accuse us and discourage us, to tell us to give up and give in. But we are not of the devil, so we do not stand accusing, but rather forgiving, loving, helping and encouraging the weak. That is what I mean by intervention. And God has commissioned you to be that intervener. It’s not the job of angels, it’s not the job of psychiatrists or professional counselors, but God has chosen you to go to the lost in love, by personal sacrifice, and help them to come to him.

So it’s the mission of all Christians, to go into the world and proclaim the good news to all people. God wants to use us to spread the gospel, so that all may be saved. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So there is a great urgency in the gospel; people are perishing and the gospel is the antidote to sin and the death that is it’s consequence. Not only is there an urgency, but there is a blessing. James says in James 5:19-20 “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” So there is a great blessing to those who answer that call of God to go to the lost and turn them to God.

Jesus illustrated this need for intervention by telling a parable about leaving the 99 who need no repentance and seeking out the one who is lost. In another place He gave a parable about the Good Samaritan, which not only teaches us to love our neighbor, but shows us that real love reaches down even to the stranger with the saving news of the gospel, no matter the cost or inconvenience to ourselves. No matter how much we may think the poor sinner brought it upon themselves. Realizing but for the grace of God so goes us all.

Now let’s look at this example in our text. Note that this paralyzed man had four friends that were determined to bring him to Christ. Four interveners. Oh that every sinner had four such friends that were determined to bring them to Christ. So determined were these friends that nothing would stop them. Here we see that the great crowds were actually a deterrent to the saving power of the gospel. God is not always in great crowds. Man seems to equate a large crowd with effective evangelism. But that is not so with God.

Nevertheless, they would not let the obstacles stop them. They climbed on the roof of the house where Jesus was teaching, and tore off the roof. These houses were built usually one story, with flat tiled roofs, and an exterior staircase. But can you imagine the consternation of the crowd inside and crowded around the doorway, when the roof starts being torn apart during the service, and they lower a man down on a stretcher at the feet of Jesus.

I would to God that we would all have such determination to see the lost saved. In this politically correct climate we live in today we are so afraid anymore of embarrassing anyone, of inconveniencing someone, least of all inconveniencing ourselves, that we dare not bother anyone with the gospel. Eric Clapton wrote a song a few years ago called “Tears in Heaven.” And he repeats the oft quoted adage that there are no tears in heaven. But my friends, I think many of us are going to be in tears in heaven. The Bible says that Jesus will wipe away all tears. But that is after we are in heaven. And if I can make the suggestion without being too dogmatic, I think there are going to be tears in heaven for us when we see our loved ones, our friends, cast into outer darkness for eternity, knowing that we did not do all that we could have done to bring them to the Lord. I think the problem is that most Christians don’t really believe the Bible. Somehow, they think that though their loved one was not saved, yet somehow Hell does not really exist, and God will not actually keep His word. Because if we truly believed the Bible, we would move heaven and earth to bring our loved ones to the Lord.

Well, moving on, Mark says in vs.5, “And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now I want to point out something here that is going to surprise you perhaps. But notice that Mark said, Jesus “seeing their faith….” Now most commentators say that includes all five people. But I tend to think that it is specifically speaking of the faith of the four friends. I think there is a principle here that your faith, and your actions in faith, can contribute to another’s salvation. Let me say that again. Your faith, and your actions in faith, can contribute to another’s salvation. Now you can’t be saved for them. But you can contend for them. You can intercede for them. You can intervene for them. You can compel them to come to the Lord using every means at your disposal.

I’ll give you an Old Testament example of this principle. The Lord visited Abraham in human form one evening. And as He was ready to leave, the Lord told Abraham what He was about to do. He said the news of Sodom and Gomorrah’s debauchery had reached heaven, and He was going to see just how bad it was, and if it was as He had heard, He was going to destroy it. (Gen.18) But Abraham said, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” He then began to negotiate with God for the deliverance of his nephew, Lot. Abraham started by saying, what if there are 50 righteous, will you destroy the city? And God said “No, I won’t destroy it for the sake of 50.” But as you are familiar with the story, Abraham negotiated with God down to 10 people. Turns out there were not 10 righteous people either, but for the sake of righteous Lot, God did send two angels to take him out of the city before the destruction came.

Now that’s not a perfect illustration perhaps, but it is evidence of our ability to intervene with God on another’s behalf. James says in James 5:14-15 “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” Everyone likes to quote those verses to suggest the power of healing, but I would point to the last part, which says if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him based on the prayers of others. I think it clearly teaches that we can pray for one another for spiritual healing, for sins to be forgiven, for their soul to be saved. And I think we can be effective in that at least to some degree.

You know if I were to ask a rhetorical question this morning, of how many of you have unsaved loved ones, I’m sure that 3/4 of you would raise your hands. But I wonder if I said how many of you spent even an hour, 60 actual minutes, praying for that loved one this week, how many would still raise their hands? There are 168 hours in a week. Is their soul not worth one hour to you?

John says something similar in 1John 5:1616 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death.” Again, the principle is that someone sees his brother sinning, and petitions God on his behalf. God uses people to reach people, to bring them to God. We have a mission, and a responsibility to reach the lost for Christ.

The next principle I want us to look at is the priority of the spiritual over the physical. Now I have already alluded to this principle’s importance in my opening statements. But let’s unpack this a bit more as I believe God has a lot to say on this subject. First of all, we need to understand that in the Hebrew mind, the paralytic was obviously a terrible sinner whom God was judging in the flesh for everyone to witness. That was their understanding of sickness; that God brought it about as judgment. You will remember the disciples in John 9 asking Jesus about a blind man, saying, ““Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” That was the common perception. Well, in that case, Jesus had answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

But that teaching comes later. At this point, I think Jesus plays into their misconceptions in order to teach a couple of important lessons. So Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now there are a couple of things going on here. I don’t think that it was that surprising that He would say that as far as the Pharisees were concerned, because they thought that sin was the reason this man was paralyzed. However, from our perspective, we automatically think that it’s a strange thing to say, because we think that the obvious problem was the man’s paralysis.

Jesus though answers all those problems with these words. His insightfulness cuts right to the quick of the real problem. First He shows the Pharisees that He is God. And He does that because of the principle that one cannot forgive someone of a sin against another. One forgives a sin against himself. I heard it illustrated this way. Tom, Dick and Harry were hanging out together, and Tom punched Dick in the nose. Harry went over and told Tom, I forgive you for punching Dick. But Dick objected, and said you can’t forgive him, he didn’t punch you, he punched me. The point being, the one injured is the one who has the power to forgive. In forgiving the paralytic, Jesus was teaching that all sins were against God, and He was God. He alone had the power to forgive sin.

Secondly, He was teaching us, that the physical problem is not the primary problem. It’s a symptom of a deeper problem. Jesus, seeing the heart, goes to the root of the problem. All sickness finds it’s root in sin. Now I know that is not a popular thing to say in this day and age. I might get stoned, or pelted with sand in this case, for saying such a thing. I’m not saying that every illness is the result of an individual’s particular sin. I am saying that sin is the result of living in a fallen world. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Sin is the cause of death, and death is the result of illness. The wages of sin is death. It is appointed unto man once to die. It is part of the curse that came upon the human race at the fall.

But in this modern world of healthcare and hospitals and luxury lifestyles, we suffer under the misconception that God wants everyone to be healthy, wealthy and happy. So from our perspective, the most important thing is health. But from God’s perspective, the most important thing is eternal life, undoing the curse of the fall. Unfortunately, oftentimes today even church leadership has the same short sided perspective. I was at a pastor’s conference a few years ago, and about a 1000 pastors were there from all over the country. A missionary was speaking about reaching one village after another with the gospel. They had never heard it before. And so entire villages were being saved and they had baptisms immediately afterwards before moving on the next village. The missionary spoke of how dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of natives were saved in village after village. And as he spoke, I heard a few Amens grunted here and there from the crowd. But then he spoke of a baptism in which one woman’s baby died. And she brought the baby to the pastor, and he said when it touched the water it came back to life, and he gave it back to the mother. And the whole crowd of pastors gave him a standing ovation. I found it incongruous that when 100’s of people were saved from the second death there were a few grunts of Amen. But when one baby is saved from the first death, it results in a standing ovation. That tells you where our theology is focused, ladies and gentlemen. We are not focused on men’s souls, but on men’s health and prosperity.

The most important principle taught here though is that of Christ’s authority to forgive sin. When Jesus said “your sins are forgiven,” the Pharisees started thinking “blasphemy!” They thought that they had found something to pin on Jesus in order to condemn Him. But Mark says that Jesus knew their hearts. He knew what they were thinking in their minds. I wish that we really believed that. That God could read our minds. If we truly believed that we would be down on our knees this morning asking for forgiveness for ourselves. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Well, God knows your heart.

Mark 2:6-9 “But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’?

So we see that the Lord is willing to illustrate His authority over sin through physical healing. But the question He asks bears some scrutiny. The question of which is easier to say? Well it is certainly easier to say your sins be forgiven you if you are a charlatan. Because it is virtually impossible in this life to know if they are forgiven or not. So on the surface it would seem that Jesus is saying that it is harder to say “Get up and walk” because that requires results in real time. Not in eternity out there some where, but right here, right now.

But in actuality, Jesus may have been saying that it is harder to say “your sins are forgiven.” Because Jesus was the truth personified. He could not lie. And so for Him to be able to say that your sins are forgiven, then He had to be willing to die on the cross for sins. In that respect, it is immeasurably harder to forgive sins than to heal a physical handicap. A doctor can in some cases heal, but only God can forgive sins.

It’s interesting that the word used for “forgiven” means literally to be sent away. I spoke a couple of weeks ago in chapter one about how after Jesus’s baptism the Holy Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And I said then that was a picture of the Day of Atonement ceremony, when the scapegoat was laid upon symbolically with the sins of the people and then driven out into the wilderness to bear away their sins. And how Christ, the sinless Lamb of God bore our sins away. Here again we see that illustrated. Jesus does not merely say “I will forget about your sins, they are not important,” but He illustrates the need to bear them away. God’s justice requires that sin be paid for. And Christ came to take away our sins upon Himself so that we might be made free. So it was more difficult to say “your sins are forgiven.”

But again, Jesus knows their hearts, knows their misconceptions, and so He answers them in their ignorance. He says in vs10, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.”

Please understand this. It is not that Jesus had the power to heal, therefore He has the power to forgive. But He has the power to forgive, therefore He has the power to heal. According to Hebrews 7:25, “He is able to save to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever lives to make intercession for them.” He is able to save not only physically, but eternally, because He is able to deal with the root cause of all infirmity, of all death.

It’s interesting that the word that Jesus uses to say get up, or rise up, is the same word that is used by Mark to speak of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. So there is a sense in which as Jesus is healing him physically, He is also healing him spiritually, in raising him from his deadness, to walk in new life in Christ.

And that teaches us the final principle. That the Christian life is not just believing in some sort of detached, theological or intellectual way. But that in our sinful state we are incapacitated, unable to walk in the Spirit. Unable to walk in fellowship with God. Sin has paralyzed us spiritually, so that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. But when the love of God appeared, we are saved not on the basis of our works, which was impossible being dead and in our sins. But we were saved on the basis of Christ’s righteousness through the grace of God which is ` credited towards us. Then being forgiven and clothed in His righteousness, we are made able to walk in new life through the power of the Holy Spirit who now dwells in us. Faith is always tied to action in the Bible. Rise up and walk. Come and follow Me.

Notice in vs.12 the result; “And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.” Let me say it this way, a life that is transformed, that walks out their faith by their actions in the community, will result in not only the amazement of your community, but it will also glorify God. Our testimony is not necessarily our words, but our actions. When we live a life that is radically different than before, when we take on the nature of the life of Christ, then we bring glory to God. And that is our purpose. That is why God leaves us on this earth, to be useful in service to Him. But for the grace of God we should all be in the death grip of infirmity. God has granted us life and health so that we might serve Him and bring glory to God. And when we have fulfilled that purpose according to His will, He will take us home to be with Him. Until that day, let us use wisely the stewardship of life that He has given us, and be about the business of our Father, building up the kingdom of God.

Mark writes in the opening verse of this book, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Gospel comes from the Greek word euaggelion, which means good news. And so thus far in this book, Mark has been showing us various aspects of the gospel. Last time we looked at the message of the gospel, which is repentance of your sins and faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Then we looked at the ministry of the gospel, which is to make disciples. Today, we are looking another aspect of the gospel, which is the authority of the gospel. Authority speaks of power, or control, or supremacy. Mark shows us in some very vivid ways that the gospel of Christ was one of authority. And to start with we are going to see that it has authority in two realms, both the physical and the spiritual. And that’s important to understand, because the gospel must have power in both realms in order to be what it claims to be. It cannot be merely physical, for then it would fall short of the spiritual, eternal realm, and it would have no lasting power to save. And it must not be merely spiritual, without any immediate benefit, because if it is ineffective on the temporal, then we should believe no claim of it’s benefit in the spiritual. So Mark shows that it is powerful in both realms. Thus we can agree with Paul in Romans 1:16; “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.”

This principle of the authority of the gospel in the physical and spiritual realm is going to be emphasized again and again in Mark’s book, especially in our passage for next week in chapter 2 when we look at the healing of the paralytic. In that example, you will remember that Jesus was criticized for saying to the sick man, “your sins are forgiven.” The scribes said, “Who can forgive sins but God?” And so Jesus said to them, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet and go home.” Thus it is clear that Christ’s power over the physical realm which can be seen is evidence of His authority in the spiritual realm which is unseen.

Now that principle is illustrated in this passage by a series of events stretching over a 24 hour period of Jesus’s life. And in the process of studying these events, I hope to show you not only the authority of the gospel in the physical and spiritual realm, but the source of it’s authority, and an illustration of the power of the gospel to cleanse from sin, the power to save both now and forever.

First let’s start then in vs 21, as Jesus and His disciples go to Capernaum. There we see that Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and began to teach. And it says that He taught with authority, and the people were amazed at His teaching, because it was not as the scribes were used to doing, but He taught with authority. Twice in retelling this story, Mark uses the word authority to describe the teaching of Jesus. The gospel has authority because it is the truth of God. It has power because it is the truth of God. Jesus said in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

If the gospel is to be authoritative, if it is to have power, it must be the truth of God. And we cannot cherry pick truth. We can’t emphasize one aspect of God’s truth, and neglect others which we don’t necessarily favor, or which are not politically correct. Truth is composed of the whole counsel of God, and when certain parts are left out, then you end up with a half truth. And no one is saved with a half truth. They might like the way it tastes, but it has no power to save unless it is the undiluted, full truth of the gospel.

And what was He teaching? Well, we don’t know the particulars of His message, but we know the principles. There were two principles of His preaching as stated in vs 14, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” So the two basic tenets of the gospel are repentance and faith. That was the message of Jesus, and we can assume that is what He was teaching in Capernaum.

Now notice that as He was teaching, a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit cried out, saying, ““What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” Now I don’t want to focus our attention completely on demons this morning. Our focus is on the authority and power of the gospel. But there are some things which we can learn from this regarding the authority of the gospel over the spiritual realm.

First though, I would point out that this man was in the synagogue on a Sabbath morning, presumably to worship God. I want you to know something folks, Paul said in 2 Cor.11:14 that Satan loves to disguise himself as an angel of light. Satan and his demons are fallen angels. They are called the dominion of darkness. In Ephesians 6:12 it says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” That’s the demonic realm, the spiritual realm, which is the dominion of darkness. And I want you to know that these fallen angels often hide out in the church, they operate under the cover of religion, they disguise themselves as angels of light.

I think Satan has deceived the world by the popular depictions of demons as portrayed by movies and media. And as a consequence we fail to recognize them. I would bet that prior to this outburst, no one in the church would have thought that this man was under demonic control. I’m sure he seemed perfectly normal, even religious. And I would also assure you that this is not just a first century phenomenon. Satan is alive and well in the church today. His unclean spirits are among us this morning. Contrary to popular doctrine, our singing of Jesus, our mention of Jesus or God, does not drive him away. He love to hide in the church.

In fact, Jesus gave a parable elsewhere in which He says that the Kingdom God (which is the church universal) is like a mustard seed, which grew into a very large tree, so that the birds nested in it’s branches. And I would suggest that many people have misinterpreted that parable. The fact that this mustard seed has not produced a normal mustard bush, but a very large tree, shows an abnormality that is not good. And furthermore, in the parable of the soils, Jesus made it clear that the birds of the air were the demons who plucked the gospel from the soil by the road, so that those who heard it were not given the opportunity for it to take root. In other words, the birds are demons who are working in the church, taking refuge in the church, to pluck up the seed, which is the word of God and prevent it from taking root. So we know that Satan and his angels are at work in the church. Not everything that happens in a church is sanctioned by God. In fact, Paul warns Timothy that the Spirit explicitly says in the last days some will fall away from the faith by listening to doctrines of demons. He isn’t talking about witchcraft there, but he is talking about false teachers in the church perverting or subverting the gospel.

Well, it’s unlikely that anyone would have suspected this man of being under the dominion of an unclean spirit. But as we see, he recognized Jesus, and he yells out at Him, “what have we to do with you Jesus of Nazareth?” You know at first glance, what the demon says doesn’t seem to bad. He says Jesus is the Holy One of God. But James tells us that the demons believe in God and shudder. They do not doubt God’s existence. They recognize Jesus, because they being a spirit recognize the Spirit of God in Christ. But they are terrified of Him because they know He has the authority to cast them into the pit of hell. And they know that He is going to do it. But I believe the unclean spirit cried out, because he knew that Christ recognized him, and knew that He had come to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

Now let me expand upon this for a moment. Because I only quoted part of 1John 3:8. The whole verse tells us what the works of the devil are; “the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” So from that we can understand that demonic influence or control stems from sin, especially harboring unrepentant sin. I believe everyone who gives himself to sin, to some degree or another, perhaps unknowingly, opens himself up to demonic influence. The degree to which that influence is pervasive depends upon how much the person submits himself to that sin. And whether or not it is noticeable to himself or to others, he is under the influence of an unclean spirit, because he is bound by sin.

In the case of this man in Capernaum, as I said, I doubt that it was evident how much he was under the influence or control of a demon. But when he met Christ, it became apparent. I know I have encounter similar experiences on a number of occasions. A person seemed normal, even expressing perhaps a degree of spiritual knowledge, and then for some unexplained reason they seem to explode. They start yelling, cursing, and sometimes blaspheming God. And it can be a bizarre experience to see someone start acting like that. A lot of the time it’s not that apparent, maybe it’s just an outburst of anger and you don’t know where it comes from. I would suggest that it comes from a resentment towards the gospel, especially when you call out sin. But that’s when we have to realize that we are not fighting a person, we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but we need to see the unclean spirit which is behind that person, pulling their strings.

Well, Jesus shows His authority over the spiritual realm, defeating it with His word. He commands the unclean spirit to be quiet, and to come out of him, and it throws the man in convulsions, and with a loud scream comes out of him. And Mark tells us the people are amazed, and declare that His teaching is with such authority, that even the unclean spirits obey Him.

Next we see Jesus’s authority over the physical realm. Mark says after visiting the synagogue, Jesus goes to Peter’s house, and his mother in law is sick. This indicates by the way that Peter was married, or at least had been married. One cannot have a mother in law unless you have been married. So those that teach that Peter was the first pope, (of which doctrine I disagree) need to reevaluate their policy of celibacy for priests based on the precedence of Peter.

Peter’s mother in law had a fever. Not much is known about the severity of her illness, but it was a hindrance to her hospitality at the very least. Jesus shows His compassion on her and upon Simon Peter and takes her by the hand and raises her up. And the scripture says her fever left her and she began to wait on them.

I would just point out the simplicity of this miracle of healing as a contrast to what we often see today portrayed as a healing ministry. Jesus in all of the healings that He performs, and in all the demons that He casts out, makes a point to tell the beneficiaries not to broadcast what He has done. But of course they can’t help it. And so as we see in the healing mentioned in vs45, the news about Him becomes spread throughout the region and great crowds start coming to Him so that He cannot even come into a city.

Now most modern day, so called faith healers would not see that kind of popularity as a bad thing. In fact they seek to take advantage of the sensational claims of healing to attract a crowd. But Jesus was not interested in drawing crowds to be healed, or drawing great crowds to witness miracles. He wasn’t interested in sensationalism. But He was interested in teaching and preaching the word of God.

I don’t believe the Bible teaches us, nor does this passage teach us, that God decrees that all physical ills will be healed. I believe that God does heal, and that Jesus healed many people, but He did not heal everyone. At the Pool of Bethesda, for instance. The porch area was filled with sick people, and yet Jesus healed just one. At the tomb of Lazarus, there were undoubtedly many dead people in the cemetery, but Jesus only raised Lazarus. I am not sure why God choses to heal some and not all. But I do know that the Bible teaches in Hebrews 9:27 that it is appointed unto all men once to die. Everyone is going to die once. And usually death comes through sickness of some sort. But what Christ came to save us from is the second death. The second death is eternal separation from God and torment for eternity.

But as Paul said, whether I live or die is not important to me, but if the Lord let’s me live, then that will mean fruitful labor for me, but if I die so much the better, I will be with the Lord. So perhaps that’s God’s motivation for healing physically. So that it might result in fruitful labor for the kingdom of God. Peter’s mother in law was healed of her illness, and as a result, she began to serve the Lord and His disciples. And that is a good picture of how we should respond to the grace of God in our lives. Our health, our physical blessings should make our hearts grateful to God so that we would serve God and not just ourselves. God’s gifts of health are not just for our own benefit. I know from experience, and I am sure some of you do as well, how fragile human health is, and how fleeting it is. Our life and health is a stewardship from God that we might use it in service of the Kingdom in the time that is allotted to us.

Now in vs32-34, Mark tells us that as the Sabbath ended, and travel was again enabled, people began to come to Capernaum where Jesus was to be healed and delivered from unclean spirits. And while that illustrates even further the two realms that Jesus had authority over, the spiritual and the physical, I would also point out that there is made a distinction between being afflicted by illness and being afflicted by demons. They are not necessarily the same. Sometimes we are going to see in scripture that someone suffered a physical infirmity because of a demon. But that in no way means that all illnesses are a result of demons. All illness is the result of the curse upon creation as a result of sin entering the world. But those that suffer illness do not necessarily suffer as a result of their individual sin. If that were the case, then none of us would escape. But ultimately, sin does cause all to die. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23. And all have sinned. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Well, we have to hurry if we want to finish this section. There is much more I could say, but not enough time this morning. Let’s look at the third aspect of authority, and that is the source of authority. Or the source of power. As we fight the spiritual battle and deal with the physical realm in which we live, the source of Jesus’s power and authority is the same source that we have, which is fellowship and communion with the Father. And we see that explained in vs.35: “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” I’ve said it before in defense of our early meeting times, that good things happen early in the morning. Jesus got up to pray while it was still dark.

You know, I love to surf. And yet I hate crowds. I like surfing with one or two guys max, but around here that just doesn’t happen. So I look forward to low tide when it comes early in the morning. I love paddling out while it is still dark. And when the light is just starting to glow on the horizon, I manage to get some good waves all to myself. But I also love to pray early in the morning. And I’ve found if I don’t pray in the morning, then the quality of my prayer life goes downhill. Surfers call those early morning sessions a dawn patrol. And perhaps that is a good name for our early prayer time. Get up early in the morning and walk and talk with the Lord and I assure you that it will provide power and authority in your spiritual walk.

Jesus of all people didn’t need to get up early and pray. And yet Jesus did it the most. Many times He prayed spent the night in prayer. I would suggest that the reason most of us do not have authority or power in our walk, or authority over sin, or see results in our evangelism, is because we do not avail ourselves of planned, purposeful, strategic prayer. If Jesus needed to pray all night or all morning, then how much more do we?

I would encourage you, pray purposefully. Jesus talked in the Sermon on the Mount about praying in your closet. Have a special place of prayer. Daniel prayed three times a day in his upper room facing Jerusalem. Pray strategically. There are a lot of things I could say about prayer. But just notice what Jesus illustrates in this example. He got up early, and He went to a secluded place. Get alone with God where you can really open up and talk to Him. I suggest praying out loud. That’s why it’s good to go to a secluded place. That way people don’t think you are crazy when they hear you talking out loud. I like those early surf sessions alone because I pray out loud. And sometimes I catch myself doing it when others come out. I was in California last week and I surfed Malibu Friday before I left. And I was having a great time, catching a lot of waves, and I was praying sporadically out loud. I thought no one was near by. But I happened to turn around and saw this guy had paddled up behind me and I didn’t know he was there. But California is full of crazy people. I saw more people talking to themselves out there than I’ve seen in my entire life. So I probably just fit in with everyone else. They figured I was as crazy as they were. But around here you might draw attention to yourself if you’re praying out loud.

However, I will say, that it is a benefit not only to you to pray out loud, I think it’s a benefit to God, and I think praying out loud defeats the devil as well. When he hears your prayers, when he hears your faith, then I think the devil knows that the source of your power is God. The source of Jesus’s authority was the communion and fellowship He had with the Father. And that is the source of our power as well. When we commune with God, when we fellowship with God, when we pray and read His word, then we have power with God, because we are united with God.

Mark ends this section with the story of the leper who was cleansed. I’ve said it before many times, that every miracle that Jesus did is a spiritual parable meant to teach us a spiritual principle. And I think that this miracle illustrates the power of the gospel over sin which is the root of all illness and all affliction. And I would point out that among the Jews during those days the rabbis taught that leprosy was the direct result of God’s visible judgment of sin in a person’s life. As a result, they taught that you were to avoid such people, not even to speak to them. They were outcasts from society. They were looked upon as the worst of sinners upon whom God had judged in the flesh for all to see. And so the leper had to announce his presence as he walked through the community by calling out “Unclean! Unclean!”

This leper that comes to Jesus is a picture of a repentant sinner who comes to Jesus for salvation. Notice first of all that he knows he is a leper. He knows he is unclean. He comes before Jesus and bows down on his knees. He has a repentant attitude. He doesn’t have any hope of healing outside of Jesus. There was no cure for leprosy. It was a horrible illness that rotted your fingers and then all your extremities away and totally destroyed you little by little. What a picture of the nature of sin. Satan loves to tell you that a little sin won’t hurt you. A little peccadillo won’t really matter. But he knows that sin is like leprosy. It starts with a little spot on your skin, and then it spreads to your hair, and then starts to rot your fingers and toes, your ears and your nose until it one day totally destroys you. Listen, there is no sanctified sin. Sin is death and sin brings death. Sin is an invitation to demonic affliction. Sin results in separation from the source of life, the Creator God.

But this leper illustrates how to be cleansed from sin. He comes on his knees. He comes as a beggar. He comes confessing his need to be clean. And then we see salvation. Jesus moved with compassion. Did you know that Jesus came to save the lost? He came to save those that were like this leper. Jesus says in chapter 2 vs 17, “They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Listen, don’t be deceived. You cannot be saved unless you first realize that you are lost, that you are diseased, that you are hopeless and helpless. Come to Jesus like that, and He will have compassion on you. And I want you to note something. Jesus touched the untouchable. You were not supposed to touch the leper. Jesus could have healed him with a word. But he touched him.

Folks, compassion for the lost means sometimes that you have to get your hands dirty. It’s not enough to just say you will pray for someone. Jesus gave a parable about the good shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep and goes to look for the one who is lost. He gives another parable about the good Samaritan, who gets off his horse and gets down in the dirt to tend to a stranger’s wounds. Let me tell you that ministry is a messy business. We are not called to sit in ivory towers and condemn sinners, but to go into all the world and compel them to come in. To go into the highways and the byways and tell them the good news. And sometimes in order to do that you have to help them to become well enough that they might hear it.

I tell you, California has a lot of problems. But the worst problem that it has is it’s homeless situation. I’ve never seen a greater homeless population in my life. I went to a church last Wednesday night and across the street from the entrance to their church was a empty lot that was a homeless camp. Santa Barbara is where all the movie stars have homes. You can sit in a upscale coffee shop with Maseratis and Lambourghinis parked out front, beautiful homes and all the beautiful people sipping coffee, and on the sidewalk homeless people are lying there covered in filth. Many of them are drug addicts who are helpless to get out of their situation. I don’t know how to reach them. It’s not as simple as giving them money because it just goes to fuel their addiction. But I can tell you that it’s a problem that is not going away on it’s own. It’s growing and it’s an epidemic. I do know the answer; it’s the gospel. Its the truth of God. But how to tell them when the devil has them so firmly under his control, I don’t have the answer for. But I do believe that Jesus is the only hope. So we have to do what we can, even if it means we get dirty doing it, to tell the lost that Jesus can deliver them. I believe that.

Jesus told the leper, a hopeless case if there ever was one; ““I am willing; be cleansed.” Jesus was willing to die in our place that we might have life. Jesus was willing to become our servant, so that we might become a child of God. Jesus was willing to die, so that we might be given eternal life.

Listen, that kind of humility and willingness to suffer and serve that was illustrated by Jesus is yet another source to power and authority in the gospel. Satan may tempt us with pride, he will attempt to control and oppress people through sin, but Romans 12:21 tells us that we overcome evil with good. We overcome pride with humility. We overcome sin with compassion. We overcome selfishness with service. Jesus said we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We overcome evil with good. The gospel is good news. It is powerful. It is authoritative. And that power is available for those who abide in Christ, who are in fellowship with God and trust in God to provide all that is needful for service to Him. I pray that you will not be ashamed of the gospel of God, for it is the power of salvation to all who believe.

When Mark introduced this book, he said simply in vs1, that it was the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Gospel means good news, and was from the Greek word euangellion which was in use throughout the Roman Empire to announce festivals associated with emperor worship. When a new ruler took power, there was a herald that went through the kingdom announcing his coming, proclaiming the good news and calling the people to get ready for his appearing. So in like manner, Mark uses this word to describe the coming of the Kingdom of God. Mark said John the Baptist was the herald of Christ, calling people to a baptism of repentance, that their hearts might be ready to receive Him when He appeared.

So in this first chapter we see that Jesus did appear, and He was baptized in the Jordan. Not because He needed to repent of His sins, but so that He might identify with sinful man, and show that He had come to take away their sins. So as John declared “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” the Holy Spirit after His baptism drove Jesus out in to the wilderness, much like the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement bearing the sins of Israel was driven into the wilderness, as an illustration that Jesus would bear away the sins of the world. The scapegoat was an illustration of the essential doctrine of the gospel, that the innocent would die for the guilty. So as He was 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus emerges sinless. He overcomes all temptations of the devil.

Now when we get to vs14, we find that Mark skips about a year in the chronology of Jesus’s ministry, and picks it back up with John the Baptist having been delivered over to Herod, where he was put to death. And at that time, Mark says that Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the same gospel message that John had been preaching. Jesus was preaching, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

So in this passage we are looking at today, we are going to see two characteristics of this gospel of Jesus Christ. First we are going to look at the message of the gospel, and then the ministry of the gospel. Let’s examine first the message of the gospel.

I don’t want to gloss over the mention Mark makes that John the Baptist had been delivered up. I think this is an important principle. John had said concerning Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” And so, in this briefest of Mark’s mentions, John gives up his life in service to the Kingdom of God. That fact, that martyrdom, establishes at the outset the priority of the gospel’s message. It is a message that is worth dying for. And one way or another, the gospel demands that we all surrender our lives for the sake of the Kingdom of God. If we are to receive the life of Christ, we must be willing to give up our lives so that we might have new life. Jesus said later in Mark 8:35 “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” To receive the life of Christ, one must be willing to lose his life. And John the Baptist illustrated that principle when he gave his life for the sake of the gospel.

Next, we see that Jesus came preaching the gospel of God; saying, Notice first that Jesus came preaching. Preaching has fallen out of favor today. It’s unfashionable. Now that we are more sophisticated we can think of a lot better ways to present Christianity than by preaching. But Jesus came preaching. Preaching has been God’s preferred method of presenting the gospel since the days preceding the flood. Peter said Noah was a preacher of righteousness. As Paul said in 1Cor. 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Preaching may be foolishness to the world, but it is the wisdom of God by which men might believe.

So what did Jesus preach exactly? He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Let’s consider the phrase “the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand…” Greek scholars tell us that the word used here for time is not speaking of chronology so much as it refers to opportunity. The way we might understand this is He is saying, the opportunity has presented itself, the Kingdom of God is near, it’s at hand, it’s right now. Now is the acceptable day of salvation. Let me give you a warning, ladies and gentlemen. The longer you resist the gospel, the less likely you are to receive it. When you resist the urging of the Holy Spirit, then you quench the Spirit, and you harden your heart until one day, you no longer can hear the Spirit of God’s call. Do not harden your heart. The golden opportunity is now, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Now let’s consider that phrase “kingdom of God.” Matthew uses a similar phrase, “kingdom of Heaven.” They basically mean the same thing. Jesus Christ came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. It refers to a spiritual kingdom, in which God rules the hearts and minds of His people. The Jews were looking for a physical kingdom. They were looking for Jesus to be a military conqueror, like David had been, and for the Messiah to take back his throne. But during the period between the first and second coming of Christ, the kingdom of God is spiritual. Christ rules in the hearts of His people. Jesus said in Luke 17:20. “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” So for now it’s a spiritual kingdom, then at His second coming, the heavens and earth will be remade, and we will rule and reign in the new heaven and earth with Christ as HIs bride.

So for now it is spiritual, but there is a physical component of the Kingdom of God; and that is it is His church. We that are saved are the physical manifestation of the spiritual kingdom. We are the hands and feet of Christ. We are His body, His people, His community, even His sons and daughters. And so we represent the Kingdom to the world. Col. 1:13 says, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” The whole world is captive to the prince of darkness, and ensnared in the web of this world to do his will. But through Christ, we who have believed have been transferred to the Kingdom of God, and now we live for Him, and live through Him as aliens in this present world until that day when He comes back to claim His own.

Then notice next that there are two pillars of the gospel which Jesus is preaching. I mentioned these last Sunday, but it bears going over again. For the gospel is based on these two essential pillars. And when you remove one or the other, the whole gospel cannot stand. The two pillars are repentance and faith. Jesus said, ““The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” We can imagine that the gospel could be reduced to one word, truth. The truth about God, about Christ, and how we might know God. So if the truth is the gospel canopy, the pillars which hold it aloft are repentance and faith.

Last time we talked a while about repentance, particularly the aspect of confession and how it is necessary for repentance. But today I wish to bring out another aspect of repentance. The word is translated repent in some of your Bible translations is “be converted.” And that phrase graphically describes the nature of repentance. Repentance is not merely feeling sorry. But it is being converted. Being changed. Turning completely around and going in the opposite direction. It means a change of heart. And at it’s root is the realization that all that you believed and lived by until Christ is a lie and is condemning you to death. It’s an appeal to God to be remade, to be transformed, to be made anew. Repentance means to be converted, to be changed. Listen, when you go to another country, the first thing you need to do is convert your currency to the currency of the country you are in. You cannot spend your money there. You need their money. And when you come to the Kingdom of God, you cannot spend the money from the dominion of darkness there. You must convert your currency. And your currency is your very life. It must be converted by the grace of God.

And that conversion requires faith, the other pillar of the gospel. The Bible tells us that “Abraham believed God, and He counted it to Him as righteousness.” That is the new currency of the new life in the Kingdom of God; righteousness. And God gives us righteousness in exchange for our sins. That’s pretty crazy isn’t it? We give God our sins, and He gives us in exchange righteousness. Our sins are transferred to Jesus, and His righteousness is transferred to us. 2Cor.5:21 says, “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made righteous in Him.” That is the gospel. That is how we are transferred to the Kingdom of God. Not by works, not by baptism, not even by confession, but by faith in what Jesus did on the cross for us. He was the innocent Son of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who took upon Himself our sins on the cross so that we who believe on Him would be granted His righteousness. Now that is the message of the gospel that Jesus was preaching.

Next, let’s look at the ministry of the gospel. Ministry means work or service. Jesus after His resurrection left those of us in HIs church with a work to do. It is a ministry of service that all of us are supposed to be doing until He comes. Do you remember what this work is? It’s found in Matt. 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So the key word there is disciples; the ministry of the gospel is to make disciples. We that have been taught, are to teach others. We that have been brought to Christ, are to bring others. And Jesus illustrates this very thing Himself. He has already met these four fishermen several months before. Mark does not elaborate on that, but John’s gospel tells us how these men initially met the Lord. But now Christ comes to them and calls them to follow Him. He says to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

This principle of becoming followers of Christ is so important. Peter talks about following Jesus’s example. 1Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” Being a disciple is not a position you rest upon, but a person you imitate. To be a disciple is to be a follower of Christ, or a follower of another exemplary Christian. Paul said, “be imitators of me.” Folks, if we could say that to our children, if we could say that to our families, if we could say that to our neighbors, then the church would be a radically different place.

Well, Jesus called these men to be His disciples; to walk where He walked, to say what He said, to do as He did. In other words, it means being conformed to the image of Christ. Romans 8:29-30 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” We have been called to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We are to look like Him, talk like Him, act like Him. That is how the spiritual Kingdom of God is manifested to the world.

Now how does this work itself out in the real world? Let’s look at Peter, Andrew, James and John and find out. I want you to notice though first of all, that these are just working class guys. Jesus could have called high ranking government officials to be His followers. He could have recruited a few movie stars or maybe a rock and roll band or two. He could have gone to a few major league ball teams and got some famous players to help Him spread the gospel. That’s how we would probably do it, wouldn’t we? Those kind of people would attract a crowd. But instead, He goes to Galilee and picks four regular guys, uneducated, a little rough around the edges. They might even have had a particular fishy odor about them. But that was who Jesus chose to be His closest companions and ambassadors to the world. And I believe He did so that we might know that He came to seek and to save those that were lost. Jesus said in Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

And that is because there is none righteous, no not one. That is why repentance is necessary for conversion. But also Christ chose the worthless things of the world so that salvation may be of God and not of man. 1Cor. 1:26-29 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

So Christ calls these men, these common, everyday, working class guys, to leave everything and follow Him, and in return He will make them fishers of men. Now that’s a test of our value system isn’t it? Which do you think is more valuable? Your career, your business? Or being a fisherman for the Kingdom of God?

Well, Peter and Andrew, his brother, were using a casting net to catch fish when Jesus came by. And when He called them, they left their nets and followed Him. There is nothing inherently sinful about fishing, of course. That’s not why they left their nets. But there was something a lot better. Jesus said on another occasion in Matt. 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Peter and Andrew decided it was better to serve God rather than the world, to lay up eternal treasure in heaven than to store up temporal treasure on earth.

James and John were working down the beach, mending nets. And when Jesus came by them, He called them to follow Him as well. And immediately, Mark said, they left their nets, they left their father with the boat and hired hands and followed Jesus. Jesus said at another occasion in Matt. 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” James and John were willing to leave everything, even family, for the sake of knowing Jesus. Being a disciple then means that he who loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it.

Now it’s interesting that Mark records two aspects of fishing as illustrated by these four disciples. And perhaps we might learn something from this in regards to being fishers of men. First note that Peter and Andrew were using a casting net, which they would cast out in a large circle, and the weights around the outer edge would then drop down and capture the fish.

Jesus at another time gave a parable about using a net like that in relation to the Kingdom of God. He said in Matt.13:47-50, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Now that’s a picture of the preaching of the gospel. It is cast into the world, and many types of people are caught up in it. Many come under the sound of the gospel, they hear the truth. But some repent and believe and are saved into the Kingdom of God, and some reject it, and are lost. And at the judgment, those that have rejected the truth of the gospel will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. But those who are found written in the book of life, will reign forever with the Lord.

Then notice that James and John are mending their nets when Jesus passes by. This picture illustrates the other aspect of ministry. Mark’s term for mending their nets means to put in order, or to make ready, and so includes cleansing, mending and preparing the nets for the next day’s fishing. Interestingly enough, a derivative of this same word is used in Ephesians 4:12 in which Paul describes the work of the pastor as equipping the saints. Strong’s Bible dictionary says that to equip means to complete thoroughly, to repair or adjust, to fit, to mend, to make perfect, to perfectly join together, to prepare, or restore.

So there is the other aspect of ministry; to prepare others, to equip others, to restore others, to complete others in the church. In other words, to disciple other disciples. That’s the two fold ministry of the gospel. One to preach the gospel, casting a wide net over the world to all who will hear. We are responsible to cast forth the word, and God will give the increase or the harvest. We just preach or proclaim the good news to all who will listen. The second aspect of ministry is to disciple those who believe in the gospel. To help them, correct them, complete in them what is necessary so that they may be furnished for every good work. That they might be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And when we are faithfully preaching the message of the gospel, and doing the ministry of the gospel, then we are truly disciples; following Jesus’s example, and we too are being confirmed to the image of Christ. May we be about the business of the Kingdom of God, until Christ comes back to take us home with Him. May we be found faithful when He comes.

If you have not yet become a disciple of Jesus Christ, then today I urge you to make the most of this opportunity. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. It is the opportune time. Please don’t harden your heart against the Holy Spirit. Repent and believe the gospel that you might be saved. When you confess your sins to God, He will exchange your sins for Christ’s righteousness and give you life in Him. Take advantage of this offer today. Come to Jesus today.

Today we begin our study in the gospel of Mark. Mark is the shortest of all the gospels. It is thought by some to be the first of the four gospels written. And yet, I have saved it for last. We have finished Matthew, Luke and John and now it behooves us to look at this book. And following Mark’s example at directness and terseness, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on an introduction and filling in all sorts of biographical details. I want to get right to the message, just as Mark did.

I will only say by way of introduction that Mark is the same as John Mark, found elsewhere in the scriptures. He was a cousin of Barnabas, and accompanied Barnabas and Paul on a missionary journey. But perhaps due to his young age, or some other reason, he deserted the mission trip mid way, and as such caused a great division between Paul and Barnabas later on when Barnabas wanted to take him on another trip. Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways, but later on, at the end of Paul’s ministry, he makes mention of Mark and how desirable he was for service to the Lord.

One reason for that seems to be that during those intervening years, Mark became a close disciple of Peter. Peter was the first elder of the church at Jerusalem, and there seems to be an indication that Peter’s church was often held at Mark’s mother’s house, whose name was Mary. So though Mark was not one of the 12 disciples, nor one of the apostles, he was a protege and interpreter for Peter. And so his historical information comes from Peter, and of course, the Holy Spirit provided the divine inspiration.

Now that’s enough of an introduction. By the way, John Mark does not identify himself by name as the author, but as early as the 2nd century church fathers wrote that Mark was in fact the author, and that view seems to be held without question. However, Mark is not interested in introducing himself, because he is focused on introducing Jesus Christ to a primarily Gentile audience in Rome. And so he gets right to it, in vs.1.

I want to point out first that Mark is the only gospel writer to call his book the gospel. The word “gospel” is one of those church words we hear from time to time, without perhaps knowing exactly the significance of it. Gospel comes from the Greek word euaggelion, which means good news, or good tidings. That word euaggelion is the same word from which we get our word evangelist. Evangelist means simply, the bearer of good news.

It’s interesting that in Roman times, euaggelion was used in celebration of the emperor cult, when they announced the birthday of the emperor or his ascension to power, it was celebrated with festivals called an evangel. Mark, writing to a primarily Roman audience, uses this same word to announce the inauguration of the Kingdom of God, whose Lord of all is Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is a reason for rejoicing throughout the world, from that day through the ages to come.

So Mark says in vs1 that this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is not writing a history, he is not writing a biography, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ; who He is, what He said, and what He manifested to the world about God the Father, about Himself and God’s love for mankind.

Now let’s look at who Mark says Jesus is. First he says His name is Jesus, which means Jehovah saves; a real man, verified by history and eyewitnesses, who lived in the region of Galilee, who walked the earth 2000 years ago. Secondly, Mark says He is the Christ. That’s not the last name of Jesus, but a title. Christ is the Greek word for the Messiah. Jesus is the promised One, the seed of the woman, who would crush Satan’s head and provide liberty for the captives. Thirdly, Mark says He is the Son of God. He is deity, the incarnate God born in human flesh. Then there is one more title for Jesus in vs.3 which Mark attributes to Jesus, and that is Lord. Lord means sovereign, Master, ruler over the kingdom. But the scripture in Isaiah which Mark is quoting presents Lord in all capital letters, which was the word the Hebrews designated as a substitute for the personal, holy name of God, which is Jehovah. So Mark is in effect attributing LORD Jehovah to the name of Jesus.

Now that is good news! God has come down to man, in the form of Jesus Christ, to establish His kingdom, and to declare freedom to those who are held captive to the dominion of darkness.

Now in the uaggelion of the Romans, when an Emperor would take over his regime, there would be messengers who would go throughout the empire announcing his coming and preparing the people for his arrival. And in somewhat of a similar fashion, God appointed evangelists to prepare the hearts of the people as well to receive His King. Mark introduces the primary evangel, one John the Baptist, by reminding the reader that such a messenger had been prophesied in the scriptures.

Mark is quoting from the book of Isaiah, chapter 40 which was fulfilled by the ministry of John the Baptist. John the Baptist fulfills not only prophecy, but also a vital function in the preparation for the gospel. He prepares the way for Christ’s kingdom not by sweeping the streets and putting the village or city in order, but by preparing people’s hearts so that they will receive the gospel. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and so the preparation of the heart for receiving the Lord was the ministry of John.

Now how did John do that? Well, vs4 tells us; he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Listen, the vital ingredient to the gospel that is often missing today is repentance. Lot’s of people claim a sort of faith or belief that God exists. They may believe certain facts about Jesus. But without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. Jesus said in Luke 24:46-47 “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Repentance is essential for forgiveness. Repentance is recognizing you are a sinner, that you are lost, that you are estranged from God and helpless to be reconciled to God on your own.

And that is the significance of baptism. The significance is not water, whether by immersion or sprinkling. The significance was it was a public confession that you needed to be totally cleansed of your sin in order to be acceptable to the Lord and admitted into His kingdom. Now that was taught by baptism. In Jewish life, there was a baptism that was practiced to a limited degree, but it was not for Jews. It was a baptism for converts to Judaism from the pagan world. It was called becoming a proselyte. There was a method for converting a Gentile to being accepted by God and that was the baptism of a proselyte.

So in effect, what John the Baptist was showing them was that this repentance went so far as to say not only are you a sinner, but even your birthright is of no benefit to you. You are so estranged from God that you need to come to Him just as a pagan must come; renouncing all that you are, all that you claim, all your works, for the sake of knowing God and being accepted by God.

And note in vs.5, Mark says that the whole country was so moved by John’s message, that they came out of the cities to him in the wilderness, to be baptized in the dirty, muddy water of the Jordan, (that provided a necessary humbling experience in and of itself) and note what he says, “confessing their sins.” Make no mistake, confession is an essential ingredient in repentance. 1 John 1:9 says “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” David says in Psalm 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.” James 5:16 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.” James is not necessarily talking about physical healing there, but spiritual healing.

Listen, there is no need to sit down and think of every bad thing you have ever done and write them down. Some of us would be there a year just making confession! But what confession is meant to do is establish that sin is indeed sin. There is no sanctified sin. There may be more severe punishment for some sins above others, but sin is sin. And confession means confessing that your sin is sin and that it is worthy of death. It is more than enough to prohibit you from entrance into God’s kingdom.

That’s why in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus equates hate with murder, lust with adultery and so forth. What we think isn’t so bad, in God’s eyes is an abomination. He is holy and righteous and just. And in His kingdom, sin must be dealt with. And the first step to that is recognizing your sin is sin, and it is an affront to a Holy and Righteous Creator. So repentance, which means to humble yourself, confess your sins, and proclaim your need for forgiveness is one of the twin pillars of the gospel, and it is illustrated by baptism.

Baptism is being lowered under the water, which signifies dying to the old nature, and then being raised from the water, which signifies new life in the Spirit. Baptism then is not the means of salvation, but an illustration of it; a public confession of your sins and your need for new life.

Now in vs6, Mark tells us that John the Baptist came clothed in the garments of an Old Testament prophet, as in the spirit of Elijah. Elijah was the greatest prophet in the Old Testament, and later on Jesus will say concerning John the Baptist, that he was the greatest among men. But though Elijah was the greatest prophet up to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist was the greatest among men, yet John tells us that someone much greater than he was coming.

Vs.7 And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.” He was speaking like the job of the lowest servant, unworthy to do even the lowliest job, to untie the laces of Christ’s sandals. But it’s interesting that Jesus did exactly that at the Last Supper, when He washed the disciples feet. Jesus Christ, Lord God of all creation, humbled Himself to become our servant, to cleanse us so that we might be made sons and daughters of God.

But John was emphasizing Christ’s exalted position as Lord of All. Though John was a great prophet, and Moses and Elijah were great prophets, someone greater than a prophet was here, namely Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

John gives another contrast as well, which differentiates Christ’s ministry from John’s. He says in vs 8 “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Water was a symbol of dying to sin, repentance and confession, but when Christ baptizes you with the Holy Spirit, you are given new life so that you may walk in the Spirit. As the water cleanses you on the outside, completely enveloping your flesh, so the Spirit cleanses you on the inside, completely filling your flesh with a new nature. So that you no longer walk according to the flesh in this new life, but you walk in the Spirit. Any man can wash with water, but only God can cleanse your heart and make it like new.

Then in vs. 9, we now see Jesus coming from Nazareth, in Galilee to be baptized by John. Even this description of Mark reveals the humility of Jesus as He became man to be our Savior. Jesus was a common name, much like John might be today. Nazareth was a despised town, and Galilee was a region that was looked down upon as ignorant, backwoods people. The Son of God associated Himself with the commonest of man , so that He might be the Savior of all. Isaiah 53:2-3 speaks of the Messiah; “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 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.”

I dare say that no one who saw Jesus come to be baptized that day saw anything remarkable about Him. He would not have stood out of the crowd. He had no stately form or majesty that we should look admiringly upon Him. He was no more remarkable in appearance than a servant.

That is, until Jesus came up out of the water. Look at vs.10 “Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him; and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Prior to His baptism, no one recognized anything special about Him. But God the Father could not help but proclaim when He saw the Son submit to His will, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.”

That’s an incredible affirmation from God Himself as to the divinity of Jesus Christ. But there is a question that must be asked. Why, if Jesus had so pleased God the Father, did He need a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins? Well the answer is that Jesus did not need to be baptized for HIs sin, but He was baptized to identify with our sin. He came to take away man’s sin by taking it upon Himself, and dying in our place to pay the penalty that we were due, so that we might be set free.

2Cor. 5:21 says, “[God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” God was pleased with Christ’s righeousness. But God was well pleased because Christ humbled Himself to become our Savior, by taking our sins upon HImself.

Going back to Isaiah 53:10-12 we read “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

So not only do we have the verbal testimony of God, but also a physical attestation from the Holy Spirit. Mark says the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. Notice that Mark doesn’t say it was a dove, but it was like a dove. I think it was clearly something extraordinary, something supernatural, something identifiable as the Spirit of God, but He was described as being “like a dove.”

The point is not to quibble though over the appearance and what that looked like, but to see the multiple testimonies that Jesus was the righteous, holy Messiah, the Son of God, who came as a man, to identify with man, and take away his sins. In fact in this text there are five witnesses of who Jesus is; Mark said Jesus is the Son of God in vs.1, the prophets said Jesus is Lord in vs3, John the Baptist said Jesus was the One after me who is mightier than I in vs7, God the Father said Jesus is the Beloved Son of God in vs.11, and the Holy Spirit anointed Him in vs10.

Now all of that testimony is given that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. In short, that we might have faith, the other essential pillar of the gospel. Faith in who Jesus is, and faith in what He came to do. Our faith is founded on facts from eyewitnesses to His glory. Peter said in 2Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

Faith is believing not only that He exists, but in the sufficiency of what He did. He was the One in whom the Father was well pleased. He knew no sin. But God placed on Him the iniquity of us all that He might be our substitute, by dying on the cross for sin. Faith is receiving His sacrifice as a substitute for my sins.

Mark makes one more statement about the sinlessness of Christ, so that He might be the perfect substitute, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that is found in vs 12-13 “Immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.”

Most of us are familiar with the story of Jesus’s temptation. Satan tested Jesus with every temptation and Jesus refuted Him with the word of God. The other gospel’s of Matthew and Luke give us only three temptations. But notice that Mark says the temptation lasted 40 days. But it’s interesting that Mark does not give a more detailed account. It’s a brief mention, at best.

However what Mark does say is important. First he says the Spirit of God impelled Him to go into the wilderness. The picture there is one of force, the Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness. I cannot help but see a parallel to Leviticus 16, in which the nation of Israel, on the day of Atonement, drove a scapegoat into the wilderness, in a symbolic illustration of God bearing away their sin. This is after all the ministry of the gospel, to take away sin. Jesus came to be our scapegoat.

We know from the other gospels that Jesus was innocent in those temptations in the wilderness. And once again, we are reminded of the scapegoat; the principle of the innocent dying for the guilty. That is what atonement means. The Holy and Righteous God required a payment for sin, but because of His love for us, He does not require it of us, but of His Son. Jesus was driven out into the wilderness as a picture of the innocent Lamb of God bearing away our sins as He identified with us in baptism. And having made atonement for us through His blood, we have forgiveness of sins by faith in Him, and we see the risen Jesus acting on our behalf as our High Priest. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”

Well, that is the beginning of the gospel, according to Mark. The pillars of the gospel which are faith and repentance. In these first 11 verses, we see all that is necessary to be made righteous, to be given entrance into the kingdom of God. We have seen the need for repentance; confession and humility, the recognition of our sins and the need to be forgiven, to have a new life. And we have heard the testimony of Jesus Christ, the object of our faith. He is the Son of God, eternal in the heavens, in whom was no sin, and who offered Himself as our substitute, to pay our penalty for sin. And we have seen the illustration of baptism, which professes our desire to die to the old nature, and be resurrected to walk in the Spirit.

The question today is what have you done with the gospel? Have you repented and turned to Christ in faith for salvation? Do you desire to have a new life in Christ? I pray that no one here today would reject so great an offer of salvation. Jesus has paid the price, you simply must recognize that you are a sinner, and call upon the saving work of Jesus Christ the Righteous so that you may receive forgiveness and new life through Him. If you have seen your need today for forgiveness, then to paraphrase the Ethiopian eunuch, I say, “Look, there is water. What prevents you from being baptized?”

I thought I was going to be through with John last week. We finished up 1 John last Sunday, and I had planned on beginning the book of Mark, which is something I wanted to do months ago actually. But when I began to study Mark in preparation for this week, I did not feel that God was leading me to do so at this time. I think that there is still some more that He wants to teach us from John’s letters. And so this Sunday we are going to look at this very small book of 2 John in it’s entirety. Just think, you will be able to tell your friends back home that the pastor preached on a whole book of the Bible in one sitting.

But if you will remember from our studies in 1 John, the theme of that book was fellowship. And as I said, I thought we had finished all that God had to say on that subject and could move on. However, I believe that this letter of 2 John also speaks to this subject of fellowship. As I have said repeatedly, I believe John is teaching that the purpose of the Christian life is fellowship; fellowship with God and fellowship with His people. So in that vein, I have titled today’s message “The Fellowship of Truth.” Fellowship by definition means like mindedness. And there is a commonality in fellowship, Christian fellowship, that can only be found in the context of truth. There is no fellowship of light with darkness.

The Apostle Paul said in 2Cor. 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”

So the truth is the plumb line that delineates fellowship. You are either walking in the truth, or walking in darkness. As a church we are a fellowship of God’s people. Our whole purpose as a church is to learn the truth, preach the truth, and walk in the truth of God. And as we do those things, we have fellowship with God and with one another. Jesus said in the gospel of John, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He went on to say that “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He said on another occasion, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Before He was crucified Jesus told His disciples He would send them the Spirit of Truth, who would lead them into all truth. Truth is essential to fellowship. And Christian fellowship is impossible if it is not in the truth.

As I said last week, I sometimes feel inferior to other churches because we do not have all the bells and whistles that people often associate with church. But as far as I am concerned, the most important purpose of the church is to declare the truth, defend the truth and walk in the truth. Everything else is gravy. And if you don’t get the truth right, then nothing else matters. Fellowship without the truth is of no greater value than membership in a social club.

Now as I see it, there are five divisions of this letter. The first is the theme of the letter, which is the fellowship of the truth. Secondly, we see five blessings of the truth. Thirdly, John talks about walking in the truth; fourthly, the opposition to the truth, and finally, the joy of fellowship.
So let’s look first at what we have already introduced, that is the fellowship of the truth.

John addresses this letter to the chosen lady and her children. He identifies himself as an elder, which can indicate his apostleship over the churches, as well as possibly his age. Some have said that he would have been in his 90’s by this point. I think it has more to do with his position in the church, rather than his age. Ephesians says the church is built on the foundation of the apostles. And perhaps by this point, John is the only apostle still living,

But the interesting thing is who it is addressed to; the chosen lady and her children. Theologians are split between this being an individual, and it being a pseudonym for a particular church. My view is that he is addressing a church. John’s favorite name for Christians in the epistle of 1 John is “little children.” So I think that the chosen lady is a way of referring to a corporate body of believers, who have been chosen of God, to be the bride of Christ, and her children being the family of God, those that John refers to as being born of God. So it makes more sense to me that he is speaking to a church, and this letter was shared with other churches who had similar problems and concerns in those days, and as such it came to be accepted in the canon of scripture.

Now notice that in his address, John covers all those elements which are essential to fellowship, which as I said, is the purpose of the church. Three times in the first 2 verses he mentions truth. And in relation to the truth, he speaks of love and emphasizes the family of fellowship. He says first of all that there is a love for those who are of the truth. He loves them, and those who love the truth loves those in the church who are born of God. Fellowship produces love. Christian love is the natural outcome of fellowship with God, you will grow to love Him and love His body, that is His church, His people. But that love is within the context of truth. Three times he mentions truth, as if to underline again and again the essential nature of truth to fellowship.

There is another aspect of truth which is important to note, and that is where he says in vs 2, “the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.” Jesus said in His high priestly prayer that God’s word is truth. Listen, God cannot be separated from His word. God is eternal, and the word of God endures forever. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God endures forever.” The word of God never fails, and it is an eternal truth that we will still be abiding in 10,000 years from now. That’s why John calls Jesus the Word in John chapter 1. The Word which was in the beginning with God, and the Word which was God. The Word of God is eternal truth which will be with us forever.

Now let’s move on to the second point; the five blessings of truth. Vs3 “Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” I say there are five blessings, but maybe another way of looking at this is that the first three come out of the second two. Grace, mercy and peace, come out of truth and love.

We could easily spend an entire sermon on these attributes. But in the essence of time, let’s just give a brief explanation. Truth and love are the major pillars of the fellowship of the church. In my introduction I addressed the essentiality of truth. Preaching and practicing the truth are the essential functions of the church. And we know that fellowship produces love. Jesus said “they will know you are My disciples by your love for one another.” Again and again in 1John we are told to love one another. He is going to say that again in this epistle in vs.5. So truth and love are the pillars of fellowship in the church.

But let’s look at the familiar benediction “Grace, mercy and peace.” Apart from truth and love, we can never really know grace, mercy and peace. Grace means getting what we don’t deserve; pardon for sin, a new life, eternal life, righteousness. Mercy is not getting what we do deserve; we deserve death as the penalty for our sin, but God put Christ to death in our place. And peace, means primarily peace with God. It’s not the cessation of war, though that might be desirable. But it’s making peace with God because our offense has been forgiven through the atonement of Jesus Christ by dying on the cross.

There are a lot of churches today that speak of grace, mercy and peace, but they see it as some sort of social panacea. They reject the truth of God’s word, but still want the blessings of grace, mercy and peace. They do not understand that grace, mercy and peace outside of the redemption through Christ’s blood is impossible. The truth shall make you free. Not social justice, not welfare programs, not rehabilitation. But the truth spoken in love. Paul said in Ephesians 4:13 that the church body is to “all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” So truth and love produces grace, mercy and peace through Christ, that we might become unified in the truth and conformed to the image of Christ.

Now that spiritual maturity comes through walking in the truth, John’s third point. Let’s read vs4, “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.” Three times John emphasizes the need not only to know the truth, but to walk in the truth.

Some of the people in this church, John says, are walking in the truth. Some were being obedient to the truth and some were not. As James said, we must be doers of the word and not just hearers only. It’s one thing for the church to preach the truth, but it’s another to have the church walking in the truth. Walking in the truth requires obedience to the truth. Trusting in the truth enough to act upon it.

He goes on to describe walking in the truth as walking according to the commandments, and the commandments he sums up as loving one another. Then in vs6, he tells us what love is; love is walking according to His commandments. Now he isn’t just talking in circles. But he is emphasizing what Jesus said, which is “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Love then is tied to obedience. Love is not an emotion, or sentimentality, but love is an act of the will, doing what God tells us to do.

Jesus defined loving your neighbor as illustrated by the Good Samaritan. He said a man had been set upon by robbers and was lying beside the road half dead. Many people passed him by, perhaps thinking that in some way he was responsible for his own misfortune, or perhaps too busy with their own concerns to take the time to help a stranger. But the Samaritan got down off his horse, and cleaned him up, bandaged him, and took care of his needs. He took him to an inn and left money with instructions for the innkeeper to take care of him until he could return, and he would pay whatever more was necessary. That was Jesus’s illustration of loving your neighbor, even a stranger And loving one another in the church family should go even beyond that. Love is sacrificing your priorities for the sake of another’s benefit.

In essence, loving one another is the fulfillment of all the law, because if you love one another with the sacrificial love that Christ showed for us, then you cannot lie to one another, you cannot steal from one another, you cannot covet what your brother has, and certainly you will not murder or commit adultery against your brother. So loving God and loving one another is the fulfillment, or the way to fulfillment, of all the commandments. Walking according to the commandments then is the way to fellowship in the truth with God and with our fellow brother.

Now the devil knows that walking in the truth is the way to fellowship with God. And he wants nothing more than to destroy that fellowship you have with God. He wants to put distance between you and God and ultimately destroy your fellowship with Him and with His church. Peter said that the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy. And the way the lion destroys and kills an antelope, is he separates him from the herd. Once he separates you from the church, then he can more easily take you down. And the way the devil works to separate you from the church is to first separate you from the truth.

Jesus said in John 8:44 that the devil is a liar and the father of liars. He is a deceiver. So that is his modus operandi; to tell you a half truth, to twist the truth, to misinterpret the word, and to ultimately get you to believe his lies. Now that opposition to the truth is John’s fourth point. Look at vs7, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”

Now we could spend a month on these verses. But I just want to hit the highlights for you today. Notice that the devil has sent many of his emissaries out into the world, wolves in sheep’s clothing, pretending to be preachers of the truth, but instead they are deceiving people. He calls them the antiChrist. They are false prophets. This is not some teaching on eschatology. This was happening then, and it’s happened in every generation since John. 1John 2:18 says many antiChrists are in the world today, and they are teaching false doctrine.

Paul speaking to the elders of Ephesus said in Acts 20:29-30 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” So the church itself is the place where the antiChrists exalt themselves.

Jude speaks of these wolves in sheep’s clothing in Jude 1:4 saying, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” See, these false teachers are teaching grace without works, salvation without sanctification, that somehow you could be spiritual, but not have works that attested to righteousness. James 2:19-20 speaks to the impossibility of faith without works. “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”

Here is the issue in the church at the end of the first century. False teachers were promoting a teaching called Gnosticism. And while this teaching involved a lot of heresys, one of it’s principle teachings was that we could worship God in Spirit, but our flesh did not have to be involved. And they based that on the notion that Jesus had not really come in the flesh, only in Spirit. So they taught that spiritually you could be saved, but physically you could still live in the world. Spiritually you were righteous, but physically you could live in sin and not have anything to worry about. That philosophy is still in the church today, just under different names.

So what John is saying is that these people are teaching a form of the gospel, but not the whole truth of the gospel. And as such they were causing Christians to lose fellowship with God. They were causing people in the church to forfeit their reward, because there was no fruit to their salvation. As James said in the 2nd chapter of his epistle which we quoted from a moment ago; “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) The Spirit gives life to the body. The body is sanctified by the Spirit, producing the fruit of the Spirit. The body is brought under submission to the Spirit of God, and thus is conformed to the image of Christ.

This is still the issue in the church today. Satan is still deceiving people into thinking that they can have grace, mercy and peace with God without truth and love, without obedience to the truth, without repentance from sin, without coming out of the world. And when he is successful then he destroys your fellowship with God, he destroys your fellowship with His church, and he destroys your testimony before others so that you hurt the cause of Christ. And ultimately he may even cause you to lose your life here on earth in your pursuit of worldly idols.

So what’s John’s admonition to the church? To avoid such people. To not have fellowship with them. To not show hospitality to them. To see such false teachers as a cancer that corrupts the body which will spread until it destroys completely. To have a holy horror of false doctrine. That is what John is saying. Don’t even eat with such people. Don’t even give them a greeting. That’s what he said in vs. 10, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”

So John says love has a limit, doesn’t it? Love has no limit for the lost, for the broken hearted, for the afflicted, for the needy. Love has no limit for the sinner. But love has a limit for false teaching, for that which purports to be the truth and yet is a slick lie of the devil. Don’t help those people. Don’t fellowship with those people. Certainly don’t support them. 2Cor. 6:17-18 “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.”

The last aspect of the fellowship of truth which John gives us here is really just a passing reference to something he calls the joy of fellowship. His goal he says in vs 12 is that their joy may be full. Listen, there is no greater joy than complete fellowship with God. You can have a great job, you can have all sorts of possessions, houses, cars. You can have all that this world can offer and still be miserable. But if you have complete fellowship with God, then you can have joy in pain, joy in suffering, joy in poverty, joy in being alone. If your joy is founded in your fellowship with God, then that is full joy, complete joy.

But sin destroys that joy. When David sinned against God, he prayed for forgiveness in Psalm 51, and said, “restore unto me the joy of my salvation.” He repented of his sin, he was restored to fellowship with God, and as a result the joy of his former fellowship was restored unto him. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “For the joy of the LORD is your strength.” That is what sustains us.

Full fellowship with God results in full joy. That is where we get the peace that passes all understanding; in the joy of the Lord. In the joy of knowing you are right with God, and He is with you and you with Him. Where you have sweet communion with God through the truth of His word. Where you show your love to Him through obedience to His word. Where sin has not broken the fellowship and intimacy of your love with Him or with His church.

John says in 1John 1:4, “these things we have written to you that our joy may be complete.” He was speaking of the writings of the apostles, the Holy Scriptures, the Bible. Our joy comes from abiding in His word. Now at the end of 2 John, he says, “Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full.” So there are two aspects to having joy in the Lord. The first is through His word, abiding in His word. The second is fellowship. John said he wanted to come in person. Face to face, person to person. We are made for fellowship with His body. We have joy when we have fellowship with one another and have love for one another in the body.

I can pray for someone. I can write to someone. But even better, I can go to someone. I can touch someone. I can be the hands of feet of Christ. That is how our joy may be full, and that is how the love of God is manifested in the church, when we love one another not just in word, but in deed. We need fellowship. God has designed us for fellowship with Him and with His family. Don’t let the lie of Satan deprive you of that fellowship with the Lord. Stay in the word, and do not neglect the assembling of yourselves together as the body of Christ. Stay in close fellowship with the flock and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Heb. 10:19-25 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

We are coming to the end of our study in 1 John. This is the last message in this epistle, and I trust it has been as beneficial to you as it has to me. As I have said from the beginning, the theme of 1John is that of fellowship. Fellowship with God and with His body, the church. Last week, if you were here, we looked at the confidence of fellowship. That message is available online for those of you that are interested. This week we look more completely at the idea of assurance of fellowship, looking specifically at four assurances of fellowship with which John closes out his epistle. He wants us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are Christ’s, and He is ours. That we abide in Him, and He in us. That we have fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And that this fellowship is characterized by eternal life, not just an endless life, but abundant life, life animated by the very Spirit of God.

John says in vs.13 of this chapter, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Thirty-nine times in the epistle of 1John, he tells us that we might know. He gives us various tests and evidences and proofs that we might know we have this eternal, abundant life of fellowship with God. Now today in the closing statement of this passage, we see the word “know” used three times. And so in keeping with the theme of John’s message, I have entitled this sermon “Four assurances of fellowship.”

Let’s look then at each of them. The first assurance of fellowship we find in vs.18, “We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.” John has had much to say about sin in this epistle. He just finished saying in the preceding verses of 16 and 17, that there is a sin that a brother in Christ can commit which is not unto death, and there is also a sin unto death. Furthermore, he says, all unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.

We talked about those somewhat difficult verses last time a great deal. And I won’t take the time to completely review them again this morning. But suffice it to say, that a Christian cannot sin unto death, because he has been given eternal life. He can sin, and that interrupts his fellowship with God, but he cannot sin unto death, because Christ has died for us in our place. God will not punish us with death when He has already punished Jesus with death on our behalf. All unrighteousness is sin, and John says there is a sin not unto death. That sin is the sin committed by a Christian. But he goes on to say that there is a sin unto death. And that is the sin of the unbeliever. He who has rejected the source of life, the Savior of mankind, such a one is still dead in his trespasses and sins. He is sinning unto death. He will die in his sins unless he is born again by faith in Christ and repentance of his sin.

So with that as our context, let us consider what John is saying here in vs.18, and why this should be a comfort and assurance for us. He says that we know that no one who is born of God sins. Well, remember in the preceding verses we just saw that there is a sin of a Christian. It is not unto death, but it is still a sin. So we need to look closer than just a superficial reading of this verse. And what we find is that in the Greek language, John was writing using the present tense, speaking of a continuous sin, a habitual sin. A pattern of continuing in sin. So he is saying that one who is born of God does not continue in sin. Sin no longer has dominion over the one born of God.

Now the key is that phrase “born of God.” John uses it twice in this one verse; once to speak of our relationship to God, and once to speak of Christ’s relationship to God. Our freedom from the power of sin depends not upon our self discipline or will power, but upon our new birth. When we are born again, we die to the old man, and appeal to God for to become a new creation. Old things are passed away, and all things become new. We are born of the Spirit of God. In this new creation, God gives us a new heart and puts His Spirit within us. In Ezekiel 36:25-27 God says, ”Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

So when you become born again, God gives you the legal standing of righteousness. He gives you the capacity for righteousness. He gives you the desire for righteousness. And He gives you the power of the Spirit that you may work the works of righteousness. Therefore, sin no longer has dominion over you. As the song we sang a few minutes ago said, “In Christ Alone,” “sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me.” Christ has been victorious over sin and death and as His people who are indwelled by His Spirit, we have been given freedom from sin. So as a Christian we may sin, but we will not continue in sin. We no longer have a pattern of sinfulness as our characteristic. That pattern has been broken. Sin’s hold over us has been broken. And so we know that no one who is born of God continuously sins.

The second part of that verse is especially meaningful to me. We know that one who is born of God does not continuously sin, because He who was born of God keeps him… Folks, that should be a reason to shout “Hallelujah!” Jesus Christ keeps us. Listen, it is incumbent upon the Shepherd to keep His sheep. He defends His sheep from ravening wolves and roaring lions. We are His sheep of His pasture. The Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep. Do you think that God is powerful enough to keep us from hell, but not powerful enough to keep us from falling back into a life of sin?

Jesus said in John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” I find great comfort in knowing that the Good Shepherd keeps HIs sheep. He watches over them and protects them, from their lying down to their rising up. And if you are born of God, then you can rest in the promise that Christ keeps you.

Listen, this is further evidence that vs16 and 17 are not talking about an unpardonable sin that cannot be forgiven, or a sin by which you can lose your salvation. Christ is entrusted with keeping His sheep. He will not let you go. It’s like the analogy I have said before about when my kids were little. As we would get ready to cross a busy highway, I would tell my kids, “hold onto Daddy’s hand.” And though I expected them to obey, I wanted them to hold my hand, I did not rely on their strength to hold onto me, but I held onto them, and nothing they could do would make me let go. I love my kids, and I can assure you that God loves His children, and nothing can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

So the Only Begotten Son of God keeps them. Then notice a further provision; “and the evil one does not touch him.” I love that phrase. I am reminded of Christ’s assurance to Peter in Matt. 16:18, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” If you are born of God then you are the church of God.And as the church of God no power of hell can overpower you. I think of another verse in this epistle, 1John 4:4 “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Listen, be confident, but not arrogant. John is not saying that the devil will not try to discourage you, that he will not attack you, that he will not try to deceive you. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians that we do in fact wrestle against forces of darkness. Eph. 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” But though we wrestle against them, we do not fight in our own strength, we fight in the power of God, through the weapons of righteousness. And through Christ, we are guaranteed the victory as John told us previously in vs 4; “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.”

So the devil cannot lay hold of us again to take us back under his dominion. We have been transferred to the kingdom of God. Col. 1:13 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” Satan cannot do anything to us, that he has not first received permission from our heavenly Father. We don’t belong to him anymore. We have been set free through Christ.

Now let’s look at the second assurance. Vs.19, 1John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” This assurance is really just an extrapolation of the first. We are born of God. God knows His children, and keeps His children, and nothing can snatch us out of the Father’s hand.

And then John shows us the contrast. You are either in the Kingdom of God, or the dominion of darkness. There is no middle ground. You are either born of God or you are born of your father the devil. John told us in chapter 3 vs 8, “the one who practices sin is of the devil.” We do not practice sin. We who are born again do not continuously practice a sinful lifestyle. We have been changed, reborn, remade. We have a new nature, and are a new creation. But those who practice sin are of the devil. John tells us there are only two options; you either are born of God or you are of the devil.

And that is evident by the things that you love. 1John 2:15-16 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Now this idea of the world which the Bible speaks of, is another means of describing the dominion of darkness, that sphere of influence under the prince of this world, the prince of darkness, even the devil. The world refers to the world system that Satan has orchestrated through a system of lies and deceits and lusts in such a way as to capture the naive and hold them and ultimately condemn them to destruction.

John says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. This world that seems so enticing, so alluring, so entertaining, is actually engineered by the evil one to entrap and be a snare. As Christians, we should not be seduced by the world’s philosophies, by her entertainments, by her materialism. For all these things will be one day burned up when God pours out His judgment upon this world. In Revelation, we see this world system pictured as a harlot named Babylon who is dressed in fine clothing, sitting upon the beast of Satan. And though she looks alluring, there are all kinds of blasphemies and corruptions within her. Rev 18:2-4 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.”

As Christians, we must not be tempted by the charms of this world system. But recognize as James 4:4 says, that friendship with the world is to become an enemy of God. As Paul says in Gal. 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?”

Paul speaks of this world system in Eph. 2:2 saying, “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” The course of this world he likens to a course of a river, that sweeps along in it’s current the population who seem unaware that they are headed downstream to destruction. And yet because everyone else seems to be in it as well, they are ignorant of the devil’s schemes to destroy them. The fact that they don’t realize it, serves even more the purposes of the evil one. But thanks be to God that we are born of God, have been delivered from this world system and “no power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand; till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand. “ (In Christ Alone)

The third assurance John gives us of our fellowship is the knowledge of truth. Vs. 20, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” Three times John speaks of what is true, or the truth. The word translated true is the Greek word alēthinos, which might be better translated as genuine.

Now in light of that, then consider what John is presenting to us; “ we know that the Son of God has come.” In other words, He that was in the beginning with God, who was God, has come down to man, to become flesh and blood, so that He might suffer for us the wages of sin, and that we might be made righteous through Him. That is the gospel; that the Son of God has come. We have come to know it through faith, and then through experience. As our faith becomes effective we have the witness within us that it is true. He says, “and give us understanding so that we might know Him who is true.”

Jesus came to earth to reveal the truth of God. That we might know the character and nature of God. And we know that because we see it in Christ. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” He said to Philip, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” Hebrews 1:1 says, “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He [that is Christ] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of [God’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Now we not only have Jesus revealing the truth of God through His nature, but also we have understanding through His Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” And John 16:13″But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” As vs6 of this chapter says, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”

So what is the truth which we have come to know? It is the genuine truth concerning God. Jesus said, God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” That is essential, that we worship God in truth. And John says that we can know that we worship God in truth, because we are in Christ, who is the genuine Son of God, reflecting the genuine truth of God.

You know, as a pastor of this church, I am constantly aware of what we lack in comparison to other churches. I was complaining of our lack of growth the other day, and the person I was speaking to told me that if I became more like other churches, and had a high powered worship band, if I had a high octane children’s program, if I had more of the bells and whistles that we see in the popular churches, then we would be more successful. And I suppose that he is right. But let me tell you something. Jesus said you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. A high octane children’s church is not going to set your child free from sin. A youth group will not necessarily set your teenager free from the entrapment of this world. Only the truth will make you free. And the truth is found in the preaching of God’s word. You can be religious and not be set free. You can rock out to a great worship band and not be set free. The whole world can sing “merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily” while floating down the stream to their destruction, but only the truth will set you free. I want to know the truth of God, that I might have the life of Christ in me. And that is the purpose of the church.

Now back to our text, John says He, that is Christ, is the true God and eternal life.Now that’s a tremendous statement. John says Christ is the true God. We believe that God is three persons in One. Father, Son and Spirit are equally God, but with different roles in unique personhoods. Jesus is fully God, and furthermore, as Hebrews says, He is the exact representation of the Father God. He is God who was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Doctrinally this is essential to our salvation. But also this verse is essential to our fellowship. We are in Him, that is Christ. He is the basis for our relationship to God as sons. He is how we are born again, that is born of God. You have to have this relationship with Christ in order to have fellowship with God. And when you believe in Christ and His work by faith, then God reckons that faith to you as righteousness, and He gives you eternal life. Remember what we have said repeatedly about the concept of eternal life? It does not just indicate endless life, but spiritual life, the life of Christ in us. This is the abundant life that Jesus spoke of. It is the life of fellowship with the Father and the Son and with HIs bride, the church.

Now there is one final assurance that John gives us as he closes this epistle. And at first it may seem to not follow the pattern of the first three. Note that vs.21 does not have the word “know” in it. John simply closes with “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.” And I’m sure you wonder, like I did, what relation this could have with the preceding verses. But if you think about it for a moment, I’m sure you will agree with me as well as with John, that obeying this principle is yet another assurance that you will have fellowship with God.

The fourth assurance of fellowship is that we guard ourselves from idols. The point that I think John is making here, is that it he has given us three assurances that are the provence of God that we might have fellowship. But now he is giving us one assurance of ourselves that we might have fellowship with God. In other words, God is sovereign and He has made sure we have fellowship with Him and will continue to have fellowship, based on His divine will and sovereignty. But there is also a responsibility that we have in our fellowship with God. I confess, I do not know where God’s sovereignty ends and my responsibility begins. God’s sovereignty began before the creation of the earth. He chose us before the foundation of the earth, the scripture says. But yet He tells us of our responsibility to believe, to repent, to confess, to obey, to love one another, to keep His commandments. So though God’s sovereignty is a great comfort and assurance of my fellowship throughout eternity with God, yet there is also a responsibility on my part to do what He wants me to do.

And so as John considers fellowship to be a product of our love for God, and our love for God producing ever more intimacy with God, then it makes sense that as the bride of Christ we should guard against committing adultery against God. Loving the world is a form of idolatry. And furthermore, idolatry is a form of adultery. James said it this way in James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Paul speaking of the Old Testament church said in 1Cor. 10:7 “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” This really goes back to what we said at the beginning. That the world system has been strategically engineered by Satan to seduce people to become ensnared by the world, and having become trapped, to be destroyed. Satan may not be able to destroy a Christian’s eternal destiny, but he can destroy a Christian’s fellowship with God, and as such destroy a Christian’s testimony.

It’s unlikely that many of us today would bow down to an idol of wood or stone. But many of us can be found bowing down to the idols of entertainment, or bowing to the idols of sports, or bowing down to the idol of money, or career. There is no end to the idols that this world offers up in opposition to the truth of life in Christ. We are so easily led astray to worship false idols who offer us false hope of finding happiness or fulfillment outside of life in Christ. But just as hope in statues of wood or stone would be futile, so is our hope in idols of this world that sell us the lie that happiness can be found in things of this world.

Folks, there is only one source of joy and contentment and peace and love. The things of this world that are worth having when all is said and done, can only be found in the life of fellowship with God through Christ. Nothing else will satisfy. John said in chapter 1 vs. 3, “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is the only way to the Father. And there is no greater joy, no greater peace than that which is found in fellowship with Him. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Come out from the world and be separate from her. These idols of the world will destroy your fellowship with God. They will never bring you the joy that God can give. He is the only way to life. I pray that you will guard yourself against the seductions of this world which can never satisfy. But Jesus said, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

If you have been born of God, then I trust that the conclusion of this epistle has assured your heart of eternal fellowship with God. That you would guard yourselves from the allure and enticement of the false gods of this world. That you would cling only to the truth of Christ, and to Christ alone.

And if you are here today and you don’t know that life of fellowship which Jesus gives, I urge you to receive Him today as your Lord and Savior. He gives the water of life without cost and gives it freely to all who come to Him. If you are thirsty for that living water, come to Jesus today, He will satisfy you with the water of eternal life. Jesus said in John 4:14 “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

We are coming to the close of the epistle of 1 John. We will more than likely finish it next Sunday, Lord willing. I came into this epistle with naive expectations that we would spend a short study in it, and then we would begin the gospel of Mark as we started out the summer season. Turns out God had other plans. This is the seventeenth message in 1 John, with one more to go. This little epistle has taught me much concerning the life of a Christian, particularly in regards to what is Christian fellowship. There have been a number of interpretational challenges, as there is yet again today, but I believe God helped us navigate through them, and I for one, am the better for it.

If you have been with us during this summer, you will know that I consider fellowship to be the theme of 1 John. And fellowship with God can only be possible if you have been born again into eternal life. Eternal life is inseparable from fellowship with God. Now, as I indicated last week, eternal life does not just refer to the longevity of life, but the quality of life. That which is spiritual is eternal by definition, thus we have to be born again by the Spirit of God, in order to become spiritual, because in our natural state, we are dead spiritually. That is due to the curse of sin from the Garden of Eden, when man ate of the tree, and as God said, they surely died. Adam and Eve died spiritually. And as descendants of Adam, all have sinned according to our nature and are spiritually dead. But once having received eternal life, we have fellowship with the Spirit who abides in us, and as such we now have eternal life in Christ.

Their is another aspect of the phrase eternal life, and that’s the word used for life; zoe in the original Greek. In Greek there are three words used for life. There is bios, from which we get the word biology. It refers to the physical body. Then there is psuche, from which we get the word psychology. It refers to the soul, or the mind, emotions and will of man. Sometimes it is also called the heart. Heart and soul are interchangeable. And then there is zoe, which refers to the zest of life, a life of special vitality or animation. And that word zoe is what the apostles use to speak of spiritual life. This is the life animated by God, the divine life that is eternal, abundant, and is the source of our fellowship with God. Without zoe life, we cannot have fellowship with God.

And by the way, eternal life does not begin when we get to heaven one day. Eternal life begins at salvation. Your life in Christ will never end. Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” When He said I am the life, He used the word zoe. We receive the life of Christ, divine life, which is eternal life, the moment we believe in Christ. That zoe life is the full life, abundant life of fellowship with God when we abide in Him and He in us. As Jesus affirmed in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” He’s not talking about physical prosperity, but about the full divine, spiritual life in Christ that results in fellowship with God.

Now John speaks to this indispensable principle of fellowship in vs.13. We talked about this verse some last time, but we need to look at it again this week to keep the following verses in context. Note vs.13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Since the very first chapter, John has been concerned that we know that we have real fellowship with God. He is concerned that we know we have eternal life. The word “know” appears 39 times in this epistle and seven times in these last verses. This whole epistle is about knowing you have fellowship with God for certain.

And last time we showed that the way you know you have the eternal zoe life of God, that you have fellowship with God, is through the word of God. The promises of God are our guarantee, the confidence of our salvation, and our confidence of fellowship with Him. We don’t trust in feelings, we don’t trust in experiences, though those things may be significant. But we trust in the word of God. And that is why John says that these things have been written down for us, that we might know for certain that we have fellowship with God. The apostle’s doctrines which are written are scripture, which is inspired by the Spirit of God, that we may know the things of God.

Now John tells us in vs 14 that there is another proof, or evidence, that we have this fellowship, this zoe life of God abiding in us. And that evidence is answered prayer. Answered prayer is one of the most satisfying evidences of your fellowship with God. Sometimes they are major things we have been praying for, and God answers them. And sometimes there are small things we pray for, and God answers them. But whether they are big or small, answered prayer is one of the best confirmations of our fellowship with God, and one of the most tangible evidences that we share the zoe life of Christ.

But if the truth be known, answered prayer is an evidence which is sometimes lacking in our lives, is it not? We pray for things, we try to muster up faith that God will answer it, and then oftentimes He doesn’t seem to answer. And rather than encouraging our faith, it sometimes works to discourage us.

However John seems to give us this blank check that if we ask, we will receive what we ask for. But in actuality, it’s important to give full consideration to these verses if we hope to see this evidence of our life with Christ. Let’s look at the verses 14 and 15; “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”

Now let’s break this verse down. First of all, I want you to notice that we are to pray confidently. Now confidence is not presumption. Confidence is not arrogance. Confidence is not commanding God to do whatever we ask. If that were so, then we should worship ourselves, rather than worship God. If He exists to do our bidding, then He isn’t a God, He is a genie, and if we rub Aladdin’s lamp just so, and say the words just the right way, then abracadabra, God is at our service, and we get our wish!

No, that is not the God of the Bible. But we are told to be confident. We have that confidence because of our relationship to God through Christ who is our Great High Priest. Consider what
Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

This kind of confidence arises from the knowledge of two fundamental principles of prayer, which John gives us here: the certainty of hearing, and the certainty of having. Notice both of these elements: “If we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us.” Now also notice that there is a caveat; according to His will. Perhaps the major reason for most of the unanswered prayers of the world is they are not according to God’s will, and therefore they are not heard. John makes it explicitly clear that a prayer that is according to God’s will is always heard. Thus he dismisses all those concepts of prayer which imply that prayer is a means of getting God to do our will. Prayer is never that.

In fact, James makes it clear that prayer offered on the wrong terms, according to our will rather than God’s, will not be answered. Look at James 4:2,3; “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” The idea there is that you pray for things based on worldly lusts.

Jesus said in John 14:14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” That is the basis for the traditional ending to most of our prayers. “We ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.” That however, is not what Jesus intended. To ask in His name is not simply to tack on Jesus’ name at the end of our prayer, but to ask according to Him, according to His nature, His character. And we know that Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God. He did everything which the Father was doing. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” So to ask in His name is to ask according to His will. It means the same thing. So when we ask according to His will, John says He hears us. Or perhaps better, He listens to us.

Now that is all that John explicitly says about prayer. That is the only condition he seems to put upon it; that we ask in accordance with God’s will. But that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. The Bible has much to say about prayer. And if you go through the Old and New Testaments, you will find a lot of principles that apply to effective prayer. But what John seems to be presuming to be understood, is that this effective prayer he is talking about happens as a result of true fellowship with God. When you are in fellowship with God, abiding in Him, He abiding in you, His word abiding in you, and you abiding in obedience to His commandments, when all that encompasses true fellowship is in effect, then you will ask according to His will and He will do it.

Now if you are living outside of His will, then that would mean you are living in sin, wouldn’t it? If you sin, John says in chapter 1, then you don’t have fellowship with God. Sin breaks fellowship with God. As a Christian, sin will not make you lose your salvation, but it will disrupt your fellowship with God. 1John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” So the answer to unconfessed sin is to confess it, and be cleansed of it, so that we can have restored fellowship with God. But in an unconfessed state of sin, then we can expect not to have our prayers answered. David said in Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

In fact, let me expand on that principle in a positive light. After years of reading James 5 regarding what James calls “effective prayer”, I finally saw the connection. James 5:16b, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” It finally dawned on me one day that the secret to effective prayer is a “righteous man.” A man that does not regard iniquity in his heart. So James says in the same verse, “confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed.” He isn’t talking about being healed from physical illness, but from a spiritual illness. Sin being an illness that besets the zoe life and disrupts the fellowship we have with God. So confessing our sins makes us whole again, restoring our full fellowship with God. That whole fellowship is the secret to answered prayer.

Now John is going to give us an illustration that will help to explain this principle of how God answers the prayer of those in fellowship with Him. And I will admit, that I wish John had come up with a different illustration. John has a way of making something simple sound confusing. But nevertheless, it is for our own good to be challenged by this type of illustration. It forces us to consider scripture in light of scripture. But I will say that the following verses have been the source of many a debate, and not a few false doctrines. Now I don’t claim to be smarter than everyone else. But after much pray and consideration I think I know what John is saying here. I guess that God is showing that not many wise, not many noble are called, but God has chosen the foolish things to shame the wise. So in that vein, let me try to explain John’s illustration. First let’s read the word; vs.16-17 “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.”

Now as I alluded to while ago, there have been a lot of interpretations of these verses for centuries among theologians. And there have also been some false teachings that have arisen out of these verses. Some have tried to say this teaches that you can lose your salvation, or that you can somehow commit a sin which is not forgivable. Well, in consideration of time, I cannot address every false teaching here today. I will say, however, that you cannot lose what you have not acquired. Christ purchased your salvation, and God granted it to you on the basis of faith in Christ. It is eternal life that you received by grace. Not eternal, then whoops, you lost it! Eternal or better yet, everlasting life is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Remember the verse I quoted Jesus saying a few minutes ago? “He who believes on Me will never die.” There is an overwhelming preponderance of scripture which we don’t have time to review this morning which support the eternal nature of our new birth, and it would be foolish to suggest a doctrine on the basis of this one passage which might seem on the surface contrary to other scriptures which so clearly teach the perseverance and eternal security of the saints.

Throughout all of John’s epistle, he has been contrasting the true life of fellowship with that which is not in fellowship. He has contrasted the walk in the Light, with the walk in darkness. He has contrasted being born again, with being dead in your sins. Now in this passage, he is affirming the eternal life that comes in response to our faith. And he has shown multiple evidences of our faith; such as love, fellowship, keeping the commandments, and answered prayers. So in that context, the same contrast of spiritual life vs spiritual death is being shown here.

The life which is in fellowship with God, loves His brother in Christ. John has emphasized that again and again. So John says when we that are in fellowship with God see a brother who has sinned a sin not leading unto death, he shall ask and god will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. First of all then, we know that this is a fellow believer. He is saved. He has been born again. But he has sinned. However the sin is not unto death. Now what does that mean? 

Well, Romans 6:23 has the answer. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So then, God has placed on Jesus the penalty of our sin, and He crucified Christ, putting Him to death for our sin, and transferred the life-giving righteousness of Christ to us, even eternal life. The believer cannot sin unto death, since he has been made spiritually, eternally alive. So there is a sin for the believer which is not unto spiritual death. That is the plain and simple meaning. Christ has already died for their sin. To punish that sin by death again would be double jeopardy. And God is not an unjust judge.

But nevertheless, we know that God’s will is that we do not sin. And sin breaks our fellowship with God, and it carries with it the consequences of sin which can affect our mortal bodies. So as a loving brother in Christ, we pray for our sinning brother, that he might be forgiven, and that he might be restored to life, that is restored to the full fellowship with God that we are designed to have.

Now the interesting thing John is saying is that we can pray for this brother, for their restoration and God will do it. John is giving this as an illustration of praying according to the will of God. And if you remember that verse from James I quoted a few minutes ago, you will see that James said virtually the same thing. He says, “Confess your sins one to another, and pray for one another that you may be healed, (spiritual healing). The word translated healed also can mean making whole. He goes on to say in James 5:15, “and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.” And then James adds, that the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.

Now that’s a tremendous principle incorporating loving one another and answered prayer. And it’s a tremendous example of praying in accordance to the will of God. God’s desire is that we have fellowship with Him, and that we abide in Him, and He is us, and that we keep His commandments and that we love one another. And we are able to help one another and express our love for one another as we pray for each other that God will restore our erring brother.

Understanding that side of the equation then should make it easier to understand the other side of the equation. And John expresses that as follows; “There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.” What is this sin leading to death? Should we live in fear that somehow we could fall into this sin which plunges us to eternal death, which is unforgivable? No, not at all. If the brother who sins a sin not leading to death is saved because he has received the gift of salvation on the basis of faith in Christ’s atonement, then what is the contrast to that? It’s the one who is not a believer. The one who has not believed unto salvation is one whose sin leads to death. He is still dead in his trespasses and sin.

So if you see this unsaved person leading a sinful life, John is not suggesting that we pray an intercessory prayer for such a person that they might be restored to fellowship. God will not restore someone to fellowship who has not first been born again spiritually having received eternal life. We are not told not to pray for their restoration, but obviously we should pray for such a person’s salvation. We should pray that God will bring them under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. But we cannot pray for their fellowship, because fellowship must be predicated on a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Now John is writing to believers. He has just said he wants to affirm their faith, so that they may have confidence of eternal life, and confidence of answered prayers as a further evidence that they have fellowship with God. And so he doesn’t want to end on emphasizing the life of an unbeliever, but the life of a believer. So John says in vs.17, “All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.” Sin is unfortunately a reality in the life of a believer. It should become less and less frequent, as we are conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and as we grow in maturity and faith in the process the Bible calls sanctification. We learn to mortify the flesh. We become more like Christ as we draw closer to Him and walk with Him.

But as John said in chapter 1 vs. 10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” So sin is going to happen occasionally in the life of a believer. But it is not a sin unto death. There is no death Jesus said for a believer. He has died in our place that we might have life. But when we sin as Christians, we hurt our fellowship with God, we get a guilty conscience, we hurt our testimony, and we hurt the cause of Christ. So in 1John 1:9 he gives us the antidote; “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Well, I hope that you know as John has written, that you have the eternal life which is given on the basis of faith in Christ. If you don’t know you have eternal life, then the invitation to be born again spiritually is extended to you today. Christ has paid the penalty for your sins. If you reject Him as your Lord and Savior, then you today are dead in your sins. You will one day be subjected to eternal death for your decision to reject the truth of God. But if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness and give you eternal life. Simply call on Jesus to save you today.

For those of you that are saved in the audience. I trust that you have the confidence of your salvation. I hope that you have the confidence to pray according to the will of God. And I hope that you will pray for one another, especially those that are struggling in sin, that they might be restored to the life of fellowship we were designed to live. That their joy and ours might be full. Let us pray.