Turn with me back to Mark chapter
3. I titled this message, Our Family. Our Family. It's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? Our Family. The dictionary says The word family is defined this
way. A group of people related to
one another by blood, marriage, or adoption. Family. Isn't that good? We could almost go home, couldn't
we? That's the gospel. It also says that family is all
the descendants of a common ancestor. All the descendants that come
from one common ancestor. In this precious text, our Lord
tells us who his family is. The family of God. He tells us
who he redeemed with his own blood. That's what he's telling
us right here. He's telling us who He married, who has been adopted and given
His name. When you're adopted, you're given
the name of the one you're adopted to. He teaches us right here
though, we need to start with this. He teaches us that it's
not every soul on earth. He shows us that there's a difference
here. Look at verse 31. There came then his brethren,
and that's his actual kinfolk, his brothers. There came then
his brethren and his mother, and standing without, sent unto
him, calling him. Now based on tonight's message,
and I'm not going to preach it right now, but based on tonight's
message, I believe the Lord had mercy on Mary, his earthly mother,
and I believe the Lord had mercy on his earthly brethren. I believe
He did. But our Lord uses them right
here to teach us that there are many who are standing without. There are many who are standing
without Christ standing without, standing without His blood, standing
without that union to Him, standing without that adoption
that comes by Him, standing without. Verse 31, There came then His
brethren and His mother, and standing without, sent unto Him,
calling Him. Now here's where they went wrong.
Here's where they went wrong. Here's where men and women go
wrong. They sent unto Him calling Him. They sent unto Him calling Him.
This world believes that it's all in their hands,
don't they? It's in their ability. in their
right to make demands of Him. Isn't that how they treat our
Lord? They make demands of Him. I've decided to let you save
me now. Isn't that so silly? Once you
come to see the high, holy, almighty, sovereign God of Scripture, And
once you see how low us worms, us little wiggling worms in the
dirt really are, that we're going to say, I've made my decision.
I'm going to allow you to save me now. It would be more feasible
for an actual worm to say that to me than for me to say that
to the Almighty God. I feel like making my move now. I'm going to go ahead and I'm
going to open that door that you've been knocking on for so
long. Think I'll go ahead and open it. God Almighty, He won't
have that. He just will not have that. We do not send unto Him. We do not call Him. He calls us, doesn't He? He sends
for us. He calls us. Verse 31 says, There
came then his brethren and his mother, and standing without,
sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him,
and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without
seek for thee. They're seeking. We say that
all the time, don't we? Seek the Lord. They're seeking. but they want you to come out
there where they are. That's what they want. They're seeking
you, but they said that you need to go out there where they are. They're coming to you, but they
want it to be on their terms. They're coming, but they want it to be on their
demands. They want you to be at their beck and call. That's
what they want. It's all about them. Verse 31 says, then there
came then his brethren and his mother and standing without sent
unto him calling him. And the multitude sat 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? What a shocking response. What a shocking response for
his earthly mother and his earthly brothers to hear. Don't you?
Can you imagine the look on their faces? They were. Going up to this house
and here's a house full of people, the Lord's in it preaching. They
say to somebody, go in there and tell him that we want to
see him. So they stand there and wait. That guy goes for just
a minute and then he comes back and says, he said, who is my
mother and my brethren? Shock. How do you respond to
that? That is the same shocking response,
the same shocking experience that multitudes are going to
experience the day they stand before Him in the judgment. It's
the same shock. Go with me to Matthew 7. We've
seen this so many times and we need to see it again. Matthew
7. Look at verse 13. Our Lord said,
this is God Almighty speaking. Enter ye in at the straight gate,
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat. Many, many there be
which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and most people will
find it." Everybody will find it. Straight
is the gate, narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and
everybody will find it. Few. Few, few there be that find
it. So verse 15, he said, beware
of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they're ravening wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit. A preacher who is of the word
will preach the word. A preacher who is of Christ will
preach Christ. He will glorify Christ. He'll
ascribe it all to Him. He'll say, He did it all. That's
what He'll say. Verse 17, Even so every good
tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits shall
you know them." Now, verse 21, he said, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now,
that's what his mother and his brothers were doing standing
without. Lord, Lord, right? Who are you calling for? Jesus.
Who do you want? Jesus. Who are you looking to
talk to and looking to see? Jesus. Who are you coming here
for? Jesus. That's who we're here
for. Lord, Lord, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Not everyone
that says this to me, it's the one that doeth the will of my
Father. Not about their will, it's the
one who acknowledges it's about the Father's will. Verse 22,
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto
them I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." Why did he say that? Why did he say that if seemingly
they did all the right things? They were preachers, they cast
out demons, and they did wonderful works for people. Why would he
say that? The reason is because everything
they are saying is all about them. That's the reason. It's all about them. We did this. We did that. We did all these
wonderful things. All the focus is on us and on
what we have done and what we will do. That's where all the
focus is. Every sinner who approaches God
on his own terms. With his own works, he's going
to hear the Lord say, I never knew you. I never knew you. It's not about
you. I never knew you. Well, go with me back to Mark
3. Verse 31 says, There came then his brethren
and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, calling
him. And the multitude sat 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." Sat about him. Those who knew,
it's not about me, it's about him. That's what we're doing
this morning. We're sitting about him. It's all about him. Have you made your decision?
No, I was dead. Thank God He did. It's all about
Him. Verse 34, He looked round about
on them which sat about Him and said, Behold, my mother and my
brethren. Isn't that a blessing? I know
them. Behold, my mother and my brethren. I know them. What he's saying is, I'm looking
at my blood right now. You know we all have the same
blood. What's your blood type? We all got the same blood type. What he's saying is, I'm looking
at my bride right now. I'm looking at the adopted children
right here. Verse 34, 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
is my brother and my sister and mother. We said last Wednesday
night that this whole book, the entire book, declares the will
and purpose of God. And we just looked at three scriptures
that told us what it was. We're gonna look at one more
this morning. Go over to Philippians chapter two. Philippians two. Philippians 2 verse 5 says, Let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. They that do the will of my Father,
what is that? Bow the knee to Jesus Christ
and confess He is Lord and God of all. Lord and God of all. We have
seen so many times that Men will not bow. Will they? We see that
almost every time. Men will not bow. This sinful
flesh, it does not want to bow to Christ. It will not come to
Him that it might have life. Just rebellion. Absolute rebellion. The only will that a sinner has
is, I will not. That's the only will a sinner
has. I will not. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. Ever since man fell from the
family of God, when God made man, he was in the family of
God. And ever since man fell from
the family of God in the Garden of Eden, sinful man has had no
desire and no ability to return to the family of God. No desire,
no ability. But our Lord said in our text
that there are some who are members of his family. So I guess the
question is, how did that happen? If there are none that have a
desire to come back, none that have the ability to come back,
how did that happen? If rebellious man was unworthy
and ungodly and wretched before him, how did it happen? Here's
how it happened. And this is just wonderful. God
is gracious. Isn't that wonderful? God is a gracious God. He's so much more gracious than
we give Him credit for. He is so much more merciful than
we give Him credit for. Why did He do all this? Something
right here in His heart. And God in His goodness, in His
kindness, in His tenderness, in His love, in His compassion
of this sinful world, sinful man, He chose to show mercy to
some of the unworthy, ungodly. He just chose to show mercy.
Why did He do that? Because He just did. Right there. I will. that they may be with me where
I am. Mercy was found in a covenant
with God. That's what happened, a covenant
with Christ. And in this covenant, not only
is he not going to say to them, I never knew you, depart from
me. Not only is he not going to kill
them, he made them family. He made them family. Now let
me show this covenant to you in 2 Samuel 4. Go with me over
to 2 Samuel 4. This is about David. And Saul, Saul wanted David dead. Saul was David's enemy. He just wanted David dead. But David made a covenant with
Saul's son, Jonathan. He made a covenant with him.
Their families were at odds. Their families were enemies.
But he made a covenant with Saul's son, Jonathan. Jonathan said,
David, I believe you're going to be king. And when you become
king, would you show kindness to my house? Would you show kindness
to my family? And David said, Jonathan, for
your sake, I will. For your sake I will. Verse 4
says, 2 Samuel 4, 4. And Jonathan Saul's son had a
son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the
tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel. They were killed.
And this boy was five years old. And his nurse took him up and
fled. And it came to pass, as she made
haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. And his name was
Mephibosheth, a fallen, lame, worthless, useless grandson of
the enemy. All right, well now David has
become king. David is now the king. Look at
2 Samuel 8. Verse 1 says, And after this
it came to pass that David smote the Philistines. There was a
time when David was in hiding and now David's a king and he
killed them all. He went through the land and
he killed them all. He smote all the Philistines. Verse 2
says, And he smote Moab. He went over there and killed
them. Verse 3 says, David smote also Hadadezer. Verse 4 says,
And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen,
and twenty thousand footmen. Verse 5 says, And when the Syrians
of Damascus came to succor Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew the
Syrians two and twenty thousand men. David killed them all. He went through the land and
he killed them all. Verse 13 says, And David gave
him a name. He got him a name which was above
every name. Fear came when David's name was
mentioned. Verse 15 says, And David reigned
over all Israel, and David executed judgment and justice unto all
his people. Chapter 9 verse 1 says, And David
said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that
I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? David is going through
killing them all, killing them all. I'm killing all my enemies,
all my enemies. Now let's get to Saul. Is there
any left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness
for Jonathan's sake? Well, there's Mephibosheth, this
fallen, lame, worthless son of the enemy. That's you and me. That's you and me. We fell from
God. We became lame. We became dead. God says you must walk uprightly. I can't. If you don't come, you'll
die in your sins. I can't. verse 5, chapter 9, verse 5. Then King David sent and fetched
him out of the house of Makar, the son of Amel from Lodibar. Here this worthless sinner sits. Here he sits in this house. He's
thinking that he's his own man. He's thinking that he's living
his own life, doing his own thing. And all of a sudden, the soldiers
of the king knock his door down and lay hold on him. Does that sound familiar? There he sat in his own worthless
world and all of a sudden the fear of the king struck him. You know when God comes to a
sinner it's a fearful thing. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. At this time of year, when
everybody thinks of Him as baby Jesus, sweet little baby Jesus,
does baby Jesus need anything? We'll get something for Him if
He needs it. I just had a yard sale. I made a little money.
I'll get Him something. As soon as they realize who this little
child is, fear strikes them. The fear of the king struck this
man. They came in, they laid hold
of him, and they said, the king demands to see you. This man realized, I have to
stand before the king. The king who has gotten him a
name. I know who he is. He's gotten
him a name. The king who destroys all his
enemies. Here's what Mephibosheth realized
right then and there. My family, the family that I
come from, is the enemy of the king. Verse 6, Now when Mephibosheth,
the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was coming to David,
he fell on his face and did reverence, and David said, Mephibosheth,
and he answered, Behold thy servant. And David said unto him, Fear
not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's
sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father,
and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed
himself and said, What is thy servant that thou shouldest look
upon such a dead dog as I am? Then the king called to Ziba,
Saul's servant, and said unto him, I've given unto thy master's
son all that pertain to Saul and to all his house. Thou therefore
and thy sons and thy servants shall till the land for him.
Thou shalt bring in the fruits that thy master's son may have
food to eat. But Mephibosheth, thy master's
son, shall eat bread always at my table. He's gonna sit at my
table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and
twenty servants. Then said Ziba unto the king,
According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant,
so shall thy servant do. Ask for Mephibosheth, said the
king, he shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. He's going to sit there as one
of the King's sons. I'm going to make him a joint
heir. That's what I'm going to do. Pull up a seat as a member of
the family. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Joint heirs
for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. We all have
relatives who do not know the Lord, who
do not know this Lord. They do not bow the knee to Jesus
Christ. They do not have a heart to worship
Him. We love them. We love them. And the greatest blessing for
us is when the Lord makes one of our relatives family, isn't
it? That's the greatest blessing.
It's when the Lord makes one of our relatives family, the
true family. There is one thing that you need. There is one thing that I need.
There's one thing that all of our relatives need. We all need
to hear this gospel. We all need for the King to lay
hold on us and make us a part of His family. That's all we
need. When our relatives come to visit us, tell them Sunday morning, we're going to
get up and go worship God. And if they say, no, we don't
want to go, say, that's fine. We'll see you in about two hours.
As for me and my house, we're going to worship God. We're going
to worship God. Maybe next time they'll, it'll
make them come. Well, if we don't go, they're
going to leave us here. We might as well go. This is my only hope. This is my only hope. This is
your only hope. This is their only hope. It's
to hear about this covenant. It's to hear about grace and
mercy in a covenant. There's one family that we need
to be a part of. One family. Every relationship
on this earth will end. But here's the promise to all
those that God chose to have mercy on in this covenant. David
said, when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
take me up. The Lord will take me up. He
said, fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. I love that. Your father. Who
is my father? Philip asked the Lord, show us
the father. He said, have I been so long
time with you and you don't know me? I'm your family. Our father. We have an eternal
father, every unworthy sinner does, who has been born of the
Spirit. Isn't that what the Lord said?
You must be born again, like a woman with child. Doesn't the scripture say that
we're in Christ? We are born into Christ, in Him. One of these days, ladies, One
of these days, your husband is going to lay down his body. And
that earthly marriage will be over. That'll be over. But this is what Isaiah 54 says. I'm not going to have you turn
for the sake of time. Just listen to this. This is Isaiah 54. I've always loved this. Isaiah 54, verse 5. Thy maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is his name. Thy redeemer, the one that redeemed
you, the holy one of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall
he be called. The God of the whole earth is
your husband. He's all of our husband. We have
a father. We were born into this family.
We have a husband, an eternal husband. Revelation says we're
the Lamb's wife. I have three sisters. I don't
have any brothers in this earthly life. But because of my adoption
in Christ, I'm literally looking at about 20 brothers in this
room alone. I have brothers. You have sisters. I have sisters. The only reason we're brothers
is because of an elder brother that was born for adversity.
That's what it says. We have a father. We have a husband. We have an elder brother that
was born for adversity. He endured it all to make us
accepted. And we're Mephibosheth. We're
the worthless, fallen, lame son of the enemy. But Hebrews 2 says,
our Lord was not ashamed to call us brethren. That's what it says. He was not ashamed to call us
brethren. We're so blessed. We're so blessed. I'm going to close with this.
Go to Ephesians 3 and I'll close. So blessed. One of these days, oh, we're
going to enter into this family. We're going to enter into this
family. How grateful we're going to be
to be a part of this family. Ephesians 3 verse 14 says, For
this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named. They're all given his name, the
Lord our righteousness. Call his name that, call her
name that. That he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by
his spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." How blessed are we? I have three
sisters. And when each one of those at
their given time got married, after the ceremony was over,
each time, I went up to my new brother-in-law and I said, welcome
to the family. I did it each time. Welcome to
the family. You know why I told my brother-in-law
that? It was because of my sister. It's the only reason. Had it
not been for my sister, I would have never walked up to him and
said, welcome to the family. It was all for my sister's sake. It was all because of it, all
hinged on my sister. Well, because of Christ, Because
we have Christ, we can hear the Father say through this word,
one of these days, we're gonna hear it in person. We can hear
the Father say through this word, and we can say to each other,
welcome to the family. This is a real family, isn't
it? It's the family of God. It all is because of Christ.
It all hinges on and looks to Christ, our everything. Father, brother, husband, friend. We have a brother and we have
a friend that sticks closer than a brother. All because of Christ. Welcome to the family. Okay,
let's all stand together.