I'm going to ask you to turn
with me to the Gospel of Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. In verse 9 we read, and it came
to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized of John in Jordan. Here we see the submission of
our Lord Jesus Christ to the ordinance and commandment of
God. Verse 5 tells us that many were
baptized of John in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. We know that baptism pictures
the death and burial and resurrection of our Lord into newness of life. Christ knew no sin. He had no
sin. He never entertained a sinful
thought or did a sinful deed. He was perfect in every way.
The Scriptures tell us that He was made to be sin for us, but
He didn't know any or have any of His own. So why was He baptized? If baptism, if these folks came
to John being baptized, confessing their sins, why was the Lord
Jesus baptized? Well, in Matthew 3, you don't
have to turn there, our Lord told John that it was to fulfill
all righteousness. It was the will of His Father
for John to baptize Him. As our substitute, Christ submitted
to the very ordinance that pictured His death, burial, and resurrection. Now, listen to me. I'm just commenting
on these verses as we go through it, but this is very important.
A child of God, a true believer, ought to want to submit to the
ordinance of baptism. Why? Because, first of all, it's
the commandment of God. Believe and be baptized. Secondly,
our Lord Jesus left us an example that we should follow in His
steps. He submitted and He bowed to
His Father's will in being baptized, and so should we. And I know
that baptism requires humility. It requires submission, respect,
and thanksgiving to the Lordship of Christ and His sacrifice as
a substitute for elect sinners. I know that. And upon hearing
the gospel, you remember that Ethiopian eunuch whom Philip
climbed up in the chariot and the Lord led him there and he
climbed up in the chariot and he was reading out of the book
of Isaiah and the Lord revealed the gospel to him. He said, see
here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? Baptism ought
to be attended by every believer. Baptism is for all who desire
to be followers of Christ. Now in verse 10, we read, "...and
straightway coming up out of the water, He, being the Lord
Jesus, saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending
upon Him. And there came a voice from heaven,
saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Friends,
this is the heart of the Gospel. God is well-pleased with His
Son. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
and God the Son, is the only one with whom God is well-pleased. And we must be found in Christ
in order for God to be well-pleased with us. And verse 12, "...and
immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness." And
He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan,
and was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered unto
Him. And it's here that we see our Lord working out a perfect
righteousness as a man, who was that one mediator between God
and man. As God, He could have met every
temptation of the devil, but as our mediator, He was in all
points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Verse 14, now
after that, John was put in prison. And Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. And here we see our Lord's
mission. Did you know that Jesus Christ
was a preacher? He was the greatest preacher
that ever lived. He came to seek and to save that which was lost,
yes. He came into the world to save
sinners, but how are sinners saved? Well, we know from 1 Corinthians
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. Now you cannot know God, oh I
wish folks would understand this, you cannot know God by the wisdom
of man. You cannot know God by the wisdom
of the world. The gospel is made known by divine
revelation. God has to reveal the gospel
to you. That's the only way you'll ever
see it, ever believe it, ever understand it. He has to reveal
His Son in you, Galatians 1.16. God in eternal wisdom designed,
purposed, and caused the preaching of the gospel. That very thing
which the men and women of this world consider to be foolishness.
God made that the only means by which sinners are saved. You're
going to have to hear this gospel. That's just a fact. Sounds to
me like preaching is an urgent, urgent matter. Our Lord came
preaching. That's what we read. He didn't
preach positive thinking. Joel Osteen has the biggest church
in the United States. And he's no more than a preacher
of positive thinking. Our Lord didn't preach health
and wealth. He didn't preach politics and political correctness. We have a lot of that going on
today. He didn't preach salvation by man's will, man's way, or
man's work. The verse here says, He came
into Galilee preaching the gospel. What did the Lord preach? What
was His message? We'll look at verse 15. And saying,
the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent
ye, and believe the gospel. And Jesus Christ came preaching
Himself. He's the good news for sinners,
is he not? In whom, the scriptures say.
What was his message? Repent and believe the gospel. You see, salvation has everything
to do with repentance. Change, that's what the word
repent means, to change. God makes his people sick of
sin and sorry for their sins. Like Job, God's people, when
they see, when God shows them themselves, they say, I abhor
myself. I detest myself. Have you not
said that about yourself, child of God? Oh my. We find ourselves
repulsive. The child of God wants to change.
True believers have been made to know that repentance is not
just changing our ways. True repentance is changing our
God. We no longer want our will and
our way and we no longer desire to be under the God that our
imagination has created. It's changing God's. It's bowing
to the God of this book, the God of the Bible, the God of
heaven and earth. Our Lord came preaching the gospel
of repentance. The child of God's prayer is
now, Lord, if Thou be willing. The desire of the child of God
is now, Lord, not my will, but Thine will be done. Our Lord
came preaching the gospel of repentance, and He came preaching
the gospel of believing, faith, That's to believe. Men and women
are saved by believing in the work and the righteousness of
Christ alone. The only hope of redemption is
found in trusting Christ alone for that perfect holiness and
righteousness that God requires of us. That perfect righteousness
and holiness that we cannot provide. It's not our faith that saves
us. Faith, the ability to believe, is God's gift to us. Isn't that
what Ephesians 2 tells us? Saved by grace through faith,
that's not of yourselves. We're saved by grace, but it's
through faith. That's not of ourselves. It's
the gift of God. Not by works, lest any man should
boast. Saving faith is not of ourselves. We don't conjure it up. It's
the gift of God, not of works, for we would boast if it was.
Today, I see many people making faith their salvation. Some even
make faith their God. Before the Lord saved us, Teresa
and I attended what some call today a full gospel church. The reality is there was no gospel
church. There was a poor lady who attended
who had some sort of crippling disease and she was bound to
a wheelchair. And these faith healers week
after week would pray, lay hands on her, chant and rave. But she never walked. It was
never their faith that was in question. They said it was her
lack of faith. Whenever something good happened,
it was their faith that caused it, and whenever something went
bad, it was Satan's doing. See, true believers trust in
Christ, not in their faith. They know that their faith is
God's gift to them. True believers know Christ is
their salvation. Faith comes when God gives a
dead sinner life. And not until. And then I would
have you notice here, on our way to our text, in verse 16,
Christ's effectual call. Verse 16, As he walked by the
sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting
a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said
unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become
fishers of men. And straightway they forsook
their nets, and followed him. Verse 19, And when he had gone
a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants,
and went after him. Oh, I think of what Paul asked
in the book of Romans, for who hath resisted His will? Who hath
resisted His call? His call is effectual. Why? Because He's God. He's God. This is the one who had from
eternity said, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to
pass. This is He who from eternity
said, as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Oh, is your God
the God of the Bible? Is your God the sovereign God
of Scripture who does what He wills in the army of heaven among
the inhabitants of the earth? If He's not, you're serving the
wrong God. Friends, you don't have to plead, beg, shout forcibly,
or call softly and tenderly to sinners to come to Christ. If
God calls them, if Christ calls them, they'll come. They'll come. You won't have to entice them
by enticing words of man's wisdom. You won't have to promise them
success and wealth. No, you won't have to preach
on eggshells so that you don't offend them. The child of God
always, always takes sides with God against themselves. Yea,
Lord! Even dogs eat the crumbs from
the master's table. I'm a dog, that's true. But Lord,
just give me some crumbs from your table. We agree with God. We take sides with God against
ourselves. If God ever shows you who and
what you are, if God ever shows you your desperate need, if God
ever calls you by His grace, you'll run over the preacher
to get to Him. I remember as a young boy, my mom and dad desired
to raise me in religion. They didn't know any better.
And I can remember even at a young age, at the end of the service,
we would stand and sing verse after verse of Just As I Am.
You know, that's a wonderful hymn, but they just about ruined
it for me. Just as I am. We'll sing it through
and then we'll sing it through again. Over and over at the end
of the service. Trying to entice someone. Begging
and pleading. Somebody please, please come
forward. Let God save you. Now with all
that said, I didn't feel like we could read those verses and
not comment on them. I want you to once again see
who this man Christ Jesus is. I want you to see what he has
done and what he still does and will continue to do for His chosen
people. Most everybody in our day thinks
that they know who Christ is. Most all think that they know
why He came and what He does for sinners. And they'll tell
you. They'll tell you up front that Jesus came and died for
the sins of the whole world. That He made salvation possible
to everybody. Is that what you believe? Does
God make salvation possible and then leave it up to man to make
it certain? Boy, I hope not. I hope not.
Because if He does, I'll never be saved. Why? Because we will
not come that we might have life. We cannot come. We don't have
the ability and we will not come that we might have life. Do men
and women really think that there can be any sinner in hell for
whom Christ died? Doesn't that even sound ridiculous?
That doesn't even sound right. To say that Christ shed His blood
for a particular man or woman, a sinner, and that sinner can
still be lost, is to say that Christ is a failure. No matter
how you slice it or dice it, that's what you're saying. And
that's why the sinner must understand something about Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's what Paul said. He said,
I'm determined not to know anything among you. This is the issue.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, He's
God. He's God. He's God the Son. What
did Jesus Christ do? He died the just for the unjust. Why did He die? To bring us to
God. Jesus Christ is God and He cannot
fail. Oh, I don't have any time for
preachers who preach Christ as a failing Savior. He's no such
thing. And I challenge you to find any
passage of Scripture where God healed someone or saved someone
because of their joint participation. Show me a place in the Bible
where any man, woman, child lent God a hand in their deliverance
or the deliverance of another. You won't find it. You won't
find it. Now our Lord may have told that
blind man in John chapter 9. He may have told that man in
John 9 to go wash in the pool of Siloam. But Christ had already
given him sight. He had to go wash all that clay
out of his eyes though to know it. It wasn't the blind man's
washing that opened his eyes, was it? No. It was the Lord Jesus
Christ that gave him sight to see. And it's here, friends,
that we see Christ's authority to save sinners. The title of
this message, this is Sovereign Grace. This is Sovereign Grace. Now look at verse 20 with me.
Christ's authority to save sinners. And straightway He called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants
and went after Him. And they went into Capernaum.
And straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue
and taught. And they were astonished at His
doctrine. For He taught them as one that
had And not as the scribes. Now notice
that they were astonished at His doctrine, His teaching. Are
you astonished at Christ's doctrine? Are you astonished at His teaching?
Oh, many sing Amazing Grace and don't know anything about it. I'm astonished at why God would
save a sinner, aren't you? I'm astonished that God would
save a sinner. And I'm astonished at how God
saves sinners. Jesus Christ put His people's
sin away by the suffering and the sacrifice of Himself. That's
what Jesus Christ and Him crucified mean. God died for your sin. He's the only one who could make
your salvation effectual. Are you astonished by that? Now
there's no doubt in my mind that our Lord, when He preached in
the synagogue, that He took those Old Testament scrolls and He
opened them up and He showed to those whom He preached things
concerning Himself. I can see Him opening to Genesis
chapter 3 where the Lord covered Adam and Eve with those skins.
And I can just see him saying, those skins, that picture's me. The righteous covering for sinners.
And he turned over there in Genesis 5 and 6 and he showed them Noah's
ark. He said, that's me, the sinner's
safe refuge from the wrath of God. He turned him over a little
further and when Abraham and Isaac went into the mountain
and God had told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, his only son,
and he showed him that lamb that God provided for himself in Isaac's
place, that lamb caught in the thicket, and he said, that's
me, the lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of
the world. He preached himself. In the book
of Moses and in the Psalms and in the Prophets, He showed them
all things concerning Himself. Notice also, it says here, for
He taught them. He taught and showed them the
things concerning Himself and the types and pictures of the
Old Testament. He teaches us through the preaching
of the Gospel. He taught them in the temple.
He taught them under the stars. He taught them in private homes. He taught them on the Sabbath
day. And He taught them every day
of the week. He taught them by parables. And
He taught them by Scriptures. He taught them. He taught them
in the morning. He taught them in the heat of
the day. He taught some in the evening when the day was far
spent, like He did those two on the road to Emmaus. And after
He was done teaching, remember what they said? Didn't our hearts
burn within us? Oh, He revealed to them the things
in the Scriptures concerning Himself. Notice that Christ taught
His hearers as one that had authority. That's because He did have authority. The Greek word here is exosia,
and it's translated 26 times in the Scriptures as authority,
and over 50 times or more, it's translated as power. So we could
read this and be correct in reading it this way. Christ taught them
as one who had power. He spoke with power. He spoke
with force. He spoke with passion as one
who had the right as God to speak for God. You know, no man's ever
preached with the passion, power, right, and authority as Christ
did. Our Lord thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. Do you know why? Because He was
God. And friends, it's called sovereign grace. There's no grace
but sovereign grace. Christ has the right to do what
He will with His own. Now look at verse 22 again. Christ taught them as one that
had authority. And then He adds this, not as
the scribes. You know, the scribes taught
with the authority of men. That doesn't count for much.
Man has no authority but what God gives him. Isn't that right? Pilate said to our Lord, he said,
you're not going to speak to me? You're not going to answer
me? He said, are you the king of the Jews? And the Lord didn't
answer him. You're not going to answer me? He said, don't
you know that I have power to crucify you? And I've got power
to release you. And our Lord said, thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above. Our Lord said, all power is given
unto Me in heaven and on earth. He had power to heal sicknesses.
He had power to cast out devils. He had power to cast into hell. He had power to lay down His
life and He had power to take it up again. This is God. Oh, He had power over the times
of the seasons, Acts 1-7. And as the sovereign potter,
He has power over the clay. He's able to form one vessel
under honor and another under dishonor. And none can question
Him in the matter. Does God not have the right to
do what He will with His own? You better believe He does. And
Paul asked this question, he said, is there unrighteousness
with God? You know what that means. It
means does God have the right? Yes, He does. He has the right. Was God wrong when He said to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have
compassion on whom I'll have compassion? Does God have the
right to save whom He wills? You better believe He does. So
then it's not of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. And friends, here we see the
miracle of salvation. I want to just show you five
or six things here quickly that so picture our salvation. Look at verse 23. And there was
in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried
out. saying, Let us alone, what have
we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to
destroy us? I know thee, who thou art, the
Holy One of God. Now let me just mentioned to
you that this is the first miracle of deliverance that both Mark
and Luke record in their gospel narratives. There's no doubt
in my mind that the Holy Spirit recorded this first miracle of
grace to show us something about our deliverance and redemption. It shows and it proves to us
the power and the authority that our Lord has in all things, especially
salvation. This miraculous deliverance involves
one who is possessed. This man was possessed with an
evil spirit. Men and women by nature are possessed
with evil sin. Both must be delivered from what
dwells in them. You've got to be delivered from
sin. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sin. That's what we have to be delivered
from, our sin. Oh my, we're so easily hindered,
beset by sin. This man was so far gone that
this evil spirit within him controlled his mind and his body. By nature,
you and I are so hindered by sin that our mind is said to
be enmity, hostile towards God. And our hearts, deceitful above
all things and desperately This man showed little signs of being
a man. His actions were those of that
evil influence within him. He had no power or control over
himself. It's the unclean spirit that
cries out, not him. And I ask you, child of God,
is that not the same with you before God saved you by His grace? I was more like a beast than
a man. Oh my, there's nothing promising found in this man. There's nothing in him that would
merit him to God. There's not a speck or a spot
for his hope to rest upon. Did you notice that this man
wasn't seeking help? When our Lord entered the synagogue,
this poor wretch does not cry, Lord help me. His first cry is,
let us alone. The natural man cries, leave
me alone. Leave me alone. I'm doing OK on my own. Doing
all right. His prayer was not for mercy.
It was against it. He said, let us alone. And when
you endeavor to preach God's sovereign grace to lost men and
women, you'll soon discover that they won't be left alone. They
have no interest in God's gospel. God has to give them an interest. Thirdly, notice that this man
renounced all interest in the things of Christ. The spiritually
dead always cry, what do we have to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of
Nazareth? By nature, men and women want
nothing to do with the God and Christ of the Bible. Dead men
and women want no pardon, no salvation, no forgiveness, no
mercy, no grace, no God, no Savior. And the evil within this man,
fourthly, caused this man to dread Christ, the Deliverer. He asked this question, are thou
come to destroy us? He dreaded the thought of Christ
delivering. And that's just how messed up the sin within us has
made us. Do we really think that our ignorance
is bliss? I wonder. Do we really think
that God's not gonna hold us accountable? for what we don't
know. There seems to be some today
who think that they're excused from gospel responsibility, I'll
call it that, as long as they don't publicly confess faith
in Christ. They think that if they claim
to be a believer, that that somehow makes them accountable to faithfully
attend the preaching of the gospel. If they don't come faithfully,
people excuse it by saying, oh, well, they're not a believer. And I'm telling you, you can
shun your responsibility to God, but in the end, your indifference
and your sin will find you out. And I think the fifth thing that
we see so plainly here is the evil, the sin, and this man began
to offer terms to Christ. We don't offer Christ anything.
He didn't say, if thou be the Son of God. No, he said, I know
thee who thou art. You're the Holy One of God. And
doesn't that give great proof that Satan is no stranger to
public worship? You know, we talk about him being
in the bar rooms and the brothels and the gambling houses. The
scriptures are very clear about Satan being able to disguise
himself as an angel of light, a messenger of the gospel. Oh, Satan is busy in churches
today, trust me when I tell you that. This gives great proof
that Satan reads the Bible. Man is willing to bear testimony
to the truth as long as he's allowed to believe that he has
in some way collaborated with God in his salvation. Oh yeah,
I believe the salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is not a
joint collaboration between man and God. God doesn't make our
redemption possible and leave it up to us to complete. Isn't that what Paul said in
Galatians 3? He said, are you so foolish, having begun in the
Spirit? Are you made perfect by the flesh? Men say things like, I believe
in the grace of God, but I still have to accept Jesus into my
heart to be saved. I ask, are you now made perfect
by the flesh? The religious say, oh, I believe
the salvation is of the Lord, but I must give Him my heart
in order for Him to save me. Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? The ignorant say, I believe that
Jesus is Lord, but I must make Him Lord of my life. Are you
now made perfect by the flesh? God never saves sinners on their
terms. Men say, I know who thou art. I believe the Bible. I know Jesus
is God's Son. I know I'm a sinner saved by
grace. Just don't interfere with my
works of righteousness. That's all I got. Well, they're
filthy rags, and they'll do you no good. Verse 25, how does the
Lord deliver His people? I'll tell you this much. It's
with power and authority and He's always direct and to the
point. Verse 25, and Jesus rebuked him
saying, hold thy peace and come out of it. Hold thy peace. Told
him to shut up. Shut up and come out. And that
phrase, hold thy peace here, means to be muzzled. You ever
seen them put a muzzle on a dog so they can't bark or bite? Well,
that's what this word means. Our Lord speaks to this unclean
spirit as one who might tell a dog to stop barking. The unclean
man uttered not another word. Now, he cried with a loud voice
as he left the man, but Christ wouldn't allow him to harm him.
And I cannot help but to think of that passage which says, oh,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Boy, we don't have anything to
say in our defense. We're guilty. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There's none that doeth
good. No, not one. Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth
and trust in Christ. Oh my. Verse 27. were all amazed, insomuch that
they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority, there's that word again, for with authority
commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him. Friends, it's called sovereign
grace. You know, it's the only kind
of grace there is. A few weeks ago, in preparation for our conference,
I called a local Christian radio station in order to put our meeting
on the radio so folks would know about it. And at that time, I
asked the radio station about putting a program on. I thought
we might try it. It was pretty inexpensive. They
said, well, we need a confession or a creed of the church, what
they believe. I said, well, we don't have one. We believe the
Gospel. We believe that Christ died for sinners and that Jesus
Christ alone is salvation. And he said, well, could you
drop by a demo? It was Friday, and I was on my
way to the other radio station to take a program, so I dropped
one off and didn't hear anything for almost a week. So I called
the station again and said, does anyone listen to the message
that I dropped by? And they said, yes, we did, and
our director would like to talk to you. So the director got on
the phone, and it so happened to be the pastor of the church
that sponsors this radio. I didn't know that at the time.
I'll try to make this long story a short one. He basically said,
I don't think that we would be interested in putting your program
on the radio. And I said, oh, really? Why is
that? I said, was there anything wrong
with my message? And he said, oh, no, there was
nothing wrong with your message. But in the intro and at the end
of the program, he said, Two different times you called it
sovereign grace. And I said, is there any other
kind of grace? And he said, no, but just the
fact that you had to mention that it was sovereign leads me
to think that you're too Calvinistic to be on the air here. Sovereign
grace. That offends people. We call
it what it is, sovereign, because we want to distinguish it from
what the world calls grace. The world says you're saved by
the grace of God if you do this, or if you do that. We say that
God's grace is sovereign. God saves sinners in spite of
themselves. It's really sad that we live
in a day of religion where men and women know nothing about
the power and the authority of God and the salvation of sinners.
And unless God shows them, friends, they'll continue to trust in
a work of righteousness that they themselves do. Unless God
intervenes, they're going to go out to meet God and they're
going to say to Him, Lord, haven't we done? Many wonderful works
in Thy name. We've done this, we've done that.
And His words to them will be, Depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity. All their good works, the works
they thought were good works, God calls them iniquity. Workers
of iniquity. Depart from Me, ye that work
iniquity. I never knew you. My, isn't that
a sobering statement? May God enable us to trust in
Christ, in Christ alone. He saves whom He wills.