All right, we're gonna be in
Mark chapter three. Let's turn to Mark chapter three. We'll be looking at verses six
all the way to the end of the chapter, verse 35. Mark three,
verse six. And in this passage, we see that
there's many, many types of people coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They're coming after him, they're looking for him, and they're
coming to him for all kinds of mixed reasons why they're searching
for him or coming to him, but in this passage what we're beginning
to see is the design of salvation, the salvation that Christ has
provided for his people is becoming clearer as we see the kingdom
being established and we see more clearly the two seeds, the
two seeds, a division of two seeds. And so our title this
morning is A House Divided, A House Divided. And we'll have three
divisions. We'll look at the various or mixed reasons of why
the people were coming to Christ. We'll consider the house or look
at the house of Christ, that house that he built, the people
that he assembles with himself. And then we'll see briefly a
division of seeds, a division of seeds. So at this time now,
the popularity of our Lord begins to explode, right? He's becoming
very well known in Israel now, and it's probably hard for us
to really grasp exactly what's going on because We know these
things. We've read the Bible multiple
times. We've heard so many messages preached. We know that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Christ sent of God, come to save his people
from their sins. We know that he would go to the
cross, that he would be crucified, that he would rise again, that
his gospel would go forth, which all happened for over the last
2,000 years now. It's been marching on. Here at
this time, Christ is just becoming well-known. He's just breaking
forth into the hearts and the minds of the people who are now
becoming enamored with him, if you will, as his fame grows. But let's just look briefly in
this chapter and see the various reasons why people are coming
to him. We already know that from verse
6, we see that the Pharisees, they were determined to destroy
Christ. So when they're coming around,
They're looking to destroy this one, this Jesus of Nazareth.
It says in verse 6, But our Lord now departs from there and he goes
to the sea, the Sea of Galilee, and it's not because he's afraid
of them, it's just that his time had not yet come. He's got more
work to do before they should crucify him. And in verse 7 it
says, but Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea
and a great multitude from Galilee followed him and and from Judea,
and from Jerusalem." So we see there's a lot of Jews following
him. But it goes on in verse 8, saying, "...and from Idumea,
and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great
multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came
unto him." These are Gentiles. These aren't just the Jews now,
but even Gentiles are starting to come out from all different
regions because they're hearing of what Christ is doing among
the Jewish people there. And the reason why I say this
is that in the parallel passage in Matthew 12, he doesn't specify
all these places like Mark does, but he does quote Isaiah saying,
Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my
soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him and he
shall show judgment to the Gentiles. They're making it clear that
it's Jews and Gentiles now that are starting to come out and
see this one of whom they're hearing all these things about. And the scriptures tell us why
it is that they're coming to him. In verse 9, it says actually
that the, at the very end, it says that the crowds were about
to throng him, just overrun him, just coming at him because they
were trying to get at him and touch him. Like think about maybe
someone who's a great musician and well-known, when he's walking
through the crowd, people just want to reach out and touch him.
Well, they wanted to touch him because when they touched him,
they were healed of whatever disease and infirmity They had,
and says in verse ten, for he had healed many insomuch that
they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues
and unclean spirits, when they saw him fell down before him,
and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And then, you know,
so they're all coming because they want to be healed. They
have various sicknesses and plagues and diseases and evil spirits
and they want to be healed of those things. But then even his
family hears what's going on and they become concerned for
his health and safety and well-being. It says in verse 20, and the
multitudes coming together again, so that they could not so much
as eat bread. And when his friends or his kinfolk
heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him for they said
he is beside himself. Not that they thought he was
gone crazy or mad, but that they were worried that he was feeling
overwhelmed and that he was beside himself in that sense, a sense
of overwhelmed feeling because he wasn't able to get hardly
any rest or any food or anything like that. So they're growing
concerned for his well-being because his popularity is growing
and he can't just be whisked away in a helicopter somewhere.
Everywhere he goes, he's going to be seen. And then, of course,
the accusers of the Lord, those people that hated Christ, they
were coming there not to hear what he said, not to see if indeed
he was the Christ, but because they were watching. They were
always watching and waiting to see how they might find something
against him that they can accuse him and justify their own belief
and put him to death. It says in verse 22, And the
Pharisees, which came down from Jerusalem, said, He hath Beelzebub,
and by the prince of the devils casteth the out devils. So they
weren't there for any good reason. And then we see in verse 31,
finally it's his brethren, the kinsfolk that were concerned
for him were his brothers and his mother. It says there in
verse 31, there came then his brethren and his mother, and
standing without, sent unto him calling to him. There's many
people that are coming to him for various reasons and the majority
are certainly all these miracles that he's doing and the healing
of the people and it's getting pretty rough out there because
they're getting intense when they're coming after him just
so that they can get to him and touch him. and be healed of their
infirmities. And it says in verse nine, he
spake to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him because
of the multitude, lest they should throng him. For he had healed
many in so much that they pressed upon him for to touch him as
many as had plagues. But the thing is, is that when
they were coming to him, they seemed more interested in the
healing of the infirmity that they had in their flesh. And
they weren't really there to hear the gracious words that
Christ had to say to his people, and that true spiritual healing.
They were just there to get something from him, which was a natural
healing. And we see this in religion today. People go to various churches
to hear what it is that they want to hear. They go there to
receive what it is that they think what they should be receiving
in a church. And you see it among those that
think that this flesh is wicked, but rather than turn to Christ,
rather than preach Christ, They preach the law because they think,
well, we've got to restrain. If we're going to correct and
fix this ruin of man, we've got to restrain his wicked flesh
by laying a burden on him, by putting a yoke upon him of the
law to keep his flesh in order and to keep him in line. It says
in Galatians 6, 12, though, speaking of those that do that, he says,
as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain
you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ. And while they don't necessarily
say that, although it's still pretty well practiced in America,
where they're circumcising children, although I think it's getting
a little bit less and less, but still these practices are going
on and They just don't trust that they can preach the gospel
of Christ, and that the gospel of Christ will constrain a man's
heart, and that the gospel of Christ will subdue the lust and
the passions of his flesh. So they turn to the law, because
that's all that they have. It's a gospel, which is no gospel.
It's just a work of the flesh that they have to do. And it
says, for neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the
law, but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. And then others go to places
where they can have a voice. They're looking for a place like
this where they can go and have a voice and have some authority
and some leadership there where they can decide, all right, what
carpet are we going to get? What hymnals are we going to
use? What pews are we going to get? How's the layout going to
be? Who's going to do what? They want to have a say. And
so they're looking for places where they can go and show everybody
how much they know, right? And they want to you know, speak
about things in the Bible. They want to show everybody what
they've learned and have an influence on the people because, in many
cases, they figure that if they can convince you that they're
Christians, then maybe they really are Christians and they can lay
their head on the pillow at night and not be afraid, thinking,
well, I fooled them. Maybe God thinks I'm really a Christian.
Maybe, maybe he thinks something of me. And then we know we were
just driving the other day and just noticing how we went down
one block, I think it was Republic, and there was church after church
after church building. one after the other, just lined
up, one to suit everybody, where you have some that have many
programs, and people want to go to places where there's a
lot of programs, things for little kids, things for the middle-sized
kids, things for the older kids, things for college, things for
single people, and married people, and divorced people, and old
people, you know, they got all these different programs, and
that's where people want to go, because they think that's what
the church should be giving to them. And then you see others
where they want to know, well, what community services are you
doing? How can I volunteer? What are we doing? Do we have
a soup kitchen? Do we have all these other services that we
can provide? Because they think, well, that's what the church
should be doing. And then there's others that
go to places where business is getting done. So they go to certain
places because they know that the people that go there are
the ones that have a lot of money and they make decisions and business
deals get done there because they see you there and then they
want to help you out. and take care of their own. So
that's where they're going. And then even others, they want
to go where applications being made. They just want to say,
preacher, just tell me what to do. I just want to hear what
do I have to do so that I know that everything between me and
God is all right. Just tell me what I got to do.
So they're going to places like that. So there's all these different
places and people are going to to these church buildings because
they want to hear certain things that they think is right, but
there's so few that are going where Christ crucified is preached. They don't want to hear just
of what Christ has accomplished for his people. They want to
go to hear what they can do in the flesh to work a righteousness
for themselves. Paul said, he said in 1 Corinthians
1, 17 and 18, he said, for Christ sent me not to baptize. Not that
there's anything wrong with baptism, but that's not, there's a lot
of places that are focused on numbers and hitting certain financial
targets and certain numbers of people being baptized. But he
said, I didn't come here to play church. I'm not here just to
set up numbers and to do these certain goals that man has in
his mind. But I came to preach the gospel. not with wisdom of
words, not those things that are gonna scratch the itching
ear of the religious person who's looking for a certain something
when they go to a certain type of church, lest, he says, the
cross of Christ should be made of none effect. So that we're
not looking to appeal to the flesh, and that's what you see
in so many places today, they're manipulating and changing what's
being spoken from the pulpit. They reduce the preaching down
to 10 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, a little sermonette because most
people don't want to sit through a longer message. They have bands
up there and they have puppet shows and they have all these
different things. I've seen people put wigs on their head and preach
a message by taking the wig on and off just to change up characters
and to do something different. that appeals to the flesh, because
they can't sit through the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
But Paul said, the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the
power of God. So that it's not that the gospel
itself is the thing that's giving us life, but the Lord is pleased
in the preaching of the gospel, to bless it to the hearts of
His people. to give them life where there's nothing but death
and to give them an ear to hear and eyes to see so that they're
hearing that word and they're thinking, I don't know, I was
just sitting there like just a dead bump on a log and suddenly
I heard. Suddenly I heard what Christ
accomplished for His people. Suddenly I see what they're saying.
Now I see that Christ is all and in all and I need to hear
Him. and they get that hunger and that thirst for what Christ
has done so that they rejoice in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They rejoice in what Christ has
done. So all these people are coming to Christ for various
reasons, a number of reasons, but none of them were coming
to Christ the Savior. They were looking at Jesus of
Nazareth who could heal people, but they weren't looking for
Christ the Savior and what he did. And that's because all men,
the scriptures tell us, is dead in trespasses and sins. There's
no life for the things of God. They're okay for the things of
religion, but they don't love the things of God. They don't
love what Christ has done, and they're ignorant of the righteousness
of God, the righteousness that God receives, not man's righteousness,
not his works, but the righteous works that Christ himself has
provided for his people. Their very thoughts are enmity
against God, so that the natural man, the natural heart of man,
the natural mind of man is enmity against what God has provided
through his son, Jesus Christ. They don't know the way of peace
with God. Their hearts and their understanding are completely
darkened. And the scriptures even say that the heart of man
is blind. It's just blind to the things
of God. So man is just simply lost in his sin and to what pleases
God and all you have to do is just look at a casual look of
religion when you know what's going on in those places and
you just look at it and you see that's just dead. What they're
doing, they're not even preaching Christ, they're preaching a man-made
gospel, a works gospel And they don't even realize what they're
doing. But for this reason, the scriptures say, the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. For which things,
he said to the Colossians, for which things sake the wrath of
God cometh upon the children of disobedience? So at the height
of it, we saw was with the Pharisees, where They had serious religion
and they took the Law of Moses and brought it to excess. They
went above and beyond what was even required in the Law of Moses
to try and make themselves appear more righteous and holy before
God. But that was just the work of the flesh and it didn't please
God. All right then, so how is man saved? How is man saved? And that's an important question.
One of Job's friends that we're talking to, they asked it this
way, how then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean
that is born of a woman. Because what the scriptures reveal
to us is that just when we come forth naturally, we're not born
or brought forth in an innocent state, but we all come forth
in sin. We're all born of that corrupt
seed of Adam. So even though we haven't necessarily
done anything good or evil in the flesh, yet we come forth
of that fallen and that corrupt seed so that there's no life,
there's no spiritual life in us. to hear or to receive the
things of God. It's just a void. It's just a
dead space there that isn't alive to the things of God until the
Lord comes upon us and gives us life. That's not to say the
Lord can't save a child or a baby in the womb or anything like
that, but it's not according to the works of our flesh. It's
not because we've done anything good or bad that saves us, but
it's the grace of the Lord that has mercy upon whom he will have
mercy. It's the Lord's work that he
does. Alright, now how can a man come to Christ and how is he
saved from our sins? Well, look there in Mark 3 verse
13. Look at what it says there. Mark 3 verse 13. It says, And Christ goeth up into
a mountain and calleth unto him whom he would. And they came
unto him. So right there is exactly how
a sinner is saved. Christ calls whom He will, and
those whom He calls, they shall come. They will come to Christ. Everyone by His power, they come
to Christ. So Christ calls His people, and
how does He know who His people are? He knows who His people
are because the Father reveals to Him who His people are. He's
given them to Him. In Ephesians 1-4 it says that
it's according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love." So those who are called of Christ, they're called
of Christ to come to Him because they were given to Him of the
Father before the foundation of the world was even laid. So
God already determined all those to whom He would show mercy to
and show them the forgiveness that He's provided in His Son,
Jesus Christ. And so, and just think of it,
Christ is such a merciful, merciful Savior. All those people who
came to Him, who weren't even interested to hear what He had
to say, He healed them. Those who touched them, He healed
them. He showed them mercy. It's not that God is preventing
anyone from coming to Him. It's that the heart of man doesn't
want to come to Christ, doesn't want to bow down before Him.
But all those who came, even to seek Him for that physical
healing, He didn't turn any of them away. He didn't say, wait
a minute, you're a goat, don't come near me. He let them come,
they touched them, and they went away healed. He's merciful and
so kind and so gracious to all who come to Him. He'll turn no
one away. Turn over to Romans 9, Romans
9 verse 11. I just want to look at this a
little more, the elect, God's election and the choosing of
his children and how in mercy he calls them out by this gospel. It says in Romans 9 verse 11,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." So that
we see, I mean, people, it's not that all of us are sinners. Every single one of us is worthy
of hell. We've all earned it by the works
of our flesh, even those things that we thought were good, By
our works we've all earned eternal damnation in hell. It's the mercy
of God that he should choose out any of us and call any of
us and save us by the grace and mercy that he's provided in Christ.
And so he goes on to say, it was said unto her, in Romans
9, 12, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. I'm not going to
really get into it now, but it's a picture there of how we come
forth in the old man first, the older son, like Esau, in this
flesh, dead to the things of God, but he creates in us that
younger son, that new man which is created of Christ, the inner
man that worships and serves the Savior. And this old flesh,
the old man, the firstborn, is servant to the new man that Christ
creates in us. That's another picture that's
going on there. But he's saying, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."
Because we've all seen what dead sinners we are, the hatred, the
enmity that we have in us by nature, in our minds, in our
hearts, there's nothing that's open or able to hear or to receive
the things of God. So it's got to be by the mercy
of God to call us and to reveal Christ in us and to have us,
when we hear his voice, actually come to him, believing him and
trusting in him. It's all of his work so that
we see more and more as we're going through the scriptures
how man left to his own devices, left to himself. God's not stopping
him. God's having this gospel go out
freely and being proclaimed. But left to himself, the carnal
mind doesn't hear it, doesn't receive it. There's no life there.
There's no desire or interest in hearing what Christ has to
say. So he has to conquer that heart and put that new man in
us so that there is an interest and that there is a desire to
know him and to have him reveal himself to us in mercy and in
grace. Because otherwise, left to ourselves,
we don't. You know, all our decisions,
all our choices that we make are just us stumbling around
in the darkness, you know? And so, carnal, that false religion
that says, well, you've got to make a decision for Jesus. Trying to make it so that the
flesh has something that it can grab onto and understand, otherwise
it's just a mystery. What do you mean Christ calls
us And then we come to him. How is that even possible? It
doesn't make any sense to the flesh. So they try to say, well,
it's your decision. You're the one making the decision
for Jesus. They're saying, no, God has to vote in your favor. The devil cast a vote against
you and in disfavor to you, and so now it's up to you to cast
that deciding vote whether or not you're going to be saved
by Christ or not. No, that's a lie. The scriptures
don't talk like that at all. The scriptures declare that the
Lord chose a people, and so that this gospel goes forth, and that
to those whom he loves, He gives them a heart to hear, and they
finally just hear what He's saying, that salvation is of the Lord. And those who hear it and believe
it say, yeah, there really is no other hope for me. It must
be Christ. There's nothing else I can do
to save myself. I can't work for righteousness
of my own. Of that I'm convinced. I see that all of us are dead
in trespasses and sins, but He's provided Christ. He's provided
the salvation for His people in His Son, Jesus Christ. Yes,
he has. And he willingly receives all
who come to him seeking mercy and forgiveness. He turns none
away. None away that know that they
have no hope but in him. And though it's a small, little,
tiny hope that you have, the Lord will not crush that or quench
it or turn you away. But he says, come, come unto
You who know your sinners, come unto me, I freely forgive. I'll
wash away all your sins. There's no work for you to do.
He's done it all. And those who hear it, who have
that work done on them, they just believe it. They believe
it. They don't know what to do but to believe it. They have
no, there's no decision being made. They're just saying, wow,
did Christ do that for me? Would he do that for a sinner
like me who has no hope? So those who who look to their
decision, the thing is that you know where their trust is, their
trust is in that decision, because they're not trusting that Christ
has saved them, they're trusting that they've saved themselves
by the decision that they made. And so really what they're doing
is they're just bowing down to the idol Jesus of their own imagination. Those who walk down an aisle,
and kneel before an altar and give their life to Jesus, make
a decision for Jesus, that's just an idle Jesus of their own
imagination. That's not the Christ of the
Scriptures, because the Christ of the Scriptures, he calls them,
and they hear that he is the provision of their salvation.
and they believe. They trust Him. They say, Lord,
if that's what You've done, then thank You. Thank You, Lord, for
what You've provided in Yourself and Your Son. So only Christ,
the Son of God, He calls His elect children home. He brings
them to Himself by His grace and His power so that they shall
come unto the preaching of the Gospel, and they shall hear it,
and they shall believe. There's no work that you have
to do to make it happen. He does all that work. In Romans
11, verse 5, it says, Even so, then, at this present time also
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And
if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is
no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel
hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, what he was working
for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
According as it's written, God hath given them the spirit of
slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should
not hear unto this day. Now, turn over to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. And we see how the
Lord provides salvation for his people. Well, let none of you
think, you who know that you're sinners and have no hope, but
hope that Christ has provided shed his blood for you, don't
be afraid, don't be turned away at the word election. Don't,
like the sinners always think when they hear of election, they
think, well, that's unfair. And they always put themselves
in the camp of those that aren't elected. But what about trusting
that you're here and hearing the gospel because you are? of
the elect and that he intends to show mercy to you and grace
and kindness to you and put you here to hear the gospel, to hear
what Christ has accomplished to save you from your sins and
to do that work for you. And in Isaiah 53, we see how
this work is done for those whom the Lord loves. Listen to the
personal pronouns that he uses in these texts starting in verse
4. You see the word our and we. and us. These are very particular
people that the Lord has done this work for in Isaiah 53, 4. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. all we, like sheep,
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Only sheep speak like this. The wicked don't speak like this.
They don't talk about what Christ has accomplished for them. They
talk about what they've done for Jesus. They say, well, I
made a decision for Jesus. I did this for Jesus. I did this
for God. The wicked are always talking
about what they've done for the Lord, but the sheep are always
talking about what Christ has done for them in mercy and in
kindness. They're always glorifying and
giving all the worship and the praise to the Lord for what he's
done, not what they've done, because they know their works
are filthy works and they've got nothing to boast in or to
rejoice in what they've done. So, and speaking of sheep, Christ
himself said, I lay down my life for the sheep. for the sheep. He said in John 10, 15, I lay
down my life for the sheep. He didn't say for the goats,
and we know there's goats because he's going to separate the sheep
from the goats in that day of judgment. But he said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. And then in John 17, 9, he said,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine." So that when you read in the Gospel of John
and it speaks about all, all, all, what John is emphasizing
as a Jew And with their understanding that the Christ should come and
save the Jews, he was emphasizing it's not just for the Jews, but
even the Gentiles. He's the Christ of the world. He's the Savior of the world.
That's what it means is that it's not just the Jews only,
but also every Gentile who's saved is saved that same way
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not one
way for the Jews and another way for the Gentiles. It's all
one way, through Christ the Savior. That's what John, the Apostle
John, always means when he talks about Him being the Savior of
the world. Not every single individual, but some from every tongue, tribe,
and nation. It says in Revelation 5.9, And
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book,
and to open the seals thereof. For thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue,
and people and nation, so that he is the one Savior provided
of God to save his people throughout the world, from every kindred,
tongue, tribe, and nation, every people. And then we see that
none can refuse him that it's an irresistible grace. He's going
to save and to deliver his people out of the kingdom of darkness
and bring them into the kingdom of the sun. It says in John 6,
37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. And that's because
it has nothing to do with us. It has nothing to do with our
flesh and our works of either for good or for evil. It has
to do with Him, of the work that He has done in saving His people
once and for all. As Jonah was brought to see and
to confess, salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord, not man,
but of the Lord. Salvation comes by what the Lord
has done. So with this understanding now,
look back at Mark 3.13. Mark 3.13. It says, and Christ goeth up
into a mountain and calleth unto him whom he would. And they came
unto him, and he ordained twelve that they should be with him,
and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power
to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils, so that everything
that Christ himself was doing, he now gave power to the apostles
to do themselves as well, to work these things among the people. And Simon he surnamed Peter,
verse 17, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother
of James, and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is the sons
of Thunder, and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew,
and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and
Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed
him, and listen, and they went into an house. That house picture
is Christ. These whom Christ called were
brought into the house of Christ. He brought them in there. That's
what a picture is that the Lord establishes the salvation of
his people and brings them into his family, brings them into
the beloved with him. He does the calling and they
shall come. None shall refuse him or be lost. All right now, a division of
seed. It's difficult, you know, for
those who all their lives, a man-made religion, it's so hard to even
comprehend all that I just shared because it's so new and so different
from everything you heard in man-made religion. Because all
your life you've been told and reminded you've got to make a
decision for Jesus. You've got to cast your vote
for Christ. You've got to do this and you've
got to do that. So they put all the emphasis on your flesh and
what you have to do. And so to hear that the works
are of Christ just comes at you and just slams into you and can
be very confusing and upsetting. But the The salvation is truly
of grace. It's not something that we do,
but rather we shall do it because he works it in us. We shall confess
that Christ is all our hope because he works that in our hearts.
He shows us that there's not some other way of salvation,
but that he has done all the work, so he will work that in
our hearts. You just keep coming and hearing
the gospel, and He'll show you, He'll teach it to you, and show
you that He is the Christ, and that you're His. Because those
that are His won't fall away, they won't go off into the world
and be gone forever. He's going to bring them to hear
that gospel and to believe it and confess it and they're going
to hunger and thirst for him and they're going to rejoice
in what he's done for them so that they want to continue to
hear and to see his kingdom advance and grow and the sheep being
called out into his kingdom. So in Ephesians 2.8 it says it
this way, for by grace are ye saved through faith. And that,
that faith is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's the
gift of God. So God has to give that as a
gift to us so that we hear it and believe his gospel. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. So it's ordained of God. If you're
his, You shall hear it and you shall believe. You shall confess
that Christ is your Savior. But there's always been two seeds.
There's always been two seeds from the beginning. If you go
back into Genesis where the Lord God had to say to the serpent,
He said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between
thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and
thou shalt bruise his heel. And then we see that in Cain
and Abel where where they both came to worship before the Lord
and the Lord had respect on the Abel sacrifice but not the Cain's
because Cain came in the works of the flesh and that which he
brought forth from the earth and God didn't receive it. And
Abel brought forth a lamb, and it says, after Cain had slain
Abel, it says in Genesis 4.25 that Adam knew his wife again,
and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, said
she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain
slew. And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then, listen,
then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Because when
it was just Cain, it was just the seed of the serpent, and
he wasn't calling upon the name of the Lord. But it was after
Seth came, and Seth had a child, the Lord did a work of grace
in his heart. And then men, began to call upon
the name of the Lord. So there's always been this division
of seeds. There's been these two seeds
going on the whole time. And that's why Christ was promised
as the land slain before the foundation of the world that
he should come and destroy the works of darkness that had fallen
upon all in Acts. all died in Adam. So Christ came
into the world to seek and to save that which was lost. There's
a particular people that have been lost that he came to seek
out and to save. And that's why John, 1 John 3,
8, or 7 and 8, he says, little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin because he is born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God. Neither he that loveth not his
brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning,
that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of that
wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him, because
his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel
not, my brethren, if the world hate you. And that's because
there's two C's. There's an elect C that God reveals
himself to, and they confess him. They rejoice in what Christ
has done, And those that are looking for something to do in
the flesh, make it just something tangible that I can understand
in the flesh, tell me what I gotta do to be saved, they hate the
children of righteousness because they don't understand it. They're
looking to their works. God doesn't receive the works
we do in the flesh. He looks to the work that Christ
has done and revealed in the hearts of his people and where
they're resting in him. That's why the world hates them.
In light of that, now look back at Mark 322, and we'll be bringing
this to the end. 322, And the scribes which came
down from Jerusalem say, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince
of the devils casteth he out devils. And so Christ called
them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan
cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against
itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against
itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against
himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. So what
he's saying is, I'm the one destroying this house, I'm the one putting
a division in this house, and I'm doing so by a clean spirit. I'm not doing this by the works
of the devil. I'm doing this by the works of
God. He's the one who's dividing that house because I'm calling
out, I'm bringing out my people, those that are precious to me,
who I've come to save, I'm bringing them out and I'm destroying this
house. I'm putting a division here in this thing. And that's
what we see in Christ. All he did was that which was
good and profitable to men. As Peter said, he went about
doing good and healing all of their diseases and sicknesses.
He didn't do anything wrong to the people. But the Pharisees,
they were the ones who were doing wrong, right? They said, go away,
come back another day when it's not the Sabbath day, and you
can be healed on those days. So they would rather see men
left in their burden, in their sin, and struggling, and in pain,
and suffering. They'd rather them be left there
for another day than to be relieved of their burden by Christ. They're
the ones that were hating their brethren. They're the ones that
were turning away men from hearing Christ, rather than being saved
and delivered by Christ, who is nothing but good, and kind,
and open, and receives all who come to him. So Christ loved
his brethren, but they hated the people of God. They hated
Christ because they're not of the same seed. And he says, no
man can enter into a strong man's house, verse 27, and spoil his
goods, except he will first bind the strong man, and then he will
spoil his house. Verily I say unto you, all sins
shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever
they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against
the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation,
because they said he hath an unclean spirit. So none of us
can charge Christ with doing evil. He did his works by the
Spirit of God. He did that which was good and
profitable. So he shows us that, that he's
the one spoiling the house, he's binding Satan, and he's delivering
out that which is precious to him, his people, for their salvation. All right, now this is how we
know that we're his people. We're almost done. Verse 31. Mark 3.31, there came then his
brethren and his mother and standing without sent unto him calling
him and the multitude said about him and they said unto him behold
thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee and he answered
them saying who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked
round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold,
my mother and my brethren, for whosoever shall do the will of
God the same as my brother and my sister and mother. All right,
so what is the will of God then? In John 640 it says, This is
the will of God that sent me, that everyone which seeth the
Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day. All right, then is my believing
a work, is it a work of mine? And that's what the people said.
They said to Christ in John 6, 28, they said unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? If this is
the will of God that we believe, what work do we have to do? And
Christ answered and said, this is the work of God. It's not
a work of your flesh, but it's the work of God that ye believe
on him whom he has sent. Do you believe him? Is he the
Savior? Is he all your hope? Don't look to your own works
for any sign of peace or comfort. Because when you look at your
own works, all you're going to see is sin and darkness. That's
all you should see is just sin and darkness and not get any
comfort from that. If you get comfort from looking
at your own works, that's a sign that you're a Pharisee, that
you're cut off and have no hope in Christ. But those who know
that there's nothing good in them, he says, believe on me.
Just look to me. I'm the one who put away the
sins of all the sins of my people. So trust Him, believe on Him,
and you shall be saved and forgiven of your sins. So it's God who
works that hope and that faith and that peace in Christ and
the hearts of His people. And though it be a day of small
things, the Lord doesn't despise it. Though you think maybe there's
some hope, if that's what you're saying, today in your heart and
keep on coming. Maybe there's hope for you. The
Lord doesn't turn away any who come looking for Him and trusting
in Him alone. He's kind and gracious. He's
a merciful Savior. I pray the Lord a blessing to
our hearts. Let's pray and then we'll take the Lord's Supper
together.